Guillows sheetwood flying models - the Zip nocals.

[kittyfritters]

Interesting...I too picked up one at Hobby Lobby the other day. With the weekly discount coupon, it was really an affordable price. I'm about half way done. I can tell you attempting to apply the wing covering is a real challenge.

Of course! That's because you know how it's "supposed" to be done. The sticky plastic works well, but those of us with experience will substitute tissue to get a lighter model..

Howard

[John G Jedinak]

Well, even though I am not a FF'er, I considered using tissue. Instead I decided to be a purist and build it as they designed.

[simpleflyer]

Thank you, John, for your comments. We are also planning to mostly follow the instructions in building this kit; but will probably make a few alterations to make it easier to fly as a swing control model.

[John G Jedinak]

SF & All.......be gentle in handling the individual parts on the MiniModels. They have a tendency to split along the etching marks.

[simpleflyer]

Thanks, John, for your suggestion. We shall start building our F6F, soon.

Al

[simpleflyer]

We?

I guess it's a not so good habit the we have acquired. There's a word for it:

nosism
nosismno•sis•m (NO-siz-em) n
Definition:
the use of 'we' in referring to oneself
nosist noun; nosistic adjective
Origin:
from Latin nos ("we" + ism)

Hope that it's not confusing

al

[simpleflyer]

I did not know there's a word for it

Me, either, until Googling some grammer usage to find out the why of our usage of we in referring to oneself. But to the best of our understanding of our reading, it is not the "imperial WE"

Made some progress on the F6F, finding out it has some differences from the 1957 version.

[simpleflyer]

More progress on the F6F. Attaching the horizontal tail to the fuselage and additional doublers to the nose. 'Hi-Tech' assembly jig is an old X-Acto C-clamp with square outer edges. Simple and works great.



Fuselage assembly complete except for sanding nose.

[simpleflyer]

Plastic film cover attached to top of wing and wing is being glued to fuselage. After wing joint is dry, film will be attached to bottom of wing.

[simpleflyer]

I can tell you attempting to apply the wing covering is a real challenge.

Same with our covering experience, We tried leaving out the dihedral bends for the outer panels and just have a single dihedral joint on the fuselage centerline. Still the film application was a challenge, managed to get both sides of both wings covered with some slackness in the film. Added some nose weight and a loop of thread to the right wing and the F6F is ready for a test flight.



It was such a beautiful clear day with mild breezes so we decided to take some more 'swingers' for some flying time.



First flight of the F6F was poor due to insufficient nose weight. Adding more weight and it flew OK.



Overall, the new F6F builds up well, however we prefer the construction of the older version and plan to build an enlarged profile version of the F6F in the future and use paper covering for the wing.

[simpleflyer]

To take advantage of the beautiful weather, the DC series profile P-40 was flown, also.



Information for scratch building the P-40 may be seen at:

http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1646&start=45

If you go to the above page and check the prior page, you can find how the DC profile Avia C-10 was built. The Guillows DC series plan for the Me-109 was adapted to build the C-10.

Also flown were a couple of ZIP no-cal profiles. A modified A-26(On Mark Marksman)



And a profile P-80(LulluBelle)

[simpleflyer]

As this year ends, we are enjoying some nice weather at times. Today was another one of those great days for flying. So we took out a few of our ZIP swingers for some flying. First the little P-84 is framed by the neighbor's Sycamore that is still dropping leaves, at least they are falling into his yard instead of ours on these relatively calm days.

Next is the sheet wood A-26 Tradesman, remarkable flyer for a 12 inch wingspan.

Another pic of the Tradesman showing some of our cloudcover at midday, expanded vapor trails from overhead aircraft.

Finally, the little Foam Wing.

Cheap flyer. Plans downloadable from Guillows for free. Building material is recycled food take-out trays from our favorite eating place away from home

Wishes to all for a good and healthful new year.

Al

[davidchoate]

nice

[simpleflyer]

nice

That they are, and thank you for your comment, David.

These little flyers offer to me the most bang for the buck and endless opportunities for fun flying.

Al

[davidchoate]

I have alot of old issues of Model Airplane News from the 80's, and in almost every issue is a plan for a NOCAL. I just might have to build one.