Guillows sheetwood flying models - the Zip nocals.

[simpleflyer]

The Mustang wing is changed to one piece so the sliding wing mounting system can be used. This system is used on the Yak 15 profile model athttp://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 6&start=60 About midpage. Wing is also repaired and strengthened due to prior damage.

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Doublers and reinforcement strips fitted to the fuselage.

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One piece wing slid into place.

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[simpleflyer]

Doublers and strips glued in place. Wing covered and model rigged for swing control. Ready for test flight

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Test flights went well.

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[simpleflyer]

Nose and forward fuselage sanded. Nose airscoop relocated to replicate the modification done by Johnson to his racer.

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[simpleflyer]

We covered the profile fuselage in yellow tissue and the nose spinner is represented in red tissue. Now we need to cut and apply racing and registration numbers.

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[simpleflyer]

Took the Mustang out for some flying and it does well.

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[simpleflyer]

Four years ago we started building a display model of a F-84. Guillows produced two sizes of this model in their shelf model series. If one is interested in the shelf model series, click on page 7 of this thread. The first few messages There give a description of the series.

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This was as far as we got in 2008. It began as an exercise in nostalgia as we had started a ten cent version this kit but did not quite finish it. One can see the start of this build at the Virtual Aerodrome in the 'simpleflyer' hangar, click on the picture of the F-84 kit and parts.

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We've decided to revisit the project and see if we can make it into a 'swinger'. First we drew a simple side view of the model that we used to figure out some mods to the original kit.

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[simpleflyer]

Our references for building the F-84.

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The assembly drawing from the Guillows shelf model of the F-84. This is from the 25 cent version of the kit. The 10 cent version that we built as a kit had simple canopy hand made from scrap cellophane and had a 5 1/4 inch wingspan. The fuselage profile is full size on the plan as are the formers and other bits. The drawing contains all the needed data to build the fuselage and vertical tail. For the wing and horizontal tail, a scan of the die cut parts is helpful, or as an alternate, one could use a 3 view of the airplane being modeled. We kinda like this simple 3 view drawing of the F-84 drawn by Bjorn Karlstrom. Close enough for the level of scale I need for our backyard 'swingers' ;o)

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[simpleflyer]

I/8 sheet balsa used to fill in the underside of the F-84. If built according to plan, a piece of paper is cut from the plan and covers the rear underside of the model. We used balsa sheet fill for this area so that the strake under the tail would be retained, which IMHO is a distinctive feature of the F-84.

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Adding 1/8 sheet to the upper fuselage. Additional 1/8 strips added to fuselage sides so that the fuselage can be carved to a more circular shape, rather than slab sides.

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Ready to carve and sand to shape. A carved balsa canopy will be used. Model wingspan is 5 1/4 inches and when completed will be one of our smallest swing control models.

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[simpleflyer]

Results after a bit of carving, sanding, and a few strokes of a ballpoint pen.

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[simpleflyer]

A bit of weight is needed in the nose to bring the CG to a flyable range. Using an improvised hole punch, a hole was punched in the nose intake. A short piece of soda straw was cut and a bit of clay inserted in the end.

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The piece of straw is inserted into the nose of the F-84. The straw is removable if the weight needs to be adjusted.

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An indoor test flight was made on a short length of thread and went well, so we are looking forward to going outdoors tomorrow and trying a longer swing line.

[simpleflyer]

Test flights went OK. Surprisingly well for a tiny model of 5 1/4 inches wingspan.

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[simpleflyer]

A few days ago we had a good late afternoon flight session with a few of our 'swingers'. The profile Mustang rewarded us with some nice flights.

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[kittyfritters]

Here are some photos of my B-29 cat glider prototype. This is my from drawing, not the Guillow's solid plan. Since this is a first proof of concept prototype I just cut it out and glued it together with no sanding or attempt at finishing. The first one is made out of some scrap wood and is a bit heavy to glide really well although, since it rolls out high, I got some pretty decent flights while sorting it out. In fact the wings were not cut from the same sheet of balsa and one of them is so heavy that it took gluing five straight pins under the opposite wing tip to achieve lateral balance. There are six bb shot under the nose doublers to achieve rough balance and the fine balance is done with a single straight pin that can be shifted from the nose to the tail if necessary. It shows a great deal of promise, most importantly, a good, straight up launch with a roll out right at the top. It has scale outlines and a 16 inch wing span. (That gives you a good scale on the cat. His name is Schrodinger.) It has been suggested that I make it a third larger and give it an overscale elevator, but from what I see, all it needs to be made of some good wood so it is considerably lighter. When it is sorted out it should fly better than my B-52. I may need to revisit the B-52 design after this.

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[simpleflyer]

Thanks, Howard, for posting the pictures and information about the B-29. I notice the dark edging on the balsa. Was it laser cut? Are you planning to market the B-29 or similar planes as a model kit? Nice picture of Schrodinger, looks well but perhaps ambivalent about the B-29.

Keep us posted on your progress with the B-29 and B-52. These would be in the spirit of the old Guillows 'zip-nocals'. It would be nice if Guillows could be encouraged to a produce some of these scale toss gliders and include them in their RTF product lines. There are many modern full scale airplanes that would be good subjects for this type of model.

Al

[kittyfritters]

Al,

Yes, the B-29 is laser cut. I did it more for practice, and because I can. I also have prototyped the B-52 and De Havilland Vampire F.1 as laser cut cat gliders. The B-52 is a proven flier. (Plans for the B-52 are on your Yahoo group, Minute Models.) The Vampire has proven to be difficult to make into a reliable flier and I will not be able to put much effort into that for a while. Marketing plans for my cat gliders are up in the air at the moment. (Pun intended.)

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I have also laser cut some of the DC series models, the Bf-109, Hurricane, Spitfire, and Stuka, for an upcoming Blacksheep indoor contest. The laser cut DC kits were passed out to Blacksheep members who are intending to compete in the Guillow's Battle of Britain contest. This was also done partially for practice with my laser cutter. (Sorry, no pictures, yet, I'll post some next week.)

I have also done an all balsa, A-frame twin pusher that flies very well and I may release that as a plan. It's so simple that it really does not require laser cut parts.

Although I am doing some contract laser cutting and getting a few simple models ready for upcoming contests, most of my efforts are going into getting the first of my own kits ready for release by the AMA Expo in January,


Howard