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#1 ·
Initial Body Glue-up

I made a toy Boeing Stearman Kaydet Bi-Plane for one of my grandsons in early 2011. My other daughters said they wanted me to make one for each of my other 5 grandsons so in September 2011, once it started getting cool enough in my Phoenix, AZ area garage, I started on a batch of these toy planes.

I've posted my SketchUp drawings for this project at:

http://www.PoppaVein.com/Files/Woodworking/StearmanPlan.zip

Note that the SketchUp design is not complete - I may update it as I work on this project.

The body is designed to be 2-1/8" wide by 2-1/2" tall by 13-3/8" long. This works out well for using dimension lumber from a home center. Material sold as 1×3 actually measures at 3/4" x 2-1/2". Gluing 3 of those 3/4" thicknesses together yields 2-1/4" x 2-1/2" pieces.

I got two 1" x 3" x 6' oak and one 1" x 3" x 6' poplar pieces so that I could sandwich the poplar between the oak - this should give some sort of contrast between the center strip and the outside strips. I chose this combination just to get some contrast but it can be any species you want.

Since I don't have a lot of clamps, I decided to cut pieces to length before attempting the glue up. I cut the pieces to 13-5/8" lengths. Since I'd recently read James Krenov's "A Cabinetmakers Notebook", I arranged the various pieces so that the grain of the oak matched as close as possible. I found pieces where the curves of the grain curved, and arranged them so they curved the same direction on both pieces (e.g. if there was a semi-circular grain pattern, the apex was on the top on both sides).

Tableware Drinkware Coffee cup Wood Cup


For the first glue up I tried to glue two body sets at the same time. I used Titebond III, spreading as thin of a coat as possible on the entire surface of both pieces to be mated together. I've started just using my fingers to spread glue after trying a few different things and reading about a fellow Jumberjock member that all he used was his fingers.

I laid waxed paper down on the work surface as well as between the two body sections and between the body sections and the cauls.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice until after the pieces dried that they'd slipped length-wise by around 1/4", which I found out later can happen as you tighten the clamps.

Wood Gas Plastic bottle Machine Water bottle


This caused me to glue up each body section separately for the remaining 3 glue ups, and it caused me to have to trim all of the units to the same, shortened length (well, I guess I didn't HAVE to make them all the same length but I did). It wasn't too bad - they all ended up being 13-1/4".

Wood Orange Toy airplane Tool Model aircraft


Once they had all been glued up I cut them to the same length by setting a stop on my compound miter saw. Finally, I ripped the widths of all body sections the same and then ran them all through the jointer as required to get them to the same width. They all ended up being 2.22X" wide.

I chose a front and top of each piece, marking the front with an "F" on the bottom of each piece. I wanted them to have the same dimensions as close as possible, and to have the tops, etc., selected so that I could set up the remaining cuts on the various tools and not have to actually lay out the cuts on each piece.

Note that the little bit of tear out on the left ends of the pieces is okay - that edge will be cut off later.

Wood Rectangle Table Gas Hardwood
 

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#2 ·
Initial Body Glue-up

I made a toy Boeing Stearman Kaydet Bi-Plane for one of my grandsons in early 2011. My other daughters said they wanted me to make one for each of my other 5 grandsons so in September 2011, once it started getting cool enough in my Phoenix, AZ area garage, I started on a batch of these toy planes.

I've posted my SketchUp drawings for this project at:

http://www.PoppaVein.com/Files/Woodworking/StearmanPlan.zip

Note that the SketchUp design is not complete - I may update it as I work on this project.

The body is designed to be 2-1/8" wide by 2-1/2" tall by 13-3/8" long. This works out well for using dimension lumber from a home center. Material sold as 1×3 actually measures at 3/4" x 2-1/2". Gluing 3 of those 3/4" thicknesses together yields 2-1/4" x 2-1/2" pieces.

I got two 1" x 3" x 6' oak and one 1" x 3" x 6' poplar pieces so that I could sandwich the poplar between the oak - this should give some sort of contrast between the center strip and the outside strips. I chose this combination just to get some contrast but it can be any species you want.

Since I don't have a lot of clamps, I decided to cut pieces to length before attempting the glue up. I cut the pieces to 13-5/8" lengths. Since I'd recently read James Krenov's "A Cabinetmakers Notebook", I arranged the various pieces so that the grain of the oak matched as close as possible. I found pieces where the curves of the grain curved, and arranged them so they curved the same direction on both pieces (e.g. if there was a semi-circular grain pattern, the apex was on the top on both sides).

Tableware Drinkware Coffee cup Wood Cup


For the first glue up I tried to glue two body sets at the same time. I used Titebond III, spreading as thin of a coat as possible on the entire surface of both pieces to be mated together. I've started just using my fingers to spread glue after trying a few different things and reading about a fellow Jumberjock member that all he used was his fingers.

