Getting to G-Code from a drawing

One of my other hobbies is model airplane building and while I have mostly focused on static scale models, I also enjoy building RC airplanes, but I like to do so from plans, and most of the airplanes I like are not readily available in kit form and the plans themselves are not always clear or easy to read. A substantial effort has to be made to transfer the drawing to electronic form, scale it correctly, and then reliably pass it on to the automation to cut the part. One common class of parts are fuselage bulkheads. For small-scale models, balsa is called for, while larger models would do fine with plywood.

Here’s the bulkhead from the scanned BD-1 blueprints. Note that there are no measurements, so you would have to use a ruler to take your own – assuming your drawing will print properly at full scale.

Figure 5.1 – BD-1 scale model bulkhead

The first (full-sized) airplane I ever owned was a Grumman...