Gordon Brown Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I've been looking for an unusual electric model to build and the Miles Aerovan certainly fits the bill but there don't seem to be many of them out there. Has anyone had any experience of building and flying one? I'd be interested in hearing about any potential pitfalls or problems in the build, battery compartment arrangement, motor choice, prop choice, scale detailing etc. With that vast fuselage I suspect there's more than enough choice of location for batteries but the short nose could give cg problems if my previous builds are anything to go by. It appears that the Israeli Air Force had one right at the formation of the force, which pleases me no end as I'd like to do one in military scheme and markings rather than the uniform white that most of them seem to have been. Gordon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J V R Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Hi GB I've had the plans for the Miles Aerovan for a couple of years, and will try and start building later this year when I have cleared the back log on the work bench, may be a winter build. Not looked at any motor, lipo, prop combinations yet. Have you decided on any power trains ?? Now a Military color scheme would look good. jvr...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Hi GB I'm half way through a build of one as we speak! No major problems with the build as yet. I've just made a few mods to the construction. I've used block rather than curved sheet on the top corners of the fus as I don't fancy doing tight curves in 3mm sheet. I've turned the tailplane around and slightly changed the fin layout as, from reference to photos Tony had drawn the Tailplane back to front - an easy mistake to make, especially when using a CAD system. I've not come t5o the installation yet so I don't know how that will go. Il let you know how I get on as I get further into the build. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 One small tip. I didn't like Tony's idea of simply sheeting wing the 'in hand' since, until the last of the sheeting goes on the wing is pretty flexible, so it would be easy to build in a warp that would be impossible to remove afterwards. Accordingly, I chose to make a simple jig just consisting of three cradles cut from 6mm sheet to match the top surface curvature at the centreline and the tips. I also included 2 degrees of washout in the tip ones as it can't do any harm and might do some good. They were pinned down to the building board and the wing pinned into them before the lower sheet was added. That way you can't help getting a straight wing. In fact, It you're reading this Tony, it might be a good idea to include them in the laser cut parts for future reference. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Who is "Tony" ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Perhaps it's Tony Nijhuis who designed an Aerovan for RCME but it doesn't seem to be the Miles Aerovan. Edited By kc on 07/12/2016 19:06:52 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 No wonder i was confused. This is the Miles Aerovan. I've never seen it modelled, although I'm sure that someone has done it. Tony's is more like a slimmed down Twinstar. Edited By Colin Leighfield on 07/12/2016 19:44:11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Brown Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 http://www.tonynijhuisdesigns.co.uk/MilesM57Aerovan.htm Edited By Gordon Brown on 07/12/2016 22:04:53 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 That's it then Gordon! Now I think I remember it in RCME. It was an interesting plane. The centre section of the fuselage was detachable so that it could be used as a cargo pod. The plane could be flown without it and looked very odd when it did. It seemed like a great idea but Miles didn't sell many, probably one of the reasons they folded, sadly. Are you going to do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Brown Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 Posted by Colin Leighfield on 07/12/2016 22:18:27: That's it then Gordon! Now I think I remember it in RCME. It was an interesting plane. The centre section of the fuselage was detachable so that it could be used as a cargo pod. The plane could be flown without it and looked very odd when it did. It seemed like a great idea but Miles didn't sell many, probably one of the reasons they folded, sadly. Are you going to do it? I'm definitely intending to build one but I've got a Stuka, Zero, and FW190 to finish first - and an Aviocar, ME163, Swordfish, Hurricane, Citabria..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 Sounds as if you're as bad as me! I won't hold my breath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 I'm the one who was confused! I thought we were talking about the Tony Nijhuis Miles Aerovan all along! There are a couple of threads about the other Eerovan out there if you look for them. BTW the version of the Aerovan with the removable pod was a one off development example that, I don't think, ever went into production. The standard one was built in one piece. If you're looking for a really unusual model then they did propose a version with two fuselages and tails grafted onto a common centre section with an extra engine, somewhat like the Heinkel Zwillig. Although I don't think this one was ever built even as a prototype. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 OK On further investigation it looks as though the Twinvan existed only in the imagination of a Photoshop joker but it would still make an interesting model and is just the sort of 'off the wall' project that Miles would have proposed. Incidentally, The Tony Nijhuis Aerovan IS the Miles one but was not published in RCM&E but in a rival Mag whose name I probably shouldn't mention in this forum. The plan and parts pack are available at Tony's own website. The other (skinny) Aerovan may well have been an RCM&E plan but I personally am unfamiliar with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Peter, thank you for the observation about the version with the cargo pod being a one-off. This was one of many post-war projects created for what was expected to be a thriving market for new practical aeroplanes, but was probably thwarted by the number of cheap ex-military types that flooded the market. Sadly Miles went to the wall, if only the Attlee government hadn't so, ill-advisedly pulled the plug on the M52! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 I'm with you on the M52 stupidity, but if we start getting into projects that the British government should never have cancelled (M-52, TSR2, SR177,Supersonic Harrier etc) and whether it's down to conspiracies, American bribery of the British government etc then we'll open a whole can of worms and should probably start a new thread altogether! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Quite right Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Hi, I'm not sure if anyone's still following this thread - there haven't been any posts for a while. But just in case, I've finally got it to the 'ready for test flying' stage, before doing final detailing. So here are a couple of pix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Hi Pete. That's brilliant. You should be chuffed with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers Bowlan Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 That is really impressive work Pete, I like unusual subjects. Good luck with the maiden and post some video if you are able. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Collins Posted August 7, 2017 Share Posted August 7, 2017 Maiden flight today - like the curates egg - good in parts. Takeoff OK needed some persuading to unstick, but once away it seemed alright. Needed heaps of up trim, gave it full trim and was still holding some stick in. Flew nicely at altitude, too fast for this type of aircraft but otherwise OK. I dropped the flaps and that helped the up trim problem a little but still needing some up stick. So I decided to land and make some adjustments. Danger point - downwind turn - sudden nose drop with no chance of recovery. Either a tip stall or a tail stall, I suspect the latter as I had all the symptoms (nose heavy model, small tail area, sudden nose drop and from where I stood, it did not look as if a wing had dropped, but a little hard to tell. So I have some rebuilding to do - tail boom is broken and fuselage forward of the wing pretty well smashed, but all repairable with some time and patience. Definitely worth persevering with, so watch this space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted August 7, 2017 Share Posted August 7, 2017 "Hard to unstick" and " holding in up", are definitely connected Pete, she looks absolutely amazing and built straight, so err towards revising the C of G Looking at the tail, the design includes nearly half of the horizontal stabiler being the elevator This obviously helped the full sized, but have experienced difficulty "unsticking" with half and half before. There is absolutely nothing you can do about this during the build, but it may need uptrim left in It is an amazing build Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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