Wooden weights

[John DickinsParticipant @johndickins22212]

The answer may be "How long is a piece of string" but here goes:" What is the relative weight of plywood compared to balsa wood?" I'm thinking of building a half size version of Glynn Guest's "Tifone" MB Winter Special plan. I don't like balsa wood.

[John DickinsParticipant @johndickins22212]

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Liteply? **LINK**
DM

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

John,

Plywood is much heavier than balsa for a given thickness unless you use Liteply which is a balsa layer between two thin sheets of soft veneer. Liteply may be a viable alternative to balsa but will need the grain filled in to a similar extent and is not that different to work with than medium hard balsa.

Glynn's design uses his normal method of construction which does depend on thickness of the balsa for a successful result. If you were to substitute plywood of the same thicknesses then the model could well turn out to be too heavy. If you use thinner plywood e.g. 0.75mm sheet instead of 3mm balsa and 1.5mm ply instead of 6mm balsa then you will not be able to make effective butt joints or fair adjacent pieces together by sanding across the joints. Put briefly, if you were building from ply you would not use Glynn's construction method but rather build the model on the basis of keel, bulkheads and ply skins much like the old Aerokit boats.

I am happy to use balsa on my models, once properly sealed and surface hardened using a number of methods it is a perfectly adequate material, especially for a small boat like Tyfone.

Colin

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi John,

The Half size version of Glynns design will only be 13" long are you sure ply is suitable? I don't think weight of the material is an issue, having looked at the article .

Regards Ray

[John DickinsParticipant @johndickins22212]

Thank you all for your replies and advice. A half size "Tifone" will fit in with my small collection of small boats. I have several scratch built plus an assortment of Hornby and Tri-ang clockwork, or in some cases remotored with electric, speedboats. Shame that there is so little about "Toy" boats.

[Tim RoweParticipant @timrowe83142]

Absolutely agree with Colin. Balsa is great to work with and comes in various grades from Contest which is feather light and also very soft. At the other end of the scale "hard" balsa takes some effort to make an impression with a fingernail.
What you treat the surface with is important and there are many option like Colin says.

Here is a toy boat that I made for my girlfriend's sister for Christmas. Built one day and painted the next. Done freehand and finished with bits from the "box". Hull and foredeck balsa. Wheelhouse and engine room casing mahogany offcuts from a kit. Funnel a piece off a broom handle.

Here is Chapita

Oh and cotton wool for the steam!

Tim

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