ELECTRIC FLIGHT U.K.
ISSUE No. 71 WINTER 2002
THE MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH ELECTRIC FLIGHT ASSOCIATION http://www.ezonemag.com
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http://www.ezonemag.com Electric Flight - U.K. Issue 71 - Winter 2002 "To Encourage and Further all Aspects of Electric Model Flight in the British Isles and Elsewhere" - B.E.F.A. Constitution CONTENTS BEFA Committee 2002/3 ...... 4 TLC from your TLO ...... 47 Chairman's Chatter ...... 5 Letter s to the Committee ...... 52 Current Lines ...... 6 The NEAT Fair 2002 ...... 54 Notification of the 2003 AGM ...... 7 Electric Eighty ...... 62 New-2-U ...... 8 Electric Piggyback ...... 69 A “400 Line of Models” ...... 11 R.O.C.C.A...... 73 The Airco D.H.2 - Part 4 ...... 22 For Sale / Wanted...... 77 Readers' Models ...... 25 Event Calendar ...... 79 B-24D Liberator ...... 28 New to Electric Flight? Start Here ...... 80 Coversion of a Chris Foss Xtra-Wot ... 31 BEFA Sales ...... 82 Birdy ...... 37 Advertisers Index...... 82
Cover Photo: The cover photograph is of the ‘Birdy’, which is included as a free plan in the centre pages of this issue. It is a relatively simple design constructed primarily from Depron and powered by a Speed 400 motor with Günther propeller on 8 pencells. More details can be found starting on page 33.
NEXT ISSUE. The copy date for the Spring 2003 issue is 1st March 2003, with the magazine due for publication by 1st April 2003. DISCLAIMER B.E.F.A. and Electric Flight U.K. wish to point out that the content, techniques and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of either the Editor of this magazine or B.E.F.A. and its committee. All reasonable care is taken in the preparation and compilation of the magazine, but B.E.F.A. and its committee cannot be held liable for any error or omission in the content of this magazine or any subsequent damage or loss arising howsoever caused. To allow proper appreciation of the photographs used, colour copies of them will be posted on the B.E.F.A. website after publication of this magazine. If you can, check them out at www.befa.org.uk E.F.-U.K. 3 BEFA Committee 2002/3 Chairman Robert Mahoney 123 Lane End Road, High Wycombe, Bucks. HP12 4HF EMail: [email protected] Secretary Peter Turner 37 Church Street, Horsley, Derbyshire. DE21 5BQ Email: [email protected] Membership Secretary David Andrews 2 Gainsborough Road, Kibworth Harcourt, Leicester. LE8 0SG Email: [email protected] Treasurer Roger Winsor 14 Butler Gardens, Market Harborough, Leics. LE16 9LY Email: [email protected] Editor EF-UK Jan Bassett 111 Plantagenet Chase, Yeovil, Somerset. BA20 2PR Tel. 01935 472743, E-mail: [email protected] EF-UK Printing Brian Boughton 'Red Roofs', Vicarage Road, Thetford, Norfolk. IP24 2LH Events Co-ordinator Terry Stuckey 31 Dysart Avenue, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. KT2 5QZ Competition Secretary David Beavor 34 Chestnut Close, Brampton, Huntingdon, Cambs. Midlands Representative Roger Winsor, details as Treasurer Northern Representative Bob Smith. Email: befa@ Southern Representative Dave Chinery 251 Station Road, Hayes, Middx. UB3 4JD South West Representative Jan Bassett, details as Editor EF-UK Indoor & Free-Flight Rep. Gordon Tarling 87 Cowley Mill Road, Uxbridge, Middx. UB8 2QD Email: [email protected] Technical Liaison Officer Alan Bedingham 17 Highcliffe Close, Wickford, Essex. SS11 8JZ Email: [email protected] Public Relations Officer Dave Perrett 10 High Lees, Sharnford, Leicester. LE10 3PW Tel: 01455 272297, Email: [email protected] Webmaster Jan Bassett, details as Editor EF-UK - (www.befa.org.uk) Safety Officer Vacant Please enclose an SAE with all correspondence to the committee.
4 E.F.-U.K. Chairman’s Chatter
Welcome to the winter issue of your U.K. Electric Flight Magazine. Our next event is the 2003 AGM at the Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa, Warks., on March 9th (more information on page 7 of this issue). In the last issue I asked the membership for help re the Treasurer position on our committee, to date I have received the grand total of ZERO replies (This is getting a habit). As you may know we cannot function without a treasurer, so please give it some thought! After the discussion at the TWS, and receiving e-mails and letters about the electric thermal "A" and "B" tests (some members thought that the tests had not been approved by the BMFA). I have now received the approval from the BMFA and Terry Rounce the Chairman of the Achievement Scheme Review Committee for our members to take the test at next year's fly-ins. However, we must follow the rules set out below. 1. If you are a country member of the BMFA, i.e. not a member through an affiliated club, all you have to do is ask myself or one of the other Silent Flight (SF) examiners in BEFA for you to take either an "A" or "B" at one of our fly-ins. 2. If you are a member through an affiliated club, the examiner would have to have a letter from either your club Chairman or Secretary saying that it's OK for you to take the tests away from your club environment. Remember these are for electric thermal type aircraft only! If you are a SF Chief Examiner and would like to help us please get in touch with me ASAP. By the way we are not asking for anyone to have an "A" or "B" at our fly-ins, yet. With the help of Peter Turner, I put on a small display at the BMFA AGM on the 23rd November. The thing that stuck in my mind about the AGM was the talk on model flying incidents. BMFA members currently make 5 million take-offs and landings a year. Over 4 years = 20 million, but with only 139 incidents; 50% of these were models hitting vehicles on fly sites. We were praised for our good record on flying models, but we can do better. So what shall we do to lower this? The first thing is either to park further away from the flight line or move the flight line from the car park. This will be implemented at the BEFA Fly-Ins this coming season. If you wish to email me, will you please use the following new address as I am going away from Hotmail due to spam! [email protected] That's all for now so KEEP THE WATTS UP! Robert Mahoney E.F.-U.K. 5 Current Lines from the Editor I’d firstly like to apologise for the mistake I made in the Word Search printed in the last issue. Somehow I managed to delete one column of names from the page and failed to notice this during my proof reading. Despite this, Franz Stockinger managed to email me the correct answer ‘BEFA THE BRITISH ELECTRIC FLIGHT ASSOCIATION’ only one day after I received my copy of EF-UK, pretty good. I’d be grateful to know if you like the idea of little quizzes, etc., in the magazine (or not). I’m quite prepared to include them as a semi-regular feature if your interested. When prizes are available they may only be small, and I might ask you to write a short review for a subsequent issue of the magazine. Please do send me an email, or get in touch by other means, to let me know what you think. I’m very glad to say that I had a great response to my plea for articles in the last issue, and this is reflected in the varied content of this issue. I have had so much, I have had to hold a number of articles over to the Spring issue. This is fortunate as the Spring issue is the hardest to get content for. Look forward to a bumper issue in April. Despite this good fortune, please don’t let this excellent effort subside; keep the articles & photographs coming in as basically No Content = No Magazine. You will notice, on page 52, a letter about the scale competition at BEFA fly-ins. This is the first letter I’ve included in the magazine in this way as I hope it will spark-off some good ideas. If you’ve got something that you think the members may be able to help with, why not drop me a line. If I think it is suitable, I’ll include it for start a discussion. Hopefully the weather in 2003 is a little kindlier so I can get more flying in than I did in 2002. Finally, I’d like to wish you all the best Season’s Greetings. Jan
6 E.F.-U.K. Notice is hereby given of the: British Electric Flight Association 2003 Annual General Meeting to be held on 9th March 2003 at the Royal Spa Centre Royal Leamington Spa, Warks. The agenda for the meeting is: 1. Minutes of the 2002 AGM. 2. Matters Arising from the 2002 AGM. 3. Annual Reports from each of the Executive Committee Members. 4. Review the Audited Statements of Funds of the Association. 5. To elect a Committee to serve for 2003/4. The following committee posts are due for election at this years AGM: Chairman - Robert Mahoney has offered to remain in post. Treasurer - Roger Winsor is standing down and nominations are required. It is critical that someone is found to take over the Treasurer’s post as the Association can not operate if it doesn’t have a Treasurer. Public Relations Officer - Dave Perrett was co-opted into this post at the last AGM and is willing to be elected to this position. Competition Secretary - David Beavor is willing to stay in post. Technical Liaison Officer - Alan Bedingham was co-opted to serve at the last AGM and has offered to be elected to continue in post. Safety Adviser - currently vacant and nominations are requested. Nominations for members willing to undertake any of the above posts are to be sent to the Secretary at the address on page 4. All nominations must be received by the Secretary before 21 February 2003. 6. To set the Annual Subscription for 2003/4. 7. To Appoint the Auditors for 2003/4. 8. To vote on resolutions - No resolutions were received. 9. Any Other Business.
