I have now reached the stage where the fuselage on the Big Guff is symmetrical, the position of the servos has been finalised and the forward 1/16" sheeting has been glued in place, grain vertical as per Dr Good's instructions on the plan. I will use a closed loop to actuate the rudder and either a snake or a balsa pushrod for the elevator. The next stage is make up the nose blocks and to cover the entire fuselage including the 1/16" sheeting with 1/32" sheet balsa, grain running along the length of the fuselage sides but I'm afraid I will have to disobey the plan instructions and use the sheeting across the fuselage on the underside. I have always done this with all of my models and it makes the structure much stronger. The top of the fuselage is already covered in this way with the 1/32" balsa, a size which I have not used in nearly sixty years.

I am using a new type of aliphatic glue which I bought in England when I was last there in April. It's quite yellow and unlike other aliphatics, does not dry out clear. It was extremely thick and difficult to squeeze out of the bottle so I thinned it with water. As a glue it works well but it has been very difficult to remove the excess from the interior of the model even though you can get your hand right into the fuselage quite easily! As a result, the interior, which will be visible through the clear acetate sheet of the door when that is built, will look rather unsightly. I will use a more familiar type of glue for the rest of the build.

Once the fuselage is fully sheeted I plan to cover it before preparing my Barons for a competition in September, then I will get on with the tailplane. As regards covering I am tempted to use coloured tissue though Solartex will be much easier to apply. Maths was never my strongest subject but I worked out that the Big Guff's fuselage has a total area of 8.5 sq ft or 0.79 sq mtrs. Solartex weighs 85 grammes per sq metre which is about three ounces per square metre. Therefore the weight of Solartex covering will be less than three ounces.

Tissue and dope will be lighter but saving weight on a model of this size and type is not the priority which it could be on a smaller machine. I've seen some tissue and here: https://www.miniplanes.fr/reno-red-l...bs-description and it's certainly cheap enough. Trouble is that I haven't used tissue over sheet for sixty years so I've forgotten the technique. Do you use sanding sealer first, then a couple of coats of dope, then brush the tissue onto the surface using thinned dope or is it thinner? Do you dampen the tissue first? Which sort of dope do I use, nitrate or butyl? Shrinking or non-shrinking? Whisper it, but if I do decide to use tissue on the fuselage, I may use tissue over doculam on the fin and rudder. There is a considerable amount of sheeting on the fin anyway. The advice of the cognoscenti will as always be warmly received.

I was lucky with the servo mounts. I have been doing a fair bit of instructing since I retired to France and my favourite ARTF trainer is the Seagull Boomerang. I crashed one when I lost signal and the servo plate was sprung from the wreckage. The local cognoscenti claimed that it had crashed because I was using a cheap receiver! I bought another Boomerang and installed the old servo plate in the new model. Consequently I had a new piece of light ply cut out for standard servos. A couple of cuts with a Stanley knife, my usual balsa and ply sandwhich for the screws to grip on, and they were installed in the Big Guff.

As you can see in the pictures the servos are mounted close to the F2 former. I will use a small servo between the F1 and F2 former to actuate the throttle and the rx battery will fit in the same space. Please note that neither the tank, servos, the engine nor the receiver are fitted into place, they are just placed into position for the photograph and that the servos shown are old servos. I will treat the Big Guff to a new pair when final installation occurs. There will have to be a certain amount of making good around the F2 former where the tank goes through. The tank is another find from the Boomerang but then I may use a shorter fatter tank.

Walt Good's model featured a switch high up on the forward fuselage side. I was thinking of replicating the arrangement with this switch which I've owned for years but felt that the receiver could be switched on accidentally when loading the model into the van. I may however mount the switch, or a switch, on the inside of the model so that you have to open the door to switch it on!

So onwards and upwards. A little more sanding, a little filler perhaps, the nose blocks then the 1/32" sheeting!