Kits Telemaster Build

Tony · Apr 27, 2011

Whatup everyone. Some of you may or may not know, but I'm into more than just heli's. I will have to say, I like heli's a lot more than I like planes though, but that didn't stop me from ordering a Telemaster kit. I have heard great things abotu this kit, so I had to give it a try. As a kid, I remember sitting down and building one of these balsa wood kits, and I enjoyed it. So, here it goes again abotu 20 years later lol.

When you get the kit, all you get is a bunch of strips of balsa that you glue together. Not too bad if you like sitting in the same spot watching glue dry. At the time of this post, I have the fuse kinda built, and the vert stab made. I still have to make the elevator and wings though. I'm trying to keep tabs on pics, but I have missed a lot of them lol. Nothing that I'm sure you guys won't miss.

When this is done, I'm going to try and find a wide open space to maiden it. I have way too many trees here to do it. I also want to put ailerons on it since I have never flown anything without them. I know that anything with dihedral doesn't need them, but I like them. So, with this being a 3ch kit, I have to figure out how to do it.

If any of you have any suggestions, just let me know. I will also be going out and getting the covering for this plane, so I would like some input on what colors you would like to see on this bird. Below is what you get when you open the box. Wow that is a lot of wood lmao.

Lee · Apr 27, 2011

I remember when i was 15. My dad and i built a President HiBoy with an OS 40 engine in my Grandads basement over the christmas holidays. Lots of balsa and glue but we had a lot of fun building it. Only flew it a few times then sold it as we had no time or a club to fly it at. 23 years later and i'm hooked all over again.

Tony · Apr 27, 2011

That is what it's all about Lee. Just having fun. I know that when I'm working on it, I don't care what is going on in the world, I could care less lol.

Ron RC · May 16, 2011

Boy Tony, that brings back memories. The last plane I built made of balsa was a Goldberg Cessna back in the '60's and used an .049 Cox motor. Are the spars etc in your kit laser cut? I remember having to cut everything out of the printed sheets of balsa. That was a real pain in the butt. I don't know if I would still have the patience to do that these days. I remember doping the silk covering with many coats to get it to look good. I didn't know about Monokote back then and probably wouldn't have been very good at applying it even if I did. Good luck with the build. Keep the pics coming and keep us updated. I hear that is a very popular plane and flies very well.

Ron

Tony · May 16, 2011

Well, unfortunately because I have so much on my plate right now, I build the fuse and put everything back in the box. But, it will come out again soon. And, all of the parts like the wing ribs and stuff are laser cut, but the spars are not. The spars are just 1/8x1/8 or 1/8x1/4 or so. And, I think you should do it. The kit was $40 to my door, and it's a blast to build as long as you like working with wood, and watching glue dry hahaha.

Ron RC · May 16, 2011

Tony said:
And, I think you should do it. The kit was $40 to my door, and it's a blast to build as long as you like working with wood, and watching glue dry hahaha.

Please don't push me too hard. It's gonna be a long winter and I will need a good project to keep me busy. You got me leaning now. Do they make an aileron version? I know they have a couple of different version of this plane. If not I know it would get my juices flowing modifying it to use ailerons.

Ron

Tony · May 16, 2011

The only aileron kit that I have seen is the premade kit from hobbylobby. But, mine will have them cause I don't know how to fly without them lol. Should be really simple to install.

Whirlybird · May 16, 2011

Might start build my Cherokee Babe again . . . after a 30 year pause

64impala · May 22, 2011

I'm about to try my hands at this to, just in fff! I'll get the wings pre cut out of foam, yea.

Keith · Jul 17, 2011

My first models were all balsa and tissue... You stretched the tissue as tight as possible and then sprayed it with a mist of water... We had right angle bend tubes with a hole in the bend.. You put one end in the water and blew in the other, a water mist came out the hole... Next morning you had a fairly hard tight covering (and usually a warp)... No RC then so it was wind up the elastic band and let her go.....