E.F.-U.K. 7 New-2-U A Brief Round-up of New Items of Interest By the time you read this the Howard Metcalfe Models Moonraker, Chandelle, Vendetta, Phantom F4 and Focke-Wulf Ta152, which have been out of production since last year, will be newly available from Phil Dorren of Holsworthy, Devon. Howard Metcalfe who originally designed and produced the models handed over the manufacturing and marketing rights earlier this year to Phil in a move which will still allow Howard to continue to design and develop new models. Manufacturing is already under way and Phil who works primarily as a consultant in computing support will sell them via mail order as well as at future shows, you can contact him at the address below. Moonraker Having more of Howard's models back in production is good news as a lot of instructors as Moonraker was seen as something of a benchmark for trainers over the last decade or more. It is good to know beginners will still have access to this outstanding model which can take them right from the novice to their 'B' test. Those stylish aerobatic sisters Chandelle and Vendetta will also be a welcome return and we look forward to seeing out the latest versions when they are ready. If you are into slope and have been looking for something just that little bit different then the models of the Focke Wulf and Phantom will Vendetta make a refreshing 8 E.F.-U.K. F4 Phantom change. These are handy sized pocket rockets that won't break the bank. Phil has been finishing off the work Howard had started on with the Electric Moonraker and is developing specific electric versions of Chandelle and Vendetta as well, so watch this space. The new versions will feature pre-painted ABS fuselages and foam wings. The electric versions will also feature custom made battery boxes to allow quick changing of packs, with a minimum of fuss. The battery box moulding for the Moonraker looks extremely good and mounts to allow the battery pack(s) to be changed through a hatch in front of the canopy. Full details from Phil Dorren at Treetops Cottage, Week St. Mary, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6UH, telephone 01288 341117 or email [email protected] Editor: Although the models shown here are fitted with i.c. motors, they are all suitable for electric power.
Focke Wulf Ta152 E.F.-U.K. 9 The new Fun Piccolo takes over the role of the original Piccolo. It makes it possible to enter electric helicopter flying at a reasonable cost. The model is very manoeuvrable and can be flown in the house if sufficient room is available. The Fun Piccolo is intended to be an extremely durable and simple design. The installation of the equipment, including the Piccoboard is extremely simple. The basic Piccoboard controls the servos, main and tail rotor motors and also features a gyro. They are now available in the UK and the normal selling price of the Fun Piccolo is around £70 for the basic kit or £175 with the basic 4 channel Piccoboard, 2 servos and a NiCd pack. The Piccolo Pro is designed as a fully 3D capable machine and features collective pitch and a G-410 motor to give extra main rotor power. This had also meant an upgrade the tail rotor motor to allow it to keep control. It uses wooden symmetrical section blades, with lightening holes and lead tip weights, covered in film (as the ECO Piccolo collective pitch upgrade). It also features a much racier canopy design to give an appearance to match the performance. You can also fit a freewheel unit to allow autorotations, but there isn’t much mass in the rotor so they could be tricky. It can be flown on basic 4 channel radio gear, but to optimise the use of collective pitch and for inverted flight, a 6+ channel computer radio is recommended. To achieve the maximum performance they have a brushless motor option, which improves power in duration. The Piccolo Pro is also recently available, and retails for around £160, plus another £160 for the Piccoboard Pro. See www.ikarus-modellbau.de for more details.
10 E.F.-U.K. A "400 Line of Models" by Chris Golds My Father was an electrical engineer for most of his life after serving an apprenticeship in steam power. My mother, sister and myself never even had to renew a wire fuse let alone repair a plug. So my 'electricalisation' in September 1996, at my 60th birthday, meant that I had a very great deal to learn with no engineering background to provide a basic level of knowledge. Now that I fly only electric powered models - as I do not want to rejoin the oily- smelly-NOISY brigade and gas turbines are beyond my pocket - when I find a formula that works I tend to stick with it and take it as far as I can. Some while ago, my model flying friend Ron Laden built a simple all-sheet Hawk from a magazine free-plan by Nigel Hawes and we went to fly it at a light-aircraft field in the middle of Devon as the foot and mouth epidemic prevented us from using our normal site. So there we were in the back of beyond as I launched this small model and Ron hung on with great courage and skill as it whistled around the sky for hours on end - actually about seven minutes. We were both amazed at the model's performance from a cheap 6 volt 400 size motor with a five-inch Günther ‘toy shop’ prop all from seven small NiMH cells inside a total weight of 21 ounces! He recharged and flew it again, this time with better control over the little zipping beast. I was hooked! I was looking at a level of electrics that even I could follow - a small motor with direct drive push-on prop, a small pack and a 15A speed controller flying an all-sheet and therefore simple semi-scale model which produced enormous fun at little cost. Back in my workshop I sketched out a model whose shape I had lusted after for about fifty years but had never tried to build - a Kyushu J7W1 Shinden which the Japanese Air Force had built to test-fly right in the last few days of World War Two. A handsome shape but one blessed (or cursed) with long and stalky undercarriage legs needed to clear the Kyushu 'J7WI' Shinden - My First 400 Model large five-bladed pusher prop on take-
E.F.-U.K. 11 Kyushu 'J7WI' Shinden Fly-By (Gordon Whitehead Photo) off and touchdown. I decided to go the simple route with a hand-launched model constructed from sheet surfaces and a sheet box fuselage clad to shape with small sections of blue foam - a technique which I and many others regularly use to achieve compound- curve shapes. With 10 x 500 AR cells the model flew very well at a total weight of 24 ounces with a wing loading of 16 ounces per square foot. The push-on prop 400 system had worked and I immediately designed another 'must-do' model - a Blackburn Beverley of 72 inches span for 4 x 400 motors but with flaps and giant fixed undercarriage. With 8 x 3000 NiMH cells this finished at 81 ounces with a wing loading of 19 ounces per square foot and it flew splendidly with the flaps - when fully down - allowing a really steady descent on finals to an accurately placed landing. A number of Beverleys built from my plan (Traplet Plans Service) have been seen around the shows this year and each pilot that I have spoken to has been very pleased with his model. Next came a larger model this time of a Russian TB-3 four-engined fixed undercarriage bomber of the 1930s at 80 inches span weighing 84 ounces for a wing loading of just 12 ounces per square foot - a real floater of a model which I have spun frequently as loops and rolls would not really be in tune with such an aircraft. Again, the 400 motor system had worked well with no fuss and plenty of performance from 8 x 3000 NiMH cells with one sortie of almost 10 minutes 12 E.F.-U.K. Blackburn Beverley of 84 Squadron M.E.A.F, static and ‘trundling past’
E.F.-U.K. 13 TB-3 Russian bomber of 1930s period, and below cruising past on a total of 8 Amps!
14 E.F.-U.K. Blohm und Voss 208/04 duration with no lift around at all! After an EDF model - my Hawker Sea Hawk - I returned to the single 400 pusher prop formula with a 32 inch span model of the Blohm und Voss 208/04 single piston pusher fighter which was designed in 1944 but never turned into metal.
The Blohm und Voss 208 - very tricky to see E.F.-U.K. 15 Again, I went the all-sheet with foam turtle decking route but this time I tried hard to come out lighter. At hand-launch she weighed just 20 ounces total running from 8 x 1600 NiMH cells and has an excellent performance with long sorties - the best being just over 14 minutes. However, she had one distinct disadvantage in that the model was capable of considerable speed and aerobatic manoeuvres but had a quite disorientating "sit" in the air leading to a couple of unscheduled 'arrivals'. Being all sheet, repairs were simple and quick but she was an aircraft upon which you had to keep a firm eye as she often looked as if she was approaching when actually going the other way. Would have been a good aeroplane in a dog-fight, I bet! After the Bv208 came another model of 'my' DH Venom FB Mk4 which I flew as a young RAF pilot in the 1950s. Again, I employed the Speed 400, push-on Günther prop system and with 9 x 1600 NiMH cells the 36 inch span very near-scale model
Me and 'my' venom WR441 of XI squadron of WR441 of XI Squadron RAF weighed just 26 ounces including the knock-off blue foam tip tanks (which in real life I never flew without). Meanwhile my friend Ron was continuing the 400 game with a Gloster Meteor Mk8 (twin pusher) and an A-7 single pusher and a delicious Mk1 Spitfire with a cunning spinner assembly so that the classic Spit nose profile is preserved.
