FINISHING THOSE FOAM ARF RC SCALE AIRPLANES Yes, this really is a foam ARF airplane…with some extra time and effort invested. If you love model airplanes, it’s pretty much impossible to ignore all those electric powered RC scale jobs made primarily of expanded plastic foam of one variety or another. “Almost-Ready-To-Fly”, “RTF”, “Bind & Fly”, “Plug […]
Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 1 For almost as long as there have been model airplane builders there has been the B-17. The first of them appeared in the late 1930’s. We aeromodelers as a group were around in significant numbers for only a decade or so before that. When the […]
Converting the 30in Rubber Powered Dumas Piper J-4 to Electric – Part 4 Before we actually get around to putting some covering on this model airplane, we need to talk about the process and materials I’m using…stuff many of you reading this may only have heard of, but never seen. So…I’m going to put on […]
A couple of weeks ago I got the following email message: Hi there, I recently bought a “Capitol Models Stinson Gullwing 54” Balsa model. I’m planning on building it and making a R/C flyer.It came with a giant blue print but no smaller detail instructions? Also some pieces are missing? I was wondering if you […]
Converting the 30 Rubber Powered Dumas Piper J-4 to Electric RC – Part 3 During our last session in the shop I finished building the basic structural components…wing panels, fuselage and tail surfaces…of the Dumas Piper J-4. This time we are going to fill in all those remaining details like mounting the motor, ESC , […]
Converting the 30 Rubber Powered Dumas Piper J-4 to Electric RC – Part 2 Last time I finished up with just enough work done on the fuselage to permit me to show you a trial mounting of one wing panel on the modified cabin assembly and the new 1/16″ plywood wing carry-through spar I designed for […]
Converting the 30 Rubber Powered Dumas Piper J-4 to Electric RC – Part 1 Last time I finished up with the construction of the TF 100″ span Stinson SR-9 and explained that I’ll be waiting for happier weather before you get to see flight photos. Right now it’s time for something a lot smaller, but no […]
It’s time to finish putting this airplane together ! As I write this, my Stinson SR-9 is actually finished…built…ready to go. It has been “out in public” at a static model show at the Seattle Museum of Flight, but I have not yet had the airplane anywhere near a flying field. It’s November outside. […]
In the review of the Sig Dornier DO 217 kit that I posted a while back, I explained that I was going to depart from what the instructions told me to do when it came to covering (and finishing) the model and use traditional dope-and-silkspan materials in place of the plastic film that’s recommended. I said […]
Now we get to one of those places where “doing scale” starts to get a higher weird factor. I can guarantee you that the many hours you may spend doing what I’ll describe this time will never make your model airplane fly better. What a well done stitch-and-tape job will do is guarantee that your […]