Here’s a tip from Chuck Young.
He’s been helping kids make planes at school.
In order to prevent the tissue from shrinking and warping the plane, he’s been preshrinking the tissue.
I’ve heard of this before and I know it works.
What I’ve been doing is having children crumple the wing tissue before building. That way there is a bit of pre-tension in the tissue so the problem never occurs.
It’s possible to print on the tissue paper using an ink jet printer. You can then make any design you want for your airplanes using a graphics program on a computer.
Glue tissue to an ordinary piece of paper using a glue stick. Print on it, then remove the tissue from the paper. If you only glue the border area, it shoudl be easy to separate.
Separate it right away before the glue sets as well.
You can make a set of wheels out of some .020″ music wire, 1/8th balsa and some paper. I bent and snipped the wire using needle nose pliers. I made the wheels by cutting them out of 1/8th balsa. I drilled a hole in the middle of each wheel. I made axle tubes by rolling up a piece of paper very tightly with craft glue. I then inserted the axle tubes into the wheel holes using craft glue. Works great! Check out this Squirrel with wheels! Another method is to make the wheels out of cardboard. I have also heard that you can make the hubs out of the shafts of plastic q-tips.
I was talking to my friend Bill Khul and we were agreeing that the cost of balsa really adds up when you’re making a lot of airplanes. We discussed some alternate materials but right after the conversation I made this alternate motor stick for the Squirrel that uses less balsa.
You can make a motorstick out of 1/16 x 3/8 inch balsa rather than 1/8 x 3/8 inch. That’s pretty thin but if you put a doubler for the first inch and a half or so, then it fits the standard propeller mount. If you then add a wing mount on top of it all the way back to the fin, then it stiffens the motor stick. The idea is to run it back to the rear motor hangar (toothpick). I added a doubler to the motor stick at the rear of the wing mount as well, just ahead of the toothpick. I then glued the toothpick and fin (don’t forget to add the tissue to the fin before attaching it to the motor stick). So the rear doubler and fin stick brace the toothpick fairly well. In this case I didn’t underhang the toothpick under the motor stick. Instead, it is flush and that is the location to glue to the horizontal stabilizer. After the Stabilizer is in place, you can glue a small block behind the toothpick to help get the elastic motor far enough from the motor stick if necessary.
I think there might be a weak point just behind the front doubler. Also, the toothpick is a bit flexible because it is not secured by sewing thread.
Interestingly, the motor stick is stiffer than a plain one but it’s more twisty. I wonder if this twistyness will provide some Stabilizer Tilt that will counteract torque? Food for thought!
I wanted to carry a Squirrel on my motorcycle but space is limited.
I made a box out of some plastic from the scrap bin at a plastics company. (Canus Plastics on Lisgar in Ottawa). I found two sheets that were 12.5 inches by 4.5 inches. I glued some 1/8 x 3/8 basswood around the frame of one side using epoxy and then used elastics to hold the other side on.
I then made a flat version of the Squirrel. I made the winglets and horizontal stabilizer removable. I cut a slot in the motor stick for the horizontal stabilizer.
I decided to carry the propeller separate.
It turns out that it fits easily in any briefcase. Now I ALWAYS have a Squirrel with me. Even at a pub!
