Description

This short kit is made from the Midwest kit plan.  Its wing incidence and center of gravity location are very similar to the original size Esquire and Li’l Esquire, so you may want to do some experimenting with the center of gravity.

The plan tells you to make the fuselage sides from strips of balsa with wider pieces of balsa filling in the space between the strips.  In my short kit the fuselage sides are cut from three big pieces of 1/4 inch balsa that you will join to make a full size fuselage side.

You make the bulkheads from strips as shown on the plan.

The firewall is a half inch thick on the plan.  Wow, that’s a lot of plywood.  I included four 1/8 inch plywood pieces to be laminated to make a 1/2 inch firewall.  But if you want a thinner, lighter firewall you don’t have to use all four of them.  It’s your choice.  It should be noted that the four firewall pieces are different heights to conform to the curve of the bottom of the fuselage with less sanding on your part.

The dihedral angle is not noted on the plan, so I asked someone who built the kit what the instructions say.  The instructions say 6 inches at one tip rib with the other panel flat on the table.