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Sm Tall alk H


appy New Year! Well, it’s still a bit early for that, but since this is the first column of 2012 I figure it would be a great time to welcome


everyone to a brand new year in modeling. 2011 was a terrific year, and I look forward to what you folks are up to in the year to come too.


Where it all begins I really like seeing modelers getting in-


volved in model airplane design, and I occa- sionally receive mail from guys who would love to design a model but don’t know where to begin. The process is somewhat long, so to prevent losing interest, pick something you really want to do that will hold your inter- est throughout the process. Designing a model airplane is really a 3-step process. It begins with deciding what to design, then drawing up the plans, and finally, building the model. CAD (Computer Aided Design) is neces-


sary if the parts are to be laser cut, but pen- cil on butcher paper is fine for a one-off de- sign. If you’re not already up to speed with CAD, or with drafting, keep it simple to ease the learning curve. And, set up your design using techniques you’re familiar with and are within your realm of building experience. That will avoid getting in over your head right from the start. For a scale model, work with 3-views, and for a non-scale model, stay with parameters that are known to work—in other words, “when in doubt, copy”. Once the plans are drawn, build the mod-


el and make corrections to the plans right away so that if you decide to build a second model, or the model is published, or you de- cide to offer it as a kit, the errors will al- ready be fixed and won’t come back to haunt you later. If you see things that could be done better than the way they’re drawn,


by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at patscustommodels@aol.com


PHOTO: CLINT SEAGRAVE


Australian modeler Clint Seagrave built his Tiger Mothfrom the Dumas kit. The Tiger Mothwas covered using transparent white and blue to reveal the light structure in flight. It’s not a scale appearance, but Clint definitely understands how to achieve that “classic model airplane look”.


make the changes during the build and cor- rect the plans accordingly. Then, once the prototype is finished, your reward is flying your new creation. For a conventional design, determining the bal- ance point is fairly straightforward, but for the less conventional designs, c.g. can be a bit ellusive, so rather than risk your proto- type, you can build a simple all-balsa, small- er scale glider of your model and trim it for flight, then use that knowledge to set up your prototype. The glider will also show you if your incidences are incorrect, or even if the tail or canard might possibly be too small to work. Two classic examples of that are the 1903


Wright Flyer I did in 2001 and more recent- ly, Tony Moore’s XP-55. Building a glider takes time, but its quicker than building a second prototype if your “best guess” turns out to be wrong. And that’s how the process works. So with


kits becoming fewer and farther between these days, don’t be afraid to give designing a try if there’s an airplane you would love to build that no one else has done. Designing a model is a big effort, but the rewards are def- initely worth it!


Modelers have been busy…. There’s a ton of good stuff here, so let’s get started: First up is Australian modeler Clint


PHOTOS: STEVE SWEENEY


PHOTO: GEORGE LASKAR


George Laskar has mastered the art of enlarging and reducing those early freeflight designs and has hit another home run with his Dennyplane (above). Modified for 3-channel R/C, these old designs are back in the forefront of SMALL modeling. Steve Sweeney shows us how nice a freeflight model (built from FMplans) can look with his Stinson Voyager (above right). And the scale propeller detailed from the common Peck Polymers gray plastic prop adds a nice touch to a beautifully built model. To help fill the large flat fuselage side (at right), Steve added the banner from Skywaysmagazine and the Stinson logo on the tail printed on the tissue using an ink jet printer. The numbers are also hand done using computer generated stencils and airbrushed onto the model using acrylic paint.


50 JANUARY 2012


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