Greetings friends.
I have decided to temporarily exit my peaceful retirement in order to pen a little post on the subject of wing building. It seems to have largely died out as a method, with most preferring fuselage blocks, and so I wish to direct everyone's attentions to the possibilities of the humble wing piece.
Wing pieces, edited to various small sizes, were always my favourite pieces; they did not pretend to be useful, nor easy to use, yet I used them; I do not remember finding a greater friend among all the tools we have available.
The wing piece was there in the beginning, and shall always be there on its unpretentious throne.
Fuselage pieces are, in reality, far too complicated. Possibilites are made endless, and this, in many ways, is detrimental to the imagination. The wing piece, in its almost absurd simplicity, forces you to work within its narrow limitations, which, though stifling at first, become your dearest friends.
Let us say we want to make a WWI scout, (that is to say, a single seater with a forward firing gun).
If we wanted, we could just go on the internet, pull up a drawing, and then get to work with our fuselage blocks; doubtless, in an hour we would have a perfect fuselage, which matched the diagram in every way, and was accurate to the dimensions, perhaps even the weight of the original.
But this, this is too complicated for me! It's like choosing to draw by numbers rather than by eye! The innate jankiness of wing building appeals to the soul, it is addictive, a form of impressionism. They dictate the result of the build in all sorts of ways that you cannot imagine when you start.
I grant, it makes it take 10 times as long to do anything, and makes for the most dreadful flight models, but I think this is more a feature than a bug.
It avoids the uncanny valley entirely.
The method is simple, you make a frame, a sketch, all the dimensions, with wing pieces. And then fill it out, either with more wing pieces or with flat fuselage pieces.
Essentially, you replicate the manner of making a WWI plane: you build a wooden frame, and then cover it with canvas. You then stick on the details, and spend 2 weeks trying to make it fly. Voila!
The key is to make a caricature not a portrait, an impressionistic likeness, not a photograph.
As for whether I will make any more likenesses, I do not know! Probably not. I haven't been on a computer since the lockdown!
@32 yes I did! That's why I was checking the site – and noticed the almost complete absence of wing built planes!
Did ya see simpleplanes 2 is coming out? Could be cool.
Evidently not the father, though.
@WaterFlavouredSpitfires I feel like a Sumerian who has timewarped to modern London
@POPACC with wings, of course.
@Graingy yes yes, pain is the mother of creation.
The Remnants of the Old SP Civilisation Comes Back.
@POPACC
Magic.
For added artistic benefits you could sit in a chair that slams you in the groin at random intervals ranging from 2 seconds to 18 minutes
@Noname918181818181818181 of course, I just wished to highlight possibilities that are easily overlooked.
I see your points, but I will still continue with fuselage building. At the end of the day, people will build what they want with the method that they prefer, and that's ok
@TheMouse @WisconsinStatePolice I hope you both do! It's the peak of oldschool simpleplanes.
Very fair points, I may attempt this in the future
Interesting, you are right, very few planes try to only use wing pieces, especially the ones made my more experienced builders. I will have to try it sometime.