Aircraft models thanks to the plumbing craft

“Sheet metal modelling”

Today’s age is full of opportunities to develop your skills and abilities. Developing them is an opportunity to relax and learn something new. One of such developmental activities is modelling. And perhaps not a few of us had a model airplane or a truck of some sort as a young boy. It was this activity from childhood days that inspired model makers in Germany and created a method to make a model airplane out of zinc titanium. They looked for old magazines with paper templates for making model fighter planes, enlarged these to the scale they needed and decided to make them out of sheet metal. The main idea was perhaps the desire to go back to childhood days and experience the joy of making a model airplane again. Another motivation was to use the craft skills already acquired over time and translate them into the creation of model airplanes. This is how the workshop organised by BAUMETALL magazine and led by Fritz Reinbold came into being. An amazing meeting that brought together enthusiasts of the craft, flying, but also model making. So I will try to elaborate a short overview of how the whole workshop went, how an aircraft can be made from titanium zinc and also what a modeller can learn while making an aircraft.

Finished aircraft

Making a model is not a simple thing. It is first necessary to know the original model in order to start production. only in this way can you thoroughly develop a plausible model. This is even more difficult when making models from sheet metal. The details are more difficult to make and all the possible folds and design elements require craftsmanship. You can find the individual type of already realized models in the attached gallery. Another interesting stage of model making in military aircraft is the creation of camouflage. It takes about 120 hours of manual and demanding work to make one aircraft model.

Presentation of the manufactured model

Dassault MIRAGE 3C model of the French Armed Forces

Production of a model aircraft

You will briefly learn how you can make a model aircraft and which parts it consists of.

Production procedure

preparation of paper templates
cutting out individual elements from the sheet metal
twisting and joining of elements
flying
Grinding
photography

Paper templates

Paper templates were the basis for preparing the model. These were then enlarged and the individual elements were cut out according to them and then copied onto the sheet metal. From these templates, the individual elements were cut out of the sheet and then labelled to show which element belonged where. The most important part, and probably the most important, was marking the axis of the aircraft. It was an important control point that made it possible to continue the work correctly when creating the model.

Tools for the production of the model

It would seem that creating a model is a simple thing and can be done by any DIYer. I have to contradict myself and say that it is not so. You can’t do without good quality tools to assemble a model. It is necessary to have a good quality pair of tin snips, round and flat nose pliers, mould maker, moulding aids, curling iron, sign maker and various types of anvils. This need not discourage you. I believe that when the forces come together, the tools can be put together nicely and a model airplane project can be worked on without worry. I mean, when buddies join forces, they can borrow each other’s tools.

Workshop

The construction of the model would not have been possible without the help of the instructor Fritz Reinbold. He guided each participant through the necessary assembly milestones and we each left this hands-on exercise with our own model fighter. It was really a great feeling. The whole organization was taken care of by the editor Anderas Buck