We’ll start building the outer wing panels with the top left and right…they are a bit less complex because there are ailerons only on the bottom wing. As with the center section, I am using a magnetic building board system. I have placed spacers between both the front and rear spars and the building […]
The Great Lakes 2T-1A trainer is a biplane. The lower wing includes ailerons, some dihedral, and no sweepback.the upper wing has no ailerons, more dihedral, and pronounced sweep with a straight center section. The plan presents one drawn superimposed over the other, so that you must pay attention to exactly what you are working with. […]
I love old balsa wood scale model airplane kits, especially the ones featuring printwood, where you cut out the parts yourself. Most of those I come across are for free flight rubber powered models from the 1950’s and earlier. Some of those are big enough for practical conversion to electric power and radio control. There […]
The first job was to clean away everything that was left of that 1/8″ ply plate. As it turns out, that plate was designed with several tabs that fit into corresponding slots in the formers (or bulkheads) ahead of and behind it. Neither of those formers was damaged. It would have been impossible to get […]
People are always asking me about ARF (Almost Ready to Fly) models. There are some impressive ones around, and these days most of them fly very well. (That was not always so.) I don’t pay a lot of attention to them because my “thing” is building the airplanes I fly. However, recently lots of experienced […]
Last time we were talking about building the forward horizontal tail surface (stabilizer) and how a little extra effort helps all those parts to fit right. The first photo shows the entire tail surface built up and ready to be sanded. This time I’d like to discuss several of the steps involved in building the […]
Speaking of building, let’s talk a bit about just how much of an old time building project this particular model airplane is…or is not. The Top Flite Stinson kit is designed around what experienced model builders usually refer to as a traditional, built-up structure, which means that the engineering, the shape and function of the […]
At just about the same time I was planning those structural changes to the little Berkeley Super Cruiser, I decided to go ahead with a project that had been lurking around the edges of my imagination for a couple of years. This one is a bit bigger. You’ve seen the ads for the Top Flite […]
Do you remember Berkeley kits? If you were aware of model airplanes during the period from World War II until the early 1960’s, you probably do. There were dozens of them, maybe half of them free flights and the rest control-liners (except for a few intended for something exotic and mysterious called radio control). Nearly […]