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Paul, a member from Belgium who flies
full-sized jet aircraft, has bought a full-sized LS-6
sailplane and with over 300 hours airtime so far has set a
Belgium distance record of 640km (400 miles) - Well Done
Paul!
His PSS activities do not seem to have been impaired though,
and recently he has increased his hangar of models with a
Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star and a Grumman F9F Cougar.
These both have Foam/Veneer wings, with glass fibre
fuselages and tanks. Paul has developed his own quick
build system for completing intricate fuselage shapes in
fibreglass, and typically builds a complete model in around
60 hours from start to finish. I quote from his recent
letter as follows;
"What I do is design a model with
conventional Foam/Veneer wings and balsa tailplane, but with
a glass fibre fuselage. I cut the fuselage out of a
foam block, using side and top views for reference.
Sand the foam fuselage to its final shape and cover it with
brown tape (the kind used to seal cardboard boxes.)
Use a warm iron to give the fuselage a smooth finish.
Add a coat of wax, let it dry and then put on 3 layers of
glass fibre. Immediately afterwards put on a coat of
epoxy (or polyester) and micro-balloons.
After it has all dried out, cut off the
edges. Then sand the glass fuselage - it is easy to
achieve a smooth surface finish because of the micro
balloons. Then cut some of the brown tape away and use
acetone to melt away the foam. Pull out all the tape -
Et Voila!! The shape is no longer a problem and the
average all up weight will not exceed 1300g (~3lbs).
This method has been used to build my new Learjet and
Spitfire, as well as the new T-33 and Cougar!"
Paul's new
models - the T-33 Shooting Star (above)
and F9F Cougar
(right) both utilise the
described fuselage method |
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