Memories, memories

It’s strange—Johnny Hallyday sang that, even though he’d never experienced a lockdown! Maybe he thought, like every generation, that things were better back then. There’s a certain nostalgia in the air these days among model airplane enthusiasts, and we’re seeing a resurgence of a few “cult” planes. Just mentioning the stars of our early days in our clubs—the Amigo II, the Dandy, the Topsy, the Cirrus—quickly gets people talking and brings back memories. I’ve enjoyed unfolding the plans for the models from that era, studying them, and wondering how to bring them back into fashion a bit.

The Linth Model Club published an article in the latest
issue of MFS about a working group that met every two weeks to bring the Graupner Cirrus back to life under the expert guidance of Sepp and Christoph Mächler. They created a Slack group where everyone could post updates on their build and ask any questions they might have. Not everyone has the same amount of time available, so this allows each person to build at their own pace. We’re talking about a project requiring about 100 hours of work. The decision was to preserve the retro look while using modern materials. A lot of preliminary work went into creating a fuselage mold to replace the original brittle ABS with fiberglass. We opted to use carbon fiber in the stringers and formwork to allow for a thinner profile and improve the glider’s performance. A huge amount of preparation work was required before the class began.

Other individual projects have been carried out in French-speaking Switzerland. It is important for these builders to make themselves known. To recreate the past
using new technology, certain skills must be acquired. One obstacle, for example, is the simple transparent glass roof of a model: for some, this is a task

For some, it's easy; for others, it's helpful to set up a small vacuum-forming setup and conduct their own experiments.

It is often straightforward to replicate the typically very rectangular shapes of the wooden fuselages from that era. But CAD design and cutting via milling or laser are now among the modern possibilities. Fablabs will be a great help, as they have the expertise and digital cutting tools. But if you need to make a fuselage mold, it’s best to check first to see if one already exists—it’ll save you a lot of work!

As for the wings, I’ve already mentioned in these columns a design software program accessible to everyone: Winghelper. With it, you can either print your ribs to scale on paper or, with no extra effort, export the cutting files.

A vintage model aircraft meet-up is scheduled for Saturday, August 29, at the Vuillerens airfield. Let’s hope this event can take place in compliance with health and safety guidelines and social distancing rules, of course.