Playing in the backyard...

Here I am outside in my backyard spraying the completed body of the DR-1 with Krylon to harden the tissue. I attached the rubber band used to make the propeller spin to a coat hanger to make it easier to spray.

Signature

The artist must sign his masterpiece…
Photo and signature is just below the machine guns.

Landing Strut

The landing strut proved to be very complicated to cover with tissue due to the landing strut sticking out of the fourth wing. All I can say is that a bit of patience and a lot of cutting did the trick in completing this section of the aircraft. Despite being a hard piece to work with the challenge made it fun sub assembly to work on.

Dope & Krylon

After a lot of research and testing several techniques, I came to the conclusion that the best method to cover the plane was to use a simple glue stick with tissue paper and spray it with fine particles of water then apply in a spray can Krylon clear finish. I tried the traditional technique of using what is called dope to cover the aircraft on a test piece and despite the good results the product earns its name for a reason. With strong fumes and less forgiving then the non-toxic glue stick and Krylon spray, the choice was not hard to make.

Landing Strut Assembly

Despite the DR-1 being called a tri-plane due to its three principal wings, it actually has fourth one hidden in the landing strut as can be seen here.

Mid Wings Assembly

Mid wings assembly completed.

Bottom Wing Assembly

Tonight I completed the bottom wing assembly.

Stabalizer

Just completed the stabilizer for the tri-plane which was a little tricky since multiple parts were needed to create the outer frame before placing the inner ribs which unfortunately proved to be a similar experience to when I was building the rudder but on a larger scale. With the help of a bit if tape I managed to build it and ensure that the whole piece remained flat. The total build time was 58 minutes.

Rudder

Completed the rudder tonight, was a bit tricky since I had to glue the whole outer frame at the same time and make sure nothing moved out of place. Total build time was 38 minutes.

Top Wing

Completed the first of the three wings (and the biggest one), all went well. I was not sure about smoothing out the edges since I was afraid that it would require a lot of sanding. I quickly found out that sanding balsa wood is too easy and only required a few minutes. Total build time was exactly 2 hours.