You go Jeff

   After being a Scale Judge at the Nats for the last 3 years and seeing all those beautiful ships I could'nt resist the temptation to get my feets wet.I have a matching pair of 061s and all the balsa.I looked thru a stack of old Air Trails and found a bunch of 3 views.Settled on the C-119 "Boxcar" and decided to make the later highly modified Vietnam era version after finding lots of info on it.Looks to be well distributed and I am hoping it will balance easily.It will have a 32" span and roughly 150 sq. inch wing area.The Gattling guns (20 MM) and JATO assist under the wings kinda stuck out enough to make me settle on the AC-119K "Stinger" gunship version.Hope to have her ready for the FCM in a few weeks.......Wish me luck!!

Jeff,

Profile or built up?

Charles,It's a built up profile.I suppose the lost balsa method.I had a couple 3 views blew up to the size I need and cut'em up for templates.I traced the outline,cut out the center and filled in with truss braces.Left plenty in the critical areas.I'm gonna skin the booms and center later tonight with 16th.I'm putting carbon veil by the wing and gear attach points in between the skeleton and the skins for added strength.The Gorilla glue talk at the nats got me thinking.A Q-tip applicator w/gorilla sparingly brushed on the center skeleton and apply the skin.Should be very light and strong.Gonna try the finishing resin/toilet paper trick too.See if I paid attention!!

Hi Jim,
      I spent some time making a small parts press out of Corian and MDF.Started watching a show about WWI and did'nt get much done after that.I made it so I could glue both sides at once but will do the first just 1 side.Once I check the first side for squeeze out I can get a good idea if the glue amount was correct,the rest should go quick.

The airframe is nearing completion and I have a little problem.........wheels.It requires 4-1 1/2" mains and all I have are old Perfect solid,HEAVY wheels.I can get a bunch of light foam 1 1/2" from china a month from now but I need them next week.Any ideas??

Tower Hobbies

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXB904&P=7   Have em shipped over night $$$$$$

Thanx John,
      I found a couple other possibilities on there as well.The weight is not listed but they all have to be lighter the the Perfect set.MAXX products has some very nice machined aluminum hub wheels that are only about 11 gr. per pair but pricey.I'll get it figured out sooner or later.Trax

The Dave Brown Lite Flite Wheel are very light.  I put brass tubing in the hub and they roll great.  Scale wise for 1/2A they are ok.  I suspect that you could paint them.  The hub is plastic so some testing may be in order.

Jeff:

I would like to voice a bit of concern about the Dave Brown Lite Flite wheels, particularly if they might be installed in any sort of wheel pants. Twice now I have I have seen those wheels deform from the heat of the asphalt pits at the Nats and squeeze the pants, not allowing the wheel to turn. The first was my Super Solution. When I throttled up, the plane rolled up on its nose, breaking the motor loose. I could not change the wheels due to my building stupidity. The plane never flew again. I gave it to the EAA museum. The second time was this summer. Grant Heistand's beautiful Spacewalker had those wheels. He had a stand to hold the plane up off of the pavement in the pits, but unknowingly his plane fell off of that stand. The result was that Grant did not realize this and when he tried to taxi the plane for takeoff, it would only tip the nose down. The wheels would not turn. Now, it may well be that in 1/2 A, your plane will be light enough to not compress the wheels in that way. However, I feel that the material that the wheels are made of (a black foam) contributes to the situation. I think that maybe the high heat of the asphalt that the plane is sitting on might contribute to the deformation. Hope this helps.

Jim Fruit

Building a scale aircraft during stunt season sometimes creates conflict..........especially when you thump no.1 stunter.Got her put back together for the last contest and I have resumed construction of this project.Can't figure out how to get my pics shrunk so I can post them.Hopefully soon.Trax