Nick Somerville

I have one of these fitted to an OS FS 120 mk2 pumped engine and its just superb. Such a soft note at all speeds and often commented on by club mates. https://www.westonuk.co.uk/Vpfs3-120-150fs-Silencer/

I have started to sheet parts of the fuselage and wanted to see how the supplied epoxy glass machine gun cover would fit. I happily cut away the flashing back to the clear edge line and then offered it up. Yikes that doesn’t look right, I say to myself, it’s short! A check at my reference material showed it was short by 23mm, which thankfully was more than the flashing I had trimmed back. If there had been an excess I could simply have blended the moulding line but building up the front was going to be needed now. In this photo the missing front portion is clearly shown with the rear correctly positioned at the hinge line just in front of the raked canopy front. To add to the front I first shaped some small balsa pieces to continue the final part of the gun blister. Next plastic sheet taped in place and then 3-4 layers of carbon cloth topped with glass cloth wetted out with laminating resin. The first and last piece under/over lapped the front edge by 5mm. Under the gun hood, that will have a scale hinge, I plan to mount battery switches, the air fill valve and Ignition kill switch and possibly the ignition unit too.

Cider Country 😬 Somerset

Any Stampe’s going to Popham this weekend?

As ever with modelling the second side took a quarter of the time to make up. Holes for the air to pass from the engine bay into the area behind the cooling doors have been cut and lightweight nylon snakes fitted to actuate the doors. Rather than sheet the area with balsa around the doors I have opted for G10 as thin edges around the openings look more realistic. Also some filling and shaping will need to be done later top and bottom and blending back to the G10 will be easier than if it were balsa.

I have had a fiddly few days in the workshop working on what is basically a a couple of pairs of Venetian blinds, or more correctly known in aviation as cooling doors. I could just have made them static in the open position but I considered working ones was worth a try. The louvres have been made from some curved dowel (soaked in mild ammonia solution) with G10 front and back. The dowels have 1.5mm carbon pins inserted top and bottom for pivots. Behind each there is a horn and an actuating arm connecting the three louvres. The actuating arms will have a link to either manual rods or some inexpensive servos, yet to be decided. The key to this exercise is that the doors will be one of a number of routes for hot air to escape the cowl. I have painted the area behind as once sheeted around the louvres I won’t be able to get there later.

I had a feeling this wasn’t a first time offence!!! Same part just a different location.

Eagle eyed will have noticed on the previous post that the rudder was missing it’s balance tab. Error addressed and the hollowed addition covered to pretend I had never omitted it.

The tailplane has been glassed and glued in place and the basic fin structure built up. As the fuselage is yet to be sheeted some careful alignment checks were made and once again the little level with integral laser proved invaluable. The tail retract needed a lot of shoehorning as previously mentioned but I am happy with the geometry achieved and the runs for the rudder closed loop and tail steering closed loop have all worked out nicely with no chance of fouling. The elevator is actuated by a very stiff 6mm x 3mm carbon rod. The rudder has been constructed and covered along with stitching and pinked tapes as also have the elevators that were made some time back. The rudder linkage on the full size is hidden with the actuating horn just inside the fin shroud. With a width of only 22mm I just don’t think a closed loop set up will be rigid enough so I have fabricated a small horn giving 40mm between the connection holes that should be fairly innocuous. Next I need to consider whether a scale access hatch to the tail retract should be made. Even if I do constructed one I think extracting the retract and air cylinder would be fiendishly difficult so I am inclined to thoroughly test the unit and steering before sheeting the fin, and if 100% happy just simulate the hatch.

