More Re-visited RCM&E Designs

[Nightflyer]

It has been refreshing seeing some of the new take on some of the old model designs or old model designs used as inspiration for plans that we have seen lately. Such examples have got to be the Babybolt and the Raider designs in February's issue of recent examples.

There were some great designs from the 70's and 80's that could be introduced to a whole new generation (or two) of modellers that perhaps have been forgotten. Such examples of some of the freebie plans I can readily think of:

Me163 (1976? Cox 049 power or PSS) which would be great with modern radio and also electric powered (seriously thinking about that currently).

DB's Fokker DVII (would be good as an electric version now)

DB's Nieuport (17? I think) was great with a 19 and would be good as an electric too.

Short Skyvan would make a great electric model.

Hawker Sea Fury was designed for Club 20 racing I think and would also be good for electric now, or for funfighter racing?

There must be others that could do with a dust off and re-publish? While the growth in ARTF (and range) are good, there is still plenty of fun to be had balsa bashing.

[OZ e flyer]

Black Magic, Gentle Lady glider? Just 2 off the top of my head. Or how about a flying wing? Or maybe a micro/indoor electric model? I look forward to following this one. Thanks night flyer.

TP

[Tim Hooper]

Although from a 1973 Radio Modeller mag, J. Patterson's lovely Antares2 is available from the X-List plans service here.

I have an original Antares2 (a genuine attic find), and although some 40-odd years after it was built, it's still a beautifully precise aerobat to fly. I've had several overtures to buy it, but it's not leaving my own hangar anytime soon!

There's a couple being built that I know of, so perhaps it could find a new lease of life?

Heretically, mine runs on a 4S set-up, and makes nice big holes in the sky.

tim

 

 

 

Edited By Tim Hooper on 17/02/2017 20:45:28

[Nightflyer]

Hi Tim, thanks for posting about your Antares. I have always liked the design ever since I saw one of the guys in my flying club with one when I was a teenager. It flew beautifully and he fitted a tailwheel to the fin and did inverted touch and go's. I like the pics of your model and the fact that you have it as an electric model. Who knows I might get round to building myself one day. You certainly have reminded me of the model and like the idea of it as electric powered.

[Peter Christy]

What a out the Sub-Mini - a half sized Super 60? I think it was January 1965. I still have two, one with single channel, the other two channel ruddr and elevator. Great little models for .049 class motors.
--
Pete

[Piers Bowlan]

How about 'Little Bit' by the late, great, Derek Woodward, - Radio Modeller Oct 1991. The original was Cox .049 powered and had to be the ultimate in simple airframes/quick builds, although not for the faint hearted. I originally built a Babe Bee powered version then a slim leccy Speed 400 fuselage for the wing, which was a bit heavy with seven 500mAh nicads. I must resurrect it with a lightweight out-runner and LiPo. I am surprised Shaun Garrity hasn't republished the design in his RCM&E series already, although not for single channel RC perhaps!

[kc]

Antares seems a worthwhile design to republish but generally I would prefer to see new designs in RCME. Surely we need an outlet for new designers to get their masterpieces published? You can easily buy most of the old plans from MyHobbyStores ( Traplet now ) or download many free from Outerzone so less reason to publish them again.

One of the designs to appear on Outerzone recently is Pussyfoot by Sid King. this design did not appeal to me when viewing the poor quality photo in the Plans Handbook but seeing the actual plan it looks very interesting now for electric.

 

Regarding the old designs mentioned.......

Litle Bit and Sub Mini are on Outerzone.

Boddington's Fokker DV11 was republished as a free plan for an electric version in RC Model Flyer May 2014

Tim what is the difference between the Antares as published and your Antares2 ?

 

 

 

Edited By kc on 18/02/2017 19:25:57

[Bill_B]

A very simple and quick build would be the 'Vertigo II' by Frank Van Den Bergh. It would be a good candidate for electric power too as the whole top decking could easily be made into a battery hatch. An Eflite Power 52 (590 KV) should be man enough to haul it about in a reasonably quick manner.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Piers Bowlan on 18/02/2017 12:20:11:

How about 'Little Bit' by the late, great, Derek Woodward, - Radio Modeller Oct 1991. The original was Cox .049 powered and had to be the ultimate in simple airframes/quick builds, although not for the faint hearted. I originally built a Babe Bee powered version then a slim leccy Speed 400 fuselage for the wing, which was a bit heavy with seven 500mAh nicads. I must resurrect it with a lightweight out-runner and LiPo. I am surprised Shaun Garrity hasn't republished the design in his RCM&E series already, although not for single channel RC perhaps!

