Any interest in balsa models here ?

I have a couple of them myself.  I have never actually built one.  My grandfather puts LOTS of them together and he recently has had major eye sight lose.  So he passed them on to me.  So yeah, I'd love to see some stick and tissue builds.  Not sure how to get started or where to start with them.

Eagle90

Not much interest, but a little among us old timers.  Started modeling before first plastic kits (no, they haven't been around forever).  Built two types- the stick and tissue flying models, and more closely similar to plastic models were the "solid" models.  These were non-flying shelf scale models intended for display, just like current plastic models.  They were called solid models because they were carved from blocks of balsa or other soft wood (basswood, pine).

There are still many stick and tissue flying models on the market today, and available at hobby shops.  The solid models have mostly been relegated to obsolescence, however, replaced by the plastic models.  Every so often some company does create kits of wooden shelf scale models for the old-guy market (I have a few of these in my stash, but the companies do not seem to last long.  There are still a few of the original wood kits on eBay occasionally.

I still build an occasional stick and tissue model, like the Gillows F4U and Dauntless. I have a J-3 Cub that has a 6 foot wingspan and is powered by a 4 stroke engine. I have developed a renewed interest in flying models since the electric motors have developed so nicely. The electric is quite and not as messy as the gas powered stuff. For a few years now I have been building a 1/8th scale Lockheed Electra Model 10E. This will be a display scale model and the engines are the Williams Brothers 1/8th scale P&W Wasp engines kits. The engine kits dictated the scale of the model. The model is balsa and basswood framed, but plastic covered. Some parts will need to be vacuum formed. This is a model using both plastic model and wood model skills and while challenging and frustrating at times the end results should make it all worth while, I hope. The plans for the Electra are from Cleveland Models and are still available. The original Cleveland Model plans company was bought and the old plans are still being reproduced and sold. One of these days I want to try one of those paper models. I have seen some that are really great looking. In answer to the original question, I would like to see any scale model. That is what this forum is about.

I'm another "old-timer" who got his start with the old Comet stick and tissue models.  Being an Air Force Brat, I bought them at the base hobby shop for, IIRC, a dime.  A tube of Duco cement was about a quarter so my half dollar weekly allowance went a long way.  Best of all, there were always off duty Airmen building large balsa flying kits who didn't seem to mind kids who were probably the ages of their little Brothers hanging around watching and learning from them.  I've still got a few balsa scale kits in the stash like a Sterling A-6M Zero that scales out to about 1/9th.  If built as an RC flyer, it would have to be semi-scale.

There is a "Museum scale" Klemm L-25B by a company called "Krick".  Famed German pilot Ernst Udet used the L-25 for aerobatic displays.  The plans are scaled down from full size aircraft plans. Wing span is nearly 2 metres.   Last is a Guillows "large size" P-47 which is 1/18th scale and can be built scale for display or, semi-scale for flight.

Sorry to babble on so but, y'all brought back some fond memories of being literally covered with sawdust,  the wonderful stench of AeroGloss Dope and Ambroid cement...Thank you for that.

All the best

Ray

I built a few as a kid but have been toying with the idea of trying one again.

Well alright then, I'll start posting pictures.

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I'm with Buckeye. I too built them with my dad as a kid, and have given some serious thought to breaking one out and seeing if I can do a better job on it now than what I did back then.

Tomorrow I will start photographing the kits I've bought to replace the ones my brothers and I built when we were younger.

Have built the stick and tissue ones on and off over the years. There are 10 kits sitting in the closet now. Haven't built any for a few years. The frame for a Spad is done and sitting on a shelf in the workroom. Maybe I should finish it.

Used to build and compete with stick and microfilm. For those that have never seen them, the wing and tail surfaces are 1/32 inch square balsa and the body is usually 1/16 x 1/8 inches. I don't remember the mix to make the covering, but I made a lot of it over a coat hanger frame in the bathtub. If you sneezed or just breathed heavy, the plane went to pieces and you had to start all over again. Lots of fun.

Jim 

Never again.  I started off building Comet stick models in the 1940's.  Good for a learning experience, but I must admit the results were miserable.  Anyhow, it got me started in the modeling hobby.

I built a lot of the Comet models in the late 40s and early 50s.  My first completed one was a Guillows, but the Comet kits were cheaper.  They had a 10 cent series, while the cheapest Guillows kits I found were a quarter.

BTW, was thinking back and 1983 was the dividing line for me.  Prior to that I built mostly flying models, with an occasional  plastic model. In 83 I moved from Missouri to Minneapolis.  The long winters are not conducive to flying except by some very hardy Fargo-type natives, so changed to mostly plastic models with occasional flying model.  Getting so, also, that I have a hard time chasing flying models now that I am 76.

I know it is not balsa but it is still pretty cool!

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I too am an "old timer" modeler, though I had a 25-year hiatus while I was in the Army.  As a kid I built several of the Guillows WW I aircraft (18" wingspan), notably the SE-5a - I built two (one from scratch), Fokker D-VII, and Fokker D-VIII.  I actually hand-painted lozenge camouflage on the Fokker D-VIII.  I was in high school at the time and didn't know what I was getting into.  It turned out OK, but would never win any contests.  I built them more for display than to actually fly.  I still have the SE-5a and Fokker-VII plans and plan to eventually scratch build them.  Something else to do in retirement.

It was through balsa models that I eventually got into plastic models.  My father and I were into R/C model airplanes a lot throughout the 1960s.  He liked to design semi-scale R/C aircraft and had several published in the model magazines back then - Model Airplane News, American Modeler, and Grid Leaks (a publication from a firm called Ace RC).  He even did some designs for Carl Goldberg Models and Midwest, e.g., Skylark kit and Sky Squire kit.  My father got me into model building and it has never worn off.

Curt

One thing I have done if I knew I had no intent to fly a balsa model was to try and duplicate metal finish better than tissue.  I especially like the Guillows models for this because of the nice canopies and cowls in plastic. I cover the metal surfaces with a glossy card stock, which ends up round, not chorded off like tissue.  The ideal card stock is old IBM punch card stock but it is getting VERY hard to find these days.

won't thin sheets of white Evergreen plastic work just as well Don ?

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