Jan Luethje

I told Hilmar, that I was going to publish a reference here and he'd be glad to answer your questions. https://www.lange-flugzeit.de/

Hello as a fan of British designs (DH 60 and Avro Avian Monoplane already built, CAC 13 Boomerang nearly finished) I’d like to entrust you to the new plan of the approved German designer Hilmar Lange: He constructed a beautiful version of the Hordern-Richmond Autoplane (foam build, 1,20 m wingspan) and it’s a free download. Instructions are in German of course, but I think it’s one of the best, comprehensible plans I’ve seen so far: https://www.rc-network.de/threads/hordern-richmond-autoplane-ein-1-20-m-depron-scale-2mot-oldtimer-kostenloser-download-bauplan-flugmodell-04-05-2024.11997839/

Very interesting discussion, gents, some input from „across the channel”: Situation is quite similar here, in my club and with my 53 years, I do belong to the youngsters. And of about 70 members, there are probably just four or five including me who are still bashing balsa, the rest is flying ARTF’s. So what to do? How to attract the kids to the hobby again? Honestly, I don’t see a chance, but: I think, it could be worth a try to focus on people, who are a bit older, let’s say 35 and above. Quite a few of them seem to be tired of the cheap benefit that online games, etc. offer. The instant-gratification-thing is starting to look pale and shabby, especially now, after about 12 months of Corona, full of incredibly boring “skype parties”, zoom meetings, etc. People do start to understand, that virtual reality will never ever be a replacement for real adventures and encounters - and for things, you do actually make by yourself. May be, these older novices will not embrace to scratch-build a Spitfire. May be, they’d rather prefer to spend time and money on a solar power-driven high tech-glider, that offers a calm sort of recreational experience. But I do feel, that our hobby could offer something to them. And if so, they might even trigger their kids …

Avro 625 Avian monoplane, built after two plans from Outerzone: It’s mainly a scaled-down version of Tom Decker’s design plus some scale details from the Clive Smalley-plan added. I also tried to sculpture Cpt. Neville Stack, who flew the original at the King’s Cup in 1929 and put him into the cockpit. First test flights showed, that the model needed some tweaking (incidence per plan was too much, at least for my version) but in general it’s a nice and calm flyer and Tom was very helpful, giving advice at all stages of the build. Looking forward to continue test flying, as soon as Corona restrictions are lifted here. Wingspan is about 1,30 m. The motor is a D-Power 3542-5, powered by 3S lipos. Edited By Jan Luethje on 19/01/2021 23:43:19

Thanks a lot! I really do appreciate your feedback, as it was my first balsa-build since ... 1983. Just happy, that you can’t see all my kludge underneath the Oratex cover. @Nigel. Thorsten was built oft green Polystyrol foam, which worked quite well and including paint, he’s got only 5,4 grams. But be prepared for one problem: You’ll hear the voice of your pal in the head, while building him. And his comments regarding your skills as a sculpturer won't be necessarily too polite. @ Geoff. I do also see some similarities (regarding mentality) between people, who like maritime sports and those, who love aviation. It’s probably about a certain kind of freedom, they’re striving for. Scuba diving is my second hobby, as it is … like flying under water. And I start to think about the next project. Most likely it’ll be a Golden Age bird as well and again a British design. For any reason, British constructors like Geoffrey De Havilland built the most elegant planes oft that period. Still not sure, whether to go for Tim Hooper’s Airspeed Courier (available a a short kit at Sarik’s) or for a Puss Moth build. There’s just a dated plan at Outerzone available … but no risk, no fun.

P.S. The kit offers great opportunities to add scale details, as the Shuttleworth-original is very well documented. Or anything you like. My very personal note in this case was the pilot.:Thorsten was one of my best friends and deceased about one year ago. In real life, he was more kind of a sailor, but I’m rather sure, he would have loved to pilot a D.H. 60.

Okay, finally I maidened the bird - after having adored it sufficiently as a hanger queen in my living room. Maiden took place at my club’s flying field near Berlin. I equipped my Moth with a D-Power AL 3542-5/ 1.100 Kv and a Graupner 10,5-6“ prop and this turned out to be a rather good choice. The 20E is flying quite scale with it, at the same time you have a sufficient power reserve. How to describe the maiden? I’ll do my best within my limited English-skills. Wind was about 8 Kts, but with some rather nasty gutsts. I checked and re-checked everything and finally gave full throttle with elevators fully upwards. This was a wise move for our not-so-even grass runway. The Moth took off after about 5-8 metres. It went up quite fast, but after reducing throttle to half, it flew steady and straight, albeit feeling a little tail heavy. As I restarted RC-flying (after a very long break) with helicopters and RTF-planes, I’d like to describe the behaviour of the Cirrus Moth 20E as such: It isn’t a no-brainer like an E-flite UMX PT 17, that you can fly with one thumb, while opening a beer and chatting with a club mate. Neither is it as challenging as flying a collective pitch heli. It’s a friendly plane, but you have to keep an eye on it. It reacts quite swiftly on more or less throttle, but a bit delayed on ailerons, given that you use the surface movements, recommended by D&B. It looks great in the air! I had done my math and set the timer at 7 min., but landed after about 5, to be on the safe side. Landing was a bit too fast and the model made a headstand, but without any damage. I’m using a 2200 mAH/3S lipo and voltage was still at 3,85 per cell. Most of the time, I flew about half throttle. A minor disaster happened after he maiden. For taking some more fotos, I put the model on one of the tables on our flying field. Shortly after that foto (see below) a sneaky gust grabbed the Moth and pushed it off the table. The rudder was torn off, a rather small fix later in the workshop, but the end of my heroic maiden-flight-day. First I was pis…d, but later I felt, that this was a good thing to happen! The two small balsa tongues, that fix the rudder at elevator/fuselage, are quite fragile and probably ment to be a predetermined breaking point by the designer. And yes, it worked in my case. Nevertheless, I distrusted that concept even whilst building the plane. I felt, that these thingies could easily be damaged during transport to the field and then desintegrate in-flight. So I replaced them with 1,5mm plywood tongues after that accident. They may break as well of course, but you’ll recognize it. Tomorrow I’ll be back on the field, adding a bit more weight in the nose and just enjoy more flights with this wonderful bipe – but avoiding these nasty tables Regarding the kit: Of high quality, suitable not as a first, but probably as a second or third balsa kit – given, that you’re wiling to go for a builder’s kit and take your own decisions! I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another D&B kit, but it would be great, if they’d update plan and instructions considering contemporary electronics.       Edited By Jan Luethje on 21/04/2019 01:14:25

Thanks for the kind words, Geoff and you’re right of course. 4S would have been the smarter way to go. I went for 3S. May be something, I gonna change after the maiden.

Just in case, that anyone might be interested in another example: I also managed to finish my Cirrus Moth 20 E, quite a while after Geoff (and so sorry for the blurry foto). Maiden will follow, as soon as the weather allows it. I really enjoyed building it, but some modifications were necessary, to make the plane ready for modern electronics. My most important conclusion: Try to build as light as possible regarding the tail end of the model, but don’t hesitate to „get heavy“ at the front. Even a full-metal-dummy engine might be suitable. I had to add about 100 grams of nose weight to meet the CoG … Edited By Jan Luethje on 22/03/2019 02:00:20