Flea Fli RCME July issue free plan

[kc]

This seems a useful pull out plan but it's not all on the same sheet - the tail end of the fuselage and fin are on the back of the other sheet for the Renaissance plan. Pity to have to mutilate the other plan so it's worth making a photocopy to attach to the plan    No joint line is shown but it's fairly obvious where it fits but aligning the tailplane slot correctly is pretty critical!  How come RCME couldn't fit the tail section on the sheet like they did in 1968?.  This is the original RCME 1968 version

However this design has several plans on Outerzone which might be better to download and have printed at a copy shop. The Model Airplane News version seems better as it would print all on one sheet.

Outerzone also has a slightly enlarged version -Flea Fli+10 - at 42 inch span.

Edited By kc on 16/06/2018 15:41:01

Edited By kc on 16/06/2018 15:50:16

[kc]

There is also a build blog from a while back here on Modelflying well worth seeing how Martyn did the tricky bits.

 

Edited By kc on 16/06/2018 15:43:40

Edited By kc on 16/06/2018 15:46:18

[kc]

For my taste the Flea Fli is too small at 39 inch span and I wonder if anybody else has considered scaling it up by say 33 percent to make a 52 inch span which would be easier to see. The original Kwik Fli 3 was 59 inch span but that's a bit too large for modest electric power so 52 inch would be worthwhile.

Increasing by a third would seem to use much the same thickness of balsa but probably the wing spars would have to go up to 1/4 by 3/16 and be spruce. Downloading the M.A.N. plan and printing at 133percent would seem the easist way to get a 52 inch span plan.

Edited By kc on 16/06/2018 15:53:22

[kc]

Nobody else has commented yet so presumably this free plan didn't attract the forum members!

[Former Member]

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[Luke Lane]

Bought the materials for it from SLEC at Weston Park, yesterday. I was given an early OS Max 20 engine from one of our senior club members a few months ago, so it will be a good opportunity to have some retro fun. The speed at which I build models, it should be ready this time next year.

[Martin McIntosh]

I too thought that I was the only one building this since searching Flea Fly brought up nothing. The Martyn K. link could be useful. I remember the Bar Flea but not this one.

My initial idea was to enlarge it by say 12.5 or 15% for an OS 25FX but decided against that. I have an OS 20FP and 26S available which are both exactly the same weight so plumped for the four stroke which meant lengthening the nose by 3/4".

Now, me being me, I am further modernising it with retracts. Silly mistake. Getting the noseleg unit, a 4oz tank and that four stroke into the nose is no mean feat. The noseleg amplifier died on me so have had to order a new amp. plus a complete spare set from HK. (MCR type).

Servos are Corona 939 and 239MG, LiFe 1100 pack via a 5V UBEC.

Extra wood, wheels, spinner (now 2" plus some sort of canopy will hopefully be purchased at W&W.

Some initial pics to follow as soon as I can download them to the site.

An awful lot of head scratching was required for this and the noseleg steering still needs some work. I firmly blame thatmanatgarritys for this since he insists on publishing retro plans which interest me.

[Martin McIntosh]

Here we go.

[kc]

Martin that sounds interesting if you can put it all into a 39 inch model. Let's see some photos of how you did it.

Actually if you had spelt it " Fli " instead of Fly you would have found it ......... same with Kwik Fli it often needs the exact spelling to find the plans. And I think it's Bar Fli not Flea. These aeromodelling sites don't give the nearest item if the spelling is not exact!

[Nigel R]

Kc

Martyn K did a 54" version of kwik fli 3 and 4 here

https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=121322 With this one At 39" I'm tempted to squeeze in an all sheet version when I finish my current build. Feels like 150 to 200w electric would be plenty of motive power at this size.

Edited By Nigel R on 17/06/2018 19:34:19

Edited By Nigel R on 17/06/2018 19:34:45

[Former Member]

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[Martin McIntosh]

That`s the ground down version of the original mount to make it fit. As you see, it has been recycled a few times.

Doing this in the original orange/black scheme. The HK `jacinth` has arrived and is orange to the rest of us.

The canopy will be a problem getting hold of. Ideas anyone? I can get a Taurus one but at 18 quid no thanks.

