John T

Looks good Alec, and you've inspired me to get on and finish my latest model. Let us know how you get on flying it when the weather finally relents.

Like many other gliders of this era, I think this is a perfect model for converting to electric. I wouldn't be surprised if you find it still needs a touch of down elevator while under power though, even with 3 degrees of down thrust. I think I've got the plan for this somewhere, but it's one of those models that I never quite got round to building. I was never totally convinced with the wooden dowel wing joiners though, although they obviously did the job OK. I'll be watching this build with interest.

A few years ago my brother in law gave me a very old and slightly battered plan for a Jersey Javelin than he had acquired from his cousin. Now, this is a design I’d never come across before and it certainly looked a bit different from the usual high wing cabin monoplanes of the era. From what I can gather the original design concept dates back to 1939, but this evolved into the plan that I have in the 1940’s. In its day it was considered a high performance free flight contest model, which partly explains it’s rather unusual appearance as Walt Schroder, the designer, tried to reduce the drag of an undercarriage that was required at the time. Anyway, I quickly realised that there were a few minor details missing from the plan, such as wing tip ribs and former shapes, so I consigned it to my stash of plans to look at again at some time in the future. Fast forward, and that time has finally arrived. I’d never quite forgotten about this quirky design and I now found that there was another version of this plan available on Outer Zone https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=9487. Although it isn’t quite the same as the plan I’ve got, it is similar enough for me to fill in the missing details. My local club field isn’t suitable for free flight models so I thought I would convert it to radio with rudder, elevator and throttle control. I will also replace the suggested Bantam 0.199 spark ignition engine with a brushless outrunner. I can see a number of reasons why this isn’t a very good choice for converting to R/C. However, the quirky looks quite appeal to me, and anyway I like a challenge! As the last few models I’ve built have been mainly foam board construction I was beginning to suffer withdrawal symptoms from traditional building, so as you can see from the photo’s I’ve now made a start. The first thing that’s became apparent is that both plans are inaccurate in a number of areas, with dimensional difference between side and plan views in places. The centre section also looks impossible to build exactly as shown, so I’ve gone my own way with that while trying to preserve the original appearance. I suspect there may well be other issues as the build continues. I know it’s a bit of a longshot, but I wondered if anyone else in Model Flying forum land has any experience with this design, and if so is there anything in particular to watch out for?

I've been using tissue over Doculam for a few years now. A few days ago I noticed that one edge of tissue had cracked and was delaminating slightly from the Doculam at a dihedral join on one of my models . I'd used Wilco Satin Varnish rather than cellulose dope to bond the tissue to the Doculam on this model. Now this model has been flown a lot over the last few years in conditions varying between damp or freezing to 30 degrees C plus hot sunshine, but I've not noticed this on any of my other models where I've used cellulose dope to attach the tissue to the Doculam. I'm wondering whether you get a stronger bond with traditional dope. The underlying Doculam seems fine so it's really just a cosmetic issue, but it's a bit untidy.

That's weird, perhaps it's something to do with the time of year, but I've just had to replace the bottom element on our oven that went just before Christmas. I also had to get the oven out to access the element and I was most unimpressed at the build standard... Still, at around £25 it was a lot cheaper than a new oven and it seems to be working fine again now.

1500KV Don. I'd be tempted to avoid a lower KV in order to keep the prop diameter down. I should also have said it's a 2s 850mAh LiPo.

It all depends on what kind of performance you want. The original used anything from a 0.5cc to a slightly insane 1.5cc. My electric powered version is powered by a Keda KD2205 driving an APC 6 x 5.5E prop and an 850mAh LiPo. Even with this set up it can get small quite quickly. I've fitted rudder and elevator to mine (sorry Phil 🙂) and it's great fun to fly. I built it back in 2017 and it's one of my most regularly flown models.

Well, for the second time in less than four months I've spent (wasted?) a few hours of my life trying to get to grips with the latest CAA consultation document and filling in the response form. If I were a cynical person I could almost believe that the document is deliberately worded in an opaque manner to discourage much of a response, especially when many people will be tied up with other things over the Christmas period. I know that the people reading this thread are the ones most likely to fill in the form, but I'll just say please don't leave it until the last minute so it gets forgotten. If some of the proposals go through as they stand it will have a huge impact on all of us that fly in the UK.

Thanks for the comment Phil. For a relatively small all sheet model it's got a surprisingly floaty glide and would probably be ok on a decent slope. It's no Monterey though...

Not sure Chris, but it may be something to do with the fins on the end of the swept back wing being slightly further behind the centre of pressure. A sharp turn at the end of a high speed pass can produce a slight tail wag but this is damped out almost instantly.

I'd go for it Ken, I think you will enjoy flying it. A few years ago I designed a canard along similar lines with a flat plate all sheet wing, although slightly larger with a 34" span. Like the designer of this months free plan I also used an online C off G calculator, and it was more by luck than judgement that I got it down in one piece. Now I've got the C of G sorted out it's become one of my favourite models, fast and aerobatic yet easy to fly. It does look different in the air but I don't find orientation a problem, it's certainly easier than a flying wing.

