BBA: Vintage JETCO Rearwin Speedster

Airkooled

New member
Hello all,

I have been in love with the rearwin speedster since I helped build a few pieces for the full scale model.

A long since out of date kit by “JETCO” pops up every time I search for a model of one and I recently won a bid on a complete kit minus the plans. As luck would have it, outer zone has the plans published! Boy, it has a lot of pieces! So with the recent purchase of this lovely 45 year old kit I have decided to do a build along and an electric conversion all in one.

To start with, I always take an inventory of all the pieces involved in the kit. I found the wood in this particular model to be amazing considering it’s age so not much was required to start the build.

I’ve decided to begin with the wing. I’m using a ceiling tile and wax paper to build on.
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I learned from an amazingly talented builder how to remove the die crunched pieces from the sheets and save weight all in one easy step, sand the backside! Here are some pictures of the results:
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That’s all I have for now but this was just my set up to begin the wing, hopefully I can get it built tomorrow after work. Please give comments/ encouragement. Some things I need to sort out are servo and aileron routing as well as a battery tray and esc mount.

Thanks for checking!
 

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Airkooled

New member
Yesterday I didn’t get as much built as I would’ve liked, big airplanes kept me working later than I had hoped. I managed to get the right wing half built and looking straight. One small snag, wax paper isn’t what it once was and is sticking to the balsa. The rest of the plane will be built with monokote backing plastic. Here are some pics!
 

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Chuppster

Well-known member
That wing looks good! I'm glad you're doing this build-along, I'm trying to learn more about balsa.

What kind of full scale airplanes are you working on now?
 

Airkooled

New member
That wing looks good! I'm glad you're doing this build-along, I'm trying to learn more about balsa.

What kind of full scale airplanes are you working on now?

Thank you! The best way to learn is to just do it and make some mistakes! I say buy a small cheap kit and build to see how you like it. The parts count in this kit is insane and could be discouraging. If you’re not dead set on any particular plane, build a guillows lancer. They fly amazing a build easy!

As for the Big toys, right now I’m completing two beech T-34 restos and have a waco that always needs attention. Hahah. We do a lot of other planes as well but those are the major ones as of now
 

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Chuppster

Well-known member
Wow, that's awesome! I hope to try out balsa someday, but right now foam and 3d printed kits make more sense to me. I've been eyeing the glider kit on Hobbyking.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
I hope to try out balsa someday, but right now foam and 3d printed kits make more sense to me. I've been eyeing the glider kit on Hobbyking.

Having built a number of the balsa kits available from Hobby King, I can honestly say they are not the best option for a first time balsa build. They're cheap and they're balsa, which leads people to think they'd be a good place to start. However, the "instructions" are garbage, the laser cutting is questionable, the help is limited (as fewer people have successfully built them), and the actual design of the parts is hit-or-miss meaning some parts simply don't fit as they should. I still firmly believe that the best kits for a first build are from companies like Stevens, Mountain Models, Sig, etc.

However, the cheap Chinese kits DO make for a good learning experience after you've built a few planes! I know I learned a lot as I went through the build as the builder really needs to think many steps ahead to avoid construction problems, and there are no instructions to guide you through the steps. Good luck on whatever style you go with, balsa or 3D printed!
 

Chuppster

Well-known member
Having built a number of the balsa kits available from Hobby King, I can honestly say they are not the best option for a first time balsa build. They're cheap and they're balsa, which leads people to think they'd be a good place to start. However, the "instructions" are garbage, the laser cutting is questionable, the help is limited (as fewer people have successfully built them), and the actual design of the parts is hit-or-miss meaning some parts simply don't fit as they should. I still firmly believe that the best kits for a first build are from companies like Stevens, Mountain Models, Sig, etc.

However, the cheap Chinese kits DO make for a good learning experience after you've built a few planes! I know I learned a lot as I went through the build as the builder really needs to think many steps ahead to avoid construction problems, and there are no instructions to guide you through the steps. Good luck on whatever style you go with, balsa or 3D printed!

Thank you for the insight. I've read your SunBird thread and some of your issues with the kit.

