Another 1930s Classic, Herb Weiss Minute Model F2A

[kittyfritters]

With a Peanut contest coming up I decided to build one of the Herb Weiss minute models as a Peanut. Now, why I thought this was going to be a good idea is beyond me currently. I chose the F2A, Brewster Buffalo, as the one to build. The first thing I found was that despite their small appearance and having "complete" plans on one page of a model magazine (More about the word "complete" later...these are 1930s plans.) they are somewhat larger. I scanned the plan into Inkscape, traced the parts and laser cut them.

PXL_20250518_005905677.jpg

The easiest thing to start with was the cowl...it's round. Of course, I made one small modification, making the cowl removable for easy access to the rubber. I use trapezoidal keys whenever I can. I glued the cowl rings together, cross graining them, chucked the assembly in my Dremel drill press, and smoothed it out with a sanding block in a few seconds.

PXL_20250518_011028063.jpg

PXL_20250518_014516277.jpg

[kittyfritters]

I intended to build it as described in the magazine article but then I read the article. When you first look at the plan the fuselage appears to be built on a crutch. I have no problem building a fuselage on a crutch, I've even designed a couple that way, but that's not exactly the way he did it. According to the instructions you build the wing first, glue formers to the leading and trailing edges, add the 1/8" X 1/16" crutch and add formers to the front and rear. I suppose it was supposed to be a self-jigging construction method built while holding it in your hand however, it occurred to me that I would have to cover the wing first (not mentioned in the article or on the plan) or I wouldn't be able to cover it and also that It wouldn't be hard to build a banana shaped fuselage this way. I decided to build it on a conventional crutch and cut the cross pieces out after I had the stringers on. The plan calls for another 1/8" X 1/16" stringer to make the edge of the cockpit with the top and bottom stringers being 1/16" square ("keels"?) and the remainder of the stringers being 1/32" square bamboo. The bamboo callout is to make the fuselage strong enough to run into a wall, no, really! Read the article. I decided that 1/32" square balsa would be enough.

PXL_20250518_015042888.jpg

When I got it together I decided that it was a bit heavy for such a small model so I decided to redesign it in my usual half shell style with 1/16" square keels and the 1/32" stringers. It was easy to simply cut the formers in the drawing and re-cut them on the laser.

PXL_20250520_202128913.jpg

PXL_20250520_204808290.jpg

[kittyfritters]

As you saw in my last post I changed the design to half former construction and cut new parts. I pinned down a top and bottom keel of 1/16" square. Then I pinned down right angle tools to the plan at the former positions. Working from back to front (to keep from trapping a right angle tool in the back of the fuselage) I glued in the half formers using the right angle tools to keep them perpendicular to the building board. I changed the 1/8" X 1/16" crutch to a 1/16" square side keel. I added the side keel, carefully then removed the last right angle tool. Herb had a 1/8" X1/16" master stringer that defined the edge of the cockpit and I changed that to 1/16" square also.

Now to get to get the other half on. This is where flat craft sticks and small clamps come in. For a model this small I split some craft sticks in half lengthwise. I apply a stick to one of the formers already glued on with a clamp, then put the other half of the former in place, clamping it to the craft stick, check the alignment, and apply glue. This technique works with any keel and half former model that doesn't have self jigging interlocking parts.

With the other side keel on I'm not building a banana and all I had to do was put the 1/32" stringers on. I built the key on the back of the cowl and checked the fit.

PXL_20250525_023229636.jpg

PXL_20250525_024519039.jpg

PXL_20250525_025331162.jpg

[kittyfritters]

I got back to work on the wings. I did do a slight redesign but it is still going to have bamboo wing tips as the plan called for. This is not my first experience with 1930s building techniques.

Wing_plan_smaller.jpg

As you can see, this model requires substantial dihedral.

PXL_20250529_012631378.jpg

The obligatory "bones" shot. The tail feathers are 1/32" sheet as on the original plan.

Bones Shot Smaller.jpg

[kittyfritters]

I used to bend bamboo around an incandescent light bulb but it's all LED around here now so not enough heat. I didn't want to have an open flame on the work bench but I hit on the idea of setting my heat gun on it's back on the bench and bending the bamboo around the nozzle. The picture is just for illustration, you have to use both hands while bending.

PXL_20250603_200226371.jpg

[kittyfritters]

The first picture is the skins I printed for the wing and stabilizer. This was relatively simple. The fuselage, not so much. I had to print several bond paper test images to test the fit. This is the smallest model that I have covered "wet". The wings weren't a problem although since I based the skins on my NoCal F2A skins they come out looking cartoonish on a dimensional model. So, I set up to do the fuselage

PXL_20250603_214003768.jpg

Fuselage_Test.jpg

Wings_.jpg

[kittyfritters]

The first side went on easily enough. The second side took a bit more work. I took it outside to mist it with Krylon. Like most 1930s scale model plans the canopy was something you had to work out for yourself. However, I did get it finished.

PXL_20250614_014635926.jpg

PXL_20250622_021135846.jpg

PXL_20250624_200311110.jpg

I took it to the OFFC meeting at the end of the month.I only had a few minutes to trim it because there was a P-18 contest that morning and the time I had was from the end of the contest until we had to give up the gym. Fortunately, it flew stabily from the start. Since it is rather draggy ( I think that I should have built it gear up.) it does need more power, so I will have to use 3/32" rubber instead of the 1/16" I had in it. I got flights all the way the length of the gym but it doesn't want to turn. I decided to try try trimming it outdoors at the Black Sheep LoCal contest on Sunday morning.

