This peanut was built many years ago by Lars T. While it flew well it had a short active life, as the laminated wing tips and tail outlines were not sturdy enough. A few years ago he gave the wreckage to our model flying club in the hope that someone might bring it back to life.
As can be seen from the photo the model was quite thoroughly wrecked, and over the years parts had gone missing, but it still seemed possible to resurrect the model. So let's begin the tale of the Fury that lost it's tail (together with quite a few other parts)
/Andrea
After the covering had been removed, it was evident that the wings were past rescue, the structure having been broken or warped in too many places. The fuselage however seemed in a better condition. Here the damaged parts have been removed and the broken upper longerons spliced with new strips
..and here the structure has been fully mended. Lars had used paper (or very thin cardboard) to make the curved parts of the fuselage. The rear part was undamaged so i kept it, and decided to use the same technique to recreate those parts that were damaged and had to be removed.
I used thin paper (about 40-50 g/dm2, thinner than normal copying paper). It was sort of okay-ish, but the paper was a bit too thin and sensitive and I couldn't avoid getting some wrinkles and creases.
In an effort to fix things, I covered the paper with tissue. It was patently unsuccessful. In addition to increasing the weight, it also increased the wrinkles. The incredulous pilot inspects the work and gives his opinion - Do you really expect me to fly in this ... thing!? I mean, shouldn't aircraft makers take some pride in their work?
Quite right mr Pilot, this won't do.
So, off with the paper and tissue and start all over again. I had the idea to try using drafting vellum. As an idea it was not bad, the material was easy to work with and the resulting sheeting looked very good. Now, what will happen when you cover the rest of the fuselage with tissue? Well, as paper tolerates acetone and this paper is covered with some plastic looking material that looks impervious to water, surely there can't be any problems?
Turned out that reality was quite the opposite. Where water droplets had fallen (from the water shrinking) there were small pockmarks, and where the material had been subjected to acetone (I use the dope/acetone method to fix the tissue) there were larger pockmarks.
So, off with the paper and tissue and - pick yourself up, dust the table off and start all over again
Well, third time's a charm. Now I had the idea to dope tissue over the thin 40 g/m2 paper, and use this laminate to form the sheet parts. This idea actually worked.
I used a grey tissue and the resulting look would be quite fine for imitating sheet metal without painting (however, this model will be painted silver all over).
I the mean time, the tail surfaces and the lower wings had been made. The stabilizer unfortunately warped a bit after shrinking and doping. I made a new one, and took the opportunity to increase it's size to about 110%. The first one had scale size and looked a bit tiny, and Lars told me that the one he used had been enlarged.
And here's the upper wing. I had got some small wrinkles at the rear end of some ribs on the lower wings, and to prevent this I added triangular braces at all the ribs on the upper wing. This might or might not be worth the effort.
After everything had been painted (it's silver all over, so no problems here), it was time to put all the pieces together. First the central wing struts were made. They consist of 1 mm carbon fibre rods that fits into holes made in the fuselage and wing structures. The carbon rod was clad with balsa and the struts then covered with tissue.
Time to mate fuselage and wing, and now things are beginning to look a bit more aeroplaneishly. The part of the rigging that can be done without the lower wings in place was also done now. The rigging wire is some flexible thread sold for model building purposes. It is easy to work with and most importantly, its flexibility prevents the whole thing being ripped apart if the model lands in high grass.
The rigging is threaded through small eyelets made of thin copper wire that has been anchored to the structure. To thread the wire, a simple "needle" made of thin copper wire was used, as shown in the last photo. It's just a length of wire folded over, the rigging wire can be fixed in the fold and the needle can then be used with fingers (if there is space) or tweezers (if not).
And finally, the upper wing in place and (partially) rigged ;D
//Andrea
Hi Andrea, welcome!
Yes, it has been a few years... great to have you here.
Quite n undertaging putting this back together, looks like a very good job, I hope Lars does not ask it back in the end.
George
Thanks for your interesting account Andrea. I was wondering if a tissue over 20g/m2 glass cloth - bonded with minimal epoxy would work as a replacement for the paper that you used.
I laid up a section as an experiment and apart from being light - it is quite flexible, but I didn't know what to use it for at the time. A rough estimate would be around 46G/m2(including the epoxy on the glass) - similar to the 40g/m2 paper that you used.
John
MAN.....talk about perseverance!
Thanks for the comments!
John, that was an interesting idea with the tissue/glass cloth combination, it might actually work well for this kind of application. What kind of surface finish did you get, was it flat or did the glass cloth texture show through?
I didn't apply any dope, Anyun - left it as it was and from memory there was no sign of the glass weave. It just felt and looked like a stiffer form of tissue.
Unfortunately I've lost my original small sample but it wouldn't take that long to do another sample and weigh it.
John
To continue the Isaacs Fury saga, now that the plane is getting closer to roll-out it's painfully obvious that the poor thing doesn't have anything to roll on yet. So, time to wheel in some wheels.
The tyre was made from laminated balsa and turned (mis)using a drill as a lathe. The centre was cut out and the inner edge then sanded by hand to get a nicely rounded balsa ring. The central part was made from blue foam, also formed using the drill.
The wheels ended up a bit heavier than i had hoped, about 0.5 grams each. The balsa used was harder than necessary, I could well have used some lighter stuff and saved a bit of weight.
