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Let us watch your model in the making, from when you open the kit to air-borne! Don't feel you have to chronicle every step, unless you want to. Just send an occasional picture or two and an explanatory note and we can catch up with your progress from time to time on this page. It will only appear when there's something to report and we can keep as many projects going as you wish. I must reserve the right to select and crop pictures, though, otherwise the page will take too long to download. 

Most shots on this page are thumbnails - click on them for an enlarged view

As you can see, the basic fuselage box is complete (left) and I have added the radiator bottom and sides. The next step was to fix and align the wings. Again, following the handbook and tried and trusted methods, the wings were aligned to the fuselage with a pin in a temporary  sternpost and a piece of string to the trailing edge of rib W12 each side (right). I have to say the wing fitted perfect with the alignment spot on. I then fixed the wing with pins whilst I drilled the wing bolt plate mount on the wing and the fuselage. At this point I deviated from the manual. It stated that the wing bolt acceptance plate in the fuselage should be drilled and tapped to ¼ - 20 tap and then strengthened with cyano. "Well, call me old-fashioned", but I don't possess American sized taps and I wasn't happy with a large wing being held on with two nylon bolts tapped into plywood. I went for the more conventional method: T-nuts epoxied into the fuselage wing bolt plate. It was then that I had a long lay off.

This weekend I have taken up the challenge again and I have attached the tail feathers (left). Following the manual and conventional methods the tailplane fitted perfectly into the receiving saddle followed by the fin; they were tacked with cyano and when the last alignment check was done all the joints were epoxied. As you can see from the photo to the right, I took Allan Knight’s advice and lightened the back end; note the holes in the rudder plate, you can also clearly see the flap structure which I have yet to sheet over. Also note the cut-outs in the fin and stabiliser; these are the scale slots for the control surface counter balances. I have yet to get a set of retract units - I cannot get hold of Robart #605 90 degree legs at my local model shop, so I will have to do some ringing around mail order shops.

Well that’s about all for now. My next report should be about the engine alignment and completing the fuselage skinning, the Christmas break should see a better shape in the next report.

Last seen on work in progress #47