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Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ... |
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| Copyright 1996 - 2026 |
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Webmaster: All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged. |
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Sketchbook - Model Building Tips
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This Sketchbook was scanned from the January 1962 American Modeler, page 38. Most building tips are timeless. Even in this era of ready-to-fly (RTF), almost-ready-to-fly (ARF), bind-and-fly (BAF), etc., there are still many modelers who build their own aircraft. Nearly all top tier competition fliers build their own models, as do aficionados of vintage (aka old-timer) models. Some guys just would rather build than buy a pre-build airplane, whether from a kit or from plans. This page has links to every edition of Sketchbook that I have so far.
 This
Sketchbook was scanned from the January 1962 American Modeler, page 38. There are a couple ideas in this edition that
I would not recommend. The first is a method for attaching the primary handle of your control line model to a separate
handle that allows the primary to pivot, thereby enabling the pilot to simply hold the contraption above his head
and letting the airplane fly in circles without the pilot needing to turn with it. It might seem clever, but I can
imagine a whole lot of things that could go wrong with that scenario! The second not-recommended item is placing a
piece of sponge material between a transistor package and the circuit board and then saturating it with a volatile
chemical prior to soldering the leads in order to allow the evaporative action wick the heat away from the package.
It is like putting lighter fluid on charcoal briquettes if the soldering iron/gun gets hot enough and the flash point
of the chemical is low enough.
Sketchbook Editions | 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 26, 2013 |
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