Sketchbook
October 1967 American Modeler

October 1967 American Modeler

October 1967 American Modeler magazine cover Table of Contents

These pages from vintage modeling magazines like Flying Aces, Air Trails, American Modeler, American Aircraft Modeler, Young Men, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, R/C Modeler, captured the era. All copyrights acknowledged.

Here is another of American Modeler's Sketchbook series of helpful hints and tricks for making your model building efforts a bit easier. An example is showing how to attach an X-acto blade to a soldering gun to make a hot knife. It uses a #11 blade, but you could attached any type blade, depending on your need. A hot knife is good for shaping Styrofoam, but I have found one of the best uses for a hot knife is to cut through hardened epoxy. If you need to remove a firewall or landing gear mounting block, this is the way to go. It will slice through that gob of epoxy like... well... a hot knife through butter.

This page has links to every edition of Sketchbook that I have so far.

Sketchbook

By H. A. Thomas

Got a new idea for construction, adjustment, or operation of model planes or R/C? "AM" pays $10 for each "hint & kink" used. Send rough sketch and description to Sketchbook, c/o American Modeler, Potomac Aviation Pub-lications, Inc., 1012 14th St., Washington, D.C. 20005.

Fill cavity through hole with glass resin - Airplanes and Rockets

Workman-like repairs to dented foam wings are made using piece of mylar plastic sheet having 3/16 in. dia. hole punched in its center. Fill cavity through hole with glass resin, later remove mylar, smooth area. Idea of Alonzo Richardson, Burlingame, California.

Removable shock-absorbing gear for RC jobs - Airplanes and Rockets

Tucson, Arizona modeler R. Claude builds simple, removable shock-absorbing gear for RC jobs. Wire parts silver soldered together for strength. Location of dowel determines angle of gear to fuselage.

Coffee filter papers, circular silkspan-like tissue - Airplanes and Rockets

Coffee filter papers, circular silkspan-like tissue, are ready-made patches for on-the-field repairs to covering. Apply with clear dope and brush; use series of overlapping pieces if tear is long, says Alfred Quimuyog, Oakley, California. [why wouldn't you just take along round pieces of Silkspan? - Kirt]

"Hot knife" is made from soldering gun - Airplanes and Rockets

"Hot knife" is made from soldering gun to which worn X-acto blade has been bolted. Gun should be 150 W. or heavier for best results in carving foam materials. Submitted by Richard Park, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Sketchbook Editions

| Sep 49 | Jan 52 | Jul 54 | Aug 54 | Sep 54 | Dec 54 | Mar 55 | Jan 57 | Feb 57 | Mar 57 | Apr 57 | May 57 | Jun 57 | Jul 57 | Sep 57 | Oct 57 | Nov 57 | Dec 57 | Oct 58 | Mar 59 | Jul 59 | Aug 59 |Nov 59 | Dec 59 | Jan 61 | Feb 61 | Mar 61 | Apr 61 | Jun 61 | Jul 61 | Aug 61 | Dec 61 | Mar 62 | Jan 62 |Feb 62 | Jun 62 | Jul 62 | Oct 62 | Sep 62 | Dec 62 | Jan/Feb 63 | Mar/Apr 63 | May/Jun 63 |Jul/Aug 63 | Sep/Oct 63 | Nov/Dec 63 | Mar 67 | Oct 67 | Feb 68 | Apr 68 | May 68 | Jun 68 | Jul 68 | Sep 68 |

Back when the Sketchbook, Gadgetry, Powerless Pointers, and Engine Info columns were run, there were very few pre-built models, and there simply was not as much available in the way of hardware and specialized modeling tools. We were still a nation of designers and builders. The workforce was full of people who worked on production lines, built houses and buildings with hand tools, and did not have distractions like Nintendos and X-Boxes. Remember that plastics were not common material until the early 50s and the transistor wasn't invented until late 47. Enjoy the tips. Some of you will no doubt wax nostalgic over the methods, since you can remember the days when you did the exact same thing!

 

 

 

Posted May 1, 2013