Sinbad the Sailor is now ready for covering (above) after getting a light sanding. Do not skip this step as even the slightest bump will show. The horizontal stab has been covered with Coverite Microlite (at right).
mers to assemble, even the stringers are laser cut. On small models such as this, I am absolutely paranoid of having a tail-heavy plane. After all, a nose heavy plane will fly again, but a tail-heavy plane will most likely fly only once. With this in mind, I construct- ed the horizontal and vertical stabilizer, rud- der and elevator entirely with Titebond glue. I feel it is just as strong but not nearly as heavy as CyA. It also gives me time to prop- erly position parts and get a good bond. It only took the span of 20 minutes for the hor- izontal stabilizer and elevator, and 10 min- utes for the vertical stabilizer and rudder to be built. After construction, a good sanding is required and the surfaces are ready for cov- ering
Wing: Moving on to the wing is for the
most part, nothing new. That said, howev- er, the design allows one to have a three- piece wing. A middle rib section that neatly fits into a pocket on top of the wing saddle joins two wing panels. No need to worry about setting the dihedral. It is engineered
to be there as long as you build the wing as designed.
Why, you ask is a model with such a wing span, a three-piece? Ah, because Retro RC has designed a motor pod that re- places that little middle rib. More on that later. Two 2-inch metal rods join the wing. The instructions have you cut a piece of aluminum tubing in four pieces, pinch one end and glue each piece into the wing. Holes for the tubes are already cut so there is no guesswork.
Sheeting the wing was the most time con- suming; but again, I used Titebond as it gave me more time to work with the skins and those too are laser cut. Wing construc- tion took a bit longer, but it was truly enjoy- able without any head scratching involved. Be sure to build the lightweight wings on a flat surface as they can warp rather easily. I then used a rough grit sandpaper on the wing roots to sand the aforementioned wing tubes flush with the wing root and to shape the leading edge as well as the wing tips.
Next, I followed by using a finer sandpaper to carefully sand the entire wing surface.
Covering and finish When it came time to cover Sinbad, I strug- gled with what to cover it with. Mark suggests and uses Coverite’s CoverLite material. The material does a good job at simulating a tis- sue-covered model but has the characteristics of an iron-on. It is not hard to use. However, with a date looming over me for an all electric fun fly, I wanted to get the model finished quickly. For years, I have used another Coverite product called Microlite. It tacks on at only 125 degrees and shrinks nicely; in fact I was able to cover the entire main fuselage with just two pieces of the Microlite. Patience and heat control are the name of the game when using it and if both are used, you are re- warded with a nice finish. I tacked the cover- ing onto the center keel in the middle of the fuselage and worked my way forward. A com- bination of shrinking and tacking is used at a temperature of around 275 degrees. I wanted
Trim scheme of Jim’s Sinbadis reminiscent of those seen on models from the 1940s and 1950s. The cream and dark blue trim (above left) is designed to accentuate the model’s flowing lines. Clever use of the tow hook (above right)
FLYING MODELS
and auto rudder if used as a freeflight model. Retro RC includes a decal sheet with the famous Olive Oyl of Popeye fame. Those old enough to remember the Popeye cartoons will understand the use of Olive as the pilot for Sinbad!
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