The first photo shows the parts making up a wheel. In the second photo, one wheel has the outer and the other the inner side up.
Here is the model with the wheels added. The wheels are connected on a 0.5 mm piano wire axle, which rotates inside a scale fake wheel axle made of a grass stem.
Quote from: OZPAF on Mar 19, 2026, 01:37 AMI didn't apply any dope, Anyun - left it as it was and from memory there was no sign of the glass weave. It just felt and looked like a stiffer form of tissue.
I think that the stiffness might make it better than the paper I used, which isn't as rigid as I would like. The drafting vellum was better in that respect, but had its own set of problems...
and continuing with the Isaacs Fury, next step was to add some wings. A biplane just isn't a biplane proper without its lower wings. The lower wings were attached to the upper wing with a carbon fibre strut, ensuring proper dihedral and alignment. The strut was then clad with balsa and the other strut members (made of balsa with inserted carbon studs) added.
A bit more info on tissue/glass composite.
I found my original sample and discovered that i didn't use epoxy on the glass. I then made 2 small samples - one withe glass attached to the tissue with spray contact and the other attached with epoxy.
I made the mistake of wetting out the glass cloth over the tissue. i should have added the epoxy to the cloth separately, and then applied the slightly wet glass to the tissue. Consequently this sample turned out too heavy and the epoxy changed the colour of the tissue.
The weave didn't show but the tissue was almost transparent.
Weight was 117g/m2 - way too heavy.
The second sample - cloth attached with spray contact, felt like a very strong tissue. There was no weave pattern showing and the colour was unaltered.
Weight was 24.3gms/m2
John
Interesting, the cloth attached with spray glue might well be worth a try. The weight is excellent and not having to mess around with epoxy is definitely a plus!
Thanks for the research! /Andrea
Time for Mr Pilot's weigh-in. A tad heavier than ideal at 0.57g, but acceptable.
Congratulations Mr Pilot, you are now hired for a permanent position as test pilot at the Pea & Nutty Aircraft Factory!
A bit of background info on Mr Pilot: His progenitor was a clay bust, from which a silicone mold was made. In that mold, Mr Pilot was created from a combination of white glue and small pieces of toilet tissue.
The mold makes it fairly easy to make clones. That has in fact already been done in the form of Mr Pilot's twin brother, Monsieur l'Aviateur, who flies a Sopwith Strutter for l'Armee de l'Air. By the way, M. l'Aviateur prefers the French term papier-maché rather than toilet paper when discussing his constituents.
The first photo show the process to make a mold, the bust rests on a soft clay bed onto which the silicone is poured. The second photo shows M. l'Aviateur in his Sopwith Strutter.
The second sample - cloth attached with spray contact, felt like a very strong tissue. There was no weave pattern showing and the colour was unaltered.
Weight was 24.3gms/m2
Extrapolating may offer a third version laminated as tissue/cloth/tissue to be say 40-50g/m2 ?
QuoteExtrapolating may offer a third version laminated as tissue/cloth/tissue to be say 40-50g/m2 ?
Which would put in the same area as straight lightweight paper . More experimentation is needed and if I do so I will put it up on it's own page.
John
https://hpa.aeromodelling.gr/index.php?topic=266.msg2516;topicseen#:~:text=Which%20would%20put%20in%20the%20same%20area%20as%20straight%20lightweight%20paper%20.%20More%20experimentation%20is%20needed%20and%20if%20I%20do%20so%20I%20will%20put%20it%20up%20on%20it's%20own%20page.,
That would be an interesting new topic to me for a couple of reasons...
I tried to configure a lightweight sheet covering to clad the top side of laser cut mimalist wings (2mm depron) previously but without success.
Secondly, wondering if a tissue/cloth/tissue ply could then itself be laminated as a 2ply for structural formers or spars.
That would be an interesting new topic to me for a couple of reasons...
I tried to configure a lightweight sheet covering to clad the top side of laser cut mimalist wings (2mm depron) previously but without success.
Secondly, wondering if a tissue/cloth/tissue ply could then itself be laminated as a 2ply for structural formers or spars.
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QuoteSecondly, wondering if a tissue/cloth/tissue ply could then itself be laminated as a 2ply for structural formers or spars
I suspect that it would not match conventional balsa VG shear webs on a strength/weight basis, but I'll have a look in a separate thread as this is moving too far off Anyun's thread.
John
The Fury (re)build is nearing its end. On of the more finicky details was the elevator control cables. They pass through the stabilizer, necessitating some kind of hemming. I cut it out from ordinary paper using a sharp knife and a magnifying glass. The hemming was glued to the covering and the covering then cut open inside the hole of the paper hemming.
I should also mention an unfortunate accident, where a drop of cyano glue was deposited just where it shouldn't be by a careless modeller. I (a.k.a. the careless modeller) was able to hide the resulting smudge somewhat with paint, but it still looks rather untidy...
Here are some photos of the almost completed model. There are just a few small scale details remaining plus one rather large, rotating detail at the front end :)
The weight has been creeping upwards relentlessly, and is now around 11 grams. This will not be a lightweight peanut, weight w.o rubber will probably be around 14g. On the other hand it is fairly large for a peanut, so I think it should manage.
/Andrea