Scratch-Building videos

Model Airplane News, Jun 2000 by Yarrish, Gerry

Tipping the scale

A couple of years ago, master designer and builder Dave Platt introduced a series of videos aimed at teaching his techniques for building, painting and weathering models. Videotaped in his own workshop, Dave's "Scale Modeling's Black Art" tapes are an excellent way to learn scale modeling from the inside out.

Dave has added three more tapes to his popular collection under the title "Scratch This!" At $34.95 each (or all three for $95), they cover just about every aspect of scratch-building scale model airplanes. Each tape runs for about two hours; volume 1 addresses topics such as choosing a subject aircraft, finding good 3-view drawings and deciding how big to make your model. We also see a couple of his models: an in -progress Hawker Hunter jet and a WW II Japanese Val dive bomber. Then, with a simple chart, Dave introduces us to a simple way of quickly estimating a model's potential, and he shows us how to use "area factor" to compute wing area, tools and materials needed for drawing plans, how to loft airfoils and establish landing-gear geometry.

Volume 2 explains NACA airfoil coordinates and how to use them to draw an accurate airfoil. His talk on airfoils and the NACA airfoil numbering system is particularly informative. To make his point, Dave uses a 3-view drawing of a Grumman Guardian to explain the model designing process. He goes on to structural design, engine and fueltank placement and fuselage layout. Rib spacing in the wing, force arrangements and drawing ellipses and parabolic arcs are shown in detail.

Volume 3 covers CG location, wing structures, muffler design, engine side- and downthrust, sliding canopies and making fiberglass engine cowls. My review only scratches the surface of the "Scratch This" series; there is much more information in each volume.

If you're a scale modeler or want to become one, Dave's tapes will guide you along the way as you move on to becoming a designer. If you really want to scratch-build model airplanes, you'll see that the sky is truly the limit.

-Gerry Yarrish

Dave Platt Models, 1306 Havre NW, Palm Bay, FL 32907; (321 ) 724-2144.