Thinking ahead to balmy summer days of light-wind soaring I thought I'd offer a progress report on my rendition of this lightweight beginners' kit from West Wings.
Of course I didn't follow the plan/instructions to the letter because I wanted to 'improve' the model.
When I bought the kit I was really looking for something like the Graupner Dandy, an example of which I flew 40 years ago when a colleague of my father's gave me a lesson atop Mount Caburn; as I recall the flight ended abruptly and messily. The Dandy Mk III is currently available but only in ARTF format for £140, so for a more authentic nostalgic experience I opted for the Aurora kit and will take inspiration from the Dandy's colour scheme when I cover it.
Like all West Wings models it's a well engineered kit, the components are neatly cut and fit together perfectly. However, it is very light and feels in need of some localised reinforcement.
I added extra balsa to the inside corners of the fuselage for strength and to allow for more rounding-off with the razor plane. I also put a layer of glass cloth on the inside-front-half of the fuselage and at the tail end where the fin and tailplane are glued on. Having never liked the odour or messiness of two-part epoxy or polyester resin I tried water-based floor varnish to bind the glass instead – it seems to be equally effective and I washed the brush under the tap!
The Graupner Dandy is the same size as the Aurora, but the wings are separable, which is handy. So, in an attempt to create a 'rucksack-able' model, I made a two-piece wing by gluing 1/4 x 1/8inch full-length spruce spars into the ribs, then cut a wing joiner out of an aluminium/ply sandwich to slide between the spars.
Some careful cutting and ironing of red and white Solartex should create a pleasing two-tone finish...
Cheers
Russell H
Very interesting post, I looked at the West Wings kit but was swayed by a Kamco Kloudbuster short kit on ebay, it was a close call but the extra wing span won me over. The only other balsa plane ive built was a Precedent Hi Fly.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing how your model turns out, the colour scheme sounds good.
Thanks for your comments. Do you mean the Kamco Kloudrider? I built one in 1976. A great kit which flew well, although the wing mounting method was rather unforgiving of hard landings...
DeleteYes, Kloudrider, not sure how that happened I think my pad tried to auto correct my spelling. I looked at the wing mounting and thought the same as you. I will probably build it as a two part wing and rubber band it to the fuse. Let me know how the Aurora flies, looks like a decent model.
DeleteHi Russell I made a West Wings Toucan a few years ago. I made it primarily for power flying, but after a number of flights I decided to make it into a glider. It too was a great model to make and I really enjoyed being able to alter parts of it to suit my own requirements. I like the Aurora and look forward to seeing it flying.....
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