Peter Jenkins

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 25/01/2019 23:44:26: In the first World War, Germany made a valiant effort to push back the surrounding countries which were operating an effective blockade on German trade. When the war ended in stalemate, Germans looked upon the result as a draw, just a setback with a second half to come later. I am surprised at your comments. The Kaiser, a cousin of Geroge V don't forget, had decided he wanted a Navy to rival the RN. There was an arms race going on between Germany and the UK with the battleship being the primary weapon that was being developed. I don't believe that history records a blockade on Germany before WW1. Germany didn't start WW1 either, it was their, or rather the Kaiser's, decision to support Austria against Servia (as it was called in those days). By the time the full impact of this decision had been grasped, Russia had weighed in against Austria and the Russian/French agreements pulled France into the war as well followed by the UK. I think WW! was one of those avoidable wars that started because of a lack of involvement of the professional diplomats. The Kaiser ruled as a King of old and took little notice of the politicians and professional civil servants serving him. At least, that'w what history records. I don't think the war ended in stalemate. The German Army was defeated and the principal cause at that stage of the war was that the British Army was now the most powerful in the field. The US had only fought one battle under British Command in July 1918, before a full US Army took the field in September 1918. Much against the popular view that it was the US that won WW1 for the Europeans, it was the threat of a US build up in 1919 that persuaded the German High command that they should sue for peace and passed the buck to the politicians. Thus was born the legend of the "Stab in the Back" by the filthy politicians! Interestingly, some of the US Commanders wanted to continue the war until they had reached Germany to prove the the German people that their Army had been defeated. It is interesting that on the morning of 11th November, the US launched a major offensive that cost the lives of around 20,000 US Troops in order to demonstrate their wish to keep fighting. After the war, there was a move in the US to take action against these officers for the unnecessary loss of life of US troops but it was quietly dropped. The views of the US Commanders was borne out by the fact that the German people were led to believe that their Army was undefeated but that the politicians had gone behind their back to surrender. Had the Treaty of Versailles not been so vindictive, and the Weimar Republic not come up with a plan to allow the German currency to be devalued in order to clear the crippling reparations, it is arguable that the conditions that led to the rise of Hitler might not have existed. The outcome post WW2, with the past very much in mind, was very different.

With the wing firmly bolted in place, it was time to check tail and wing incidences. The engine is set at 0 deg to datum so it was a matter to levelling the fuselage top and then measuring wing incidence. As luck would have it, the wing came in at 0 deg! How lucky was that! With the model turned right way up and the fuselage packed up to set the wing at 0 deg, I then adjusted the tailplane mount to get that to 0 deg and also to confirm that with the fin jammed between the fuselage and rudder post, that the tailplane was still at right angles to it. The final check was to adjust the distance between the wing tip and the tailplane/elevator join so that the tailplane was centred in that way and then to mark this position on the tailplane and fuselage. Incidentally, you can now see the extent of the fibre glass bandaging on the wing as well as the ply reinforcement on the outside of the fuselage.

Posted by john stones 1 on 24/01/2019 22:06:41: Silence is deafening on this I see, had it been an M/R we would be on page 20 by now, BMFA would be being lambasted for not distancing us from "them". +1

The next job was one I had been dreading! Drilling the hole for the wing dowel in the bulkhead. After careful measurement – several times – I eventually was happy with the position and applied the drill. The large wing opening and difference in height between the front and rear of the wing bay allowed me to put the electric drill into the gap and drill at right angles. The wing then slid into place. Phew! I could now use my Dead Centre to mark through the wing bolt brackets from above the wing and then drilled the bolt holes. Thankfully, I got it right – well, almost! After a little relieving of the holes, the bolts went in. The next job was to tighten up the wing bolts and check for fit. – before final easing and being able to tighten fully the bolts.

Nigel R, thank you for your suggestion. However, what the photo doesn't show is that the elevator is cut out of fairly stiff balsa. On a twist test, appropriate to the amount of aerodynamic force to be expected, it performed as well as a wire saddle. Added to which, I am happy to accept that Mick Reeves knows a thing or two about what constitutes adequate strength. This will be used for precision aerobatics and not 3D so I am quite content with the strength of the elevator. I am using Dubro large horns that have good surface area for both the horn and the back plate so, again, I am confident that my solution will be perfectly adequate. You are free to disagree of course!

That will concentrate a few minds!

It was now appropriate to check the wing fuselage join and the wing/tailplane incidences. First, I had to glue on the reinforcing ply pieces on the rear undersurface of the wing for the wing bolts. Having checked that I could still access the retaining nuts for the wing bolt brackets, I glued the fuselage bottom in place. As you will see, this left the necessary access to which I’ve just referred. I then lined up the wing bolt brackets, marked the bolt holes and drilled them. An earlier purchase, a set of locking forceps, now came into their own to hold the nylock nuts in place while I screwed the bolts home. Note the mark for fuselage centre line which I will use to line up with wing centre line.