Not according to Bruce!!! He works for FedEx. You know.... They're trying to make the world smaller!!!!!!

Ken

We thought about giving Australia to UPS but decided to keep it. They have that nice opera house ya know.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - Those that understand binary, and those that don't

Just to kill a rumor, 4-strokes are no more difficult to run than 2-strokes (or is that 10-strokes?)

Get the Plane Mark, you won't be sorry - and you SHOULD be able to fly it no problem.

Charlie really went above & beyond this time. He has already given me a complete plane last Fri. It is sort of a pattern ship/sport plane with a Fox .46 on it. It is an older plane but will clean right up as it is in very good shape. It will make a great aerobatic practice plane. Then yesterday he tells me to come by the shop because once again, he has something he wants to give me. Some of you old time builders will probably recognize the name "Royal". He gave me a Royal B-25 Twin Engine Bomber kit!! Talk about jumping in to the building pool with both feet.[X(]. He explained that Royal used to be one of the better kits on the market because they were so complete. Hardware & everything. It has all the guns, the canopies, gun turrets, a very detailed cockpit kit & even polished aluminum engine cowls. Very sharp looking. It has a 70.5 in. wingspan & a matching set of OS .46AX's should fly it nicely. Now I know this thing is going to be a major build but he wanted me to have something to do after my surgery next week because it may be a long time before I am able to fly again after next Wed. What a great friend huh?

So I called Dad to tell him what Charlie had just done. He came out of building retirement real quick! He was going to run off to the LHS to buy all new sheeting for it just in case the wood was too old. He recognized the name "Royal" right away & agreed with everything that Charlie had told me about them. He even told me that was a pretty expensive kit 20 yrs ago. So he has volunteered to come up & help me build it, so I guess I now have my first real Warbird. It's just going to take a lot of time & hard work to get it to the flight line. So now by this time next year, I too will know the satisfaction of watching something that I built from the ground up take flight.

But don't get any silly ideas guys, I'm still going to try & get my hands on that P-51!!![8D]

Yes, Royal kits are true "builders' kits and great ones at that. Almost makes me want to give up a body part to get one, but not quite. I know you already realize that you have a long and detailed builing experience ahead of you so just take your time and all the advice your dad has to give. Enjoy the father/son time too . Ya got to get some fun out of all this crap. [:@]

You bet Bruce! It will be a long process, but well worth it in the end I am sure. I really got a kick out of how quickly Dad changed his tune. Lol!

A plane like that deserves a fiberglass/paint finish. See if your dad knows how to show you how to do that. Or better yet, use MinWax polyuerthane instead of resin to adhere the glass. I haven't tried it myself yet but a lot of the guys in the composites forum swear by it and it is much lighter and easier to work with. I can track down more info if you need it. It's Minwax Polycrylic and you can get it at Lowes. Water based and sands easily, low fumes too. You get a beautiful finish that's fuelproof when used with a good paint. Might need to find someone with some painting gear (airbrush or small spraygun). Build the plane while you decide how to finish it.

Bruce,
If not Elanasgrumpy then I would like more info on the Minwax. While I'm not near ready yet, at some point I have a Wing Mfg P-38 that I want to build that will be glassed when I get around to doing it. It's going to be awhile before I can build it because I'm saving for the engines. I'm trying to decide on 2 OS FS-70 Surpasses, or 2 YS 63 engines. Either way it's going to be pricey!!!!!! But I am collecting info on building it when it comes times. I've glassed before using finishing resin, but have never used the Minwax.

Ken

Ken,
try this thread for a start. I'll hunt down more if you want.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_29...tm.htm#2981342

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...Ntt=polycrylic

I'll have to ask him if he knows about that. I know on some of his planes he didn't cover some areas but did some sort of painting process with dope that came out smooth as glass & just as glossy too.

A Royal B25 Bomber>>>>>>>>Grumpy, jealously reigns supreme.>>>>Now with that build to come home to, your recovery time will be measured in hours , instead of weeks. Charlie has certainly given it to a good home at the right time too. You realise we will all want a running report on the build, complete with photos
Bill

Unfortunately Bill unless I borrow my brother-in-laws cam I have no way to post pics anymore. My Wife tried to help the wrong lady back around Christmas time & our digital cam now resides in Ohio.[&:] But I will try to keep you posted once the building commences & as soon as I get something done that is worthy of some pics, I will borrow Donny's cam.

