{"id":5629,"date":"2023-05-18T00:59:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T05:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/?post_type=product&p=5629"},"modified":"2025-09-24T12:16:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T17:16:36","slug":"pondhopper-short-kit","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/?product=pondhopper-short-kit","title":{"rendered":"Pondhopper Short Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pondhopper was designed to use a Falcon 40 wing kit from Goldberg, which is no longer available of course. \u00a0The Falcon has an open structure wing and huge spar joiners, and requires large sticks with unusual dimensions for the leading edge, trailing edge and spars. \u00a0In my kit for the standard Falcon wing, the ribs are sized for a 3\/4\u2033 thick leading edge and a 3\/8\u2033 thick trailing edge, with no notches. \u00a0The main spar and rear spar are 1\/4 x 1 and 1\/4 x 1\/2, respectively.\u00a0 Standard Falcon ribs are included in the Pondhopper kit.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t feel like building the crazy Goldberg Falcon 40 wing, I also offer an alternate wing with a 3\/8\u2033 balsa leading edge, 1\/4\u2033 balsa trailing edge, and 1\/4\u2033 bass or spruce spars on top and bottom. \u00a0The wing is to be built as a D Tube structure with 1\/16\u2033 balsa sheeting on top and bottom, 1\/16\u2033 shear webs, and cap strips. \u00a0Here is a standard wing rib and an alternate rib for your reference.\u00a0 Overall outside dimensions of the wing are the same either way.<\/p>\n

\"ribs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the plan the engine pylon has a U-shaped cutout for a side mounted engine. \u00a0You can cut the pylon on the red line as shown in the diagram below, and install the included firewall on the front of the pylon, for mounting your engine on a standard nylon mount.<\/p>\n

\"pylon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just one other little detail: \u00a0The plan shows 3\/32\u2033 plywood on the bottom of the hull, but my kit has 1\/16\u2033 plywood for one simple reason. \u00a0I can buy\u00a0a sheet of 1\/16\u2033 plywood with the grain running the wrong way, to allow a 15\u2033 piece that will curve with the bottom of the fuselage, but I can\u2019t get 3\/32\u2033 plywood with grain going that direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pondhopper was designed to use a Falcon 40 wing kit from Goldberg, which is no longer available of course. \u00a0The Falcon has an open structure wing and huge spar joiners, and requires large sticks with unusual dimensions for the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4595,"template":"","meta":[],"product_cat":[34],"product_tag":[83,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product\/5629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_cat&post=5629"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.balsaworkbench.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fproduct_tag&post=5629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}