RCM&E Magazine November issue FREE** 20 PAGE PREVIEW**

FREE PRO-PLAN! THIS ISSUE VOL.66 NO.11 NOVEMBER 2023

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F-16

Mini Jet

RADIO CONTROL MODELS AND ELECTRONIC RONICS

F Falcon BUILD THIS DUCTED FAN JET

LA SENORITA BRAZILIAN BEAUTY

ALPHA JET

XFLY EDF REVIEWED

PRONTO O

3-CHANNEL FUN PLANE

PLUS II IN A SPIN - INDOOR AUTOGYROS II CIRCUITS & BUMPS - MAKE BETTER LANDINGS

WELCOME Editor: Kevin Crozier. Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR kcrozier@mortons.co.uk

W

elcome to the November 2023 issue of RCM&E. I recently enjoyed two back-to-back flying sessions. In the morning I flew my Osprey F5J glider and I thought I would use some of the excellent conditions to practice spot landings. In our club comps this means flying for 2.5 minutes and landing in the centre of the spot dead on time. If you manage the time and landing exactly you score one point for every second of flight time plus 50 points for the landing, giving a 200-point score for a perfect flight.

For every second you fly over or under, those seconds are subtracted from the maximum 150 for the flight. And for landing in the centre of the spot you score an extra 50 points, earning progressively less until outside of 10M you score zero landing points.

I have only braved one club comp and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But I did have one of the experienced competition pilots helping me with scoring. (Thanks Ian, I would have been in a complete brain fog without your help!) My kind clubmates had placed Ian and myself in the central spot position, which was a bit unnerving and meant that I had a relatively narrow corridor into which to aim my expensive four metre span glider, on top of which it is common practice to stand at the end of the measuring tape. Although flybys would have been possible, the chances of me doing so without clobbering one of my pals in the outer positions would have been fairly high. So, it felt pretty important to hit the spot or bust!

Most times I hit the spot, and once I even got close to the centre, but I also nearly went for bust too - quite literally! On that approach I got my flap deployment wrong and the Osprey arrived with a mighty thump. A quick check showed that all was well so we continued with my other flights.

So, although I enjoyed my first F5J competition, I did feel that some spot landing practice would be beneficial, not only to improve my piloting skills but to also help minimise any damage to that lovely carbon airframe. Hence, on the morning in question I borrowed one of the club’s spot landing tapes and practiced my arrivals, standing close to the middle of the spot.

Things went well and whilst I did not do much thermalling that day, I did come away feeling that I had achieved something rather than just floating my glider around looking for lift.

Feeling buoyed up by this learning experience I resolved to use the afternoon power session to improve the characteristics of my chosen aerobat for the day, a 3S size aerobat that I thought was well sorted but knew could be tweaked further. Hence, equipped with a copy of Peter Jenkins’ excellent book ‘Model

4 | RCM&E

Aircraft Precision Aerobatics’, I sat in my camping chair at the patch and began revising the chapter ‘Setup and Trimming’.

Peter says, ‘Many club pilots set the CG for their first flight and never think about it again if the flight was a success’, which for most of my models certainly has a ring of truth about it! This one had been flying with the same CG for years so I thought it would make a good subject to see if a sound flying aeroplane could be made to perform even better. Moving the CG back over the course of a few LiPos did indeed make it feel more responsive until one flight when it proved to be a tad too lively. So, a quick landing was made and the LiPo moved forward to the previous position.

And so, just like my spot landing session earlier in the day, I made my way home with a feeling that I had achieved quite a lot, if only just to make inverted circuits with this particular model feel a lot more comfortable.

So, before you go flying next time why not ask yourself if there is any way you that could improve the performance of either yourself or your model and have a well-focussed flying session to try and do just that. It’s time well spent, I promise you.

Okay, time now to take a brief look at what we have lined up for you in the November issue of RCM&E. Starting with our regular columns, in his latest Retro Ramblings, Shaun Garrity finally gets his mouse nibbled Kwik Fly 3 back in the sky, plus he covers tachos, home built radios and the Pontefract fly-in. Then it’s over to Graham Ashby and Kick The Tyres for another selection of club orientated affairs.

For this month’s Pro-Plan, Tony Nijhuis presents the fourth EDF jet in his latest series of TN Mini Jets, an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Our features start with Make Better Landings, in which Jeff Barringer offers advice to simplify the process. For indoor fliers, John Stennard looks at Al’s Indoor Autogyros, with drawings for some rotary aircraft to add to your indoor fleet. Then Nick Ward takes on the challenge to build a 3-channel sports model, a Dave Robelen Pronto, in just two weeks. Concluding our features (and his articles), Stephen Wessel finishes his ENV engine and runs it for the first time.