I laid waxed paper down on the work surface as well as between the two body sections and between the body sections and the cauls.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice until after the pieces dried that they'd slipped length-wise by around 1/4", which I found out later can happen as you tighten the clamps.

Wood Gas Plastic bottle Machine Water bottle


This caused me to glue up each body section separately for the remaining 3 glue ups, and it caused me to have to trim all of the units to the same, shortened length (well, I guess I didn't HAVE to make them all the same length but I did). It wasn't too bad - they all ended up being 13-1/4".

Wood Orange Toy airplane Tool Model aircraft


Once they had all been glued up I cut them to the same length by setting a stop on my compound miter saw. Finally, I ripped the widths of all body sections the same and then ran them all through the jointer as required to get them to the same width. They all ended up being 2.22X" wide.

I chose a front and top of each piece, marking the front with an "F" on the bottom of each piece. I wanted them to have the same dimensions as close as possible, and to have the tops, etc., selected so that I could set up the remaining cuts on the various tools and not have to actually lay out the cuts on each piece.

Note that the little bit of tear out on the left ends of the pieces is okay - that edge will be cut off later.

Wood Rectangle Table Gas Hardwood
Hey Randy, I just came across your plane buiding blog, really nice. I can't wait to see them all finished and in the air!. Keep us posted.
 

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#3 ·
Initial Body Glue-up

I made a toy Boeing Stearman Kaydet Bi-Plane for one of my grandsons in early 2011. My other daughters said they wanted me to make one for each of my other 5 grandsons so in September 2011, once it started getting cool enough in my Phoenix, AZ area garage, I started on a batch of these toy planes.

I've posted my SketchUp drawings for this project at:

http://www.PoppaVein.com/Files/Woodworking/StearmanPlan.zip

Note that the SketchUp design is not complete - I may update it as I work on this project.

The body is designed to be 2-1/8" wide by 2-1/2" tall by 13-3/8" long. This works out well for using dimension lumber from a home center. Material sold as 1×3 actually measures at 3/4" x 2-1/2". Gluing 3 of those 3/4" thicknesses together yields 2-1/4" x 2-1/2" pieces.

I got two 1" x 3" x 6' oak and one 1" x 3" x 6' poplar pieces so that I could sandwich the poplar between the oak - this should give some sort of contrast between the center strip and the outside strips. I chose this combination just to get some contrast but it can be any species you want.

Since I don't have a lot of clamps, I decided to cut pieces to length before attempting the glue up. I cut the pieces to 13-5/8" lengths. Since I'd recently read James Krenov's "A Cabinetmakers Notebook", I arranged the various pieces so that the grain of the oak matched as close as possible. I found pieces where the curves of the grain curved, and arranged them so they curved the same direction on both pieces (e.g. if there was a semi-circular grain pattern, the apex was on the top on both sides).

Tableware Drinkware Coffee cup Wood Cup


For the first glue up I tried to glue two body sets at the same time. I used Titebond III, spreading as thin of a coat as possible on the entire surface of both pieces to be mated together. I've started just using my fingers to spread glue after trying a few different things and reading about a fellow Jumberjock member that all he used was his fingers.

I laid waxed paper down on the work surface as well as between the two body sections and between the body sections and the cauls.

Unfortunately, I didn't notice until after the pieces dried that they'd slipped length-wise by around 1/4", which I found out later can happen as you tighten the clamps.

Wood Gas Plastic bottle Machine Water bottle


This caused me to glue up each body section separately for the remaining 3 glue ups, and it caused me to have to trim all of the units to the same, shortened length (well, I guess I didn't HAVE to make them all the same length but I did). It wasn't too bad - they all ended up being 13-1/4".

Wood Orange Toy airplane Tool Model aircraft


Once they had all been glued up I cut them to the same length by setting a stop on my compound miter saw. Finally, I ripped the widths of all body sections the same and then ran them all through the jointer as required to get them to the same width. They all ended up being 2.22X" wide.

I chose a front and top of each piece, marking the front with an "F" on the bottom of each piece. I wanted them to have the same dimensions as close as possible, and to have the tops, etc., selected so that I could set up the remaining cuts on the various tools and not have to actually lay out the cuts on each piece.

Note that the little bit of tear out on the left ends of the pieces is okay - that edge will be cut off later.

Wood Rectangle Table Gas Hardwood
Hi Randy, This is a great blog, Your explaination is really interesting and informative as it moves through the various stages of this project. Nice start, I have to play a bit of catch up, You may be a beginner, but, Your talent and performance show that You are a quick study and have been producing some fine work, thanks for sharing
 

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#4 ·
Layout and drill holes

When I made my first one of these I created templates out of some hardboard. I used them to lay out the hole locations (except for the hole for the propeller which I just center on the front end).

