Grandson’s Riding Biplane – I built a small yellow biplane for my sun when he was one in 1979… I wanted to build a riding biplane for my grandson…I took a picture of that yellow plane and Office Depot made me a transparency…Using my grandson’s measurements and an old overhead projector, I transferred the small planes outline to a piece of plywood so I could make a correct size parts drawing… I transferred the measurements to scrap lumber, cut them out, and glued up the body and wings (with a lot of sanding)…I used an old front brass kick-plate to cut-out, shape and with a little soldering I had an engine cowling… I welded the landing gear from flat bar stock from Home Depot…I cut the front wheels from scrap and used the liquid rubber for making new tool insulated handles to roll the edge of the wheels for front tires. A castor wheel was used for the tail wheel…Scrap metal, copper tubing and dowels were used to make the misc. parts…internet research furnished me with the colors and patterns for the paint job…I used water base paint for the colors and computer located or drawn printed patterns for the decals…I spoke-shaved the prop out of scrap oak and a bought a kids toy ray-gun at K-Mart, which I used the parts for the light-up/noisy machine gun…The last step was to spray the paint and decals with clear varnish…  

Total time 180 hours…level of difficulty = medium…weight= 40lbs and cost less than $75…Great Fun!

 

Launch Gallery