Well this builder is alive and well and living in Central France and I'll be building a Big Guff over the winter!

My Big Guff short-kit arrived safely and in good condition from Bob at Laser Design Services yesterday morning at 10.12 local time. Big Guff - $135.00 : Laser Design Services

Two days to get from Texas to Chicago O'Hare, six days to clear customs in Paris and a further five days to travel the 220 miles (353 kms) to my house in La Creuse. Vive La France! Mind you, four of those days were weekends and two were Mondays.

It cost me an extra €38 in taxes and import duties (S43.35 US or £33.82 Sterling.)

It's certainly big enough with its eight foot span, five foot six inch fuselage length and fifteen inch chord! ( 2.4 metres, 1.58metres and 38cms respectively.) 1 metre rule lends scale to the plans. I have a number of decisions to make about its construction. The wing as built by Dr Walt Good had two full-depth 1/8" balsa spars at approximately 25% and 75% chord. For me to replicate this method would involve cutting each one of Bob's lovely laser-cut wing ribs into three parts. I am going to modify the construction to a more conventional 1/4" square spars with shear webs in the postions where the original spars were, but should I use balsa or something a little stronger like basswood for the spars?

As for the fuselage, I think I am going to build it as stock. Sherwood Heggen's version over on RC Groups https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...light=Big+Guff is certainly stronger with its plywood doublers and 1/16" sheet covering but I think I am going to go with the original structure; 1/4" stick fuselage, forward section covered in 1/16" sheet balsa, grain vertical, and the whole thing covered in 1/32" balsa grain horizontal. I haven't used 1/32" balsa since I built a competition free-flighter called a Gossamer about fifty-eight years ago which was not a success, but if I crash it I'll break it anyway and if I can't fly a three-channel vintage model after thirty year's flying experience, I should give up the hobby! I may extend the side cheeks to allow for the long crankshaft of the Laser 70 and incorporate a little extra downthrust as the Laser may be a little more powerful than Sherwood's Saito 65.

Some claim that you could simply build a stick fuselage and reinforce the nose with ply doublers then cover the fuselage in silk, nylon or Solartex. Doubtless this would work but would it still be a Big Guff?

As for the radio installation I will use standard servos as far forward as possible to actuate the rudder and throttle and fit a micro servo in the tailplane for the elevator. I could easily fit a standard servo on its side in the forward fuselage for the elevator and use closed loop cables but the "up" cable would have to exit the fuselage well forward of the tailplane and it would look rather unsightly in my view. I will probably go for an HS 82 MG metal geared servo for extra peace of mind. I know I will not be performing aerobatics with this model, it's just a belt, braces and piece of string sort of thing.

I have followed Sherwood Heggen's build log with great interest and he has already privately given me some advice on the build. If my model comes out as successively as his I'll be very satisfied.

Once I get three repairs out of the way and finish off a Baron I intend to give as a gift, I'll make a start.