Yak 9!!!!!!

Nice bit o timber there Ron. Did you get the
Wako and the DVII as well?

Negative John. Those kits were scale flyers. I figured I would be doing some collector an injustice if I built them and then put them in the ground.

Ron

The Yak is a cool plane. Not as popular as the Ringmaster, but a good flyer and in my opinion better than the Ring. It likes fast and these can be a lot of fun especially without landing gear. I still own my first from nearly 40 years ago. In regards to the scale Sterling kits, those were known as the C-series kits. For those that never experienced building a Sterling kit, it can be an experience. There's a lot to be said for the new kits like Brodak. Brodak kits make the experience quite easy and enjoyable. Sterling kits typically didn't have full size plans and many small captions and instructions which weren't always in chronological order. After building a Sterling kit, you certainly knew what you were dealing with. I love them nonetheless and certainly miss them. These were the days where you essentially received nothing but the kit and some silkspan. No wheels, leadout materials, bellcrank, etc.

Here is my C-series Sterling PT-17 which is in the Navy version. This plane is essentially a large scale stick and tissue model. The fuse is covered in silkspan while the wings are covered in polyspan. The front of the fuse is covered in 1/16" balsa from the number 1 firewall to the rear of the first cockpit. This is all Brodak dope colors with Sig Lite Coat clear on top. The stripes and large numbers are all paint, while the smaller numbers on the rudder and the US Navy being Letraset letters. The insignia on the wings are water slide which didn't want to lay down at all. This required the decal to be cut in some places. All in all a neat plane which is still on the table. I completed the rear pilot windshield frame and working on the front. The cockpits will have rubber around the perimeter of the cut just like the real plane. Good old Fox.35 for power. Ken

Nice meticulous looking work on the PT 17. I watched a guy fly a big RC electric one the other day, maybe 4-5 foot wingspan. He was doing some 3D, as they like to call it now.

You see why I passed on the Waco John? Could you imagine what would have happened during one of my outside loop shenanigans?

Beautiful work Ken

Beautiful Stearman Ken !!!

Cool score Cribbs. I never knew Sterling made a Yak 9. Please post pics of the build and video of the maiden flight.

Nice Stearman. I sold one of those kits a while back.

Hi Ken, your Stearman is absolutely stunning!! And your exactly right about building Sterling kits! I have a few Sterling kit builds under my belt. My first Sterling kit build was a .35 size Ringmaster kit that I got new at my local hobby shop back in the late 80's and the die cutting looked to have been done at 4:50PM on Friday. I had to make some new ribs because the die cutting was more like die crushing!! But the frustration was well worth it as it was an amazing flyer. I learned how to do 4 leaf clovers and square 8's on that Ringmaster.

Shawn

Looks like the plans are more just instructions: don't forget to trace all the parts before you reach for the glue!