I set up my new (at the time) Grizzly Drill Press Table Top to align the fence and stop for the cockpit holes. I drilled all of the front holes on each of the 5 pieces using a 7/8" Forstner bit, drilled to 1-1/8" deep from the top. Then I repositioned the stop for the rear cockpit and drilled all 5 of them. Having the drill press table with the fence and stop for making the same hole on a number of pieces was wonderful! Such a time saver!

Wood Milling Kitchen appliance Drilling Machine tool


I then set the fence and stop to do the propeller hole using a 3/16" bit. Again, the fence and stop made this set of operations very quick. Removing the tedium of laying out hole centers on each piece was worth the $35 or so that the table cost.

Wood Table Engineering Gas Machine


Another Lumberjock member, "nitewalker41" had made his own version of a Stearman using my plans (http://lumberjocks.com/projects/54115) but improved on the landing strut (as well as the engine, which I'm still not attempting). He used 1/2" dowel set at 30 degrees to the body. I decided to use his version of landing gear.

To accomplish this I decided to tilt my drill press table. I marked the holes, tilted the table one direction and drilled the holes. It was during this operation that I ran into a problem with my new Grizzly drill press table and had to take some time to figure out how to fix it (see my review, http://lumberjocks.com/reviews/2381).

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I also had an issue that during that process when the table slipped, my landing strut holes ended up not all being in the same place. I hope they work okay in the end! I drilled them using a 1/2" Forstner bit at 1-1/4" deep. It may be deeper than necessary but I knew I was going to round the body edges and wasn't sure if that would cut into the hole for the landing struts.

Saw Milling Wood Tool Machine tool


The four wing strut holes in front of the cockpit are all drilled using a 3/16" bit. I wish I had a brad point set of bits. The strut holes had a bit of tear out. I found as I worked on them that using a very slow feed rate until the bit was completely past the surface prevented the tear out.

One change I wanted to try this time was to angle the wing strut holes so that the strut would point away from the body. I (of course) didn't take the time to actually calculate the angles (if I had, I would probably have the front holes pointing towards the front of the body as well as outward). I just guessed that a 5 degree angle away from the body would work. But how to get the 5 degree angle from the drill press?

Instead of tipping the table again, I decided to make a wedge with a 5 degree angle. I took a piece of 1"x4" pine, jointed a flat face and squared an edge to it. Then I angled the fence of the jointer at 5 degrees. Keeping the squared edge against the jointer face, I passed the piece over the jointer until it had the 5 degree face with respect to the other face. Cool!

Then, using that wedge, I could angle the body with respect to the drill press table. I drilled all of the holes as before, aligning one hole on my fully marked up body, then repeating the process for the same hole on the rest of the bodies, setting up for the next hole, and repeating until all 4 holes were drilled in each of the 5 bodies.

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I had to be sure that I had the wedge fully aligned with the fence to make the hole angles as accurate as possible. I also intentionally did NOT mate the front of the wedge to the stop on the fence - I want to make sure that the work piece was actually butting up against the stop and not the wedge.
 

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#5 ·
Cutting the tail slot

On the first one of these I made, I cut the slot at the rear (for holding the tail) on the band saw. But that was because I didn't have a table saw that I liked to use. So, I decided to try the slot on the table saw.

The tail and all wing pieces will be out of 1/4" thick material. I have a Freud thin kerf blade installed, which cuts about a 3/32" wide kerf, and didn't want to bother installing my dado blade.

Two passes of the thin kerf is less than 1/4". I set the blade to cut 1-5/8" deep and using a scrap piece, set the fence so that 2 passes, with opposing sides riding against the fence, would leave a cut slightly less than 1/4". Doing this will center the cut in the body. I ended up having to make a third cut on each piece to get rid of the little strip left in the middle.

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This cut is a bit dangerous, I'll admit. My blade has hardly any time on it so cut well. I held the piece above the fence and rode my left hand along the fence with my fingers hanging out over the edge of the fence, with my thought being that if I kept pressure on my palm on the fence that it'd keep my fingers out of the blade. I used a push stick with my right hand on the bottom, outside of the piece to push it along.

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I can't recommend this cut but it worked for me. If I make more of these in the future I will take the time to make some sort of sled for this purpose.
 

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#6 ·
Shape the body

The final shaping of the body is done using a band saw, router, and sander.

First I laid out the taper of the sides. Either way the cuts are done means that the flat surfaces will be reduced after one cut or the other, and it will also be harder to lay out the cuts because the lines need to be drawn on non-flat surfaces. I decided to cut the side tapers first thinking I could use double sided tape to re-attach one cut out to help preserve a good flat surface. I didn't end up following through with that idea however.

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I cut the tapers on all 5 pieces, getting as close as possible to my layout line but trying to avoid going across it. However, these pieces don't mate to anything else and each body is unique so if you do end up with a "oops" it really isn't the end of the world. As long as they get sanded down smooth the actual shape isn't critical. Still, I try to practice making my cuts as good as possible each time I cut on the band saw so when it DOES matter I'll hopefully be a bit more practiced at it.

