Balsa Wood Models

Hi Ed;

   If you have a Hobby-Town or Independent shop near you, you should be able to find them. Guillows and some others still exist. The paper or silk should be in the kit. Before you say uh-uh, I have seen them in these places. It's just being very observant while shopping these places. Also a Hobby Shop that specializes in R.C. Aircraft usually carries such products .They hope you will get bored with Rubber power, Control line Gas and go to R.C. That's where the Money is for them.

 As for Hot Fuel Proof, Dope, Well, I don't know about that.There are probably less dangerous products out there to coat your plane with now.

Thanks Tanker_Builder. I'll go check out Hobby Lobby and see if thay have anything. Unfortunately they are the only hobby store near me.

Still working on the M1A2 and hope to work on a Bradley after that.

I like these two models because I once worked for a defense contractor who manufactured training simulators for the DOD.  I was assigned the tank and bradley systems.  Spent many weeks having the vehicles torn apart so I could photograph them.

Once while at Aberdeen Proving Ground, I was given the opportunity to drive the M1A1 

Check out some of the online hobby shops as well.

I certainly will do that!  Thank you

You can also order direct from Guillow's website:

https://www.guillow.com/modelkits.aspx

I used to love building their WW1 fighters, but they've got lots of variety to choose from.

Used to build them years ago. Still have 6 of them in the stash. Been tempted to build one many times but have too much on the bench right now. 

Jim 

Stay Safe.

I have their F6F, planning on covering with 1/32 balsa sheet rather than the tissue.  Won't be a flying bird, just a shelf sitter that should look better than the tissue covered version.  Going to take a lot of sealer/clear before paint to smooth out the balsa.

I thought about covering one with clear wrap used for leftovers. Maybe putting just a little detail in it like a rough cockpit and control wires. Paint the frame and pit. Easily doable and might look half decent sitting up on top of the curio cabinet.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Here are some places to look:

https://brodak.com/

https://www.aeroaces.com/aeroaceshome.htm#home

https://sigmfg.com/

The Guillows kits are OK to start with but the range is much larger if you build from plans and or laser cut short kits.  Plans done by Earl Stahl are a great starting point, he did a lot of scale designs that are very well done.

There is a hobby shop called penn valley hobbies that is closed now but their mail order business is still going.  A company called Easy Built models sells via their web site.  THey manufacture balsa and tissue models.  About half of their offerings are laser cut.  There are several garage shop mfgs who offer some very nice kits.  Do a google search for balsa flying model kits.

A good overview of balsa models can be found here:

http://www.stickandtissue.com/index.htm

Another good place to look is here:

https://www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_forum/index.php

and here:

http://balsamodels.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=2

All these sites and forums are dedicated to stick and tissue, balsa models.

If you're intrested in scratch building them at all you can go to arrofred for plans. Most are free.

https://aerofred.com/

goldhammer

I have their F6F, planning on covering with 1/32 balsa sheet rather than the tissue.  Won't be a flying bird, just a shelf sitter that should look better than the tissue covered version.  Going to take a lot of sealer/clear before paint to smooth out the balsa.

Goldhammer,

I have a Corsair that I was going to build as a non-flying model.  Maybe use the tissue to skin the balsa before painting?  It might help.  I built a Rufe (Zero floatplane) as a "flyer", but I over tensioned the rubber band, which caused the spruce retainer shaft to plunge through the fuselage, wrecking it.  The dope really worked well in getting out the wrinkles.

Sometimes I think going back to these "stick and tissue" models is a nice nostalgia trip to an age when modelers carved models out of ugly rocks!  

That's an idea G.  Will keep it in mind when I get that far.  Only just got a cork bulletin board as a build base.

goldhammer

I have their F6F, planning on covering with 1/32 balsa sheet rather than the tissue.  Won't be a flying bird, just a shelf sitter that should look better than the tissue covered version.  Going to take a lot of sealer/clear before paint to smooth out the balsa.

