GoldenAge

Hello,

I finally started building my 67" Quaker Flash (Ben Buckle kit). I have to say that I'm impressed with it so far. The quality of the wood is very good and all cut parts such as wing ribs etc. are of good quality as well. The plans are a little hard to read in some places, but I have had no problems getting things built properly yet.

The fuselage built up nice and straight. I added 1/32" walnut veneer strips under the 1/8" stringers which run the length of the fuse. These stringers are sanded fairly thin at the ends, so I felt that the extra strength was necessary.

I decided to omit the hardwood engine bearers in favor of a firewall mount. This will allow room for a larger fuel tank. I'm going to use either a Saito .40 or one of my trusty old OS Max-H .35's. Haven't decided yet, but I'm kind of leaning toward the Saito[8D]

Anyway, here are a few pics! I'll add more to the thread as I go.

Thanks,

Scott

goliath-RCU

My Feedback: (8)

Its nice to see pics of how the original Quaker was built.

Scalebuff

GoldenAge

looking good there m8, you will love this plane , my dad is BB freak and iv flown most of his range and its a grate flyer (like al BB planes) handles the wind pretty well to.

GoldenAge

Thanks Larry! The reed wingtips and tailfeathers will be interesting to build.
The airframe when finished is going to be too pretty to cover with painted fabric.
I'm going to use an amber or yellow transparent solarfilm with crimson red trim

Haven't seen Evan post for awhile, is he ok?

Thanks Rick! There are a _lot_ of nice models in the Ben Buckle lineup. If they are as good as the one I'm working on now, I'll be back[8D]

Take care,

Scott

Scalebuff

i must admit im more into scale but with the old man around i get to fly these grate planes, my favourite has to be the majestic major, same WS as the quaker (i think) and its just a dream to fly but BB planes are ALWAYS grate flyer's the major is just MY favorite

it still troubles me when i spend mega money on my warbirds and my dad gets all the attention when his plane there LOL, they just love to see em fly with that big wing cuttign through the air grate stuff

have fun with it

GoldenAge

I finally got the film developed for the rest of the construction pics,

After the fuselage, I constructed the landing gear. No prebent/formed stuff here! You have to bend it yourself. A nice metalworking vise is real handy for making the tight bends necessary. I've done quite a bit of this type of work before, so I didn't have much trouble. If you've never fabricated landing gear like this, it would probably be a good idea to seek out the help of a more experienced builder. All joints were wrapped in fine copper wire and then soldered. I used a small propane torch with 60/40 lead/tin acid core solder.

The second pic shows the rudder leading edge which I have shaped and bound to the cane strip with fine cotton thread and epoxied. After the epoxy has hardened, I soaked the cane in warm water for 10-15 mins. The assembly is pinned down to the plan to conform to the shape of the rudder outline. After a couple of hours, the cane is dry and retains the shape very well.

The third pic is of the nearly complete rudder assembly. All that needs to be done is the addition of the 3/32" x 3/16" cap strips on the ribs and vertical center section. These strips are then sanded to shape as shown in the cutaway drawing (indicated by white arrow) in the first rudder pic.

As I get some more time later, I will post another update,

Scott

johnvb-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Beautiful! There's nothing better than laminated tail surfaces and wing tips. Thanks for publishing these pics.

goliath-RCU

My Feedback: (8)

Nice work! keep those pictures coming. Evan is doing fine. I was at a flyin last month and he flew all his Quakers, including the 16 footer. He told me he didn't like the new format here but who knows maybe hill show up?. Are those surrounds laminated or reed? and how does the reed system work? do you have to soak them?

GoldenAge

Thanks John (in Australia!!). I had some e-mail correspondence with a group called "rebelflyers" from Australia. I chose the covering base color that I'm going to be using per their recommendation which is Solarfilm transparent yellow.

Thanks Larry! I know where that flyin is located Might see me there one day. Sure would like to see Evan post here again. The plans say cane and I've also read the surrounds were called reed, which I think is mentioned on the Ben Buckle web site. After a good soaking in warm water, you pin down to the plan and let it dry for a couple hours or so. The shape is held very well when you remove it from the plan. All I can say is, I really love working with this stuff, it's the first time I've used it. I've used laminated spruce, basswood, and balsa on other models, but I really like the reed/cane. It's pretty tough too.

I'll see if I can post another update tomorrow,

Scott

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

You will never know how delighted I am to see such pictures and know that the aircraft I grew up with are still alive and someone cares about them. I am about to begin the laminated tail surface eges for an old timer. Thin balsa and wood glue. Takes time but I don't have to tell you it's worth it. We used to use thin strips of bamboo and occasionally soft alumnum wire. The wire wasn't all that great but it did work. I offered some plans on this site. Bunch Scorpion Major, Pacific Ace and an Ohlsson Pacemaker. All gone to prospective builders except the Pacemaker. I also have plans for a Modelcraft Miss Tiny if you or anyone else is interested. No charge, I just want to see the old birds on the rise again. Perhaps you can convince someone who has never built them the old fashioned way to start. You'll be right there to help them over the rough spots. Keep on keepin' on.

goliath-RCU

My Feedback: (8)

I always get a lot of comments from people regarding My old timers More than one pilot has said they want to build their own. Allot of the younger pilots are amazed that I can fly and land the plane without ailerons.The older pilots get fired up when they see them also and tell me stories of their free flight days.

