From the F-M Skylarks Model Airplane Club
Balsa Pilot Figure Head
by Linda Kegel
The pilot figure head you see
pictured is modeled after a real person. It all
started when a customer of ours who shall remain
nameless (Chris Weivoda) wanted an “extreme pilot,”
and the one he wanted to order was discontinued. I
opened my big mouth and said I thought I could carve
one for him. I asked him if he wanted it modeled
after himself, but he said no, he wanted it to look
like Wayne.
Those of you who know Wayne Monk, know that he is an
easy-going, likeable guy. He happened to be in the
store at the same time this strange request was
being made, so I asked permission to take four mug
shots of him (one per side). Since he is such a good
sport, he agreed.
I began with a solid block of balsa wood about 3 x 4
x 8 inches. I drew Wayne’s likeness on all four
sides of the block and began carving with a long X-Acto
blade. After I roughed out a human-like head and
shoulders shape, I took the Dremel with a sanding
drum and did most of the shaping. I also used the
cone-shaped cutter.
When I had it down to looking like Buddha (he had no
hair), I used a piece of sandpaper about ¼ x 1inch,
folded, and carefully made his features. After I
finished carving the wood, I used sheetrock mud to
add hair and build up any areas that needed
refining. Once dry, I did a final sanding and then
completely primed the figure with Kilz water-based
paint. When that was dry, I painted it with artist’s
acrylic paint and gave it a coat of clear
satin-finish acrylic varnish.
Lastly, I made tiny wire-rimmed glasses out of
nichrome wire and poked the ends of the frames into
his balsa head and glued them on.
I had a lot of fun with this. It’s something any
competent modeler could probably do on his or her
own with a little experimentation.
Q
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