16 E.F.-U.K. The venom climbs away at 11 Amps Currently he is into a twin 400 version of the Me262 which he hopes to put into plans with one of the 'e' magazines. After a little house building task I designed and built a twin pusher version of the Canberra B(I) Mk 8 interdiction bomber employed by the RAF in West Germany
16 squadron Canberra B(I) Mk 8 Bomber (Interdiction) E.F.-U.K. 17 The Canberra steaming away from a hand launch in the '60s and '70s. I used the 4 x 20mm belly gun-pack as a convenient finger hold for hand launching and at 48 ounces carrying 8 x 2000 NiMH cells the model gave a most spirited performance with its 16 ounces per square foot wing loading. Truly a satisfying model to fly with no bad habits and plenty of aerobatic performance way beyond that of the original which was limited to +5g maximum for its loops, rolls and LABS bombing manoeuvres. I next wanted to build an inexpensive model to become a plan so that those of the O/S/N brigade (see above) who wanted to 'come across' to 'e' flight but did not
Twinshooter Mk 1 (no u/c) belts past 18 E.F.-U.K. know a volt from a micro farad ('ark at me!) could do so with a fully aerobatic model based upon the twin 400 work that I had done. So was born the Boeing XP27 "Twin Shooter" for which I used the colour scheme of the Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" in order to be a bright and easily-seen model upon which to learn to become 'electrolysed'! At 44 inches span with 42½ ounces gross weight for 2 x 6 volt 400 motors running from 8 x 2000 NiMH cells the model is VERY aerobatic with splendid performance with sorties long enough to get you bored into coming down to land. Either hand- launched or with a simple fixed undercarriage the model continues to give me lots of fun per penny. The only problem is that my eyes and reaction times are not
XP-27 Twinshooter (with u/c and rudder) really up to the whizzy-pop flying of which the XP 27 is capable. So what next, something more stately perhaps? At one of our frequent village parties (we have a GREAT FUN village) I was speaking to Geoff Baldock, a retired British Airways Captain, about my Canberra model because he had flown the English Electric bomber as a young RAF pilot when I was flying fighters - we still wonder whether we ever had met in the air! He said that of all the airliners he had gone on to fly, the one which stuck most in his mind was the Comet, the Mk 4c version with pinion wing fuel tanks as flown by him in DAN-AIR of LONDON airlines. I have long been in love with the DH106 Comet but had avoided building it because E.F.-U.K. 19 Dh 106 Comet 4C of Dan-Air, London of the problems of getting enough Ducted Fan thrust from such small nacelles. However, with my recent 400 pusher knowledge and experience I reckoned that I could do one with 4 x 400 Günther and include retracts and flaps, as a fixed undercarriage version just did not appeal to me. Of course I would have to splay the jet exhausts quite a bit to accommodate the 5 inch prop discs without overlapping but otherwise I could go for a very scale airframe at light weight. Eventually the 86 inch span model tipped the scales at 120 ounces on 4 x 7.2 volt 400s with 5 inch Günther propellers from 10 x 3000 NiMH cells with Spring-Air retracts; operating nose-wheel doors and four sections of flaps (the real Comet had 8 sections!). I had to fit an unobtrusive 18 swg piano wire 'prop guard' to prevent the prop tips from touching on rotation for take-off but apart from that and the splayed exhausts, she really looks the part in her smart DAN-AIR colour scheme. And the aircraft registration which I chose, G-APDJ, was one which Geoff flew regularly as Captain. Not only that, but our friend Ilse (Geoff's wife) was a stewardess on the aeroplane with him! He came with us on 1st September 2002 to watch the model complete its first two flights and he was delighted, especially with the realism of its very slow flight speed. So there we are: the Comet has gone to Flying Scale Models as a plan and my workbench has an even larger model upon it in final drawn form. It has a total of 10 power units, six of which are pusher-props but it will have eleven units running on take off. Any ideas what it might be? Keep squeezing the volts and Happy Flying.20 E.F.-U.K. Chris Golds The Comet's flaps at full (2 per side)
The Comet Cruising past - no spilled drinks!
E.F.-U.K. 21 The Airco D.H.2 - Part 4 by Jan Bassett I’ve been busy again, but I’ve managed to get some more work done on my Airco D.H.2. Firstly, the motor mount and rear support plate have been fitted to the fuselage. I decided that due to the inevitable long drive shaft, coupled with the heavy propeller and spinning motor, a rear support bearing was essential. This also allow the motor to be positioned in front of the CofG, which is very useful when you consider that there is little structure in front of the CofG. Additionally, the rear support should be as far rear and close to the propeller as possible. It therefore machined up an aluminium ‘top hat’ with a seat for a ball race in the top. The front of the dummy engine actually sits over the bearing support, providing great support. I decided it was time to trail fit the drive train complete with dummy engine (shown below). I decided that the rear end was a little too flexible and needed some stiffening. I therefore added a liteply plate between the rear bulkheads and sitting on top of the upper fuselage longerons.
The part completed fuselage with motor mount and rear support bearing 22 E.F.-U.K. The assembled & painted Williams Bros. Inc, Le Rhone Rotary engine kit.
The position of the dummy engine is almost exactly to scale, mainly due to the ‘top hat’ rear bearing. The propeller is spaced a little further from the motor than it should be due to the propeller adaptor. I could produce a custom adaptor which would be very near scale, but it looks OK as it is. My next job was to complete the Le Rhone dummy scale engine from Williams Bros. Inc. I was planning to reinforce the kit to allow it to rotate at propeller speed. However, this is a heavy duty polystyrene kit, which when completed is very solid. I decided that the kit was strong enough without additional strength (and weight) - well the propeller will only be doing around 4000 RPM. I modified the centre of the ‘engine’ to have two flanged 1/4” I.D. Phosphor Bronze (Oilite) bearings fitted (just visible above). This was in case I decide to gear it to the propeller shaft, or have it stationary. As it is currently arranged, these bearings are part of the load path from the propeller to the rear bearing. If I decide to reduce the dummy motor speed, I’ll have to fit a collet between the dummy motor and the rear bearing to allow maintain the thrust being taken by the rear bearing.
E.F.-U.K. 23 Having completed the engine, I rigged it up with a 1:4 belt-drive (Yes, increasing the RPM!) and spun it up using a cordless drill. It took the rotation, at approximately 3500 RPM, with no problems at all. I decided that the engine only needed to painted in a fairly simple scheme, well it will be revolving rather fast in flight. I therefore sprayed the motor overall with Tamiya ‘Flat Aluminum’ Acrylic paint, and then painted the inlet pipes in ‘Gun Metal’ from the same range. The effect is reasonably good, as can be seen on the previous page, with the engine looking the part. I may add the spark plug leads to improve the look even further, but probably not as they would be easily damaged. I assembled the complete drive train, with shorten shaft, to the fuselage to take the photograph below. I guess the next thing is to determine the easiest way to make lightweight fairings for the nose - maybe I should mould them in fibreglass? Back to the fuselage and I added some rigging cord to simulate the diagonal bracing between the upper and lower fuselage longerons. This rigging cord is not intended to be functional, just to improve the look of the fuselage when it is covered. Hopefully, I can really get down to work on the model this Winter and have it ready for next season.
Trial fitting of Aveox 1406/4Y, 5:1 Monsterbox, long shaft, dummy motor & propeller 24 E.F.-U.K. Readers' Models Your chance to show the members your model(s).
This is Franz Stockinger with his enlarged Pushy Galore, which is still missing some of the wing stripes. This model is approximately 20% larger and has a 1m (39”) span and weighs 1.25kg (44 oz.). It is powered by a Mega 22/20/3 motor with Graupner 8” x 6” CAM propeller and 9 Sanyo RC-2000 cells. Franz says that it can be hand or bungee launched (when no helper is available). The flight performance is reported as really ballistic and producing a typical pusher configuration sound (Editor: is that a good or a bad thing for electric power?). Editor: In case you’re interested, the Pushy Galore plan was featured in Electric Flight International May/June 1997. I recently checked and the plan, MW2589, is still available from the Traplet Plans Service. The original model was 816mm (32”) span, had a wing area of 11.8 dm2 (183 sq. in.) and a recommended flying weight of 500g (17½ oz.). It was powered by a 6v Speed 400 motor running on 7 x Sanyo 700AR cells and a 5” x 5” or 4.7” x 4.7” Graupner CAM propeller.
