Workshop Build-Alongs


Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 3 — Tail Feathers

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 3 — Tail Feathers

Well, it has been a busy summer and flying season and with the weather getting cooler and the days shorter, I thought I’d get back into the workshop and make some more sawdust with the Douglas Skyraider project. As a reminder, I am building a 15% reduced version of the popular 100-inch Ziroli Skyraider. My […]
New Workshop Build-Along — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Part 2

New Workshop Build-Along — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Part 2

The shop was getting a bit too quiet so I have started on my new building project as mentioned earlier, a Douglas A-1J Skyraider. My 85 inch version is based completely on the design by Nick Ziroli. His 100-inch-span Skyraider is a very popular, great flying warbird, and so I reduced the plans by 15% […]
New Build Project — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Reduced Ziroli Design

New Build Project — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Reduced Ziroli Design

It has been a while so I decided to get a little more serious about a new workshop project. My new build is going to be an 85 inch span version of Nick Ziroli’s 100-inch 1/6-scale Douglas Skyraider. Reduced 15%, the 85 inch version will be about the same size as the popular giant scale […]
Top Gun Free Flight Scale — A new competition category!

Top Gun Free Flight Scale — A new competition category!

Well, we all have come to expect surprises from Frank Tiano, AKA the Father of the Top Gun Scale Invitational held each year at Lakeland, FL, and this year is no exception. For the 2016 event, Frank has added a serious Free Flight competition for anyone attending the event. These aren’t your every day Free […]
1/3-scale Fokker Triplane Flight Report — Sneak Peek

1/3-scale Fokker Triplane Flight Report — Sneak Peek

Soon to be published in our upcoming February 2016 issue of MAN, here’s a sneak peak of Balsa USA giant scale Fokker Triplane kit review, by editor, Gerry Yarrish. Video Courtesy of Ron Prestin One of my all-time favorite airplanes is the Fokker triplane. First seeing action in 1917, the Fokker Dr.1 (tridecker), was a […]
Installing a Dummy Rotary Engine — Dressing up my Camel — Part 3

Installing a Dummy Rotary Engine — Dressing up my Camel — Part 3

So, I finished up the dummy rotary engine for the Sopwith Camel this weekend. The over all project took only about 10 hours and spread over a few days, that’s no time at all. I finally decided to attach the molded engine to the inside of the engine cowling. This is the typical way to […]
Installing a Dummy Rotary Engine — Dressing up my Camel — Part 2

Installing a Dummy Rotary Engine — Dressing up my Camel — Part 2

Work always get in the way of fun time so it takes a little longer than normal when I work on a project during the work week.  I have broken this Technique into three parts and here is the rest of the painting and finishing portion. Part 3 will deal with attaching and securing the […]
Engine Swap for the Camel

Engine Swap for the Camel

Well, it has been an active flying season so far and I have flown the Sopwith Camel several times including at the big Fun Fly on Father’s Day in Kingston, Ontario in June, at the recent Warbirds over Delaware in July, at our home field in Farmington, CT and at the Dawn Patrol event at the Long […]
Patching up a Camel — Wing Repairs

Patching up a Camel — Wing Repairs

While flying the Sopwith Camel featured in our Build-Along series, I made a bad piloting decision. While at the Warbirds over Delaware event, I made a few successful flights in between taking photos and covering the event for MAN. Anyway, I came in for a landing and allowed the Camel to drift off the runway […]
Sopwith Camel Update — Build-Along Part 31

Sopwith Camel Update — Build-Along Part 31

So, after an exciting, yet informative test flight, I found that we had a very nose-heavy condition, even though from the plans, I had the model balanced at the 25% MAC position. So much for the theory. With the Camel back safe and sound in the workshop, I have since moved the CG back to the […]
Workshop Build-Along — Sopwith Camel Part 30 — Test Flight with Video

Workshop Build-Along — Sopwith Camel Part 30 — Test Flight with Video

Well after a long and enjoyable build-along series, I finally got the Sopwith Camel test flown at the recent 40th Annual Father’s Day Fun Fly in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. We went early and test flew the plane before the competition started. I should have been less anxious to commit aviation and I think it was […]
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