+1 for the Little Bit - a clubmate built one recently and it's amazingly capable - fast, manoeuvrable and very well mannered. It's electric powered and if he misses this thread I'll see if I can get some details in case anyone takes up the idea - I think it's got a 300mAH 3S battery and it's very much lighter than the original.

Edited By Martin Harris on 18/02/2017 20:17:20

[Dickw]

Martin, it is actually a Tiny Bit - nothing so huge as a Little Bit . Not sure if that still fits the objectives of the thread.

20 inch span, 89gm all up, and manages 5 minutes of aerobatics on a 2s 300mAh Lipo. I could provide more detail if anyone is interested. Photo attached complete with 12" ruler for scale.

Dick

Edited By Dickw on 18/02/2017 20:48:37

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I should obviously pay more attention and I did think that Piers' NiCds would have been a bit of a squeeze - but he did say it was fast!

[Stephen Jones]

Arr yes the good old days,

I built a little bit, well still do,

But no seriously I Built A Little Bit with a longer tail and put a detachable tailplane on it.

I would attach some fishing line to the tailplane and the outer end of the line would be staked into the ground ( without the on-lookers knowing )
I would then start my model going down the patch and just after the model had got into the air of course the Tailplane would come off .

LOL the look on their faces.

Steve

[Old Geezer]

Another vote for the Little Bit. The Tiny Bit is tempting too except that anything that sort of size always ends up overweight if I build it.

Just had a shooftie at the Little Bit plan on Outerzone, looks very straightforward, a quiet weekend utilising cyano with no distractions could result in a maiden flight by Sunday teatime. Just a detail tho' - not one letter or number is legible on the Outerzone plan, so a bit of "interpretation" may be in order.

[Stephen Jones]

Although not a RCM&E plan you can still get the Canopy for the Fantrainer .

Which was for a Cox .049 and i converted that into Brushless motor.

A build blogg can be found Here.

Steve

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by Gurth Scriven 2 on 18/02/2017 23:04:30:

Another vote for the Little Bit. The Tiny Bit is tempting too except that anything that sort of size always ends up overweight if I build it.

Just had a shooftie at the Little Bit plan on Outerzone, looks very straightforward, a quiet weekend utilising cyano with no distractions could result in a maiden flight by Sunday teatime. Just a detail tho' - not one letter or number is legible on the Outerzone plan, so a bit of "interpretation" may be in order.

Works OK for me with only one or two faint bits which are readable with a small effort - did you actually download it or are you looking at the "thumbnail" on the download page? The Tiny Bit plan is very clear.

Dick's modern radio/flight gear resulted in a massive weight saving over the original model's 6 oz. (170g) so even carrying a bit of "excess timber", the Tiny Bit should fly well. You might be surprised at the conditions Dick has flown it in - it really is a very good flyer.

I'm starting to get tempted myself!

Edited By Martin Harris on 18/02/2017 23:34:21

[kc]

When looking at plans on Outerzone you need to click on 'Download' but just make sure its the download for the plan and not the more obvious download for a PDF converter or something else. In many cases including Little Bit when you click Download there is also a seperate download for a supplement which is the original magazine article.

[kc]

The real question is do we want RCME to just republish old plans or have mostly new, fresh designs?

My view is only republish if it's a new version such as modifications to electric or other updating or if it's an exceptional flyer.

[Bob Cotsford]

Another Little Bit conversion, built donkey's ago when it was first published and only retired last year. It also started off with a Baby Bee and was converted to brushless/LiPo several years ago. Rudder control was added a couple of years ago after chatting to DW. Nice for pottering around on 2S, manic on 3S!

[Peter G Simpson]

I'm really enjoying this thread, it takes me back many years to designs that I built as a lad!

There have been so many excellent designs published over the years and it's great that RCM&E are re-publishing them as well as updated versions in addition to new designs too. With modern technology many marginal designs now become practical flyers, such as Stephens Fantrainer above which I am sure has been simplified by not having to wrestle with tuning the .049 it was designed for.