On test this month, Dave Goodenough builds a curvy electric soarer named La Senorita. Finally, Shaun Garrity slots together a quick build XFly kit of the Alpha Jet light attack aircraft.

I hope you enjoy reading it all.

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

CONTENTS

RADIO CONTROL MODELS & ELECTRONICS I VOLUME 66 ISSUE 11

ONTHECOVER

Photo: David Ashby Tony Nijhuis’ model of the F-16 was tested on a 4S FMS fan unit as the model needed to be powerful enough for its potentially high wing loading. But strangely, the wing loading when the model was finished was less than the Panther and comparable to the Cougar.

Reviews

48

10 LA SENORITA

Regulars

38 ALPHA JET

8

SWITCH ON

Our latest round up of model flying news.

36 COUNTERPOINT

A selection of new gadgets, kits and bits for you to buy

Dave Goodenough clears his workbench to build a Brazilian beauty Shaun Garrity slots together a quick build kit of the Franco-German light attack jet

86 PILOT EXTRA NG

Kevin Crozier catches up on his build of the 78” span scale aerobat from Pilot RC

44 ALL WRITE

28

Have your say in RCM&E’s monthly chat room

72 PILOTS’ PICTORIAL

Send us a picture of a new or favourite model and it could appear in our regular readers’ models gallery

92 GOING PLACES

Our monthly list of model shows, events and competitions for you to visit over the next few months

94 MARKETPLACE

Sell off your unwanted airframes and engines or maybe buy a few new ones

95 NEXT ISSUE

Take a look at what’s coming in the December ‘23 issue of RCM&E

98 PARTING SHOT

We close this issue with Chris Williams’ fine photos of Mike Roach’s awesome Avro Lincoln

38

6 | RCM&E

22

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

10

Columns

16 RETRO RAMBLINGS

Shaun Garrity files another selection of topics from around the world of retro R/C aeromodelling

74 Features

22 MAKE BETTER LANDINGS

Having difficulty learning to land? Jeff Barringer offers advice to simplify the process. It’s all about attitude - yours and the aircraft’s

28 AL’S INDOOR AUTOGYROS

With the indoor flying season now upon us, John Stennard takes a look at some small rotary aircraft that you can quickly add to your flying fleet

62 SUBSCRIBE…

... and receive Ronny Barr Profiles - British Two Seaters: British Two Seaters of the Great War FREE!!

64 DAVE ROBELEN PRONTO

Nick Ward takes on the challenge to build a three-channel sports model in just over two weeks

74 ENV AERO ENGINE

Stephen Wessel finishes his half scale aero engine and sees it run successfully for the first time

80 WINGAMAGIG

Shaun Garrity builds a simple to construct and easy to fly flying wing from an early 1980s Radio Modeller plan feature

free pro-plan

48 F-16 FIGHTING FALCON

64 November 2023 | www.modelflying.co.uk

Tony Nijhuis returns with the final EDF jet in his latest series of TN Mini Jets

All reasonable care is taken in the preparation of the magazine contents, but the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for errors in the contents of this magazine or for any loss however arising from such errors, including loss resulting from negligence of our staff. Reliance placed upon the contents of this magazine is at readers’ own risk.

RCM&E | 7

SWITCHON

Get in touch...

kcrozier@mortons.co.uk

FUTABAAPPOINTSJPERKINS Futaba Corporation of Chosei, Japan has appointed J. Perkins (Distribution) Ltd. to be its new official distributor in the UK and Ireland, effective September 22, 2023.

Futaba has chosen J Perkins as its new partner because of the deep experience and strong reputation it has established over the past 45 years serving the UK and Irish radio control communities. “J Perkins is perfectly placed to further develop the Futaba brand and provide the very highest standard of support for our product range in these important markets”, said Eiji Jinno, General Manager, Futaba Corporation Hobby Radio Control Business Centre.

Sebo Dapper, Managing Director of J Perkins, said, “We are delighted to have been appointed as the new UK and Ireland distributor for Futaba products and look forward to a very successful partnership with this world famous and market leading radio control manufacturer.”

Dapper added, “Due to the complexities of the handover it will take a little time before we are able to carry a full range of stock, however we are working hard to be able to supply model shops throughout the UK and Ireland as soon as possible, whilst offering full-service support to existing and new Futaba customers.”

For more information about this exciting development in UK model distribution

please contact J Perkins Distribution: +44(0)1622-854-300 https://www. jperkins.com

scratch, taking what I could from photos of the exterior, plus whatever the internet had to offer, which was precious little. As building work proceeded I could update my own drawings according to how things actually worked out on the bench, so to speak.

