Galvin43
Posts: 1
Joined: 6/16/2007
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Status: offline
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Just noticed this page even though it has been here for several years.
The reason I'm posting here comes from the fact that I rescued a very grungy Byron Staggerwing from a hobby shop about two years ago in hope that a friend of mine, an admitted Staggerwing nut, might want it. Unfortunately he had just sold his house and relocated to the Canadian border. Although he would have bought it otherwise, I found myself stuck with it. A year and a half later and after coming within an eighth of an inch of throwing it in the dumpster, I finished it and immediately put it up in the same hobby shop with a for sale sign on it. It had a Quadra 32 and was restored to flying condition but I never flew it, I was so sick of looking at it I just wanted it gone.
I had succunbed to my usual personality disorder of not being able to know when to quit and had pulled out a lot of stops in restoring it. A very detailed R-985 engine, a complete interior, and a difficult white paint job combined to nearly send me to the home for the terminally bewildered but I managed to last it out. The guy who snapped it up far sooner than I ever thought it would sell will not fly it and is the kind of person who never sells anything so I guess it will be passed down as a family heirloom. He still has the same Porsche 356 coupe he bought back in the late fifties after all. He has informed me that the Staggerwing model occupies a place of honor in his home, being permanently on display atop his grand piano.
Here it is, all 23 lbs. and 73" span of it.
For those familiar with the Byron retract system for the Staggerwing and the fact that it occupies space in to cockpit when retracted, the front seats tilt back as the gear comes up. Hey, you aren't examining the detail in the cockpit when it's flying are you?
That is a scale copy of a 1947 issue of "Life" in the starboard map pocket. The pilot's side map pocket has...what else? Maps, of course. (They are battle maps of Korea but who can tell at this scale.)
The HS-38 headset was a model in itself as was the vintage potato masher mike. There is a different 1947 "Life" issue on the back seat.
Bottom was full of holes from all the stuff put there. I filled the holes and relocated the service items. All switches and service points are now in the baggage compartment. Latches are magnetic and work well.
Fortunately the Williams Brothers cylinders are correct for the Pratt & Whitney R-985 or I would have had to make the correct ones. I am presently researching the Wright "Cyclone" for my 1/6th scale Curtiss "Goshawk" and I am extremely thankful for the Williams items on this model as a result. Ever try to faithfully duplicate a cylider for an aircooled engine in a smaller scale?
< Message edited by Galvin43 -- 6/18/2007 3:41:04 AM >
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All Forums >> Radios, Batteries, Clubhouse and more >> The Clubhouse >> RE: Lets see your Biplane!!! 
RE: Lets see your Biplane!!! - 
