Ruth Wallis singing BOOBS   Hi from Michigan. Received file today and wanted to burn them to a cd but it says it is a read only file. Any suggestion? I am not very smart on the old computer. Thanks and have a great day. Gene   Yes Gene, the file is a read only file, that means their are no hidden instructions in the file to damage your computers software. Like a nasty viruses or spy ware. To put it simply, it is very a large picture.   Is the file avaible in a DAWG format? Thanks, Dave   No.   The file is in a TIFF format as that is what most printers use to print with. I do NOT sell them in a DAWG format. Their are programs availble on the web that can convert a TIFF to a DAWG file (They work like crap I have been told). I do not own such a program as I simply would have no use for it. Maybe a Laser kit cutter could convert the file for you (using an "optical tracer" on the printed plans). But you are barking up the wrong tree if you think I have DAWG's.   #1 Their are 2 ways to enlarge a plane plan. The printer should be able to enlarge the TIFF file, then print a lower and upper half sheet. You will need to glue the 2 halves together. I strongly suggest using glue sticks for this propose. Notice the one inch space left for attaching the two halves together.   Printing machines will not print to the edge of a sheet, trim the 1/4" boarder using the print shops paper cutter. I suggest folding the print so as make the cut. Or you may use scissors as the line need not be truly straight. Just cut the plan with the printed side up, being careful not to cut the printed lines themselves. Notice; when enlarging, a 100% enlargement is about your maximum size before the lines become really thick. When decreasing in size, a 50% decrease is about  your maximum reduction before words and lines become impossibly small to read.   #2 You can easily cut a plan such as this one into 2 pieces. The cut need not be straight. Avoiding as much cutting into the printed parts as necessary. The Drake II plan is a perfect example.  Now turn over one piece so that the printed side is facing down. Lay the 2 halves on top of each other with the crooked cut edge facing the inside of the 2 sheets. Align the outside edges so that that are evenly spaced, as scanners and printers DO NOT like crooked edges. Now tack the cut inside sheet to the back of the other sheet with the glue stick. Give it one minute to set, now flip over the plan and tack glue that side too. You should have a plan that has print on BOTH sides when properly done. Give the plan several minutes for the glue to harden. You are now ready to enlarge the plan yourself. Example; say you wish to go to a 72" inch wing span from a 48" wing span. 48 divided by 72 = 1.5 which is 150%. The helps keep the wood size easy to increase in your head too. Your glued together plans should be less than 24 inches wide as the printer is limited in paper width of 36" in most cases in the USA. 24 x 150% = 36                              Have the scanner set for a 150% enlargement. This is a good time to ask for an employees help. Simply run both sides thru the scanner, printing out 2 enlarged plan sheets. Save the original plan for future use. The plans will resist rolling but it can be rolled into a wide role the size of a log. Do NOT fold them as it may be a impossible to ever use them again.    Making copies of "fragile" plans. Lay the plan face down as you NEVER work on the printed side.  (exceptions are white out, white tape, darken lines, ect.) If the fold lines are evident, use your hobby heating iron set on high and iron out all the wrinkles. You may have to dampen the seams and folds before ironing. (a damp paper towl works fine),,, (A dampened seam should look just like a snail track).  Now tape the seams to add strength and stiff ness to the plan. Remember, the scanners will damage "fragile" plans.  Patch all missing pieces of the plan with a piece of white plaper. This is especially true if a corner is missing as the scanner will not "sense" a missing corner and your print will be incomplete.                          It is important to have a good end "squared' for the process to work well. Many old plans are not even close to being square. The printer should have a cutter for paper up to 48" in length. If not, a T square or and square and a 36" ruler will do.   Enlarging old "fragile" plans. The easiest way and the least non destructive way is to simply fold the plan and scan each side making an enlarged copy of each side.   How to save a plan to a file. Call your local print shop and ask them "can you copy a  ??" wide x ??" long  paper plan to a disc?".  Most print shops now have this ability, even in other countries.    When you arrive, be sure to have the plan ironed out flat OR rolled into a 3 or 4 inch roll, ready to be scanned. A mailing tube is really handy if you have a fragile plan or several plans.     