Hi guys,
Randy helped me reduce the size of this picture of my scratch build Stiletto. I made a lot of building errors but I still love the way she flys. I flew her before I started to finish her, wanted to see if she would fly. The Stiletto design is one of the greatest plane I've ever played with. Hat off to Mr Les McDonald, thank you for the design. The closer I get to finishing her the more errors I notice. Don't laugh to hard, this is one of my first completely scratch build planes and I've learned a lot, don't know if I'll remember what I learned? I like to build, just not good at building. Sometimes the harder you try the worst it gets. If you don't try you'll never be able to laugh at yourself. I've seen article where planes have been stolen, with mine they would probably pay me to recover them. I guess that alright cus their mine and no one else would want them, so I guess that would make it better for me, Ha Ha. I believe I'll only have to sand her down, maybe a million more times before I go through the silkspan. I hope you get a laugh and maybe your plane will look a lot better after you see my picture. Poor Randy had to look at the picture and reduce it so I could make the rest of the group sick as well. Have a great day and If the weather let me I'm going to play tomorrow, Gary

Hi guys,

Here is a picture of my ugly stiletto, I hope you can see the picture. I still have a lot of work to do on her but for an amateur, maybe okay!!!! Have a great day and don't hurt yourself laughing, Gary

Looks good Gary. I like the Stiletto myself, Aren't the canopy normally up front?
Terry

Hi Terry,

Thats correct, if you notice the top you can see how much farther the canopy should have been. I never can leave things alone, I have to change, just me, can't help it. Actually if you check the plane out carefully you would find that the wing is different, its a little thicker than Mr. Les's wing. Each rib was made off of a cad program and sized, which makes it a little different. The fuse is real close to the print. The elevator, stab area is a little different. I didn't know when I was building her that the stab and elevator needed a 1/4" added to the stab and elevator to fly better but the program my son was using to help design the plane told us it needed a little more length? Don't remember but I believe its about 2" in length. After hearing the changes that needed to be done to the stab area. I was worried that the program could have been misleading. When I finished covering and enough coats of dope on her I took her out for a spin. I think she the greatest thing since cotton candy. I wish that I did more research before I build her. I'm very proud of her, of coarse she nothing like what Randy and the great builder out here do but shes mine and I love her and many thanks to Mr. Les McDonald for his creation. My Stiletto is a complete scratch build including control horns, bellcrank, tank. I didn't build the great Merco that will live in her, Mr. Frank Bowman is the man that rebuild that engine for her. (I lied, I bought the canopy, Sorry.)

Plane looks great to me.  Hope it flies as well.  Hope we never have to list all the items we did not make for our creations like they do in scale.  DOC Holliday

Thanks for the nice comments. I shot a coat of the dupli-color, paint shop, clear, #BSP300 clear coat on the engine cowl. I'm not sure I will use this product, seems soft. I e-mailed Randy about this product, waiting for his reply. The product seems to bring out a nice gloss. Have a great day, Gary

Hi guys,

I tried to put some checker squares on her to see how they would look. Not sure I like them, I need to clean up around the checkers and maybe install a boarder around the back to show off the squares a little more. I'm just having fun and trying different things on my Stiletto, Gary

How are you doing the checkers?  Sparky had a very novel way of doing them on his P-47.  DOC Holliday

Hi John,

Don't know if I'm doing them the correct way. I just took the area and divided it and lucky I ended up that 3/4" would work for me. I used the 1/16" vinyl tape and I thought it would look okay to follow the curve so I had to lay out my measurement on all three different areas. I think the checkers would have looked better if I had the silver pin stripe. I wasn't planning on putting the checkers on the plane but she needs something on the white area? Next plane I'll probably do the checker lay out when the base color is down. That would mean I'll have to paint all the squares!!! It was fun doing  because to cover up the squares that wasn't going to get painted was fun because I had to make a pattern to cut the cover up tape. I like to do lay out, thats what I've done most of my life is lay out. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to paint a decent paint job. Its like Randy told me you have to give up at some point or it will never end. I only have three wing to go with the checkers, ha ha. Then maybe I'll give up and start the clear coat process?? Thanks for your input, I hope people aren't getting tired of looking at this thread, Gary

Hey Gary; That plane sure looks familiar! Oh yea, I fly with you! Love it, it looks and flys great! Just hope my Trohpy Trainer looks/flys half as well.

Brian

So Gary, after all the finishing stuff, how does it fly? You had said you got a couple of flights on it before you finished it, but didn't really say if it went well.

So Gary, after all the finishing stuff, how does it fly? You had said you got a couple of flights on it before you finished it, but didn't really say if it went well.

Hi Randy,

She's a real dream, even the wind doesn't seem to bother her. Mr. Walter Hicks flew her for me and told me I have the real thing. Most of you great fliers and builders have flown planes of this nature, this is a first for me. I believe the plane makes me look better. It turns nice corners, no wiggles, just turns with grace and like I heard Mr. Randy Powell say, what a ride. I ended up with the Super Tigre 60 for a power plant. Each engine I tried loved the plane but my super tigre 60 (stock) with the stock muffler is a nice combo. The double star 61 worked out very well also but I needed a little more weigh in the nose and the tigre did the trick. The Merco 61 and 49 worked out well also but they seem to leak some fuel from the front bearing and I got used to the double star and my tigre not leaking. I got around thirty or more fliights on her and I love going to the field with her. I need to clean her up and dosomemore clear coat. I only shot a light coat to help protect the color and now its time to give up and finish her. After you fly a ship that will do every maneuvers with grace you can see why the experts work so hard getting their planes trimmed. Thank you for all your help Randy, I appreciate you taking your time to help us that need the guidance                  Gary

Hi guys,

I finally finish building my playhouse, so now its time to finish the Stiletto. Big question!!! has anyone used Napa's Acme Finish/1 Clear coat paint? Its a two part paint, mixture is 4 to 1. Norm Gayer used it and it seems to be okay, of coarse Norm always does a great job on his toys. Being a two part paint it seems to get good and hard just wonder if it will stand up under fuel and good old sun. I would appreciate any input, Gary ( I would like to get her finished for the Golden State Contest but I'm still having a lot of fun with the good old tutor.) Hey Michael, Brian getting really good, so I hope ya being getting a lot of practice, Ha Ha