Colin Leighfield

With more free time now I’ve been working on the wing details to correct poor workmanship and make sure that everything is right. Dihedral angles are correct, wing panels slide on and off the carbon-fibre rods smoothly and all line up correctly. The brass connectors for the rigging wires are fitted. Although the ailerons are in place I haven’t yet bushed the hinges, that’s the next job, then fit the shrouds and sort out the aileron servos.

Thanks chaps!

Getting there. Does this look better?

You noticed Martian! Tailplane, elevator, fin and rudder all done. When I’ve resolved these self-inflicted wing problems the end will be in sight!

Of course they should! That’s what comes of staying up too late. There is a problem though, I’ve got some more work to do.

In spite of taking great care on the building board I’ve got some misalignment on the wing panels and dihedral is slightly out on one side of the top wing. I should have used Danny’s method and built them in one piece and sawed through the dihedral braces afterwards, it’s slowing things down but it must be right, so we persevere.

This one is too good to be over! What’s more Depron might not be disappearing completely. Another chapter - - -

This is all inspirational and helpful stuff, great to see one in the air and the camouflaged finish looks brilliant. Although there were only three Spanish Furies, it looks as if they weren’t all finished the same, so there’s some choice there. I’ve also noted the experiences with the rigging. The way I’ve done the wings with the panels sliding on c/f tubes makes the centre section very rigid. I intend to see if I can keep the wing bays pre-assembled to minimise the work load at the field and also minimise the need for re-adjustment.

Thanks chaps, it will be finished. As it’s going to have a painted finish and no shiny silver bits, I’ve decided to take the simple route and cover it in Solartex, which I have enough of. I’ll save my collection of tissue, silk and nylon for other projects.

This isn’t dead, but in the last three months I’ve done 3,000 happy miles on my new bike and been diverted onto another indoor project which didn’t work out but is at least a good outdoor flyer. (Pilatus PC6 Turbo Porter with 3 position flaps, Depron and Vector Board). At the same time I’ve been busy with continuing work taking 2 or 3 days a week. However I’ve started to sort out the cabane struts and did a trial assembly today before setting the angles of incidence and soldering in the diagonals. Having done that I realised that I hadn’t formed the bend at the top of the 10g wire struts to get the right sit on the join to the spars, see the photo! However I have rectified that and can move on. My biggest difficulty has been continuing to work for 8 years beyond normal retirement age and the pressure that puts on an otherwise busy life. However I am ending that in October and although retaining a position and some responsibilities will no longer work any regular week-days. In addition I’m replacing my clapped out and cramped 12’x6’ shed with a new one giving me a working space 13’6”x9’. An increase from 72 to over 130sq.ft. That will be a big improvement.. In addition I’m rationalising my motorbikes to change from 1 current and two classic to one of each to reduce my garage time. Finishing the Fury now takes priority over other model projects. I created extra work for myself by making the wing panels detachable but think it was the right thing to do, but I’ve also retained the detachable centre section feature.

Hi Martin. Arthur was I think Chris Robathan’s dad (not Robotham?).Then young Chris was one of the team. The 109 you mention was the one I referred to, which was wrecked at Weston Park when it came in vertically from about 50ft just after take off. I think it was caused by a mix up with transmitters from what Dave has told me.

Dave told me that a few years ago he got seriously into Wakefield for a few years, he was competing at top level. I think that all of Jim’s big planes flew with converted chain saw motors. 44cc? There was also a Me109E with one of those that I saw written off at Weston Park shortly after take-off, Dave was flying it. I asked him recently what happened, I think he said it was a transmitter error (got the wrong one?!) The high wing pre-fabricated model was the Slim Jim, although it was thought of as a trainer, with a 60 up front it was very capable. I had one from around 1979 and it lasted for about twenty years until I scrapped it because it was carrying more than its own weight in soaked-in oil! That was the plane I was flying at Fradley when two RAF Tornados out of Cottesmore flew under it when it was inverted at the top of a loop around 500 ft. Next thing I knew it was reported as a near miss and was investigated by the AAIB. Dave told me that one of his jobs at Jim’s was to build these and also the low wing version, the Low Jim., After Jim’s Erdington shop got burned down and he moved into the new place nearer the city centre it never seemed to be the same and didn’t last there very long. I remember seeing the Lancaster up there in the roof. Didn’t someone say that it finished up in the USA? Some may remember that when they did the cross-channel flight with the Spitfire that a young Chris Robathan was one of the team, he is in the cover photograph of the RCME magazine edition when they reported on it. Chris checked me out for my “A” certificate. Sadly he died suddenly quite young some years ago. Jim Davies did a lot for radio control flying and Dave did a brilliant job of the show flying with those big and successful scale models, quite astonishing to us in those days.

Dave Wright, who did a lot of the show flying for Jim, is still flying with SCRCAC. Since 1970 I have owned a Frog Jackdaw that was given to me by a friend at work who said that it had originally belonged to Dave. A while ago I mentioned it to him and he said that he had originally built and flown one and eventually sold it on. Last year I decided to get it going again, did some minor repair work, fitted new radio and servos as well as a new Enya SS30. It flew straight away perfectly, a bit twitchy on take-off but it’s a really good plane, surprisingly quick and quite aerobatic on rudder and elevator. I reintroduced Dave to it, he hadn’t seen it for probably fifty years and he flew it again. It was a great experience to see the master flying a plane that he reckons he built in 1964, 56 years ago. It has some aged related “patina” that I don’t intend to change, it’s still a top-notch plane to fly. Here’s Dave reunited with an old pal.

Thank you Eric and Danny. I’m sure it will be ok and I think mounting the battery that way will be an advantage. I’m working on the centre section now. Although I’m working to the plan and it will be detachable, it will normally left in place and rigged because the wing panels are detachable.

You are right Eric. It goes right back to the beginning when I worked off the motor specification suggested by Danny and this turned up, correct specification in terms of all the key numbers, but longer. I decided to use it anyway and to keep everything else correct is the reason why the battery box is angled instead of horizontal, to compensate for the longer motor. It should be fine, in fact I prefer the battery set that way.