A little progress.

I ordered the balsa and ply I need to build the fuselage for the Thunderbird from National Balsa. It should be here next week. As usual I forgot balsa for the vertical fin and rudder and plywood for the nose doublers.  I found what I needed at the local Michael's craft store. I cut out the doublers and glued enough balsa together from the scrap box for the nose tripler.
  I figured I would wet sand the elevators to get some of the paint off so I could spray a new coat on. The clear coat has yellowed some and under it the color is white. The wing has the word Thunderbird on the left panel and the number 1028 on the right. That's the original builder's AMA number that has to be on the plane. I was going to try and sand the number off and just for giggles I picked at the "1" with an Exacto knife. What I thought was paint is really vinyl graphics over coated with clear paint. A little heat from the heat gun and I was able to remove the numbers. The shadow shows where the numbers were but it's better than the originals. I'm thinking about making provisions for a nose wheel.
  I didn't like the O. S. .25 so I installed another Fox .35 and got in some flights. It's much better