I hope you are all well!
As the topic says, when I’m not flying, I’m thinking of flying or planes or making updates to my simpit, so I guess I’m hooked on flying!
So here is my latest flight related project. The kits can be found at metalearth.com and believe it or not they do have non flight products too, or so I’ve been told.
My first build was a few years ago as a thank you for a friend that is building a 747 pit in his basement. He encouraged me to build my P-51 pit and helped me through the electronics when I was stuck.
I combined 2 plane kits, a 747 and a P-51, and mounted them on a base as if they were flying in formation. But I forgot to take pictures!
This build is for another friend that flies GA sim planes, primarily the C-172. He is not aware that I have made this and it will be sent to him in a few days as a surprise.
The kit is laser cut from VERY thin metal. You remove the parts from the “tree”, bend them to shape and connect the parts by twisting or bending tabs that go into slots. No glue needed.
Tweezers, mini pliers, metal bending tools and by all means a magnifying lens are essential!
This pic shows the finished plane on its stand with the empty parts tree.
Here are the plans for the 172 kit. I don’t have any pics of the assembly (I forgot again!) but if you look at the plans you can see the parts take shape and come together.
The kit came with a small metal base but I decided I wanted something different. I grabbed a 172 silhouette online and sized it to the dimensions of the kit.
I cut the new base from 1/8 basswood and painted it black to resemble the planes “shadow”.
Once the base was finished I cut a tiny groove in its center to accept the bottom of the curved bracket that supports the plane. A drop of super glue was placed in the slot and the support was inserted. Here you can see the plane being supported as the glue dries.
The “shadow” under the plane
In the next 2 pics you can see the details engraved on the plane.
Thank you for reading!
Take care
Ed
