A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is submitted by @inquanto@lemmy.world, winner of the Christmas 2025 gift contest with a lovely series of hardwood cutting boards.
Since every leg is a little different and the tail section isn't perfectly symmetrical, I have to basically custom fit each leg to its section of the fuselage
So I'm just using a tiny piece of sandpaper and the tip of my finger. Making them out of softwood is coming in handy, as removing material is pretty easy.
I also found that rubbing the leg up and down while applying pressure makes slightly shiny spots that I can then sand.
It's a laborious but effective process
This project is so stupidly engaging.
Keep with the updates, I love to see them.
Use a piece of sandpaper (paper side against it, abrasive out) on the piece you’re trying to mate to, and it’ll sand in the same profile.
You should use a dowel instead of your finger since it doesn’t deform too much as well. Basically you should use a sanding backing block, in the same profile of what you’re trying to sand it too. Flat block for a flat area, dowels for round, stuff like that.
The sandpaper isn't flexible enough for that, it doesn't like to curve in two directions at once
I thought you were making a wooden Enterprise and this was the neck connecting to the secondary hull. My disappointment is immeasurable. 😆
I did too.
Do your best and caulk the rest!
I've accepted that I'm not going to get it PERFECT. As long as the gaps are less than, like, 1/16 or 1/32 and can be arranged to be at the bottom where the leg will cover them, that's fine
Gap fill with wood glue mixed with sawdust. This will be sandable/stainable/paintable.
Never let perfection stand in the way of good.
That is the major struggle right now. I forced myself to accept them as-is and move onto gluing
Looks good enough to me and besides, you may decide to paint it with some paint that applies a relatively thick coat, which would end up filling those tiny gaps anyway. Anywho, keep going good work!
I was mostly being facetious. Clearly you are determined to achieve a higher level of quality. I wish you the best.
Spoken like a true caulkender!
Is this the toy rocket posted about earlier?
Yep