RAN “GABE AN WUINICA\5 OUR FIRST EVER PLAN FEATURE, REVISITED! HEGRE INDOOR MASTERS AG | PS EROBATICS INSDE THE /| | 2 METRODOME ‘a4 jen DC-24 a K RREE TRANSMITTERS IN O THREE DECADES OF RC MODEL WORLD URS eed Cae eM ILE Uta oli Tey Reem —_7) HOBBYPLASTIC co.uk RADIO | AIRCRAFT | HELIS | ENGINES | MATERIALS YOUR ONE-STOP ONLINE HOBBY SHOP saath ASPET ae ee ee occ kL ae cy dale ara UC BPC pee TD aa cles TrenTyy PiLot-Rc a POTENZA . p= Perret eet sarms la aoe Faye @ pod ptt eee CSC PREC EU N RTMO A RELL ert SCOT} ee cle Be) Palos cx Pace ACGREGOR erate 4 Prarie eer) rst * eli er a ee ee Serr) eres ie sl ean se KER Sea Neen Voltage Servo tesa ct Paya SANWA eran eis) tig POS cua ae Pea crea Pre Urry Co Be ro Cry Y De Cd vo £32.95 Mame £34.95 Bpawo £69.95 oo , WM Extra 26050E WMMX270EV2 WMSlick36070E Hacker Super Zoom roe Ea) Cin CT BW CCD) Prag Perri) Pree) pas = Bri} hf) emer s Te >— pt. hy Fm am CES CCT Tc ern eed VST D} ena Penn Lee £39. s| Ez. s £94.95 pao S VISA VISA “es B PayPal Tel: 01628 760433 | Email: sales@hobbyplastic.co.ukTONY MIJHUIS- ‘Tony Nijhuis Designs’ designs Buying direct trom Tony Nijhuis Designs Ltd you can be assured of a quality service, aoked'up by a knowtedgesbie team of passionate aero macoliare ng TonyNijhuisDesigns.co.uk Phone Orders- 07563 518159 130 Span Lancaster ese ee im) i im lao) Pa 7 | ADMINGWINGSNWHEELS NET Licenced Catering TELEPHONE: 01242 604126 + Camp Site For Weekend Stays @WNWMODSPEC Ejlwings-wheels-Model-Spectacular‘WINGSPAN, 75" (1676 0m) unent 11/2" (18 waicHt: 85-100 (285-4541g) RADIO FUNCTIONS: Theat, Ailorons Clvatr, Rudder, Flap BASIC CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS: Bal, Ply Spc Horwood (Ege Bars) COVERING. MATERIAL: Solan CENTRE OF oRAVIN: 4¢ (121 ean) fromm Laing Ede CONTROL THROWS: Aeron +/-5/8" (1310) later: sv) gdor:4- 194" (4445 mm) ENGINERANGE: 00-0 cin furs, 90-120 cu in fourstcke ENGINE USED: Maginin. 1S ¥ interes in the Minicab goes back fo 1975 when | nad a one hour fightin prototype G-AVWEP from BAE Samlesbury airfield wth bulder Stan Jackson. This aeroplane vas builtin Stan's ‘garage and transferred tothe then B.A.C. ‘rodrome for final assembly prior to being test flown by Roland Beaumont, who was B.A.C’'s Director of Flight Operations at the time. Following my fight with Stan, Itook a roll of black and white fim from all angles of the aeroplane, thinking that this prototype ‘would make a good scale model inthe future. Fired with enthusiasm, | contacted J, W. G. Ord-Hume, the aircraft designer and he 16 The Minical scot sent me a few general arrangement plans fom which | produced 15th scale drawings, Giving a span of 60 in for my ageing HE. 61 However, the project was shelved while | built ‘a Dennis Bryant Tiger Moth and 18 months passed by. In 1981, the Britsh Aerospace MAAC. at \Werton held @ social evening in the form of ‘an auction with quest speaker, Stan Jackson talking about bulding and fying his Minicab. ‘The lalk was illustrated with slides and a flen ofthe test fights and afterwards | arranged to meet Stan at his home to discuss the aera in more detail. The result was that leame away with a fl set of plans and a couple excellent subject for wale of colour sides to help with the final colour scheme, I started drawing the plans late in 1984 and as | had recently acquired an OS.61 FSR, cided to increase the scale to 14, giving a wingspan of 75". Several evenings were spent thumbing trough thity-odd sheets of plans and it soon became obvious that a very accurate mode! plan could be produced, with onstruction almost identical to the fll size However, with the relatvely short nose the medel would have tobe as ight ae possible ‘to maintain a 30% C of G.Iwill be seen thatthe basic structure is quite straightionward and it should not offer too many problems to a modeller with average experience. One or two points require a litle more attention, such as forming the cockpit eanopy and frame, the undercamage oleos and mounting brackets land the Iho plate engine cowings: these ‘can be treated in atermatve ways with similar satisfactory results, eg. the canopy need not be hinged and opening and would be much ‘simpler to make and less time consuming if fed The undercarriage could be the standard torsion bar type with sight modifications to the wing structure and the engine cowiing Gen black end ie pictures, which