buildalong


Warbird Wing Sheeting

Warbird Wing Sheeting

When it comes to sheeting the wings, you want to do it right with any airplane, but for giant scale warbirds, you really  need to do it correctly. I like to start once the retracts are setup and the plywood support ribs and the mount rails have been epoxied into place. We used the landing […]
Workshop Tips: Smooth Sheeting

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 […]
Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 9 — Wing Construction

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 9 — Wing Construction

So now that we have come to a natural breakaway point with the fuselage, it’s a good time to begin the wing construction. Eventually we will return to the fuselage for the firewall and engine installation, but for now, lets work with some ribs. After cleaning up all the debris from the fuselage build, lay out the […]
Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 7 — Tailwheel

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 7 — Tailwheel

While I was sheeting the fuselage, I also was working out the installation of my scale Tail wheel unit (custom made by Earl Aune). This included installing the new plywood former and reinforcement side doublers while still having access to the parts in between the pieces of sheeting. The sheeting also helps keep the fuselage structure rigid during […]
Workshop Build-Along — Skyraider Part 4 — Building the Rudder

Workshop Build-Along — Skyraider Part 4 — Building the Rudder

We continue our workshop build-along with the assembly of the rudder. This project is my 85-inch version of the Ziroli Plans Skyraider. As with most of Ziroli giant scale warbird designs, the Skyraider’s rudder uses inset plywood hinge tabs that support an internal metal hinge wire that runs the full length of the control surface. The […]
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 […]
Ali and his super-size Skyraider

Super-size Skyraider

Custom-built by Phil Clarke of Fighter Aces for world-class pilot Ali Machinchy, this 30% scale Skyraider is based on an 80% enlargement of the 100-inch span Nick Ziroli plan. Phil notes, “The structure has been heavily modified to cater for the weight and size increase to allow the model to be successfully passed through the Large […]
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