This weeks Progress 24th to 30 June

As you will have noticed in the last post I got sidetracked with the plans for a Big Lazy Bee - The plan shows a lot of laminated bits - the elevator trailing edge - the complete outline of the fin and rudder and two massive wing tips - remember that this model has a 21" cord and a 72" span.  So I've spent the last few days stripping 3 sheets of 3/32 balsa into 3/16" wide strips - thank god for Dubro's little balsa stripper. I've laid up the laminations on their  formers and as soon as they are fully dry - each strip has to be soaked in water and bent around the formers - I'll start building the tail feathers. Once that is done it's time for me to start building the fuselage. The fuselage is a fairly convention structure even though it's an unusual shape. I'm, taking photos as I go so as soon as I have a reasonable number of interesting ones I'll start the build thread on it's own page.


The Lancaster, the Lanzo bomber and the Hustler Delta have pretty much come to a halt this week while I wait for more balsa supplies to arrive but I'm now in the process of covering the Senior Telemaster. I'm using Oracoat and Solartex to cover it with and the colour scheme is a loose interpretation of a Military Forward Observation aircraft. I thought something a bit different from the usual two colour scheme this type of model gets would be interesting. I have a fairly quiet week ahead and plenty of build time so next week's post should be a bit longer than usual - hmmm - that sounds like famous last words??

Am I an Idiot - or just a glutton for punishment??

Damn it - I've done it again - ANOTHER model I just have to build. I have a simulator and one of the models I've always had fun with is the Clancy Aviation Lazy Bee. Soooo - when a plan turned up on eBay of course I just had to have it! The Plan is for the BIG Lazy Bee - 40 power, 72 inch wing span with a 21 inch cord and - unlike the smaller model, this one has ailerons - 3 large sheets of plans! Hmmm - thought I - interesting!  So onto the internet to see what information I could find - and - of course - heaps of it. I found a  website -


http://lazybee.welcomes-you.com/


- and of course I'm immediately in contact with a whole world of Lazy Bee enthusiasts. The biggest Lazy Bee is absolutely HUGE - the biggest I've found so far is 18 foot wingspan!!!! I think I'm going to be content with the 72 inch version but who knows what madness will overtake me. Check out the website - there are Lazy Bee's of all shapes, sizes and colours - some with floats - some used as camera platforms and if there is a use for the model some one has tried it!! Now - all I have to do - once again - is re-arrange my building schedule DAMN IT! I just have to fit it into this winters building schedule.


And yes - there will be a building thread on this blog - stay tuned!

This Week's Progress - June 17th to June 23rd.

Well I did promise to update this blog on a weekly basis during our winter  - So here is what progress I've made this week - and yeah - I know this will be a day late in some time zones so the smart arse at the back of the room can go sit down!!!


I've cut out and assembled the Telemaster mainplane up to the point where I ran out of balsa of the right size. So the leading and trailing edges will have to wait till I get to the local hobby shop. The structure uses all balsa ribs and spars with multiple stringers ( 3 ) on the top of each wing panel. Some builders prefer to dispense with these stringers and D Box the wing. I'm building my example strictly off the plan with the exception that I am fitting flaps & ailerons instead of just the full span ailerons. For those who might be interested there are progress photos on the Telemaster page.


The rest of the week has been spent building a small trainer model for a friend and repairing some gravel rash on a couple of my own models. Other than that I'm sorting out the 3 building projects that I've started on and I'm trying to work out how to get the builds to compliment each other rather than get in the way.

NEXT WEEK :- 

I'll start posting photos of my "tri build" and hopefully, I'll also have the next lot of Telemaster photo's as well.

Winter is here!

Well - winter has well and truly settled in down here. The flying field is starting to resemble a lake and only the really crazy and the desperate venture outside. So now there are no more excuses and the building board has been dusted off and checked for square and warps. That means three projects are now spread across it's length and breadth - well yeah -  it is a fair size board. I've finally got the ribs finished for the Senior Telemaster, The Lancaster mainplane will shortly start coming together and the Lanzo Bomber plan has been pinned down. I've even started to look suspiciously at a few of my repair and restore projects and I've started to work on rebuilding the Harvard cockpit area.
I'll try to get the occasional days flying in but that is a "dodge the weather" operation. Tasmania is  famous(?) for it's 4 seasons in an hour weather changes!
Now that the building fog has descended on me I will update this blog on a weekly basis, so if you are interested check back every Saturday to see what else I've screwed up!


Cheers

June 2012 Update

 I just gotta get this under Control!!!


The start of a new financial year is as good as anytime to do a complete review of where my building program is at! I have this habit of getting all enthused and starting a lot of different builds at the same time, especially as from time to time my health lets me down and I retreat into the building cave. So - as I do every so often It's time to take the razor to the build list - Some models will be moved to the back of the hangar and some projects will be moved forward. There might even be one or two that will be given away or end up in the rubbish bin.


Yeah well - it's confession time so here's the list of what I have that flies: -
The Kyosho Trainer - A classic learn to fly High wing with 40 power
The Powerhouse, - My favourite Old Timer
Red Ned - Bliss - a powered glider - take it up - throttle back and fly!
The Float Plane, - This is one I restored - 60 power and floats.


Then there are those models that HAVE flown but met with unfortunate landings (read dumb pilot): -
The Harvard - Doing a rebuild and upgrade on this - Scale - working everything - radial engine
The Phoenix - I keep crashing it - and it keeps getting rebuilt!


And here's the list of what is yet to fly - and the current stage of build: -
1.The Senior Telemaster - Fuselage finished - wings on the board - covering to come - Enya 60X power
 2. The Lancaster, - Long term project - fuselage almost done - some redesigning involved
3. The Fournier RF4. - Fuselage finished - wings on the board - covering to come - ASP 30 4 stroke for power
4. The Mosquito PRXVI - the other long term project - early stages
5. The Lanzo Bomber - just started
6.  The CAC P51D - just started - my hot project  - Super Tigre 90 power
7. The Aero Commander Shrike - This one has been sitting in the back of the hangar - just moved up in the list
8. The WWI Monoplane - my own design - sitting at the back of the hangar
9. The Wittman Tailwind - Nothing happening - sitting at the back of the hangar
10. The Cassut Racer - Nothing happening - sitting at the back of the hangar


11.The 2 Blue Box Pilots - Not really a build - one to go in the P51 - the other in the Harvard


And finally the model plans that are lurking in the back ground begging me to start building: -
A PBY5 Catalina
A Senior Playboy
A Beaufighter
An SR71
A Curtis P40
A Neiuport Type 12
An Albatross D5a
A DH2e
A Douglas DC3
A SE5a
There are other plans in my collection - at one stage I had intentions of building them all - BUT - unfortunately I'm not going to live to be 204!

Yeah - I know - I'm as crazy as a hatter in a sock factory - tell me something I don't know!!!