Alec Turnbull

Good video Gary, the weather up here in the North West has been atrocious, yesterday (Sunday) was the worst very strong winds and sideways rain, so no flying for me! Settled down now tho........

Well done Nick, that's brilliant, so there are at least 3 Centurions flying now, any one else on here have one ? Let us know !

Well Nick that is very impressive....excellent effort. Yes a big car is required. Unfortunately I do not have an station wagon or a van ( could do with one, but my wife says its too utility!) So it just about goes in my Merc E class saloon with the front seat folded down and the wing across the back seats, not ideal but its what I've got! Looking forward to hearing how the maiden goes

Not so much as a money saver as a time saver. Recently after a heavy ish (clumsy!) landing the tail on my Rex glider came adrift and snapped the inner part of the control snake, which was a SLEC lightweight, the one with a yellow outer and a white inner. I didn't have a spare long enough so as it was a straight run I just substituted a length of thin piano wire a bit stiff but as it was straight no problem. Fast forward a couple of weeks and this morning I was replacing the strimmer line on my electric strimmer, when finished I replaced it in the garage where it lives near my models and spied the old bit of snake lying on a work table and I suddenly wondered if the strimmer line would fit and work on the SLEC outer......well it does. This is what I used 1.6mm, bought on E Bay as i was too lazy to go to the garden centre Fits in the yellow outer and slides with no resistance A bit curley but when warm does tease straight, it needs to be cut with a sharp blade rather than side cutters. These snakes are quite expensive someone on e bay wanted £10 ish posted for a SLEC, now there are no model shops left I cant pop down the road and pick one up.

Thanks for sharing!

Nice one Gary, David Boddington really knew what he was doing! Who needs ailerons!!

As I know that all the forum readers are waiting with bated breath to find out if the Rex 1a motorised glider actually flies, I can report that it does and very well indeed! The weather has suddenly looked up here in Lancashire so I have had the pleasure of two sessions with the Rex, no other glider fliers in my club so I felt a bit of a loner, tested it on a hand launch a couple of times just to make sue that it even had a glide no problems there, deep breath and first powered flight, the prop promptly flew off! I had forgotten tighten it properly, prop fell to he ground and Rex went off on a long glide and landed in the long grass, no problems reattached he prop, whilst refitting the prop a couple of members asked if I had a problem as it seemed that there was a lack of power, no I said , it was an unpowered test hand launch! Prop back on and off the Rex went no shortage of oompf in fact no need for more than half throttle to ensure a steady climb, my guesstimate of 3 degrees of down thru thrust appear to be about right. It climbed to nice high altitude very steady, cut the motor and straight into a thermal it would have stayed up for an age if I had let it, landing not so easy as it did not want to come down, the glide on approach goes on for ever, no spoilers....... but reapply the moto rand go around on a low circuit and a nice greasy landing on our lovely freshly mown and rolled patch.. To say I am delighted is an understatement.

I knew that Shaun....The prop seems to fold back Ok, not as much as if the nose as round but near enough no matter what position they stop. Have checked now Grumpy, had not thought about that, but as soon as the blades move they are clear of the corners, close tho!

Very funny!....... I am surprised one of you wags had not come up with this earlier ! I would have loved to have arranged a more streamlined nose section, the motor I have used is quite fat, there is no meat at all in fuselage sides to carve away, I did consider getting a thinner inrunner which would have allowed to redesign the nose section, but that would have changed my original concept of a quick build, I did knock this off in a few days after all. No one will notice the blunt front at a few hundred feet up there (on the assumption it does get up there of course). What I was really after was a replacement for my old Radio Sailplanes Wildflecken and I have found actually something similar now, (coming here soon)so this Rex will be a practice model, blunt nose nor withstanding I am quite pleased with it!

Finished all the little tyding up jobs, wing bands arrived so I put it on my Multiplex c of g balancer thingy. With the lipo pushed forward as far as it can go it balances right on the money, so its good to go, roll on a bit of sunshine...... Total weight 3lbs 10ozs, not sure whether that is good or not, no recommendation in the build article,but it is what it is.

Whilst I have been meddling with my Rex glider I forgot to take some pictures of the finally completed Unicorn. I had some flourescent covering film (Profilm I think) that came to me in a job lot, seemed ideal for this model and should make the Unicorn plenty visible to these tired old eyes, so here they are.... Weighs 6lbs 1oz, so here is another model waiting for the weather to improve........ while I get on with yet another!

