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A
stunning B17 from Alan Shipman
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Here's
the complete portfolio of pics that Alan sent me on his
recently completed but not yet flown B17 which is
also the subject of this month's opening screen.
Here's
a nice full specification of the model from Alan:
The
colour scheme is Coastal Command in 1943; the aircraft flew
out of Northern Ireland. I know it is the wrong mark for
the scheme; it should be a B17 Mk2, but the model G that
was there was not as colourful as this, so I have compromised
The
model is 72-inch span and weighs 7lb2oz. Power is supplied
by a Flightpower 5350mAh 5s LiPo. Control ESC is a Jeti
JES60A. At 19V the current draw is 23A. This gives 62W/lb
and the target was 50W/lb.
Motors
are 7.2V Graupner Speed 400 and are wired with two in series/parallel
across the supply. The 8 x 6 props are driven through 2.66:1
gearboxes. Props are scale size.
The
retracts are from Eurokit
and are air up - spring down.
The
LiPo monitor is enclosed in the ball turret so that the
warning leds are easily visible from the ground.
The
model is covered with 0.6oz glass cloth applied with Poly-C.
The sprayed paint is from Fighter Aces and I believe is
authentic for the
time. Roundels are from David Leftley Graphics [see
site seeing].
Plan
by Tony Nijhuis. I also bought the wood pack, cowls
and turret vac forms.
Alan
says it was a pretty quick build for him - he started in
January this year - his usual time scale for a model is
nearer 2 years!
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Art
Rothstein's SE5a
Art's
SE5a has a wingspan of 48", weighs 7 lbs and is powered
by a .52 O.S.FS four-stroke engine. Art built it from modified
Rich Aravitch plans, adding ailerons top and bottom and a redesigned
cowl. The landing gear was also modified to provide for an airfoil
spreader, not evident in the picture. Art says it will roll, loop
(from a dive) and, of course, stall. It's lots of fun, he says,
but not for the faint-hearted!
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Bryan Lea's
little beauty
 I
just love this shot of Bryan launching his beautiful little 32"
wingspan free flight Ryan PT20 designed by K. Edgerton.
Bryan
built this model from a plan which he found in the September 1944
issue of Aeromodeller which he picked up at an Aeroboot
sale a few years ago. He sent me an interesting article on the
building of the model which appears on this month's workshop
page and in which he reveals that the model also contains a secret
weapon that I had never heard of before!
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Strimmer
motor does the business
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You
may remember a few months back [workshop,
September] that we featured John Wheater's conversion of a
strimmer engine. Well, it has now flown in a Jiant (sic)
Jabberwock as you can see from the photo. He says it has
perfectly adequate power for the old, 15lb airframe he calls "The
Drag Queen" which has looped (after a dive) and rolled (albeit
slowly). Despite a fair amount of time at full throttle, a fifteen-minute
flight used only about a quarter of the 16 oz tank.
John
has also posted a video of the flight on YouTube.Click the monitor
icon if you want to view it.
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Peter
Bunnett's diary...
Saturday,
27th October 2007: Got back from my hols last Thurs, covered
nearly 2500 miles around Spain and Portugal, mainly Portugal,
had a great time. Had to come back to the cold though!
 This
is my Sportsman Aviation Waco 30 ARF kit, with close-up
of the pilot, right (I found him a few years ago in B&Q or
Staples at Christmas time. I know, I don't like ARF kits but I
was feeling a little browned off with the Storch and I had a new
.30 ASP 4S sat at home! Anyway no building, more or less, just
bolt it all together and fly, which it does just great.
 Then
not long before I went away I put my Trainer in, not much left.
I asked Steve Dunning of Elation Models, Doncaster
to put together one of his Buddy trainers, but the intermediate
version with a smaller wing (right). I know, another ARF,
but Steve builds and covers these planes himself so that you can't
really call them ARF kits, they're great. Anyway I picked it up
two days before I went away and I have managed to fit it out with
my Irvine 40 and Spektrum DX7 2.4 since I got back between unpacking,
cleaning the car etc., and flying my vintage. So now I am just
waiting for a couple of good flying days to test fly the Buddy
and do the same with the Storch!
 This
picture shows the radio fit, etc., in the Buddy - as you can see
the Spektrum Rx doesn't take up much room.
I have a good feeling about the Storch (see air
space, October 2007), the slats came off the wings so
easy with just a few small holes in the leading edge where the
2mm attachment dowls held the slats on. To start off with, after
she has flown OK, I will just put the slats on for show on the
ground and then play around with them at a later date. [See
postbox for
latest news on the Storch.]
Update,
Monday 5th November 2007: We
test flew the Buddy Wednesday, just slightly nose heavy, up trim
required but had couple of good flights. Rechecked the C of G
at home, needed about 10 grms at the tail. Flew again today -
just great, no trim needed, rock steady at all speeds and take-offs
and landings just happen, for me! Just great.
We
take a look at Elation Models on market
place this month
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Broomhilda
goes electric!
"With
Hallowe'en not long gone, I thought the attached picture would
be relevant", writes John Thompson.
Terrry Lee has flown Broomhilda, his wicked witch
of the north, for several decades under glow power, but has just
converted to electric. This has made it much easier to fly with
the linear throttle. The picture shows her leaving her home in
the Mausoleum at Castle Howard to go on an evening jaunt.
