How to Build a Homemade Model Airplane

Building a homemade airplane model is a great inexpensive hobby to take up. These are great projects to get your children involved with and to inspire their imaginations as they build and customize the model airplane and give it their own unique features. This is also a great project for pilots or aircraft enthusiasts that will keep them entertained and give them a sense of accomplishment.

Things You'll Need

• Airplane model kit Model glue Hobby knife Sandpaper Paint Paint brushes

Instructions

1. Choose your model airplane kit. You can find model airplane kits at any hobby shop, department store or online. There are thousands of different designs ranging from military planes, to jumbo jets. Choose a style of plane that would seem fun and exciting to build and purchase your kit.

2. Prepare a work space to build your model airplane. Clear off a desk or table and place old newspaper over the table top surface. This will protect the table from being damaged by model glue and paint. Also make sure the work space is in a warm, dry area such as a heated garage or basement.

3. Remove the plastic sprues containing all of the model kit parts and wash with warm water and soap. The parts and pieces may have some grease left over from processing and being attached to the sprues. This can prevent glue from setting properly or even ruin your paint job on the model.

4. Take a hobby knife and carefully remove all the airplane model kit pieces from the sprues. After you have cut each piece off the plastic sprue take a piece of sandpaper and sand any rough spots or notches left on the part from the sprue until it is smooth.

5. Take all of the small interior pieces of the airplane model and paint them. You will want to paint the cockpit pieces, wheel wells, and the engine pieces before gluing them together and placing them in the airplane model kit.

6. Paint the body of the plane and other large exterior pieces. Use the color of your choice and then allow the paint to dry for a day or two. After the paint has dried take some gloss and give your plane a little bit of shine.

7. Assemble the engine and glue cockpit pieces into airplane body. When gluing your model pieces together make sure to use an appropriate amount of glue and try not to use too much or too little. Using too much glue will create oozing which will need to be filed and sanded off, and too little glue will result in a bad bond.

8. Glue the wheels and cockpit canopy in place. Carefully locate the proper positions for these pieces on the diagram of your model that came with your kit and glue them down. Be sure to hold the piece in place a few seconds to let the glue bond.

9. Attach any extra pieces such as decals, guns and other pieces of equipment. You will need to let the decals soak in some water for about 30 seconds before they will adhere to the surface of the airplane.

Resources

• Model airplane kits
• Model airplanes
• Diecast model airplanes