Make Engine Cowls: Easy tips for Beginner
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Workshop Tips: Smooth Sheeting
One of the important tasks you need to do correctly while building a giant scale airplane is to produce a smooth and flowing outer surface to apply your finish and paint too. There’s an old saying that a fair paint job applied to a superior surface will look much better than a great paint job […]
Easy Aileron Servo Installation
Here’s a common, very popular way to install aileron servos. To make field maintenance more convenient, install your servos with hatches built into the wing so they are flush with the wing’s underside.. The first thing I do to get the aileron servo hatch properly aligned is to install the aileron control horn and then attach […]
Workshop Soldering Tips
There is always that occasional opportunity to do some soldering. When you need to add some connectors to a battery pack, or to make a set of wiring adapters for your battery charger, using heat and molten metal to join wires together is one of the oldest do-it-yourself tasks for RC hobbyists. The task is […]
Splicing Balsa Sheeting — Video RC workshop Tips
Working with large models, it is often necessary to splice the balsa sheets together for items like wings and long fuselages. To produce strong slices in the balsa sheeting you have to make them at an angle to increase the glue surface so the sheet’s overall strength is not compromised. This workshop video tip by […]
Easy RC Scale Details — Turn a Straw Hat into a Vintage Pilot Seat
So my Fokker Triplane had been finished for a few weeks and the airplane had flown several times without any problems. But there is that big issue of an empty cockpit. So, I converted my old Mini-Me 1/3 scale pilot figure into a WW1 leather helmet and goggles guy with a great set of cloths […]
Working with Aluminum Engine Cowlings
When building my Balsa USA Fokker Triplane, I switched from the included fiberglass cowling to one made from aluminum for some improved scale appearance, I replaced the one that comes with the kit with the Arizona Model Aircrafters aluminum cowl. Start by installing the engine in your fuselage so you can center the face plate […]
New Rubber Toughened — ZAP Glue
There’s probably not one single RC modeler on the planet who hasn’t heard of ZAP Glue. Distributed through several outlets including Robart Mfg., www.robart.com and, Frank Tiano Enterprises (FTE) www.franktiano.com . The Zap Gang www.zapglue.com has an adhesive for just about every conceivable job where you want to stick two things together regardless of what they […]
RC Plane Workshop: Edge-Gluing Balsa Sheets
At some point in your model-building career, you will be faced with a problem. You will have an area of your model that requires a sheet of balsa wider than the material you have on hand. If you are like me, this usually happens when you are starting to make significant progress and when the […]
Workshop Tips — Install a Dummy WW1 Rotary Engine
When it comes to really looking scale, it’s in the details that we make the most progress in giving our model’s that “used” look. For my Balsa USA Fokker Triplane, I wanted to bring a better scale look to the front end so I Â installed a resin cast Oberusel rotary engine available from Nick Ziroli […]
How To Make Scale 3 Panel Windshield Frames
This technique is an updated version of my original “How To” using thin 1/32 inch plywood to make 3-panel windshields for open cockpit airplanes. The airplane I am using is a loaner Stearman PT-17 I got from Nick Ziroli Jr., and I wanted to spruce it up a little for him. Let’s get started. (Above) Here is the old wornout clear plastic […]
Model Airplane Workshop Tips
From pull-pull control systems to getting the most out of that bottle of CA, our team of editors and contributors has the answers you’re looking for. Here are 7 workshop tips that we hope will make your time in the shop more enjoyable and efficient. Enjoy! Fine-Tuning Control Horns When it comes to using a pull-pull […]
