For now, this will be somewhat of a place-holder while I work on other planes and slowly get this one ready for flight.
A week ago I was checking out Craigslist to see if there were any interesting "opportunities" to spend some money. Ad ad caught my eye, advertising an estate sale about an hour from home, but only about 4 miles from work. Nice and convenient, so I headed over there at the 9AM start time on the first day of the sale. The info from the selling company called it an RC Dream Sale, or some silliness like that. In reality, it was high prices and beat-up products with out-dated electronics. But it was mostly good names, like Balsa USA and Sig.
A couple planes were of interest, a Sig Kadet Senior and a Balsa USA 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup. But their prices were higher than buying the kits new, and they both needed a fair amount of repair, so I walked away. All day long it was bugging me, and I really wanted those planes. I had a Kadet Senior kit, new in the box, and gave it to my dad a few weeks ago as he expressed interest in building a bigger plane. It's one I always wanted to fly. At the end of my work day I drove back to see if anything sold and if they'd negotiate prices. Well, EVERYTHING was still there! Not a surprise really, as this estate auction was fairly rural and the prices were pretty high. I talked with the lady running the sale, and we settled on a price for the Pup, Kadet, and a Sig Liberty Sport kit. She seemed pretty happy to see the biggest planes leaving.
Or potentially leaving... The Sopwith Pup fuselage was so big we initially couldn't get it out of the basement! Only after taking the wheels off and having another guy guide the tail were we able to get it into the daylight for the first time in years. She asked if I had a trailer, as the Pup is huge, and then I started to doubt if I was going to fit it all in to my Expedition! With all seats folded it just barely all fit. I hang wing from the ceiling, so the Kadet's wing was up and out of the way. The Pup wings were stacked in wherever they'd fit, since I wasn't too worried about damaging the covering.
Even without the wings, it's a big bird! Notice the "pilot" stuffed animal and the home-made Vickers machine gun, those will be addressed very soon. The wheels are also a bit smaller than I'd like, and the eventual goal is to replace them with larger ones.
This is what really sold me on the plane, a Quadra 50cc gas engine with spring-start. Quadras aren't the best for weight-to-power ratio, but they're tanks that simply run great. Note the two automotive brake pads stuck to the firewall for nose weight!
Back to the Vickers machine gun... I found a replacement on Thingiverse and scaled it slightly to make sure it was 1:3 scale (it was designed at 1:36 I believe). Parts were printed, glued together, and painted.
Here's the new and old guns, quite a difference! I've also printed some scale bullets and will put them into a belt for a nice detail.
The wings are a bit beat up, as is the rest of the plane. The tentative plan is to do only as much work as needed to get it flyable, so I can have some fun with it this season. Then as time and money are available I'll start re-building it and making it nicer. The covering now is generic glossy plastic and I'd like to change that to a woven material for a dull/scale finish.
I did a little research after getting it home and found this metal cowl was an upgrade for the kit. It's got a few scrapes and dings, but still looks much better than fiberglass! The blue/white wing is for the Kadet Senior, which is sitting in the foreground. It's pretty rough as well, but should be a fun project.
A week ago I was checking out Craigslist to see if there were any interesting "opportunities" to spend some money. Ad ad caught my eye, advertising an estate sale about an hour from home, but only about 4 miles from work. Nice and convenient, so I headed over there at the 9AM start time on the first day of the sale. The info from the selling company called it an RC Dream Sale, or some silliness like that. In reality, it was high prices and beat-up products with out-dated electronics. But it was mostly good names, like Balsa USA and Sig.
A couple planes were of interest, a Sig Kadet Senior and a Balsa USA 1/3 scale Sopwith Pup. But their prices were higher than buying the kits new, and they both needed a fair amount of repair, so I walked away. All day long it was bugging me, and I really wanted those planes. I had a Kadet Senior kit, new in the box, and gave it to my dad a few weeks ago as he expressed interest in building a bigger plane. It's one I always wanted to fly. At the end of my work day I drove back to see if anything sold and if they'd negotiate prices. Well, EVERYTHING was still there! Not a surprise really, as this estate auction was fairly rural and the prices were pretty high. I talked with the lady running the sale, and we settled on a price for the Pup, Kadet, and a Sig Liberty Sport kit. She seemed pretty happy to see the biggest planes leaving.
Or potentially leaving... The Sopwith Pup fuselage was so big we initially couldn't get it out of the basement! Only after taking the wheels off and having another guy guide the tail were we able to get it into the daylight for the first time in years. She asked if I had a trailer, as the Pup is huge, and then I started to doubt if I was going to fit it all in to my Expedition! With all seats folded it just barely all fit. I hang wing from the ceiling, so the Kadet's wing was up and out of the way. The Pup wings were stacked in wherever they'd fit, since I wasn't too worried about damaging the covering.
Even without the wings, it's a big bird! Notice the "pilot" stuffed animal and the home-made Vickers machine gun, those will be addressed very soon. The wheels are also a bit smaller than I'd like, and the eventual goal is to replace them with larger ones.
This is what really sold me on the plane, a Quadra 50cc gas engine with spring-start. Quadras aren't the best for weight-to-power ratio, but they're tanks that simply run great. Note the two automotive brake pads stuck to the firewall for nose weight!
Back to the Vickers machine gun... I found a replacement on Thingiverse and scaled it slightly to make sure it was 1:3 scale (it was designed at 1:36 I believe). Parts were printed, glued together, and painted.
Here's the new and old guns, quite a difference! I've also printed some scale bullets and will put them into a belt for a nice detail.
The wings are a bit beat up, as is the rest of the plane. The tentative plan is to do only as much work as needed to get it flyable, so I can have some fun with it this season. Then as time and money are available I'll start re-building it and making it nicer. The covering now is generic glossy plastic and I'd like to change that to a woven material for a dull/scale finish.
I did a little research after getting it home and found this metal cowl was an upgrade for the kit. It's got a few scrapes and dings, but still looks much better than fiberglass! The blue/white wing is for the Kadet Senior, which is sitting in the foreground. It's pretty rough as well, but should be a fun project.
