A View from Broadway

It must be October

Cobbler, keep to thy last

The proverb let the cobbler keep to his last means that one should do the work one is good at, and not try to interfere in, or do, that of others — the word "ultracrepidarian" alludes to this proverb.

Yes Folks, it’s true,

Apparently I should heed such proverbs, but it was October, the month I usually get the itch to build something.

Once upon a time when Don McKay and I were just wee Bod Busters, he built a sterling SE 5. It was awful and of course the top wing came off on it’s first flight. A school mate of Don’s ran over and jumped up and down on the repairable airplane. Don beat the crap out of him as a result. Anyway, over some 60 years later, I bought an old Sterling SE 5 kit from Mike Hazel for $25.00 (how bad could it be, right?)
Well, it was pretty bad and Mike made no qualms about the fact that some parts were missing.

The SE 5 framed up from the Sterling kit. All photos by Ken Burdick.

The building of this relic took some doing. Making new parts, discovering what was missing and replacing all plywood pieces. It took weeks but the horrid thing was taking shape.

With encouragement from Scale master Orin Humphries, it became a skeleton with bellcrank and overly long leadouts. To make matters worse, I was saddled with a failing kidney issue that has since been resolved. It did however, cause me extreme fatigue and little was done in the shop for some time. When I finally ventured into my tiny work space, the overly long leadouts snagged my foot, tripped me and I fell on the ill-fated project destroying the lower outboard wing. I should have tossed it then and there. Unfortunately, I rebuilt the awful thing.

Cover up

Repaired and covered.

Everyone likes a good cover-up, right? This however was not a good one. I’m in British Columbia, Canada, where things are expensive to begin with. Add to that a minimum of $20 to ship anything hobby wise to me here. Now it was time to buy covering and I wanted to use Sig coverall, but not to pay $50.00 to get it landed at my door. I had the bright idea to go to a fabric store and buy rayon dress lining. I found it and it was a bit heavier than I wanted, but was only $4 per square yard! It went on with dope as per usual, heat shrunk just fine — but it took dope and primer in the most awful way! I am spending many hours sanding it and re-primering it.

Hand-carved prop by Marco Guillermo.

Give props where props are due!

The one saving grace to all of this is a super craftsman named Marco Guillermo. Marco carves antique-style propellers out of wood that he laminates. They are really works of art. I wrote him and asked if he would make one for me in an 11x3 diameter and pitch. He said he knew the prop shape for the SE 5, and it would take a few months but that was okay with me. I have included a picture of his excellent work. Marco can be found on Facebook under his name. He is very knowledgeable and easy to work with. If you need a Scale propeller, he is the one to go to.

Painted!

The engine for this ill-fated project is a new vintage McCoy silver .29, ring version. There are a few things to do before it hits the wall. The roundels and numbers are purchased but unfortunately there is a postal strike here so who knows how long that will take. I’m thinking of a Snoopy dog for the pilot.

Scale back …

Well, lil' geezers, so much for my foray into the world of Scale. I do, however, have a few other kits that may be more successful than the SE 5. I guess we’ll have to wait till next October to see what’s what. Meanwhile, I’ll go fly Speed.

— Kenny-b

Back to Bod Busters page

Flying Lines home page

This page was updated Dec. 26, 2024