E.F.-U.K. 25 I had details passed to me of three models built by Rich Flinchbaugh from South Dennis, Massachusetts , USA. Above is Rich Flinchbaugh holding his Aqua Sport Floatplane photographed, on 29 July 2002, with the Richmond Springs Fountain for a background. It uses a geared Magnetic Mayhem motor with a Castle Creations Pegasus 35 controller on 10 Sanyo RC-2000 cells. The weight is about 68 oz. (1.9kg). The floats are from Kirchner plans and it gets off fast and flies well. Top right is Rich’s 1/9th scale model of the Italian Piaggio P-136 L2 “Royal Gull” amphibian. This scratch-built model has a 66” (167cm) span and has a flying weight of 8 lbs. (2.7kg). It is powered by 2 Astro 15s using a Jomar SM4 controller and 20 Sanyo 1700 mAh cells. The take-offs are supposed to be beautiful and it flies very realistically. Rich says that he is interested in helping others that may be interested, to build the outstanding model. Anyone wanting advice on these floatplanes can contact Rich at 7 Avon Lane, South Dennis, MA 02660, USA or Tel.: +1-508-398-0296. Finally, bottom right, is Rich’s 1941 Taylorcraft Floatplane, which is again scratch- built and has a span of 56” (1.4m). It is powered by a Mega 22/20//3E brushless motor and uses a Castle Creations Phoenix 35 sensorless controller. Eight Sanyo CP-1700 NiCds provide power for FAST take-offs and provide 10 minute flights.
26 E.F.-U.K. 1/9th scale Piaggio P-136 L2 “Royal Gull” Scratch-built 56” (1.4m) span 1941 Taylorcraft Floatplane
E.F.-U.K. 27 B-24D Liberator by Robin Fowler Those of you who were witnesses to the cartwheel executed by my Liberator on the windy Sunday afternoon at Middle Wallop this year may be heartened to know that she still lives! – Although in disguise! The day was becoming more and more blustery and I was foolish enough to charge up again for another flight after lunch the Liberator having coped perfectly well in the morning. Having done so of course I was not disposed to putting it all back in the van without the flight I had intended to make. Disaster struck at the point of lift-off when a gust from the port side lifted the windward wing and I suddenly found that even ailerons and rudders together didn’t have enough authority to correct what rapidly became almost ninety degrees of bank. Horrified, I didn’t get around to whacking a dose of down elevator in before the starboard wing caught the ground and there was nothing to do but shut the throttles and hope. The airframe disassembled itself and collapsed into an untidy heap. On closer inspection the damage, which had at first appeared considerable, was limited. The outer wing panels had been torn off, tearing the flat brass rods from the wing centre section but damage to the tips was limited to broken aileron horns (this disproved my original thought that these might not have been connected properly to the servo thus explaining the apparent lack of control in roll axis). Apart from the twin fins having been broken off the tailplane there was no major damage to the tail section. The locating tube for the fixing pin had been torn away and was still attached to the wing centre section by its pin. The bulk of the damage was in the centre section and was not immediately apparent. The nose glazing had been totally mashed but had saved the structure behind from any damage at all. The main spars however had all been broken and it was
B-24D Liberator is desert colours 28 E.F.-U.K. evident once the finish was stripped back that the two wings were only staying together because of the various control cables and rods. Once these were disconnected it was possible to get in with glue and splints and make the necessary repairs. Having used up every square inch of the grey Profilm for the upper surfaces, which was too light in tone in any case but the only grey I could find, I was not about to spent out another eight or nine pounds to get another roll and decided to completely strip the airframe and start afresh. I had purchased some Diatex (the material used as the basis for Solartex) and decided to use some of this, thus allowing myself the choice of any colour scheme I could wish for. Diatex is Balsaloc attached at the edges and heat shrunk over the airframe then firmly attached with three coats of non-taut dope, of which the first is thinned. This accepts paints very readily, but at this point I made a wrong decision. Having found a cellulose car spray colour that I thought near enough to desert sand colour I sprayed this on over a coat of grey primer only to run out before the upper surfaces were complete. I then found that the car spares shop had no more of the colour and could not say when they would be restocked, so I had to change proverbial horses in midstream and buy the authentic Humbrol enamels which I should have done in the first
Detailed shot of the Libertor glazing E.F.-U.K. 29 place. It then became apparent just how far off the shade the spray paint had been, but I left some to simulate the staining from oil and the like that streamed from the nacelles, and augmented this by rubbing some grey on with a cloth. One of the nice things about Diatex is that if a panel goes slack at any stage it can be tightened up by a quick application of iron of heat gun. This has come in handy as I soon noticed that in spite of the 50% thinning of the first coat of dope and what I thought was a reasonably generous coating I still got a few wrinkles forming once the model was back in the air. So that first coat of dope is all-important. The aircraft is now completed in the desert scheme illustrated in the book “Aircraft of World War 2” by Bill Gunston. According to this book this was the first Liberator to fall into Axis hands as it had to land at Pachino in southern Sicily having been damaged by flak over Naples. It was made airworthy and the original markings painted out by the Italians and eventually went to Rechlin test centre where the Luftwaffe gave it full German insignia. I painted it in the Anglo-American colours it wore on the fateful raid, but went a bit far by adding the splodges of non-matching colour the Italians would have applied after repairs had been made. Oh well, so much for authenticity. At times like this I always fall back on my dictum that ‘so long as it looks right on a low fly-by it’s okay’!
uzzflight 167 Duffield Road, Derby. DE22 1AJ Telephone: 01332 601693 Email: [email protected] Website: www.buzzflight.co.uk Hummingbird the definitive control-line trainer - ideal for youngsters Deluxe Kit - complete with motor, propeller, prop. adapter, spinner, wheels, balsa, u/c wire, control-line / power wire, on-off switch, battery connectors, sundries, building instructions & full-size plan, bellcrank and control handle. The only other items needed are the covering and a 12v 7AH battery. £39.99 + £2.50 P&P. Standard Kit - contains balsa, u/c wire, control-line / power wire, on-off switch, battery connectors, sundries, building instructions & full-size plan, bellcrank and control handle. Again the covering and a 12v 7AH battery are not included. £24.99 + £2.50 P&P. Plans & Instructions - £7.99 including P&P, add £5.99 for control-line / power wire and switch. Please contact us for Overseas prices. Please make cheques payable to Buzzflight and allow 14 days for delivery.
