Martin Harris - Moderator

Looks like my Sterling Stearman and Cessna 180 are both "genuine" classics then - although the only original part in the Cessna is the steel cowl saved from my mid-70s build from the kit.

Doing some "fag packet" calculations using figures from the internet with some assumptions on scale fidelity gives wing loading figures in the region of 34 oz/sq foot for Paul's VQ Hurricane, 37.5 oz/sq foot for Ian's and 32 oz/sq foot for mine (before removing the half pound of lead - now a bit less than 30 oz/sq foot). In Ian's favour is that he won't need to carry so much fuel but if there's any weight saving possible (maybe delete a flight battery or put two smaller ones in?) it might pay to make them - at least for initial test flights.

Are these definitions applicable to models built from plans dating from before the cut-offs or models actually built before them?

I was thinking we hadn’t heard from you lately just a day or two ago. Sounds like you’re making encouraging progress - hope you’re out and about before too long.

This appears to duplicate a current thread so I’ve locked it for now.

Can you post pictures of the relevant parts of the plan?

Hi Paul - I don’t know what sort of building experience you have but the normal convention is unless stated otherwise or denoted by grain pattern/direction, wood is balsa. Your cowl mount plan extract, for example, shows both the pattern for ply and specifies liteply (rather than the heavier/stronger birch ply generally used for more structural parts. Balsa is often shown with short straight parallel lines, denoting grain direction. Hope I’m not teaching you to suck eggs… P.S. I would have removed the sticker from the balsa as it won’t help the glue adhesion and those generous glue fillet’s won’t add much other than weight. Always worth saving the odd gram wherever possible…

Hope you get it resolved soon. I think you’ll be more likely to get a result by pursuing the owner than posting here - as far as I’m aware, he doesn’t use this forum. Jon, who gave us so much information and assistance on the forum no longer works for the company nor has any connection with them.

It’s not a case that you can’t buy these products if you have a legitimate reason for having them. You have to prove you’re of good character as well - not unlike obtaining a shotgun certificate. …and send the government some money - not a ridiculous amount though. I wonder if you need a licence to grow rhubarb now! The leaves are rich in oxalic acid…

Wow - that’s certainly modelling at its purest. How did you rivet the wing skins - they don’t look like pop rivets but I can’t imagine how you’d access the rivet tails… Wing ribs hand made over a former?

That sounds fascinating - any detailed construction photos?

Do you bond the aluminium or rivet some or all of the structure? Something like Sikaflex or more traditional modelling glues? Always amazes me the size of the Pioneer. Looks like a traditional light aeroplane until you see a picture of it with crew in situ!

A thousand words…definitely semi symmetrical:

I kid you not… https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supplying-explosives-precursors/supplying-explosives-precursors-and-poison

I’m waiting on a video of my experience on Saturday. I’ve obviously got a significantly more rearward CofG than during my previous extensive flying of the model but the model showed no sign of excessive pitch sensitivity during the flight and inverted flight still required a positive push. If it had been a model of unknown origin, I wouldn’t have had any concerns - and as I’ve done extensive test flying of clubmates’ models of all types and provenance over the years, I’m no stranger to flying models with rearward CofGs! Was the response to the gust CofG related? To be honest, I’m not sure and I’m hoping the video will give some clues. What I do know is that conditions were deceptive and increasingly gusty for all pilots present that afternoon.

A problem for home mixers in the UK is that nitromethane is classed as an explosive precursor and you need to hold an Explosives Precursor and Poisons licence to obtain or store anything from 30% content upwards. This requires checks on the applicant and intended uses and a fee for issue and subsequent renewals.

I said the same for decades and then for some reason suddenly decided to give it a try. I haven’t looked back since…if you’ll forgive the inappropriate metaphor!

Beware of the lightest weight cloths - some just have a more open weave and therefore take a greater percentage of resin/fibre to fill the weave making the result actually heavier than using a nominally heavier cloth.

Regarding the problem of prescription sunglasses, the best solution for me 25 years or so ago was to bite the bullet and overcome the cringe factor in trying contact lenses. Finally, light drizzle is no problem, I have a free choice of sunglasses and I feel that my distance vision is better than with glasses - especially when they would collect dust and fingerprints etc.

I’m assuming that second Ian is Payneib, of the current Pegasus Hurricane thread? Looking forward to hearing about its maiden - if your field ever dries out! At least the wind should help there…

Duplicate photo removed. All the information regarding the record suggests 3000m - or an average climb rate of just under 10,000 feet per minute. Perhaps the builder of the model made an error in his signwriting?

For more clarity, the main sponsor of the full size was the Oracle IT corporation and the full size aircraft was a one off called the Turbo Raven. If you’ve been searching for information about an aircraft called an Oracle, this explains your lack of success!

Ah - it looks like that is a scale model of the full size record holder - I’ve found photos showing similar wording on different models. The sponsors shown on the rudder are American based companies. This article may be of interest - although it suggests the 1 minute 9 seconds was to 3000 metres - possibly a typo somewhere? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Handley

Don't forget that these instructions were written before modern synthetics were widely available. Back in the day, Neil Tidey only recommended castor for Lasers...

I'm guessing height rather than distance? Something in the region of 3000 fpm isn't a bad climb rate...