chriswoody
Legendary Member
- Location
- Northern Germany
When I was younger I had a bit of a thing for Airfix kits and it's safe to say I wasn't much kop at it. I also had a go at building a free flight plane from balsa wood and that didn't go terribly well either! Roll forward a few decades and as the Autumn nights start to draw in, I had a bit of an urge to have another go at building a balsa wood plane, after all, I built a bike frame out of Bamboo, how hard can a plane be! (I may well live to regret that thought.) I also thought it might be a great thing to do with the kids on rainy afternoon, but let's see how they feel about that.
Having decided to try my hand at this, I cast around on the internet and came across the Vintage Model Company who manufacture a nice range of models out of Laser Cut Balsa Sheets. The planes are a traditional stick and tissue design, so a balsa wood skeleton covered in tissue paper to give it a skin. They are designed to fly on their own and propulsion is provided by a rubber motor which you wind up before launching. I ended up purchasing two planes in the end, as well as a couple of other random bits including some Eze Dope, in which to cover the tissue paper.
The Pilot is meant as a beginners kit, and as such is much more basic with fewer parts and simplified plans. The kit is really nicely presented and the parts are Laser etched into the Balsa and require minimal cutting free from the sheets, leaving precise and clean parts ready for construction. Hopefully me and the kids should be able to construct a flying model from it.
The pilot is not based on a real life plane and is just designed as a basic flying model, so I also decided to purchase a Tiger Moth, a plane that I find really classic in it's looks and should provide quite a challenge to construct. I'll probably tackle this one on my own.
The kit itself is much more detailed, with an extra sheet of parts and some very comprehensive looking plans. The kits come with wood glue, but I need to gather a few other supplies first, like pins, wax paper and other glues, before I can make a start.
Whilst all of the planes in this range are designed to be free flight models, they can also be converted to run Micro RC motors and electronics, which all sounds intriguing. If these actually go together well, I may be tempted into buying a third kit in the future and having a go at that.Any one who had the misfortune to follow my Bamboo bike build will know I like to take my time over these projects, so I may drag this out a bit!
Whilst I will drop by from time to time to pop in work in progress pics, I started this thread with the thought that if any one else does this kind of thing then throw in some pictures, or chime in with any tips or advise, because I'm probably going to need it!
Having decided to try my hand at this, I cast around on the internet and came across the Vintage Model Company who manufacture a nice range of models out of Laser Cut Balsa Sheets. The planes are a traditional stick and tissue design, so a balsa wood skeleton covered in tissue paper to give it a skin. They are designed to fly on their own and propulsion is provided by a rubber motor which you wind up before launching. I ended up purchasing two planes in the end, as well as a couple of other random bits including some Eze Dope, in which to cover the tissue paper.
The Pilot is meant as a beginners kit, and as such is much more basic with fewer parts and simplified plans. The kit is really nicely presented and the parts are Laser etched into the Balsa and require minimal cutting free from the sheets, leaving precise and clean parts ready for construction. Hopefully me and the kids should be able to construct a flying model from it.
The pilot is not based on a real life plane and is just designed as a basic flying model, so I also decided to purchase a Tiger Moth, a plane that I find really classic in it's looks and should provide quite a challenge to construct. I'll probably tackle this one on my own.
The kit itself is much more detailed, with an extra sheet of parts and some very comprehensive looking plans. The kits come with wood glue, but I need to gather a few other supplies first, like pins, wax paper and other glues, before I can make a start.
Whilst all of the planes in this range are designed to be free flight models, they can also be converted to run Micro RC motors and electronics, which all sounds intriguing. If these actually go together well, I may be tempted into buying a third kit in the future and having a go at that.Any one who had the misfortune to follow my Bamboo bike build will know I like to take my time over these projects, so I may drag this out a bit!
Whilst I will drop by from time to time to pop in work in progress pics, I started this thread with the thought that if any one else does this kind of thing then throw in some pictures, or chime in with any tips or advise, because I'm probably going to need it!