Building the Sig DO 217 Kit – Adding Retract Gear (2)
“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...Continue reading→
Building the Sig DO 217 kit (1)
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...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (16)
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...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (15)
“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...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (14)
Now it’s time to close up the bottom of the fuselage with sheet balsa. This part of the building sequence offers me a fine opportunity to talk about one of the choices of design and construction technique that went into developing this kit. This is something that goes back to the very earliest days of...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (13)
The last time we got together here to work on this airplane I finished up the session by giving the motor mounting box a reinforcing layer of 2-ounce fiberglass cloth bonded with a wet coat of thinned epoxy. We’ll have a close look at the finished mount soon enough, but right now (while that epoxy is REALLY curing)...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (12)
Sorry…it’s been a while since I added anything to this story. Let’s just say that life has been really generous in providing me with things to do that don’t include model airplanes. However…there are LOTS of neat things going on in my shop, among them slow but steady progress on this Stinson SR-9. Let’s get back...Continue reading→
Building the Stinson SR-9 (11)
During the last construction session I assembled formers F-3 through F-8 and built up the basic box structure that forms the bottom of the fuselage. During that entire assembly sequence the fuselage assembly was fastened to the building board with plenty of heavy-duty pins. When the last of the bottom stringers was in place I...Continue reading→