I used the polycrylic waterbase on that Flanker last year. Works well and the neat thing is that being water based, it drys fast and can be sanded down in only a few hours instead of waiting a day or two. However it needs to have a pre coat of something (I forgot what) to keep the balsa from warping.

when I glassed my T/F spitfire I used deft satin brushing lacquer to seal the balsa then glassed with Varathane Diamond finish satin WB poly over .6 oz cloth, its a floor finish and worked really well it was my first kit build in a long time but did a bit of reading on the subject and gave it a shot came out great low odor and dried fast.I have had more trouble figuring out the finish coats and the stenciling its looking good but lots of work

Tim, I'm not sure exactly what part of the stenciling you are having trouble figuring out, but if it is the scale detail, as in what markings are supposed to be on that particular model I may be able to help. Charlie has a book of nothing but true scale Warbird markings. It is nothing but pictures of each plane & all the schemes it came in. It's really a cool book. He uses it for the scale details of all his Warbirds. It even has true photographs of the insides of the cockpits so that you can see exactly how the instrument panels were set up on all the different birds. I told ya, he's a Warbird Guru! I can ask him where he found that book & if they are still available if anyone is interested. It may have all the markings you need.

Mark, I don't know what day your surgery is sceduled for next week but since I'm about to leave work til next week I just wanted to say that I'll be thinking of you and praying for you and the family all next week.

Thanks Bruce, We appreciate it! The surgery will be Wed. morning [] [sm=confused.gif] with some pre-op tests to do Mon. afternoon.

Grumpy, I wish you luck with your surgery. I'm sure you will pull through it just fine.

Why havent you posted anything saying that you have bought the P-51 yet? I think that if you feel it is worth it, you should get it. For the price, I would.

trey

its not the markings or the type its just using the stencils and the proper technique for the best results, instead of using the supplied stickers I ordered some stencils from Gary of juststencils.com the end product looks great there is just allot of colors and markings/letters to spray and you have to let each color dry between stencil layers and the lettering of the spitfire adds up to a few days work working the technique not spraying too much paint , and figuring out the right type of paint that works best . I ended up using testors oil which looks great but is just a bit messy and thinners are a toxic I can do without . my next project will be all latex finishes less toxic and easy to clean up. I will post some pics in the next day or so,it's allot more work than I had thought when I started this project . my next build is going to be a T/F P-47 Thunderbolt with a gas powerplant. that B-25 Mitchell sounds like a project and a half and sounds super cool . using latex to glass and finish is easy got most of my info from RCWARBIRDS.com at the SBD Dauntless thread the guy went nuts with the details and recorded all to read well worth looking at I like hanging at the building board as much as flying, well almost LOL. hey good vibes for your surgery I know its coming fast BT, you might try to get out to the coast some time my club is in half moon bay flypcc.org you and your wife/friend would be welcome for sure

Tim, First of all let me say thanks much for the invite & I may just take you up on that. I love the coast & Dad lives in Carmel. Half Moon Bay would be a good meeting spot for Pops & I as soon as both he & I are up to it. He doesn't fly anymore but after an entire lifetime revolving around aviation, both Scale & RC he obviously still loves it. He had a fantastic time a couple weeks back when he came up here & went to the field with me to meet the Wed./Fri. group of guys that I fly with. I'm sure he'd love to come watch us fly in Half Moon Bay. I'm looking forward to meeting you.

Sounds like you got quite a build project going on yourself. You've apparrently already got your scheme going with paint & stencils for this one. In the future if you like using vinyl graphics I can personally highly reccommend RcKen's work. He has done some work for me on a couple occassions & he does excellent work!! As you would expect of him given his building expertise. I get constant compliments & inquiries on the graphics he did for me.

Trey, I haven't been able to buy the P-51 yet. I don't know now if I will be able to for some time. Defintely not until this surgery stuff is out of the way. The Wife needs the money for hotel rooms & such while I'm in the hospital & rooms in the city aren't very cheap. So the Mustang will have to wait.[&:]

Such is life. If it gets bought I will just do an ARF when I can.. I'm kind of liking the ARF version of the H9 PTS Mustang. It has working flaps & no retracts to fold up during landings. Which seem to be the aquiles heel of Warbirds. I just cringe everytime I see one of these guys with a beautiful Warbird try to land it one legged & it seems to happen a lot. But the ARF of the PTS is only $119 online & $129 at the LHS, not too bad I think. Anyway I will just have to wait & see how everything plays out.

Thanks to all of you for the continued support. Marie & I really do appreciate all of you.

Best wishes to you and yours Grump. Give us an update when you can. Or else we will all have to hunt you down and steal your planes.