Bambina build

[Douglas Wheelhouse 1]

Hi All,

Has anyone built the Bambina?, I have studied the plan for the wing but cannot understand certain things.

A. The plan states leading edge sheeting top & bottom but no capstrips.

B The in flight photos show no sheeting on the leading edge at all, I'm baffled.

Can anyone clarify please.

Douglas

[Matthew Duncan]

Hi there,

I came across the same issue during my build and I simply followed the image and did sheeting over the w2 and w1 corners in the centre with something like 1.8mm balsa. I have now covered with solarfilm and there is no apparent issue to be seen, just do what suits you.

Also, on the top and bottom of the fuselage the plan says use single sheets of1.8mm balsa and wrap it round, I would recommend that you follow the magazine and use 3mm strips like planks because it is quite a weak area and the balsa may spilt on the curve on top (even though I used the thin stuff). The thick has the added benefit of more room to sand shape and smooth too, makeing a nice rounded, clean Finnish.

I hope this helps,

Matthew

[Peter Musselwhite 1]

Hi All,

I’m building the Bambina from the plans and article in the 2019 Special Issue. Interested to see the (short) 2017 build thread, which has answered a couple of my questions. However, I would appreciate guidance on the following:

1. The article says formers are liteply; the plan says they are 3mm ply and the drawing shows 2mm formers except F2 (looks like 3mm balsa but can’t be, surely) and F3 which is 3mm ply. Shall I use 3mm liteply for all of them?
2. The plan says ‘canopy from pop bottle’. Not sure I’ve seen any pop bottles with that shape. Has anyone experience of pop bottle canopies? Am I perhaps better off trying to mould one as shown in the Special Issue article, perhaps using a pop bottle as a starting point?

Peter