SPA Modeler

Stuart, yes, static display. If I rebuild the fuselage, I might use the old one to practice covering skills. Calvin and Hobbs comes to mind.

John, get one! It has been a lot of fun. More than I did expect. I have tried to build these for decades, literally. Always bog down trimming the plastic parts.

Kenny, thanks! It has been an adventure to be sure!

Thinking back on this, imayhave had attempted one back in the 70s - either the P-47 Thunderbolt or P-51 Mustang. Didn’t turn out as well. Ended up in the bin.

I’d love to try one in a biplane type. Red Baron or Sopwith Camel perhaps. I know there out there.

The replacement parts showed up a couple of days ago. As a bonus, got a set of wing ribs because of how they were arranged. Not much neat on the ribs, but they came in handy to fix a mistake.

Got a lot done on the fuselage today. I just started over. Also, wings are done.

Hey guys! Making progress, well sort of.

Fuselage is done.





Wings are on, incorrect dihedral for static, but they are on. When I caught it, it was too late. CA dries fast on balsa.





Still have a bit of "blocking" to add to firmly secure the tail surfaces and I need to finish up the floats. Those have to have a hand-carved nose piece. Certainly not a strong skill that I posses.

And on the needy side, if anyone has any spares of a two-bladed Hamilton Standard prop in 1/24 and a front half of a 9 cylinder radial in 1/24, I'd be happy to acquire them at a reasonable price, plus shipping. Thanks!

Oh, HAPPY THANKSGIVING tomorrow - For you non-USA folks, go eat some turkey anyway....

Looks like an airplane now!

Thanks. That was the plan. Not happy with the wings, but I'm not sure I want to try the release them to lessen the dihedral. The rib that butts up to the fuselage is CA'd in place....Thanks for looking.

Looks like you're having fun! Makes want to try one again

keavdog wrote:Looks like you're having fun! Makes want to try one again

Do it! You know you want to. Get the laser cut kits.

speedgraflex wrote:I did a quick internet peek to see if this was a known issue (dihedral) with the kit and it is. Usually what happens to modelers is one wing is higher than the other which Is not the case here. My instinct based on watching your prior builds is to advise you not to monkey around with this on the airframe but do a test with a good CA debonder on scraps of balsa to see if it is possible to release the areas affecting dihedral. If the debonder releases the CA hold easily you may have a solution. Still I advise caution here. Show the parts you have to carve for the float tips. I am curious to see those. Did you try Tower Hobbies for spare parts? Thanks in advance.

I do have debonder. As usual, I did not think of that. I believe that I put the wing struts too high on the fuselage. If I can lower them, that should fix it. Maybe....

I’ll scan the float plans. I bought a stick of 1” square stock and it is not big enough. I’m going to still need to glue up some shock to this. Guillows did not include anything for the floats but the plans. The parts sheets were seven bucks.