Thursday, January 3, 2013

Got Wood?

Got Wood?
Here’s a little tutorial for making wood planking from styrene sheet or plasticard. FYI, I get my styrene sheet cheap in the form of plastic “For Sale” signs. I’ve used this technique for making old west buildings, fantasy style doors, and base inserts which look like plank flooring which is what I’m doing here. I first start with a piece of plasticard and put down lines 1/4” apart. These will the planks.



With a nice sharp hobby knife cut along one side of the line, keeping the blade at an angle and being careful not cut through the card. Repeat cutting along the other side of the line also at an angle cutting into the previous cut. Your goal is to cut out a “V” shaping channel.



With practice and luck the sliver should pop right out, but will probably require a couple extra cuts here and there. I’m not using a straight edge because I want an uneven appearance to the planking.



Once done with the planks I scrape in the grains keeping the pattern erratic. I’m using a special carbide scraper but a hobby knife point works as well. Don’t forget some knots here and there. I also cut out little segement here and there to break up the planks. You also use a pine vice to drill little nail holes.

This technique can be fairly time consuming and for the most part it’s just easier to use balsa, however this gives you all benefit of using plastic cement and will take dry brushing better than balsa.



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