30 E.F.-U.K. Conversion of the Chris Foss “Xtra – Wot” To Electric. by Paul Cook Some of you may remember my article in EFI of the conversion of the Chris Foss Acro Wot around July 2001 time. The Acro Wot was fitted with a Maxcim 13Y Brushless motor geared at 3.7:1. It was about that time that the Xtra Wot came to my attention in various model publications – could I convert this one? As with all model kits that you build it’s always a good idea to read and re-read the instructions supplied, I always go through the parts in the kit as well to familiarize myself with the parts that I will be using – even if some of them may not get used or modified for an electric conversion of such a model. Lets Begin To Convert - Fuselage:- For obvious reasons the fuselage is where 95% of a conversion takes place, this model was no different. The basic fuselage is made is the exact way as specified in the instructions until you get to the firewall installation. My Maxcim 13Y motor and gearbox was going to weigh about 10 oz. and an engine of Laser 150 size weighs 2lb or so. It does not take a genius to work out that my conversion would have a tail heavy tendency to say the least without some good thinking. As you will see in the firewall pictures a series of blocks have to be made to move the motor forward to keep weight forward and also avoid having to shorten the
The fuselage with motor mounting arrangement E.F.-U.K. 31 cowl – thus lightening it, sounds daft on an electric model but nose weight on this model was going to be needed and I do not add lead in any way shape or form to any model – unless really stumped! The 3 dowels you can see inserted into the firewall are to hold the speed controller, again mounted well forward and in some cold airflow with an air exit behind the controller going down into the depths of the model, looks fragile with the rubber bands holding the controller on but it works in practice, the last thing you want to do is wrap the controller in foam. The rest of the fuselage is built in the kit specified way, I as you can see added some lightening holes towards the rear of the model, also I did the same to the rear flying sections of the model, be sensible with lightening holes, if you are in any doubt over doing this then don’t, the trick is to lighten the model but retain strength at all times. You will have noticed in the Xtra Wot kit that the forward top deck is a fibreglass moulding, this is very light and aids to the conversion of this model to electric, this top deck was not made to be removed often, bit I can remove it if I wish. The 20+ cell pack was going to be left in the model. For charging, etc., I made a side hatch in the model just behind the cowl on the port side of the fuselage. I should point out to you that the battery is not held in by the top hatch in any way whatsoever, you will see on the formers the flat plates with Velcro on them, the battery packs sit on these and then secured down with cable ties or elastic bands, with such heavy packs I used cable ties on this one. As long as they are secure and cannot move you will be OK. The fuselage and tail sections of the model were covered in yellow Profilm, the cowl and top front decking were sprayed using a Halfords type car body spray to match the film as close as I could get it. The tail surfaces of this model are sheet balsa shaped in the normal way, these are covered in the yellow Profilm. The control surfaces are hinged with normal type hinges and then I pinned them with cocktail sticks, this is something that I do with all models, again in particular the larger ones. Building the wings:- This particular section of the article requires very little to discuss, the build is done exactly as the instructions show utilizing the dual wing servos, I prefer this on most models in particular the larger types – this model falls into that category! I also prefer this method from the functional point of view, as with a computer radio and some of the better non computer sets you can get the ailerons to works as flaperons to act as landing/braking aids or for in flight aerobatic manoeuvres whichever you feel you need or both. This also allows the centre section of the model to house the battery without the risk of fouling the servos in any way that could lead to a disaster. 32 E.F.-U.K. The wing and ailerons were also covered in the same yellow Profilm, and the ailerons are again hinged in the normal way and pinned with cocktail sticks. Installing The Gear:- Once the whole model was built I then began installing the equipment into my pre prepared positions, you may have your own method of doing this stage of your models, so I wont go into this stage too deeply. The rudder servo was a Hitec HS-545BB (high torque), this was linked to the large rudder by a closed loop system, as many of you know this works very well on big models particularly on this model where knife edge flight may be used. The Elevator servo was a Hitec HS-525BB (high speed) and operated the elevator pushrod supplied in the kit as standard issue. Aileron servos were a pair of Hitec HS-525BB’s operating standard pushrods. The main hardware behind the success of this model and many of my big electric models is the Maxcim Brushless system, this is an American system made by developed by Tom Cimato, you can visit his website at www.maxcim.com, there you will see some of the customer applications that have been done with his system. The motor in this models case is the Max 15 13Y, this is geared through the MEC monster-box with a gearing of 4.25:1, this is turning a wooden 16” x 10” Zinger propeller at 6200 rpm on 21 Sanyo 2400 mAh cells. I do intend getting onto the 16” or 17” x 10” APC-E props, but have not yet at time of writing.
The model nearing completion with gear fitted E.F.-U.K. 33 Another view of the front end, showing the pack installation The speed controller is the Maxcim 21 cell controller, this is a very well made controller with BEC facility, counter rotation facility and remote LED display, the controller is a 35 amp unit but with forced air cooling can handle 65 amps – now you know why its in the cowl! This system is very much plug and play when you buy one, they are imported into the UK by John Swain of Fanfare models, his website is www.fanfare.f9.co.uk All this equipment that I have listed above plugs into a Futaba 138 PCM Receiver, I did not use the BEC facility on this model, as I needed the weight of the RX battery up the front of the model to balance out and give me a good chance of hitting the CG as marked in the Xtra Wot instructions. Whenever I use an RX battery I always fit a battery indicator on the model, with this model as with many of mine I chose to locate it in the cockpit where it can be viewed very easily. Setting Up:- The models control surface throws were set up as per the instructions, I started with the maximum throws at 100% of full deflection and then set in 70% of all these on the dual rates functions in the TX. The Centre of Gravity position is marked at 112mm back from the leading edge of the wing at the centre. I picked up the model inverted on the CG as marked on my fingertips just to see if I was near, I could not believe it I was spot on. 34 E.F.-U.K. Just to make sure I re checked on my CG balancer rig – again I was spot on. The model as a matter of interest weighed in at 10 ¾ lbs, this was only ¾ lb. heavier than the laser 150 powered review article by Neil Tidey last year in RCMW, my weight of 10 ¾ lbs gave me a wing loading of around 27 oz. per square foot, very respectable indeed. Power from the model was very good, the current draw from the 21 Sanyo 2400 cells at full power was 37 amps, the power produced was 811 watts. This gave me a watts per lb. ratio of 75 watts per lb., not fantastic for such a model but perfectly flyable. I did still have the option of re gearing the gearbox, swinging a bigger prop or fit the 25 cell controller with 25 cells and both of the aforementioned. I decided to stick with what I had got for at least the test flight of the model. As a preliminary test I did a range check with 100% success, but I would wait until I got to the flying field to do thorough power on and off tests before flying. Flying The Model:- It was a Wednesday afternoon when I came to test the model, the model was given full range checks with aerial down at 50 meters or so, this was with both power on and off, there were no glitches noticed and the controller behaved impeccably. It was a nice sunny afternoon with just a gentle NW west here at our field in Norfolk; the cells were topped up with power for the test.
The electric Xtra Wot in flight E.F.-U.K. 35 The model on the runway lined up into wind, the throttle was opened very gently – we were rolling, the big powerful rudder was used to just correct the torque created by the 16 x 10 prop, easing back on the stick she was off the deck and climbing, at height I levelled her off, all the trim needed was just 2 clicks of up elevator trim to get the model to fly hands off. What can you say to that! The model handles very well with a solid feel to it, I tried out the stall with no problem, the model in a stall turn kicks over nicely at the top with that big counter balanced rudder, down from the vertical pull back to level flight and roll 180 to inverted and hold, the model holds nicely with very little pushing to do, round into an inverted figure 8, roll back 180 to level for a few low slow and fast passes for the camera, the models slow flying speed in incredibly stable and smooth, bang open the throttle for a vertical climb – yes vertical with an electric model is possible, even at this size. I had set in 6 minutes on the count down timer, this was counting down to zero and I was still flying. I called landing and brought the model round for the approach, again no fuss here with a perfectly slow touchdown with no flaps used either, taxi back and take some more pictures of this fantastic machine. I was happy at doing another big conversion with success, doesn’t my face just show it!
Paul and his electric Xtra Wot 36 E.F.-U.K. Birdy by Mike Payne Depron is a very interesting material to use, over the last year I have built a few models and have gained some experience of how to use this foam. I have been flying this plane from last December, unfortunately Birdy has had to make quite a few visits to the Vet for help. My first wing was a straight wing with ailerons stuck on the trailing edge, with a flat "combat" elevator stuck behind the wing. A fin gave the horizontal stability. This flew well but after a few weeks I decided to built another plane but with a bit more style. This would include ailerons faired into the wing and more bird shaped. The tail would change to a V-tail supported on a short carbon rod. Birdy was born.
The Mk 2 Birdy under construction Flying was an immediate success. The pattern was of a plane with very similar inverted - upright characteristics. Birdy will fly inverted with full confidence, outside loops from 2m are as easy as loops. The first problem came after multiple horizontal figure 8's, the wing spar gave way and she dived into the ground. A long reinforcement was added. Birdy was happy for a few weeks, however while E.F.-U.K. 37 Birdy wing panel showing failed spar flying inverted she seemed to see a vole, dived for food and then realised that she was only foam. A new fuselage was needed. Birdy has had 2 crashes when flying past other transmitters, this has been resolved by using either a Simprop Indoor receiver or the new Schulze receiver.
Aileron installation 38 E.F.-U.K. In Spring a trip to Prague brought back a Mega 16/15/6 motor. A new Birdy was built with a decent spar. She flew much faster, had a superb climb rate. This Birdy survived until I went to Middle Wallop, flying in the early mist I did a large bunt and the V-tail fluttered and broke off, a terminal dive ended this birds life. A new one hatched complete with glass cloth on her V-tail to increase the rigidity. I used a ¼" spruce spar to combat the problem of spar failure close to the mid- section. The main problem has been with spar failures, this has often been at the edge of a centre section joiner / doubler. A balsa wing with film covering seems to have much greater strength in tension than Depron, the spars seem to have broke because of a tension failure rather than a compression failure. I have realised that the spar has to be of sufficient strengthen to withstand all wing loadings. These foam planes can become great fun and so the wing stresses go up. My first Depron planes had quite thick wings and a balsa spar was fine with well curved Depron surfaces. Having moved to thinner wing sections for greater speed, led to the spar failures. I have now moved to either using a long central ply reinforcement with or a solid ¼" spruce spar. With this, the join between the tip spar and the main spar becomes vulnerable.