Ask for help. Tell them you wish to have the plan scanned at 200 dpi and burned to a disc in a TIFF format (A PDF file is Fine for printing and saving to a disc, BUT, it is 4 times the size of a TIFF and is not suitable for emailing due to it huge size)....This is when Mr. Know-it-all will try to talk you into a different dpi and/or format. Trust me, I have more years of experience in this subject than they will ever have. You take their advice at your own risk.   If need be, you could even mail me the file and ask for my assistance, or I may even wish to swap you a file, but don't get your hopes up. Building by plans is a dieing hobby. You can planely see that evidence at your flying field.   What is dpi? Abbreviation of dots per inch, which indicates the resolution of images. The more dots per inch, the higher the resolution. A common resolution for laser printers is 600 dots per inch (color pictures). We are working in lines that create Black and White pictures that we call plans. Plans look great at 200 dpi. At lower dpi's, lines that are not diagonal and vertical begin to appear to look like a hack saw blade. You can work with 100 dpi, but the plan lines will look rough and jaggered. Dpi's higher than 200 only hog up more computer usage.   WORKING ON FILES I am often asked about working on the files. Some printers require the files to be in different formats, so that they may print them, such as PDF files.  Or maybe you simply wish to alter the wing size or add flaps. I too encourage you to try this as this is my "hobby". I find that Adobe Photoshop 4.0 works well and that you may download it for a FREE 30 day trial from the Adobe website. ( I personally prefer a program called "paint") You can play with the file and learn how to alter it. Never "save" the file and you will overwrite the original file and it will be lost. Always "save as", example wing to wingA. Should you lose the original file, (maybe you lost the disk?) simple write to me requesting another file. I will send you another file(s) for FREE (this does not include a new disc). I do not care if a year has passed. Just ask, I want you to enjoy this hobby just as I do, and let's face it, shipping is free to anywhere in the world. Lets say you wish to increase the wing span, click on "image" and then "attributes" on "paint"  and change the height to 15", now save file as Drake15. It should look like this. With your tools,  click on select and choose the part of the drawing you wish to alter. Right click to bring up menu. Select cut as if you screw up, simply click paste and the image will magically reappear. I have removed unwanted drawings and now my wing looks like this, and I have saved it as Drake15A. I would still like to clean up my wing before printing. So I remove the float with my select tools and eraser, and I save as Drake15AB. I now select the line tool, click on the thick line width, and replace the missing wing parts. Save as Drake15ABC. The wing should look like this. Now select and drag the rib pattern letters down near the bottom or the plan. Select the rib to rotate 90 degrees to up right position, be sure to click on the image box on the tools for transparency. I am pretty happy at how the wing looks now, so I save the file as wingA.   I am ready to stretch my wing span from 48" to 60".  60 divided by 48 = 1.25. That is a 125% increase which keeps my wood dimensions easy to increase in my head. Now click on image, select stretch/skew, stretch width to 125 and click OK. Save as wingAB It should look like this. Now open up wingA with a new window. Select the rib pattern, click copy. Paste rib pattern on wingAB. Notice how much wider it looks , click on the opaque box to hide old wide rib. You should have replaced the stretch rib with the original rib. Fun was it not? Save this file as wingReady. It should look like this and you are ready to print a 60 wing with the same chord diminsions. Maybe ailerons might be nice? Flaps too?  With some practice, you will get the hang of it, just be sure to "save as" after each alteration. This makes it so easy to go back and redo a mistake.   I hope that you enjoy this hobby as much as I do, and please keep in mind, that your purchase helps me send a needy child to college.  I enjoy doing this more than building and flying, and the enjoyment of an educating any person benefits the entire human race a life time <><   Shucks!  I may be nuts, but I don't care! The Drake II is one of my favorite planes and plans. I have decided to offer this simple little plane plan for FREE.                OK, now what are you waiting for? The Drake II plan is FREE and so is the Adobe Photoshop 4.0. Don't just sit there! Down load them now or drop and give me 5 soldier!   And be sure to send me pictures of your finished project with a short powered by description.