Mark Gannon

Posted by Jon - Laser Engines on 14/06/2019 13:04:06: While considering your building skills dont forget your flying skills. WWI aircraft, as well as things like piper cubs and tiger moth's require a different technique and are very much stick and rudder type models where as your ic trainer is much more stable. Being proficient with your rudder is very important with these types of model. Some will tell you to mix the rudder using your radio. I dont recommend it at all as you often need to use the controls in opposition to each other and its really not hard to do with your hands. It just needs a little practice. My 50 inch Nieuport 17 (see photo) is a bit of a handful at times but to be honest that is half the fun. If it was easy why bother? I recommend you get yourself something like an artf cub to practice on. They arent that expensive and if you plan things well you can take the engine and radio from the cub into the WWI model you are building in the background. Dont worry about your building skills, just go for it and if you get lost or confused, ask the forum. You will get 20 different answers, but again that is the whole point of building a model as its your model so you build/modify as you feel you want to. oh and for scale models it has to be 4 stroke. They might be a bit more expensive, but they are much nicer power plants in my view and i went all 4 stroke probably 15 years ago My nieuport up there uses a little saito 45 (my smallest engine currently in use) and my bigger stuff uses all 4 stroke up to 60cc sizes. Edited By Jon - Laser Engines on 14/06/2019 13:06:02 I'm pretty proficient on the Arising Star, but I hardly use any rudder at all on that. I was labouring under the misconception that 3 chanel was easier in some way.

Posted by ken anderson. on 14/06/2019 11:09:27: welcome mark... ken anderson...ne...1...welcome dept. Thanks Ken

Posted by kc on 14/06/2019 10:49:53: I see that the Silver Lady does not have the formers shown on the plan..... so it's necessary to work those out for yourself ( see note on the website) Not ideal. One of the things about buying a kit is the wood choice is already made and hopefully is suitable. This is one of the features of building from scratch - balsa is such a variable material that selecting the right grade for the job is key. A matter of experience really. Starting building with a well established kit like Wot4, SLEC FunFly or Limbo Dancer will be worthwhile and will produce the kind of model that helps progress in flying and also a basic model for engine testing or all weather flying in future. Another consideration is power unit and building models that will all take the same engine or use the same size Lipos. As one needs 3 or 4 or more Lipos to have a decent flying session without recharging it's helpful to have several models that can use the same type. So many of us standardise on 3S2200 or 4S 3000/4500 to help minimise battery types/cost. Same with glow motors - a .40 or .46 two stroke will be useful in many models, same with .25 etc, etc. Thanks for the advice. I was going to go electric because of availability issues with 2 stroke glow engines. I have a .46 Irvine in my trainer, but they don't make those anymore and electric us cheaper than going with a 4 stroke engine.

Posted by kevin b on 13/06/2019 22:30:25: Most of these old plans are available from the download sites. You can have a look at the plan and then decide if you want (need) to buy the kit. **LINK** To be honest the silver lady looks easier to build than the rubber powered kit I built. That's suprised me!

Posted by kevin b on 13/06/2019 21:57:41: Hi Mark. I can see your train of thought, re the rubber powered kit build and then convert another that you are familiar with the construction. If I may suggest, you might be better advised to scale up slightly, even if building space is currently at a premium. Converting small models to electric is an art in itself and requires significant expenditure on miniature equipment. If you were to build slightly larger model, say 600 - 800mm span, then you would find it easier to work on and fly. You could also source cheaper components, that aren't as critical on weight. Have a look at some of the kits on here. **LINK** If you want to convert a kit to electric power, then trawl through the build logs on the various websites (and YouTube). There is plenty of information out there to help you, as well as all the advice you can get on here. At this stage building from a kit is probably your best bet. Once you are familiar with the type of construction it will be a slightly smaller step to building from a plan. Kevin b Hiya Kevin. I looked at the link you posted and I quite like the look of the Silver Lady, a 30 inch (762mm) 3 chanel they have there. It looks pretty straight forward judging by the pic

Thanks for the advice guys. It's most welcome My original think was to start small and simple as I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew. I've only built and flown .40 size ARTF's I've built a rubber powered balsa and tissue model and that turned out way better than I expected. I like the look of the Flair Attila, but I don't know if my building skill level is at that point yet. I don't want to end up with an unfinished project languishing in my garage for eternity

Thanks guys. Will look at both options

Posted by Doc Marten on 13/06/2019 13:05:51: Excellent, another traditional builder, you prefer electric or IC? Good question. I love the noise, smell and tinkering with IC. I'm only going electric on my current project due to weigh and space issues.

Posted by Don Fry on 13/06/2019 12:34:10: G'day Mark Cheers Don

Posted by Doc Marten on 13/06/2019 12:38:02: Hi Mark, What's your modelling background and interests? I learned to fly RC on a Seagull Arising Star IC, but I really want to build traditional balsa and ply models. Im practicing at the moment, Lol. I've just built a rubber powered balsa and tissue model. My next project is to convert a 440mm wing span rubber powered West Wings model into 3 chanel with an electric motor. My ultimate aim is to build a large scale WWI scout.

Hiya sll I'm Mark. Ive just joined the forum.

Hi All, I'm planning to convert a West Wings Puss Moth rubber powered balsa kit (610 mm wingspan) into 3 channel electric RC. I've never dabbled with electric motors before so does anyone have any idea of what size motor I should be using. Thanks