Sadly, there is an ever-increasing problem connected with this process: namely poor memory! For example, the distributor was designed on screen but during the making of it several minor changes were introduced as work went along. But none of these were recorded so by the time I went back to finish dimensioning the drawing I had to rely on memory for the many alterations. By then I was completely resistant to

stripping it all down just for a look because it was all fitted, wired up and ready to go. Months passed by and not only had the alterations been forgotten but also the very fact that there had been some!

So, I try to make notes as I go along but then they get lost i.e., put into that safe place whose existence is now also forgotten! One needs a special four-legged companion trained expressly to do the documentation, then find it instantly when required.

Thankfully, the drawings are now fairly up to date and I hope coherent enough for others to follow. They will form the core of the archive that I hope will accompany the engine throughout its life.”

ENV FIRES UP

This issue sees the last in the series of articles by the retired and acclaimed professional flute maker Stephen Wessel on making a half scale ENV aero engine. Stephen has provided us with a short update on how well this magnificent replica engine runs: “There are currently three videos on YouTube about it, the latest at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=_vV3_A-0Frc I am currently working on another all about electroforming the water jackets.

The engine has now clocked nearly five hours run time and goes very well. It idles around 900rpm and top speed is 2200rpm. Not really audible on the videos is that lovely deep sound of the prop itself, quite distinct from the engine and something one associates more with the full-size world.

The carburettor works as it should, giving a clean acceleration. We did a static thrust measurement by resting the whole thing on large rollers and connecting it to a tree via a spring balance. 20kg at 2000rpm which is a few horsepower, perhaps about eight.

So, all we need now is someone mad enough to build a 1/2 scale H. Wright biplane. It won’t be me!

Drawings

I began this series by explaining that there are to my knowledge no surviving drawings of this engine anywhere, yet something as complex as this cannot be made without detailed plans. Many of the parts, such as the carburettor, magneto and oil pump had to be designed more or less from

8 | RCM&E

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2022

AL’S AUTOGYRO IN ACTION

F-16 FAN UNIT In last month’s Next Issue page, we inadvertently stated that Tony Nijhuis’ F-16, the fourth model in his latest Mini Jet series, was tested on a 3S FMS fan unit. But as you will discover when reading Tony’s article, which starts on page 48, the Fighting Falcon pull-out plan actually requires a 4S FMS fan unit.

Tony says, “I really didn’t think it was worth going the 3S route as the model needed to be

powerful enough for its potentially high wing loading. As a result, the model is quite quick so it’s not really for the faint hearted. Having said that on a calm day the model will fly very slowly.”

Apologies to those of you who may have lined up a 3S fan for this project, but we are sure that you will find a good home for it in one of Tony’s previous TN/RCM&E Mini Jets – there are plenty to choose from!

Starting on page 28 of this issue, John Stennard provides details of some marvellous miniature autogyros designed by Al Foot. Clear a small space on your workbench and you should be able to get one of Al’s little models up and running in good time to fly it indoors during autumn and winter sessions. After the article was prepared we received the following link from John, which shows Al flying one of his models on a very calm day outdoors.

It’s well worth a watch for any potential Byro or Tryro builders: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=oxLU8QeI3Ic

DELUXE MATERIALS GLUING TIPS Deluxe Materials, creators of many of the most popular and advanced adhesives and finishing products used by aeromodellers, have kindly offered to sponsor a ‘Gluing & Finishing Tips’ section in RCM&E. The winner will receive a voucher for a selection of Deluxe Materials products to the value of at least £50.

To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is

Cut nozzle if blocked

to send in your suggestions and top tips for using glues and finishing products when building a flying model aircraft. Simply describe your gluing and finishing tip in a few words and send in some sketches or photographs to illustrate it to the Editor: KCrozier@Mortons.co.uk To get things rolling here’s a sample DM Gluing Tip to show you what your idea could look like in print.

Deluxe Materials tip for

Lightly squeeze to expel air

1.

Apply Roket ca

2.

WIN £50

3.

R

CHE

VOU

November 2022 | www.modelflying.co.uk

Air Release pressure, air drawn in clears nozzle

USING ROKET CA ADHESIVES

4.

Ready for action

5.

Submit YOUR best modelling tip to kcrozier@mortons.co.uk & win a choice of Deluxe Materials products RCM&E | 9

LA SENORITA Dave Goodenough clears his workbench to build a Brazilian beauty words » Dave Goodenough photos » Dave Goodenough, Mark Ollier

A

short while ago I saw a webpage that highlighted a range of model kits I’d not seen before but I later found that some are stocked by 4-Max Models. Delving further saw me lusting after a few of these curvaceous lovelies and mentally calculating the cost of both buying and importing a couple for myself.

