Ziroli Skyraider Archives - Model Airplane News

Warbird Retracts Installation

With the wing finally assembled and joined to the fuselage, we can get to the best part of heavy metal warbirds — installing the landing gear. For the 85 inch Skyraider we started the planning early for the retracts installation. With most ARF warbirds, the wing and the attachment points for the recommended retracts will […]

Model Airplane Workshop Build-Along, Douglas Skyraider Part 14 Plug-in Wing Panels

So, after getting the Skyraider up onto its landing gear last time out, I thought I would tackle finishing up the plug-in wing panels. This of course was started before the wings were sheeted by installing the hardware which included the aluminum wing tube and socket sets which are available from Nick Ziroli Plans. Here […]

Model Airplane Douglas Skyraider Part 12, Attaching the wing to the Fuselage

After gluing the wing panels together the next step is to install the one-piece wing structure to the fuselage. Here is the completed wing structure. The center bottom section has been left unsheeted so the dihedral braces could be epoxied into place. This also keeps the wing blocks that will support the wing attachment bolts […]

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 10 — Setting up Retracts with Video

As we continue with the wing construction, a major part of the build is installing the retractable landing gear properly. Unlike an ARF where the gear would more or less drop right into place, with a plans built airplane, like the Ziroli Skyraider, you have to install the plywood support ribs and mount rails do […]

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 9 — Wing Construction

So now that we have come to a natural breakaway point with the fuselage, it’s a good time to begin the wing construction. Eventually we will return to the fuselage for the firewall and engine installation, but for now, lets work with some ribs. After cleaning up all the debris from the fuselage build, lay out the […]

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 7 — Tailwheel

While I was sheeting the fuselage, I also was working out the installation of my scale Tail wheel unit (custom made by Earl Aune). This included installing the new plywood former and reinforcement side doublers while still having access to the parts in between the pieces of sheeting. The sheeting also helps keep the fuselage structure rigid during […]

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 6 — Fuselage Sheeting

Now that the fuselage is almost completely built up, it’s time to start sheeting the structure and to begin some of the hardware installation. By first applying the 1/8-inch balsa sheeting to a few key areas, the fuselage structure becomes much more ridged and this helps it remain straight and properly aligned while moving it […]

Workshop Build-Along — Skyraider Part 5 — Starting Fuselage Construction

With most of my projects, I like to start building with the small parts to get warmed up and work my way up. So I start with the tail surfaces and then when they are done, I do the fuselage and then I move to the wing. So with that said, I started getting the […]

Workshop Build-Along — Skyraider Part 4 — Building the Rudder

We continue our workshop build-along with the assembly of the rudder. This project is my 85-inch version of the Ziroli Plans Skyraider. As with most of Ziroli giant scale warbird designs, the Skyraider’s rudder uses inset plywood hinge tabs that support an internal metal hinge wire that runs the full length of the control surface. The […]

Workshop Build-Along — Douglas Skyraider Part 3 — Tail Feathers

Well, it has been a busy summer and flying season and with the weather getting cooler and the days shorter, I thought I’d get back into the workshop and make some more sawdust with the Douglas Skyraider project. As a reminder, I am building a 15% reduced version of the popular 100-inch Ziroli Skyraider. My […]

New Workshop Build-Along — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Part 2

The shop was getting a bit too quiet so I have started on my new building project as mentioned earlier, a Douglas A-1J Skyraider. My 85 inch version is based completely on the design by Nick Ziroli. His 100-inch-span Skyraider is a very popular, great flying warbird, and so I reduced the plans by 15% […]

New Build Project — 85-inch Douglas Skyraider — Reduced Ziroli Design

It has been a while so I decided to get a little more serious about a new workshop project. My new build is going to be an 85 inch span version of Nick Ziroli’s 100-inch 1/6-scale Douglas Skyraider. Reduced 15%, the 85 inch version will be about the same size as the popular giant scale […]