Considering working on balsa wood, any tips?

[Lord Crumb]

I want to make two UNSC pistol's sometime in the next two weeks, I found this cool replica beretta that has the full slide action and i was thinking of getting some blocks of solid balsa wood and carving them into the casing over the top of the gun and fitting a small torch in the top.

I also want to build a full ODST suit but i havent got the patience (nor the printer) for a pep build so im thinking of doing it mostly with carved balsa blocks mounted on foam and a uniform. I was also thinking of coating the balsa with Bondo (or as we apparently call it in Australia, Bog) and then carving it for more strength and potential for detail.

Wanted to know if anyone else had attempted this and if you have any suggestions on the build or alternatives. I'm aware balsa wood isnt strong at all and can be hard to work with but i figure the suit will be very light-weight and i can build it quickly (plus i'm more of a carving guy anyway).

So please, any help would be sweet!

 

[SPRTNBD50]

Balsa is ok....problem is, its a Softwood, breaks easily. I recommend building it, then molding and casting. Any woodwork questions, feel free to ask "Leekegan", a member of the 405th

 

[Devious]

Balsa is great for building with. I don't suggest carving the laser housing, I've tried and its hard to nail. I would suggest building it out of separate sheets of balsa, and gluing it.

 

[soul products]

i you want to carve wood then i suggest either the wood that leekegan uses (cant remember what its called but im sure he'd tell you) or basswood. basswood from my experience, carves very well and is easy to sand

 

[Rick]

For a weapon i think you would want to use poplar or something harder then balsa. You can use Balsa on something like a kinife to keep it light but its easy to break.

 

[Lord Crumb]

Balsa is great for building with. I don't suggest carving the laser housing, I've tried and its hard to nail. I would suggest building it out of separate sheets of balsa, and gluing it.

Well what i was thinking was shaping the piece into the main housing of the barrel then drilling a hole along the top and using two part Epoxy to glue a light into the drilled hole with a smaller hole on the side or top for the button

 

[runcornstuntman]

aye man if you still wanted to do pep files the only thing i cold suggest would be get ur files and pep onto a laptop take it to a library andsee if you can hook it up to a printer. being an australian i know your pain with building materials. print onto paper and buy the 12x1 cardstock books from big w or a craft store and glue the printed pep parts to the cardstock. that way you can make the suit. thats the way i've used to make parts of my suits and a few weapons, although weapons would be better with wood. im not sure if that helped at all but thats what one aussie can recommend to another

 

[Lord Crumb]

I've tried pepping and i really cant get into it, for me its too tedious and alot can go wrong. For me, carving something out of wood and having it finished in one step is easiest, hence why i'm taking the easy way out, haha.

I'm going to start on an ODST chest piece within the month so I will put WIP images up and you can all witness the chronicle of my amazing failure or un-expected success, hahaha

 

[reachforit]

also if your good at drawing or can find some blueprints you can cut out the forms on thick cardboard then get some thin cardboard like a cereal box, cut these the same shape then glue the non smooth side(without the faces of printing) on the thick cardboard, the printed side can be spray painted and is smooth/ glossy. you can also bend this too for 3 diminsional look