One thing you've gotta say about Berkeley kits/plans, they don't skimp on the wood in the empennage!

Al...the wing looks good, even in three pieces instead of four.  I like the looks of it.  Reminds me of my Gentle Lady RC glider with the polyhedral in the wings.

I've heard from Bill and he's had some challenges lately in family issues.  Hang in there Bill, our thoughts are with you!  No pressure to build anything till the time is right!

Got the fin and rudder built yesterday...family going to the beach today so building will be later. 

Sky9pilot

The wing is coming along well.  The rest of the Powerhouse will come along pretty easily.

The model is well engineered and designed by Bill Effinger.  Plan is well done by Paul del Gatto.  The wood is fair but some of its cutting is a bit of a challenge.  The die cutting is OK but the notches for the wing ribs were not cleanly cut and some were two and three times as wide as the rib, and scrap wood fill was needed to get tight glue joints at the rib to spar attachment.

My challange will be to keep the weight down on the Sinbad Jr. The last one built was as per plans and quite heavy, so this time a different selection of wood and posibly omition of some parts/wood from the construction.

Bob

Tom, you're making good progress on your CE-180 and it looks good.  Lot of 'stuff' is happening here and my building has slowed a lot.  To speed up our build for this cookup, we're going to change our plane to build.  We have Berkeley Profile Powehouse in our 'stash' so i think we'll build it instead of the Zilch 20.  It will be an easier and faster model to build.  A pic of the Powerehouse is attached and the plan can be found at:
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5468

The cowl won't be that big a job.  There are several options for building it, and the rocker cover bumps are easy with just shaping a stick of balsa the length and width of the bump and several inches long.  Once you have the shape down you can plunge mold as many of them as you need from plastic plates or you can cut off the end of the balsa stick the depth you need...reshape and cut off another till you have as many as you need.  l'm looking forward to the Stinson because that has been on my To-Do List for a few years now.

Made some more progress on the 180...got the rest of the formers on top of the box added and stringers added.  I used 1/16 sq stringers instead of 1/8X1/16 as called for on the plans.  I think this will be still as strong as needed and not nearly as heavy as it would be with the larger stringers.

The nose is filled with balsa and spackle and sealed with diluted Titebond and water approximately 50/50.  Three applications with sanding in between.  The last sanding and sealing was sanded with 400 grit then sealed with the Titebond solution.  Once dry usually overnight, I finished sanded with 400 grit wet or dry, dry! This left a very nice smooth surface for finishing.  I plan to cover using orange tissue the whole plane and then use black tissue to add the markings.

The curved balsa at the bottom of the windscreen was 1/16 sheet wet with water and wrapped around a piece of 1" pvc pipe and rubberbanded till dry.  I then cut the wedge shape.  Hint, cut it on the pipe after making a paper pattern.  It cuts lots easier on the pipe and won't be as likely to split while cutting.
Here's the pictures of the latest work!
Sky9pilot

Got some more work done on the 180 fuselage.  Cowling planked on the bottom and sides.  Still debating on planking the top.  Used the light weight spackle fill for the planked area.  Still have to add the formers behind the cockpit.  I'm leaving the stringers off the bottom till the landing gear is added.

Here's a few pics...
Sky9pilot

Great to have you aboard Thyme....The Super Cloud Wakefield looks like a real floater.  47" span is a big one!
Look forward to your posts!

Got some more work done on the Cessna 180.  Formers added to the top nose area and the side windows in sheet balsa. I debated wrapping the cowling back to the cockpit with 1/32.  But with the compound curvature I'll settle for planking between the stringers.   Pictures later.  I have realized the ease of using 1/2" blocks for the nose area.  Would be much easier to get the nice contour of the nose.  I did add 1/8" sheet to the bottom nose area and sides but not satisfied with the results.  I may add some sheet foam outside the 1/8" sheeting to give a rounder profile and seal it with some sealer (diluted Wilhold and water).  Seems to work really well so far, as it did on the Connie and sands well too.  Several thin coats worked best with sanding between. 

Sky9pilot