Some Plane and simple designs

I am new to the GF but used the Zero pattern to experiment with cutting Balsa. I cut the wings and stab from 1/16th and the fuselage from 1/8" thick. I found that a penny in the nose balanced it enough to fly, but I am still having trouble getting the scale correct. (The slots aren’t tight and the penny hole is cutting larger on the forge than shown in Inkscape) - but I am learning a lot. Thank you for sharing this design!

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These are great my son loves them but the only problem is now he’s looking for the helicopters lol

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they were pretty easy to make. I started with an image search:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=helicopter+blueprint&form=HDRSC3&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover
then picked some of the blueprint images and pulled them into illustrator. I added a new layer to the image for working with and locked the original layer with the image on it so I wouldn’t select it by mistake and traced the side profile and windows (and logo if you want more detail), then did the same for the wings on the planes and the propellers. I’d put slots for the wings to slide through based on expected material thickness (eg: .11" for some boxes I had around). I imagine for some helicopters there are still small wings by the tail and others have small wings for armaments, but many would just be the body and a large blade on top so even easier than planes :slight_smile:

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If you’re into old planes, check out this article about my grandfather, Maj. Ralph S. Foulger. He was a P-47 pilot during WWII and was pivotal in the redesign of the aircraft. Just a cool read if you’re into old planes or WWII history. I never got to meet him as he passed when my dad was a teenager. This is the only info that tells me a little more about his life/career.

http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/pdf/P-47_Magazine_Article.pdf

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Welcome @CraftGirl808 to our community. Its great to be proud of your grandfather!

They planes are so cute! I love the details. Thank you for sharing!