Well....finished target missed as I underestimated the amount of covering film required and had to order some more, any how all done now, one final mock up before I finish all the little bits and pieces. plus I need to obtain some 6'' wing bands, the only ones I have in stock are far too big, but... nearly there now. Looking forward to some nice weather, whenever that might be......!

I have been doing a bit of covering today, we are nearly there but only so much covering in one day so finish tomorrow, maybe..... A mock up to see how its coming along With a bit of luck may be finished by the weekend

I have now covered the fuselage, in fact back in January, but pushed in to one side in frustration. I attempted to attach a clear acetate canopy as shown on the plan and exactly as I did for my first model all those years ago. I had some acetate sheet left over from my Centurion build so used what I had, but it seemed just a bit on the thick side and I had difficaulty in moulding it to the correct shape even with a little bit of heat, so ordered some thinner sheet from SLEC but had similar difficaulty, tried a couple of times using ZAP canopy glue and clamping overnight but when removing the clamps it all sprung apart. This is the glue I used Either the glue is useless or I am! On the instructions it does mention to not freeze, it has been in the garage on the shelf over the winter (while I bought all the other adhesives indoors) so maybe I have ruined it. So I gave up and pondered what to do next My next build was a glider, the plan called for a solid balsa canopy, suddenly the penny dropped, no reason why I could not use the same method on my Unicorn, quickly knocked up a shape out some scrap balsa block I had kicking about. That was a few weeks ago, I had to start covering my Rex glider so whilst I had the covering iron out and some black film in use I took the opportunity to cover and then attach my new canopy. I did cut away the film where the canopy sits so wood is glued to wood So glad to finally get that little problem solved, now I think it looks better than clear plastic anyway!

I must have missed that one! Well done

Looks lovely Gary, let us know how you get on with it, looks very well built! How did you come by it?

Both main wing panels finished now and ready for covering Not shown on the drawing but I thought I would cut a few lightening holes in the wing tips, whats not there can't weigh anything is what I thought! What is shown on the drawing is a small fairing that will help to blend in the fuselage to the wing centre section, I think it could possibly be left off, and I think I probably did on my original model, this time I have had a crack at it. Quite a small piece and a bit fiddly to make, but I have stuck it on the wing now, may need a slight adjustment to fill in the space Once the glue is properly dry in the morning I will tidy it up before starting the covering

Much to my amazement my plan to cut the wing centre section in half worked out well, I did cut the main spar before I fixed the top skin in place, as it was very close to the big dowel, I thought it may present a hurdle. Success! Managed to save the dowels, and they slide in and out well, no slop so I am quite happy with the way it has turned out. Made a start on the outer panels That is about as far as I can get now until after the Easter weekend

Here is a mock up of where we are so far, control runs in, fuselage and tail ready for covering probably tomorrow. I want to get on with the wing construction as much as possible before the Easter weekend as the family will be home, guests arriving, which means that I will not be allowed in the garage for the duration! So, the centre section is built first, in one piece then cut in half once skinned. in the article Roy Salter mentions that the wooden dowels inserted as a sort of jig to keep it all lined up are sacrificial and cut in half then disposed of, I dont think that is nessessary so I will save them. First of course I have drawn some templates on some thin ply, the centre section is a constant chord, the smaller rib is the outer one on the wing tips, the intermediate ribs are not shown on the drawing so I will use the sandwich method to produce two (handed) sets. The centre ribs which take the wooden dowels are 1/8th ply, easy to do on the band saw, but I don't know how I managed that on my original model I must have used a fret saw, I really cannot remember! I managed to find enough scrap balsa to make all the balsa ribs, these are the centre section, the rest are 1/8th ply 8off The ply ribs are done, drilling the 12.5mm hole for the beech dowel was a bit tricky and even then the dowel was a very tight fit, so I wrapped some sandaper around the base of a drill and relieved the holes until it was a nice slip fit, I also sanded the dowel with very fine sandaper and then gave it a couple of coats of furniture wax as a form of lubrication, seems to have done the trick. The rest was easy, first laid down the bottom sheeting and cap strips The all the ribs using the dowels as suggested in the Roy Salter article to jig it all together, and also I have fitted the dihedral braces that will slip into the outer panels I have left a small gap between the centre ribs, enough to get a razor saw between them to cut the wing skins once the glue has dried and I have lifted it off the bench. Top skins and cap strips on, I have marked to centre line to guide the razor saw, hold my breath and cut it in half once all the glue has dried overnight

