Chris Freeman 3

Still not flown the unit yet, hope to get it done this weekend if things go according to plan which they seldom do. The commercial units are nice but as you say very expensive especially when staying in Africa. The big problem that you have with the commercial units are the size of the spinners, the scale projects all have massive spinners. I am also not sure what a nose over will do to the unit.

I am relieved to report that we managed to test fly the DC3 and managed a landing! It was a short flight as the wind was not great and we had an old set of lipo's for the test flight as we did not want to risk a good set! The repairs seem to be good a very little trimming was needed.

Very nice aircraft, They fly very well but can be a bit heavy. I will be watching the progress

The full size DC3 was a tough bird, this one landed after a midair collision

Hi Chris. Pictures as requested. Standard ESM units, these are the electric ones but the air ones are the same concept. ESM stretched the center section and undercart to allow for larger engines to be used.

I joined my wheels to the axel that was supported in brass tubing so that the wheels turned together, this helped keep the take offs and landing straight on my 1/4 DV111. The brass tubing was help in position with elastics to allow suspension like the real ones

Most of the time I have too many aircraft but then at times I see a special deal then I do not have enough aircraft! You can also never have too many kits, lucky Byron builds as I will not manage to build all the kits we have!

I see it is almost a moth since the last update! The installation of all the equipment is complete, we need to do all the checks to ensure all is correct and then we can test fly it. Quite happy with how it has all gone back together so I hope we will be rewarded with a landing! The center section has most of the equipment, the fuselage just has 3 servos and quite a lot of lead!

Some video of the flying on the weekend, The Sparrow Hawk has a 30+ year old ST3000 that does not realise how old it is, started second flick after not been used for at least 6 months. The aircraft still has 35 megs and no issues.

Things are getting hot in Africa so Byron and I started our summer exercise routine early yesterday before a test flight of a mates 40% Pitts that has just been completed. 1 1/2 hours of pushing the mowers had the main runway looking good. We did manage to get some good flying in with the Seagull Sparrow Hawk, Krick Bucker Student and Sebart Robin. Jon Arrived with the Pitts and it really looks great, all scratch built, even the cowl and Spats. Byron did the test flights that were great, very impressive flying aircraft that demands full attention on landing

Stunning, makes all the hard work worth it! Byron and I need to get our act together and finish the Byron one! Too many projects and not enough time. What is your next build Nick?

After having lost everything it is something that never leaves you as when you are doing a simple job and you might need a tool that you know that you had then you need to think if you had it after the fire or before the fire! The other more positive aspect is that I had aircraft and kits that I thought I would never be able to replace but somehow we did manage to rebuild and recover hobby wise and we once again have a large fleet of aircraft and I have lots of kits for my retirement in just under 3 years time. We had a round 150 flying aircraft and about 60 kits and some were over 30 years old. Many of the aircraft had a history to them as they were either built as prototypes or kits built as reviews or even done lots of displays. I also had stuff that was given to me and projects that we had done as a group build such as a 1/3 scale Bleriot.

11 years ago I got up early and went flying with my Dave Platt 1/5 Spitfire, 1/4 Tri pacer and 1/4 Spacewalker with Gemini 160 twin. The wind was quite strong so I only flew the Tri Pacer and Spitfire and decided not to fly the Spacewalker in the wind. When I got home My wife and I had a swim and a Barbeque and played with the dogs. I had cleaned the planes and put them on the workbench ready for another attempt the next day. Byron got home from work and spent some time on his new giant scale aerobatic plane he had just been sponsored. That afternoon my wife and Byron were having an afternoon nap and I was watching some cricket on TV when I heard some noises in the garage and went to investigate. The new aircraft of Byron's was on fire and the aircraft hanging on the ceiling were starting to fall down, I ran for a fire extinguisher but as I got into the garage the fuel tank exploded and I was in the path of the flames. After that Byron ran around the house to open the garage door and he was greeted with a fireball. After that it all became a blur, My wife just managed to unlock a security gate to get out, she had passed an open sliding door but for some reason went to the front door. That night I went to bed in someone who I did know and was even wearing some of his cloth's. We lost everything including 2 of our 3 dogs. We had only the cloths that e had on when the fire started, no id's, wallets or cell phones. My Wife's car was totally burnt out and Byron and my Fiat vans keys were burnt and as they have coded keys new ignitions had to be imported from Italy. The cars were towed into a neighbors property for safe keeping but on the Monday we had a huge hailstorm which further damaged the cars. Lucky the house and cars were insured and I have had the same broker for 20 years so the house was rebuilt and cars fixed and replaced. Priority was given to getting the house sorted and this used most of the funds. You never quite know what you have until it is all gone and you also do not always appreciate what you have. The fire was started by a 2 cell 2200 lipo that was the receiver battery for Byron's aircraft!

