Karl Gies’ Twin Lizzie
by Gene Smith [email protected]
How is this for a memory? Karl Gies recalled that in 1959 he was at the Camp Smedley D. Butler library in Okinawa reading Model Airplane News (MAN) when he spotted an article and plans for Keith Laumer’s Twin Lizzie. Karl was getting out of the Marine Corps in March 1960, and had severe withdrawal from not building a model airplane in nearly three years.
He sent MAN the money for the Twin Lizzie plans (probably 50 or 75 cents), and had it sent to his home address in Lewistown, Montana. He had been home for roughly a week when his mom gave him some mail and there were the plans! He immediately started building.
The model’s first engine was a K&B .020 Infant. This engine would only get the model between 25 and 50 feet off the ground, so he installed a more potent engine. Karl thinks it was a Cox Pee Wee .020. He lost the model once, but it was found a day later and returned.
A few years ago, he sent the plans to Brian Malin at BMJR Model Products, suggesting he kit the model. Several months later, Karl got a package and thank-you note from BMJR. In the package was a kit for the Twin Lizzie. Brian had always admired the model himself; Karl attests that it’s an excellent kit.
The model in the picture was built entirely from the kit materials. It’s covered with Japanese tissue on top of 1/4-mil Mylar and the trim is black Japanese tissue. Karl has mounted an Elfin .050 diesel on his latest version of the Twin Lizzie.
I have always liked Keith Laumer’s designs and several of them, including the Twin Lizzie, have been on my list, but have not yet made their way to the top. I will have to remedy that.
Paasche Airbrushes
Several years ago, I was glad when Bob Schlosberg told me about the H-series Paasche airbrushes. These are single-action airbrushes. The trigger has one action: it turns the spray on and off. Double-action brushes enable you to control the force of the spray and the amount of paint.
For most of the painting that I do on my scale models, the single-action airbrush does what I need and is much easier to clean than the double-action one.
Bob sometimes has five or six colors going at once. When he had only a couple of brushes, it seemed that all he was doing was cleaning brushes to do small touch-ups. He got tired of that, so he bought several of the inexpensive single-action airbrushes. He could load them up with the colors he needed as the build progressed, then cover the cup with tape so the paint wouldn’t dry. The paint stayed usable until the model was finished, usually three to five days.
Bob said that some free-flight modelers had begun using Future floor polish to finish their stick-and-tissue models instead of using dope. After becoming involved with plastic modeling, he discovered that Future is used extensively in that hobby. It provides a gloss coat to the painted surfaces so that decals will more easily slide into place. Some claim that it will stop the decals from silvering. He bought some Future floor polish and now he can’t get along without it.
Bob cautioned that it needs to be cleaned out of the airbrush soon after you use it or it can really gum up. He read that ammonia does the best job of cleaning out the floor polish; however, he found that if you let the tip parts soak too long, the ammonia attacks the chrome and discolors it. Bob found that a cleaning-grade acrylic lacquer thinner cleans as well without spoiling the finish.
The Lockheed Vega
The Lockheed Vega was never a favorite of mine, at least not until I saw Dave Rees' beautiful model. There was something about the way it looked in the air that was incredibly appealing.
I have seen a couple of others built from Dave's plans and they both had that great look. Dave Mitchell's version didn't last long and was lost to a DT failure, but when I saw a picture of Wally Farrell launching his model, I wanted to get some information on his Vega.
The Vega is one of Wally's favorites. His latest model is his third Vega, and as with the others, it was built from Dave's plans.
The model spans roughly 30 inches and weighs 73 grams without the rubber. Wally claims Dave's was lighter.
One of the Vega's advantages is that you can use a big motor in that large fuselage. Wally thinks the fuselage's tapered conical shape gives it tremendous strength and less drag. The lack of wing struts and the wheel pants also reduces drag.
Wally thinks some weight can be saved on the nose section. He believes he may have made this section too sturdy, because the nose section weighs roughly twice the weight of the entire fuselage. He also believes some weight can be saved on the wheel pants and wheels. He used full balsa wheels and pants; foam wheel pants and fake half wheels would be lighter.
Currently he is using a Peck-Polymers 9.5-inch propeller, which is slightly small for the model's wingspan. Wally plans to use a slightly larger propeller on it this year.
Because he used a bail-type freewheeler on the front end, switching out propellers isn't a big issue. However, changing propellers will require retrimming the model, because the propeller size affects the power pattern and the glide. It currently flies on two loops of roughly .25 x 40 inches. The motor weighs approximately 25 grams.
The Vega flies well with the current setup but Wally didn't fly it much last year because of DT problems (which have since been resolved). It has a swiveling stabilizer DT that uses a carbon-fiber rod as the shaft between the two stabilizer halves.
Wally discovered he made the landing gear too flexible. In a hard landing, the wheel pants would spring backward, sticking up into the fuselage tissue. He continues to try to strike a balance between making the landing gear strong enough for the average landing shock, but not so strong that the fuselage behind the gear mount breaks.
Sadly, Dave Rees passed away this past January. You could not have found a more pleasant person or skilled craftsman.
No-Cal Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9
John Appling did a great job building and finishing his No-Cal Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9 from Mike Morrow plans. He used the motor tube specified for a lifting stabilizer. The model weighs 4.92 grams without rubber. John flies it with several rubber combinations, from .070 x 20 inches to .095 x 18 inches, depending on the propeller used and ceiling height.
After breaking the tips of balsa propeller blades, John decided to mold the carbon-fiber blades you see in the photos. Although the carbon-fiber blades are heavier than a formed-balsa propeller, the added weight was identical to the ballast he had added with the balsa propeller.
John uses a unique nose bearing made from .030-inch-thick brass. The rear of the bearing has a slot for the propeller shaft instead of a hole. The shaft is locked in place with a piece of Teflon. A #0-80 socket-head cap screw secures the Teflon, which captures the propeller shaft. This setup allows John to experiment with different propellers.
He created the panel lines and control surface markings using AutoCAD. Friend and fellow modeler Bob Turner took the DWG file and worked his magic using Photoshop. He referenced images from Flying Colors and other sources to add the great camouflage and lettering.
The carbon-fiber propeller proved its worth in the first round of a contest. The Fw 190 D-9 flew well with the carbon propeller, colliding with one of the massive columns in the flying site—the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The propeller was unharmed.
If you would like to watch or take part in the indoor flying activity there, contact the Maxecuters through the club's website, listed in "Sources."
I have built some No-Cals from Michael Morrow's plans. He has a number of high-performance designs on his Aero Aces website (listed in "Sources"). My favorite was the Miss RJ. It had great looks and good performance—until it had a midair with a heavier model.
Michael's nose-bearing assemblies are an easy way to get a great nose bearing with minimal effort. You don't have to fabricate it yourself. Take a look at the great selection of plans and No-Cal building tips on his website.
The Kharkov R-10
John Majane is pleased with his Kharkov R-10 from the Easy Built kit. With an empty weight of 37 grams, John's model has not yet flown, but the design has a reputation as a good flier.
A Stick-and-Tissue Arado
The Arado Ar.196 A-3 was used for reconnaissance during World War II. It was flown off the battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. To my knowledge, there is only one stick-and-tissue kit of this airplane.
From what I have seen in pictures, the kit is complete and well built. The model spans 17.58 inches. Although it appears to be built for display, it should be flyable with an electric motor. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
