Converting the 30 Rubber Powered Dumas Piper J-4 to Electric RC – Part 1 Last time I finished up with the construction of the TF 100″ span Stinson SR-9 and explained that I’ll be waiting for happier weather before you get to see flight photos. Right now it’s time for something a lot smaller, but no […]
It’s time to finish putting this airplane together ! As I write this, my Stinson SR-9 is actually finished…built…ready to go. It has been “out in public” at a static model show at the Seattle Museum of Flight, but I have not yet had the airplane anywhere near a flying field. It’s November outside. […]
Building Those Old Kits – Not Enough Information? On lots of the plans sheets that came with those old (stick-and-tissue, printwood, rubber powered and maybe sort-of-flyable) model airplane kits pretty much all you got was plans. Instructions that actually helped you figure out what came next were not always part of the deal. For a […]
This is no small operation! What appears to be most of the VPW crew turned out for a group photo with their building in the background. Over the years that I have been involved with the world of aeromodeling there have been increasingly frequent occasions when I was given the opportunity to represent […]
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 […]