I thought I’d take a break from designing gliders and build a (powered) vintage classic along the lines of the Junior 60, something light and slow but 4-channel rather than 3. I found a plan for the 4 channel Super 60 but it’s boxy fuselage shape and angular fin just didn’t ‘do it’ for me… Read More »
Like most of my designs, the Old Phoney is a combination of ideas gleaned from other designs with a handful of my own thrown in for good measure. The wing shape is a cross between Black Magic and PD Parasol but the construction is completely different. Also the ailerons are much bigger and almost full-length.… Read More »
Just as the wing was my first without span-wise sheeting – this is my first fuselage without sheet sides. But, as it turns out, there’s something rather satisfying about longerons, stringers, and all the fiddly bits in between. And when you’re REALLY enjoying a build, anything that makes it take longer just means the pleasure… Read More »
I um’d and ar’d over how to hinge the flaperons and eventually decide not to – to just let the film be the hinge. Multi-tasking was never my strong point so rather than try and wing-cover and hinge all in one go I decided to top-hinge the flaperons with a narrow strip of film first,… Read More »
Back in ‘71/72, we used to fly control line models for three hours every Sunday morning in a field next to The Rowdens at the top of Eastcliff Lane in Teignmouth. Not a silencer in sight. How the neighbours stood the noise I will never know. As far as combat flying and aerobatics were concerned,… Read More »
Since I left the hobby around 1980, glider fuselages seem to have been on a diet – so many these days have extremely spindly bodies with hardly a curve in sight. I must concede, though, that the word ‘fuselage’ does in fact come from the French word fuseler meaning ‘shape into a spindle’. I’m sorry… Read More »
I decided to try dyeing the balsa before covering with translucent film and chose pale pink to complement the ‘heather’ pink Solarfilm I’d bought for the underside. I should have known that pink and yellow makes orange. Will orange and pink really GO together?? Rather than use plastic hinges I thought stitching might be nice.… Read More »
Hello DSSC. I thought you might be interested to see my new slope soarer design which carries on from where I left the hobby in 1980. The repeated design/build/fly/crash, design/build/fly… cycle which dominated much of my spare time in the 70’s, culminated in this rugged 2-channel model I still have 40 years later. My new… Read More »
I don’t know about you but I always like to start with the wings. Using root and tip rib templates cut from some old aluminium I made a couple of ‘rib sandwiches’ using up bits of scrap 1/16th balsa and new ply for the root ribs. It’s a method I used ‘in the old days’,… Read More »
An electric palm sander is a wonderful thing! If only I’d had one in the 70’s I could have filled the whole bungalow with balsa dust rather than just my little bedroom. Oh and the wonderful smell of cellulose dope… those were the days. And mixing my own diesel fuel… I regularly bought Amyl Nitrite… Read More »