 

Thanks GM, another good thought.

Since you're in Florida, you could call Colonial Photo and Hobby in Orlando.  I'm fairly sure they still have some kits there.

I think I saw a R.C. place or two on the edge of town.

It's worth a shot.

Thanks to all of you who put links to sites. I have had a really nice trip back into the good old days looking at those sites. You've really given me the bug to build one out of my stash. A while back I planned to build one and ordered a supply of strip rubber. It's up in the loft "somewhere". Might be all dried out by now.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

I forgot to mention Dumas.  They have an extensive line of balsa/tissue flying models.  However, they are not very true to scale- the designs are modified to fly better.  The horizontal tail surfaces are larger, and landing grear is longer to clear larger, non-scale props.

Check out Outerzone, hundreds of free plans.  https://outerzone.co.uk/index.asp

Use the "tile" feature on your printer, then tape the pages together for the full size plans. I spray Elmers craft "soft" adhesive, it's temporary like post-it note adhesive, on the paper, then glue them to the balsa. Then cut out your parts, the paper will peel right off. 

I have a lttle tool to cut the strips, but in a pinch you can cut them with a ruler and blade. The tool is easy to find, inexpensive. I think it's called a balsa strip cutter or something. 

Balsa sheet is very easy to find, any hobby store has it. Check Michaels, Hobby Lobby. 

Hallmark brand tissue works very well. Again, very easy to find. Has a nice grain, strong, shrinks well. 

For dope you can use thinned down Elmers white glue with water, about 50/50. You can also use that to attach the tissue. Glue sticks work too. Just give the glue a few hours to dry before shrinking the tissue with water, trust me on that!

Rattle can paints work fine, especially for display. Just use light coats. Floral paints, the kind people use for painting synthetic flowers work fine for flying models, they seem to have light pigment and carrier. Easy to find at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.

Very often the build from scratch approach is much easier than stamp cut kits. The stamp cut parts are often crushed into the wood, not cut. Sometimes people will buy the kit just for the plastic parts (cowel, canopy), then cut their own wood. Or use what kit wood you can and cut your own for the die crushed parts. 

Laser cut parts are very nice to work with. For your first attempt, try them, like driving a Cadilac. 

Good luck, looking forward to seeing your builds!

fox

A while back I planned to build one and ordered a supply of strip rubber. It's up in the loft "somewhere". Might be all dried out by now.

Funny you should mention that.

I was watching a Sunday-afternoon rubber-powered flying 'meet' a few years ago, when I witnessed an amazing failure of the rubber in-flight. Somebody's scratch-built civil-type a/c literally exploded in mid-air: apparently when the rubber snapped its force went sideways, shearing the thing apart. It looked like a bubble had burst mid-fuselage...the wings and fuselage bits did a sort of Blue Angels 'spread' before all the bits tumbled to earth.

The spectators actually applauded...though the 'pilot' didn't seem quite as impressed.

Great Planes has some great kits. The old banana oil "dope", or buterate dope (lacquer) as well as the pactra "dope" is long gone. The new covering material is iron on, or heat shrink mylar or plastic. There is even iron-on covering that looks and feels like the old linen fabric covering like on the Piper Cubs. It comes in various colors including "Cub Yellow". There is an old expression that says " if you fly it it will crash, it's just a matter of time".  I have not seen the old Ambroids wood glue for a long time either, but the new super glues are better as long as you do not glue your fingers together. Keep this stuff away from little modelers. A water based wood glue is safers for young modelers, e.g. Gorilla Glue wood glue. The old balsa and stick and tissue models are a challenge, but a lot of fun to build. enjoy 

Greg, I used to fly indoor microfilm planes. Lighter than a feather and stayed up for 20-25 minutes. We made our own microfilm in the bathtub with a coat hanger frame. The real fun came when removing the film from on top of the water. Had to be done very slowly and carefully to keep the films adhesion to the water to release without making it collapse into nothing but a mess. 

