Mooney and Beechcraft Bonanza
I HAVE BEEN building and flying my father Dick’s profile 1⁄2A
Control Line (CL) airplane designs for more than 25 years. They are
easy to build, and with only a small investment in balsa, dope, glue,
and an inexpensive engine, you can have a great-flying aerobatic
airplane. You don’t need a large field to fly on; we generally fly at the
local school yard.
One Man's Thing
MOST DISPLAY MODEL aircraft today are made from plastic kits. My father told me that when he was a kid the display models were made of wood and all the parts had to be carved to shape. I like working with wood because it is more fun than plastic and you make the whole project yourself. To make display aircraft models I use balsa wood but I call them "profile solids" because the parts are profiles, not all carved. This saves a lot of work and has other advantages. You can pick any aircraft to model, ones that are not available in plastic, and make them any size you want. The wooden models are left unfinished, not painted. All markings are put on with a good felt-tip pen. This shows the construction and workmanship but still the models are easily identified and look realistic. The pictures show the appearance. I will tell how I make the models.
