A Rainy Day Project on the Hill.

Yeah, they're fairly similar.  The Firebrand has a thicker wing, which has me contemplating building another Big Otto with that airfoil.

With my current "Slow Ride Fever", think maybe Big Otto is gonna get it's Black Widow replaced by a Golden Bee.

Hi Kim ... it's good to see the new project underway! ... I had never seen a wing composed in that way in two halves ... there is always something that surprises in this hobby ... that's great.
I will be attentive to the progress and the flight ... so from now I appreciate that you upload your moments here with the new model.
Here at home ... I'm about to paint my house, so I'm grouping everything in one place and therefore I can not work in the workshop, I think it will be two months of painting and then I will return to normal ... while I will enjoy of some flights and to see your experiences here in the forum.
A big hug friend!

Thank you for your post Mauricio!

Yes, I don't know how many other models of the time used this type of construction for foam wing cores. The kit is from the late 1960's.

I intend to finish the final glueing of parts today and start painting the balsa parts. Probably going to trim it in red and white.

Thanks again, and good luck with your house-painting project !!!

It would probably be safe to say that Riley Wooten started the foam craze. He designed the foam winged Vampire and it was put into production around the mid sixties. I believe similar type construction. Not a real good performer and the ones I have seen fly generally fold up like a book closing. Riley designed and produced many worthy designs. Most recall the Voodoo. That probably carries merit more than any other design he made.

Coming together Nicely , i like the way the wing is performed for construction , easy enough build ! I have never done foam or a Big Otto but have a pair of Combat Kittens Looking good and i will bee watching for the flight report .

Ken Cook wrote:            It would probably be safe to say that Riley Wooten started the foam craze. He designed the foam winged Vampire and it was put into production around the mid sixties. I believe similar type construction. Not a real good performer and the ones I have seen fly generally fold up like a book closing. Riley designed and produced many worthy designs. Most recall the Voodoo. That probably carries merit more than any other design he made.

I don't recall any of us flying foam control liners (though it may have happened) larger than the 1/2A's...which we seemed to go through like potato chips.

I'm pretty sure that Mr. Wooten also marketed the series of 1/2A sheet-wing combat wings sold by America's Hobby Center in the mid-late 60's: Lil' Bat', Lil' Bomb, and another I can't remember. They don't look like much now, but I was pretty proud whenever I got one finished, and used the Lil' Bomb to teach myself to fly inverted with risking one of my 'fancier models'.

Good times back in the day.

getback wrote:Coming together Nicely , i like the way the wing is performed for construction , easy enough build !  I have never done foam or a Big Otto but have a pair of Combat Kittens Looking good and i will bee watching for the flight report .  

Love Combat Kittens!!

Working on the balsa parts this morning.  Using Brodak clear dope to bond some light weight silkspan to the fins, elevator and pod.  This is great 'flashback work' for me as the only difference from 1969 is that I'm using Brodak dope instead of Aerogloss.  Fills the shop with that great 'model airplane smell' that used to get me evicted to the front porch by Mom...and later on, a couple wives!



Got a good Saturday afternoon going...hope the same for everybody else.

Rocky Mountain High Kim

I was doing some doping as well. My Sneeker was in need of a new tank. What a major pain in the !@##. Cut out the sheeting, break the tank loose which rips the sheeting on the top which I didn't want to disturb. To get the tank out meant breaking the spars off of the ribs which really just broke the ribs in half. Make a new tank and reassemble. Now I'm inside the wing with syringes injecting yellow and white glue to glue the ribs back together. Got the sheeting back in place and now doping. I was lucky enough to save the silk off of the sheeting. I just doped it back in place. Not exactly picture perfect, you'll never see at 100 mph.

I often seem to get myself in a position with shattered bits of balsa and ply, scattered around a project that I'm trying to save, and wondering to myself, "So this is FUN?"

Must be...I keep doing it....

Kim wrote:I often seem to get myself in a position with shattered bits of balsa and ply, scattered around a project that I'm trying to save, and wondering to myself, "So this is FUN?"

Must be...I keep doing it....

Thought exactly the same thing today Kim as I was cleaning up a very large puddle of anti freeze under my MG.

Tightening the lower radiator hose clamp to resolve a very small A/F drip resulted in a very large drip. No drain spigot dictated removing the lower hose connection dumping the contents into a pan and onto the floor about 50/50 floor/pan. As I was sponging up the mess I also thought to myself - Having fun yet?

Oh well, I now have contaminated anti freeze for future model engine crock pot boils and a clean garage floor.

Enjoying your thread.

Bob

Kim wrote:...and later on, a couple wives!

mmm .... possibly "almost" a universal law!

rsv1cox wrote:

Kim wrote:I often seem to get myself in a position with shattered bits of balsa and ply, scattered around a project that I'm trying to save, and wondering to myself, "So this is FUN?"