Throwing caution to the wind I contacted the manufacturer, Bluesky Airmodels, to price up both purchase and postage of my choices.

Whilst the price of the kits seemed reasonable enough (sold in US Dollars for export from Brazil) the freight cost made it more costeffective for me to buy three models.

The following review is my honest opinion of just one of the model kits that I purchased for my own use; I have no vested interest in the manufacturer at all. There will be reviews on the two other models I sourced as time and weather allows.

A LISSOM LOVELY

I don’t know if it’s something innate, but I do like curved shapes, especially when that lovely blend of curves is rendered into model form. ‘La Senorita’ (‘Miss’ in English) is one such kit that carries the form well. I may be an old recidivist when it comes to ignoring current ‘woke’ thinking but the model’s name and curvy outline fits its given title. This kit is the original 1500mm wingspan version but there is a slightly larger ‘Version 2’ at 1800mm span available. Okay, let’s open the box and see what I bought.

There was a lot of air in the box as Bluesky appear to use a standard sized carton for their kits, even this smaller one. But the bubble wrapped, laser-cut sheets and small section strips, once unwrapped, looked crisply cut and of a decent quality wood. The bundles were taped inside the box to prevent them rattling around in transit, a nice touch. There’s a packet of small parts too, with a ‘Bluesky’ key ring for good measure. Unfortunately, the 2mm fibreglass pushrod material, curled to fit in the box, was split. Enough was left undamaged to make one

Wafting out into the Elkstone uplift, La Senorita is in her element.

pushrod and I have other rod and wire ‘in stock’. I didn’t bother to claim a replacement; it wasn’t worth the trouble.

No plan is supplied, just a very well laid out assembly drawing, and also a booklet with assembly instructions. Mine was in reasonable Portu-English with some ‘quaint’ descriptions, obviously an auto-translated and uncorrected document. It was relatively easy to follow and mentioned the model’s one design quirk - it has a curved dihedral. The process of building the curve into the wing halves is covered in the instructions and I found it easy to follow, if somewhat different from the normal ‘flat panel’ wings I’m used to.

As it comes from the box. Lots of lovely laser-cutting and with a rolled pictorial instruction sheet.

10 | RCM&E

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

TESTING, TESTING | Electric glider

La Senorita’s tail feathers and battery access ‘canopy’ show how simple and strong the structure is.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

Despite my Sinatra-like yen to ‘do it my way’, I largely followed the instruction sequence almost slavishly, mindful that this model is designed to be simple to build for a nearbeginner. The tailplane/elevator and fin/rudder are easily aligned and glued as per the drawing, the ‘hood’ (canopy) too, all simple stuff. The instructions tell you to build the wings next and a little interpretation from the ‘English’ instructions was needed. The construction is novel in that it’s not built flat on a plan - it can’t be. One, it’s a curved structure and two, there’s no plan. Assemble the ribs

onto the wing spar, glue the two trailing edge parts together and once set, wet the trailing edge unit and induce a curve by either tweaking, or in my case, placing a weight on the wing root end, putting a spacer under the tip end and then, using small weights, ease a curve into the trailing edge and letting it dry. A permanent curved ‘set’ in the wood is the result, following the curve of the mainspar. Do the same with the wing sheeting, remembering that the sheets are both top and bottom and any curve set into the balsa must be ‘handed’ left or right.

“I don’t know if it’s something innate, but I do like curved shapes, especially when rendered into model form”

Curved dihedral presents a little challenge, easily sorted by making a simple support jig from bits of scrap wood.

November 2023 | www.modelflying.co.uk

RCM&E | 11

I was reluctant to clip all the bits together ‘in the air’ and then wick cyano into all the joints as it seemed a recipe for warping. The slots in the trailing edge were a tad too tight for easy rib fitting so I eased them with a fine file.

Finally admitting that l needed a third hand, I assembled a simple jigging support from a few spare bits and pieces of scrap wood, then rested the curved spar and trailing edge on them for (in my mind) a more accurate build. It worked for me.

Adding the ribs, spars, sheeting and leading edge as per the instructions resulted in a satisfyingly rigid wing panel and the second was assembled in the same manner.

Wing tip parts are thinner than the tip rib W12, so I dampened and eased them over a felt marker body to form an undercamber. Once dry a reinforcing scrap balsa 3mm leading edge was glued on and the tips attached to the wing ends before final sanding. The solid aluminium main wing joiner simply slides into place and the wooden dowel rear joiner is glued in place in one of the wing halves. Finally, epoxy glue the root ribs W0 in place, ensuring that there’s a small tilt to them; this allows the locating tabs to fit into the fuselage former C2. The notes don’t mention the angle and I forgot that it was needed and so I had to cut and re-glue the parts to fit properly; a minor annoyance.

