My new (E)PSS Tucano

[Phil Cooke]

Just a few snaps of my new Shorts T.1 Tucano, finished this weekend in the colours of the 2007 RAF display aircraft ZF295, built (but modified) from the old Overlander 48" span electric ARTF.

 

Model was stripped of its original covering, the fus was strengthened with doublers on the inside and the open structure wing was fully sheeted top and bottom. Tail and Fin were remade from softer stock than supplied and the fins 2D profile was corrected with a scale rudder added.

 

 

Original canopy tray was warped and discarded, a new one built with scale dashboards and ejector seats, dowel locates at the front, magnets at the back.

 

Other than that its pretty stock build, it will be flown as PSS mainly but is fitted with a brushless motor and ESC for 60A and 4S Lipo when the conditions or location dictates - a folding prop will be used to enable switch roll capability.

 

Model is covered in black Solarfilm and the stripes are Solartrim, decals custom made by Pyramid Models. Will be flown on the Orme 30th April.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Love it, nice job Phil

 

 

 

 

 

[Matt Jones]

I like that a lot Phil. Would you swap it for half a pastie?

[Pete Crosby]

Mmmm Thats so pretty, Id love one...well done

[iawnski]

very very nice phil cu at pss meet

[Tim Mackey]

Great job there Phil (as usual).

Looking forward to the 30th.

[Ian Jones]

Aha! Now it just so happens that I am just getting into soaring but I'm by no means new to RC and what's more in a box in my garage is an Overlander Tucano. It seems to me that it could be just the job after I have thrashed about with a Wildthing for a while.

 

Scale is so appealing and Phil has gone to great lengths with his Tuc, probably more than I want to do at the moment. I've noticed the October PSS meet at the Great Orme so I'm going to target that.

 

The questions to you chaps and in particular Phil of course are,

What is the minimum you think I should do to:

1. Have it flying decently (if anything needs doing at all)

2. Toughen it up (I'm thinking sheet the underside of the wing and doublers in the fus)

3. Was the old covering particularly tricky to get off

 

Ta very much

Edited By Ian Jones on 07/08/2011 00:47:00

[David Gilder]

Ian - go for it!!!

Covering should come off easily if you use a covering iron and lift gently behind it!!

 

Phils is Electric powered with folding prop so it has a " get out of trouble" ability should the lift fail whilst sloping it

 

I believe that Phil strengthened the fuselage with extra formers and also fully sheeted the wings for extra strength during the landing phase!!!

 

Apart from that I believe its pretty much stock!!!

 

I am sure Phil will comment on here anyway and give you some pointers!!

 

Dave

 

[Phil Cooke]

Hi Ian,

Back in 2006 Steve Kemp flew one of these built almost unmodified as a PSS Model and it was very successful, he concentrated only on moving the weight as far forward as poss so had full sized servos up front in the nose and redesigned pushrods, he also glued down the canopy tray (as LiPo access was not needed) which stiffened the fus somewhat and he cut a hatch in the nose for Rx and Battery access. Other than that, it was pretty stock build with original covering etc and it seemed to survive ok. See this half way down the collection HERE.

 

I decided to beef mine up for slope use as not all the slopes we fly from have nice grass fields to drop back into, coarse heather and rocks are far more commonplace! Slope models generally need to be tougher built than flat field for this purpose, otherwise even the nicest of landings usually ends with some rework needed.

 

So like Dave has said, I took all the covering off and sheeted the wings top and bottom with 1/16th balsa in between the capped ribs as supplied. On the fuselage I doubled up the thin balsa walls wherever I could get to them from the wing bay, especially around the LE of the wing where when sloping you tend to squeeze the model here when launching. Glass would be a good alternative to all my balsa 'plasters'. If you cant get to them from the inside, you can rub thin cyano into the skins from the outside with a rag - this works well too in stifffening wafer thin balsa.

As supplied, my canopy tray was all warped and horrid, so I rebuilt a new one and fitted it out with dash, seats and a pilot - the kit had nothing in the office! - it needs a pilot Ian please dont leave it empty!!!

 

Finally, I chose to discard the fin, rudder and tailplane as supplied, it was very heavy nasty stock balsa, and I saved weight in the nose by changing the material of the tail, I also sanded them to some form of aero profile rather than the as supplied square cut 1/4" planks. Round LE and tapered TE look much more scale!!

 

The original covering came off ok-ish, there was some sticky residue left on the balsa but it sanded off ok.

Despite my efforts in the tail, and despite my fitting a motor and ESC as designed, my model STILL came out tail heavy, and it ended up with 5oz of lead in the nose giving my model a final AUW of 3.25lbs (with Lipo over the CoG)

 

Good luck with the build, look forward to seeing you with it on the Orme in October!!!

 

Phil

Edited By Phil Cooke on 07/08/2011 09:47:38

[Conwy Soarer]

Superb model as usual Phil, I covered my PMP Tucano in the same sheme, more cartoon stand way off scale than yours. But looks OK in the air.

