Building Board

[gbrobbins]

Planning on getting into scracth building project What type of building board is being used. I've checked Tower HObbies. Anyother types.

What do youse all use?

G B
:D :D

[CG Bob]

Have you done a search for building board (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/search.php?searchid=18144569)? Mine is 38" x 9" x 1", two pieces of of 1/2" AC plywood glued and screwed together. Others have used 1/2" or 3/4" plywood or ready made shelving from the home improvement store.

[patmat2350]

Here's a little one I did:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38687&start=0#p254752

[capt. spauldin]

Consider using MDF. It's perfectly flat and smooth, readily available, and fairly inexpensive.

Cheers,
Capt. Spaudling

[AndyKunz]

Hey GB, good to hear from you!

I use a plank of wood, planed and straightened. My Dad has a cabinetmaking shop, so that's trivial for him, but probably not available to everybody. You want something solid that won't flex, that you can glue to and dribble on and not worry about the damage. You can see what I'm doing on OSE in the "Baby Bootlegger Build" thread.

[tigerbay]

On my current build I am using 19mm batten board (whatever is about) the model requires a board of 1.1m so I have glued and screwed 2 25mm square pine battens on the back to help her stay rigid (possbily overkill).

I have seen chipboard used with pine battens on the back perfectly OK.

The only real considerations are:
1. is it flat?
2. will it stay flat?

[fooman2008]

an old trick I've seen people use (I worked for an LHS a long time ago) was to go to a lumber yard and find a hollow core door with a hole on one side. Big enough, stable, cheap, you can drive pins into it, won't warp (if decently supported),can be reinforced if need be. Having unloaded a few at lumber yards usually the top one (not prehung) will get a hole in it and they sill sell it to you cheap, sometimes give it away
Foo

[Greysquirrel]

When I remodeled my kitchen I kept some of the doors and they work out fine, have three different sizes which comes in handy, use a different one for dry fitting, one for glue, and one for painting small parts.

[Rob_P]

My building board was primarly used for building model aircraft which require the use of lots of pins to hold ribs in place.
Its a sandwich made of 1/4" MDF, a large ceiling tile and then 1/8th cork.

Its flat and pins can be pushed into it and removed by hand.

Rob

[gbrobbins]

WOW: Great ideas , keep them coming.

GB
:D :D

[DaveMainzone]

[QUOTE=gbrobbins]WOW: Great ideas , keep them coming.



http://tinyurl.com/cxakfv


http://tinyurl.com/bh4oq6

[tghsmith]

I use 1/2 inch plywood(sandply, smooth finish) 5ft x 12inches wide. built like a box sheeted on the top and bottom, the sides and ends (plus a crossbrace every foot) are 2 inch wide ply doubled-up, if you, our a friend have a good table saw its goes together fast, an air powered nailgun even better, lots of wood glue and keep checking for flat and true as it gets put together(this may be overkill, but if the board isn't true, the boat won't be either) finish it with some polyurethane, when I make a hull (upsidedown) I glue the frames to the board with a hot glue gun, everything comes off the board with a heatgun(your wifes hair-dryer) and the board is ready to go again(plus you always have the other side to use)

[DaveMainzone]

... if the board isn't true, the boat won't either) finish it with some polyurethane, when I make a hull (upsidedown) I glue the frames to the board with a hot glue gun, everything come off the board with a heatgun(your wifes hair-dryer) and the board is ready to go again(plus you always have the other side to use)


I had grief until I discovered the boards and table tops were not true. Since then any building boards for large models (over 20inches) have been built using a pair of four foot aluminum levels bought for a couple bucks at H.D. Their I frame construction makes it easy to clamp (or thread and bolt) a Top board to them. They also allow the BB to be level when needed.

[Kmot]

Dave, that is a brilliant idea and the best solution I have read about ever!!

[Refdog]

Hollow core door is the only way to go.

[DaveMainzone]

Hollow core door is the only way to go.


My office desks are hollow core doors on file cabinets. They are flat:) My house was built in the early fifties and has many (to many) warped hollow core doors.

Years ago I discovered that local office parks replaced office doors when remodeling and when new companies rented. They dumped the solid core doors into their dumpsters. The Wellesley office park maintenance folk gave me a half dozen huge solid doors. They weigh ton:) I needed help just picking one up.
Two of them are now bench tops in my shop area. Other have been ripped to long wide shelves (They'll never sag).

[patmat2350]

OK, now that we've moved on to work benches... mine is a solid core door. Would be pleased if I found it in a dumpster, but it was new-bought-- they're really not very expensive, and this way, it doesn't have any holes in it. It sits on a cabinet made of 3/4" plywood.

It's about 18 years old now. I gave it a coat of tung oil when new, and spills still have a hard time sticking to it.

[DaveMainzone]

I had grief until I discovered the boards and table tops were not true. Since then any building boards for large models (over 20inches) have been built using a pair of four foot aluminum levels bought for a couple bucks at H.D. Their I frame construction makes it easy to clamp (or thread and bolt) a Top board to them. They also allow the BB to be level when needed.


I also bought a laser level from HD and a used tripod. With the aluminum base level; the level on the tripod allows me to set the laser beam level. And I can establish nice straight vertical lines around a hull or along water-lines. The laser gives me a nice straight line, however it can be tricky to correctly place the line on the hull.