Building board

[Geoff S]

I've gone over to a magnetic building board using a sheet of 1mm steel. You still need a flat surface, of course. I do occasionally use a small cork covered board and pins for odd jobs but the magnetic board is much better. A plus is that the plan cover doesn't get pierced with pins so the plan stays in much better condition.

Geoff

[Andy Stephenson]

I use a piece of blockboard with a 2'x4' sheet of Sundeala glued to it which I find the best for pushing pins into. I tried a suspended ceiling tile but it's too soft and doesn't retain pins securely. The only problem with Sundeala, is that it is absorbent and once you spill thin cyno onto it, it goes hard and swells a bit. I have thought that the ideal would to coat it with a kind of silicone which would prevent anything sticking to it and make it glue proof. I'm not sure what I would use other than trying to spread RTV all over evenly but that could go horribly wrong. Is there a low viscosity kind of silicone paint that could be used instead.

Andy.

[Stuart Z]

I use an mag board glued firmly to a plasterboard. Level shows all true and very heavy so unlikely to twist. Heavy enough to be challenging to move!

S

[Stuart Z]

I use an mag board glued firmly to a plasterboard. Level shows all true and very heavy so unlikely to twist. Heavy enough to be challenging to move!

S

[John Stainforth]

Brian, Martin

I advocated glass above, a la Dave Platt. Every time I mention this, it gets ignored. As I said, I am totally converted to this way of building, as someone who always used to use soft boards and pins. One does not have to build over plans. All one needs is one or two straight lines, and tick marks for rib and former positions, marked straight onto the glass with a "permanent" marker - the ink wipes straight off with methylated spirits and a paper towel afterwards. Balsa jigs can be glued straight onto the glass and are very easily cut off later, and the CA completely removed with a modeling knife or razor blade. Parts are held down with weights. It is all dead easy, the glass is dead flat and cleans up very quickly with knife and meths so that it remains pristine after building anything. If you look in my S6b album, you will see my glass table top before, during and after various stages of building. Also, have a look at the expert Dave Platt building on glass in his videos.

[flight1]

As for building board i have used plasterboard which is efective and cheap enough to be replace with each model build and as always a strong stable and flat bench for it to be placed on, which a good scrap piece of kitchen worktop of suitable size works well.

But I have just bought some magnets and am going to try a metal /magnet one (ferrite channel magnets x40 to start)

the guidance i am going to use is from these two sites

Here

and

Here

merry Christmas all

Edited By flight1 on 24/12/2020 20:35:27

[Andy Stephenson]

I see that SLEC are selling various sizes of end-grain balsa building boards, looks interesting.

SLEC building board

[kc]

It seems everyone has their own favourite..........but newcomers should note that the cheapest is often a favourite! Plasterboard is cheap and can be free as offcuts from building work. All you need to start is a piece of plasterboard 3 feet by about 1.5 feet plus a few smaller pieces for tailplanes etc. Must be flat.

[Piers Bowlan]

Posted by Geoff S on 24/12/2020 12:44:41:

I've gone over to a magnetic building board using a sheet of 1mm steel. You still need a flat surface, of course. I do occasionally use a small cork covered board and pins for odd jobs but the magnetic board is much better. A plus is that the plan cover doesn't get pierced with pins so the plan stays in much better condition.

Geoff

I have only seen these magnetic boards for sale at some of the shows and been quite tempted. I have looked online but not found any, does anyone have contact details to obtain a magnetic building set?

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Yes, it's Jim on Anglesey. He sells the blocks via eBay here.

I bought one of his boards and some blocks at Cosford a few years ago and, like Geoff, I'm not sure how I ever managed without.

 

 

 

 

Edited By David Ashby - Moderator on 25/12/2020 18:44:56

[Gary Vinten 1]

yep i have used them for a long time just great !

[cymaz]

Posted by flight1 on 24/12/2020 20:31:33:

As for building board i have used plasterboard which is efective and cheap enough to be replace with each model build and as always a strong stable and flat bench for it to be placed on, which a good scrap piece of kitchen worktop of suitable size works well.

But I have just bought some magnets and am going to try a metal /magnet one (ferrite channel magnets x40 to start)

the guidance i am going to use is from these two sites

Here

and

Here

merry Christmas all

Edited By flight1 on 24/12/2020 20:35:27

That looks good. You’ll have to give a club talk about it one day

[cymaz]

Sheet steel

[conrad taggart]

Be really interested in following what you eventually end up with - with such a plethora of options even within this "one" system