Finish the wings with your chosen covering; I used transparent film. The curved dihedral (upwards) and rib curves (downwards) mean that wrinkles are impossible to avoid on the initial top covering. Careful use of the iron and easing of the film whilst adhering it will remove the wrinkles but it takes a bit of work.

By now it was apparent that this should NOT be a beginner’s first model. A third build perhaps, due to the slightly awkward wing construction and the ‘we assume you know what you’re doing’ instructions.

Wing root assembly before the final sheeting goes on. All straightforward stuff.

Oops! I didn’t allow for the rib tilt needed for the dihedral break and this is the result. A bit of judicious sawing and an epoxied ply filler sorted it.

Pre-curving the wingtips before gluing gives a tidier top surface.

FUSELAGE

This is a self-jigging structure and is very simple, providing you follow the notes and ‘ease’ the laser cut parts with sandpaper where the fit is too tight on the locating tab slots. It’s close to impossible to get it wrong and the sparse instructions and pictorial outline are enough to bring the structure together quickly.

One thing worth mentioning is the nose ring/motor mount. The notes say to sand the triangle nose reinforcement to fit the ring but mine didn’t need it. The fit was perfect and only needed epoxy to glue it in place. Even motor downthrust is taken care of by the angled lasercut fuselage side.

“By now it was apparent that this should NOT be a beginner’s first model”

A bit of sanding was needed to make the tailplane slot fit the fuselage.

The preferred motor is a nominal ‘2212’ in the notes, a 22mm diameter outrunner of 1400kV. That equates almost perfectly to the Multiplex Roxxy C22-20-20. I could find none in stock anywhere in the UK, or any other equivalent 22mm dia. units available. I did find a 28mm diameter Overlander motor in my ‘waiting to be used’ drawer and it just fitted in the nose, with care taken to keep the power ‘tails’ away from the outrunner’s rotating body. The 2822/27 1200kV Tornado Thumper is rated at a maximum 85W, more than enough for this

DATAFILE Name: Model type: Manufactured by: Available from:

RRP: Wingspan: Length: Weight: Rec. power system:

Functions (servos):

1 | RCM&E

La Senorita Electric glider Bluesky Airmodels 4-Max Models https://www.4-max.co.uk/ aircraft-ba-la-senorita.htm £149.99 1500mm (59”) 970mm (38.2”) 570g (1.25 lbs) PO-2830 motor, 4M-HESC30A ESC, 9 x 6 folding prop, 2S 800mAh or 2S 1000mAh LiPo Elevator (1), rudder (1), throttle (ESC)

Fuselage part assembled. It’s all self-jigging but the laser-cut slots needed some ‘easing’ to fit properly.

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

TESTING, TESTING | Electric glider

A 22mm diameter motor is recommended but my spare 28mm Thumper fitted just right, taking care to protect the motor tails from the rotating body.

Above: I used simple ‘hairy hinge’ strips cyanoed in place. Perfectly adequate and they haves not shifted, even in a bouncy landing.

Right: Supplied T-nuts were not useable. I fitted my own M3 units and used nylon screws to secure the wing trailing edge. Even a rough-n-tumble landing didn’t get them to ‘let go’!

When fitted the pushrod outers form a curve through the fuselage side which makes the supplied fibreglass pushrods ‘stick’. Replace with 1.0 to 1.2mm dia. piano wire and the problem is solved.

model at its likely weight of well under 1kg.

A 30A ESC was sufficient to provide the power from a 1600mAh 2S LiPo, chosen for low power testing, driving a 9”x 4” folding propeller. The motor power with this battery is probably only around 50W at most. The nose was sanded to a profile that blended into a 40mm dia. spinner. Despite a larger than recommended motor and battery the model balanced 5mm in front of the recommended C of G point.

(Since this is one of the Bluesky Airmodels kits stocked by 4-Max Models, a recommended motor set has been worked out to suit La Senorita: https:// www.4-max.co.uk/aircraft-ba-la-senorita.htm)

FINISHING

Unusually, there are no control horns or control surface hinges supplied with the kit. I dug around in my shed drawers and unearthed some ‘hairy hinge’ Mylar strip, a pair of spare 20mm horns and a pair of pushrod end stoppers to fit into the horns. I opted to use my own 1mm wire pushrods instead of the 2mm fibreglass rod supplied. The pushrod exits in

It’s clenching time! Casting the little lovely out over the Peak District landscape.

November 2023 | www.modelflying.co.uk

Left: The finished structure before covering starts. Nice, innit?

the fuselage rear demand relatively tight curves that make the original fibreglass rods drag in the outer tube, but 1mm wire is adequately rigid and slides through more easily. Z-bends at the servo arms give simple no-slop, minimally intrusive connections. I opted to use cheap 12g metal gear servos. A bit of overkill but they were going spare. You would normally fit 9g servos but do stay with metal geared units.

