Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Using Two Broken Wings to Make One

I try and work on my writing every day, but there are the chores, keeping my wife involved by doing various types of activities and doing creative things with my hands.

Naturally for those who follow my blog the hobby of RC Model Airplane building and flying is a welcome diversion from the other stuff, I also enjoy.

I am building a Trainer to be able to say at the flying field that I have built a kit model and not just gone off and bought an “Almost Ready To Fly” (ARF) model. Actually I spend a lot of time repairing ARFs that others give me that are the result of crashes. One of the things I have observed in this repair process is something analogous to the evolution of the automobile.

The first autos were built on a frame. There were two rails and the engine went in front. Underneath were two axles and on top was the cab. This was the same for airplanes. They were built on rails, the engine went in front, the landing gear beneath and the fuselage on top.

Then along came modular design which was a whole new surround way of doing things. Don’t get me wrong, these modular designed models are lighter and generally fly great until they crash. Then they are much harder to repair and are generally thrown away. See the analogy? Just like cars.

Actually I like both types because I see elegance in each design. Just like I see in good writing! Are there no end to all the analogies?

So I am cranking along on repairing some crashed models and also working on my trainer. I have about completed the fuselage when I get a great idea. Out in the garage I have two broken wings for a same scale airplane. Hmmm, I think, maybe instead of taking a week I can just integrate the unbroken parts of the two wings and save a whole lot of work? So I go out and check things out… sure enough there are enough unbroken parts in the two wings to make one. I love to take stuff I already have available and put it to good use. Plus I have designs on the unbuilt wing that I will share in my next blog.