Mistakes and compromises - My Wen Mac 60% balsa 40% plastic P-26 Peashooter

Good job sir, That’s actually military kind of thinking….Use what you have around you to get the job done….. Besides, nothing wrong with it being a bit hybrid

Bob, regarding the missing cowl top on your restored 40% plastic, 60% balsa Peashooter, you could use some thin flashing metal used for HVAC or gutters, aluminum from a cola can or plastic from a 2 liter bottle for cowling AKA Walt Musciano Scientific style. Doesn't have to 100% mimic the original, just enough to cover the engine, small sheet metal screws to hold it down to the fuselage plastic overlapped say 3/16 of an inch.

Make a cowling ring fabricated from balsa rings, hardwood (if one has a lathe), or end of a right sized vitamin supplement bottle. Then find a simple way to attach in 3 or 4 places. That would complete your creation.

As far as flying? With that much effort, I'd probably not want to risk it, but rather model a P-26 after its outlines may be as a profile fuselage balsa scratch build. Take it a step further, put that favored A.C. Gilbert .11 Thunderhead in the nose of it with tank mounted slightly below the venturi for reliable suction draw. @Kim could try it out at his farm location.

But, you did a fabulous job of restoring with only remnant parts, truly a miraculous rebuild that would tickle the fancy of any forensic anthropologist!

I always like a happy ending story watching your progress! Your time and dedication are top notch. Keeping all these from the landfill one model at a time, or sometimes more than one at a time.....

rsv1cox wrote:I don't have the courage to attempt a nose job on it George, I think I'm going to just let it hang out there.

Bob, I know you don't have to do anything. I was referring to your balsa / plastic hybrid model:



I was just suggesting something very simplified without the radial engine restored in the nose, like what Walt Musciano would have done. But, you already did a huge amount to restore it.

Actually, to duplicate the fat fuselage of the P-26 is amazing what some modelers did. I looked at Outerzone at some of the CL examples between 21" to 23". They planked, then sealed before doping, giving an authentic looking model, more than I'd ever want to entertain to do. (I prefer fairly simple builds. The most complex I ever did was Carl Goldberg's half-A RC Skylane 42. It was beautiful when I completed, but involved more building than I most of the time was willing to do.

Hence, I stuck to simpler sport models.

https://www.coxengineforum.com/t16077-new-in-the-box-p-26-peashooter-thinking-my-last-plastic-airplane#208519

rsv1cox on Feb 27, 2022 wrote:Original owner selling his childhood un-flown, un-started Wen Mac P-26. I was the only bidder. Wall of shame candidate. Check out that lever on top of the cowl, upscale throttled version. Icing on the cake. Good way to call it quits as I was finding it difficult to find spaces to stuff the things. Weird positioning for the stars and bars. Kid! I will have to find a way to remove them. always stickers on these.

Versus:

rsv1cox on Jul 20, 2022 wrote:

Bob, I thought this one you found back in February was the last one you'd own.
I guess they are really addicting!  

rsv1cox on Mar 2, 2022 wrote:

Davenz13 wrote:Another website I frequent is vft (Vintage Flat-track) which has, at the beginning of the For Sale section, a pictorial list of anniversaries and birthdays of various machines and people. Today I saw this picture there.

Colorful little thing isn't it! Guess they didn't plan on flying it in a combat zone. Would have made a heck of a target.

After doing a little reading, found an interesting tidbit about the bright color schemes. Back during peace time, they still had some skepticism about aircraft safety. All the missions in US were training missions. Therefore, they painted the aircraft in bright colors, so they could easily locate them if they went down, easier to find during rescue missions.

Awesome restorations Bob! I have found a really good source of thin aluminium, and in rounded / cylindrical sections if you wish, is the aerosol paint spray cans, deodorant spray cans, and household bug spray aerosol cans. The bug spray aerosol cans see to be much thinner than the others and really easy to work due to that. I find them to be a very handy resource for some of my models. Fantastic Wall, and restorations.

Yabby