The ‘tail feathers’ E.F.-U.K. 39 Access to the receiver and elevator servo Building Glue - folk have used loads of different glues, including Bison, odourless cyano + others. I really only use PVA or an aliphatic glue. If you are gluing balsa or ply it is absorbed into the wood quite quickly especially with warmth, gluing 2 pieces of foam means that you need a bit of time for the structure to gain some strength. The glue seems to work by not allowing the parts to separate initially and then the edge dries and gives the early strength. Further drying makes a good solid joint. Unless you are in a completely manic building phase try to get to the point of gluing some major joins and then leaving them to dry overnight. For the wings it is helpful to have aluminium bars either U or L section - from DIY stores. I now have both 1m and 500mm long bars to act as clamps. These are used to hold the trailing edge and LE together. Cut the wing sheets out, - sand the trailing edge of the lower sheet at an angle to glue the top sheet to. Stick a 10mm piece of 2mm Depron to the LE. Make the spar or cut from 1/4" spruce, stick to the Depron, add the tip spars. You can put some glass cloth over the area of this joint on the Depron sheet. It may also be helpful to add a tow of carbon on the LE and TE foam joint. Sand the LE so the top sheet fit smoothly. 40 E.F.-U.K. E.F.-U.K. 41 42 E.F.-U.K. E.F.-U.K. 43 44 E.F.-U.K. The underside of the completed Birdy Glue the top sheet to the trailing edge and hold with aluminium bars. When stable add glue to the spar and LE, fold over the top sheet and hold together at the LE with another set of bars. Then lay down on a flat surface. This should ensure that the wing is flat. The following day you can glue the trailing edge for the ailerons. Then do the LE and wing tip - the wing is almost complete. Cut ailerons from 3, 4 or 5mm foam. Place this next to the wing, use a 25mm wide piece of glass cloth (1/2oz) and paint through with acrylic varnish. Dry with a hair drier. This acts as a good hinge. The V-tail is hinged in a similar fashion. Make the V-tail from sheet foam. The fuselage is cut out and the sides and top + bottom parts need to held together, possibly around a blue foam plug until they have dried. Add an additional bottom sheeting and sheet by the motor. Add the motor ply support - wound around the motor - tight enough to hold it firm ( use some PVA if it is loose). An option is to add 1/64" ply doubler to the fuselage sides. Eventually cover the fuselage with glass cloth + acrylic varnish. The wing needs to have ply supports for the carbon at the trailing edge ( + ply support against the spar!), and then add a 3" wide glass cloth to the lower centre wing where the fuselage will join. Glue together. E.F.-U.K. 45 The wing servos are fixed with clear tape to the lower surface, I fix the elevator servo below the wing and have a 24-swg wire push rod through the tailplane to horns on the top surface. This seems the neatest way and avoids the horns getting damaged on landings. The ailerons do not have the same problems. Finally paint with acrylic paints, go and fly, try not to annoy too many gulls please. The plane uses a 400 motor and 125 x 110 mm (4.9” x 4.33”) Günther propeller. I think that an ESC that fits on the motor is best, with the connectors fitted directly to the ESC and then connect the battery to these. This helps keep the motor and ESC package very compact. The best batteries are AA pencells, and I use either 8 Sanyo 1700mah Twicells or Sanyo N-1000 3US cells. These types giving either longer flights or more power, respectively. The plan included on the centre pages should be increased to full size by enlarging with a photocopier from A4 to A3. Alternatively, you can download a 4 x A4 sheet Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file or the TurboCAD plan from my website - www.m.payne.freeuk.com.
The completed Birdy, right side up If you build a Birdy, please send a photographs and a few shorts thoughts or comments to the Editor, address on page 4. 46 E.F.-U.K. TLC from your TLO by Alan Bedingham This time some queries on suppression and motors. Suppression This from John Anderson:- I will be grateful for some guidance on what values to use on DC motors bearing in mind some motors come already fitted with internal capacitors . The MFA kit shows 0.1mfd from each terminal to earth and 0.22mfd across the terminals. Another set which I think was included with an Xtra ESC shows 100nF to earth and 47nF across the terminals. These capacitors have numbers 104 and 473 respectively on them. Are these the same as the MFA but written differently? - No they're not. The markings are interpreted as follows -- the first two numbers are multiplied by the number of noughts in the third number to give a value in pico Farads, abbreviated as pF. So 473 is 47000 pF, which is .047 mfd, a micro Farad being a million times bigger than a pF. Just to confuse the issue a nano Farad (nF) is 1000pF and mfd is also more correctly written as ì F. Therefore the numbers for the Xtra are 100nF = 0.1ì F or 0.1 mfd, 47nF = 0.047ì F or 0.047 mfd. To confirm these capacitor values, 1ì F (or 1 mfd) = 1000nF = 1,000,000pF = 105
Here's a picture of a typical installation on a 480 motor. In general, any capacitor is better than none, but I use a set of values that apparently are optimum for suppression at 35MHz. They are 0.47ì F (marked 474, Maplin part no RA52G) across the terminals and 47nF (marked 473, Maplin E.F.-U.K. 47 part no RA47D) from the terminals to the can. The 10:1 ratio is important as is the type of capacitor - they need to work well at high frequencies for best results. They're also small and a pretty blue colour (!). Don't forget to secure the bodies of the capacitors to the motor with (say) a dab of Evostick otherwise vibration can fracture their wires and cause mysterious intermittent interference with associated brown trouser moments. Don't ask how I know! What should be used across the terminals with motors where the capacitors are installed internally? I fit a 47nF between the terminals to motors that just have two internal capacitors from brush to can. You can usually tell if they have internal capacitor by the wires emerging alongside the terminals. Most Cobalt and Neodymium motors have three internal capacitors and don't need any more added. You can often see these capacitor through the cooling slots in the can beside the brushes. 7 Cell Motors These questions from Nick Fitton:- First comment is more of an observation really, and it is that in most sport E/F applications using highish Kv motors, geared systems will usually give better results all round - motor longevity, performance (thrust), duration and system efficiency. Would you agree with this observation? Yes, I would, if you're talking about ferrite magnet motors. A bit of digging in your Physics text books will tell you why. The speed of an electric motor is proportional to the voltage applied, but is inversely proportional to the strength of the field magnets. So motors with weak magnets (e.g. ferrite) want to spin faster than motors with strong magnets (e.g. Cobalt), they also have a much narrower speed band where the efficiency is high enough to be useful. If you do it right, a geared ferrite can get close to rare earth in efficiency, the limitation usually being the brush gear on cheap motors that may not like high current and high speed. Recently I purchased an Irvine 0507 Cobalt motor. Do you know if this is a Maxx (MPI) product (it certainly looks like one) and if so which one? Their website lists a 1507 but not an 0507, If they are one and the same thing I have no problem as MotoCalc has the constants. If not, do you know the constants. The constants I've got for the Irvine 0507 are - Kv 1834, Io 3.5A, Rm 49 mOhm. I may be odd, but I won't buy a motor unless I know the constants, mainly because I use tools like Electricalc for choosing which motor to use for any project. I know it's not perfect, but you'll get close to where you want to be, all that's then left to do is to experiment with propellers to get the performance you want and propellers are cheap! This motor is mounted in my Crossfire, on 7 cells with a CAM 8 x 4,5. Performance is quite good, with the motor pulling 22 - 24 amps. To liven things up a bit, I might go to a CAM 9 x 5, (I have no room for 8 cells). 48 E.F.