[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[Martin McIntosh]

Have done the bottle canopies before but you cannot make one that long from one of those. My efforts at vac. moulding are on some other thread. Since I need a similar one for my Peacemaker I may send a plug to a professional.

[kc]

Vortex Vacform do a range of bubble canopies for about 8 to 10 pounds. Also scale items & pilots, dummy radial engines etc.

But try Wings & Wheels next weekend if you are going - there must be someone selling suitable items.

[kc]

Vortex Vacform do a range of bubble canopies for about 8 to 10 pounds. Also scale canopies,& pilots, spats, dummy radial engines etc.

But try Wings & Wheels next weekend if you are going - there must be someone selling suitable items.

[Martyn K]

Posted by Martin McIntosh on 17/06/2018 21:02:03:

That`s the ground down version of the original mount to make it fit. As you see, it has been recycled a few times.

Doing this in the original orange/black scheme. The HK `jacinth` has arrived and is orange to the rest of us.

The canopy will be a problem getting hold of. Ideas anyone? I can get a Taurus one but at 18 quid no thanks.

Hi Martin

My Canopy came from Vortex Vacforms. For a few pounds, it saves a lot of messing around. I think it was CN44

Martyn

[Simon Feather]

Martin, for what it's worth, and in case anything here is useful for you, I did a KF3 50th anniversary tribute build last year, blog here: **LINK**

Not a Flea I know, but may be of use/interest. Since it was a tribute, I was more interested it getting it to look as close as possible to the original. The canopy came from Vortex Vacforms as did Martyn's, though I've since built a simple vacformer.

regards

Simon

[kc]

The plan shows a longer, sleeker canopy and the photos of Phil Krafts models also seem to have a long canopy. It's a matter of taste of course but to be like the original it would seem that somewhat longer than Vortex CN44 might be needed.  But width might be the crucial factor here.

Edited By kc on 18/06/2018 11:06:33

[Bob Cotsford]

It's always worth contacting Steve at Vortex with the dimensions, I've found him very helpful in the past. It sounds as though they have a lot of plugs for canopy sizes that don't feature in the advertised range. If there were enough demand maybe they would produce a short run for this design?

[Martin McIntosh]

Thanks for the ideas. I think I tried Vortex earlier but the site did not state dimensions (could have been Phoenix).

I have a couple of vacformers but despite eventually making all five for my Lanc. I got sick of wasting material due to creasing.

[PatMc]

An alternative to the Flea Fli is the RCM&E May 1970 free plan Bar Flea , the wing span & area are a little greater, there's also more fuselage side area.

I built mine back in the day with a tail dragger u/c but often flew it with the u/c removed. Initially powered by an early version Fox 15 later with a Fox 25, finaly with an OS Max25 it was my second low wing aileron model.

[kc]

So there is a Bar Flea as well as the Bar Fli. There is also a Millibar which is a 90 percent version of Bar Fli at 52 inch span. Millibar is RCME plan RC 1098. All these look just a little more work to make the turtledeck.

Edited By kc on 18/06/2018 14:19:41

[Martin McIntosh]

The model is now finished and almost ready to go but the cg is a problem. To get it anywhere near will require 50g of lead in the tail would you believe. This would bring the weight up to 3lbs. The retract units are very light and I don`t think that they contribute too much.

This takes me to another problem which is a little off thread but may be of interest to others.

I have used HK MCR retract units before with no real problems. A couple of the ones I wished to use died so I ordered some new amplifiers plus a complete spare set but all of these only worked with a HK servo tester, not any of the Rx`s I cared to try. After a real ding dong with HK they are sending replacements but refuse to test them with a Rx first, so back to square one. However, I had a set in another model so tried these which were working OK. Nothing in the Flea with an Orange Rx. I then realised that the Rx in the other model was a Spektrum AR7000 so I tried one in the Flea and bingo, all OK. I measured the output pulse from the servo tester and it was the full 5V but the other Rx`s FrSky, Orange etc were only putting out 3V. They have obviously changed something in the amplifiers for some reason (or more likely an error) so be warned.

Pics of the completed model to follow.