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Then I laid out the profile top and bottom using my hardboard template. I used my combo square to ensure the top and front of the template were lined up with the work piece. Then, using a tip from Christopher Schwarz' "Anarchist's Tool Chest", instead of trying to make one single heavy line with my pencil I made 5 very light lines with my pencil to transfer the outline (I know, Christopher discusses that technique with a marking knife but it works with pencils too, especially since I often use 0.5mm mechanical pencil for layout - and heavy handedness usually results in broken lead).

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I repeated the same process for transferring the bottom of the profile. Note that the rear is now tapered away from the template at this point so the pencil has to be extended below the template.

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Next, I made all of the rough profile cuts on the band saw. Here's a (poor) video of me cutting out one of the bodies.

The only tricky part is keeping the body flat on the table when cutting the bottom curve on the tail since the body is tapered at the rear. It's necessary to keep downward pressure on the front part of the body (and hoping your table is big enough). I repeated the cuts for all 5 bodies.

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Finally, I rounded all of the edges on the router using a 3/8" round over bit and then sanding the round over as well.

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The bodies are done! On to the wings…
 

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#7 ·
Cut out the Tail

For the horizontal tail pieces, I laid all 5 of them out on a larger 1/4" x 5" by 24" piece of poplar. I did a rough cut using the band saw with the intent of finishing them on my sander. DON'T DO THIS: I cut the 5 vertical pieces the same way, using another 1/4" x 4" by 24" piece, consuming one of the 10 pieces I'd originally purchased.

I thought I just needed 10 of the 1/4" x 4" pieces, to get the 2 wings per plane. After I started cutting the vertical tail pieces I guessed that I'd really needed 11 pieces. I was wrong. The vertical piece can come out of the same work piece that the lower wing is cut from. Next time…

Again, the vertical tail pieces were cut on the band saw with the intent of doing the final shaping using my sander.

Here's a pic of all 10 pieces:

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Here's some pics after sanding. Note that I cut extra notches in each piece so they fit together better:

Wood Creative arts Wing Art Craft


Wing Wood Creative arts Circle Natural material


Insect Wood Wing Beige Paper


And here's a pic after all 5 sets have been completed:

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I also trimmed the bottom of each vertical piece to match the bottom of the body. I just fit the tail into the slot and transferred the body contour to the vertical tail piece. Then I rough cut the excess off at the band saw and did the final shaping on my sander.
 

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#8 ·
Cut out the Tail

For the horizontal tail pieces, I laid all 5 of them out on a larger 1/4" x 5" by 24" piece of poplar. I did a rough cut using the band saw with the intent of finishing them on my sander. DON'T DO THIS: I cut the 5 vertical pieces the same way, using another 1/4" x 4" by 24" piece, consuming one of the 10 pieces I'd originally purchased.

I thought I just needed 10 of the 1/4" x 4" pieces, to get the 2 wings per plane. After I started cutting the vertical tail pieces I guessed that I'd really needed 11 pieces. I was wrong. The vertical piece can come out of the same work piece that the lower wing is cut from. Next time…

Again, the vertical tail pieces were cut on the band saw with the intent of doing the final shaping using my sander.

Here's a pic of all 10 pieces:

Wood Cuisine Dish Triangle Flooring


Here's some pics after sanding. Note that I cut extra notches in each piece so they fit together better:

Wood Creative arts Wing Art Craft


Wing Wood Creative arts Circle Natural material


Insect Wood Wing Beige Paper


And here's a pic after all 5 sets have been completed:

Wood Automotive exterior Gas Engineering Machine


I also trimmed the bottom of each vertical piece to match the bottom of the body. I just fit the tail into the slot and transferred the body contour to the vertical tail piece. Then I rough cut the excess off at the band saw and did the final shaping on my sander.
Cool.
 

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#10 ·
Cut out the Main Wings

I laid out the wings on 10 1/4" x 4" x 24" pieces of poplar (after replacing the one I'd used earlier by mistake). Here's a picture of the lower wing outline along with a vertical tail piece outline, showing that they easily fit on one of the work pieces.

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You can also see the notch that I added to the vertical tail template.

I laid out both the top and bottom wings. Since my plan calls for a 3-1/8" width on the wings, I decided to rip the 10 pieces using my table saw rather than cutting that with the band saw (which is how I'd done it on the first one I made). That made the cuts go a lot faster on the band saw since all I had to do was the rough curved cuts.

I have a Freud LU88 R010 60T Thin Kerf Blade on my table saw and it really does a nice job. I love the blade. I will do a bit of final, fine grit sanding on the piece but I just took the width of the wings one pencil mark width from the final size.

Note: these pictures and steps are slightly out of order - you can see the landing gear in this pic below but I haven't described the landing gear yet.

