Chris has finished the main construction of this weird and wonderful WWII plane and has put it all together so that we can now see how it's looking.

The model is nylon covered and awaits the fitting of all the hardware and then painting - it will be done in German WWII camouflage.

Here's a picture of Chris with the model just to give you an idea of the scale.

Roll on the test flight!

chardie@lineone.net

You may remember Geoff mentioning recently that he was building a Ben Buckle Falcon when he asked for any hints and tips on covering with nylon. Well, he's certainly been getting on with the project and here are a couple of shots of the work in progress. 

Here's the fuselage at a pretty advanced stage of construction. That  lovely stringer construction looks really nice and, as Geoff says, there's no doubt about it that it does make for a good-looking model.

With the tail surfaces in place at the back and engine installed at the front, she starts to look the business, as they say!  With a 96" wingspan and recommended engine size of ·60 to ·90 2-stroke or 4-stroke (and I think Geoff is favouring the former), this 1937 Ben Buckle design is regarded as the flagship of the range. It is more complex than some of the others from this famous designer and is regarded by many as the best-looking and performing vintage model of them all. Geoff has actually decided to use Solartex for covering as he found he suffered an adverse reaction  to dope and sanding sealer.

I have had very little time available for building since the last ModelFlight (but I have managed to decorate the kitchen!). However, my third attempt to build the fuselage with an accurate centre line appears to have been successful using the fuselage jig that I had forgotten I had.

All the same, I still found it quite difficult to hold the centre line accurately for the full length of the model and even when it was fitting accurately over the plans, it still seemed to be slightly off-centre at the tail when I removed the fuselage from the jig. What's the best way to check it - a plumb line?

A few general hints and tips on this building lark would not go amiss, so if anybody feels like writing something up for the benefit of us less-experienced chaps, I would be delighted to publish it here on ModelFlight.