Paul Cook modifies his Taboo

This beautiful little plane, designed and built by Paul Cook of the Test Valley Model Flying Club, UK, was fully featured on work in progress #56. Following a few initial test flights, Paul has had a re-think about the motor.

I have ordered another motor as the Speed 300 current consumption was 11 amps, which is a bit on the large side for a little motor and led to poor duration. I contacted Gliders in Newark and found out that there is actually a Speed 300 and 280, the 300 being a hot version of the 280, so out came the plastic and the parting of some hard-earned cash for a 280 motor/prop combo (only cost a tenner).
Paul is considering making the plans available for Taboo - if you are interested, e-mail him at pcook_01@hotmail.com - just click this link.

Derick Veliz's Aveox Lightning

Here's a purely pictorial record of Derick's latest project.

Click the bottom right thumbnail to view a chart showing Derick's modifications to the original specification.

Keith & Derek's foam-filled fantastic

It was on work in progress #50 that we saw the start of this scratch build project that Keith Kingsbury and Derek Morgan have embarked upon. Their idea is to make a plane using a basic balsa frame for fuselage and wing and then filling in with foam, a combination of ideas arising from Keith's experience in using foam for model repairs and in racing car design!

Here is the now-completed 95 cm long fuselage, of simple construction. Keith says the main strength of the fuselage lies in the balsa formed section which will house all the electrics and servos. The tail section is actually bolted to the end of this for ease of repairs or mods. The rest of the framework will act as a sort of skeleton which will be filled with expanded foam and then sanded to shape, as will the main wing section. This will then be covered with film to give a nice finish. The model has a 145 cm wingspan.

The lads have built the tail and rudder using sheet polystyrene to which they have added balsa on the leading and hinge edges of the tail and hinge edges of the elevator to give strength - it should be very light but strong, they say. Because of the minimal use of balsa they have found construction to be very easy. Derek has only to finish the other half of the wing, and they can start to foam the plane.

The intention is to use a mint-condition Fox .19 engine which they were given and which they hope will be suitable for the job. The plane will not have an undercarriage as Derek and Keith want to be able to fly it at their favourite spots around South Wales which don't have a runway (but do have great little pubs!) and where they enjoy flying their Twinstars and Alpha 180's.

The lads admit that there's only a limited amount of aerodynamic science gone into this design, so it will be interesting to see how she goes! There's also some original thinking insofar as the use of that engine is concerned, which we will wait to reveal when the test flight is reported! Bear in mind that these are two guys who do not baulk at asking the local fire brigade to rescue their stranded plane or at dragging a rock band and all its gear down a show cave to raise money for a kids' charity - he who dares, wins!

Ian Nelson's Top Flite P51-D Mustang

This is the next episode of building the Mustang. I'm sorry it's going on a bit but I only get chance at weekends at the moment due to work and family commitments.

I am now up to the stage of installing the retracting under-carriage, as you can see from the photos. I have fitted out the wheel wells and planned the retract geometry. For the wheel wells I have used polystyrene cartons, the type you get at the Deli counter in supermarkets for coleslaw, olives etc.

The wheels are 3.25" diameter, so the cartons are the large type. I have lined the leg wells with 1/16th balsa. As you can see the aircraft now stands on its legs. The next stage is to hook up the retracts to the main reservoir and function them, checking clearances to ensure no hang ups on the legs. You may be able to see from the photos that I have bent the legs to a scale shape, I have bought the Robart leg covers to give them a more scale appearance.

Hopefully the next instalment will report success on the trial retractions and see flap servos installed and functioned.

Last seen on work in progress #54.