The Ford Flivver 268 has very distinct graphics. Back in 1926, the Ford Motor Co., had a paint shop that got creative. They didn’t have fonts to reference. They had the new cursive Ford logo and that was about it.

The RCM plans by Dereck Woodard recommended stenciling artwork onto the plane and then painting it on the surface. Monokote is so slick, I chose to recruit Callie Graphics ([email protected]) to make vinyl lettering. At a very reasonable cost, I received scale artwork and a professional look on those custom Ford Flivver graphics.

The Ford Flivver 268 build has an interesting tail. It's complex and everything "hinges" on two CA hinges. Ahem. Once covered with Monokote Sapphire, the carefully cut-in hinges disappear. When I finished one side, I not only used a Sharpie to make the placement, I immediately transferred the CA hinges. A ballpoint pen marking the middle of the hinges helped them stay equal. Later, I plan to put thin CA and bond them along the hinge lines.

The Ford Flivver 268 build used two rolls of Monokote Aluminum and one roll of Sapphire colors. I thought long and hard about breaking up the strips, but chose to make the bottom in one sheet and the top in one sheet. The big test was whether or not the metal beads glued to the top of the ribs would heat and melt through the Monokote. I used an iron to tack down all the edges and then hit the plastic film with the high heat setting on a heat gun. Everything went extremely well.

Some glitches include some very tiny puckers on the edges. And underneath the wing tips on one end, there were some buldges that were not obvious until the Monokote shrank into place. The film was extremely forgiving and I often re-heated certain edges, especially around the ailerons. I covered the whole wing and then went back and cut in the tray in the middle of the top and the small hole holding the nylon wing screw....Continue Reading

The Ford Flivver 268 build used black pleather cut using a cockpit template on the 1068 RCM plan. The template should have not just used the outline of the cockpit, but a half-inch border to allow for the pleather. I used a sturdy needle and double-threaded black cotton threat around the inside and outside edges of the pleather. Shorter cuts were estimated for the little cockpit edges by the pilot's shoulder. I tried covering the edge with a thin line of double-stick tape, but it didn't really work.

I started in the middle right behind the windscreen. I put a line of CA on both edges of the coaming. I simply pinched the pleather right onto the Monokote skin on the top and the painted planking underneath. It stuck. I slowly worked down the left side putting drops of CA on the pleather edges and pinching them and smoothing them. It worked. The coaming on the hatch wasn't a perfect match, but the original Ford Flivver didn't really match either. And because the pleather was so spongy, I didn't have the overlapping of the relatively thin leather used on the original plane.

The Ford Flivver 268’s fuselage and wings get all the attention, but it’s these secondary pieces that can make or break you.

It helped me to step back and put everything together. Balancing the CG was an important checkpoint.

The CG was dead on the point drawn on the plans. It is 3.25” behind the leading edge.