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John
Hanson's Ugly One
If
you ever decide to have an ugly airplane contest here is my entry.
Believe it or not, this thing flys quite well and with full flaps
it is almost impossible to get it out of the air.
The
wing on the Ugly One was originally a gull wing with twin engines
that I designed for the Ace Seamaster. After an engine-out take
off I glued the wing remnants together so now it is a straight
wing of about 50". I designed and built the fuselage to match.
The engines are Magnum 25s. Airtronics radio system.
It always gets an incredulous laugh and a lot of head shaking
when I bring it out to the field!
O.K., so the contest is on! Can anyone
beat this in the Ugly Stakes?
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Two
nice models from Pete Skillington
 This
very attractive Fournier was built from a Mick Reeves plan/pack.
With a 9ft 2 inches wingspan and weighing 8 lbs, it is powered
by an ancient Merco 60. Peter states that it flys like a big gentle
trainer.
Wings finished in Solartex, fuselage finished in tissue then Poly-c,
the whole of the airframe then sprayed with vinyl emulsion, trim
masked off and painted by hand in Humbrol gloss enamel, then sprayed
all over with water-based poly gloss varnish. "Nothing hi-tech
for me" says Peter,"keep things simple and light is
how I like to do it."
 The
Vultee Valiant (right) is from a Brian Taylor plan,
all built up, sheeted, sanding sealed, colour sprayed on with
car spray from Halfords. "A typical Brian Taylor plan - if
you do not like balsa bashing do not attempt it; good build though."
The model has 74-inch wingspan, weighs approximately 8lbs and
is powered by a Thunder Tiger 61.
 Peter
writes, "Monty, the air frame inspector, came to us
when someone tired of him after 3 weeks when he was 8 weeks old;
he is part Siamese and part Heinz 57, it came about when his mother
escaped for a night on the tiles, then 4 kittens arrived 2 gray,
2 brown,that was mum's pedigree ruined. Even so, now two years
old, he is a grand chap and often sits and watches while I build."
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Colin
Stevens enjoys a challenge, it seems!
 This
is my late lamented Flair Giles 202. Although it was an ARTF model,
I found a lot of extra miles to go in the build, some necessary,
others of my own volition - so many that I felt that I'd been
half-way to the moon after 2 years on-and-off work. It was powered
by an MVVS 91 2-stroke with Prettner carb, and it pulled 13-1/2lb
thrust on the ground on a 14 x 6 prop. This was much in excess
of its weight, so I anticipated a new kind of flying with great
relish. What I didn't anticipate was a control failure on its
maiden flight that caused it to roll immediately after take-off,
resulting it its losing an unequal contest with concrete sea-defences.
Time of flight was about 11 seconds, out of which 6 seconds was
under my control - at various times. Some kind of record, I'd
imagine. I did enjoy the take-off, though.
 As
some kind of consolation for my Giles disappointment, I built
this Seagull Models Harmon Rocket III, a semi-scale model
based on John Harmon's record-breaking modified Vans RV-4. Again
an ARTF, it still benefited from quite a bit of extra work, principally
moving 3 tail-mounted servos to a conventional position, as part
of an attempt to resolve known problems with tail flutter. Designed
for a good .40, it's adequately< over-powered by an ASP52 2-stroke,
turning an 11" x 7" RAM prop at about 12,800 rpm static.
Wingspan is 54.7", and not as advertised.
This
model did survive the first take-off, and I knew instantly that
it was going to live up to its name. My first reaction was - "Just
WHAT have I done?" - as it arrowed-off into the distance
and nearly rolled inverted on my first attempt at a turn. It is
very fast and responsive, especially for my tired old brain and
eyesight, and within seconds it's a speck. The Rocket and I have
yet to come to an accommodation as to what constitutes an acceptable
circuit pattern. It has very low drag, and consequently is most
reluctant to come down. I've had only 3 flights, and the next
landing within 70yds and without bounces will be my first. May
it come soon.
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The
essence of club flying, captured by Geoff Graham
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Geoff
contributed these pictures of some models owned by his fellow
club members and taken by him. He says, "They capture
the wide variety of models and in particular, the magic
of the experience when everything falls perfectly into place.
The weather is perfect, there is a variety of models and
the guys flying them are to your own taste!"
The
canard, upper left, is a Wholesale Planes Long
Easy (semi scale of Rutan); lower left is the
jet-powered Baby Boomerang (for more on this model,
see last
month's air space). Upper right is identified
(?Sopwith Pup), whilst Geoff thinks the model at lower
right is a Bücker Yungmann. All very nice!
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 The
picture, left, of Geoff's club site at Swallow, N.
Lincolnshire, UK, was taken by a small digital camera branded
"Aiptek" and bought from a guy who modifies them
for operation by the u/c retract channel (No. 5 on Futaba).
Carried aloft by Geoff's fun-fly Twinstar II it delivers
some really nice photographs. Geoff says that it can be
hit and miss, as you do not know precisely where the camera
may be pointing when the photograph is taken as the camera
exposes the shot at a rate of one every 6 seconds.
 Geoff
is seen on the right preparing to fly his Tangent ElektroMaster
3.7 meter wingspan r/c glider (ex Multiplex range,
now rebranded Tangent). He suggested the caption for the
picture might well be, "The confounded model memory
is in here somewhere!"
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