For the Golden Oldie biplane kit I have substituted lite ply for the 1\/8\u2033 balsa fuselage parts. \u00a0The simple reason is that when cut from balsa sheet the cockpit floor and fuel tank floor are long enough to require splicing. \u00a0When cut from lite ply they can be made in one piece and thus will be more accurate. \u00a0I went ahead and added the turtle deck formers to the lite ply sheet while I was at it.<\/p>\n
As mentioned elsewhere, the laser cutter does a nice job with 1\/8\u2033 plywood, so all 1\/4\u2033 ply parts are laminated from two layers of 1\/8\u2033. \u00a0You\u2019ll notice on the Golden Oldie plan that there are lots of little 1\/8\u2033 and 1\/4\u2033 plywood blocks for attaching the struts, the rigging, the aileron servo horns, and the aileron-to-aileron horns. When you buy this short kit, you will receive a considerable pile of 1\/8\u2033 plywood rectangles of various sizes, and it\u2019s your job to lay them out on the plan and figure out where they go. \u00a0While you\u2019re at it, you\u2019ll have to figure out the stabilizer center section as well, which is in four pieces of 3\/16\u2033 balsa, to be edge-joined and then laminated to form one large piece of 3\/8\u2033 balsa as shown on the plan.<\/p>\n
The plan shows cabane struts and interplane struts made of 1\/4\u2033 x 3\/4\u2033 spruce. \u00a0My short kit includes cabanes made of 2\u00a0layers of 1\/8\u2033 plywood, in case you prefer to build the plane this way and save yourself a bit of trouble. \u00a0It\u2019s your choice. \u00a0While I was at it, I also included a floor to be set into the top of the struts, to allow the wing to be bolted through from the top, into the plywood floor, with nylon bolts and blind nuts. \u00a0The joint between the strut and the floor should be reinforced with a bit of triangle stock, as in the photos of my Sporty Forty<\/a> biplane. \u00a0You can build it my way, or you can build it with little brackets as shown on the plan.<\/p>\n On the topic of struts, it wouldn\u2019t save the builder any trouble to have pre-cut interplane struts, because the strut length will vary immensely from one finished model to the next due to variations in dihedral angle. \u00a0So go ahead and cut these from spruce as noted on the plan, or from balsa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the Golden Oldie biplane kit I have substituted lite ply for the 1\/8\u2033 balsa fuselage parts. \u00a0The simple reason is that when cut from balsa sheet the cockpit floor and fuel tank floor are long enough to require splicing. … Continue reading