Where I stand right now I've got my foamies to throw around and have easy flying with. I have my 3d printed airplanes for speed and scale looks. I mean, 3dLabPrint models fly great! They are so rigid and streamlined. I've taken the Mustang up to 120 mph. What I'm asking myself is: how does a Balsa build add to my fleet in a way that my other planes don't? The 3dLP models are the easiest to build of them all, as the printer does the work and I just glue it together. Foamies are very forgiving. And both are much more affordable than a laser-cut balsa kit.

For that reason, I think it would be nice to build a balsa glider. It's my perception that they are better than foamboard at floating about on a thermal, and 3d printed kits are a bit heavy to make good gliders. But Balsa is expensive and time consuming, and I don't know if it will prefer the feel of a balsa build over a foamie, as I've never flown one before. So it is difficult for me to justify paying for a nicer kit.

Also, I like builds with at least one dimension being greater than 40." So many of the balsa kits I can find are pretty small, usually 26" to 30" (the scale ones, at least).

What I'm wondering is, can you recommend a kit that's cheap and beginner friendly, and big enough to see? Also, I'd prefer a glider or something sporty. I have enough trainer airplanes.
 

jaredstrees

Well-known member
Mountain models has a 36" glider, so close to your specs and a couple DLG's that look nice. All three are under $100.

And Airkooled, can't wait to see how that rearwin turns out!
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
One thing you will find with the balsa build is that you get a feeling of accomplishment when it's done and flying. You may feel like you did something when you print and assemble a 3D printed plane, but it's nothing compared to really getting in there and building. That feeling ramps up again when you take a sheet of plans and cut all your own parts out and build a plane - for me it's addictive.

Regarding price of a balsa kit, yes, they can get expensive. Good kits are generally more expensive for a simple reason - they're worth it. You get decent plans, better quality wood, better quality laser cutting, better hardware kit, etc. Every single "decent" balsa kit I've built has been more expensive than what you'll find from Hobby King, and every single one was worth the cost. Again, just my opinion, but save the cheap kits for when you've built a few balsa kits and want a learning challenge.

Also, if you want something over 40" wingspan you'll see that Sig has a couple sail planes in that size. They would need minor modification to add a motor unless you want to slope soar or bungee launch, but with some looking online you'll likely find people who have done that that you can copy.
 

Chuppster

Well-known member
One thing you will find with the balsa build is that you get a feeling of accomplishment when it's done and flying. You may feel like you did something when you print and assemble a 3D printed plane, but it's nothing compared to really getting in there and building. That feeling ramps up again when you take a sheet of plans and cut all your own parts out and build a plane - for me it's addictive.

Regarding price of a balsa kit, yes, they can get expensive. Good kits are generally more expensive for a simple reason - they're worth it. You get decent plans, better quality wood, better quality laser cutting, better hardware kit, etc. Every single "decent" balsa kit I've built has been more expensive than what you'll find from Hobby King, and every single one was worth the cost. Again, just my opinion, but save the cheap kits for when you've built a few balsa kits and want a learning challenge.

Also, if you want something over 40" wingspan you'll see that Sig has a couple sail planes in that size. They would need minor modification to add a motor unless you want to slope soar or bungee launch, but with some looking online you'll likely find people who have done that that you can copy.

I'm just now looking at SIG for the first time. They have some very interesting looking models!

What are your thoughts on this one for a beginner? I would build it electric. https://sigmfg.com/collections/sig-kits/products/sig-somethin-extra-kit
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
SIG kits build great in my limited experience with them - you'd need to do some kit-bashing to setup a battery hatch instead of the fuel tank but that's a very solvable challenge. I bet with some looking around you could find other examples of this plane already built electric for mod ideas.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
It should be far easier than the Chinese kits. It looks like it would need some good sized power system, but I’ll guarantee somebody has done an electric conversion that would let you know what motor and battery size to use.
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Well, if I'm gonna make a glider, it's gotta be big right?

For the record, I want to be talked out of the HK glider, but I'll need something better to get.
If you are good with FB builds and want to undertake a Balsa Glider there is one which is so easy to build from scratch that it should be considered as a rite of passage.

It has an open wing structure, (no covering required), as it uses a Jedelsky wing with a wing span of almost 72" Whilst it is only a 2 channel Plus motor if fitted and it could easily have ailerons fitted if required.

