Thread: Biplane Rocker WIP

Looking good so far.
Regards

It's coming along fine Shane....
Great WIP photos & build notes, thank you.
keep up the good work.
Cheers, crowie

Interesting to follow this one as well.

SO has been a while, but am slowly making progress. The little pilot to be sure does take a lot of time and energy. Also been some days when can't spend more than 10 minutes in the shed without standing in a pool of sweat. Really need to work out some form of ventilation.

Anyway, glued 2- 19mm boards together to make the main frame, and have cut out the frame, wings, seat and undercarriage assembly. Have realised that making curved parts is not my strong point. Still have trouble sometimes getting a good cut with the spokeshave. But after a bit of finessing with sandpaper and rasp's have managed to get things to a shape i'm happy with. Always check what side of the line to cut on, stuffed up first tailplane cutting slot too wide so had to make another.

Rounded over all the corners on the router table.
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The main parts sitting together.
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Still have to cut the dowels for the wing struts and undercarriage and have a lot of sanding to do. Also have the propellor cut out but still need to shape it. Then will finish with shellac before assembly. Hopefully ready by 1st birthday in May.

You are doing a great job on this plane.
Phil

Great job so far. How are you going to finish it. Will be watching as I like to make rockers

Well it's finally finished and with 3 weeks to spare till her birthday. Enough time to let the finish set up properly.

So after lots of sanding, was time to glue and screw together the undercarriage assembly and seat.
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Then on to finishing. Decided to try a few new things so firstly sprayed the rocker base with some Teak marine varnish. Didn't go quite as well as planned but colour was ok. So sprayed a few coats of Shellac on after and ended up ok.
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All the rest of the plane was also finished with shellac. I added some walnut stain to the shellac for the body and after a bit of experimenting was happy with the colour. After taping up all the parts that would need to be glued everything got 6 coats rubbed on with on old t-shirt.
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I forgot to take photo's but the propellor was shaped with a spokeshave and a lot more sanding.

Finally it was time to put it all together and bolt the plane to the base. Or it can also be used without the rocker base.
The wheels and propellor are attached with coach screws and washes and all spin freely.
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And the pilot seemed to like it, went straight in the mouth.
Safe skies.

G'Day Shane, What a top job you've made of the plane rocker, very well done.
Your little one will have hours of fun & play plus I'm sure so will every other child who comes to your home.
You have certainly set the standard high for yourself with this quality of work on a first birthday toy.
What are you planning to do next.
Yell if you need some ideas & assistance as the toy makers on the forum are a great mob of blokes.
Cheers, crowie

PS - have you been invited or seen the thread about the "Get Together" at Katoomba this coming Sunday??
Everyone is welcome, the last one was great so expect similar this time!!!

Cheers crowie,
Now I just have to work out how to scale it up to my size.
Katoomba get together sounds great, I have to work sunday mourning till about 12. Google says about an hours drive, will people still be around?

Originally Posted by shanesmith80

Cheers crowie,
Now I just have to work out how to scale it up to my size.
Katoomba get together sounds great, I have to work sunday mourning till about 12. Google says about an hours drive, will people still be around?

Great stuff Shane, The run along the M4 and up to about Hazelbrook should be smooth but you may strike a little traffic from there to Katoomba..... Looking forward to catching up with you. Cheers, crowie