Tony · Jul 17, 2011

An cross your fingers lol. I remember those days.

Tony · Aug 2, 2011

Hey guys, I know that it's been a while since I updated this, just been a little busy with other things. So what has been going on with this plane, well it's been sitting on top of my desk this whole time just staring at me lol. I do want to get started on the wing here soon since I moved everything into a bigger room in the house. So, I'm hoping to get some better pics, and some updated posts on this soon.

If any of you have built this plane, or are wanting to build a plane like this, post up, I would love to hear from you.

breeze400 · Aug 3, 2011

It's a great winter project! Lol Some of the guys in my flying club would not even consider building anything but wood kits. Some of them just cut out there own wood. You should see some of the planes these guys build. I keen nice! Me I do not have the time to do it. I'll tell you this though. When I finally get around to build my B-17, t will be scratch built! Hmmm.

Tony · Aug 3, 2011

Oh yeah man, some of the things that I have seen built out of balsa are just amazing. YOu can get the kit's with all of the templates to build a bunch of planes. and the plans are either cheap, or don't cost anything. But, I think I would rather pay for a laser cut kit than cutting the pieces out by hand. That is just me though. If I get a little age on me, I may change my mind on that one lmao.

breeze400 · Aug 3, 2011

Ha ha ha, I here you I did!

Tony · Aug 14, 2011

Well guys, I told you that I want going to get started on this kit again, and I have. Today, I took the kit down from the shelf where it's been above my TV for the last couple of months, and laid it out on the table.

The first thing that I noticed is that the vertical stabilizer (rudder) had the front part of it broke off. Not a big deal, a little big of glue, and it's good as new.

the next thing to get done was the elevator. In the pics, that is what is below all of the coffee cups. I'm holding it down so that the glue dries and it stays straight. Once the glue dries, then I will take that small stick of balsa you see in the pics between the wings, and i will put the supports in it.

the final thing that I have done today was to get the wings started. This is by far the most complicated part of the plane. The fuse was pretty complicated since you have to make a square box out of it that tapers, but I found that pretty easy compared to the wings. The ribs have to be glued to each piece, and that makes it a pain lol. I'm going to start out with gluing the ribs to the lower piece of spruce. Yes, the top and bottom rib are made of spruce. It's much stronger than balsa, yet still really light. Once that is done, then I'm going to glue the front piece to the ribs and make sure all of them are straight. After that, I'm going to put the trailing edge on the wing. I think I'm going to build this without ailerons just to keep it simple. I have never flown one like that before, so this may be interesting.

That is pretty much where I am right now. The pieces that you see glued on the wing now is what is used to set the dihedral. there is another piece that will go in there that will help hold the wings together. Once both are complete, and covered, then I will glue the two wings together and make them one. But, that means that I need to order some monokote or superkote or whatever it's called. I'm not sure since this is the first time I have done this. Although I have built balsa kits before, I never covered them, and surly never flew them.

Here are the pics that I took today. Let me know what you think.

OH! And, I want you guys to decide what color to wrap this plane in. I will create another thread for this though. So keep that in mind.

Lee · Aug 14, 2011

Looking good Tony. I really want to make a balsa model. I want a project that will take me a long time. Always loved Spitfires so i think i'll go that way. But maybe next year when we return from Mexico.

Tony · Aug 14, 2011

lol, that was actually the next one that I wanted to build. I have always loved those.

Tony · Aug 14, 2011

Actually scratch that, it's the F4U that I'm going to build next. Not the spitfire.

Here are some more pics of what I have done so far. My back is starting to tighten up from leaning over the table so much, so it's time to call it a night and let the glue dry.

The coffee cups on top of the fuse are holding down some sheet that I just put on there. I will do the final sanding right before I cover the plane. The cups on the wings are holding down the ribs and the spar, and the ones on the elevator are holding the surface level. All in all, I think I made some pretty good progress today. Let me know what you think, well from what you can see through the coffee cups hehe.