Scale Archives - Model Airplane News

Functional Scale Cockpit Hatch RC Airplane Access

When it comes to RC Golden Age racers, no one does flying models better than the world recognized guru of scale Gee Bees – Henry Haffke. When I teamed up with Henry to build the 1/3-scale version of his Howard DGA-5 “Ike” Golden Age racer, I added several details that a racer this size needed to look right. One […]

Scale RC Pilot Figure Painting — Add life to your fighter driver

I put a huge amount of detail in the helmets of my Best Pilots pilot figures because its the topmost thing that’s viewed when your pilot is sitting in the cockpit. Most flight helmets are leather and that’s what’s shown here. The following technique works like magic in replicating leather of all kinds, but it […]

Wing-to-Fuselage Fillets

Advice from expert scale designer and builder Nick Ziroli: Instead of adding the fillet after the wing and fuselage are built, I make the shape of the fillet areas as part of the fuselage formers themselves. This requires having at least the wing center section built and attached to the fuselage, but to make sure […]

Fantastic Ford Trimotor

Scratch-built by Joachim Damrath, this 160-inch-span Trimotor weighs in at just 53 pounds. The beautifully detailed radial engines are hiding Zenoah powerplants (two 20cc and one 26cc in the center). Thanks to ScaleJetFred for sharing his terrific video from the Airlinertreffen meet in Oppingen, Germany.

Exterior Details: Dummy Controls

There’s an old saying that says “scale models are really never finished, you just stop adding details to them”! Each modeler has to decide for himself when enough is enough. For me, I enjoy adding easy to see details to the top surfaces of the wings and control surfaces and in particular I add dummy control […]

Painting Proper Scale Markings — Get the Stars-and-Bars right

If you are one of many modelers who acquired an ARF-type model of an American airplane, the chance that its star-and-bar markings is correct is about one in 10. It’s sad but true. Among models built by usually careful modelers and displayed at meets, like the Toledo Show and Joe Nall, the situation is somewhat […]

RC F-14 Swing-Wing Tomcat

This remarkable swing-wing F-14 is the handiwork of German modeler Rudolf Winter, who built it from the Fly Eagle Jet Model Factory kit. During the flight, the model’s wings sweep back for faster speeds and then move forward for slower flight and landing. The bright “flares” that are launched during flight are scale (the full-size used […]

Bücker Jungmeister — A Really Big RC Biplane

Helmut Müller’s 85% scratch-built Bücker looks like it could carry a small person! The 17.5-foot-span model weighs in at 286 pounds and is powered by a Hirth 521cc 2-stroke (intended for an ultralight!) turning a Fiala 60 x 20 wood propeller. The model uses industrial-quality Tonegawa Seiko servos, a redundant radio system and a dual-ignition starter. Helmut glued and sewed the Seconite covering […]

Fitting a Scale RC Fan/Spinner Combo to a 3-Blade Prop

Ziroli Giant Scale Plans offers a very cool accessory for FW-190A enthusiasts. It’s a scale fan/spinner combo that the full scale FW-190A featured. It comes as a “blank canvas” and work of art considering the machining required to manufacture. It is a blank canvas as the spinner can be cut to fit a 2- or […]

Painting an RC Warbird, Part 4

In this final installment, Lane Crabtree creates his CARF Models P-51’s Hurry Home Honey nose art, invasion stripes, and engine exhaust stains. In earlier articles, he started by documenting how he primed and painted the silver and olive drab, masked the canopy and created the stars and bars, and then he applied the squadron markings and the checkerboard pattern. […]

Painting an RC Warbird, Part 3

Lane Crabtree has been detailing how he painted his CARF Models P-51. He started by documenting how he primed and painted the silver and olive drab, and last week he masked the canopy and created the stars and bars. In this installment, Lane applies squadron markings and the checkerboard pattern. Now comes the Squadron ID alpha-numerics […]

RC Airplane Scale Workshop Building Tips

When it comes to building airplanes, all scale modelers seem to have mastered the art of Imagineering. Where sport models are utilitarian and have basic Monokote finishes and switches are easily accessible and located, scale planes are all about looking realistic. Here are some basic workshop building and detailing tips as well as a few […]