Often children, engaged in creative modeling, ask their parents how to make a plane out of polystyrene foam. In order to avoid confusion and lose credibility in the eyes of your child in such a situation, you need to read this article and remember a simple sequence of actions.
Draw a sketch
How to make a foam plane? To answer this question, you must first look at the analogues of flying vehicles.
The main feature of designers is observation. Therefore, before proceeding with the manufacture of the aircraft, you need to find out what it consists of. If parents help a small child (up to 7 years old) in modeling, then you can do with primitive forms, such as the fuselage, wings and tail. If a child is older than 7 years old, then he can study well, and most importantly, understand the design of the flying apparatus. Any aircraft consists of:
- fuselage;
- cockpit lantern;
- power plant;
- external and internal flaps;
- wings
- chassis;
- stabilizer;
- elevator;
- keel;
- rudder.
It is not necessary to show all these details in a future model, but even a novice designer needs to know them.
The next step is to draw the drawings. They are presented in large numbers on the Internet, one of the examples can be seen below.
But, of course, you can show your imagination and draw your own unique airplane.
What tools are needed
Lump foam or foam plastic ceiling tiles. A tile is more convenient in that it is easier to cut and its width will be the same throughout the part. The undoubted advantage of lumpy foam is the fact that it does not need to be bought. It is in the house of almost every person and is great for children's crafts.
Stationery knife or scissors. If the child will independently look for the answer to the question of how to make a plane out of polystyrene foam, then it is better for him to give scissors. If the creative process will be controlled by parents, it is better to use a clerical knife.
Glue. You can take ordinary PVA, it is suitable for bonding foam. But if you want to assemble an airplane model quickly, then it is better to use the Moment glue or its analogue.
Paper or cardboard for patterns.
Additional details. Their number and name will depend on the type of aircraft you want to assemble. This may include paper clips, skewers and elastic bands - this is necessary for an airplane model with a rubber engine.
It may also require a radio-controlled motor (for example, from an old radio-controlled machine). If you are wondering how to make a plane out of polystyrene and wood, then you need sheets of plywood that will later become wooden parts.
Preparatory work
How to make a foam plane that flies or carries only a decorative function? For both options, you need to do some preparatory work. It consists in redrawing drawings on thick cardboard. This step is necessary so that all patterns are preserved until the end of the work and even longer. In the event of a breakdown of any part of the aircraft, it will be easy to re-do it if you have a pattern. The next step is the manufacture of foam parts. It is necessary to translate paper patterns on the material and cut them.
We make a plane
How to make a plane out of foam with your own hands? After manufacturing all the parts you need to assemble them in the correct order. The first thing the wings are attached to the fuselage. They need to be glued clearly in the middle, otherwise the model will not have the right balance. The next step is gluing the “tail”. The steering wheel, elevator and keel - all this must be exactly in place, again so that the model has an excellent balance.
We work out the details
To finally close the question of how to make a plane out of polystyrene foam, it is necessary to discuss the development of details. As with any layout, details play an important role. And it doesn’t even matter how far the plane departs from reality. Even a fictional model needs to be worked out. The first step is to draw the windows of the pilots and the windows of the passengers. If you made a three-dimensional model, you can cut windows to increase realism. Next, we move on to drawing the doors. The main thing is to do them in proportion to the model. Harmonious size can be derived, focusing on the width of the finished windows. Next you need to think about the chassis. Many may say that "my plane takes off, and therefore, he took them away." But even if this is so, the layout still needs a hole where the landing gear hides during the flight. No plane can take off without turbines. Even in a flat model, you need to designate them. This can be done by gluing together small circles of foam. Well, the most enjoyable part of creating a foam model is painting the plane. Here you can show imagination, and you can follow the clear canons of real flying structures. No one will condemn a child if he wants to make his plane "flower" or "polka dot". Well, realistic models do not require a large abundance of colors. It is better to leave the plane white by drawing a pair of colored lines on the fuselage.