I joined a local club and paid a substantial one off joining fee. After a few weeks competently flying two models of around 7kg alongside some regulars I took over my 7.8kg new P47 for a maiden. The club safety officer came over to enquire its weight and when I told him he replied saying, “if you try to fly that here without a B certificate I will have you thrown out of the club. Not very friendly imo but undeterred I asked how I could test for the B Certification. I am one of the examiners he said. Returning home with the model unflown I revisited the club handbook/rules and no mention of the B requirement was present. A phone call to the safety officer didn’t go particularly well and he subsequently had the committee rewrite the rules to stipulate that members wanting to fly 7.5kg plus models required a B. The annoying thing was the disparity of my well sorted models and competent flying compared to many of the regulars who would turn up and play lawn darts with models that just were not airworthy. . Back to the joining fee. I obtained my B at a Buckminster Achievement Day and decided to leave the club after only a few months membership to join a different and more welcoming club. Would the club refund my £75 one off joining fee? Not a hope. So I for one do not agree with such charges. What about modellers who move home regularly for work reasons. Why should they be penalised every time they change clubs?

I purposely left out the lower rear stringers as I had read on the Radio Scale Builder Forum that Roy’s plan for the rear fuselage didn’t blend in to the lower trailing edge of the wing correctly and the area behind was not true scale. Trawling through all of my photographic docs and the Bentley drawings confirmed this, even before a trial mating of the wings to the fuselage. It’s a substantial error as the formers are pretty thin. However, by blending the required shape rearwards its only really the former at the trailing edge that needs significant reshaping. I cut the slots deeper to allow the stringers to follow the correct line and have glued them in place. Once set and rigid it should be easy to sand back the formers to the new shape. Further back the tailwheel assembly has been bolted to its former and glued in place.

You’re not wrong there Ron as including the former and fixings it’s about 5oz. My plan and parts came with the full set of Sierra retracts so seems a shame not to use the tail unit. That said the wheel doesn’t fully retract on the FW 190 and just sits up higher, so if I was really worried about the extra weight I could go for a fixed steerable wheel as per the plan. My Sea Fury has a similarly weighted tail retract and I still managed to achieve a sensible auw, so having spent the effort thus far I shall push on with it and do my best to keep the back end as light as possible to compensate.

I have been working on the installation of the Sierra tailwheel retract. It’s been a proper shoehorn job and a lot of material had to be fettled away for it to be able to lift up without fouling. To compensate I have added some carbon reinforcement on the outside which will be sandwiched when the balsa skins are added. Former 9 as supplied and shown on the plan had been positioned for a fixed tailwheel so a new one had to be made and positioned much further forward, also at a slight angle. With the amount of vertical movement at the steering horn this meant finding a suitable run for the pull pull cables was going to be tricky. I have opted for some long slots that providing the cables are spring loaded at the servo end and the cables leading towards the slots have exited guide tubes at a mid point of travel they should not over tighten in either the up or down position. I will however require a separate servo for the wheel steering that is programmed to switch off when retracted.

Steve, 15000’ would have been IFR flying into cloud as in the UK cloudbase doesn’t get that high. In 20 years of paragliding the highest in the UK I have achieved was just under 7000”. Some club mates have managed 8500’ on a few rare days after long hot summer spells. Others who have flown higher have dome so by flying into cloud, which is very disorienting if for more than a few minutes. BTW paraglider pilots regularly fly long distances in the UK (200km +) but 100km + triangle flights are only achievable on light wind days. Not glass ship performance by any means but when you consider a paraglider, harness and instruments pack up into a manageable rucksack of typically 15kg its a remarkable way to get airborne.

Sounds like a very sensible plan Steve.

Agree that it’s a very pricey route for only 3m. This looks much better value and from a very well respected manufacturer https://classifieds.bmfa.org/acadp_listings/let-models-asw-28-3m

Made a start on the fuselage. Basic box crutch technique with stringers. The projecting light aero ply sides were noted as needing an extra layer of the same 1/16 ply but as these were not supplied I chose to laminate with some carbon fibre and 1mm beech ply. I have left out the engine mounting plate for now but I intend to fit this 20m rearward of the plan position and then mount the engine on short standoffs so that various parts of it are not impeded. In the first photo note the red lines from the laser helping to square everything up. In this photo the air tank has been positioned and the fin post has been pinned to a balsa stay attached to one of my wall mounted tool caddy’s. No chance of loosing my square at the back!

