Before we get started on this month’s installment of our Building the Stinson story, I want to invite any and all of you who are reading my rcmodel.com blogs to participate in deciding where they will be going next. I have been working on the big Top Flite/Great Planes Stinson SR-9 for over two years, and as […]
Yes!!! It’s finally time to put some covering on the Stinson SR-9. When we’re dealing with a traditional “built-up” structure like this one (as opposed to a box structure made of sheet balsa or perhaps molded composite) you might say that all the work I’ve done so far has been leading up to this moment. […]
The Stinson SR-9 project is getting very close to the time for me to begin covering and finishing, but there are a few installation details to be completed before I will actually be ready for “closing up” the structure. In the case of this airplane that means putting on a fabric covering. For me this […]
The Stinson SR-9, like most high-wing single-engine monoplanes of the 1930’s, relies on external strut bracing to stay together in flight. The SR-9 uses a single, large strut under each wing rather than the multi-strut assemblies like the ones you’re familiar with on Pipers, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, and so on, and it uses a pair of […]
After working on the windshield, with all those curves and bulges, you couldn’t help seeing what’s coming next. The main landing gear assembly on all the big gull-wing Stinsons is almost baroque with its imposing presence and all those complex interacting fairings. You’ve gotta’ love compound curved surfaces to love this airplane…but…that’s why you’re building one of […]
On a lot of models the windshield is actually a blown “bubble” canopy that gets stuck to the top of the fuselage, or a piece of clear plastic that’s molded to fit on the nose ahead of the wing. In either case a couple of screws or some canopy glue takes care of the job […]
“A scale WWII twin-engined fighter is supposed to have wheels…landing gear!” That was pretty much my first response when FLY RC asked me to consider doing a kit review of Sig’s DO 217. As presented, the kit doesn’t include any at all, although the instructions do mention an optional fixed landing gear. “No way…it deserves […]
This time I’m working on something different. You may have seen ads for Sig’s little twin electric Dornier DO 217 (German WWII night fighter) kit…I’d noticed them but hadn’t paid much attention. Part of my problem with their product offering was that the kit is advertised as a hand-launch/belly-land model, and to me a setup […]
This is another of those places where it all starts to get really interesting. The basic structure of the airplane is complete, and that goes a long way toward defining just what sort of model airplane it’s going to be. If we haven’t built in plenty of accuracy, strength and lightness by now, it’s never […]
“You’re gonna put working cabin doors on that new scale job you’re building? And, you’re planning on taking it out and flying it…and flying regularly, not just once to prove you dared to? Yeah, right…” Once upon a time, admitting to something like this would instantly assign you to the ranks of those gawky, nerdly […]