Must be...I keep doing it....

Oh well, I now have contaminated anti freeze for future model engine crock pot boils and a clean garage floor.  

Enjoying your thread.

Bob

And THAT quote, sir, is an example of the philosophy we must cling to (or at least I must) as the thin line between messing with all this craziness and taking up stamp collecting! Of course, I don't know, maybe stamp collecting can have it's edgy moments!!!

MauricioB wrote:

Kim wrote:...and later on, a couple wives!

mmm  .... possibly "almost" a universal law!

Possibly True!!!

This December, I shall be celebrating 2 Decades of single life happiness since my second divorce in 1998 !!!

Life Rolls On!

And so, the project has entered "The Tedious Zone".  The engine pod and tail feathers have been covered with light silkspan, bonded to the balsa with thinned clear dope, with successive coats and light sanding, hopefully bringing out some gloss.

Luckily, I was actually in the mood for this stuff today, alternating new clear coats with pushing a lawn mower around the yard.

Once I'm happy with the shine, I'll paint the parts white for a base, and figure some red trim to finish up.

Hey Kim! Looking good brother! I give you a LOT of credit man. I've been having a bit of trouble getting my model-building into gear lately dude. I really like the "Firebrand".. It reminds me of my "Phred's Phault" model.

Now that you're retired... you'd think that there'd be tons of time to devote to your modeling activities.. but I'm thinking that your spare time might be even more precious than it was before? I hope to be able to allocate enough time to this hobby.. when that time comes for me.

Hey Roddie!

Time and activity-wise, I'm my own worst enemy.  I will often hear my mouth volunteering me for all kinds of things...the latest being my hometown's Historical Society's restoration of a Putt-Putt (also know as a "Speeder") that's been slowly rusting away since the 1980's.

I've always had a secret love of these little bug-like work cars.  

The railroad came right through the middle of Olmsted, and was a constant part of our town's identity.  The locomotives got all the glory, but I always adored the Putt-Putts.  Their crews would often park them and go into the general store where my Aunt Bert sold them bread and lunch meat for their lunch, while I inspected the Putt-Putt and the little trailer it pulled.

It's all long-gone now, save for a couple sections of track: one for a restored caboose, with the rusted Putt-Putt parked on the other.

I belong to an organization called the North American Rail Car Operators Association, and am probably gonna need some help from those guys as we try to 'pretty-up' this little derelict.  I'm a bit wary about the Historical Society as they have a reputation for exploding over petty stuff, like what kind of flowers to plant around the depot, but they've got a new guy who's almost rabid over saving the Putt-Putt...so we'll see.







AND...my big mouth ALSO got involved into changing this:



into this (paint-wise):



but that's another bag of stuff...

The reference that I think of, but seldom follow from the Messiah's Handbook in Richard Bach's "Illusions":
"The Best Way to Avoid Commitments is to Say, 'I've Got Commitments'".  

Good luck with that !!!

You got to face it Man....You're living the dream !!!!!
Don't stop doing the building and flying videos or your pictorial travel logs !!!!!!
They are great fun at this end !!!
Keep up the good work !!!!
Steve...…………………..

I like the Putt-putt. I remember them running along the tracks in my home town. Used to put a penny on the tracks and squish it like a pancake.

Bob

Kim do you have a stash of Phil Cartier's SLC?

Simple Cretex craft colors on the foam and a quick cover of SLC is light and very fuel proof...IMO

I never knew of these little rail vehicles... but I've always had a fascination for anything "railroad".. full-scale or model.

Some Google images I found..

fredvon4 wrote:Kim do you have a stash of Phil Cartier's SLC?

Simple Cretex craft colors on the foam and a quick cover of SLC is light and very fuel proof...IMO

Hey Fred,
I somehow never heard of that covering. I once tried low-temp 'Econokote' on an Ace wing, but not with good results.
Appreciate the note, and will be watching for some to experiment with.

roddie wrote:I never knew of these little rail vehicles... but I've always had a fascination for anything "railroad".. full-scale or model.

Some Google images I found..

Yeah, they're wonderful little machines, and the group has organized outings, sometimes on current-use tracks.  



A license is required to operate them, and for a while, I seriously considered buying a Putt-Putt and joining the fun.  The toys I already own tend to keep me running though, so for now, it's on "Deep Back Burner".

The railroad guys refer to them as "Speeders" not because they're particularly fast, but because they're a whole lot faster than the old manual hand-cars that they replaced.



Last year, though, I did connect with some guys for a run on the local closed track out of Jackson, Missouri:










-------------------------

And...in other news:

Just got the engine pod to finish, then everything gets epoxied to the wing and she's ready to go.