Birchwood-thin plys

Hi Roddy,
This mis-placed Yankee would love to take advantage of your generous offer!

Tell me how this works.

The originally from Boston Jim in MS

I'm rebuilding an old basket case (infantile assembly job) S-1 Ringmaster. Do you have any sizes suitable for nose doublers?

944_Jim wrote:Hi Roddy,
This mis-placed Yankee would love to take advantage of your generous offer!

Tell me how this works.

The originally from Boston Jim in MS

Hi Jim, This wood is "single-ply". I'm not sure if I conveyed that info. correctly. The thickness averages .060". This comes from the "Baltic" plywood having ply's that measure approx. .050" each.. as opposed to conventional plywood which has ply's that are twice that thickness. The pieces offered are leftover (scrap) from a cutting operation which leaves a thin "web" of material after most of it is removed by an endmill-cutter. This lessens the risk of a "thicker piece" moving or popping-up and breaking the cutter after it's cut out.

Here's a photo of a scrap piece of 27mm thickness Baltic Birch plywood and scale for reference of the ply-thickness.



So.. the pieces being offered at .060" avg. thickness actually have a "2nd ply" running cross-grain, which is very thin. (between .005"/.010")

I wanted to disclose this info. for clarity. Is it useful stock? I believe it is.. but I can find a use for just about anything.

If you (still) want some of it.. PM me your address, we can discuss which sizes you want.. and I'll mail you a few pieces in a std. envelope. If you find the stock useful and want more, we can work something out for a larger quantity later on.

NEW222 wrote:Hey there Roddie. Looks like you got a whole bunch of firewall material, even if laminated. Looks like you have lots of building to do now!!!!! Those would even be nice for leadout guides, and easy enough to cut with a sharp knife.

Hi Chancey, If you read my reply to Jim, it explains in more detail how this stock came to be. We wouldn't generally find anything like it for-sale anywhere. The pieces are too small and too thick (.060" avg.) for veneer. They're also too thick to make conventional model-aircraft plywood from.. but cut and cross-grain/glue-up three pieces together, and you create a 3-ply product which will finish-out at approximately 3/16"... and it's "Birch".. not fir.

I have a sheet of Sig-brand 1/64" (.015") plywood which is generally used for skinning foam wings. It's 3-ply.. so if one wanted to make their own 1/16" (.062") plywood.. they could cut and cross-grain/glue-up 4 sheets together.. which would yield a 12-ply panel. Sometimes we don't consider what can make.. from what we already have.

ticomareado wrote:I'm rebuilding an old basket case (infantile assembly job) S-1 Ringmaster. Do you have any sizes suitable for nose doublers?

Hi Victor, In a word.. "no" I don't. The S1's doublers were .125" 3-ply.. and 6.75" in their "long" dimension. I'd be happy to mail you a pair of 3mm (.118") Luan-ply panels from a surplus of material that I have on-hand.. but they wouldn't measure-up to the strength of genuine 1/8" Aircraft Birch ply doublers. Sterling didn't generally provide quality plywood in their kits.. so maybe this isn't an issue for rebuilding your model.. ??

I certainly have other wood here to re-make a pair of quality plywood panels for your S1 Ringmaster nose-doublers.. but I assume that you've explored the option of buying the model plywood to re-make them yourself. Still; let me know if I can help.

The 3mm Luan stock that I mentioned... I have an ABUNDANCE of.. and would be glad to mail you enough for your S1 nose-doublers . The Luan-ply may very-well work-out.. and might also be a lighter-weight option.

Here's some photos of that 3mm Luan stock.

full-sheet (12" x 24")



cross-section.. obviously not a super high-strength option.. but I'd gladly mail you a pair of these panels for free. We can also discuss options to beef them up a bit too..

Many thanks for you response and generous offer. I've got right much luan already. I think I'll probably wind up holding off until swap meet season starts and go for some real deal aircraft grade.

ticomareado wrote:Many thanks for you response and generous offer. I've got right much luan already. I think I'll probably wind up holding off until swap meet season starts and go for some real deal aircraft grade.

It's my pleasure Victor. I'll also need to re-make nose-doublers for my "hand-me-down" Sterling S1. That's a story for another day..

Please keep us informed on your S1 Ringmaster's progress. Will you be running a vintage engine?

Could be vintage (ie Fox, McCoy, Greenhead) or very vintage (O& R). If and when I finish the restoration the plane will be far lighter than the average S-1. (the wing lumber from Sterling was amazingly light and stays, the fuselage and tail feather lumber could literally be used to make a wooden canteloupe crate and will be gone.

ticomareado wrote:Could be vintage (ie  Fox, McCoy, Greenhead) or very vintage (O& R). If and when I finish the restoration the plane will be far lighter than the average S-1. (the wing lumber from Sterling was amazingly light and stays, the fuselage and tail feather lumber could literally be used to make a wooden canteloupe crate and will be gone.

Good luck with the S1's fuse Victor. I'm sure that you'll be able to build a lighter-weight.. and very likely "stronger" example.

Roddie,

Would this stuff be good for bellcrank mounts, LG mounts, and firewalls?

TIA!

944_Jim wrote:Roddie,

Would this stuff be good for bellcrank mounts, LG mounts, and firewalls?

TIA!

Hi Jim, I can't guarantee the pieces that I'm offering, for any particular function. That would be at the discretion of the modeler who chooses to use them. I can however; guarantee the wood-ply's to be Baltic-Birch from Russia.

It's strong wood Jim. Probably a lot stronger than any other "single-ply" wood that you'd consider using in any given model-aircraft application.