Hey, can I have a primer on choosing 'good wood' when scratchbuilding? I can feel slight weight differences between identical pieces of wood, but is strength associated with weight and what about grain?

Get yourself a small digital scale that can read in 1gram increments. You will be amazed at the difference in weight between seemingly similar pieces of wood. Remember that the lighter the overall plane is the less strong the overall construction needs to be. Look for wood that has nice straight grain with no soft spots. You can also get information regarding grain/cut types from some balsa suppliers. Especially if you are planning to do foam wings the weight savings can be large if selecting light wood. Don't fool yourself into trying to build a plane that will survive bad landings. Heavier planes have the nasty habit of self-destructing because of the excessive weight. Light planes bounce, heavy ones stay in one spot, re-kitted.

Some balsa suppliers will supply contest grade balsa. Money worth spending.

Safe Flying! & happy building.

Very refreshing to find someone with an interest in "Ochroma Lagopus". Here is a simple starter treatise on its use in our models and the very important factors of density and grain (how it is sectioned out of the log). Now all we need to do is convence stores to once agine carry contest balsa (four to six pound per cubic foot) instead of the more typical 9 to 12 pound stuff even though it is about double priced.

John[8D]

http://members.aol.com/tigerlink/hint41.htm

Stores can't afford it ---- NO BODY buys it.

Now I am really feeling lonely and like an anachronism since I still make the 328 mile trip into LA three or four times a year just for the real Stuff[]

I buy it, I buy LOTS of it. LONESTAR will hand select whatever grade you need, and if they don't have it, they wont try to slip inferior stuff on you. Bringing a scale to the LHS is a big help. SIG also has a nice selection of contest grade that can be mail ordered. MIDWEST balsa is OK if you want to build a doll house or a model aircraft carrier.