Hi all. My name is Chris, I'm 48, I live in SW FL and was a pipe welder/fabricator/millwright by trade.
This is my first build over 34" ws. My two previous attempts were Guillow's Spitfire and the Corsair as static displays that I never got around to finishing. I was young, 14 or so when I started building. But, hunting, fishing, trapping, cars and girls (not necessarily in that order) had pushed balsa building to the back of my mind for over 3 decades now. I've recently become disabled and I now have an inordinate amount of free time. So, here goes. Let me know if any of this is redundant. I plan on making a build thread here and doing a build video series for YT and IG. These are all firsts for me but with some help from the wife and daughter, I hope to share info that could help some other noob down the road.
I found the plans online Outerzone and studied them for a few hours. Initially, I was concerned about the cowl availability due the original being spun aluminum. But I located one at Fiberglass Specialties.com
It's the correct size, unfortunately it isn't provisioned for cowl flaps. I'm going to make them and they will be functional. Two canopies were bought on eBay and they look they're the correct scale. I just picked up the Saito FA-120R3 on Amazon with a 25% off coupon. Saved some coin there!. I'm looking into Robart retracts. I'm an absolute novice when it comes to electronics so I will be asking a ton of questions. I've had two sets of plans printed at my local print shop. Made my first of hopefully many orders @ National Balsa, it will be here Friday!
Also, I've been hunting on OfferUp and have purchased a little 1/3 HP 4"x36"/6" disc Craftsman belt sander for $20 that needed a capacitor ($8), it now runs perfectly. A Delta 12" bench top drill press for $60 with a broken base. Tried welding the cast iron base with nickel rod but it kept cracking even with preheating and post heating with a laser thermometer. I could have brazed it but I gave up in the interest of my rapidly fading sanity and cut 2 pieces of 5" C channel, welded them together and match drilled the holes. Works perfectly. Then I went and picked up a Dremel scroll saw for $40 with 15 extra blades, pretty sure the guy didn't know what he had because I see them for $100 all the time. So, I now only should need a good little bench top band saw. I'm going to see if I can get all 4 power tools for less than $200. Wish me luck. I have everything else....I think. I will update soon as I have a plethora of questions and ideas... Side note, I'm building a 4'x4' CNC router/laser combo for future builds. Would anyone be interested in seeing a video of that process? It's another first for me as well LOL. Thanks for looking and be well.