Gordon McConnell

Eric, Thanks for the advice on the glue. Dumb question but I will ask it anyway: For the dilution, is it 15% glue to 85% water or the other way round? Thanks.

Eric, covering looks great. What do you use to stick down the BP? Thanks. Gordon

Paul, excellent wiring job. Just like a full size aircraft. Very professional. Got me thinking................

Richard, Glad you like the pins. It would not be real balsa bashing without sharp pins and drawing blood! I got these at Balsa Cabin and they told me that yellow is the most popular colour. We could have a poll on favourite pin colour.........maybe not! Took the plunge today ........not literally, its freezing here........and cut out the flap and aileron from the right wing. This is where you doubt the measurements taken some weeks ago. So I found another use for the Yellow pins to double check the position of the spars below the skin. How do you manage without them Richard? Worked a treat and managed to cut out the surfaces without a problem. Phew! Now to catch up on the left wing.

You will note that I chose to sheet the inner wing aft of the spar right up to rib1. Richard and Paul rightly pointed out that this is not needed as this part is inside the fuselage contour. I will make a cut-out in the skin to fit the flap linkage etc.

Hi, I more or less fitted the retract as described by Richard. Like you Eric, I took the gear door off as it masks the positioning of the main gear. I used the template to start the cutout for the gear actuator. I then placed the gear actuator in its position on the mounting plate and checked the positioning of the wheel. I then readjusted the template to get the wheel cutout in more or less the correct position. After cutting the wheel well out I found that the tyre fouled with the main spar so I bent the gear leg very slightly above the coil spring to correct the position of the wheel. Perhaps not the most elegant of solutions but it has worked out fine as the gear operates well and clears the wheel well. I will route the actuator wire through the wing main box as Paul has done. I have attached a few photos of how I fitted the wing skins. I fitted the first panel aft of the main spar as this is full width without the need to trim it (except for length which is easy). I weighted this down until the aliphatic glue dried. I then attached the leading edge sheet the abut the already fitted one using masking tape to fix it temporarily in position. I could then turn the wing over and mark a cut line on the leading edge skin panel, allowing an allowance for later trimming back to the leading edge spar. It was easy to put a straight edge on the cut line and trim the panel to size. I did the aft panel the same way. Only slight mistake was to use masking tape. The glue sticks it down along the joint and it is tedious to remove it bit by bit. I think sellotape would be better. Now how did Paul's feet creep into my photo?..........

Richard, I agree with you on not getting too worried about the odd error or two. Usually they are easily fixed, although it is satisfying to get it right first time 😄. The weathering on the P38 looks great and I think it makes the model look much more realistic. Looking at old photos of these WW2 aircraft in service shows that they were not factory fresh looking for very long! Might try your technique on the P51 but that is some way off in time. Gordon

Hi Paul, I did read it but rather too late. Will cut out some access when I come to join the wings together. Your pilot looks good, obviously keen to get in the cockpit where he belongs!

Reached the interesting stage in the wing build. I have completed the left wing structure by adding the LE and the wingtip. I have a book on the P51 and referred to some photographs of the wing tip to try to reproduce the correct profile. Think it has turned out quite well. Now for the difficult part to cut out the u/c bay, the flaps and ailerons. Going to go very slowly to try to avoid mistakes!!

Hi Paul, That was a fast answer! Thanks! I found two shorter lengths of 1/4" by 1 3/16" in the poly bag. I guess these are the lengths for the inner leading edge which is deeper in section. Sounds like I have the problem solved. Thanks again for your guidance. Gordon

Hi Richard and Paul, Making progress with the wing build with the left wing ready to have the leading edge and tip attached. Got a silly question on the wing leading edge stock. In my kit I have two 21.5” lengths of 1/4” by 11/16” balsa and a single 18” length of 1/2” triangular balsa. As the 1/4” by 11/16” balsa is not long enough to complete the whole leading edge, is it intended to use the 1/2” triangular balsa to complete the leading edge? If this is not the cases the 1/2” triangular is used elsewhere, I do have some scrap balsa that could do the job. Thanks in advance. Gordon