Done with a Glowforge? Wow!
Friggin awesome! And I love the little peek of another one in progress there in the corner.
Beautiful work. You are skilled at classic airframe modeling!
Wow, very impressive!
I would love to know more about how you made this!
Wonderful job!
Wow - we want to know more!!! How??
OMG! Beautiful! Any vids that follow the build?
Here’s an example (from a common kit) of what’s going on underneath the skin of the typical wooden model. Full-size aircraft can still be built the same way. I’ve assembled dozens. This is why I knew folks who had lasers long before the GF, they produced kits like this.
This is the actual sailplane under restoration that my ex’s father set records in back in the 1940’s. It’s been flown since. The person who found and restored it reached out to the family thru me and has kept us informed. One day we hope to go see it in-person. I flew and competed (and hold a record myself) but I wouldn’t ever dream of taking this precious piece of history up. Would be nice to sit in it, though.
The “glass”-like finish you can see on the fuselage is fabric over the structure then soaked in “dope”, which pulls the fabric tight and makes it as stiff as steel.
This is truly amazing. Looks fantastic!!
Love it.
I used to work for a lawyer who was really into model RC planes. He was also a technical wizard. He would have LOVED having a Glowforge to make things with. He passed years ago.
I totally don’t have the patience for this sort of build but luckily the glowforge does great with foamboard for quick builds as well.
Way cool.
Everything is better from scratch. Nice job!
This is just awesome!
I’ve been building model planes all my life using razor blades and saws to cut flat balsa and plywood parts. The glowforge makes it easier and more precise.
I get pdf plans that would normally come in large sheets. I break the parts down by wing, fuselage, and tail section in photoshop.
Then, I pull the sections into Illustrator and carefully trace a path around each individual part, then I save as svg and pull it into the glowforge app.
It’s a lot of work but I love it.
I use silk and dope on my 1/4 scale bi planes. It’s the same dope used on full size planes.
For my ww2 fighter planes I skin them with 3/32 balsa and fiberglass the surface.
I cut the parts with the glowforge. I guess that counts.
My first impression was that they were molded and I was thinking more 3d printer. That is just how good a job you did!