Current Stuff (03-15-03) Added "Herbert Weiss & Minute Models".
(03-22-03) Added links in "HW & Minute Models.
(01-20-07) Reworked webpage..
Links to 'Minute Model' and 'simpleflyer' sites:
Simpleflyers at MSN How to build 'Zip' no-cals and 'Zip' gliders and other stuff.
Minute Models at Yahoo Chat group Yahoo where we discuss 'Minute Models' and other small models(12 inches or less WS). Currently there is a cookup for Frog Jr series models to end of 2007.
Minute Models at SFA Continuing thread about 'Minute Models' and 'simpleflyers' at SFA
HERBERT WEISS & THE MINUTE MODELS.
HERBERT WEISS: Who was he and what are the "Minute Models"? Herbert
Weiss was a young model airplane builder and flier in the 1920's. He
started his model airplane building with the old IDEAL model airplane
kits. By the 1930's he was building the CLEVELAND model kits and his
interest had turned to flying scale models. He began to build and fly
models of his own design and submitted them for publication. His
first published model was in the December 1936 Flying Aces magazine.
In 1938 he initiated a series of small simple rubber powered flying
scale models called the "Minute Models"
MINUTE MODELS: These were a series of models designed and published
between 1938 and 1947. They are small, simple, and quick to build.
A unique feature of the "Minute Models" is that the complete full size
building plan for each model fits on a single 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet
of paper. Another unique feature is the construction sequence. The
wing is the primary structure of the model. Once the wing is built,
all of the remaining structure is simply added to it; and the building
board is no longer really needed. The series of models range from
10 1/2 to 13 1/2 inches in wingspan. It could be said that the
"Minute Models" were one of the precursors of today's "Peanut Scale"
models.
WHY "MINUTE MODELS". To explain the name of the Minute Models, here
are Herb Weiss's own comments from the KAPA Kollector #10 article by
Jim Alaback:
"My first small one-page model plan was the Mauboussin Tandem. I
don't remember why I decided to do that article, except that I had
been turning out longer articles, each with plans running six pages,
and decided to dash that one off before starting a longer job.
Charlie Grant[editor] at Model Airplane News liked the idea and
suggested a series to be called "Minute Models". I don't know why
Grant called them "Minute Models". The word "minute" was apparently
much on his mind...you have seen the nicely-proportioned all-balsa
stick tractor model that he designed and called the "Minute Man". And
of course the "Minute Men" like C.H. Grant were Vermonters."
(simpleflyer's note: If we remember correctly, the above mentioned
"Minute Man" was the precursor to the "Cloud Tramp")
WEISS: RE. FIDELITY TO SCALE. "Usually I drew these models by eye
from photos, sometimes a single picture. I used 'dividers' for
scaling and rough rule of thumb correction for rotation..."(source #2)
(simpleflyer's note: My kind of guy - you gotta just love it!)
WEISS: RE. CONSTRUCTION. "Incidentally, the last three (the Minute
Models designed after WW II) had wing spars added, by direction of the
then-editor of M.A.N. who felt that young builders needed more than
just the leading and trailing edges..."(source #2)
(simpleflyer's note: Remember, KISS!)
SOURCES:
(1.) KAPA Kollector #9(March 1995) & #10(June 1995). Four pages of
biographical text, illustrations, and a complete listing of Weiss's
published plans in a two part article by Jim Alaback.
(2.) Flying Models (August 1995). Two pages of biographical text and
photos in Jim Alaback's "Old Timer Topics" column in this issue.
(3.) KAPA Kollector #12(December 1995). Brief biographical paragraph
in this issue when Herbert K Weiss was inducted into the KAPA Hall
of Fame in 1995.
CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF "MINUTE MODELS".
Mauboussin Hemiptere"40"
Model Airplane News-May 1938(reprinted:KAPA Kollector #10-June 1995)
Wingspan 12 1/2 inches. Construction - sheet balsa fuselage sides and
vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered
wing and fuselage top and bottom.
Nieuport 161
Model Airplane News-June 1938(reprinted:KAPA Kollector #10-June 1995)
Wingspan 11 inches. Construction - sheet balsa vertical and horizontal
tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
Messerschmitt Bf-109
Model Airplane News-Aug. 1938(reprinted:KAPA Kollector #20-Dec. 1997)
Wingspan 13 inches. Construction - sheet balsa vertical and horizontal
tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
Brewster XF2A-1 "Buffalo"
Model Airplane News-Oct. 1938(reprinted: Air Age Flying Scale Models.)
Wingspan 13 1/2 inches. Construction - sheet balsa vertical and
horizontal tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered wing and
fuselage.
Piper Cub (J-2)
Model Airplane News-Dec. 1938(reprint:Hannan's Peanuts & Pistachios #3)
Wingspan 13 1/2 inches. Construction - sheet balsa fuselage sides and
vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered
wing and fuselage top and bottom.
Douglas TBD-1
Model Airplane News-Apr. 1939(reprinted: Air Age Flying Scale Models.)
Wingspan 13 inches. Construction - sheet balsa vertical and horizontal
tail surfaces. Sparless wing. Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
Seversky "Executive"
Model Airplane News-Aug. 1939(reprinted: KAPA Kollector #19-Sep. 1997)
Wingspan 12 inches. Construction - sheet balsa vertical and horizontal
tail surfaces. One spar wing. Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
North American P-51D "Mustang"
Model Airplane News-July 1946. Wingspan 10 1/2 inches. Construction -
sheet balsa vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. One spar wing.
Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
Douglas XB-42 "Mixmaster"
Model Airplane News-August 1946. Wingspan 11 inches. Construction -
sheet balsa vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. One spar wing.
Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
Bellanca "Crusair"
Model Airplane News-Feb. 1947(reprinted: KAPA Kollector #15-Sep. 1996)
Wingspan 14 inches. Construction - sheet balsa fuselage sides and
vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. One spar wing. Tissue
covered wing and fuselage top and bottom.
SUPER "MINUTE MODEL" (Enhanced "Minute Model", with more detail and
more robust and complex structure. Plan consists of two pages.)
Curtis XP-40
Model Airplane News-June 1939. Wingspan 13 1/2 inches. Construction -
Sheet balsa vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. One spar wing.
Extra wing ribs, more scale detail. Tissue covered wing and fuselage.
NO-CAL "SIMPLEFLYER" (Not one of the "Minute Model" series. This
model was also a single sheet plan.)
Bell P-39
Flying Aces-January 1940. Wingspan 12 1/2 inches. Construction -
all sheet balsa with no tissue covering, profile fuselage with slot for rubber motors.
Links to "Minute Models".
Plans page Plans for the following "minute models": ME 109, Mauboussin Hemiptere"40", Neiuport 161, Brewster XF2A-1, Piper J-2 Cub, and Douglas TBD-1 can be found by clicking on 'plans page': Plans page
Plans for the Curtis XP-40 may be found at: Kenney Horne's Flying Aces
