Pooley plane new look

 Introduction

For those of you who are avid readers of my site you will already know that I am a University lecturer and teach aerospace engineering. If you are new to my site then you now know what I do for a living! Anyway; I am currently on my annual leave (very welcome I might add), and I have decided to finally take on a little side project that I been wanting to do for a number of years; A Pooley plane. I am sure that you are wondering what a Pooley plane is. There's no other way to describe it than a few pieces of wood glued together in the shape of a very basic plane but it does have the ability to activate and use every control surface on that plane and that is something that is simply indispensable when teaching people how an aircraft is controlled in flight. Forget your fancy flight simulators or virtual reality or even simple computer graphics! This thing is one of the best ways to teach basic flight controls. I've been teaching this subject for over 24 years and trust me; this is a hill I'm willing to die on!

So whats the project? Well it's twofold. The first is simply something to make the Pooley Plane that I inherited from a member of staff who has just retired (Thanks Ade) and to make mine stand out from the crowd and I can think of no better way than a striking new paint job for it. Every Pooley plane is supplied with a very bright red paint job and that's it. No other paint colour choices, just red. Now I know that your probably thinking that there's nothing wrong in that but I am a very big fan of providing students with something to remember and when I visit schools to talk about aircraft I want the kids to remember it. A new paint-job is one way of doing this. The second is an addition of a handle underneath the plane. When you are using it you have to bodily hold the model whilst operating the controls and this can sometimes be a little cumbersome. To an engineer this is something that has always gotten on my nerves that it needs improving in some way. I have long considered the addition of a handle however I can see why the company that makes them does not add it as it would then make the aircraft very difficult to place on a tabletop when not in use. I intend on making it removable at will (at least that's the plan). Right I think that's enough of an introduction so lets get on with the re-vamp!

The choice's

Let's be completely honest there's no shortage of inspiration out there for aircraft paint jobs! A few types into google images and one is presented with a multitude of ideas to contend with. I spent around 3 months (not joking) looking around for a suitable design that's both memorable and achievable with an airbrush and some acrylic paints. I immediately ruled out anything camouflage as it needs to stand out, not blend in. I then ruled out the more outlandish designs like the tiger design as they were far too complex for something like this. I did think of imitating a polished aluminium effect but then that would be too reflective for a classroom with overhead lights. I had almost given up on the idea until I came across an image taken of an RAF Hawk in the Union Jack colours and realised that this would be an excellent design choice for the Pooley. I work in a UK University, the Pooley is already one third of the colour scheme and the design is simply straight lines. I say simply, but the Union jack is a complete bugger to get right due to the angles, especially on a curved structure.

The layout

I decided that the best course of action would be to restrict the flag design to the wings, tail and fin and then using a simple tri-colour striped design for the fuselage. The first order of business was the creation of a template. This was achieved by layering on some green frog-tape masking tape, trimming to fit the surface and then after peeling from the surface of the plane, sticking it down onto some paper and cutting to size. This then allowed by a flat surface some much easier marking out of the design. Once complete I can then use some extra masking tape to overlay on the template and then transfer to the plane for painting. The first step prior to painting was the removal of all of the hardware from the plane to leave the basic structure. This was a simple process and all of the parts were carefully stored in a bag for re-assembly once the modifications are complete. 

                                   

The paint stages

I decided to use Vallejo acrylic paints for the paint job as these are really easy to use with an airbrush and require minimal clean-up. I also use these all of the time on my models so familiarity is also a bonus. I did consider the wear and tear factors once complete so I will be re-coating the entire model with a hard wearing acrylic satin varnish before re-assembly for use. Stage 1 was rubbing down the wing areas to be painted just enough to "key" the surface and then airbrush with a light grey Vallejo primer. Once painted it was set aside and left for 24 hours to set-up and harden. The next evening I then laid out the white areas to be airbrushed, blocking out the blue and red areas. Another 24 hours later the whole masking process was repeated only this time for the blue. Once this was dried and hardened I turned my attention to the fuselage. I opted as previously stated for a tri-colour striped design as I felt that continuing the Union Jack design would make everything a little too fussy and it would also provide a nightmare of masking and marking out!

                                   

                                   

Changing my mind! 