They would close "all" the windows in the armory so there would be no drafts. Saw quite a few just seem to disintegrate when hit with a draft from a window that wasn't closed all the way. The wing and tail frames were made of either 1/32" or 1/64" balsa depending on which class you were in. The prop was built the same way. IIRC, the prop took 3 seconds or more to make 1 revolution. Still have the plans for a couple of them. 

Jim 

Stay Safe.

This stuff is out there as a dope replacement. Can't say I've ever had the need for it, but it has decent reviews. https://www.amazon.com/DELUXE-MATERIALS-DLMBD42-Tissue-Shrink

fox

Greg, I used to fly indoor microfilm planes...

That is way-cool, Jim! I've seen film and video of micro-lights...including that 'bathtub' film process...but never had the chance to see them in person.

It's hard to imagine the patience required for such builds. The odd thing is, I could probably master the patience...but I fear my natural tendency to occasional ham-handedness would rule out such a pursuit.

That's how I lost a few. I was always in a hurry to lift the film out of the tub and cover the plane. I had to learn to slow down and take it easy. That film was nowhere near as easy to use as tissue. If you made just one little wrong move while covering, the film would tear or totally collapse. I also wrecked a couple while launching. The trick was to let the prop go, get a few revs and just open your fingers to let the plane lift off them by itself. I pushed it off and that was too much pressure on the plane and it collapsed. 

The greatest feeling was when the flight was over and the plane was coming down "very slowly". You just had to be in the right spot, put your hand out and let it land on your hand. Then walk very slowly back to the work area with the biggest s*** ****** grin on your face. But, overall, it was a lot of fun and was not very expensive even back then.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

fox

Greg, I used to fly indoor microfilm planes. Lighter than a feather and stayed up for 20-25 minutes. We made our own microfilm in the bathtub with a coat hanger frame. The real fun came when removing the film from on top of the water. Had to be done very slowly and carefully to keep the films adhesion to the water to release without making it collapse into nothing but a mess. 

They would close "all" the windows in the armory so there would be no drafts. Saw quite a few just seem to disintegrate when hit with a draft from a window that wasn't closed all the way. The wing and tail frames were made of either 1/32" or 1/64" balsa depending on which class you were in. The prop was built the same way. IIRC, the prop took 3 seconds or more to make 1 revolution. Still have the plans for a couple of them. 

Jim 

Stay Safe.

 

Many of us who lost our patience with microfilm covered our indoor models with thin plastic wrap, ie Saranwrap.  Not as light as microfilm but llighter than jap tissue.

This is a very old memory but if I recall correctly Goodyear held contests for the micro-film models in the building where one of the blimps was stored. Those little models were amazing to me. When I was first married we lived on the first floor of a three story apartment building and when I would paint either silk or tissue (silkspan) with Pactra dope the neighbors would complain because of the smell.  It was kinda nasty. The Ambroids glue was also kinda potent. I ocassionally set the plastic aside and work on a 1/5 scale plywood and balsa J-3 Cub. I have so much time in doing scale details that I may never fly it. It will look nice hanging from my grandson's ceiling. And now there are scale jet engines. HMMMM.  

Don, I never tried the plastic wrap or the other covering materials. I have never been able to successfully wrapped a sandwich with the wrap without it all getting stuck together and making a mess. I never used the iron on shrink stuff for the R/C planes either. I bought 1 roll of the bright red for a plane I was working on but I don't remember ever using it. It's still on one of the shelves in the loft. Bought the teflon coated iron too. Never used it either. Guess I was just stuck on the old ways.

I've got a couple of Sterlings Peanut Scale planes. Maybe I'll try to build one of them and use the Saranwrap to see how it goes. I've still got many different colored sheets of the tissue too if that doesn't work.

Jim 

Stay Safe.

PS - Don't have any planes to repair at the present time for the museum so I might get something done.