POST #1 from Paul McDill

I know all who look at these pictures will be impressed and envious of the precision, orderliness andorganization of the work area. I’ve found that having your work area like that makes building go faster and withfewer mistakes.

A long time member, Phil Rees, now passed away, owned a full scale Stinson 108 Voyager and boughta set of 26.6% scale plans for a model from Wendell Hostetler. He had Precision Kit Cutters put together alaser cut kit for that set of plans.

When the Club sold Phil’s stuff Ralph Sullivan bought the Stinson kit but found it to be a huge jobbuilding it. He proposed a partnership with me such that I would build it and he would furnish all the material.So there you have it. Ralph had an existing SPE 40cc gas engine that we will use. It’s a little large but not toolarge.

I’ve had some problems with the Hostetler plans in that there are some ambiguities in areas. Havingworked with engineering drawing all my adult life I expect them to be precise. These aren’t. Critical areas suchas the wing-fuselage joint and the horizontal tail mounted up on the fin were particular problems. One aspectof this is that the kit cutter had to interpret the plans and so did I. We didn’t always agree so parts were cutthat didn’t seem to go anywhere. Ah well.

In any event the fuselage is pretty well along and I’m facing some interesting challenges. The rudderis corrugated with the corrugations recessed rather than raised. I haven’t figured that one out yet. The flaps arealso corrugated, I think, but I don’t know about the corrugations.In any event I’ll post updates as we go along.

POST #2 from Paul McDill

Family business has kept me out of the shop for a coupleof months but now I’m back having fun.The mounting system was not shown on the plans andthe location of the laser cut firewall was too far aft for theengine we will use. The solution was to build a “box” togo between the engine and the firewall. This system isused frequently on large aerobatic planes. Building wasnot difficult and it was built with the required down andright thrust. It is bolted to the laser cut firewall with 8-32socket head screws. The “box” is covered, inside and outwith epoxy.

The firewall was slotted to accept the forward endof the fuselage sides and was epoxied in place. A ply

backing plate and triangle pieces were added behind the firewall to provide added strength.The engine is mounted with socket head screws through stand-offs from Valley View.The landing gear was screwed to a ply plate epoxied to the bottom of the fuselage and held in place with 6-32screws. A removable hatch will cover the landing gear on the bottom of the fuselage.

POST #3 from Paul McDill

Well, finally back at work on the Stinson. It seemslike the tail section will take forever to get done. Over last summer I was able to take a lot of photosof Stinsons at both Arlington and Concrete and wasin for a surprise. No two were alike and thedifferences were not small. All had metal cladempennage and the metal work was different oneach. With this in mind I decided to make ourStinson generic. I have started covering the fixedpart of the tail with 1/16 inch balsa and have sandedand put on a first coat of high-fill primer. The hingeshave been trial fit and will be permanently installedwhen the moveable parts of the tail are finished. Thehinges are Robart that are a rough approximation ofthe ones on the full size plane. The photos give youa view of the progress so far.