Model Airplane Salad...The Building/Restoring Surge Continues...

Got an old American Aircraft Modeler magazine somewhere, with a photo article on the 1960's
Smithsonian Museum's 'back shed' storage of dusty projects; a Fieseler Storch with rotted
fabric, a banged up, dust covered Me 262, and assorted other airframes that are now restored
and parked in the main museum or on loan to others.

My shop has that feel right now, a hodgepodge of dusty, beat-up airframes, finally getting some TLC, albeit with the added charm of the aroma of old fuel soaked balsa, airplane glue, and dope.  As each project hits a 'drying or curing' stage, the next one get's it's turn.

My Lazy Bee has been parked for a year, after being swatted off my work bench (did sort of a classic Chevy Chase skit...repeatedly grabbing at it and only knocking it farther away until we ran out of table).  The Bee landed hard, shattering it's delicate, laminated-bow frame rudder.  There was just no repairing the crumbled bow to take the pull of it's covering fabric, leaving only the option of making a new one.  I GOT to be DEEP in the mood to do proper work on Andy Clancy's little gem so, the Bee was parked.

But I finally dug the Official Clancy Aviation Lazy Bee Builder's Book from the moldy archives, and set out to duplicate me a rudder.  The bow is the most labor intensive so it came first.  I got me some new
Elmer's glue, hot-soaked some strips of 1/16th" x 1/8" balsa in a plastic tube a golfer guy gave me a long time ago, started getting crafty.  Andy LOVES laminations...the rudder bow is laminated, the rudder spar is laminated, along with the rudder's base.  The rudder's ribs are 1/16th" x 1/2" balsa slats that are bent around the spar and glued to the bow...Old School Style.

Once physically assymbled, the thing takes a lot of sanding/shaping all around, so no balsa-petrifying CA...only sandpaper-friendly Elmer's and some of the last reserves of my precious Ambroid cement.

Gonna also try to save and transfer the Lazy Bee logos that were laser-printed onto scraps of Lite Span back in 1994 or so.






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Mud Dabber's radio got re-checked with a bit of throw adjustment all around, and I was unable to help myself, on a slow afternoon, from adding a few stickers.  Wayne had given me several sheets, both water transfer and peel-off types, so the old Sig Mark I Kadet got dressed up a bit.  Thought I had some of the cigar-chomping woodpecker that was mandatory on all Hot Rods in the 1960's, but couldn't find him.







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My Ken Willard design 'Pool Boy' was also pulled from the cobwebs.  Named 'The Eyes of the Fleet' in honor of the early float planes that were catapulted from battleships and used as spotter aircraft, it was in pretty sorry shape (War Weary), but it's wings are now recovered and almost ready for color dope, and it's fuselage has been 'roughed up' to recieve a new layer of tissue.

Once test flown with a more benign castor-slinger, it's mission will be to accomodate 'The Worlds Smallest Traveling Engine', when the micro powerplant arrives at the Skunk Works.











So, likely to have some action up here on the hill, once these rain showers move on to harass my eastern states buds !!!