Full Circle Flyers: December 2013

Noblers - They Just keep on Coming......

Some details of my NEW/OLD Green Box Nobler..

Built from a kit purchased by Jim McBride of Mackay, between 1970 - 75, he started building soon after, but only got as far as the bellcrank mount, then discovered radio control and other things and stored the wing and kit box in rafters under his house.

It stayed there until October 2013 , when I purchased it after hounding Jim for a year or so. I had to pay it off due to the exhorbitant price he put on it. $20.00! As I only had a $10 note on me when he agreed to let me have it I paid the balance later with a $5.00 note and 5 $1.00 coins. I then took possession of a very damaged wing and box of kit bits. all was there, but the metal parts that were not packaged had some rust damage and the cockpit was missing. Nothing that could not be fixed.

I started on the wing, which was heavily dust covered, about 75 % of the ribs were damaged and lots of missing sections. The bellcrank bolt was a US 4/40 size and almost rusted away. The bellcrank was of the old plastic style, not nylon. The bolt broke when I attempted to undo the nut. The bellcrank ended up in a Ringmaster .

Bob's home made canopy - painted internally.

Most of the dust gave way to vacuuming with a soft bristle brush attachment, and wiping with a Metho soaked cleaning cloth. A thumb and finger pressure test on every bay of the leading edge sheeting found the balsa to be sound and it had good grain with still a lot of ingrained dust, the underside of the leading edge sheeting was clean and had only suffered a couple of punctures and a few cracks in glue joints. Luckily the wing still had the excess sheeting extending beyond the tip ribs, this allowed me to pin the wing down to my building board after a detailed check for any warping; none much to my surprise. After pinning, I started to cut and insert rib sections and have a close check of ALL glue joints and put a bit of super glue on all joints. For those inside the leading edge sheeting I used the extension on the bottle to place a drop. I replaced the bellcrank with a modern version with the heavy duty bolt and bush. From here forward, building the wing as normal using kit bits and changing to nylon covered leadout wires. Doping and covering completed the wing.

Elevators and Tail plane had been started and left in the box. No problem here, just continue building and a spot of super glue on all previous joints, completed and ready for doping and covering.

Now for the Fuselage. The sides were die cut but each side had a slightly differing grade of grain - did not look that bad. Engine bearers were warped and replaced with new Tassie Oak bearers. THEN DISASTER! The fuse warped while drying after being glued onto wing and tail plane.. UGLY MESS... Lots of work to remove wing and tail and sanding back the engine crutch. Balsa for new sides was then selected for matched grain and strength.

All went well and all fitted nicely. Model is powered by a Merco 29 which was used in my first Nobler about 1965/66, it is also fitted with the Veco aluminium wheels from that model also.