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The cut out on the top wing was roughed out on the band saw. My Ridgid oscillating spindle / belt sander's drive drum on the belt is the exact size I needed to smooth out the curved portion of the cut out. I then ran the piece along the same drum using my fingers as a fence to finish off the rest of the cut out. It worked pretty good, much better than hand sanding. Here's a picture of all 5 of the top wings stacked up::

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After all of the wings were cut out and shaped, I drilled the holes for the wing struts.

I used my templates to set up the drill press for one hole at a time. For each hole, once the drill press was set up, I could drill the holes in all five similar pieces and then set up for the next hole. That process worked out great and I'm really thankful for my drill press table.

Table Wood Machine tool Gas Machine


Wood Gas Workbench Table Creative arts


There are 10 holes in each top wing and 6 holes in each bottom wing.
 

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#11 ·
Cut out the Main Wings

I laid out the wings on 10 1/4" x 4" x 24" pieces of poplar (after replacing the one I'd used earlier by mistake). Here's a picture of the lower wing outline along with a vertical tail piece outline, showing that they easily fit on one of the work pieces.

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Tool


You can also see the notch that I added to the vertical tail template.

I laid out both the top and bottom wings. Since my plan calls for a 3-1/8" width on the wings, I decided to rip the 10 pieces using my table saw rather than cutting that with the band saw (which is how I'd done it on the first one I made). That made the cuts go a lot faster on the band saw since all I had to do was the rough curved cuts.

I have a Freud LU88 R010 60T Thin Kerf Blade on my table saw and it really does a nice job. I love the blade. I will do a bit of final, fine grit sanding on the piece but I just took the width of the wings one pencil mark width from the final size.

Note: these pictures and steps are slightly out of order - you can see the landing gear in this pic below but I haven't described the landing gear yet.

Wood Rectangle Table Beige Wood stain


The cut out on the top wing was roughed out on the band saw. My Ridgid oscillating spindle / belt sander's drive drum on the belt is the exact size I needed to smooth out the curved portion of the cut out. I then ran the piece along the same drum using my fingers as a fence to finish off the rest of the cut out. It worked pretty good, much better than hand sanding. Here's a picture of all 5 of the top wings stacked up::

Wood Rectangle Material property Hardwood Wood stain


After all of the wings were cut out and shaped, I drilled the holes for the wing struts.

I used my templates to set up the drill press for one hole at a time. For each hole, once the drill press was set up, I could drill the holes in all five similar pieces and then set up for the next hole. That process worked out great and I'm really thankful for my drill press table.

Table Wood Machine tool Gas Machine


Wood Gas Workbench Table Creative arts


There are 10 holes in each top wing and 6 holes in each bottom wing.
I am looking forward to the finished project, but sure am enjoying the ride!
 

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#12 ·
Landing Gear and Struts

As I mentioned earlier, another LJer, nitewalker41, had modified my plans (see the earlier notes) and I liked how he did his landing gear struts better than my original design so I followed his lead.

I bought some 1/2" dowel from Lowe's. That wasn't hard. I cut off 3-1/2" lengths and then set my miter to 30 degrees and made another cut on each strut so that the end would be parallel to the "ground" when the plane was at rest.

Next I needed to drill holes for the axles. They also have to be at 30 degrees and I set them up 1/4" from the bottom of the dowel.

To drill that hole, I tilted my drill press table to 30 degrees. I marked the axle hole and positioned one of the struts. I set up a stop on the fence in order to repeat the process for each strut.

Wood Engineering Workbench Naval architecture Machine


Note that I had to lay the fence on its side in order to clear the drill chuck. I just clamped the fence to the table.

Property Wood Floor Flooring Material property


I decided to drill the holes for the rear "wheel" at the same 30 degrees (I didn't have to move the table that way). It ends up giving a "trailing" effect to the rear wheel that I think looks better than if it was perpendicular.

I centered the hole on one of the bodies, then set the fence and stop on the drill press table and made all 5 holes.

Wood Gas Tool Kitchen appliance Composite material


You can see how the landing gear will fit together in this picture - the body at the top of the picture has the landing gear in it for a dry fit.

Wood Rectangle Material property Hardwood Wood stain
 

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#13 ·
Landing Gear and Struts

As I mentioned earlier, another LJer, nitewalker41, had modified my plans (see the earlier notes) and I liked how he did his landing gear struts better than my original design so I followed his lead.

I bought some 1/2" dowel from Lowe's. That wasn't hard. I cut off 3-1/2" lengths and then set my miter to 30 degrees and made another cut on each strut so that the end would be parallel to the "ground" when the plane was at rest.

Next I needed to drill holes for the axles. They also have to be at 30 degrees and I set them up 1/4" from the bottom of the dowel.

To drill that hole, I tilted my drill press table to 30 degrees. I marked the axle hole and positioned one of the struts. I set up a stop on the fence in order to repeat the process for each strut.

