I saw an add in my local Craigslist for a Duellist airframe. Only $40.00, I thought heck the wood alone would be more that.

I traveled to the Modelers house and met a very nice gent named Robert. Robert gave me a tour of his collection of R/C goodies and a couple of planes which included the Duellist that were for sale.

I not only bought this Duellist but an older model (but new) Pattern plane fiberglass fuselage and fiber glassed 2-pieced wings along with retracts. I bought the Duellist at that time and a few days later went back for the Pattern ship.

The bottom of the wing was in great shape until I removed the landing gear. The previous owner didn’t want the gear to fall out apparently and glued that metal arms in very well. I broke the Plywood retaining blocks out removing the landing gear, I want to add retracts. . The top of the wing has some sheeting that needs to be replaced it looks like maybe in storage it was hit with something that had did damage to the sheeting. It doesn’t appear to have been crashed, just bad Hanger rash.

These photo’s are what I’m starting with.

Before anything is repaired I did a measurement of the complete airframe to insure everything was in it’s place and the surfaces were straight and true. As it came out, they were off, I took the tail feathers off and will replace them with open frame design to save some weight.

Starting with the fuselage, To begin I will repair the side hole where the builder left to get to the front gear? Along with filling the hole where the front landing gear shaft went through. In doing the measurements to be sure the tail feathers were straight and in place properly.





 

As it came out, the measurements were off, I took the tail feathers off and will replace them with open frame design to save some weight. The Rudder is crookedly put on so it also will be rebuilt. I am contemplating making the rudder and stabilizer removable, I’ll see when I get to the point of putting them back on. As far as my thought of a lot of work wasn’t going the way I had hoped. The front of the airframe from the front of the canopy forward was warped real bad and I removed the sheeting and forward fuselage formers. Being careful in removing everything and using a Covering blower on high heat The glue came loose and I was able to get everything apart without too much trouble. I measured and rebuilt the forward formers then glued everything back together. I was out of Balsa sheeting so I made an order and while I was at it I stocked up on some extra. Balsa has really went up in price since I left the hobby for a 9 year absence. I bought 44 pieces, most were 3" wide and 36" long with thicknesses varied. Total cost was $117.00 $125.00 shipped. I’ll do more cleaning of the airframe while I wait for the wood. I'm waiting for that wood order to come in.

I turned to the engine Nacelles. They were in relatively good condition, The floor were fuel rotted and warped, I removed them and all the other sheeting,


The Engine mount former was Glued in crooked, I removed it, cleaned it up and sanded it smooth before re-glueing it in place. Everything with the basic frame work of the nacelles looks good and is awaiting the sheeting to finish them up. I’m quite sure the motor mount holes for the 2 strokes won’t line up with my 4-stroke mounts so I’ll drill the holes out that are there and squeeze in some 1/4" dowel, glue it and sand it smooth. I’m not going to put the new mounts in place until I get the Nacelles back in place. When I looked the airframe over after bolting the wings on and seeing the sheeting all in place where the nacelles will attach I took a second look, This airframe would be really sharp looking as a single engine. Lol But I won’t go there.