[Tomahawk]

I am going to keep this a simple build posting. I plan on posting quickly the routine building parts and show more detail on changes I make or more interesting building techniques.
Please keep in mine I have 6-7 other builds going so like flying oldtimers I will be slowly posting along on this one.

Initally I was leafing through an AMI mag. and came across a pic of an oldtimer. It looked interesting but I couldn't ID it and there was no description of what was in the photograph. I scanned the pic and then I could read the name Falcon on the side. I posted it on another vintage forum and within an hour I was told it was a Falcon by Paul Plecan and it was published in the September 1940 Model Airplane news. I also now had another picture of it.
With this info in hand I posted in that famous plans thread and within 12 hours I had a scan of the 1940's build article. Love the internet.

And away we go.

Attached pics show the scan I took and what I received.

Chris

[dean2287]

Yup, the internet is amazing. And a bit scary.

Love the plane, great choice! Rebuild the past. What are the dimensions and engine spec?

[Tomahawk]

Originally Posted by dean2287

Yup, the internet is amazing. And a bit scary.

Love the plane, great choice! Rebuild the past. What are the dimensions and engine spec?

Hi Dean

I liked the look of the plane. Especially the wings. For the most part it is a straight forward build but I am still wondering on how I am going to bellcrank the twin rudder.

The specs. come out to a 60"ws and wing area 549sq in.
Overall length 38", with the weight around 2lbs. 4 ozs. depending on the engine used.
I am an electric guy and this will be electrified for what I want to do.

The article does recommend a couple of different engines of the day.
Baby Cyclone .363 cu.in disp.
Gwin Aero or Mighty Midget .45 cu.in disp.
a Hurlemann .488 cu.in disp.
or a O.K. .49 cu in.
Since I mentioned these engines lets see if Bill or Frank can post pictures of these from their collections. I wouldn't mind seeing what they looked like.

Chris

[williame3590]

Sorry Chris i don't have any of those but thanks for reminding me that I still need an O.K. 49.
Here is a couple of Herk's that would look the same as the 49.

Bill

[Tomahawk]

Hi Bill:

I figured with the name Baby Cyclone, it would be a popular engine to collect and you would have one hands down.
I looked around the internet and found the engines that are listed if anyone is interested.

First two are the baby Cyclone. The next one is the Mighty Midget. While the last pic is of the Hurlemann.

Chris

[Tomahawk]

I should post a little of where I am at in building the Falcon.
After looking over the plans for a couple of weeks I decided to build the wing first as it is needed to finish the pylon on the fuselage.

I must say this is a builders model as most model aircraft of this time were. You not only have to scratchbuild the plane but also the plans. It is a grid system.
Well this is the 21 century and we have computers. With the plans scanned in PDF I simply tiled up the size I wanted and printed them off at a 60" ws.

Once I taped the wing section of the plans together the 1940's bit me. Well with a plan scanned from a page in a magazine that is over 70 years old there must be distortions present. Maybe the grid on the plan wasn't the best at the time of printing, Paper size changes from humidity over the years and maybe the scanner but I ended up with a interesting scale on the wing.
Well the pencil, paper and ruler still work so I set about creating the wing plan. At least it will be scaled correctly now.
Next I started on the ribs.
There is a sheet provided that has all the various ribs printed on it but again some of them were out and I had to resize them a bit to the wing chord.
With the paper cutouts I can now cut them out of balsa.
Oh, I also cut out the trailing edge paper outlines and had to resize them a little.

Chris

[williame3590]

I forgot Chris I do have a Bunch Mighty Midget I'll try and get a photo up in a day or so.


Bill

[Frank Klenk]

You have a lot of engines when you forget what you have LOL!

[williame3590]

If I know you...... you are probably guilty of this problem as well


Bill

[Tomahawk]

Originally Posted by williame3590

I forgot Chris I do have a Bunch Mighty Midget I'll try and get a photo up in a day or so.


Bill

I really don't know much about the old engines but would there be two different makers of Mighty Midget. ie they used the same name. As the engine I posted was called a Gwin Aero Mighty Midget? Or am I confusing things.

Chris