D.P.R Rare Bird Sailplane

Coming soon to a forum thread near you, The Rare Bird with a wing span of 90cms. Suitable for towline launch or slope soaring
This thread is rated a PG and may contain scenes of [strike]se..[/strike] (yeah, right!) , violence (hammer to balsa), nudity (bare balsa, stop dribbling Beardie :evil: !) and bad language (oh flippin eck, bloomin nora etc)

Although the temptation to kick a fluffy stuffed cat may be strong at times, we would like to assure readers that no animals will be hurt in the making of this thread........although there may be a few glued accidently to the table!! :evil:






Will start this build tonight hopefully, when Izzy has gone home, being as she got hold of a red felt tip at home the other day and coloured the westie in!! It is now sporting a lovely "pink" patch to its side fur!!! so I trust her near this glue and crafting knife like a hole in the head!!

Take your time with it, Sarah Make sure you have the right bits BEFORE you glue them. Try dry-fitting parts (put them together without glue to see how they fit!), before you commit hari kiri or stick Izzy to the tree outside!

And if you really want to be clever, fit it with a rudder and elavator, ive seen one go with 2 channel radio in, its easily doable

alan cantwell wrote: And if you really want to be clever, fit it with a rudder and elavator, ive seen one go with 2 channel radio in, its easily doable

was thinking about that, cos would love to have my very own plane for sloping, but am not very confident with the electrics hence why the fun cub is still waiting to be finished and am starting with the FF as a way of rebuilding my confidence.

All pieces present and correct
Have numbered all the strips of balsa as they come in 5 different groups of sizes, so as not to get confused! All ready and cookin' with gas muhahaha

That was my original intention, Alan!

QUESTION NO 1 (oh come on, you knew there would be some hehe :whistle: )

The instructions call for the surfaces that are to be joined to be coated with balsa cement, rubbed into the grain to seal the wood then when dry reapplyed before bringing the parts toether.

Erm why? Is this to strengthen the wood at the join?

Basically, yes, its called double gluing, the new glue will melt into the old glue, and the bond will be stronger---me, i use cyno,

Cheers Mr C. :kiss:

Using 3 strips of 12.5mm x2.25mm of balsa, two pieces were cut diagonally (see picture) and the third piece cut in half.
With the diagonally cut pieces pinned in place the 2 halves were cut to match the diagonal thus creating one long fusalage side x 2

The box does contain a polythene sheet to cover the plans with, but guess what?? It doesn't fit the entire plan :lol: So back to the trusty cling film. However found a use for the sheet- inbetween the two sides of fusalage. So after double gluing both sides were constructed, glued and pinned in place.




Before Eric chimes in (I know what you are thinking! :whistle: ) The dark line between the joint is NOT a gap, it is pencil so ner

fusalage formers cut out and ready. Hmmm not sure if this is normal, having had not a lot of experience of die cut panels, but had to trace a lot of it with my craft knife as they were not cut out properly but no matter, all done and ready for the next bit.

Another trick when plan building, is to rub the joint areas on the plan with candle wax, nothing will stick to the plan then,

alan cantwell wrote: Basically, yes, its called double gluing, the new glue will melt into the old glue, and the bond will be stronger---me, i use cyno,

Be careful Alan, cyano doesn't stick to itself. :huh:

Sorry, should have been clearer, i just use cyno, i do not pre glue with it, cyno will wick through the structure, if there are any gaps, then baking soda makes a goor filler, but be carefull, it can spatter, when using Cyno, particulary thin viscosity, i wear eye protection,

Ah, I see now.

I hate cyano.

Sarah wrote - but had to trace a lot of it with my craft knife
It's commonly known as die-crunching! Because the wood panels were marked and printed like on a printing press, after a while the cutter edges got blunt, and crunched, rather than cut, through the wood.

Sarah-Jane Smith wrote: QUESTION NO 1 (oh come on, you knew there would be some hehe :whistle: )

The instructions call for the surfaces that are to be joined to be coated with balsa cement, rubbed into the grain to seal the wood then when dry reapplyed before bringing the parts toether.

Erm why? Is this to strengthen the wood at the join?

See my first post on this thread Sarah for an answer to the question: www.modelchat.org.uk/forum/free-flight-m...r-small-balsa-models The comments there on cyano for FF models are also valid.