Dont really fly at much as I should really, I do have a plan to strip it and spackle it then cover with lam film, also remove the solid canopy and vac form a replacement so that I could put in some drivers. The 2 colour schmes that are in my mind at the moment are the new 2011 display scheme which I saw flying at Swansea recently, it looked really good in the air - quite retro.

Or the WWII camo scheme which is also quite unusual.

So Ian I think your next project has found itself - look forward to see it fly on the Orme some time. Plenty of ideas on the www .

 

Jon

[Phil Cooke]

Nice one Jon, yes I love the 2011 scheme too, I was pretty gutted actually as the RAF rolled this out for the cameras just a matter of weeks after I had finished mine in the black scheme from 2007! I think the next Tucano I build will have to be in this silver scheme too - blue underside is a nice contrast to the silver!

 

We remember photographing your Tuc at the Orme in 09 HERE IT IS!

 

Bring it up to the Oct meet and we can get as many Tucs in one place at once as poss!!

 

 

[Conwy Soarer]

I will have to get the glass paper and spackle out then, I am probably going to recover mine in the WWII Spitfire colour schme. Hopefully I will make it in time for the next meet, hope you have a good one down the Lleyn (next weekend?) You never know Ian might have his Tuc ready for the October meet too! I remember bringing it to that meet up on the Orme, I didn't fly it as the wind was very light and the EPP Tuc prefers more of a blow, I think I flew it a few days after the pic was taken and haven't flown it since! 

 

Jon

Edited By Conwy Soarer on 07/08/2011 13:07:21

[Ian Jones]

Oh, that's it then

I've read all your comments chaps and I'll be getting to work on it pretty soon I think.

 

This is really quite exciting and since the Orme will be one of the venues it will fly at (probably the first) then I think I will be beefing it up a bit - with more beef at the front by the look of it! I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks for all your replies.

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/08/2011 00:37:05

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/08/2011 00:54:07

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/08/2011 00:54:39

[Tim Mackey]

Just remember that "beefing up" can be over rated and over done - all that happens is that the weight goes up - you get a bit more protection against the odd clumsy car loading incident, but, and heres the rub, they still break if you crash /arrive badly.

[Phil Cooke]

Yes, this is no robust foamie - its a crunchie - this DOES need BEEF though, as supplied you will put your fingers through the fuselage when you are single hand launching in a 30mph wind... believe me, mines got the holes in it to prove it! And Tim's seen me break mine twice now on the Orme in 2 half decent landings...

 

As supplied, this ARTF is built really light - I guess in an attempt to minimise the electric power train requirement (its a dated model now - from back in the day when electric power trains were still 'maturing' and costs were sky high) but as a PSS machine you can really afford the weight you might add by strengthening those key areas - ie - the Wing skins, fuselage structural regions around the wing root and where you might choose to hold it whilst launching.

 

I fly mine as PSS with the EP LiPo onboard and a folded prop, at 3.25lbs this flew very nicely as a PSS model, a nice scale speed with nice flying characteristics.

 

Go on - ADD YOUR BEEF WITH CONFIDENCE!

Edited By Phil Cooke on 09/08/2011 22:54:18

Edited By Phil Cooke on 09/08/2011 22:55:02

Edited By Phil Cooke on 09/08/2011 22:56:05

[Tim Mackey]

Can't argue with that Phil

I suppose I was over generalizing, following years of seeing some peoples attempts to "strengthen it" whenever they get hold of a model

[Ian Jones]

Okay chaps - judicious use of strengthening materials wins the day

I wasn't planning on adding a motor but I'm a bit tempted, hmm... probably not.

[Nick Brawn]

Anyone got any suggestions for a power set for the tuc pictured below as I have just acquired one and there's no where near me to slope it

 

Nick

 

Posted by Conwy Soarer on 07/08/2011 10:17:14:

Superb model as usual Phil, I covered my PMP Tucano in the same sheme, more cartoon stand way off scale than yours. But looks OK in the air.

Dont really fly at much as I should really, I do have a plan to strip it and spackle it then cover with lam film, also remove the solid canopy and vac form a replacement so that I could put in some drivers. The 2 colour schmes that are in my mind at the moment are the new 2011 display scheme which I saw flying at Swansea recently, it looked really good in the air - quite retro.

Or the WWII camo scheme which is also quite unusual.

So Ian I think your next project has found itself - look forward to see it fly on the Orme some time. Plenty of ideas on the www .

 

Jon

 

Edited By Nick Brawn on 19/02/2012 17:29:43

[twinstar]

Id quite like to do a motorised EPP Tucano for PSS / powered PSS eg Conway soarers PMP tucano (kits no longer made) but with a brushless motor in it so i can fly it off my local (pretty rubbish) slope but also lob off the orme sometimes. Would this be a ridiculous idea ? Would anyone out there have a copy of the PMP tucano plan that came with the kit ? (if its like my MB339 plan its not all to the same scale).

maybe theres easier ways to do a powered EPP PSS glider