For Christmas I got a box of balsa and I am currently in the process of building an airplane with it. I started building the airplane about a week ago and I have got quite a bit of work done on it. This is my very first balsa scratchbuilt airplane and I am learning a lot! The airplane is a Minnie Mambo. The Minnie Mambo was manufactured by Sterling back in, I think, the ’60s. It was originally powered by a Cox .049 and controlled with a one channel transmitter! For controlling the rudder the airplane calls for an escapement which is a really old servo-type thing that is actually powered by a wound up rubber band. Remote Control gear has come a long way since the sixties so I am building my Minnie Mambo slightly different. I am going to use two digital 9g servos for controlling both the elevator and the rudder. I will, however, stay with the same engine – a Cox .049 Sure Start. So the plane will have a little both worlds: an old power system, but with new radio gear.
So far for the build I have got quite a bit done. I have the wing finished, I have the horizontal stab built, and right now a few of the fuselage formers are bein glued into place. If you’d like to see updates on my build throughout the week, you can ‘like’ my Facebook Page. I also have a build log thread over at RCgroups.com. You can check out that thread here.
I’ll have plenty more to learn as I finish the plane up. Like doing my first covering job on a balsa plane and how to fly an un-throttled 1/2A plane!
I’ll leave you with one picture of the fuselage glue-up progress, but if you want to see more pictures, like the completed wing, you will have to checkout my Facebook Page.
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