Guillows sheetwood flying models - the Zip nocals.

[simpleflyer]

Thank you, Howard, for the updates on your laser cutting activities. Looks like you are making good progress with the project. I am looking forward to see the pictures of your laser cut DC series for the Blacksheep B-o-B contest.

Al

[kittyfritters]

Al,

With my small production volume they would have to be $12.95 plus shipping and handling. I would more likely to ship USPS since it is cheaper than UPS or FedEx and usually faster. Let's have any further discussions about my kits off list. After all, this is Guillow's forum.

Howard

[simpleflyer]

Our next 'swinger' will be another A-26. This will be profile 'zip' nocal model of the OnMark Marksman version of the A-26 used as an engine test bed by the Garrett Company. A few years ago were planning to build a 'root-canal' nocal of the Marksman but it wasn't completed. Using this magazine picture.

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And a reduced copy of the Comet A-26 plan.

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We came up with this simple plan.

B-26_N256H_pro-mod_sm.JPG

[simpleflyer]

Since then we've learn much more about the Marksman engine test bed aircraft, thanks to these sources.

http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id155.html

http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id690.html

Also at that source we found a profile drawing of the Marksman used by Garrett.

N256H_profile_sm.JPG

Using MS paint we were able to insert this into our earlier plan and will use it to build this model.

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Someone may wonder why the test bed aircraft pictured is N256H and the profile aircraft is N3035S. The story about this enigma is explained in the 2nd URL at the start of this message.

[simpleflyer]

The modified plan was printed to a letter sized sheet of cardstock. This was cut up to make balsa cutting patterns.

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Some of the card patterns were traced to a sheet of paper to make a simple plan sheet to work out the construction details.

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The patterns were also used to cut out the parts. The forward fuselage doublers are 1/32 sheet. The remainder is 1/32 sheet.

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[simpleflyer]

The parts are temporarily assembled to check how they fit.

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A couple of years ago we were organizing our photo collection and discovered that we had taken pictures of N3035S and N256H. In 1968, I was working at Spartan Aviation in the engine overhaul shop. In my spare time, I would wander around the local airports and took a lot of airplane pictures. In those happier times, it was easier to access airports and see the airplanes.

Spartan had an aircraft service department across the street from the engine shop. One day, we found N3035S nosed into the hangar and it looked like they masking the rear windows.

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About a month later we found N256H parked in front of the hangar with a new paint job and reg #.

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And in 1982, we find a magazine picture with N256H with a Garrett TPE331-14 hung on its nose

[simpleflyer]

Dihedrals formed, parts marked, and fuselage cut into two parts prior to assembly of the Marksman.

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[simpleflyer]

A 1/32 balsa saddle is installed to hold the horizontal tail when it is put in place. Most of the nose doublers are glued in place. The model will possibly be ready for a test flight, tomorrow.

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[simpleflyer]

A couple of test flight pix. Kinda breezy day for the little 12 inch WS Marksman, but it flew OK.

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[kittyfritters]

I put together one of the DC series kits that I re-drew and laser cut for a Blacksheep Squadron contest coming up next month. The contest is "Battle of Britain" which means the eligible models are Hurricane, Spitfire, Stuka and Bf-109. Mine is a Hawker Hurricane cut from some relatively heavy scrap wood that I was using for laser cutting practice, and built gear up...about a 40 minute build even without CA. The Hurricane has such a short nose that it may as well be a radial engined airplane and I had to put a gob of clay on the nose to get it to balance. I didn't think I was going to get much of a flight on a six inch loop of 3/32" rubber, but I had forgotten just how much lift these little bricks have under power. (52 years since my last one!) I wound in about 600 turns and released it in the Stonehurst Rec Center gym. It made a climbing turn hitting the wall at the intersection with the ceiling while still climbing with about 300 turns left. There was a little nose button damage, which I quickly fixed ( plywood nose button, don't have one of the original plastic ones.) and I wound it again and took it outside. The weather was warm (100 degrees F) and windless so I launched on the baseball field and was treated to about a 25 second flight with about a 45 foot climb. (The glide ain't that great, but at least it comes down without breaking anything.)

Now I have to cut out some of these with contest grade wood so they will be light enough and slow enough for indoor flying on 1/16" rubber. Also, I think that putting the landing gear on them, along with the lighter wood in the tail, will eliminate the need for so much nose weight. Pictures tomorrow.

[kittyfritters]

Here are the pictures of the Hurricane that I promised yesterday. When I said that I had to put a gob of clay on the nose to balance it I meant a GREAT GOB. It weighs 14 grams, but is a consistently satisfying flier.





The lighter one should be no problem.

[simpleflyer]

Thanks, Howard, for sharing your experience with the Hurricane built in the DC format and thanks for the pictures that you posted. Wish you success with the lighter built version. Looking forward to seeing more of your efforts with the DC models.

Al

[simpleflyer]

This past weekend, Norma and I went to Alexandria and spent a few days of visiting and celebrating birthdays. Both Norma and I have sisters who have birthdays in October. On my visits to Alexandra, I usually try to visit my longtime friend and modeling mentor, Don Smith. Don first began teaching me the elements of controline flying in 1953 or so and we've managed to stay in touch over the years.

On this visit we shared a few happy hours recalling old memories and catching up with current happenings in our lives. In our last couple of visits, I've brought some of our current swingers to share our modeling experiences with him.

This time one of the models was the little F-84 recently built. He mentioned that he was trying to introduce model airplanes to one of his grandsons and was looking for a simple model that the boy could play with. So I suggested the F-84 and gave it to him to give to the youngster.

Smitty-n-F-84Msm.JPG

Since the F-84 has found a new home, it is time to build a replacement for it.

Al

[simpleflyer]

Our next two swingers will be conversions of these two 'root-canal' models built a while back.

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We did a few flights with them to remind us of why we switched to swing control. After a few flights we broke a rubber motor.

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Changing it to a 'swinger' was a quick and easy task.

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[simpleflyer]

Although it was a quickie conversion, the Navion flew well.

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