The hinges were slid into slots cut into the tail feathers, with thick cyano used to adhere them after first completing the covering. You could also pin the hinges in place as ‘belt and braces’ fixings but this is a low-stress model when in flight and I felt that pinning was

unnecessary. The control deflections were set at the maximum left and right rudder possible between the elevator halves, with 8mm up and down elevator. I did allow for dual rates by setting 60% of the ‘normal’ settings as the rudder is large.

The final all up weight, ready to fly, was 640g.

FLYING

I bet you came here first! On a low wind day of around 7mph I pitched up at a local slope and plugged in the LiPo, all the other fettling having been done prior to leaving home. A quick check of the three functions proved all was well and the ‘La Senorita’ was pushed out into the breeze.

Trim was a little out, needing a bit of up elevator to counter the slightly nose heavy balance, but a few chirps of up trim sorted that.

A little right rudder was needed too. Out it went quite happily whilst the trim was sorted for the prevailing conditions and once neutral on the sticks the power was eased on. In all honesty it didn’t alter the flight much as the 2S battery wasn’t enough for much more than a slow climb. A patch of sink proved that the model wouldn’t rise out of it, barely keeping its height.

Oh dear! A difficult landing shows up a fuselage weakness.

A second visit to the slope with a 3S battery of around 1000mAh proved to be much better. With 30g less nose weight the C of G was spot on the recommended position and a launch into a 7 to 8mph breeze had the model climbing gradually away from the slope edge.

Using the outrunner proved that the 3S battery suits the Thumper motor well, as using around 75% power gave the ‘La Senorita’ a steady climb. I’ve no doubt that this would be a good combination for flat field flying.

Being only a rudder/elevator controlled model doesn’t appear to be a drawback as the ‘La Senorita’ is responsive and easy to pilot. At one point I’d got to ‘just about see it’ height and decided to quit the lift and dive down to start the process again. A little down elevator and a smidge of left rudder had the model diving fast for the deck and at a few tens of feet I eased off

Blast! My mistake. I used cyano for the joint and it couldn’t stand the poor arrival on Mother Earth. It has since been repaired and reinforced, a simple job.

the elevator, straightened the model and let it zoom up before a touch of ‘down’ settled her into low level lift again. That tested my doubts about the strength of the wing joiner!

After some twenty minutes of enjoying the invigorated young lady, I called ‘landing right’ and brought the model back in for what I thought was a reasonably good arrival, just clipping a small sedge grass clump with a wing and spinning the model round. Walking across to collect it I could see damage to the fuselage, behind the wing. Closer inspection revealed that the ‘whip’ of spinning the model round had broken the fuselage across the lightening holes and the cyanoed fuselage join - an area with a built-in weakness. If you build this model, I recommend reinforcing the fuselage inside, across that hole and the fuselage glue join, strengthening it with at least 1/32’’ (0.8mm) plywood.

Once repaired - a simple job - I returned to the slope side in similar minimal conditions and thoroughly enjoyed myself with this pretty model. Over several flights I’ve found it to be better in flight than I’d expected, always a bonus. It has thermalled ‘from the flat’ and likes slope breezes of 7mph up to around 15 mph. The fuselage reinforcement has been tested in a couple of ‘clump collisions’, proving that the minimal reinforcement across the glue joint was all that was needed. The curved dihedral gets many favourable comments, as does the curvaceous shape. I’ve a feeling I now have my new ‘go-to’, leave it in the car model, as it fits nicely on the back seat.

If you brave the instructions and build this model, I have no doubt that, like me, you’ll find that it will become a firm all-round favourite.

All primped and polished, ready for the dance.‘La Senorita’ is as pretty as a picture.

4 | RCM&E

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

Manx Queen on a fly by at the Pontefract Fly-In.

A MIXED BAG Shaun Garrity offers up a selection box of retro aeromodelling topics words & photos » Shaun Garrity 16 | RCM&E

www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

RETRO RAMBLINGS | Column

Several early model books had designs for mechanical tachometers.

W

ell, yet again I failed miserably trying to best everybody with my mystery item; maybe I should rename it my patently obvious item. For those of you who didn’t know, it was an early tuning fork tachometer. The one featured was manufactured by O.S. from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, I believe. To use it the handle was placed on the cylinder head when the engine was running. One of the tines would vibrate and the rpm could be read off the scale. The O.S. versions were reasonably accurate and proved a useful tool when optimising propellers for peak engine performance.