It sure was hot. The number and range of models superb from foamies to the big Moki powered beasts. It’s a superb site and the 100 years of aero modelling exhibition in the hanger an added bonus. a well as a chance for some respite from the sun. As a relatively low airtime powered flier and newbie warbird pilot it was brilliant to watch a whole day of routines and imbed in my mind the best flying to have something to come away with and aspire to. My last flight with the Sea Fury was a real struggle as hours in the hot sun had put the model seriously out of trim. I had to use most of my down trim to achieve a modicum of level flight. I would not have expected a carbon pushrod to extend in length like that.

The wings are off the bench that has now been cleared and I have been looking at how to shoehorn my sizeable Valach twin into the cowl prior to starting the fuselage. When I purchased the engine, on BMFA Classified, I had checked the width of the engine and compared it to the cowl size but the 5mm spare I thought I had is not the whole story. The widest parts of the engine are of course the rocker covers. I had planned to mount the engine inverted so the rearward carb could sit back in the upper part of the cowl. This would give easy access through a scale cowl maintenance panel for tuning and would require just a little modification to the top of the engine box. However in this orientation the rocker covers sit at a point where the cowl starts to turn inwards making my 2.5mm gap on each side a negative 4mm on each side. mounting the engine the correct way up moves the offending edges of the rocker cover into the large cowl side blisters so that was a relief. However this puts the carb on the leading edge of the wing just where the single large front locating dowl protrudes through Former 1B. The answer I guess will be to dispense with the central dowel and instead use two smaller ones bonded to each ribs 1A. I can then enlarge the large dowel hole in 1B to take the carburettor and remove a little of the wing leading edge at the centre to ensure it can breath freely. Access to the carb for tuning will be through the lower cowl maintenance panel. Ruler represents wing LE

That’s a shame Jon. I had the cider ready for you too.

Yep still going

Spent some time at Woodspring today. Fantastic weather, great organisation and a very high standard of display flying. B of B Hurricane made a goose bump moment for many, as it made a few lovely low passes. Enough trade stands including Balsa Cabin to keep modellers happy. A wide range of models to enjoy, including a club that had 8 or nine fun fighters in the air at the same time flying like demented hornets that was hugely entertaining. Steve Holland’s super smooth flying style of his huge models stole the show for me as ever. Well done Woodspring!! First time flying at a show for me and I really hope nobody noticed my Sea Fury nose over at the wnd if it’s landing run 😬

Morris Motors have these https://www.morrisminimotors.com/catalog/product/view/id/3912/s/rds-metal-adapter-pack-1/category/3/ I bought some adapter discs on ebay but can’t find the seller looking today. RDS is great and I use it for my seafury. Danny Fenton has some Youtube videos showing how. The aileron will need an ultra tight fitting box building in for the arm.

First two picture’s are BT’s 82” Corsair. 2nd two are the Vailly 92” Fw190 and the last plan picture is the tail end of the Bates 82” Sea Fury. I didn’t photograph the tailplane as it is fully sheeted. The book is a walkaround publication for which I also have one for the Fw190 in the same series and has been invaluable. If you can’t find a copy let me know and I can lend it. Apologies for folded/scrumpled images.

Here are a few photos of the example at Yeovilton. The restoration to its end of service condition is superb and really evokes the raw purpose of such a unique fighter. Rib tapes and stitching in abundance (stitches all in line with ribs as per the Fw 190 I am doing). Imo if you go for 1/16 on the fuselage you will need great accuracy on the formers to avoid a starved horse appearance. Personally I would stick with 3/32 and sand the tail end thoroughly. Obviously hard to judge when you have got it thin enough but the shape will be better.