(plus fuselage bulkheads and frame plates etc.)

2-D routing of components such as wing ribs can easily be carried out on the overhead router made by adapting a 'WOLFCRAFT' or similar XY table, see 'Machine construction'. The borrowed or broken specimen is 'digitised' by one of several methods, then the scaled copy, larger or smaller than the prototype, is routed in wood, plastics or aluminium alloy sheet. It is perfectly feasible to produce a uniquely scaled version of your favourite model by this method. Alternatively, the data can be obtained from your drawing in a CAD package which has been saved as a .PLT file. All CAD programs support the HPGL format which is directly compatible with Compucut. Once the data is saved to diskfile you can reproduce duplicates or spares at any time in the future. Knowing that there are a couple of these data disks at home could be a real confidence booster for pilots of gas turbine powered model helicopters!