Mixing balsa and plastic. Testor's P-40 and Cosmic Wind revisited.

After unforgivingly stepping all over Mark Boesens thread of a similar title I thought I would start one of my own.

I have had these two incomplete models for a number of years just waiting for the spirit to move me.  The end of the line and the bottom of the barrel, I had ran out of things to do....hobby wise.  So, off we go.




Getting to like this Cosmic Wind.  Ungainly without the wing, added, it just shines.  

I shaved 1/8" on the diagonal from the leading edge of 1/16" X 4" balsa sheet and 3/4" from the trailing edge coming as close to the original wing as I could make it.   Sealed it with sanding sealer and while still wet clamped it in the plane.





When dry I lightly sanded and painted it with several coats of Krylon Gloss white.  I failed in my attempt to use music wire lead-outs as the clamped tubing securing the wires ends tended to hit on the openings.  Used some old Carl Goldberg Dacron instead secured with a drop of CA.  Original model used a single lead-out guide, so I followed suit by cutting a trench in the balsa and epoxying it in.  Fingers crossed that it will hold as I intend to fly this thing.  





The engine and fuel tank are clean and appear to never have been ran.  I like the way the wing is secured with a single rubber band at the back of the wing.  Allows the wing to slip back in a crash.




The P-40 is a work in progress.  I'm building the tail section as a module and will epoxy it on.  The landing gear came from a Cox PT-19 split and epoxied in.  Hardest job I have had in a long time getting all those angles to agree.