hee ben scan fo Fumclage construction nearing completion Could be of built-up balsa ply construction ‘conscious effort was made to keep the weight down as | am a great believer in the ‘ld saying the heavier they ae, the harder they fll and lighter wing loading always makes for a more pleasurable fying model As the mode! progressed, | monitored the ‘weight at various stages of construction and itappeared thatthe overall weight was going to be in the region of 8%9 I, giving a very respectable wing loading. However, 26 | started adding scale detail the weight crept Up and a check of the C of G indicated that approximately 12 ounces of nose ballast was required | cslike carrying ballast and as Uhad recently acquired a Magnum 91 four fuel tank Apologies forthe corgi magavine article SEN ‘stroke weighing around 30 ounces, in it went. bringing the C of G to 30% but taking the total weight up to 10 ib. eel that ifthe model vas built with ‘sport scale in mind the steerable tall whoo! ‘assembly could be replaced with 8 ighter fone, the servos and receiver could be ‘ited further forward in the cockpit area, the undercarriage could be simplified and therefore ghtened etc, thus shifting the C of Gand pormittng a lighter engine and an all up weight nearer 8%-9 1b Fuset ‘As stated previously construction is not {00 siffeult and in most areas itis quite ‘wacitional, with square section spruce longerons, ply doublers and balsa spacers, all held together vith simple balsa or ply formers, The front bulkhead is @ stout /4° ply former with hardwood engine bearers Supported in formers C1-C3 and C4, wich also locates the wing dowels. The front ‘owing is laminated from balsa, which is bul up onto Nt and keyed onto the front ofthe tengine bearers. The engine bearers divide the cowling area equally to give ample space for any engine combination, with the port side Used forthe fuel tank. “The original plan was to use a 14 oz tank for the 61 but as the Magnum was more ‘economical a 10 02 tank was installed. For fiting engines requiring 2 siencer there is ample space to ft a remote box under the engine and against the bulkhead, but | have found wih the Magnum that a remote silencer was almost inefectve except at low rpm when the idle was very quiet, so | have ‘Simply extended the standard exhaust pipe to ‘it through the cowing in the scale position ‘The turtle deck aft ofthe cockpit bul up using formers and ‘/4"x 1/8" balsa stringers, but ather than cut the formers from sheet balsa, which would have been expensive and heavy, | laminated them using strips of 1/16" {cl balsa around a row of pins closely ‘spaced around the former profile over te pian, in a similar method to that used for wing ‘Sp profies etc. “The engine cowings on my prototype are formed from.012" Itho plate and hinged at the centresine giving good access to the fengine and fuel system. The lower engine owing is not hinged but is removable after releasing four screws, although thisis rarely necessary ‘As mentoned previously a built-up cowing ‘ould be produced using the front and rear ‘owing formers as supports fora 1/32" ply cover, with suitable bracing ofthe two formers. i vould suggest thatthe lower ‘owing could be permanently fed, with the Upper removable in either one or two pieces, spit on the nose centre-ne. With a fixed lower cowling the instalation of a Magnum, Complete with exhaust pipe, is ricky but possible. ‘The fini conventional and integral with the fuselage structure. The 1/16" sheet alsa immediately above the tailplane centre-ine mustnot be added untl afer the tailplane has been finally fixes. ‘The cockpit canopy was @ daunting task fas lintended to make ithinged, as per the prototype, and with a fimey supporting Structure | thought that t would be a rather weak assembly. However. this is not the ‘case, a8 once the acotate sheet is fixed into positon, the assembly becomes quite strong, wirw romedetwerld.com 17‘The canopy frames are laminated from 1/16" balsa and 1182" cross grain ply of the corect ‘with, in a similar fashion © the ture deck formers. The top lamination is of balsa in order to sand itto the corect shape for the ‘acetate sheet o be fixed to, The frames were then assembled into positon on the fuselage and the sprice braces added. The acetate sheet isa fat wrap around the framework and found, by laying the sheet over