I fell in love with the first old timer I saw and had to build one. One of the pilots at the last flyin said he loved the way my spook flew and wanted to build one himself only twice the size of mine. That would be a sight to see.

GoldenAge

I have a little time for an update tonight........

Here is a pic of the nearly completed stabilizer. The construction is much the same as the rudder with a hardwood center section added as well as a steel wire brace to reinforce the control surfaces. You can see the hardwood piece between the two sections. The steel wire which was just under 1/16" thick was shaped and epoxied in the area between the two rear sections of the stabilizer. I'm sorry for not having a closeup image of this, but I added it on later. It virtually eliminated the flexing between the two sections, which I felt could be a problem if a hard landing or similar situation ocurred.

The center section of the forward portion of the stabilizer was also sheeted with 1/16" balsa on the bottom and 1/32" ply on the top. To mate each rib to the round cane, I used a piece of scrap cane with fine sandpaper to sand a contour into the end of the rib for a better fit and glue joint. You can see the scrap piece on the right side of the stabilizer in the image. I did this for the rudder and the wingtips as well. It only takes a few seconds to sand the contour in and I think it is definitely a must do for strength.

The area where there is a small rib missing in the right rear section of the stabilizer is where the control horn will be mounted. I used a sandwich of two 1/8" pieces of plywood cut to match the triangular section whre the small rib was supposed to go.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

GoldenAge

The final structure that I completed was the wing.

The first and second images show the cane right wingtip drying on the wax paper covered plan. The finished left panel is in the background.

The third image shows the tip raised to epoxy to the mainspars. This gives the wingtips that beautiful upward curve at the tip which reminds me of a soaring hawk with its upward curved tip feathers. Before this step is done though, the wing panel is constructed pretty much in a normal fashion. I shaped the leading edge for each wing panel first and then bonded it with epoxy to the dry cane tip. Fine cotton thread was wrapped around the epoxy joint and then coated with a thin layer of epoxy to seal off the thread. The trailing edge is bonded to the cane tip in the same manner, then everything is pinned down and the mainspars and ribs are glued in place. I used yellow carpenters glue for most of the airframe construction. Also, notches in the preformed trailing edge had to be cut in with my scrollsaw (an invaluable tool when building these kits). Note how the lower spars had to be raised and trimmed to be joined to the upper spars in the image. The two ribs at the tip had to be trimmed down to fit the thinner contour in this area. The kit supplied me with a number of spare main ribs in case I made a bad cut

The fourth image shows the joining of the two wing panels. Pretty much straightforward construction here. Each panel has a measured 4 1/4" of dihedral at the wingtip as called for in the plans.

Scott

GoldenAge

Here is an image of the completed wing. The center section is sheeted (an option noted in the plans) with 1/16" balsa. The trailing edges have 1/4" washout built in for better flying characteristics.

Scott

GoldenAge

Here are four pics of the finished airframe. I placed the engine in there for the pics. It's a brand new Saito FA-.40[8D] The wing will be held on with rubber bands. I haven't inserted the dowels yet.

Scott

goliath-RCU

My Feedback: (8)

Beautiful work! I'd love to see that bird fly some day!

GoldenAge

Thanks! I'm doing the trim work on it now. Hope I'll have it finished before Christmas.

Maybe I'll see you at the Gaston Flyers Old Timer fly in someday soon.

Scott

Scalebuff

great work scott...


almost a shame to cover these planes somtimes aint it

GoldenAge

Thanks! It sure is a shame[&:] I do have the transparent film over it now and it looks pretty good. I just have to do the trim and logos when I get the time again.

Scott

evan-RCU

I have mixed feeling about being missed, thanks, even though I never registered I was watching in the wings so to speak. Excellent job you're doing on the Quaker but then all Quakers are beautiful to me. The reed tips are worth the trouble, strong and elegant looking. We need to have a Quaker fly in sometime..... Are there any big bird or old timer meets in the Norfolk area? I think the Cheasepeak club might have one..... I think the Saito .40 will be too much for the Flash, I used to fly mine with OS .15 FP's.

GoldenAge

Hello Evan,

It's nice to see you posting here again and thanks for the kind words! This is my first model with the reed tips and I really enjoyed building with them. They seem to be very robust as well.

No, unfortunately, I haven't seen many old timers here in my club (although I fly exclusively during the weekdays as I work shifts). Haven't even seen a single Quaker either. I think most folks here fly warbirds and sportplanes. Looks like I'll have to come out to your neck of the woods.

If the .40 is too much, I have an OS MAX III .15 rc, a Veco .19 rc and a couple of OS MAX .35's to use. She did come out pretty light.

Take care,

Scott

GoldenAge

Here is the original ad for the Megow Quaker Flash.........

Do you think I can still get one of these kits at that price??

Scott

goliath-RCU

My Feedback: (8)

Boy you sure got a lot of stuff for $4.95!

Jimmbbo

Ahhh - a proper model airplane.... Bravo!![sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Jim

GoldenAge

Yeah! They even gave you a nice set of wheels

Thanks Jim!