Wednesday, February 21, 2018

FA-18 Hornet Scroll Saw Pattern.


 This toy model FA-18 Hornet is easy to build. ten parts and eight interior cuts are all that is required. 
You can do as much contour sanding as you like. I sanded the nose and the top shroud. I was not shooting for a realistic model. I just wanted a quick toy that grandpa could build in the shop with one of his grandchildren.
This toy was made using 1/4" thick Baltic Birch plywood. 


Baltic Birch Plywood for the Scroll Saw Artist:

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Baltic Birch plywood is a great resource for the scroll saw artist. There are many projects that can be cut from BB ply that look fantastic. Ornaments, fretwork clocks, toys, fretwork boxes, portraits and more all can be cut using BB ply.

Baltic Birch plywood has several advantages over hardwoods. 

BB ply generally stays flat. It is not immune to warping but because the the veneers are cross stacked the movement is minimized. 

BB ply cuts great. There are no soft areas as in some hardwoods where the blade will run away from you. 

BB ply is strong. Many portrait pattern cutters us BB ply because it is so strong. It's also easy to get large panels for larger projects. 

BB ply is often cheaper than hardwoods if you have to buy your hardwoods milled to thin thicknesses online. 

There are disadvantages of using BB ply over hardwoods. 

There is nothing more beautiful than natural hardwoods for building heirloom quality projects. When I want a special project to look it's best I choose hardwoods. It's not that BB ply looks bad it just can't stand up to hardwood when it comes to beauty.

BB ply does not have contrasting colors like different species of hardwoods. Project made with BB ply can look bland in comparison to hardwoods.

The size selection of Baltic birch plywood is very good.
   
BB ply is manufactured in 1525mm X 1525mm sheets. (5' X 5'). You can buy it in these thicknesses.
You can also buy it cut to various sizes. 12" X 12" is common as well as 12" X 24".
3mm~1/8" (3 plies)
6mm~1/4" (5 plies)
9mm~3/8" (7 plies)
12mm~1/2" (9 plies)
18mm~3/4" (13 plies)

BB ply is graded when manufactured. Here are the grades.

B-BB  This is the highest grade and what we want to use for scroll saw work. B-BB ply will be clear on one side with a light uniform color. There will not be any voids in the interior plies. There may be some color matched patches on the back side. They are generally rare but you do see a few.

In my opinion the other grades are not suitable for fretwork.
BB-BB
BB-CP
CP-CP
C-C

If you have never used Baltic Birch plywood I encourage you to give it a try. You may be surprised how often it will come in handy. 

Buy Baltic Birch plywood Scroll Saw Pack:

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Enter your photos by email. service@bearwood.com

January's 2WAYS2WIN contest had great participation so Stephen at Bear Woods and I want to do it again.

WAY2WIN #1: Click the link above and enter the giveaway. That simple. Enter everyday.

WAY2WIN #2: Post up to three photos of your wooden trains, planes or automobiles on the Bear Woods Facebook page.


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The DVD also works fine on a MAC. The viewer program is not MAC compatible but there is an included PDF with all the patterns shown as thumbnails for easy viewing. 

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