Radio controlled model world april 2016

FREE PULLOUT

DH60 MOTH

COMMEMORATE AMY JOHNSON WITH ‘JASON’, HER FAMOUS BIPLANE

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APRIL 2016

R/C PLAN

WORTH £13.50

T-28 Trojan Assembling Seagull’s new ARTF for a popular military trainer

BEBOP 2

DER JÄGER D.IX A NEAR 1:6 SCALE MODEL OF

A STYLISH US HOME-BUILT BIPE

SHORT STIRLING

PILOTING PARROT’S UPGRADED CAMERA QUAD WITH FISHEYE OPTICS

KEEP IT LEGAL

READ THE BMFA’S ADVICE ON THE SAFE FLYING OF DRONES Issue 387 £4.50

PART 2 - FINISHING & FLYING A 1:10 SCALE RAF BOMBER

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82 FRONT COVER

North American Aviation’s T-28 Trojan was a piston-engined military trainer used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy. Recent moulded foam models of the chunky aeroplane have given it renewed popularity among R/C model pilots but built up versions have been less readily available – until now! J Perkins, the distributor of Seagull Models, have sent us their 63 inch span ARTF kit to review and Neville Hill was given the task of putting it together. You can read the first part of his review, starting on page 16

REGULARS 6

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LIGHT FLIGHT

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DIARY DATES

SHOP WINDOW

TROJAN T-28

In the first of a two-part review Neville Hill takes the lid off a chunky box from Seagull Models and assembles their new version of the popular military trainer

BEBOP 2

We fly the latest version of Parrot’s camera drone and Skycontroller combo to see what improvements have been made to an already competent package.

If in-flight stability is top of your list for aerial film work then this one is hard to beat!

SPY HAWK

Here’s another updated FPV camera package but this time it’s fitted to a model aeroplane! John Stennard gets a cockpit view of proceedings when he tests out a new version of Hubsan’s Spy Hawk camera plane

FEATURES

Our event calendar is filling up nicely with spring and summer model flying shows, club sales and flying competitions

REVIEWS

John Stennard continues his quest to master indoor flying with FPV goggles

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SOARERS’ SLOT

Mike Proctor found himself ‘home alone’ on Christmas morning, so what better way to spend the time than to nip out for a quick thermal soaring session! He also test flies a second-hand Sapphire 2M glider

R/C model flying news and views A look at the latest R/C products

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SCALE SOARING

Chris Williams shows how to add a ‘moustache’ to your vintage scale glider – a.k.a. a folding electric propeller! And he relates the maiden flights of chum, Smallpiece’s, Bergfalke and his own Slingsby Eagle

Gray is still to reveal what’s in store for SC enthusiasts this month but we are sure it will be packed full of retro and sporting topics

PRE FLIGHT TAKE OFF

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105 THE SPORT CHANNEL

Introducing this issue

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TURNING & BURNING

Dave Wilshere logs in for an occasional column dedicated to turbine and petrol powered models, turning big props and burning jet fuel

APRIL 2016 • ISSUE #387

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LITTLE HINTS

We are always on the look out for nuggets of information from readers’ workshops and Bill Bowne is one of our regular contributors on workshop hints and tips. Here’s another selection of Bill’s building ideas. If you have any model building time-savers and want to share the limelight with Bill then please send them to: rcmw@traplet.com

SHORT STIRLING

Robin Fowler adds the finishing touches and test flies his large but lightweight four-engined model of the somewhat forgotten RAF bomber

RCMW GROUP BUILD

Does your model club or association hold a group build project on a regular basis? Or maybe you and your flying chums are interested in having a go but have not found the right model to build? Take a look at this fabulous offer from the Traplet Plans Service and we hope that you will find a model that fits the bill for a mass build between you and your clubmates

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KEEP IT LEGAL WITH DRONES

April is Drone Awareness month in a joint initiative between the Civil Aviation Authority and the British Model Flying Association.

In this article Manny Williamson of the BMFA looks at the legal requirements for multirotor aircraft equipped with cameras

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DE HAVILLAND GYPSY MOTH ‘JASON’

Roger Vaughn revisits his 3-channel park fly version of this delightful vintage aircraft to replicate Amy Johnson’s famous biplane ‘Jason’

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DER JÄGER D.IX

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A WW1-style American homebuild from the 1970’s is modelled at near 1/6th scale by Laddie Mikulasko for four function R/C and a 300 – 500 W electric motor

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NUREMBERG TOY FAIR – PART TWO

We return to the German toy and hobby show to reveal a final batch of potential new R/C model kits and products that could find their way into a model shop somewhere near you in 2016

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ON WITH THE SHOW

Dave Bishop has a flashback to an overnight dream of an experience at his Plumpton ‘Family Model & Craft Show’ over 30 years ago...