-U.K. Really? Mine has eight cells and they fit easily, maybe because all my packs are side by side layout rather than end to end with caps. I also think that the Crossfire is actually a ten cell model based on my rule of thumb that aerobatic models should have one cell per 35(ish) sq. in. of wing area. Mine has had two rib bays chopped off each wing and is now much more fun! If I ever build another, I'd keep it the same size, put wheels on it and use ten cells. MotoCalc is predicting 30 amps at full throttle. My view is that this motor should not be subjected to more than 25 amps, but that as it will unload in the air by some 15%, and one is not on full throttle all the time, this should be OK - would you agree? No, I would be happy drawing much more current than that, a rough guide being not to pull more than twice the max efficiency current (22A for the Irvine 0507) so I would happily set it up for 40A static and reap the benefit of longer flight times that high power systems and good throttle management always seem to give. I know it's counter-intuitive, but trust me. If you don't, then think about F5B 'planes drawing 120A and flying for fifteen minutes or more. How do you measure Rm? Rm is the armature resistance. In theory, you stop the armature rotating, put a low voltage across the brushes (an oily fan glow plug battery works well), measure the current and voltage and then apply Ohm's law. In practice you get a whole series of different currents depending on where the armature is relative to the brushes and how hot the motor is getting and you then have to estimate an average. I prefer to use the motor test feature in MotoCalc or run the motor with different propellers and fiddle with Rm in ElectriCalc until everything ties up. Kv (the motor constant expressed as RPM/Volt) and Io (idle current) are relatively easy to measure as you've no doubt found, but be careful to measure them with the motor neutrally timed. (Lastly). I intend to stay as a sport EF modeller only, i.e. 7 to 8 cells max. in Crossfire type models. Money is limited, but if I were to take the plunge and go brushless, which one would you go for? Criteria are not less that 10 mins duration and sport style aerobatics. Because of efficiency considerations, I would like to use a geared system, or a low Kv motor with no g/box. Assuming 2400 cells, you've got 144 Ampere minutes to play with, so, for a ten minute flight , the average current would be 14.4A, peak should be twice that, so prop for 30A static. A Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem and 8x4 would be happy at that with an estimated efficiency of 72%. Your Irvine 0507 on an odd size of 8.5x4 (Bolly?) ups the efficiency to 74%. A Jeti Phasor 15-4 on the same 8.5x4 prop ups the efficiency to 80%. The Magnetic Mayhem costs £25, the Irvine 0507 costs £55 and gives you 2 more Watts into the propeller, a much more durable commutator and brushes and ball races. The Jeti costs around £175 with controller, gives you 7 more Watts into the propeller and saves what may be a critical couple of ounces E.F.-U.K. 49 of weight. Please don't take these examples as recommendations, I can't be asked to recommend motors I haven't personally tried, but you get the picture I hope. Only you can decide if it's worth going brushless! It's an easier decision when you get up to the fourteen plus cell range since the cost difference between brushed and brushless is much less. Speed 400 Timing This from Michael Pirie:- I've read about adjusting the timing on re-timeable motors but have not come across anything on carrying out an adjustment on motors of the basic 'Speed' type, although I did come across a reference by Bob Smith which speaks about 'forcing the rotation of the end-bell' which doesn't sound too promising - but it might be easier than it sounds. It certainly is. You need to hold the motor very firmly (I use an aluminium plate to which the motor is bolted and clamp it in a vice) insert something like a pair of circlip pliers into the two holes in the backplate and twist. You'll need a fair amount of effort to make it move at first and it will probably go too far, so mark the original position and the final advanced position before you start. You won't need more than about 3mm of advance -- against the direction of rotation of course! This is the set-up I use to recklessly vandalise (sorry - time) Speed 400 motors using a rather nice tool I got from Hillcott some years ago. So why bother with this timing nonsense? Well, the main reason is to get rid of sparking at the brushes which will do two things. - one, produce interference, and, two, change the commutator from a lovely shiny copper colour to something more reminiscent of coal; you'll also get more revs for the same current draw.
Timing a 400 motor using a commericcial timing tool 50 E.F.-U.K. The theory behind it is rather similar to the reason that your car ignition timing is advanced. The fuel mixture in the cylinder of your car takes time to get burning fully so you have to light it a bit before TDC, the parallel in an electric motor is that the current in each of the coils of wire in the armature has to reverse direction every time the brush moves from one commutator segment to the next and this takes a small, but significant, time. Advancing the timing gives the coil of wire a head start so to speak. Get it wrong and the coil is still trying to change direction when the brush moves from one commutator segment to the next and the result is a spark. Too little advance results in sparks at the trailing edge of the brushes and rapid wear of the positive brush. You can calculate the correct advance if you know enough about the characteristics of the motor and the operating conditions, but for our purposes, some simple rules of thumb will get you close enough. • Speed 400 - advance 3mm measured at the edge of the end bell. Speed 600 - about 5mm. • Use Bob Boucher's rule - advance until the idle current rises by one tenth of the proposed operating current. Take the Irvine 05/7T as an example, idle current at neutral timing is 3.5A and you want to operate at 25A, advance the timing until the idle current rises to 3.5 plus 25/10 = 6A. • A practical method (if you can see the brushes) is to nail the motor to something really solid, put on a propeller about 10% less in diameter than you're proposing to use and increase the advance until you get no sparks from the brushes. Great for clearing out all the dust and cobwebs in the workshop and also a good way to get your fingers chopped off, so be careful! For the real technophiles out there, hook an oscilloscope across one of the motor leads to act as a current shunt and advance until the ripple is at a minimum. They'll know what I'm talking about! Be aware that some rare earth motors have the advance built into the armature winding and don't have moveable brush housings. Don't try to run them in reverse - serious pain in the wallet time. Some ferrite can motors (like the Magnetic Mayhem) are timed for one direction as well. You can tell by measuring the idle current in one direction and then the other. If it's the same, then the timing is set at neutral, if they're different, then use the direction that gives the lowest current and/or highest revs. You don't need to fiddle with modern sensorless brushless motors, they've still got to have advanced timing (because they've got coils of wire inside) but the magic computer in the speed controller does all the work for you. I think that's enough blathering for this time, next time I want to deal with some queries about somewhat heavier metal. Don't let the smoke out! E.F.-U.K. 51 Letters to the Committee The following letter was received from Colin Prior. What ever happened to the "BUILDER OF THE MODEL RULE"? At several of the Electric Fly-Ins I have attended this year I have been very surprised and angry at the organisers awarding the First Prize in scale to ARTF models. A number of competitors are understandably aggrieved, as I would be, after building a model from scratch or a plan or completely from a kit. The model built in this manner should always achieve higher marks than a ready-built, covered and finished model. In your last issue it was reported that Bob Mahoney's 'Spirit of St. Louis' was built from a kit. In fact, this was a ready built model costing close to £800. I have heard fellow-modellers say, "What is the point in entering a competition if you are going to be beaten by a 'chequebook' model?" The feeling is why bother next year. I have been modelling for around sixty years, twenty of them flying electric. I have won RM Trophy twice, the MFA Trophy, Middle Wallop Scale, Walsall, Baldock, Hayes, Chester and several others in the last few years. If I turned up with an ARTF I would declare it and would not expect to enter it for judging. If you attend an aerobatics competition with an ARTF it does not matter as the judging is on flying skills, although at the British Nationals Championships you always had to declare if you were the builder of the model. To make it clear for those readers who are not familiar with the scale competition arrangements at BEFA fly-ins, the following is the basic system. Judging is normally undertaken by the BEFA committee members. No committee member can be involved in the judging for a class they have entered. The committee can request others to undertake the judging, e.g. at the Norfolk event the responsibility was passed to the Phoenix Club. Any number of models can be entered, it no additional charge, by any pilot who has registered to fly on that day. The model only has to meet two requirements; that it looks like a scale model of a full size aircraft and that is seen to fly, by the judges, on that day. That’s it! Gordon Tarling was requested to consider the letter and the following comments are made. I know BEFA has not had a ‘Builder of the Model Rule’ for some time now, but I do have to agree with Colin's sentiments. Somebody could spend hundreds of hours building a model from scratch and then get beaten by an ARTF model from the Philippines!
