Model Airplane Building Archives

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 16 This is going to be my last session working on the B-17 fuselage for a while.  There is a lot of work on the wing left to be done to get it up to the same level of completion. You have probably already figured out...Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 15 This session is going to be about the first of a series of steps that have got to come before I can think about doing any “fine detailing” on the fuselage, let alone get into “finishing” (a paint job). Just as with the wing, along...Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 14 I finished the last work session on the B-17 fuselage by sharing my decision on the best way to go about sheeting/skinning the framework. Just so you know, what we’re doing does not qualify as “planking”…that’s a somewhat different process based on using lots of...Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 13 Now that I have a fully framed -up fuselage assembled to the stage that I can actually set it in place against the wing, the logical next step might be to get to work “finishing” it by starting the process of balsa sheet planking/skinning. But…...Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 12 Do you like it when all the separated parts of a project finally begin to come together? I certainly do, and…for me anyway… that’s what starting work on the fuselage of a new model airplane is all about. As you’ve already figured out, I nearly...Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 11 We finished our last building session with the basic structure of the wing, as well as the engine nacelles aft of the cowls, all built. All that was left to complete the outline was the flaps and ailerons, and I’m going to build those now....Continue reading→

Going All-Out With A Classic Balsa B-17-F – Part 10 I finished off the last session (Part 9) by promising you a “prodigious mess of balsa shavings” that would result from completing the job of shaping all four engine nacelles. Doing that turned out to be an exercises in using a sequence of traditional model...Continue reading→