I took it to the LoCal contest (Finished second with my 15 year old P-51.) to see how it did outdoors. I put some larger, 3/32", rubber in it. It was a bit tail heavy with that rubber but I didn't have any stall/spin crashes and it's still in one piece. A little clay in the cowl fixed the tail heavy problem. With enough winds in it to get a long flight it has trouble handling the torque on launch but if the rubber is backed off it won't climb. I' thought to try a smaller prop. There was a slight breeze and it had some trouble with penetration because it is rather draggy. I think I should have built it "gear up" even though our indoor Peanut contests have an ROG bonus.

[kittyfritters]

I clipped the gear off of it. Only saved 0.84 grams but the reduction in drag was stunning. However it does look cuter sitting on the gear.

PXL_20250701_001425703.jpg

I took it to the OFFC meeting the next Wednesday and started some low powered trimming flights. When it was trimmed to turn comfortably in the middle of the room it would fly for a while then spin in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXA9I3feqLo but, if I opened the turn, it took the whole width of the room to circle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGkCL5noPAk I was afraid to put enough turns into it to get it to climb in the gym so I packed it up and flew another model. On the way home it occurred to me that maybe it wanted to turn left so I would try that next week. I did try trimming it to turn right and it didn't like it. But I did get it to fly complete circles in the gym. More videos next time. The upcoming contest is Limited Pennyplane so the serious indoor modelers will not like my trimming such a "heavy" model while they are trimming for the contest at the session. (Limited Pennyplanes have an 18 inch wing span and weigh 3.10 grams!)

[Scott]

Very nice model! That Felix the Cat Squadron emblem always
makes me smile.

[kittyfritters]

At a subsequent indoor session I was able to trim it to do a full circuit of the room. I will get it trimmed out!

KF

[StukaDave]

Gotta say, it was cool to see one of these models actually built and flying! Howard did a fine job.

[Ray Klein]

Good work. I have my own way off printing on tissue paper. How do you do it?

[kittyfritters]

Good work. I have my own way off printing on tissue paper. How do you do it?

Test that the software you use will print actual size images by printing on regular paper. If it doesn't work accurately save your image as a PDF and print from Acrobat selecting "actual size". Unless you have a large format printer you are limited to legal size carrier sheets.

If you are going to shrink the tissue with water or alcohol use a printer that has waterproof ink. Currently, this means an Epson printer with Dura-Brite ink. I haven't found any other printer with waterproof ink since Alps went out of business. If you know any different, please, let me know. Supposedly there is a waterproof ink available for the Epson Ecotank printers but it only seems available from Epson in other countries, not the US. (If someone from Epson knows different, please correct me.) I've been told that there is an aftermarket ink for the Ecotank printers that is waterproof but it has to be used from the very first load of ink in the printer and voids Epson's warrenty. Some people have had good luck with printers that don't have waterproof ink by gently steaming the tissue, which also gives them the opportunity to twist warps out of the model at the same time. The printer should be one with a straight through path not one that pulls the paper in and loops it back to the front. In other words sometimes the cheaper ones work better.

I use 3M or Elmers Repositionable Glue Stick to adhere the tissue to a carrier sheet. This is just Post-It note glue. You can get the printed tissue off without tearing it. The carrier sheets are the cheapest copy paper, you are going to throw them away. Put a streak of glue on each side and one end of the carrier sheet, three light streaks down the length of the tissue in the middle and a few diagonal streaks. This prevents the tissue from buckling up in the middle. The end of the carrier sheet without the glue is the back end. Leave it loose, the tissue has to float at one end. If you are confused at this point I'll take a video tomorrow and post it. Lay the tissue on the carrier sheet and smooth it out. Turn the carrier sheet over, put a streak of glue on the sides and the front edge and fold the edges of the tissue over being certain that the front edge is tight and smooth. That's where the printer will grab the sheet.

Epson printers are known for nozzle clogs if not used regularly so I made up an "Epson Excerciser" sheet that I print every few days to keep the nozzles clean and I run it to check that the nozzles are clean before I print a batch of tissue. I everything looks right load the printer one carrier sheet at a time. Sheets with tissue on them tend to jam if stacked in the feeder. Print at the plain paper setting with normal quality. Draft will tend to leave gaps and photo quality will flood the tissue.

Check that the print quality is good and when it's dry cut the tissue just inside the glued edges to free the front from the back and holding the carrier sheet firm to the work surface pull the tissue, carefully, from the loose end to the front and there you have it. Discard the carrier sheet.

This sound more complex than it is. When I do the video you will see how easy it it.

Hope this helps!

KF

[Ray Klein]

Thanks for the reply, good information, not just for me but the rest of the group.

[kittyfritters]

I made the promised video and it provided me with an afternoon of frustration. I did it on my cellphone and while it shows up on my Google Photos, when I try to download it all I get is the audio. I tried to upload it to YouTube and found no way of doing that. It is too large to email to myself from my cell phone so I will have to use another camera and do it again.

Sorry about that!

KF