Byron had a friend help with the cad drawings for mold for the drop tanks for the P38. The mold has been 3d printed and fiberglass drop tanks will be made in this. They are large and should look good.

On Saturday we took delivery of the counter rotating unit that was the reason for the build of this airframe. The unit looks great and now needs to be tested so it has been mounted in the old faithful Stick! We need to use larger wheels to get some more prop clearance.

Very Nice Nick, good luck with the test flight. Sorry about the P47 as they are just such nice flying aircraft and yours looked so good. Can be a tough hobby this!

Hi Steve Thanks for the reply, a real privilege to get a post like this as it will really help. I have followed your work in the magazines from when you were a kid! Byron and I will be getting together on the weekend to see what the requirements are for servo's. At this stage the servos are in the boom, but we well look at the available options. It is also a little strange as the original builder still owns the aircraft and does have some say in the project so we do have to keep that in mind. I think the airframe will be Byron's once finished Was the flutter on the elevator or the stab as that could also influence what needs to be done. I must say I have also found the fact that the elevator is one piece and has a servo at each end strange. My head is more comfortable with 2 elevator half's which is not practical on this design. Many years ago in the 80's my dad built a large stick that we lost when the stab bowed under load and this locked the elevator. Byron's Grandfather was a great believer in having the control surface thicker than the flying surface as this prevented airflow separation and turbulence which can start flutter. Jack built a 2 50% WW1 aircraft in the 80's and 90's so he did have some experience. I might have to use a very strong mouth wash for saying this but the test flights will be done as an electric set up as this will make the test flying less stressful! we do have 2 DLE 55's and 2 MVVS 58's which can be used once the test flying is sorted.

Very sad to read this, he sure has been a prolific supporter of the hobby. We sure have lost another true icon of the hobby. Condolences to the family and friends

Richard, I have a Spitfire problem, built 10 with more to come! We have 3 1/3 cubs and 3 DB Dakota's so i understand what you are saying! Chris W From what i remember from the plans which Byron now has is that it has 1400 wing area and wing loading was 44 to 46oz/sq ft. Greg Hann built his one at 42 pounds with Zenoah 38's and reported it was a joy to fly. We plan to keep it as light as possible and will fly it in primer so we can see how much weight we can still add with a finish but we tend to try and keep things as light as possible. The many electric projects I built have taught me how important weight is. I had a Ziroli Beech 18 that was rebuilt from wreck and that flew on Zenoah 38's and weighed 50 pounds so it really taught me how to fly smoothly and power management.

A friend of ours had one with DLE 55 and it flew very well but lost it when one motor quit and he heard it to late. They always say if you have height and speed with a twin it will be ok, if low and slow the good motor will take you to the scene of the accident! Reliability is the key to this project. The airframe was originally set up for DLE 35's but we did not get them.

Thanks Stu, I will follow up on this. Byron has done a bit of research on this subject and the booms are a problem, they break just behind the wings or just in front of the stab. The booms look bigger than they are but when you see how much is removed for the wheels to retract and also to have a hatch to allow them to be removed from the wings it leaves just the sides of the boom for strength. The back of the booms is the same, not much wood as they are rounded and then have the stab in the middle of them, compounded by the fact that they are a long way behind the CG so you are trying to save weight. The pushrods are piano wire inside a nyrod which is as per the plan, I will be checking on this as servo installation is next. The original design called for Zenoah 38's but double the power is often used. Dennis Crooks raced one in the Madera races for many years and this was a composite version he made. He had 4.2 motors and apparently on one race the one motor quit just after take off so he flew the entire race on one motor!

A while ago Byron went to visit one of our flying buddies and when he returned he asked me to come and have a look at something! On the lawn was a mostly framed up P38 lightning! Jon had run out of enthusiasm for the project and asked Byron if he would finish it! The airframe had been around for a while and was starting to pick up damage from being moved around and the number of components and the size made this a very serous build. A big tub contained all the spinners, plastic parts and the Robart Retracts with an electric conversion kit. I started to do some of the woodwork in the areas that needed fixing or strip planking to be finished. Whilst working on the bits we decided it would be best to glass as soon as possible to make it more ding resistant. As a piece was finished it went down the road for Byron to start final sanding and glassing. Byron also spent a lot of time getting all the parts to fit better as the wing is in 3 parts, removable booms and stab. Work has been on and off as other projects had priority. When the DC3 repair moved back to me, Byron started to do more work on the P38 and On Sunday when I went around to his house it was back on the lawn for me to see and help discuss some ideas. I must say that it is a very impressive aircraft but also one that takes a huge amount of perseverance or long suffering to build and also one that needs to be flown with a huge amount of respect. This is were it is now:

From the days servo's were so expensive

I found this this morning when paging through an old mag whilst looking for the Hurricane article in it.