The latest

[RayTrek]

Good Day

I cleaned up the bi plane and am pretty happy with the changes just wanted to share it with you
The pistol was one I had in design and when Ed (eromran) posted his I was motivated to move on with this one
Have seen some really cool projects thanks to all for sharing them
Ray 1.132

[Kenm810]

Beautiful Finish on The Bi- Plane Ray,
And your Flintlock Pistol looks outstanding !! http://forum.carvewright.com/images/icons/icon14.gifhttp://forum.carvewright.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

[jpaluck]

Ray,

all I can say is wow...both projects look incredible.

[mtylerfl]

Hello Ray,

Fantastic projects and finishing - You've raised the bar yet again! Congratulations!

I think it would be very interesting and fun if you could find the time to share a few details about how you plan out and accomplish your projects. It would be an enjoyable read for all and educational as well!

[geekviking]

Very nice!!! :D

[James RS]

Those are fantastic

[eromran]

Both projects turned out great. On the pistol did you do a two sided carve or individual pieces and put together?

[FINGERS]

Nice work the carving and finish, looks VG, less is more and you hit it dead-on

[Ken Massingale]

Great work on both of them, Ray.

[fwharris]

Ray,

Beautiful work! Both are outstanding in every detail.

[Lin]

Ray, "As she picks her lower jaw up off the keyboard...trying to come up with the words...."
WOW...The plane is awesome and the pistol is gorgeous....
Wonderful design and carvings. "Thumbs Up"
Lin

[GrammaPam]

Your work just makes me feel like such an amateur. You must have considerable experience and volumes of talent in other fields also.
G.P.

[usd5000000]

REALLY NICE WORK RAY!

How did you get the gold finish on the pistol?

I like the idea of using the machine to make multi-piece projects. I'd like to make some doll furniture with this machine someday.

Jeff

[Eagle Hollow]

Ray,
I agree with Michael. It would be great to learn some of your methods used producing such outstanding projects. They are just great. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[brdad]

Wow, that is some super work. I too would like to know more about how it was accomplished.

[RayTrek]

Hello
I could not get back on the internet until this morning – dial up connection and a teenager well you know, and I was amassed at the response in that I feel that I am exhibiting what I have learned from all of you.
The Biplane was a somewhat easy design for me. The pistol was not so easy.
I start my projects by doing research with the biplane I found some old prints for a P-38 used that for the side view and I used a 280px-radial engine.
Next I create pencil drawings of the parts and scan those into the computer Using Photoshop and designer I create the patterns I follow the measurements somewhat but mostly what I feel looks good. With the outlines in place I used the gradient tool for the sides and wings. Note that you can see the height mapping and will require some blur work the opacity, sizing of tool and zoom are vary helpful in design.
The carve,
I am limited mostly with HD and Lowes wood so every time I go in to one I go threw the hole pile and sometimes find one that looks good Tip- look at the edge grain as well
Knowing what piece of wood I am going to use I measure where I want the parts and place them on the design board, the wings are a good example of grain displacement.
I have include the board lay out for both sides and you can see that I set up a rectangle carve region depth at .750 to help see for lining up the parts and setting the parts to the depth you can hide this for the carve.
Assembly,
The prop is sanded into submission as well as the foil on the top of the wings I also sanded a dimple on the bottom of the body where the bottom wing will set I cut some 1/8” doles 5” with some side cutters and sanded them by hand then measured off the edge front and back of the bottom wing for the wing supports laying the top wing on the body and using a protractor for the angle used for the drill holes I drill through the bottom wing using that angle and glue the doles in they are long and will be cut to length laying the top wing on the top of the dowels lined up I pencil where I want to drill for the marriage of that wing those holes are very shallow and help for the gluing.
The tail wings also required sanding and cutting of the taps that insert into the body.
The nose of the body is cut on a cop saw
Well for now I will end this part sorry if I am not politically correct on terminology I have learned that most things are made with visual cosmetics over the mechanics.
The finish I did with sanding 100-220 grit and wet sanding 600 grit no sealer sprayed on polyurethane and wet sand 600grit between coats.
Ed, The pistol is two pieces one side carve glued together

And for those ho have helped me so much the next version of the biplane Have not carved this one yet, feel free to modify and use what you can Cheers.
I will try to explain questions if you carve it and they come up.
Good Day
Ray.

[Ike]

Ray, very cool thanks for sharing the project!! Did you get your prize?

Ike

[mtylerfl]

Ray,

I am so glad (and impressed) that you thought to photo-document your project carves! Makes it really nice, and that much more enjoyable, for us. I appreciate the time you took to explain some of the details of your process. It's a joy to have you here!

[AWoodsmith]

Ray great job and I appreciate you sharing the mpc.

Ed

[Eagle Hollow]

Thanks, Ray. I give you 2 thumbs up!

[DocWheeler]

Ray,

You did a fantastic job on those projects and spent a lot of time on the details.
It shows, thanks for the pictures and your details.

[SevenCubed]

Dude. I saw your final pieces and wanted to call Shenanigans! I'm VERY pleased that you showed your works-in-progress, because it's nice to be reminded that these Gorgeous pieces Could, in fact, be made outta our machines. =D That flint-lock is especially lovely. Am I correct in understanding that you paint these in Photoshop? No 3D tools used?

Bravo. Looking forward to seeing more work!

[twiceretired]

Biplane & Aspen wood
I just carved Raytrek’s Biplane, Thank you Raytrek! That’s a real good pattern. My choice of wood isn’t however. Aspen is a couple of notches up from Balsa, and I don’t recommend it for the carvewright, fuzz, stringy, and of course not very strong. Also when I started to carve about half way thru the back side, I noticed the bit had a lot of run out, “Loose bit, messed up QC, upper left Y bearing loose and very noisy”. Replaced the QC with one I had built up from a couple of damaged ones, that I had also balanced as best I could without a machine shop, and tightened the Y bearing. Machine ran with a lot less noise, and no run out. I need to order a “Rock”, but right now funds prevent that. I wish LHR Technologies, Inc. would refine the QC with balance; it is user friendly, and a real asset to the Carve Wright machine. It is also affordable to us that are retired and have to live on the bottom of the food chain. Rambled on enough, now where to post?
Thank you again RayTrek, Mine won't come close to yours.

[RayTrek]

Hello twice retired,

Thank you for the nice feedback and I am sorry to hear about the QC problem. I have wondered about carving in aspen and appreciate your explanation of what it was like for you, I personally would love to see your finished project and hope you post it
Cheers ~ Ray

[twiceretired]

Ray
I appreciate your concern, just another day in the carvewright hobby world. I will post it when complete, but it will be a while, a lot of sanding, and it looks like I’ll have to soak it in sanding sealer. By the way I really appreciate your very complete write up, it really helped in getting started on this project.