Golden Era Model Service

High Quality Plan Sets and Laser Cut Partial Kits for Radio Control Aircraft

Page 3

Henry Struck's 1937 Benny Boxcar in 108 inch span

I finally found a use for Golden Rod.  It certainly was no good for it's intended purpose but worked great to compress the laminations while the Titebond  dried. There is a slight arc to the
balsa blocks where they rest against the inside of the laminations and the ends of the Golden Rod are under tension.



The assembled vertical fin and rudder.  Note the the 1/16 balsa shims spacing out the rudder from the fin during construction.



It works well to frame up the two fuselage sides as shown, with the sides parallel all the way back.  The first step is to install the firewall bulkhead which is laminated from two sheets of 1/8 ply.
  The common length crossmembers 1 thru 4 are then installed, checking that the sides are aligned exactly all the way to the tail.




After the previous  step is complete, install the rear dowel support gussets and align the fuselage over the plan in the upright position.  Note the pins with hold downs in the front ends of the longeron.  There is a balsa
 shim under the third bottom crossmember that supports the fuselage in a level attitude which can be checked at the firewall which should be vertical.  The fuselage is pinned to the shim to prevent movement there.
If It had been possible to choose the optimum wood cross section for the longerons they would be 5/16 square, so having pin holes in the 3/8 stock is not an issue.