Down load this page to your printer or to a floppy disk,mount onto thin card with spraymount adhesive and cut out the parts with scissors or craft knife,give the wings a slight curve by rolling over sorbo rubber or similar with a domestic rolling pin or a silk screen printers roller obtainable from art shops etc.To assemble the model use small amounts of uhu adhesive applied with a cocktail stick and position parts with tweezers.To fit the tailplane cut a slot into the fuselage and fold one half of elevator back onto its self,slip into place and tack glue in situ.The centre section strut is represented with a clear piece of plastic such as from packaging items,if you prefer struts can be made from cocktail sticks cut to size and pointed ends glued into small holes in the top and bottom wings,undercarriages can also be made up from the cocktail sticks if desired.Prototype models have also been made by mounting pattern onto thin balsa wood as an alternative to card,the small balsa bundles obtainable from model shops are ideal for this purpose.

FLYING INSTRUCTIONS-Balance model where shown on the drawing with small amount of modelling clay,aim for a flat glide and adjust the elevator by bending between warm fingers,also correct any turning tendency with rudder or with slight bending of the wingtips one up the other down to represent aileron effect,above all have fun with your miniature air fleet and watch these pages for more models at intervals.

The aviation products of the Granville Brothers are legend,although they only produced thirty aircraft during their unique career the machines have gone down in history as the ones that won air races during the golden years of flying in the 1930's one Gee Bee broke the speed record for landplanes which was amazing due to the small team of engineers involved with an ailing company which only lasted five years.

The model depicts the Super Sportster called the R1 which was tailored to suit a particular air race and fitted with a 550 hp Wasp Junior engine averaging a top speed of 260 mph,the next year a bigger 900hp Hornet engine .The design was a very tricky beast to handle and great care had to be exercised on landing and take off and the aircraft were damaged many times only to be rebuilt again and again.

In 1991 the Experimental Aircraft Association held a convention at Oshkosh which featured a Golden Age of Air Racing theme,many of the pre war survivors in the form of replicas produced in the 1990's appeared to represent the full range of aircraft produced,one of these replicas is owned by Disneyland for films.

BUILDING THE MODEL-This follows basically on the lines of past models and I suggest that reference is made to these for additional card model building instructions,print out the file using Bristol board obtainable from art shops as your card,this gives a wonderful finish,is easy to work with and above all very light to ensure good flying performance,glue the fuselage onto balsa sheet or thin foam and cut the slots for the wing and tailplane,the wing can be curved slightly by rolling with a rolling pin or similar dowel over some soft material such as sorbo rubber or similar,some washout in the wingtips at the trailing edge is recommended to prevent any tip stalling on this model ,simply bend this in holding the wing between warm fingers.If required rigging wires can be made from fuse wire or thin cotton,the positions of these are not shown but reference to any Gee Bee web site will help here.

Balance positions are now to be shown on all future models,note the segmented circle which denotes this,simply hang cotton from a pin at this point and add some plastercine or similar product to nose,launch with the nose pointing slightly down and aim to get a flat glide across the room.

This new model of the FLEET 80 CANUCK was added to my site on the 28th October 2000,the original aeroplane is owned by my good friend Ewen Taylor who has spent many hours rebuilding the original airframe and suggested the model as a subject and I think that you will agree that it makes a lovely scale subject very colourful in its canary colourscheme.

The construction follows very much along the lines of the Super Cub in this series except for a few improvements to help construction,as always first of all download this page to your printer using if possible thin card as the material,failing this use paper and mount onto suitable material (ie Bristol Board,thin balsa wood,insulation foam etc) by using Spraymount adhesive except on the foam where it is best to use a pva based adhesive to avoid melting the foam.

Curve the wings slightly to an aerofoil section by rolling over sorbo rubber or something soft,use one of the wallpaper or silk screen printing rollers obtainable from art shops,if you are building a few models then you will find this useful,once this is done join together using the piece provided and give the wings a little

dihedral angle,bend down the two pieces on the top of the fuselage which acts as the wing seating and glue the wing into place mounting the wing struts using a small amount of adhesive applied with a cocktail stick,check for alignment viewing from the front and top view.

Next tackle the tailplane which is simply slotted into place after first bending back the elevator onto itself sliding through and then bendind back again,apply glue at joint.The undercarriage fairings are bent outwards and the wheels fixed into place,use thinned down cocktail sticks for tail wheel and the two struts between undercarriage legs for strength,balance by placing modelling clay onto the extreme nose placing fingers on the leading edge line and aim for a long flat glide,experiment with weight and by small adjustments of the rudder and elevators to attain a stable flight,this model flies very well once trimmed due to its stable layout.

One important name stands out in the entire history of making models from thin card and paper,and that is the prolific work of artist and illustrator Wallis Rigby,Rigby started life as a sergeant in the British army during World War 1,this self motivated man must have produced literally thousands of card and paper models from 1939 to just after 1969 when his work for the 'Eagle' produced the 'Dan Dare book of spaceships' and the 'Presso book of Anastasia' lovingly coloured to produce real works of commercial artwork.

But the story of his beloved card creations goes back much further than that,his studio at 45 Valley Field Road,Streatham,London S.W.16 was to become a hive of activity for his overworked drawing board and poster colour paints,here he made models of contemporary fighter aircraft that nimble fingers folded and glued into rubber driven models that he flew and tested in nearby Green Park,constantly striving for a commercial outlet he demonstrated a delightful little model of Amy Johnsons Gipsy Moth G-AAAH to the Daily Mail newspaper,the result was the distribution of over half a milion copies of this small model,and thus boosted the sales of one of Britains then most popular daily newspapers.

The secret of Rigbys models lay in the design and construction,tiny tabs bent at right angles ensured that the models held together,all that was neded was a pair of scissors and a tube of trusty Seccotine,tiny stones were used as nose ballast which would be inserted during construction and sealed into place with sticky paper.

The boys comic publishing industry were soon getting Rigby to design other models that could be placed within the pages of weekly comics,to this end the 'Comic Weekly' ran a series whereby the card parts of a small monoplane was included week by week,additional items needed were a pepperpot for the nose cone and a propeller fashioned from tinplate with bearings made from beads of a necklace,my father built one of these small models which were powered with a rubber band motor,it flew reasonably well.

During World War two Rigby moved to America where he set up his New York office trading under the name of American Telasco Ltd,a new series of U.S.Army and Navy airplanes were distributed across the country to servicemen,press and radio coverage ensured excellent publicity for these projects,even contests as well,card and paper modelling was booming due to the ban on the use of non strategic materials for use on models and other commercial goods.

Rigby returned to the UK after WW.2 and once again kept up with the times producing models of subjects of the day,large liners,locomotives and jet powered boats and aeroplanes began to appear not only as cut out books but also in kit form.

In the heyday of the comic 'Eagle' with Frank Hampsons Dan Dare,pilot of the future,Wallis Rigby set about what was to be one of his final projects,card cut out books of spaceships the ' Dan Dare book of Spaceships' quickly followed by the 'Presso book of Anastasia'

With the comeback in card modelling it is interesting to relate how one mans dream was turned into reality,from a small premises in Streatham,London emerged a thriving industry utilising one of mans most basic of materials made from wood pulp-The humble card sheet.