Giant-Scale Foam Flier A scratch-built 10-foot-span Ryan ST

摘要

As a kid, I loved watching a Tailspin Tommy cartoon movie, so I checked it out again a few years ago thinking that I would build a model of his plane. There just wasn't enough in the cartoon to go on, so I did an Internet search for "Tailspin Tommy," and I found my next project in the movie Danger Flight from the 1930s. There are two Ryan STs in the movie: NC16039 (which still exists) and NC14912, which I decided to bring back to life. More searching gave me a three-view drawing and other details about the Ryan. I tend to keep building them bigger, but at 1/3 scale, I would need a truckload of balsa, which would cost me an arm and a leg. I found the solution with $50 worth of fan-fold foam and set off on an entirely new way to build a giant-scale model. The 1/4-inch-thick foam can be machined cleanly, and it bonds well with Gorilla Glue or epoxy.