FAN FRIDAY FEATURED BUILD BY DON PERRY

Ah, Friday, sweet sweet Friday. May I have another said the RC HUB monkey? So we present you with the talented Don Perry, whether it be wood or Polystyrene he can manipulate it into a masterpiece.

With these tools, thy can do powerful things, the power lies within the combination of man, tool and sheer determination.

Some comments from Don:

How I got into this, not really sure, from the time I was young I liked building miniature things (made a lot of my own toys). I was not always into styrene, I started in wood many years ago making RC boats, without getting to detailed working with wood became a problem (that’s another story). I was on the lookout for different building materials and at the time my interest in boats dropped off and my interest in RC trucks started. I have always liked customizing, so one day shopping at Great Hobbies, I noticed styrene plastic, so I picked some up and started to experiment with it. I found it easier to work with then wood and liked the end product better, also much less mess and needed much fewer tools. Anyway, I guess that’s how I got started in this hobby as far as what I make today and the inspiration that goes in to it. I never really know what I am going to build until inspiration strikes (I seem to have to always be building something)! All the styrene tools and tool boxes came to be because I bought a Tamiya Toyota Cruiser and when I was done building it, I got the idea to add scale items like a winch hook. This led me to wanting a scale garage to store it in. I couldn’t find some of the things I wanted so I started building items for myself. As far as what I build, it depends on what I seen in full size, thinking” I wish I had a scale one like it to go with whatever project I am working on”. Then I take the time to study what I want to build and decide if I can or not. If I decide I think I can build it then I start, and usually before I am done with one item it leads me to the path of the next. Lately people are starting to notice my work and ask for custom pieces for their builds. It’s a constant learning curve I usually have to learn new tricks or different ways each time. One reason I try harder on items and demand more/better quality, is I want my work to look factory made. As far as tools you don’t need much, I use a sharp knife (not sure what you call the type, but there is a picture of all the tools I use). Pencil, straight edge, glue, files, sand paper, sanding blocks, tape and very small drills and a good measuring tape with these basic tools I have built most of my stuff. Right now I am scratch building a wrecker tow truck and am learning to mix styrene with metal to make it strong enough to do real scale towing.