As a lad I had great fun with Boddo's 1/10th scale guided free flight SE5a from RCM&E plan RC1415, Mine was powered by a fixed throttle Enya09, weighed a ton and flew like an overweight missile, but was great fun! I owned Boddo's original review model too which flew great on a Mills 1.3.

Boddo's original review model

Several years ago I redesigned it for electric, still stick and tissue construction. I changed the construction so that the wings are held on with neodymium magnets to make her crash proof, an experiment which works very well. after a heavy arrival the whole airframe pops apart with minimal damage and can be popped back together for the next flight.

The model weighs half that of my original model and is such a fun and practical flyer that it has been one of my main models for over 4 years. It's more or less the same design as the early 80's model, but a totally different aeromodelling experience.

My recent SE5a almost ready to go

My fetcermite after another successful dawn patrol

Barebones

Finally a picture of me man-handling the full size at Old Warden.

[Nightflyer]

I started the thread to see what kind of ideas people had in mind and also to think of models that might be suitable for revisiting with electric power or for modern gear and engines where the design needed fettling a little and it seems to have got some good suggestions.

Peter, I love the sound of your SE5a. I also built one when the design was originally published and had an Enya 09 fitted. Mine had a short life before it was shot down by someone on the same channel. I wonder what electric motor set up you have in your second model. I think I might still have my plans and will have to have a look. Might build one again later this year.

[Peter G Simpson]

Posted by Nightflyer 2013 on 19/02/2017 20:07:56:

Peter, I love the sound of your SE5a. I also built one when the design was originally published and had an Enya 09 fitted. Mine had a short life before it was shot down by someone on the same channel. I wonder what electric motor set up you have in your second model. I think I might still have my plans and will have to have a look. Might build one again later this year.

My SE5a is 650g ready to fly and at 32" wingspan it is quite lightly loaded. 

I've used an Axi Gold-Line 2208/20 coupled to an APCE 7x5 drawing 15A from a 2S1P 1800mAh Lipo through a Jeti ECO18 controller. With this setup full throttle is not needed often!

I have also flown her on the same setup with APCE 6x4 drawing lower amps but I can't remember the current draw, but she flew really well and had plenty of power on tap.

Edited By Peter G Simpson on 19/02/2017 20:38:05

[Stephen Jones]

Hi,

Forgot to mention that i built my 1st Fantrainer when the plan was published in Radio Controlled Scale Models.

I had a Testor McCoy in it .

I made my own prop nut that would accept a Axel drive of a rc car . One end was fitted to a buggy motor and the other end could be fitted into the prop nut for starting.

Similar to these.Mine where all metal.

It flew but only just, I later sold it at auction.

Some years later i Re-visited this model and fitted it out with a Brushless motor which transformed it immensely.

Steve

[Piers Bowlan]

I had one of those McCoy engines in a KK control-line Hurricane centuries ago, I am not surprised the BL motor transformed the model. As a suggestion, why don't you 'revisit' the Fantrainer again Steve, but this time do one of your super light-weight depron builds and use a stock 68mm fan? Alternatively scale it down to micro size and use a 40mm fan and 3mm depron? It would certainly be different and might be a popular magazine plan if it were published.

Here is my 'Little Bit' retrieved from my loft, fitted with a Cox Dragonfly engine. It only flew with the Babe Bee engine as I found that quite exciting enough! I may try the BL motor if I find a moment between builds.

Edited By Piers Bowlan on 20/02/2017 12:03:41

[Piers Bowlan]

Correction, I think it is a Cox Queen Bee .074 with RC throttle.

[Stephen Jones]

Posted by Piers Bowlan on 20/02/2017 12:00:34:

I had one of those McCoy engines in a KK control-line Hurricane centuries ago, I am not surprised the BL motor transformed the model. As a suggestion, why don't you 'revisit' the Fantrainer again Steve, but this time do one of your super light-weight depron builds and use a stock 68mm fan? Alternatively scale it down to micro size and use a 40mm fan and 3mm depron? It would certainly be different and might be a popular magazine plan if it were published.

Hi ,

Some years back i had thought about doing a larger version of the Fantrainer,

I then found that there was already a plan and a kit and even a ARTF jobby the Uni-Jet so i abandoned that idea.

Done a quick search on a indoor version of the Fantrainer and that has also been done, But not very successfully the problem being the weight of the EDF which needed a bigger battery up front to achieve the correct CoG which in turn pushed the wing loading up too high for in-door use .

So that could be a challenge

Steve.