Airplane Repairs

  I just got done checking out the history on my blog and I saw that it was back in February, 2011, that I had built this walnut airplane for my grandson's, Evan's, 4th birthday.     Over the last 6 and one half years, this little plane has made a few return trips back to the shop.     The main fault in this design was the tail wings.    I don't know why, but if this particular model took a head dive down the basement steps while trying to maintain flight,  the tail section always got beat up the most. 



   I'm not sure what caused this big crash, although I was told that the little sister who is 18 months old seemed to be the guilty party.    So one more time the glue bottle comes out,  the scroll saw blade has to make its little curved cuts, and grandpa has to do his magic.     This time as I built the tail wing I made it out of some oak scrap that I had on hand.  I had to do the same with the propeller.   I made the pieces a little thicker than what the originals were hoping that maybe those pieces will not break off or split like they had in the past. 

    Last month I visited my dentist (I could write several blogs about my dentist visits) and once again I had another cavity that had to be filled.  (They always seem to find those cavity areas.)   My dentists told me that would be the last time that she would be able to patch up that tooth.    The next time it gives me trouble it sounds like the pliers will come out. 
    So that was the story that I told Evan.    I had patched up this plane a few times now and most likely this will be the last "fix it" time for the old bomber.   It is starting to reach the point where there is about as much glue as there is wood. 

   This is Evan and his newly repair plane.    I think in the future this plane will be able to stand up to any forces of spin dives that a little sister could ever think about doing.  (I never had a little sister, but it would have been handy if I ever needed someone to blame for something.)    This coming February Evan will be 11 years old.   Looking back to the Feb. 2011 blog posting, the plane has not changed a whole lot, but he continues to grow and change.    Life goes on.