TOP FLITE Stinson SR-9 / Master’s Workshop Project Flight Report More than a few months (and a whole lot of dismal, gray winter weather) has passed since I shared with you the final Master’s Workshop column installment on building the Top Flite 100” span Stinson SR-9. It turns out that I have been involved with […]
It’s time to finish putting this airplane together ! As I write this, my Stinson SR-9 is actually finished…built…ready to go. It has been “out in public” at a static model show at the Seattle Museum of Flight, but I have not yet had the airplane anywhere near a flying field. It’s November outside. […]
Peeling Paint? I got a question the other day from reader Dale Thomsen. He reports that: “I got a Stinson SR-9 from another modeler. My problem is the paint that was on the plane is pealing off. I’m sure it is Stits covering and don’t know what to do. the paint is Sig Supercoat […]
Now we get to one of those places where “doing scale” starts to get a higher weird factor. I can guarantee you that the many hours you may spend doing what I’ll describe this time will never make your model airplane fly better. What a well done stitch-and-tape job will do is guarantee that your […]
Before we get started on this month’s installment of our Building the Stinson story, I want to invite any and all of you who are reading my rcmodel.com blogs to participate in deciding where they will be going next. I have been working on the big Top Flite/Great Planes Stinson SR-9 for over two years, and as […]
Yes!!! It’s finally time to put some covering on the Stinson SR-9. When we’re dealing with a traditional “built-up” structure like this one (as opposed to a box structure made of sheet balsa or perhaps molded composite) you might say that all the work I’ve done so far has been leading up to this moment. […]
The Stinson SR-9 project is getting very close to the time for me to begin covering and finishing, but there are a few installation details to be completed before I will actually be ready for “closing up” the structure. In the case of this airplane that means putting on a fabric covering. For me this […]
The Stinson SR-9, like most high-wing single-engine monoplanes of the 1930’s, relies on external strut bracing to stay together in flight. The SR-9 uses a single, large strut under each wing rather than the multi-strut assemblies like the ones you’re familiar with on Pipers, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, and so on, and it uses a pair of […]
After working on the windshield, with all those curves and bulges, you couldn’t help seeing what’s coming next. The main landing gear assembly on all the big gull-wing Stinsons is almost baroque with its imposing presence and all those complex interacting fairings. You’ve gotta’ love compound curved surfaces to love this airplane…but…that’s why you’re building one of […]
On a lot of models the windshield is actually a blown “bubble” canopy that gets stuck to the top of the fuselage, or a piece of clear plastic that’s molded to fit on the nose ahead of the wing. In either case a couple of screws or some canopy glue takes care of the job […]