light. Scallops can be easily done using 220 paper wrapped around a ¹⁄₂-inch diameter dowel; start at the edges and work toward the center.
Wing Construction Upper and lower wings are identical. Di-
hedral is sanded in using the classic sand- ing block against the table edge technique.
Covering Notes There are so many dissimilar products presently available all under the name “Japanese Tissue” it is difficult to say “cov- er with Japanese tissue”. Use what you have or can find. The frame should be coat- ed with two or three coats of nitrate dope, covered dry, then very lightly moistened with water. Pin down empennage while shrinking. Joe used three coats of nitrate thinned half and half to seal the tissue. No gloss is needed. Cut out cockpit using pat- terned drawn in pencil. Cover and dope everything but the fuse-
lage forward bottom and the upper wing center-section top before final assembly. The nose was brush painted with silver bu- tyrate, but Floquil mixed with nitrate will also work. The interplane and cabane struts wee stained with furniture stain (Gold Star Fruitwood). Don’t forget the holes for the rigging. The undercarriage should be doped after assembly. Hot Stuff the stabilizer and rudder to the fuselage. Mark the cabane struts with pencil at
their entry point into the wing and where they will clear the ¹⁄₁₆-inch sheet top; this mark must be on the inside for reference. Cut appropriate slots through card stock, push ¹⁄₃₂-inch ply through, adjust mark to just clear the ¹⁄₁₆-inch sheet top, and make sure they are straight up and down refer- ing to marks. Hot Stuff to place. See photo for wing jig and lower wing positioning. In- stall bottom wing with Sig Bond. Install top wing using pencil marks for guide where the cabanes enter bottom of ribs. Carefully adjust for parallel as viewed from top. Be sure wings are level with each other when viewed from the front. When satisfied, Sig Bond cabanes into space be- tween double ribs of top wing. Allow everything to set, then remove
from jig. Sig Bond the landing gear into fuselage, cover and dope bottom of fuselage and top of upper wing center-section. In- stall interplane struts, then Hot Stuff to place. Complete by constructing the ¹⁄₃₂- inch bass landing gear frame in place on the fuselage bottom. The wire is not at- tached to the basswood, it is allowed to swing free preventing breakage but still giving a realistic appearance. The tailskid is cut of basswood and Hot Stuffed to the cross and side members of the fuselage. The interplane rigging is monofilament fishing line threaded through the small holes (¹⁄₃₂-inch or less) previously drilled into the struts. Tie a knot in one end, thread through both holes, tighten, and Hot Stuff. These lines should be tightened only enough to remove sag, they are not functional, only decorative, as are the Williams Brothers cylinders and the balsa fuel tank.
Preflight Use weight as needed to make model bal-
ance fore and aft when held at the spar of to wing. Once again as with his Farman
FLYING MODELS 49
1920 homebuilts kind of naturally reflected WW I state of the art. If your friends think you’ve got an obscure old fighter, then let them live on in fear. The design is actually pretty well proportioned for scale flight, purrs around quite nicely on a Telco or similar CO2 engine. They start with a single flip and produce nothing louder than a soft whisper, fine for nearby local ballpark sized flying sites.
Sport, Joe needed no ballast at all on the prototype model. Steam out any warps, rather unlikely, but check. Hand glide to check for any severe stall
or turn tendency. Correct with elevator or rudder. Set motor for half speed, “fire up”, and hand launch the model; it should bare- ly climb with a slight left turn. Increase to ³⁄₄ power to obtain a sweeping left hand turn as the model climbs. It may be neces- sary to use engine thrust adjustments (use washers) to prevent a right turn or power stall. Under no circumstance allow this model to turn right under power! The pro- totype had a slight power stall on the first flight. Since the cowl would have to be cut to add down thrust, Joe put a “tweek” of additional left rudder in. The second and all subsequent flights have been absolute- ly delightful. A full liquid charge gives a 30-45 second flight usually terminating with the engine still ticking over. At this
size and weight, Joe hasn’t been bothered with much of a glide and that’s not all bad! As delightfully cute as the “Baby Bomber” is, and as consistently well as it flies, who wants it to thermal? For just a few dollars and a couple of evenings of effort you can have as much fun as we are. Join in!
Reference Sources:
1. Underwood and Collinge, “The Light- plane Since 1909”. (Heritage Press), Box 167, Glendale, Calif. 91209.
2. Allen Wheeler, “Building Aeroplanes For ‘Those Magnificent Men’”. G.T. Foulis and Co. Ltd. 1-5 Portpool Lane, EC1, London, England.
3. Gordon Codding Plans, 3724 John L. Ave., Kingman, Arizona 86401.
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