A home-built version was described in the 1950 Aeromodeller Annual but used a slightly different concept. This rev-counter was designed to be fixed to your engine test stand, leaving your hands free to adjust the needle valve, compression or timing (for spark motors) as required. It was simply a foot long piece of 1/4” aluminium square section or round tube with 20 holes drilled 3/8” apart and lengths of 20 SWG piano wire inserted. To get an accurate base line you gripped a piece of piano wire in pliers then held it in the field of an old 240v 50 Hz transformer coil, adjusting the length until it vibrated at its maximum deflection. This length corresponded to 6000rpm. You then applied a simple bit of maths to calculate the other lengths required to get the range of rpm readings desired and fixed them permanently into the bar.

A blast from the past. This analogue display tachometer by Skyleader worked well.

November 2023 | www.modelflying.co.uk

O.S. tuning fork tachometer which was last column’s mystery item.

This simple tach was detailed in the Aeromodeller Annual.

A more complex version that needed a greater degree of engineering skill was featured in the Model Aero Engine Encyclopaedia. It looked like a spinner with a clear Perspex dome. Inside it had a weighted spring that would fly out as the rpm increased, not unlike a governor on a steam engine or a flyball actuator. To calibrate you used an electric motor of known rpm and attached the device to the shaft. The spring would move as the revs increased and you could then scribe a mark on the dome as a known reference point.

A few radio manufacturers sold add-on tachometers that plugged directly into the transmitter of their higher end sets.

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Maths and engineering - the hobby was very different back then.

One email I received referenced a tachometer that looked like an X-Acto modelling knife handle with a wire that slid in and out. I’m assuming you placed one end on the engine and extended the rod until it started resonating. There was a scale from which you could read off the rpm. It sounds a bit like a vibrating slide-rule; remember them?

Electronics and optical sensors made things much easier for modellers. Various handheld units became available operated by simply pointing them at the propeller and as the prop blade spun past the sensor it counted the revs and displayed them on an analogue or digital display. Some radio manufacturers such as Multiplex (and I believe Futaba) even had a facility where you could plug an optional handheld sensor into the Tx and get the rpm reading on the display.

A lot of readers emailed in with the correct answer, but Bruce Porteous was the only person to get the manufacturer. Well done.

PONTEFRACT SINGLE CHANNEL & RETRO FLY-IN

Well, we’ve had a 10-year run where Zeus played nice and only occasionally stopped play for a short time. We must have really upset him this year as the weather was dire, but it still didn’t stop hard core retrophiles turning up. In between the showers we flew, having to contend with a brisk wind, but there were many flights taken on the day.

The theme this year was Ken Willard models and some great examples turned up. Some of the smaller designs were too light for the conditions but the Gassers of Phil Green and Paul Jeffries hit the sky, along with a School Master. Ken designed a number of seaplanes and Stuart Mackay elected to fly his mini Willard wonder, although I’m sure he regretted it. Stuart is known to many UK modellers for his range of radial Mackay four stroke petrol engines and Airworld large scale kits.

My old faithful Lightning laughs at wind so I managed a few flights. The model was a Pro-Plan feature in April 2020 RCM&E and

A more complex version featured in the Model Aero Engine Encyclopaedia.

was modified from its original single channel rudder only beginnings to be an e-powered semi scale jet with tailerons, rudder and throttle using a tractor prop set up.

Mark Deans has become a bit of a master in converting control line models to R/C. Interestingly he rarely makes modifications to the original design other than adding control surfaces and making sure both wings are the same length. (For C/L having a slightly longer inboard wing with a lump of lead in the outboard wingtip helped maintain line tension.) Now, there’s a man who likes a challenge. Last year he brought along a Veron

Bomb Bat combat wing and this year a classic KeilKraft Phantom put in an appearance.

Speaking with Mark, he informed me he is on a mission to go through the Keil Kraft control line back catalogue and convert as many as possible to R/C. He also has a shoulder wing KK Student, originally designed as a trainer for 6 - 12 channel Reeds, in the build queue so I would image he will be very busy for the rest of the year. Mark flew several relatively small models on the day exhibiting great piloting skill in abysmal conditions and was the worthy winner of this year’s ‘Spirit of Single Channel’ cup.

My ‘old faithful’ Lightning didn’t let me down and it coped well with the less than perfect conditions.

The windsock assumed this position for most of the day at our Single Channel & Retro Fly-In.

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www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023

RETRO RAMBLINGS | Column

Fellow scribe Tim Hooper made the trip to our retro modelling Valhalla with a carload of models. He flew a very appropriately named model, a 1949 Ron Aarons designed ‘Windy Ain’t It’. I also had a chance to see the R/C carb he made and featured in his August RCM&E column. Now, if only I had a lathe, I could be inspired to have a go myself and convert some of my old control line PAW engines so they can be repurposed for R/C use.