Wood Engineering Workbench Naval architecture Machine


Note that I had to lay the fence on its side in order to clear the drill chuck. I just clamped the fence to the table.

Property Wood Floor Flooring Material property


I decided to drill the holes for the rear "wheel" at the same 30 degrees (I didn't have to move the table that way). It ends up giving a "trailing" effect to the rear wheel that I think looks better than if it was perpendicular.

I centered the hole on one of the bodies, then set the fence and stop on the drill press table and made all 5 holes.

Wood Gas Tool Kitchen appliance Composite material


You can see how the landing gear will fit together in this picture - the body at the top of the picture has the landing gear in it for a dry fit.

Wood Rectangle Material property Hardwood Wood stain
Very cool.
 

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#14 ·
Main wing struts and propeller

I cut the main wing struts a bit over length, with the expectation that I'll have to fit the struts on each plane. There are 8 struts that hold the top wing on - it doesn't have any connection directly to the fuselage. I used store bought 3/16" dowels for the struts. I cut the rear two body-to-top-wing struts at 1-3/8" and the forward two body-to-top-wing struts at 1-1/2". I cut the two vertical lower-to-upper-wing struts (the center struts) at 3-1/2" and the other four struts to 3-7/8". I cut 5 sets of these for the 5 planes I've got in progress.

Brown Wood Grey Rectangle Floor


The only remaining item to fabricate is the propeller.

I used a strip of the 1/4" poplar, ripped to about 9/16" (the width isn't terribly important but the propeller can't be so long that it hits the "ground" when the plane is sitting). I cut the propellers to 5-7/8" long.

Wood Automotive exterior Gas Hardwood Rectangle


The first operation I did was to drill the hole for the peg that holds the propeller to the body. My plan involves running the propeller through the router so it's easier to drill the hole before the routing operation (at least in my mind).

Because I had 5 of them to do and they'd all be cut to the same length (using a stop in my miter saw), I set up a stop on the drill press. The pegs are 7/32" and because I wanted the propeller to spin freely, I used a 15/64" drill bit.

Wood Rectangle Office ruler Composite material Machine tool


Note that the material under the work piece serves 2 purposes: 1) helps prevent tear-out without chewing up the drill press table insert; and 2) elevates the work piece so I can turn the drill press quill handles - without the additional height the handles hit the drill press table fence.

Next, I routed a "blade" shape into the propellers on my router table. I used a 45 degree chamfer bit with a bearing. I elevated the bit as far as I could so the bearing would just catch the top edge of the work piece, cutting as much profile as possible. Next, I adjusted the router table fence so it was in line with the bearing (I pull the fence forward a bit, place a straight edge against the fence, then move the fence back until the straight edge hits the bearing).

I adjusted the gap in the fence so it cleared the bit but left as small of a gap as possible. It would probably be a good idea to use a sacrificial fence but, well, I didn't. I didn't seem to get any tear out in the poplar.

Wood Gas Hardwood Composite material Metal


Next, I clamped a stop to the left fence so that the cut ends less than half way from the end. This will allow me to make the same length cut on each of the four passes.

Household hardware Wood Gas Metal Fixture


Here's a wider view of the setup:

Wood Trunk Audio equipment Gas Wood stain


Then, using push sticks for safety (I play guitar in addition to woodworking and don't want to loose a finger tip), I made the first pass. From there it's just a matter of repeating the same cut on all four edges accessible using this set-up. Here's a view of the end profile:

Wood Wood stain Hardwood Material property Varnish


The final step is to trim the ends. They could be rounded but I chose to cut some angles at the ends. I set my miter saw to a 22.5 degree cut (it doesn't really matter what the angle is - my saw has a stop there and I just chose to use it). I snuck up on the cut so that it was keeping the full length (I almost left the propellers with a flat at the end) and set up a stop on the saw so I could do all of the pieces the same.

Automotive tire Bumper Automotive exterior Automotive wheel system Auto part


And here's a shot of all 5 of the finished propellers (I already wiped some Danish oil on the one on the right):

Wood Rectangle Table Floor Wood stain


Next it's the finishing and assembly…
 

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#15 ·
Finishing and Assembly

I decided to just wipe on some Danish Oil for these projects, mainly because I'm lazy and didn't want to try to do the Arm-R-Coat. I MAY spray some shellac on them but I'm not committed to it at this point.

Sometimes it seems easier to apply finish before the full assembly in order to get into all the nooks and crannies. Since I'm just doing a wipe on oil I figured I could proceed with glue up.

First I glued the bottom wing to the fuselage. I marked the center of the front of the bottom of the lower wing (the side of the wing that's exposed underneath the plane). I made a corresponding mark on the center of the body, at the front edge of the notch for the lower wing, so that I could ensure the wing was centered on the fuselage.

