MICRO WACO SRE: A TINY TREASURE

Model Airplane News, Jul 2005 by Christensen, Scott

THE WACO SRE IS ONE OF MY favorite airplanes, so I decided to design a little micro model of the gorgeous, fullscale NC1252W aircraft. I used Bob Banka Scale Documentation, two Ray Brandley books-"WACO Aircraft Production" and "WACO Airplanes: Ask Any Pilot"-and IPMS-USA Quarterly magazines for documentation and reference.

My model is completely scale in length, wingspan, wheel diameters, strut chords, etc., and even the spinner and wheel pants are exact scale. I molded the spinner out of 0.010-inch-thick plastic sheet, using a basswood male mold that I turned on a lathe. The propeller is functional and is painted to look like the one on the full-scale aircraft. The cowl has induction "scoops" molded out of 0.001-inch-thick plastic sheet and three scale exhausts made out of 0.005-inch lithoplate, complete with rivet detail at their joint lines. The engine-cooling exit is exact scale and is made of 0.005 lithoplate; it's installed in a slightly open position. The cowl also has 32 scale louver vents airbrushed in scale locations.

The tailwheel is exact scale in diameter and has three treads, per scale documentation. I made it out of foam turned on a lathe. The twin-fork tailwheel yoke is scale and has a scale fairing and yoke pin. The top wing's navigation lights are scale in size and shape (green right, red left) and are mounted in scale locations.

The Pitot tube on the top left wing panel is exact scale in length, location, color and detail, and the top-mounted RDF antenna is exact shape, size and color per documentation. It's made of 0.005 lithoplate and has a scale root fairing. The door handle is 3-dimensional and scale in size, shape and location. The windshield is depicted with scale framing, including all radiused comers.

I made the decals by scanning and scaling factory artwork and then printing those images onto clear decal-sheet paper. The main landing-gear struts are scale in extended length with 0.005 lithoplate fairings at the fuselage. The tandem flying-wire sets are in scale locations, airbrushed yellow per documentation (Cadmium Yellow overall with Ebony Black trim and White pinstriping).

The little beast flies just beautifully!