How To Make An Airplane Ornament Using A Cigar Tube

Step 2 Cut out the Wings and Tail

Find some scrap metal to use for the wings. I wanted to use aluminum to match the cigar tube...it's a minor issue but if you use a different metal for the wings you risk corrosion at the joints ( called galvanic corrosion, and is caused when two metals of differing electrode potential are in contact in the presence of an electrolyte), and I want my ornament to last without corroding.

You can also buy sheet aluminum in small sizes at Lowes/Home Depot etc.

Cut out the wings using a pair of tin-snips/metal shears. Smooth out the edges on a piece of emery cloth/sandpaper. At this point I went ahead and sanded the tube as well - just to rough it up so the paint would adhere well. You could sand off all the paint to bare metal and go for the retro jet travel shiny aluminum look. I did that on the originals and love the look...but wanted to try painting it this time around.