I glued the bottom wing to the body using Titebond III, spreading it over the entire surface in the notch as well as the part of the wing that mated with the body. Per someone else here on LJ, I spread glue using my finger tips. I clamped the wing to the body and let it dry overnight.

I then attached the tail pieces. My vertical tail piece was tight so I sanded it down to get a snug fit but with enough slop (in my opinion) that I could get glue between the pieces. I also had a bad angle between the cut that holds the horizontal wing and the bottom of the body where the vertical wing fits against the end of the slot. Since the part inside the body is not visible, I "undercut" or "backcut" the portion inside the body so it doesn't meet the end of the slot all the way up and down - the horizontal wing can lay flat on the top of the body and only the bottom of the vertical wing piece touches the end of the body slot, making a nice, tight looking fit.

The plan was to glue the vertical piece in and then attach the horizontal piece.

I put the tail together so I could get the proper alignment. I fit the tail assembly to the body in a dry fit. I pulled the assembly straight back from the body about 1/16" and marked a line down the vertical tail where it met the body just to serve as a guide for how much of the tail to put glue on. The pencil line would then be inside the tail slot and not visible.
With the tail assembly still put together, I applied glue to the vertical tail piece and fit it in the tail slot of the body. After some final alignment adjustments, I pulled the horizontal piece off and clamped the sides of the body together to help get a good bond between the body and vertical tail piece.

Next I applied a small amount of glue to the top of the body in front of the vertical tail piece where the horizontal piece fits, the intent being that as the horizontal piece was slid back it would drag the glue along. If I put glue on the horizontal piece before fitting it in it would likely drag the glue along the top of the body where I didn't want it.

I still ended up applying a bit more glue along the joint between the tail pieces after they were together. It just didn't seem like there was enough glue without it. I think that I'll also try just pre-gluing the tail together on one of these to see if that works better.

After the tail sat for 4 hours (hey, it's Phoenix and still about 80 degrees in my garage; I figured it was cured enough!) I applied the Danish Oil to the entire assembly as well as the upper main wing.

Then, I glued the four body-to-upper-wing struts to the body. To do this, I dry fit the pieces as well as the center or upright outer struts. Then, I disassembled them, laying the pieces out for easy re-assembly. I put glue on the ends of the four struts, put them in the body, then dry fit the other ends into the upper wing as well as inserting the two outer struts for support, and held them about 5 minutes while they cured. I also measured from the work bench to the upper wing to keep them as parallel as possible. After they dried I applied glue to the tops of the struts and fit the upper wing, gluing it to the four struts.

Wood Wood stain Table Hardwood Shelving


After the four body-to-upper-wing struts were glued to the body and wing, I glued the three struts on one end of the wing, let them dry, then I glued the other side's struts. I don't have an easy way to clamp the wings so I used a couple of rubber bands and it seemed to do the trick. However, the rubber bands stick to the Danish Oil.

Wood Water bottle Shelf Hardwood Flooring


The strut glue up is troublesome. I want to get as much glue working as possible which led to run out from the holes. I'll try to clean that up with an old chisel or sand paper.

As you can see in the picture above, I also glued in the wheel assemblies. Other than painting up the pilots, and perhaps some additional clean-up and more Danish Oil, I think the first one is finished!

I paint the store bought "people" as best as I can to make them look like people. I don't have a lot of paint, and I have much less painting talent, but my wife thinks they look better than just the raw maple shape. It took less time to paint and finish these 5 pilots than it did for the movie "Hunt for Red October" to end.

Drinkware Drink Alcoholic beverage Toy Alcohol


Here's a closer look - although a fuzzier look. I hate the auto focus on our camera and I don't know how to manually focus it (I'm not sure it supports it). I glued on some little eyes I got at Hobby Lobby or Joan's Fabric.

Toy Blue Red Gas Souvenir


And finally, here are some more shots of the first plane I finished of the batch:

Wood Hardwood Shelf Flooring Wood stain


Vehicle Wood Airplane Aircraft Toy


Wood Musical instrument Plywood Metal Composite material


Now I've got four more to finish. I'll post a picture or two of the fleet once it's finished.

Thanks for reading!
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Finishing and Assembly

I decided to just wipe on some Danish Oil for these projects, mainly because I'm lazy and didn't want to try to do the Arm-R-Coat. I MAY spray some shellac on them but I'm not committed to it at this point.

Sometimes it seems easier to apply finish before the full assembly in order to get into all the nooks and crannies. Since I'm just doing a wipe on oil I figured I could proceed with glue up.

First I glued the bottom wing to the fuselage. I marked the center of the front of the bottom of the lower wing (the side of the wing that's exposed underneath the plane). I made a corresponding mark on the center of the body, at the front edge of the notch for the lower wing, so that I could ensure the wing was centered on the fuselage.

I glued the bottom wing to the body using Titebond III, spreading it over the entire surface in the notch as well as the part of the wing that mated with the body. Per someone else here on LJ, I spread glue using my finger tips. I clamped the wing to the body and let it dry overnight.