the framework and applying heat careful with ‘a heat gun, the curved shape could be pre: formed before sticking it dovm using Evostk ‘The 1/4" py wing mounting plates are fixed 18 www remedetwortd com into the comers of the wing bay and braced back to the fiselage doublers with 1/5" py gussets. With the wing setin positon on the fuselage and the wing mounting dowels located, the mounting plates are marked through the wing fking holes. The wing ts then remove and the holes driled and tapped into the piyood plates. have been using this method for many years and have never had a thread fallin plywood For a litte addtional egcury balsa cement ‘can be run into the threads and the nylon bolts screwed in, forcing the cement into the threads. When dry, the balsa cement forms @ hard skin on the threads and the bolt can be easly removed Wings Unlike the fusolage structure, which ascombles fairly quick, the wings are more ‘ume consuming due tothe Frise allerons and inset faps, The basic construction is quite Conventional, with two forward spruce spars, ‘wo balsa rear spars, a balsa leading edge ‘ith top and bottom sheeting and plywood braces front and rear. The wing panels are assembled onto the centre section over a jig inorder to achieve the corect dinedral angle and incidences before the leading edge sheeting is added The slots in the plywood wing braces are then adjusted to allow the braces to bo cropped in rom the underside, once the ‘framework has been lifted from the jg | prefer to laminate my own wing braces using 1/6" plywood and Resin W white glue No problems should be experienced with the flaps as long as the hinges are free and the contol rode and bell-cranks operate correcty before the sheeting is added. The aileron hinges are home-made from 1/16" Tufnol board, brass tube and 10 BA sores, nuts and washers. The Tufnol leaves. of the hinges must be accurately made and fited using tempiates to ensure that the hinge pine are in the corect position. The seme applies to the fixed part of the hinge inthe alerons, otherwise the Frise acton vill not function correctly and the alerons may bind agains the traling edge of the ‘wing, This method may sound unnecessarily complicated butin practoe it works very well land ensures an accurate aileron location, ‘Due tothe Frise alerans the outboard ‘railing edges are of unusual construction, vith hard 1/16" Balsa sheeting on the top surface and 1/64" Miralyte plywood to form ‘he double curvature on the under surface. A ‘template is made from thin card to represent the 1164" ply and this is held in place over re double curve underside ofthe ribs using female formers from sorap 1/8" plywood at teach nib postion. The card is clamped using bulldog clips between the nibs atthe rear spar postions and atthe talling edge the card is clamped tothe 1/16" balsa ina simitar ‘When this assembly has been completed land the card timmed to ft perfect, the ‘template is used to cut the 1/64" ply pieces ang the whole assembly is rebuilt using white glue. The buit up ailerons are simple to bul although care mustbe taken when shaping the soft balsa leading edge to achieve the correct chape for matcning the wing taling edge at al aileron angles The closed loop aileron control system is. similar in operation tothe ful size using 60 Ib breaking strain plastic covered fishing trace in aluminium tube guides around the bends, terminating in clevises in the servo bay at the ving centre section. The clevises are attached tothe cables using small bore threaded adaptors (Kavan) super= glued and crimped in positon. Atte aileron fend the cable is passed through the control hom, doubled back, with an aluminium tube feruie super-glued over the cable ond, Underearriage ‘The torsion Bar undercarriage shown on the plan does not require any explanation The oleo system Is made from readilyavailable materials and requires a small ‘amount of machining work. The principle is {Quite simple, with a 8 SWWG UIC leg passing through a guide at the bottom of @ 318" dia ‘Stainless etbel tube and then through a ‘second floating guide towards the top ofthe tube. The top guide is retained with a spit pin above it and the leg i prevented from Fotating by a piano wire peg that passes through a diling in the UIC leg and rises in slots nthe 3/8" tube as the suspension works. “The suspension is created by @ spring of the desired stength, which is compressed Clone loop sytem tothe ‘contracted sp a whe between the top guide and the piano wire guide peg. The complete UIC legs are siver Soldered to mild steel brackets (20 SWG), \which are attached to the main spar bracing Using 10 mm Rawinuts. Rather than mount the UIC brackets directly to the wing bracing, some 1H” thick soft rubber was introduced between the bracket and bracing in order to give a ite forward and aft shock resistance. ‘The complete assembly can be dismantled by removing the spt pin, which helps when selecting the correct spring rate, and the pre-load on the spring can also be adjusted by introducing packing (sft rubber) washers | The cavemousfaselge makes fora simple and cany to get at rao installation between the top of the upper guide and the spit pin. ‘The machining operations beyond the scope of the average modellers workshop are turing the Tufnol ides, machining the slots in the tubes and dhiling the 6 SWWS LIC leg forthe peg, aliiough they are simple jobs for ‘a small machine shop or a model engineer. The tallp'ane is bultin wo halves, op and bottom, ands only joined after the 1/16 balsa sheeting has been added. Thisis a ‘simple and accurate method as the half ribs, ‘Spit on the horizontal centreline, can be ‘assembled flat on the bulging board with no need for jgging up the symmetical secon ‘Tho tps are laminated from 1/16" balsa and provided thatthe balsa is soaked in water fora few minutes before assembly the tight ‘curves are no problem. ly method isto laminate the ips over the plan before starting ‘ho main talprane elevator structure so that they can be trimmed to ft te main stucture 8 requites. All the laminations are glued Using an aliphatic or white glue and placed together in one operation and fixed around a rov of closely spaced pins on the plan ‘With the wet sandwich of balsa and glue, the laminations slide very easly to take the desired shape. When the top and botom of the talplane are complete they are glued and clamped together and given a final sending ‘The leading edge ofthe centre section has to be cut out and reinforced to ft the rear of the main fin spar. Both the elevators and the rudder are hinged using single point hinges, ‘epoxied into sockets formed in the baling ledge of the taplane and the leading edge fof the elevator and are not added unt after the model has been covered and painted, but immedataly before fuel proofing. “The combined elevator iner and horn (| used a SLEC one) must be installed before the 1/16" balsa side sheeting is added to the fir, immediately over the taplane centre ‘section and preferably connected tits Bowden cable before the tallplane is eld into positon. | had intended to cover the fuselage top {and sides in one piece of Solatex but unfortunately the rl isnot quite wide enough ‘and a join was made along the top fuselage stinger. The tailplane was covered before being fixed tothe fuselage, wit the area of Contact with the fuselage let uncovered, ‘The complete airframe was sprayed using yehice calulose and sufficient coats were ‘ded unti the surface texture was correct, ‘few ounces could have been saved with fewer coats of paint, and a skiled operator ‘would probably achieve an acceptable finish with fewer coats, ‘After the trim and registration letters had been brushed on using vehicle coach enamel the whole airrame was given a couple cof thinned coats of Tufeote. The contra surfaces were then hinged in postion and the whole airframe was given a futher two ‘tinned coats, Scale detail is @ mattor of personal choice land the use to which the model wil be put ‘wll dictate the amount of detail equired ‘The registration letters were hand painted using vehicle enamel witha card stencil of 19the whole registration taped in postion over the airframe. The outine ofthe letters were then drawn using a draughtsman’s ink pen (the adjustable blade type) and thinned paint Whistthe outine is stil wet the inside of the letter is brush painted and this then blends in with the outine. The trim stipes were added Using @ combination of penned outines and ‘masking using low tack masking fm Lithoplate is @ very useful material for scale ‘modellers and is available in 005" ang 12" thickness, Various items were made Using this material, e.g cockpit canopy and ‘window cover ames, access panels for