Last year, Youngest File decided she wanted to build a model- so she made a plastic model of The Spirit of St Louis- Then we had some additional study on Lindberg and the trans-Atlantic flight.
Saturday, she was figiting with the model and announced that she wanted to build another model.
So tonight when I got home she says-
"Look what I have!" and she showed me that she'd gotten a P-40 Warhawk- which is balsa and tissue construction. She's already read the instructions, I told her she needs to read them again and them she'll need to have a lot of patience to build it correctly. This looks like it will be a pretty fun father daughter project. We've already had a pretty good discussion on the P_40 in combat and the Flying Tigers in China.
She's also decided that she wants to complete the woodworking project in 4-H this year. That will probably be a hope chest or such.
Sounds like she is a pretty talented girl!! :good:
Miranda use to build things out of wood & crafty stuff but now that school started her schedule is so busy she barely has time for hobbies. I use to put model train cars together. That's about my scale of building models. One day I want to get a "Z" scale set though and work from there making my own little village. It would be cute!! Heck, I might even throw a surveyor surveying some tracks in the mix. Little yellow tripod & instrument, plumb bob, etc... CUTE!! 😛
I'm not sure what Z scale is, but I see on eBay on a regular basis survey crew sets for HO and several other gauges of model railroad.
Dave,
I picked up one of the lego type sets of surveyors several years ago. They sit on a small shelf in my media collection in the study area of my office.
They came from Poland. I saved the envelope that they came in because of the postage stamps. They weren't cheap with the international shipping, but they are a cool addition to the survey office.
Jimmy
Rankin,
The best part about balsa sticks and tissue construction nowadays is fast drying CA glue and NO dope for covering! Here is a good place for info:
Dave
Just use a very small amount of CA though. I've built a lot of RC aircraft and I've seen people overuse it. It's actually very heavy and on an RC every ounce counts.
With balsa it will wick right into the joint for a VERY permanent bond. It will also make a permanent bond on a plane part and a kitchen table if your not careful. Just saying.
cool Dave
I built a Pt-17 Stearman just like the blue and yellow one in the pics.
It was so cool after I had the frame built I hung it on the wall and never doped it.
All the control surfaces were operable.
Patience on balsa project is an absolute must for sure!!!
For the ultimate test of patience try these:
http://www.revell.com/model-kits/ships/85-0398.html
http://www.revell.com/germany/ships/80-5401.html
The first one is the USS Constitution. I built that one. That was about 20" in length.
The 2nd is the clipper ship Cutty Sark. I did 4 of those. Those were about big at about 30" long and almost 2' to the top of the main mast.
The plastic part construction lasts a couple of weeks or so depending on skill and your level of detail.
Plan on at least about 6 months to finish out the rigging. But before you start on it decide whether you want sails out or all tied up like in port. Things (spars and jibs) go in different places.
There is a whole 'nother language to really learn your way around these sailing ships.
My goal is to try one of these:
http://seagifts.com/cutsarwoodmo1.html
The kit itself is something of an investment unfortunately.
She had picked up some Ca and we discussed using monocote instead of going the tissue/dope route. we'll probably set the project up on the hobby table where she has her sewing machine.
I think I have a fomica sink sut-out we can use as building surface, if not, I'll get one from the cabinet shop.
Right now, there aren't any plane to motorize it or to go RC.
Monocote is a lot easier to work with but I'd suggest a hobby shop 'made for monocote' hair dryer instead of trying to use a home hair dryer.
Shrink wrap at it's finest.
But the other will look better on a static model.
The monocote can really take a beating on tough landings for RC craft and adds a lot of low weight strength to the overall structure.
I would strongly advise against using Monokote (we call it MoneyKote)on a small stick and tissue model as the monokote is going to shrink to the point where it will destroy the structure of the model. Here is my advice on covering the small stick and tissue jobs:
1) Pick up a couple of the purple glue sticks at office depot. They are cheap and look/operate like a chap stik.
2) Cut the tissue slightly oversize for the part you are covering. I say slightly as they usually don't give you a lot of extra tissue in the kit.
3) Apply the glue stick to the wood you want the tissue to stick to.
4) Apply the tissue using your fingers to get it taught. If you wind up with a big wrinkle or the sorts use a Q tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and rub that over the tissue where it is stuck to the wood to get it to release and then you can get things back in place
5) Once you've covered the model with the tissue wait for a nice dry day temps 70-80F and spritz it with water from a small atomizer bottle. This will shrink the tissue taught. Don't use a hairdryer or anything else..let it shrink on its own.
6) A day later when same humidity same temps spray the model down with White Rain hair spray. That will seal the tissue.
7) Assemble the tail, wings etc., CHECK the CG (center of gravity as per the plan!) wind up the rubber band and go fly!
Good Luck!
Here is the last stick and tissue model I built a couple years ago...setting atop my HP 650 plotter.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=811503&highlight=sparrowhawk
Z Scale I believe is the smallest scale of model railroading. It's smaller than N. It's very cute & tiny but very expensive. It doesn't take up a lot of room either.