I then attached the tail pieces. My vertical tail piece was tight so I sanded it down to get a snug fit but with enough slop (in my opinion) that I could get glue between the pieces. I also had a bad angle between the cut that holds the horizontal wing and the bottom of the body where the vertical wing fits against the end of the slot. Since the part inside the body is not visible, I "undercut" or "backcut" the portion inside the body so it doesn't meet the end of the slot all the way up and down - the horizontal wing can lay flat on the top of the body and only the bottom of the vertical wing piece touches the end of the body slot, making a nice, tight looking fit.

The plan was to glue the vertical piece in and then attach the horizontal piece.

I put the tail together so I could get the proper alignment. I fit the tail assembly to the body in a dry fit. I pulled the assembly straight back from the body about 1/16" and marked a line down the vertical tail where it met the body just to serve as a guide for how much of the tail to put glue on. The pencil line would then be inside the tail slot and not visible.
With the tail assembly still put together, I applied glue to the vertical tail piece and fit it in the tail slot of the body. After some final alignment adjustments, I pulled the horizontal piece off and clamped the sides of the body together to help get a good bond between the body and vertical tail piece.

Next I applied a small amount of glue to the top of the body in front of the vertical tail piece where the horizontal piece fits, the intent being that as the horizontal piece was slid back it would drag the glue along. If I put glue on the horizontal piece before fitting it in it would likely drag the glue along the top of the body where I didn't want it.

I still ended up applying a bit more glue along the joint between the tail pieces after they were together. It just didn't seem like there was enough glue without it. I think that I'll also try just pre-gluing the tail together on one of these to see if that works better.

After the tail sat for 4 hours (hey, it's Phoenix and still about 80 degrees in my garage; I figured it was cured enough!) I applied the Danish Oil to the entire assembly as well as the upper main wing.

Then, I glued the four body-to-upper-wing struts to the body. To do this, I dry fit the pieces as well as the center or upright outer struts. Then, I disassembled them, laying the pieces out for easy re-assembly. I put glue on the ends of the four struts, put them in the body, then dry fit the other ends into the upper wing as well as inserting the two outer struts for support, and held them about 5 minutes while they cured. I also measured from the work bench to the upper wing to keep them as parallel as possible. After they dried I applied glue to the tops of the struts and fit the upper wing, gluing it to the four struts.

Wood Wood stain Table Hardwood Shelving


After the four body-to-upper-wing struts were glued to the body and wing, I glued the three struts on one end of the wing, let them dry, then I glued the other side's struts. I don't have an easy way to clamp the wings so I used a couple of rubber bands and it seemed to do the trick. However, the rubber bands stick to the Danish Oil.

Wood Water bottle Shelf Hardwood Flooring


The strut glue up is troublesome. I want to get as much glue working as possible which led to run out from the holes. I'll try to clean that up with an old chisel or sand paper.

As you can see in the picture above, I also glued in the wheel assemblies. Other than painting up the pilots, and perhaps some additional clean-up and more Danish Oil, I think the first one is finished!

I paint the store bought "people" as best as I can to make them look like people. I don't have a lot of paint, and I have much less painting talent, but my wife thinks they look better than just the raw maple shape. It took less time to paint and finish these 5 pilots than it did for the movie "Hunt for Red October" to end.

Drinkware Drink Alcoholic beverage Toy Alcohol


Here's a closer look - although a fuzzier look. I hate the auto focus on our camera and I don't know how to manually focus it (I'm not sure it supports it). I glued on some little eyes I got at Hobby Lobby or Joan's Fabric.

Toy Blue Red Gas Souvenir


And finally, here are some more shots of the first plane I finished of the batch:

Wood Hardwood Shelf Flooring Wood stain


Vehicle Wood Airplane Aircraft Toy


Wood Musical instrument Plywood Metal Composite material


Now I've got four more to finish. I'll post a picture or two of the fleet once it's finished.

Thanks for reading!
Nice job on this Randy, Your explainations are concise and interesting with lots of added info and comments which help to make a clear picture of the steps and lessons learned. Great job, thanks for sharing
 

Attachments

#18 ·
Finally - Delivery!

I've had a bit of a lull in my woodworking, but finally delivered one of the planes to my Project Manager Janice's grandson Shadair. Janice said he liked it but wasn't going to smile for a picture. I'm happy that one of the planes finally ended up with someone who might enjoy it!

Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Land vehicle
 

Attachments

#19 ·
Finally - Delivery!

I've had a bit of a lull in my woodworking, but finally delivered one of the planes to my Project Manager Janice's grandson Shadair. Janice said he liked it but wasn't going to smile for a picture. I'm happy that one of the planes finally ended up with someone who might enjoy it!

Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Land vehicle
nice plane looks great did you make it from a plan?
 

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