On the workbench right now...

[Sky9pilot]

Redwings look great fellas, nice work!!! If they can be built on a weekend, I just might have to try and build one!
Sky9pilot

[Balsa-naut]

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Cold, dark and snowing outside. What to do? Make a prop!

[kittyfritters]

There is a dime scale contest coming up at the end of the month. Dimers are usually not my thing but I have the kit so why not? I used the original parts sheet but the next time I do one of these old kits I may scan the parts sheet and laser cut for accuracy. This is really one of the better dimers of the period but there are still two gross errors in the plan, both in the construction of the wing where the realities of tapering the spar and joining it at the dihedral joints have been ignored. I know the kit was prototyped because I have seen pictures of it but the problems with building the wing were probably not communicated back to the person that drew the plans. (Not that I have not made errors in my own kits.)

That little box fuselage was probably very frustrating to inexperienced new builders back in the 30s if they didn't have someone to guide them. Although I had been building flying models with my father since I was seven the models I built by myself were all sheet until I was thirteen, Comet Struct-o-Speeds, Airline models, Monogram, Cleveland (yes, they had an all sheet line in the late 40s and early 50s.) and Top Flite to name a few. One of my relatives gave me a Comet P-38 kit for my eighth birthday but I didn't attempt it until I was fourteen. (If you haven't seen one, Google the plan.)

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PXL_20250720_035444103.jpg (226.68 KiB) Viewed 1747 times

KF

[kittyfritters]

Looking at the plan I thought that, using the suggested method, assembling the wing was physically impossible but I attempted it anyway. Is it? Well, not quite. The tapering of the spar to the tip, on the bottom, is possible. The way they show it would make a bump in the bottom covering of the wing but tapering it from the last rib works. It will look good but produces a bit of wash-in the may have to be steamed out. We'll see when I trim it. However, joining the spars in the middle of the wing when the dihedral breaks are 1/2 inch away is not possible with the wing on the board. The spars were joined at the dihedral breaks along with the leading and trailing edges.

Set up for the "bones shot" it fits together well and is quite light. The cowl support that you are supposed to put the rubber motor through is so small that it is most charitably described as comical. That's going to change before the cowl goes on. It will be covered, tonight, using the red and blue tissue from the kit which is in remarkably good condition.

[kittyfritters]

Here is what it looked like when I pinned down the wing of the Monocoupe to shrink the tissue. The tissue on the fuselage is shrunk and fixed with Krylon (matt) and the opening for the rubber is enlarged and keyed to the cowl. When the glue is cured, tomorrow, I will sand the cowl and wheel pants to shape. Yes, the cowl will have the rocker arm bumps. I'm not happy with the tissue and the next time I build one of these old kits I will replace the tissue with Asuka.

[Site Admin (Dave)]

These things are small! Keep the photo's coming.

[kittyfritters]

I used a template cut from a copy of the plan mounted to card stock to check the contour when turning the cowl. I love the Dremel drill press for turning small NACA cowls and spinners. I have a shop drill press for larger cowls and spinners. The second picture shows the carved balsa bits, cowl and wheel pants.

[kittyfritters]

I decided not to paint anything on this one and tissue wrap everything. Hint: If you want to tissue wrap something that has compound curves like a wheel pant think of it as a fuselage and cover half at a time. I haven't finished the wheel pants tonight so the one in the photo is just sitting there, not attached. I have the radial engine front view, cut from a copy of the plan, to glue into the front of the cowl.