March 2003 - Oh no !!! A box of balsa -- I'll never get this done by next month. Little did I know it would take 3 years !!

Aileron and Tail assembly

Wing layout- note only the aileron servo shows on the plans. I designed and fabricated flaps, so flap servo will be installed too.

Framed Wing

Sheeting the wing -- this was done with wood glue, but used CA to tack the ends in place.

Note flap servo frame. Ruler used as reference to cut the servo hole after sheeting the bottom.

I fabricated this aluminum end piece so the 36" sanding block would not go too far when shaping the leading edge.

Wing tip before and after shaping.

Wing center section

With paper tubes for servo wires.

Top sheeting done and retract bolsters installed. Note yellow wood glue used in sheeting.

Fuselage frameup 1

Fuselage frameup 2

Fuselage frameup 3

Fuselage frameup 4 - Installing the plywood sheeting doubler.

Sheeting the fuselage, Note spot where I had to sand thru 2 layers of plywood to remove nasty bump.

At this point I needed a stand so I made one of 3/4 ply glued and screwed together. Band saw cut the cradles.

1/64 plywood makes this curve up, then contoured with balsa filler and sanded.

Check the fit, check the fit, check the fit !!!!!

Fitting wing center section to fully sheeted fuselage

Left wing joined to center section and fiberglass wheel well installed.

Fiberglass tape to wing joint.

Start of fiberglassing process. First coat of Z-poxy resin applied over 6/10 oz fiberglass cloth.

'Glassed stabilizer. Note fabric weave still visible. This gets sanded out.

Bottom of wing only got one coat of resin to save weight.

Second coat of resin to top of wing really fills in the weave. Check that shine !!!

Vertical stab. glassed. Note balsa filler to fix dimple in sheeting.

Laying out and cutting the fiberglass to size.

Looks terrible, but after sanding and feathering there is NO noticible edge to the fiberglass cloth.

Assembled, glassed wing. Note green automotive glazing puddy filling nasty dip in surface.

Glassing the fuselage.

Fuselage in first coat of primer.

Laying down 1/64 Chartpak tape for the panel lines.

Panel lines laid out on top of wing.

All panel lines were in scale positions taken from North American's blueprints.

My first rivits ever. I did the bottom of the wing first to get the technique down.

All rivit positions also taken from North American's blueprints.

1/5 rivit tape and syringe filled with Elmers glue cut 10% with water.

The first step in doing rivits is to pencil in the lines to follow with the tape.

Fuselage panel lines laid in with 1/32 Chartpak tape.

Closeup detail of rivit work. Note dried Elmers (left) is clear.

Fuse rivits.

Closeup detail showing finished rivits on painted wing.

Starting to tape off canopy frames.

Parma mask liquid brushed on areas of canopy that are not getting painted.

The tape gave me sharp lines, the Parma mask just filled in the center.

Painted fuse. Nelson Hobbies paint used throughout.

Another angle.

Still another angle. I couldn’t believe how good it looked at this point. Things were coming together.

Fitting aftermarket instrument panel with J-tec instruments.

Hard to find, highly collectible pilot figures from BBI purchased on EBAY

Don’t ask what I paid for them !!!! -- And I chopped them in half as I only needed the bust.

All control surfaces were fabric covered like the real plane. (Supercoverite used)

Rivet work on canopy.

Turnover brace fabricated from balsa dowel.

Three cylinder Saito FA-170 installed.

Cowl panel lines and rivets done.

Cowl in paint

Ditto

Things are shaping up !!!

Graphics were custom made to my specs by Pro-Mark graphics --- Modeled after a plane I flew at Warbird Adventures.

Plane was completed April 22, 2006 -- Three days before the '06 static show.

Show off picture 1

Show off picture 2

Show off picture 3

Show off picture 4

Damage incurred after cartwheeling in Great Kills

Damage cut out.

Wing Damage

All has since been repaired and I learned my lesson and use longer takeoff runs.