Dad's Workbench...

[wollins]

She's a beaut Bill! Curious as to what silicone spray you used?

Colin

[Wingnutz]

She's a beaut Bill! Curious as to what silicone spray you used?

Colin

Hi Colin,
Thanks for the compliment...I'll pass it on.
Used WD40 silicon spray...it was the first one I found at Home Depot.

[Wingnutz]

Over a beery pub lunch sometime in the fall of 2011, Dad expressed an interest in building a model of the Albatros DVa...definitely a candidate for anyone's short list of "Best Looking Biplanes". This was before e-flite released its nifty model of the same aircraft. I spent hours Googling for a model and eventually found a NIB foam Czech or Polish (I can't read either) foamy on RCCanada.  Ordered all the appropriate bits from HK and Dad finally came up with another great looking model...very light, and...VERY fragile foam...definitely not EPO or Z foam or anything else durable.
Maidened in that spectacular stretch of September weather that now seems so far away...the week after we maidened the Macchi.
Laborious pre-flight checks...triple check balance (no CG instructions...anywhere for this one!)
Even though the model is very light and easily small enough to hand launch, we decide to take-off from ROGO grass and this maiden did not go well...model went almost straight up  and before I had much of a chance to get any control, the pilot figure had crashed it...
Lo and behold...only minimal damage and after re-balancing with some lead weight on the nose, we tried again...success!
Some fairly aggressive trimming and tuning, a switch to hand launching and the flights got easier to the point that hands off passes the full length of ROGO are now possible in very light wind. Ailerons are being added to help the controllabilty in wind...
His DH89 Dragon Rapide and our jointly scratch built Cessna Crane are both waiting for the right weather for their maidens and we've started a joint build of an Avro Anson for this winter. So many neat airplanes to model and so little time!

[battlestu]

wow another great looking model!

Can't wait to see this one.

[sihinch]

Really, really beautiful aircraft Bill & Dad. Fantastic.

Thanks for continuing to show us these wonderful builds.

[piker]

Ya!  Dad's Workshop keeps churning them out.  Great stuff Bill and Dad. 

BTW, I expect to see that M5 at the shoreline next Spring.  Hey!  What about at the next Pilot's Meeting?

[Papa]

Way to go Bill and Dad.

jack.

[Wingnutz]

Blame Simon for this...last night he told me he likes to see what my dad is building!
When I started this thread, Dad was 89 and working on a small model of a Macchi M5 biplane/floatplane/fighter. Since then, he's finished  the Macchi, a Dumas DH89 Dragon Rapide, a kit of an Albatros DV5, and started his part of a Traplet Anson. We've flown the Macchi and the Albatros.
Now at 91+, he's gone back to building the M5, except this time it's the bigger one at approx 50" WS. There's building time for all of us!
I'll post as progress is made.

[sihinch]

I'll take full credit blame for this renewed thread! 


Your Dad build such interesting models and he builds so well.  Thanks for taking the time to share, Bill.  I love to see his subjects progress. 

[Papa]

Absolutely!


Jack.