In Students of Product Design Episode 6, I give a series of prototype and model making tips and tricks, to help designers bring their ideas to life faster and more accurately. The episode looks at traditional methods and techniques. With advances in rapid prototyping, some designers can be tempted to create everything in CAD and then print parts out, but creating forms by hand first is such an important part of the design process and I think leads to better designs.
In this episode I cover working with blue foam, sanding techniques, loads of finishing techniques for wood, filling materials, spraying with car spray paints, creating textures, cheap ways to bend wood and plastic, jigs and a host of other techniques and tips. But it's not an exhaustive list. I realise I left a few things out, joining metal pieces together with car body filler when you don't have any welding equipment, or using old nail files to sand difficult to reach areas, there are loads more tips and tricks to include, so for much more advice the YouTube and the rest of the Internet is the best resource. I have also recommended a good book:
Prototyping and Model Making for Product Design, by Bjarki Hallgrimsson
At the time of release, this book is available on Amazon and other vendors.
I could go on and on as making design prototypes and models is one of my favourite subjects, but we have to move on, in the next episode of Students of Product Design, I'm covering giving design presentations to clients.