All posts by Darcy

Sparrow Build

Experimental, ,
Sparrow kit comes with everything you need except glue!

The other day I spent an afternoon flying a Sparrow catapult glider.

Designer Lloyd Shales lives near me and I visit him occasionally to share ideas about model aviation. Lloyd is also known for his Minnow which is a stick and tissue model.

Lloyd gave me a Sparrow all ready to go as well as a kit one day. It sat in my inbox with a whole whack of other project. I’m getting caught up on things so the project finally came forward.

Wow, I didn’t realized what I was in for. I fell in love with the design right away and couldn’t get enough of flying it.

Now I’m curious what’s involved with making one. I had a kit on hand so this afternoon I sat down to give it a whirl.

Kit contents. Also instructions and ballast included!

The Sparrow kit is laser cut, hand cut and carved. I can tell Lloyd puts a great deal of love and care into these kits.

All you need (aside from the kit) is glue. You can use craft glue, white glue, carpenter glue, ambroid, or CA. I prefer craft glue because it’s safer and has no smell. I used Eileene’s Tacky Glue since I had it on hand. I think wood glue would work great. Especially the ones that are more grabby.

The tow hook is installed and the catapult is already assembled.

Very fine craftsmanship. Gull wing seams beveled.

As you can see in the image, even the gull wing seems are beveled.

All the parts are ready for sanding with the included sand paper.

In a nutshell you just smooth out the edges and the surfaces. Trick is to not sand the areas where the wing, tailplane or fin will be attached.

That step took about 5 minutes.

The next step was to start gluing the pieces together. There are only 6 pieces!

Eileen’s Tacky Glue.
Gluing wing.

I glued the gull wing tips first as was suggested in Lloyd’s instructions.

I used wax paper underneath the glue joints to protect the work surface but one could have used the packaging.

I used a glass for weight and some plastic cups to prop up the wing joints.

Gluing tailplane and fin.
Balast.

I then glued the tailplane and fin.

I found it easy to lay it on the table to easily see the alignment.

After the wing and tail feathers were starting to set, I added the ballast so that I could place the wing upside down on the glass and balance the fuselage on it.

This made it easy to glue the wing onto the plane. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for the glue to dry!

Stand by for a report on trimming and flying!

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What are good Ottawa Venues for Model Airplane Meetups?

Experimental, Outreach
Wild Wing, Paul Anka and McArthy Road.

I’ve been looking at venues for meeting up to make model planes.

I just noticed Wild Wing. It’s right next to a large field and a community center. Wild Wing is a pub and it also has a deck.

There is a huge parking lot for the mall which is always empty so that makes it accessible by car.

I think this is a great prospect since that field is pretty large.

I am planning on having a meetup there unless I can find something better.

Busters, 2525 Carling Avenue.

I’ve also looked at Busters out in the West End of Ottawa since it has an large parking lot. It’s a pub with a micro deck.

I’ve had meetups successfully there. The parking lot is a little small. I’ve lost planes on the roof of the mall. Also I’m pretty concerned about the traffic in and out of the lot so that leaves Sunday evenings since that’s the lowest traffic point.

What other venues have a field or large parking lot?

What’s the best venue in your city?

More ideas for Ottawa:

Mooney’s Bay

Cock and Bull Pub and Eatery 

Baseline Pub

Royal Oak, Centerpoint

Royal Oak, Hunt Club

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