The December 2013 issue of RCM&E magazine included an article and plans for a canard, the "Can-Doo", that grabbed me as soon as I saw it. I began writing a shopping list shortly after Christmas and was able to begin the build in March 2014. I have built a Gently lady, Piece O'Cake and Alien Aircraft Gadget along with a number of Guillows kits but I've never built, bought or flown a canard. The rest of my hanger consists of foamy ARFs.

None of the model is built over plans as I am used to. A buddy of mine, Ringo, made a copy of the plans so I could develop templates and not ruin the original plan. I made the items for each stage versus cutting everything first.

The main wing is a tapered airfoil with a flat bottom. The foreplane is flat on both sides. The fuselage is three long pieces with three formers. I reinforced the ply motor mount with triangular balsa and epoxy on the interior. The designer, Nigel Hawes, offered a vacuum formed canopy but the overseas shipping and transit time made me fashion one from layered balsa.

I knew from the start that I didn't want to glue the wings given the chance that I might need to work on something inside after construction. I created a key to lock the foreplane when the canopy is in place. I added another key to the top leading edge of the main wing that mated with the interior of the mounting slot. Once in place, the main wing is anchored with two small wood screws just forward of the motor.

The canopy...Continue Reading