Rob Day put in some impressive flights with his Moonglow, originally designed by Mike Birch, and another model I featured as a Pro-Plan in RCM&E November 2018. This late 1960s pattern ship is a great performer, good looking and would make an excellent retro aerobatic contender or club hack.

We still managed to run a spot landing comp but to be fair the spot was replaced with a small tarpaulin and to save models disappearing downwind we allowed judicious use of throttle on the approach before gliding in. Thinking nobody would be any closer than a country mile away, Sod’s Law came into play and the first pilot, Brian Cullen landed on the big spot. This was a tad demotivating for all the other entrants and his result wasn’t matched, but fun was had by all. If you need confirmation of the wind strength we had to battle with just have a look at the photo of the windsock at the start of my report - it’s horizontal and was like that for most of the day. Retro and Single Channel modellers are a hardy bunch!

Mike and Sarah from Retro Modeller returned and had a vast selection of new stock, plus some vintage and retro new-old stock kits. The weather ensured their tent was full of modellers most of the day and supporting the UK modelling trade by spending.

The event turned into a brilliant social do as we spent a lot of time sheltering in the club house discussing all things modelling. Tobe Kallner, over from Sweden, and Mike Kitchen were demonstrating their latest fully home built radio called the MiTo. This truly is an outstanding achievement and looks like an off the shelf commercial set.

Mark Dean’s R/C converted Veron Bomb Bat performs well and is basically the same as the original control line model.

This Keil Kraft Phantom control liner has had the same treatment by Mark. Amazing performance considering the wind. His plan is to go through the KK back catalogue of C/L designs and give them the same treatment.

Unfortunately not all the Ken Willard models could fly on the day.But I’m sure we’ll see them at our next event.

Some modellers were better prepared for the weather, bringing their own hangars!

Fellow scribe Tim Hooper turned up with this appropriately named model.

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Rob Day’s Moonglow put on several spirited displays. Considering it was designed in the late 1960s it still makes a cracking pattern ship.

Tobe designed and 3D printed the case, sticks, auxiliary controls, servos, Rx and servo PCBs, with Mike sorting out the servo and encoder electronics, the firmware within the nRF transmitter module and Rx based on Phil Green’s lock down project Tx and Rx. It didn’t just happen and has taken Tobe, Mike and Phil several years of testing, tweaking and redesigning the various elements to get where they are today. A sizeable number of sets have now had hundreds of hours of flight testing and it’s fair to say they are performing equally as well as commercial offerings. It just shows what shed dwellers can achieve.

Not resting on his laurels, I understand that Tobe has recently designed a micro six channel nRF Rx and micro servo to work with the MiTo transmitter.

KWIK FLY 3

The final chapter…

Hooray! I finally got there and the mouse vandalised aircraft has flown. I seriously underestimated the effort required as most of the damage was hidden under the film and, on first inspection, I never expected to almost fully recover it. However, it’s been an enjoyable and relatively inexpensive journey to get a classic aircraft back into the sky.

A job I initially missed was the rudder, which was bent thanks to a crack in the frame so it needed stripping, repairing and recovering.

It was easily removed as the hinges were pinned not glued. It could have been ready for our retro event but after seeing the weather forecast I decided my time would be better spent on other projects and test flying models in windy conditions isn’t high on my list of favourite things.

I did have a minor concern about using a .46 engine, even though it was at the lower end of recommended motors. But the Mk.3 Irvine (with red crankcase) is a powerful little beast and is probably equivalent to a 1960s Enya 60 or O.S. 61. Anyway, I had a back-up plan if it was lacking as I believe the Irvine 53 version has the same bolt holes etc.

From 1967 this Les Rudd designed Go-Jet handled the wind well and still looks like it was designed yesterday. Here it’s being prepped for another sortie.

Brian Cullen hit the spot (tarpaulin) on his first attempt. A tad demotivating for the other entrants but very well done in the windy conditions. Great piloting.

The good news is it that flew well but I needed to remember these old school aerobatic models were never intended to prop hang etc. and you must fly the manoeuvres smoothly, maintaining inertia. The barn door sized ailerons are very effective and give an impressive roll rate. Overall, it is a great aircraft

that sits well in the air. I will play around with prop sizes to eek the maximum amount of go juice from the engine in the coming weeks.

My only regret was not replacing the wingtips with soft balsa block because, as is the case with many ARTF models, the way they are constructed makes the tips look like a starved horse.

Pete Christy brought along a carload of vintage helicopters (above and right) all the way from Cornwall. These aren’t hangar queens and all are regularly flown.

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www.modelflying.co.uk | November 2023