V1 Shark Fish Build Review

Hi All,

This week i have built the V1 Shark Fish Balsa Kit provided by the Vintage Model Company who are based in the UK, they provide a range of balsa kits from rubber band powered models to electric powered model kits. I have only ever built out of balsa a handful of times and i am completely new to the balsa aspect of model plane building as previously i have built out of the Ft Foam Board and Depron so this also serves as a beginners build experience to build the Shark Face from VMC.

Here is a link to my build time lapse and review : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMXhvUz4fYg&t=14s

The Build

The first step was to assemble the wings where i used the pins to i keep the wing ribs in place while i glued them into position. The instructions were easy to follow and mentioned all the parts that you needed for that particular step. Interestingly, the spar consists of two parts on either side of the individual ribs which clamp together once all the ribs are positioned which creates a strong wing and only a small amount of thin CA is required to set the parts in place. As you can see in the video i used plastic gloves to stop my fingers sticking together :) 

Next the wing halves needed to be joined which was very simple as the way the notches are cut on the inside of the spars allowed me to add the desired dihedral on the plans and pin the wing halves to be glued. The next step was to install the torque rod set which wasn't included in the kit to complete the aileron control mechanism which is shown in the picture below. I used tape with fibres in which i usually use to join my Foam Board wings as fibre glass tape combined with epoxy to secure the aileron pivot rods. 

Then I installed the middle balsa panels on the top of the wing and the servo main plate on the under side, i noticed a small gap between the leading edge balsa strip so i used a small amount of epoxy to ensure that it wasn't too weak. After all the structural wing pieces were done i moved onto covering the wing in the provided tissue covering material using a glue stick to apply the film and then i used covering dope mixed with water in a spray bottle to pull the tissue taught. The only problem i found with the provided tissue covering film was that if flying at dusk it tends to loose its tension and bubble up due to the humidity. Therefore, i would recommend you use solar film or a covering equivalent to cover it to avoid this issue. 

The next step was to assemble the main fuselage centre section with the side doubles, i also needed to slip the ESC into the designated compartment. After that i went on to use epoxy to stick on the side plates and top/bottom plates of the fuselage. 

I went on to use CA glue to stick the vertical and horizontal stabilisers together and use thin tape to make the hinges. Interestingly the horizontal control surface required a wooden dowel to transfer the movement through the fuselage. 

After that i installed all the electronics using the provided carbon rods and hard ware to get the servos to be able to move the desired control surfaces. I used the ft radial 2300 kv motor with their 20 amp ESC to power this plane.

Flight Review

Once the build was finished i went out to maiden it on a slightly blustery day. I thought due to the size of the plane it may get thrown around a little bit in the wind, however, i was completely wrong because it flew like it was on rails. This must be due to the weight of the balsa combined with its rigidity that gives it a great set of flying characteristics. If you want to see how it flys you can see its maiden in the video linked above. 

Conclusion

As a beginner to intermediate balsa builder i have found this model straightforward and quick to build. There were a couple of complicated build processes but this build allowed me to increase my skills in building balsa planes and im sure i will build more in the future. 

If you would like to purchase this model here is a link to the Vintage Model Company's listing : https://www.vintagemodelcompany.com/v1-sharkfish.html

Finally a huge thanks to the Vintage Model Company who sent this kit so i could make this article and the linked video above to show people with foam plane build experience how easy this plane makes it to transfer your skills from foam building to the balsa aspect of building. 

Thanks very much for reading this article, if you build one it would be brilliant to see your builds in the comments :)