fying controls, cable outet fangs ete. and these were all stuck down using double sided achesive tape. ‘useful source of miniature rivets, screws, ruts, washers, stainless ste! ube ete. is A Reeves (vnmwajreeves.com) Radio Installation ‘The radio compartment is huge, making the servo instalation simple. If prerred cockpit hinges forward competed models very attractive, The stati colour pe u Philip Kent stot, ne Ay sing our header 20 vnnvromedelworld.com nage, oe oft the servos and recelvar could be mounted under a false floor in the cockpit The batiry is located inthe bay immediately forward of ‘the wing leading edge. The two servos in the wing are mounted on pieces of aluminium angle and screwed down to 1/8" plywood Biate in the bottom of the servo bay, The Rx ‘2erial passes through a plastic tube fixed internally tothe rear fuselage structure, Weight Statistios Painted and fuel proofed fuselage ino. tal 2ib 13% 02 Wing 2b6oz Engine: 26 RIC Geer: aor Fuel Tank 202 Canopy Baoz Undercarriage: tahoz Tallwhee! ‘or Cowling, ine. chin intake: 502 Tim Oot 2hoz Propeller, spinner, prop nut: 402 Total Weight 101 Hap and aileron servo installation res ofthe Minicab are courtesy of G-AWEP 30% version, courtesy of Peter Naw Taxing Trials ‘The Magnum had completed about 30 minutes running before installing iin the airrame, Bench running had net been 100 ‘successful, with the need to run it excessively Fich and a total refusal toile being races to a carbonedup glow plug. A pew plug improved matters, but the idle was stl rather lumpy and the pick-up from lees than 2.500, pm vas a litle hesitant T considered instaling an on-board glow battery nti found that the low speed performance in the model was much better than on the test bench. The whole installation on the test Bench was vibrating badly alow rpm, due entirely tothe lack of rig, which ‘was causing fuel frothing and upseting the Tow speed macture. In the mode! 7.500 rpm was achieved on 2 16% 6 prop, with a safe idle down to 2.000 rom and good throtle response throughout the rev range. An on- board glow wae therefore unnecessary With the engine idling happily the model was taxied around for a while. Ground handling was good and it was possible to tum across the wind, which was blowing at around 12 knots, Some fast taxi runs had the tailing, with the mode continuing to track straight. At one point an over enthusiastic burst of throtle had the med! airaome for a brief moment | ‘The reason for not fying the aeroplane on ‘his day was because nobody had a camera avaliable to record the event. but twas very dificult to restrain myself once the tall had tea! Test F ‘The test fight was planned forthe following ‘Sunday, with cameras suitably arranged. A litle more engine running was completed but unfortunately tho wind was gusting up to 20 knots or s0, | made an excuse to wait another 20 minutes in the hope thatthe ‘wind would moderate as forecast After 15 rminutes, Jim Worsen kindly pointed out ‘hat a heavy rain shower was on the way, heralded by black clouds to the south. 60 |ired up the engine and taxied out tothe runway, experiencing some dificult taxying across the sttong wind The fis take off was almost a disaster 8 | hed in full up elevator and selected {ull throte, The 10 fb model was aicborne instantly with very litle take-off run but Unfortunately due to holding in the up elevator the model immediately teared its ‘ose up ina stalled atttude and dropped @ ‘wing! However, dus to the excellent contral authority the situation was recovered and ‘within a few seconds the model was vines outand on an even keel. Looking back atthe take off situation, | should have used the same technique that | had practised on the tax tial, opening the ‘hottie slowly, because the Magnum gives instant thrust when the tote is suddenly banged open and in a 20 knot wind the take-off speed s achieved ina very short distance. With full up elevator the nose up atttude is bound to occur, with the cropped ving to the leftbelng a result ofthe sudden torque reaction and a possible wind gust. Quite @ large amount of down tim vas fed in to preventa very steep climb on full power, but the ailerons did not require any adjustment and on haf throttle the model cruised ata very realistic speed. Several Circuits were completed during which the controls were found tobe precise at various