Mark Fineman's Typhoon

Here's a nice looking WWII bird from Mark Fineman

"Thayer: Here's the Typhoon photo I promised. I built it as an experiment (aren't they all?), mostly because I retained the canopy from the original kit and still had the plan. Built from the kit, it was no more than a so-so flyer, mostly because of the absurd airfoil supplied by Guillow. And yet the slab-sided Guillow kit is extremely simple and charming.
My modifications included:

1. A stabilizer enlarged to 110% of the original. The fin/rudder was changed to a laminated bent-balsa construction.

2. The airfoil was changed to a Rhode-St. Genese 27, but everything else about the wing construction remained as per plan.

3. Extra lengths of stringer were added in the nose area to round out the fuselage, but otherwise it remains fairly flat-sided.

4. The prop is a North Pacific cut down to 5-inches. I no longer had the kit spinner and substituted a small, plastic Easter egg half.

5. Keeping with the greasy kid theme of the plane, I never got aournd to adding the cannon fairings or radio mast.

Oh yes, it is a much better flyer than the kit plane, but the glide is still quite a sight because the rubber peg remains in its original location, i.e., too far aft. Still, it looks like a Typhoon when airborne!"

Mark Fineman can be reached at Fineman@worldnet.att.net


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