The speedster is looking great with the red and white scheme.  Great job of restoration.

Keep up the great work.

Regards,
Tom
Sky9pilot

LG wasn't anymore difficult than if it had come from a kit, really. The wire LG was already there and I just traced around it (inside and out) on some poster board then made it slightly larger (about 1/8") on the sides. I cut 4 pieces of balsa form that pattern then traced the wire path onto them and grooved the balsa so that the wire would be encapsulated when the balsa pieces were glued together.

Wheel fairings were about the same deal except I printed out a pattern and cut multiple pieces from that so it would be a sandwich-block when glued together. I left the two outside pieces intact but then traced the wheel onto the pattern and cut it to allow clearance then transferred that to the remaining pieces and cut them out. Glued together they made a real nice fairing that then was shaped and sanded. To assemble the wheels were placed inside the fairing then the whole thing was slipped onto the axle shaft. I had to use triangular stock (grooved out) to add more support to the fairing plsu hide the rest f the exposed LG wire.

The jigsaw, Dremel tool and electric sander sure made short work of cutting and shaping. I sure wish I had those back in the 60's!!!

Sure, I'll be flying it once the weather warms up and this snow goes away. I don't know about vids though...I don't have the wherewithall to make any. Maybe one of the guys at the field might have something? Not sure but I can say that I will take photos.

Time (not Thyme) passes and finally the wing is on along with the struts in place. All that's left is more paint (only two coats on it now), the wingtip weight and leadout guide to be mounted. Well....that's all there WAS until I found a near fatal flaw.

It seems the 40+ year old cloth elevator hinges have dry rotted. I didn't notice it during the rebuild but did notice it the other day. One of them has already failed so I need to replace them. Luckily this happened before it got airborne but, unluckily, I'm going to have to resort to using cloth yet again. Now that the rudder and all have been glued in place there isn't room enough to separate the elevator from the stab and slot for plastic hinges. I do have some aluminum piano hinge that I've been eyeballing as a last resort but that'd be U-G-L-Y even if mounted on the underside.

So now I have to cut and sand off the old hinges then put new ones on. Yes, Virgina, I do have an ample supply of good old fashioned cloth hinges. Heck! I have an ample supply of good old fashioned everything, it seems!

It's still been hit or miss on working on the Speedster but I keep plugging along. It's all covered now and being painted. The wing isn't set on (makes painting portions of it easier) but will be soon enough. still more coats of paint to go but here's what it looks like today. I did find something to put in for pilot and passenger. Who better to be inside a Rearwin Speedster than....Speed Racer and his girlfriend Trixie!

Once the wing is attached then I can finish the "wrap" of the windscreen over the top of the wing. Struts still sitting on the side and need to be attached as well.

Man! The holidays have taken a bite out of my planned build time; I didn't accomplish half of what I wanted to.

Wing is covered and has a single coat of dope. Cowl, Lg and tail are doped as well plus I've started covering the fuselage. What a pain that is having to piece it together in sections. It's coming along though and now I have to start deciding on a color scheme one of these days.

Other than the holidays and stuff involved taking time away the weather hasn't cooperated one bit either. We got 12"+ of snow yesterday and I spent most of my time trying to keep up with it plus finish up this morning when another 1" or so dropped on us. Winter? PHOOEY!!

So I'm downstairs in my hobby room covering and doping the Speedster when I hear this  sort of rushing sound....kinda like a jet going over at low altitude. It started out kind of subtle like then got louder and rumbled for a second then quit. What the heck? So I come upstairs and look out the window  to see what's going on outside and what do I see? My wife....completely covered in snow like someone dumped it on her head! All pissed off she came stomping into the house and, of course, I'm laughing and she's mad and I'm not making any points...

So I get control and ask what the heck happened and I'm told she decided that the snow on the roof should come off so she went and bought this thing with handle extensions and started pulling the stuff toward the eave from the peak with it. So she's got part of it pulled down into a pile across the roof and then starts to remove one of the extension handles when she hears this noise and looks up...just in time.

Roof is pretty clear of snow now.

You guys are sworn to secrecy! If she ever finds out I posted this then I'll be the next one in a snow pile....permanently!

Well, the last post was a lie; no pics this time either. The cowl is somewhat completed except for vents for engine cooling and it's not U-shaped like proposed. It's a full cowl with a ply former in the rear, a 1/4" balsa former attached to that and a 1/4" balsa nose piece with 1/8" stringers holding it together. It's planked with 1/16" balsa and fits quite nicely. The cabin area is planked now as well and I'm now working on the LG and wheels to complete the fuse before covering.

Work has been slow due to time constraints. Being the end of the year the company I work for is pushing production a bit so have been busy with that place rather than what I'd rather be doing.

Maybe I should hire Bill Parker to work on this for me? LOL!

I built this model for free flight.  It looked nice but was heavy.  It flew OK, but didn't get much altitude.  I think I had a Fox .07 (?) in it.  I think this was a Walt Mooney design that appeared in Model Airplane News before being kitted.

I hope your restoration goes well.  It is a beautiful model.

John

Well, I'm started on the Rearwin Speedster to some extent so thought I might as well start posting progress here. It's a U/C airplane but it is stick and tissue so I guess it's appropriate for this place.

The history of this airplane dates back to 1959 or 1960. I know the oldest photo I have of it is from 1960 and I don't know how long it had already been flying. To my knowledge the last time it was flown was probably 1966. It was a good little airplane, very docile in the air and you could literally walk it like a dog across the field. It probably would have flown free-flight with absolutely no problem. I remember one time that I laid the control handle on the ground and the plane just circled around overhead while I sat down and watched. No, it wasn't very exciting.

It had a Fox .10 motor on it which was just enough motor to make it flyable on 52' lines. It was setup for 3-wire throttle control but was never flown that way that I remember. It was never completed in that the pants, wheel fairings and cowl weren't constructed or added before it hit the air. It went into storage in 1966-67 and remained there until 2004. It's in bad shape now and needs a complete overhaul. I still have the old Fox .10 that was on it but will upgrade it to a Fox .15 so it has a bit more oomph. When done it should be sporting new skin, new paint, pants, fairings and the cowl.

I'm not the best modeler in the world and really don't get into critical detail all that much. I intend to do my best on this animal but the end result just might be a bit shy of a perfect work.

Here's a pic of it when it back in 1960 when it was still in good shape. It has a 38" wingspan...BTW.