PHOTOS: DAVE MITCHELL
High tech cutting tool. Add a state-of-the-art bi-directional edge guidance control system (above) as described in the text, and it makes for a nearly perfect cut (at right) almost every time.
drew. Use this ruler to check the top line, and when you’re satisfied, pin the top longeron in place. Then, begin positioning the vertical frame members, gluing the top ends to the longeron and leaving the bottom ends long. We’ll trim these to the plan. Ah, trimming to the plan. If ever there was a place to begin to falter in our quest for perfection, it’s here. You may have noticed that some plans are drawn with lines the width of human hairs, and some are more like crayons. If you’re dealing with the lat- ter, that’s one problem: to what furry point are you trimming? Another is making a clean cut, perpendicular to the plan surface. Here’s my all-time favorite, cheap cutting tool for the task, nothing more than a good- sized piece of hard balsa sheet with half of a double-edged razor glued firmly to one side, leaving about 3⁄32 inch of blade edge extend- ing (you can of course extend the blade fur- ther, but as they are very thin, you will in- crease the risk of it bending under the pressure of a cut). Just rough up one side of the blade body with some sandpaper and glue it to the balsa plate. Medium CA glue works great for this.
Take a magic marker and doodle all over your new, high tech tool so you don’t mistake it for the piece of very sharp scrap amongst the junk littering your workbench. The beauty of this tool is that you can bring it right up against the edge of a ruler to guide
your cut. If you make the tool tall enough, you get a good sense of whether or not you are setting your cut perpendicular to the work surface. Better yet, though, if you want
to insure a square cut, use a piece of 1 ×2 × 1⁄2-inch hardwood with a square edge as your cutting guide. You can register the blade up against that edge and it will guide your cut. But this doesn’t solve the problem of
where exactly to make the cut, and how to repeat it. Here’s my quick and dirty solu- tion. Take that same piece of 1⁄2-inch thick hardwood mentioned above, and cut a chan- nel crossways in the bottom that’s deep enough to clear the height of your fuselage frame members, about 3⁄8 inch wide. Set this tool over the piece of wood where you want to make the cut, but before you cut, take a fine point marker and mark a line on the plan, right along the edge of the block. With- out moving the block, make your cut. Repeat for every other cut you have to make. Basically, you are drawing your own reference line on the plans, one that is clear, straight, long enough to be useful, angled just as you want it, and easy to reference for repeatable cuts.
By the way, please make sure you have good light at your building table. It’s like money; you can never have enough. Update those old buzzing, flickering fluorescent bulbs for crying out loud, and maybe invest in a portable/adjustable benchtop lamp that
you can move around as needed. Do what - ever is necessary to make sure that you are never, never (well, hardly ever) squinting through a shadow to see a plan line. In closing, let’s check out a couple of fine examples of our craft. First, Bob Clemens’ neat 25-inch Comet Porterfield Flyabout. I direct your attention to the landing gear, featuring carefully curved 1⁄16-inch alu- minum tubing axles. Also notice how much character is provided on this humble design by addition of a few well executed details. The Comet Porterfield is the “One-Design” model for the 2013 FAC Non-Nats in Gene- seo, NY as well as the 2013 FAC Outdoor Champs in Muncie. Unfortunately, Bob built his a few years back and laminated his wingtips and tail feather outlines, which makes his model ineligible for the event. But it’s a beautiful model nonetheless! Next up is this stunning Caproni Ca.20 by Enrique Maltz. This highly detailed peanut weighs all of 8.7 grams. Notice the cooling vents on the spinner, and think about how you would render these. Enrique built this model from plans given to him by the great Czech modeler and designer, Lubomir Koutny.
Send me your ideas, photographs, proj- ects, questions and comments on a regular basis, otherwise you will be subjected to me banging on endlessly about what’s on my bench. Clutter, that’s what....
PHOTO: BOB CLEMENS
Bob Clemens’ 33-gram Porterfield Flyabout (above left) displays the clean work for which Bob is famous. Details like gas caps and elevator trim adjustment slots help turn a modest design into a work of art. When he is not busy playing
FLYING MODELS
PHOTO: ALEX WHITTAKER
cello with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, Enrique Maltz specializes in building beautifully rendered scale models. This peanut Caproni Ca.20 (above right) is no exception. Note the superb pilot!
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