Here's all the parts -
Like I mentioned in the last post, the water slide decals show Centuri influence.
This kit has the red parachute with no printing.
Everything looks standard, except for the adapter and nose cone.
A letter is included apologizing for the plastic nose cone and adapter.Originally these parts were balsa.
The note mentions a "worldwide balsa shortage".
That 50/55 adapter is interesting. Depending on how it it cut it can be a nozzle, a hollow interior adapter or simply joins two tubes together.
The wide end shoulder is a little long. More on that later.
Check, received same parts and note on, "worldwide balsa shortage".
ReplyDeleteLooked, "worldwide balsa shortage" up on Google and apparently they build large wind turbines with balsa for producing energy, use it for natural gas tankers, and all sorts of stuff. Also China is buying up the balsa forests in South America. All this information came from modeling building blogs and about 10 minutes of searching – so grain of salt.
So I looked at basswood as a logical replacement. Well…
Basswood is 260% heavier than Balsa. However it’s stronger as well so you can use thinner pieces and it stands up better to abuse. Though I would guess that laminating balsa between paper would be stronger and lighter than basswood.
If you read WIKI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochroma_pyramidale), then the shortage should abate in 6 - 10 years, as that is how fast the plant grows. Farmers could grow more if a shortage exists - Economy 101. Granted at most 20 years for supply and demand to correct on a slow growth product – unless demand is exponential.
DeleteHow long have we been in a World Wide Balsa shortage?
Two take aways:
1) Wiki does not mention a worldwide balsa shortage.
2) Balsa is a member of the mallow family.