Cracking on with this build now! Whilst building the fuselage i made a start on the tail end, all very simple and lightweight, Here is the horizontal stab, dry fitted and waiting for glue And now all finished wit,h the vertical stab, found all the wood I needed in the scrap pile so a good use for all that balsa saved from other projects The only changes to suit my preferences were to alter the way that the tail is mounted on to the rear of the fuselage, the plan calls for piano wire hooks and rubber bands, that sound too fiddly for me so I have substited some ply infills with some captive nuts epoxied in, I can then insert some small button head screws underneath through the ply mounting plates. Close up of my new tail mounting arragement, the eagle eyed of you will probably notice that the two centre panels are of different widths, this is exactly as the plan is drawn but I did not notice until it had all come together, not sure if that is a fault in the original drawing or a distortion in the Outerzone download, any it does not make a difference I will carefully measure everything before drilling any holes in the mounting plates Here are the mounting plates, looseley placed, I will mount with glue and drill to suit once the fuselage in covered in the next day or two, it will be in white film.

On my first Rex, for some reason that I have forgotten, I used some thick wall aluminium tubing and piano wire inserts instead of the wooden dowel, they rattled and I was not happy with that, plus a bit heavier than the wood, this time, as we will see soon, I have opted to stick with the plan, which says 7/16 beech I couldn't find any of that so I have some 1/2 inch or 12.5mm a wee bit thicker. I am sure this will be Ok as the loading in the wings will not be anything like the stresses imposed by a winch or bungee. I did consider cardboard tub and carbon rod, but in the end went the cheap route!

To get battery in I did change a few things, I am using a 3s 3500mah lipo. so I used ply instead of balsa for the relevant formers to support the weight and the underside sheeting is1/6th ply, the holes in the formers shown on the plan were just to allow for the wiring so I enlarged those to suit the lipo which slips in nicely around the c of g position, the servos I have moved back behind the lipo for ease of access which will also allow me to slide the lipo back and forth to adjust the c of g position if required, I did intend to mention all this before but got carried away and pressed the send button! I had to make a few small 'adjustments' to ease it in, plenty of room to move it forward if I have to as the next bay will be empty apart from the esc.

I have, for a while, been looking out for a glider for those lovely summer days that will be coming along soon.......maybe. Nothing I fancied has come along, then I remembered, the first model I built from a plan was a glider, Rex 1a. I had literally hundreds of flights with it. The club I belonged to then in the mid 1970's was the Thanet Model Flying Club in Kent where thermal soaring was quite a big thing, after the Rex I went to a Radiosailplanes Wildfleken, I had two of those, then for the 100s comps a Scirroco all good flyers and lots of fun. All these were hand launched with a tow line, but at age 72 I am not going to do that any more or ask my fellow club mates who in many cases are older than me! So I wondered how hard it would be to fit a motor and lipo into the Rex, I think I have all the right bits in stock so lets get on with it. I no longer have the original plan but handily it is to be found on Outerzone along with original article from Radio Modeller, copy of which is just below This was fifty years ago so I really do not remember much of the build, but it must have been simple as it was my first fully completed plan build after a false start with a Big Wig, so this should be a quick build provided I can squeeze in the motor and battery, so I will start with the fuselage as that is where all the main changes will be. Overlaying the motor that I intend to use an Overlander T3548/05 ( purely because it is in stock) and a folding prop a Graupner 13/7 (ditto) I can see that I can keep the side elevation almost as per the plan by moving the front bulkhead forward a little and at the same time arranging a little down thrust ( as I have seen that in other plans that I have looked at. I have increase the width of the bulkhead just a tad to give me a bit more room. This is the original unaltered drawing, the download from outerzone is not that good but will suffice, I will do away with the wirework for the tow hook, and face the underside of the fuselage with 1/16th ply. Motor and prop will fit about here Plan amended to suit Front bulkhead enlarged just a little for a bit more working room, the plan says balsa but for obvious reasons I have substituted 1/4 ply for this one to mount the motor on The rest of the fuselage is per the plan and a very simple box so quickly knocked up. Here is the fuselage more or less complete, with a canopy made of some scrap balsa, which is shown here with some stopper and primer on as I could not get a good finish on the bare wood with just sandpaper so filled the sanding grooves with stopper and high build primer and then sanded down with wet and dry, it will be covered with some black film So now I know the electric conversion is going to work and not look too bad I will get on with tha tail and wings.

I thought as much, of course I only need to build another fuselage to share the existing wings tail and undercart so wouldn't take too long!

PS There is a build blog on here if anyone is interested, of my current effort in, Buld blogs and Kit Reviews