PHOTO: MAUREEN FRAZER
Winder and stooge in action (above left). Not too many winds are needed for this Guillow’s Flying Machine, but the winder makes the work short. A homemade
winding hook. It sits in the brass sleeve notch but when winding can ride up and down in the sleeve causing the winder to jam. Once it’s seated some thick cyano and a spritz of accelerator will keep it seated. If the winder hook has to come out for any rea- son, the hook end can be cut and with a slight tap of a hammer the rest of it can be knocked out of the notch.
The other critical element of the winder is lubrication. The Teflon or silicone spray lu- bricant called for is essential, and in a some- what generous amount. After I assembled it and before I sprayed it, the winder did work but there was some “stiffness”. I removed the planet drive plate and liberally sprayed some silicone lubricant over the polyethyl- ene spacer and over the winder hook gear. What a difference. Now the winder flew with ease, clockwise and counterclockwise. Only warning here is that the spray should stay inside the winder. More than likely I will finish the outside of the winder with an acrylic clear coat after some judicious sand- ing. There are any number of options for fin- ishing the tool but a final finish really needs to be applied. It will cut down some on wood swelling in high humidity and allow the winder to work smoothly.
So now you have a winder. What to do
sanding tool addressed some tight fits in the mortises (above center). Some “persuasion” (above right) was needed to seat the caddy end plates.
with it. Since the winder was designed for smaller models—forget Wakefields, Mulvi- hills, Jumbo or Coconut scale!—it needs a companion stooge. So Mark obliged and kept the laser running to create his Retro stooge. Once again, this is designed for small models even though it has an exten- sion plate if needed. And to nestle the land- ing gear securely he added an adjustable gear plate.
The latter can slide into position on the extension board or the base plate and is se- cured by wedges. The extension plate easily attaches to the base plate with some notched slides secured by “mushroom” plates as Mark calls them. And the stooge can be eas- ily secured to a tripod by tapping a ply plate for a 1⁄4–20 screw, and attaching the plate to the stooge. Or the stooge can be secured to a table with a simple clamp, as I did. So the inevitable happens, and repairs are needed. Enter the third of the three new RetroRC products, the glue caddy. Glue bot- tles come in all sizes and shapes nowadays depending on whether it’s cyano, aliphatic wood glue, epoxy, or even a cyano accelera- tor. Can one size glue caddy fit all? Nope. So Mark designed four, one with even an extra feature that securely nests just about any hobby knife. Best way to see
what might suit anyone’s specific needs is to take a look at the pictures of all four and the various bottles and sizes they can take. Since the fit of the mortise and tenon cuts in the plates and ends are really tight there are two things to mention. First, it helps to sand slight bevels on the edges and the cor- ners of the tenon tongues, and secondly the mortise slots need a little dress sanding. An easily made sanding tool made the job sim- ple. It required one of these 6-inch steel rules made by General, some double sided tape, and some 180-grit sandpaper. This tool easily fit inside the mortise and was stiff enough to sand flat.
Have to admit the idea of a wooden winder is intriguing. But it most certainly is not a novelty especially since it works and works well. It has also been designed for the mod- eler and when coupled with its companion stooge, and one or more of the glue caddies, it is a very practical and valuable addition to the flight gear.
If you’re just as intrigued as I was, or just happen to be looking for a winder for small models, you can contact RetroRC by mail, e- mail, or phone call. Here’s the contact info: RetroRC, PO Box 193, Keego Harbor, MI 48320; 248-212-9666;
RetroRC@live.com, or
www.retrorc.us.com.
All four of the assembled caddies. The picture (above left) gives an idea of the varying sizes, and the shape of the holes for the bottles. Three of the caddies
FLYING MODELS
(above right) show some various glue bottles in the caddies. Note also in the center caddy, which is Caddy 4, there is provision for an hobby knife.
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