104 WINGS & WHEELS COMPETITION

Win tickets to visit the much loved R/C modelling spectacular at North Weald airfield in Essex in June

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In Part 2 of Robin Fowler’s plan feature for the Short S29 bomber, he completes the build and takes to the skies with the large 1:10 scale, 118" span four motor model

AT A GLANCE WINGSPAN: LENGTH: MOTORS: ESC: RX REGULATOR: FLIGHT BATTERY: PROPS: WEIGHT: CONSTRUCTION:

118" (3 m) 101½" (2.58 m) Four TowerPro TP 3520 670 KV brushless outrunners Four 40 A ESC One 8 A UBEC Two 3S 4000 mAh LiPo Four 15" x 8" 3-bladed wooden props 20 lb (9 kg) approx.)

Balsa and liteply

Robin’s Stirling awaits its first flight

The tail is off the ground... but the model isn’t moving yet!

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The flaps are working in the air for the first time

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n Part 1 we described the model concept and basics, with some detail of the build, commencing with the undercarriage and tips for construction, selecting materials and covering. A disk with the fully documented build instructions and construction photos accompany the plan so there is no need to go into great detail. To complete the model we first need to finish off the covering and detail the model.

Finishing Generally speaking I do not spend a lot of time and effort on detail work as I reckon to build only sufficiently for my models to look right in the air. Hence my attention to lightness so it isn’t flying at speeds a Spitfire would have been hard pressed to match. But the outlines are as close to scale as I can get them so I am hoping that some of you with more patience than I have will set to and show the rest of us how it ought to be done.

On the covering, however, I did spend a few ounces. Camouflaged models do not look right in gloss finishes (especially at the early end of the war) so I went back to Diatex (the basis for Solartex, but without the glue and paint), which I glued on with PVA. The drying time can be shortened by using a heat gun or an iron, both of which will shrink the material.

The iron was particularly useful at corners or overlap points.

Painting was done in emulsion paints bought in tester pots to RAL standard colours at the local DIY store and the underside took an entire pot of black.

It took me just under a year to have the Stirling ready for its first flight and static testing of the retract system had not yet proved it reliable, so I left that part of the design to be tested later.

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FEATURE PLAN

Testing First Flights First things first – will the model fly? A partial record of this flight is on my YouTube channel (scan the QR Code at the end of the article with your smart device), which shows the taxi tests, first take-off and circuit. What is not recorded is the actual landing. Unfortunately, although I had not attempted to retract the undercarriage the tiny movement at switch on had taken the left wheel out of its over-centre locking position and the moment weight was fully on it that side started to sag. I, and a couple of others, went to its aid and carried it back to the pits. That was my first learning experience with the landing gear!

But had it flown well enough? Yes indeed!

From lift-off it had needed a lot of down elevator to keep the nose down but aside from a couple of ticks of aileron that was it.

The steepness of the climb-out told me she had plenty of power and the airspeed was gratifyingly slow. Response in turn and bank was excellent. This had been evident when with only about five feet of altitude on finals a side gust came through a gap in the nearby bushes and tipped her over to a 30 degree bank. Even at low speed I recovered from that without alarm.

A further learning experience came a few weeks later. I had in the meantime fitted the gear doors and was relying on springs to hold them open once they had been pushed open by the wheels. One of the limitations of my gear design is that in order to be able to put the gear down for landing it has to complete its retraction cycle and operate the end stop switch. So when the airflow pushed one of the doors, so as to obstruct the retraction sequence, although the other leg still operated happily there was nothing I could do to unjam the stuck one. I had to aim for the long grass and hold the dodgy leg off as long as possible.

Even with that ignominious end to what had otherwise been a good flight I was pleased with progress. The motor driving the stuck leg had spent too long stalled and ran slower than the other thereafter, but I knew I needed pushrods to hold the gear doors open, so I did the modification.

I was also pleased that the general arrangement of the Stirling design meant that even in a belly landing the props (scale-sized, three-blade, home-made modified wooden jobs) were held clear of the ground and suffered no damage.

A steep angle of climb shows plenty of power

Small Modifications I took the opportunity to change the original wooden tie bars at the fold point of the forward legs for brass inverted ‘L’ sheet. This allowed me to provide a pin at each end to act as hinge pins making the hinges of the doors almost totally friction free. The pushrods I made in thin brass tube, inside which I ran 20 lb fishing trace wire that was flexible enough to do without ball and socket universal joints. A blob of all-purpose glue at each end fixes the connection positions so they don’t slide.

It can be a frustrating business trawling the Internet in search of miniature fittings and even if they are found the shock of the price can be considerable. Consequently I do take inordinate pleasure from devising simple solutions to problems like this using bits and

And she’s away into the blue www.rcmodelworld.com

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