I can't help you with the Flite Test foam, but with regard to removing paper from the Hobbycraft foam I've found that it peels off quite easily if you run a covering iron over it.

Some of the large thermal soarers of the 1970's such as the Blue Beast (141" span) just had the outer wing panels butt glued without any bracing, and these could withstand quite high tow or bungee launch loads without failing. I think the reasoning was that an "arrival" would result in a clean break which could be quickly re glued rather than causing further damage where a dihedral brace was pulled out.

Yesterdays local forecast of blue sky and light winds sounded perfect for giving a couple of my diesel powered models an airing. A number of other club members had obviously also seen the forecast as there was an unusually high turnout for a Monday. Although most of my R/C models are electric, sometimes nothing seems more appealing than messing about with a model diesel (probably something to to with the ether 🙂) The toys of choice for the day were the BD Rookie powered glider, fitted with a PAW 55, and my PAW 19 powered Mercury Galahad (which may be a contender for the ugliest model ever). In the event the Galahad only managed one flight and then the throttle servo packed up, but I enjoyed a number of decent thermal assisted flights with the Rookie. At the end of an enjoyable mornings flying when it was time to start cleaning the oil residue off the models I remembered why I normally fly electric...

Great to see such a classic model still airworthy after all those years. I've got a bit of a soft spot for this design. Back in the 1970's my second R/C model was a Matador. I fitted rudder / elevator controls to it and also used a PAW 1.49cc. I managed to fold the wing looping it but repaired it and built a new wing with spruce spars instead of balsa, which went on to have many successful flights. My first electric powered model was also Matador, using a buggy motor and NiCads. It was a bit underpowered compared to my first one and not as nice to fly with the extra weight. I've still got the wing, although the tissue need replacing. Perhaps one day I'll build another fuselage and tail to go with it!

Yeh, that's what what was left over from a hobbycraft muticolour tissue pack 😀. Still, it shows up well at a distance!

Apart from an assortment of chuck gliders my first real model was a Mercury Gnome free flight glider, probably (badly) built around 1969. I took it to Bradgate Park and, being 12, climbed one of the old, gnarled oak trees on one of the hills to launch it from about 10 feet up. I can still remember the mixture of excitement and apprehension as the model caught an updraft and flew up over the ridge and into the valley behind. All we could see of my dad was the bald patch on top of his head as he went to retrieve it from the 6 foot high bracken 😀. I've never lost that sense of magic at seeing a model defying gravity. I built my first R/C model when I was 14, a Veron Sky Scooter with a McGregor Digimac 2 radio on rudder and elevator . It was overweight and I had epoxied a large stone under the engine bearers to get the C of G forward 😲. Despite bracing the wing with thread to the bottom of the fuselage it met its end when I ripped a wing off it during a spiral dive. With no throttle control and the engine (a PAW 1.5cc) on song there wasn't much left after it came down.

I built the original Mercury version last year. I'd actually had the kit for about 40 years before I got round to building it! Mine turns just fine without ailerons. I've powered mine with a PAW 19 and covered it with tissue over Doculam to give it a bit more puncture protection. Despite having the aerodynamic qualities of a wardrobe I actually had to bring it down from a thermal the last time I flew it.

A few years ago I was lucky to get a 'V' tailed electric thermal soarer down in one piece after flutter cracked one half of the tail. It was only the plastic covering holding it together! I made a new tail and covered it with traditional tissue doped on in the hope the extra torsional rigidity would help, and never had a problem again with flutter.

Here's to original PCB layout to show how things used to look before surface mount technology arrived.

Light winds yesterday gave me the chance to test fly my latest build. the Roamin' Rhombus. I downloaded the plan from Outerzone. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=7996 This is a Ken Willard design which dates back to the early 1980's and was mainly built using Aerolite foamboard, which had a plastic covered foam core. As I had some sheets of 5mm foamboard from Hobbycraft I used that instead. The original was for i/c, but as you can see I've gone electric instead. Slightly to my surprise the first flight proved to be relatively drama free. I moved the C of G slightly forward of the recommended position for the second flight. which made it more comfortable to fly, and I think I'll add a touch of down and right thrust before I fly it again, but overall it handles quite well. Orientation could prove to be challenging if you fly it too far away though...

The Cardinal was the first free flight power model that I built. Seeing yours fly has made me think that it's time I made another one, but for rudder only this time. While it's not as classy as your 1950's Mills that I saw, I've got an old DC Merlin diesel not in anything at the moment that should be perfect for it.

I went on the Sunday. The weather was absolutely perfect. I spent most of the day flying rubber powered models in the free flight area although I did wander over to the R/C flight line later in the afternoon to fly my Martian Space Ship. A thoroughly good day all round, although I was surprised there wasn't a bit more of a trade presence there

Thanks Ron. Fingers crossed for good weather!

I'll probably go if the weather's ok. I've never attended one of these events at Old Warden before. I'd be interested in flying from both the free flight and the R/C flight lines, but I don't know if this is really a practical thing to do. Would I be better off sticking to one or the other? Perhaps someone who's flown there before could advise...