I had originally determined to paint the entire fin of the aircraft in the blue upper fuselage colour but on reflection I felt that this also needed the union jack design. It wasn't too much of an issue to make another template for the design but in the interests of keeping things honest for this write-up I thought it pertinent to mention it. The downside of changing my mind was that this would add another two days of painting and allowing to cure before continuing on to the next stage. It also meant that I had already rubbed down and primed over the red so this will now have to be re-sprayed in red as well as white and blue!!!

                                   

                                   

Mistakes!

Like every model building adventure there are always mistakes to be made and unfortunately this is no different. Aside from the normal over-sprays that usually happen due to my shoddy masking, there has been a few paint rips from the tape although this is now few and far between since switching to the wonderful fog tape low adhesion (yellow) tape. I also made a slight error in masking for one of the edges around the "cockpit" which I will sort out when I lay the blue on the fin. For the keen of eye among you I also missed two blue triangles of the Union flag on the rear tail plane! It took me a day or two to realise this but quickly rectified the issue with yet more masking and spraying!  

  

                             

     

Next steps

Aside from finishing the fin and rectifying the errors that I have shown above. I have also been presented with an opportunity. While discussing this plane with my daughter I mentioned that the only thing missing was the lettering for the aircraft as they always come with a registration. I said that it would be great to include my office number as it would go a long way to "sell" the image of an aircraft. When she asked why I was not doing this I said that the cost of ordering custom lettering like this was extortionate for what they are. It was at this point that she told me that her colleague has a Cricket printer which is capable of manufacturing the letters and a quick exchange of texts and I now have some aircraft lettering on their way (Thanks Hannah)! The lettering is however being supplied in white so an alternative area colour on the fuselage will have to be chosen for where the lettering will go. I have not decided yet whether to go with a black rectangle or a blue rectangle. Happily I don't have to make that decision until the lettering arrives. I have also ordered some small Welsh flags for the aircraft as I am after all Welsh and teach in a Welsh University. The exact placement of these are yet to be decided upon. Here's a few photos of the aircraft finished and matt varnished prior to applying the lettering:

The lettering

The lettering (big shout out to Hannah!) was made on a cricket printer and the quality is simply excellent. Hannah was very kind in making them in an aircraft style lettering and the the exact size that I asked for. Once applied to the aircraft along with some subtle small Welsh flags that I obtained from E-bay for a very reasonable £2 delivered I sat back and admired the finished paint scheme. Now I could have stopped at this point however I have the additional plan of adding a handle that can be removed once I have finished using it in the classroom allowing the Pooley to be stored a little easier. Here's some images of the finished article prior to the handle installation:

                             

                              

The Handle

I purchased some M8 wood screw inserts for the handle from Amazon. Although I only need one I have the feeling that once my colleagues see the handle modification I will be supplying them with the same inserts! To allow a good strong area for the handle to be inserted I elected to increase the thickness of the wood that the insert would be fitted to. I cut some scrap pine strip that I had spare to the size of the inner fuselage and glued it in there with some epoxy glue. I then re-assembled all of the aircraft controls to ensure that they had freedom of movement. 

                             

The next stage of the process was to mark a suitable spot under the fuselage, drill a tapping size for the thread and screw into the hole using a hex key. I then repeated the same step in the file handle and I was left with two female M8 threads in both the aircraft and the handle. I then applied a liberal amount of superglue to the bottom threads of an M8 bolt and screwed into the file handle. Once cured I then cut off the head of the bolt and using a file rounded off the thread at the tip. I was then left with an M8 threaded handle that could be screwed into the aircraft to provide a good hand hold during teaching and removable for storage so that the plane rests as intended by the manufacturer. 

                               

Finished photos and final thoughts

This was a project that I have been meaning to do since I first started using this wonderful teaching aid. Yes it's not exactly a scale model BUT it is a model of sorts. It's also a model that I use and I just had to put my personal stamp on it as well as adding to its useability for me. Is this going to be everyone's cup of tea? No, but then again it's a personal item to me and now I am the proud owner of the only Pooley plane in the world that has it's very own Union Jack livery. I'm over the moon with how this has turned out and I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed reading about this little upgrade and think it looks as good as I do. As always I forgot to take some photos of the bloody thing with the handle installed and I promise to upload the images when I actually remember to take them! 

Until next time..................