Model Scratch Building

You may not have heard of it but scratch
building is a hugely popular hobby that fans take very seriously.


Scratch building involves building a
scale model but from scratch ie not using a commercial kit or a pre-assembled
model.





What are the rules of scratch building?


There are no official rules to scratch
building. Some people believe that you can only call it scratch building if you
use completely raw materials and don’t have any plans or measurements to work
from. But others are not such purists and are willing to use even commercially
built parts in order to build their models.





What kind of materials are used for
scratch models?


Anything can be used to build scale
models from scratch, such as; wood, plastic, clay, paper or metal.





How do I get good at scratch building?


Most scratch builders start by
practicing on ready made building kits for scale models. Some of these are very
detailed and despite having all the parts, still require a lot of technical
skill.


Once you are good at commercial kits,
you can move on to building from scratch.


How do I scratch build?


You need some kind of plan; either a
prototype to follow or a design of your own that can be transferred into a
pattern so that you can start to cut out the parts and pieces you need for your
project. At the end of the actual building, you then need to ‘finish’ the
piece. This involves trimming, polishing, painting, weathering etc. This is the
part of the process that will take your technical piece to the level of
realistic model.





Good luck and have fun.