The plans are freely available though somewhat hard to find. It is called the "Super Turkey".

The build is almost completely from sheet Balsa 3" and 4" widths. My first glider build circa 1980s.

If interested in a low parts count and big pieces this is the balsa glider to build. Should you be unable to find the plans I can post what I have!

Have fun!
 

Try-n-glide

Active member
Sig vs Mountain Models: If you haven't built balsa before my opinion would be to steer you toward Mountain Models.

I built a Sig Senorita when I was younger. First plane I successfully flew - really an incredible trainer. But my memory of the build process of that vs my EVA Sport is that the EVA was WAY more user friendly to build. Add to that the fact that most Sig kits are likely to need conversion to electric and it's a no brainer for me.
 

Airkooled

New member
Man, I love how you guys are so quick to help a fellow moddler! Too cool. Mountain models makes amazing flying planes, I have built an EVA and loved it. I need to get around to building another.

I encountered something that was a point earlier, a mishap, doh! During my wing half building I missed a bit of rib detail that I wasn’t able to cipher but I finally got it. I’m not the pro I thought I was. You can see in the pictures that the wing center section was supposed to join to the innermost wing half ribs. I didn’t do that, oops. But, I was able to overcome and make the wing ribs into three pieces!

Now, on to the fuselage. Sadly my printer didn’t scale one of the pages correctly so I’m missing a chunk. Luckily it’s not totally necessary since it’s duplicated on page 2 of the plans.
 

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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Good job figuring out a way to keep moving through the rib mix-up. Those types of workarounds are actually pretty common with plans built, or poorly documented kits in my experience. Nothing wrong with it as long as it performs how you like in the end. :D

These are the kinds of challenges that can sometimes throw a new modeler though, which is why so many of us recommend good modern laser cut kits like a Mountain Models or Steven's Aeromodel or Laine's Planes for a first build. All those companies do top notch kits and directions and there is a good community of people here who have built and can help with questions if someone gets stuck or confused. I hope Old School Model Works will be one of these new top notch vendors too, but I haven't built one myself or talked with someone who has yet.
 

Airkooled

New member
Good job figuring out a way to keep moving through the rib mix-up. Those types of workarounds are actually pretty common with plans built, or poorly documented kits in my experience. Nothing wrong with it as long as it performs how you like in the end. :D

These are the kinds of challenges that can sometimes throw a new modeler though, which is why so many of us recommend good modern laser cut kits like a Mountain Models or Steven's Aeromodel or Laine's Planes for a first build. All those companies do top notch kits and directions and there is a good community of people here who have built and can help with questions if someone gets stuck or confused. I hope Old School Model Works will be one of these new top notch vendors too, but I haven't built one myself or talked with someone who has yet.
I certainly recommend mountain models! They’re the only one I have built from that’s laser cut other than herr kits. I have built quite a few older kits from top-flite, great planes, and house of balsa. The new kits are amazing In comparison.

Old school model works looks top notch, I hope to see some more models come our way from them. It’s a real shame that the old 1/2a balsa kit manufactures couldn’t hang on for 10 years to capitalize on the electric wave. There are some amazing kits out there that just need a few tweaks to be awesome for electric! I have had a herr p51 for years that has seen many different combos from .041 to a speed 400 brushed motor and now a 3400kv rocket motor! Some just need the push to make the plunge to convert them.

Anyways, on to the rearwin. I have made some major progress tonight on the fuselage. The parts required a little loving to make all squared but but a little loving with a 220grit sanding block loved everything up.

I plan to finish putting the longerons in the aftpart of the fuse and begin sorting out how I plan to make severos work. I was going to use 9g servos but I’m thinking 5g units will fit the bill a little better. Also, I was going to use a 2212 1300kv e-max motor and 30 amp esc with a smaller 3s battery maybe 650mah. I’m now thinking a 10a esc may allow me to run a larger battery. I may be over thinking the power. Originally it called for .049-.15 so the weight range will be far under a .15 with any of those setups.

On to the pics.
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Airkooled

New member
As I mentioned before, the parts count is quite high! Today I started carving balsa!
 

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rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Something special about carving/sanding down a nice smooth cowling out of balsa chunks... nicely done :D