Timo Starkloff

Plenty of flights again this summer and finally I started applying colours. Ok, it’s grey but others will come soon 🙂 Airbrush equipment is new and I’m happy, perfect to work with, good results and easy to clean. Next weeks we’re in the UK for holidays, but afterwards I resume working on the Whirlwind. Timo

Thanks 🙂 The Whirlwind finally flew in Normandy in typical windy conditions and yesterday I’ve had three nice sunset flights with absolutely no wind and the new lights on. Balancing the spinners worked perfect, everything’s running very smooth now. Timo

Tomorrow I'll start travelling to Normandy. It's the 75th anniversary of D-Day and I hope to see the Dakotas again. This time they're based near Cherbourg. In 2019 they've been near Caen and did an impressive paratrooper jump near Sannerville. Apart from sightseeing I'm also visiting a friend. His model club from Caen will do a warbird meeting on the weekend. Since the Whirlwind flew over South England, The Channel and Normandy, the model has to fly there, too (except over the sea, maybe). I finished working on the lights, which I started last autumn but got distracted by a certain Beech. I also did some test runs with lead tape on the spinners to dampen vibrations. After tests I placed the tape inside the spinner, the result was good on the ground, let's see, how it is in the air. Is anyone else from this forum in Normandy this week? Regards, Timo

Hi, sad to hear that. I think I read your story in a forum. It will take some time until the plans are finished. A Beech 18 came in the way… More on that later 😊 But if you’re interested building the Whirlwind from half finished plans, please send me a message. Someone from Germany doesn’t want to wait and actually starts building the Whirlwind. It will be helpful for me to correct and improve issues. My build was very straightforward, but you may know there are always ideas for improvement. Timo

I started building a Beech 18, same 1/6 scale as my Westland Whirlwind 🙂 Regards, Timo

And I attended a warbird meeting with around fourty modellers. Some showed their projects, I took the Whirlwind with me, including building material, books and some plastic models as a size comparison to a Spitfire and Fulmar. Merry Christmas everyone 🙂 Timo

The lights are nearly completed and already functional. The wiring update took longer than expected. But the result is great! And the landing lights are switched on while moving out of the wing surface. I'm looking forward to see this in flight 🙂 Timo

Hello Alan, the clips are part of the servo package (Dymond D60). I’ll try to get only servos with these kind of clips. Flat installation on a plywood plate is much easier and better in most cases than upright. Timo

The first of the landing lights is finally moving 🙂 All parts of the hinge are from glass fibre, which is robust and easy to glue. The complete piece including the servo is at 25 grams. Next jpb is applying the clear cover and an extensive update on the wiring... Timo

Small progress on the lights 🙂

The COG is a small distance forward to the 1/3 wing depth, which is normal for my models. In the case of the Whirlwind and it's high elevator position, I started just slightly nose heavy. Flying should be fine with a certain range of the COG, but stalls with COG too far back could be bad. There are three documents from the RAeS and an interesting ebook from NASA: https://www.aerosociety.com/publications/jah-on-the-early-history-of-spinning-and-spin-research-in-the-uk-part-1-the-period-1909-1929/ https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/483000main_modelingflight.pdf I haven't tried a wing stall and spinning with the Whirlwind, yet. It flies really slow and safe so there wasn't the need to go further. My focus in low speed tests was elevator efficiency and that is perfect from the moment the tail comes up right to the point the tail goes down after the landing. The wing is safe, especially with the low wing loading. But I know from similar models, that it can get very uncomfortable if you loose the elevator efficiency, especially when you're too slow and apply power too quick. Timo

I started installing LEDs. Tail and wing tip were straight forward. The landing lights will be a bit more work. I thought about attaching them to the landing gear, but they would have to be removable in case of servicing the oleos. So I chose to put them in the outer wing panel and have them retractable, like the original. I haven't found a picture of the original landing light. After looking closely to the drawings and plastic models, I changed the hinge type to a hidden version. Timo

In October I flew again with my brother. Someone at the field took some nice photos 🙂 Now it's really routine, flying the Whirlwind. Timo

Yes, it had a retractable tail wheel and it's the only piece which is a bit distracting, when I compare pictures with the original Whirlwind. But I had cancelled that because of the far forward center of gravity. And of course it's a bit easier to build, too. Maybe I'll try that on one of the next models. I have to learn a lot concerning scale landing gears. Concerning plans, at least the Yak-9 was published some years ago 🙂 But thanks for the question. I should think about a new article. The drawings and articles are plenty of work. Moving to the house three years ago interrupted that a bit and I have to restart that activity. For the moment I'm happy to build the models. There's a huge backlog, time is short and you don't always have the energy. Actually I resumed working on the Whirlwind. Installing lights and completing the cockpit. There's always another job before the painting starts. And I started some minor work on another 1/6 scale project. Years ago I did the drawings for a Ki-43 Hayabusa and some friends started building it. One is already flying. Another was built 50% by a very good friend, who died 2 years ago. I will finish his Hayabusa. Timo

Still no paint applied, but now close to sixty flights and nearly all of the minor issues solved. The Whirlwind is now an easy flying every day model 🙂 With the wide speed range, long flight duration and stable flying characteristics it's especially great for formation flights with all kind of other models. Timo