Now on with the show itself. The weather was pretty kind on Friday and Saturday. Occasionally a strong gust would sweep through Pleasant Valley taking with it sun shades and canopies that were not firmly fixed to terra firma. These conditions only occurred two or three times, but without warning, from midday onwards causing severe turbulence and catching some models with disastrous results. Sunday morning saw conditions reminiscent of UK at a weekend. Light rain and low cloud. For an hour or so it brightened up but before midday the heavens opened and this was enough for the few remaining to pack up and head home. It is worth mentioning that this show is run like BEFA events. If you have correct insurance then you can fly. The AMA has no schemes to assure that pilots are competent to fly, the only restriction placed on pilots is that the model must have successfully flown before the event. The traders line was almost the who's who of electric flight in North America. I counted at least 25 stalls but along the pilots line there were several "cottage industry" manufacturers showing their wares. One new trader to the show is a machine shop owner from California displaying gear drives called Inner Demon and Mini Demon. I have copied the picture off the pamphlet (overleaf) which shows the size of each compared with a quarter dollar piece. The workmanship is first class and substantial. The Mini Demon is designed for motors with 5/8” (16mm) bolt hole spacing which includes the 400/480 range and equivalent brushless sizes. The Inner Demon takes motors with 1in (25mm) bolt hole spacing and can handle 1200W of power using E.F.-U.K. 55 Inner Demon (left in both shots) and Mini Demon (Right) two brushless motors. Have a look at the web site for more information (www.InnerDemon.com) With so many pilots I expected to find a glut of new and exciting models. Many flown during the demonstration at lunch time each day had been displayed before. One new model was by Gary Wright from Florida. This is in the mould of fun fly models with wide chord and light weight. Gary is a very skilful pilot so I expect he got a lot more out of the model than the average flyer. Kits are available at around $100, check out his web site at www.gwmp.net. There were several others flying E3Ds at the meet. Hobby Lobby from Tennessee showed a selection of ARTFs mostly using Jeti Phasor 45/3 motors. The eye catching one from my perspective was the Bucker Jungmeister (sorry no photo). This has fibreglass fuselage with wooden wings
Dave Grife’s quarter scale Mystery Ship. Weighs 17lbs and is powered by Astro 60 with superbox on 40 cells 56 E.F.-U.K. and tail feathers. It flew on 10 cells with 12” x 8” APC'E' propeller. They also have a Tiger Cat which looks to come from the same source as the one SoMoSo retail. More on their web site www.hobby-lobby.com The ornithopters from Kinkade brought some light hearted flying to the slow fly end of the line. These 'birds' use Speed 300 motors geared to a cam which through links to each wing causes the wings to flap and generate lift. They are great to watch but rather pricey at around $200. RCMW has a review in the October issue. Since I began this report I have received my latest UK magazines in which many of the models at NEAT were featured having been shown at earlier fly-ins in USA and Canada. The large attendance did not detract from the convivial atmosphere that has been a feature of the NEAT meetings. Whoever you find yourself next to, be it as a spectator watching the flying or at the bar afterwards, you are always treated as a friend. I would guess about 200 attended the buffet dinner on Friday evening. This year it was held at a restaurant about 14 miles from the flying site. Even the Americans thought this was rather a long way, but it did have a bar!
Keith Shaw and Bob Kopski walking together after Bob had giver a demonstration of “Galloping Ghost” radio control. E.F.-U.K. 57 E3D of Keith Wright, the designer. Geared Hacker B40 on 10 cells. Has 48” span and weighs 57 ozs.
Birds at Rest. The Ornithoptors from Kinkade R/C in Florida. Good fun factor. 58 E.F.-U.K. Beautiful Sikorski S38 powered by 2 x Astro 05G motors driving 10 x 6 3 blade props on 8 cells. Weighs 91/2lbs. ROG from short grass.
Nick Ziroli with his scaled down Rudder Bug. 56in span with cobalt 05 + 3:1 gear on 7 cells. Covering is silk with Airtronics radio. Plans are expected to be published in late 2002. E.F.-U.K. 59 I can never resist taking a photo of this large B17. Originally built by Joe Basher (he was a B17 pilot in the war) but now owned and flown by Dave Barron. 10.5ft span with 4 Astro 05s direct drive on 32 cells. Dave will fly the model 3 or 4 times each day when the weather allows. Says has over 200 flights logged
This PV4Y “Privateer” is converted from a Multiplex Cargo by Everett Rubendunst. The fuselage has been inverted to provide the high wing seat. Everett said he trimmed a little from here and there and added a little here and there to produce this very good rendition. Standard Cargo power system provide good slow scale like flight in the capable hands of Dave Barron. Don Belfort provided the initial urge. 60 E.F.-U.K. Nick Ziroli picked up this Kyosho Lear Jet a couple of years ago. Standard fan system with two packs of 7 cells 2400.
1914 Hass-Von Dickenson powered by an Astro 05G on 7 cells, which flew in calm air, wing loading 4.39 oz. /sq. ft. E.F.-U.K. 61 Electric Eighty by Brian Squelch I'm always impressed by the skill and techniques shown by other modellers. However, I'm sure that the 'modelling stars' are outnumbered by the 'run-of-the- mill' types and being one of the latter I thought that a lower level article might not come amiss. For interest, I'm a member of the Tunbridge Wells Model and the Tonbridge Radio Flyers Clubs. I don't want to lower the tone too much but I'm starting from the point where I had done a bit of I/C modelling, mostly with balsa rather than ARTF and although I am an MIEE my knowledge of electrics and electronics as applied to electric flight was about zero. I had looked at the Electric Page in the BMFA News, and was grateful for that, but I knew nothing of the 'rules of thumb' such as 50 watts / pound or wing loading of 20 - 30 ounces per sq. ft. Even now I haven't yet got into MotoCalc. As always things seem to happen by accident. Having made a bit of a rash purchase at the model shop I had to renegotiate our financial arrangements. At the time my credit status was good, and after an indecently brief period, I deemed it an appropriate moment to buy a few electric knick-knacks. The shopping list seemed to grow rapidly and pretty soon I was running out of credit but at least I had a few things with which to get started. I have always fancied a twin-engined model and had the idea that electric power would be a relatively painless way to satisfy this ambition. Having an old Precedent High-fly glider to hand I had a go at modifying it. The wings were stretched and engine mounts and ailerons incorporated. The underside of the fuselage was modified to house the battery. It flew - just, but the wings were of far too high an aspect ratio for the structure. After a reasonable number of flights, and in a moment of rashness, too much up-elevator was applied and the inevitable happened - the wings folded. It may be noted that in these circumstances the plane plummets rather than flutters down! Clearly I needed a much deeper and potentially stronger wing. It occurred to me that the wing of a Super Sixty was deep enough to form the basis of a strong spar. Moreover, it was a plane that could be flown off the ground and landed rather than hand launched. Conveniently, a friend of mine, Roan Logan, had, for reasons best not gone into, a couple of sets of plans. The fuselage was a simple structure mainly of 6mm balsa and the wing was straight forward with a constant chord. Thus it seemed suitable for a scratch build over modified plans. The reasoning / modifications thought necessary are described below.
62 E.F.-U.K. Fuselage: - Fit a ply bed in the front part of the fuselage to support the battery. This would need to be fairly long to allow for C of G adjustment. - Delete the engine mount and round out the front of the fuselage. The top of the nose section was to be removable to allow access for the battery. - Strengthen the front end of the cockpit to support the heavier wing. - It wasn't going to be the fastest thing on the ground, so to help keep control, a steerable tail wheel would be fitted. Furthermore, to reduce the chances of 'ground-looping' the main wheels were shifted aft by about 12mm. - To accommodate the new tail wheel arrangement, the tail plane was raised and incorporated in the fuselage. On the original design it was held on with elastic bands. Other than the above, the fuselage was pretty much standard. The servo tray was in the same place as for the i.c. version and sat over, and towards the back-end of, the battery. Now it would carry the motor controller instead of the throttle servo. The small battery for the radio control was retained for security and to energise the model without the presence of a main battery. The tray lay-out was arranged to keep high and low current areas as separate as possible. The aerial and receiver
The revised nose design of the Electric Eighty E.F.-U.K. 63 The revised tail arrangement using micro-amps were to the rear, the servos using milli-amps in the centre and the heavy-duty battery and controller currents to the front. So far this seems satisfactory without any further screening. Wing: - To carry the expected extra weight of batteries and motors, it was thought to be prudent to increase the span from the standard Super Sixty to eighty inches. To keep the alliteration going the model just had to be called the Electric Eighty. - The upper and lower elements of the main spar would, in the centre section of the wing, use 6mm spruce rather than balsa. Standard lengths were used, 36 inches as I recollect. The outer part of the wing would continue to be of balsa construction. - The maximum relative movement of the upper and lower elements of the main spar would be at the outboard ends. Accordingly, to construct the strongest possible beam, the webs joining the upper and lower spruce elements were concentrated at the outboard ends. This would lock the two elements together most rigidly. The webs were made from ply rather than balsa and were epoxied in place both on the front and rear of the main spar. - In the centre of the wing, between the engine mounts, the lower part of the 'D' section between the spruce spar and the leading edge was made from a 6mm balsa sheet. The adjacent engine mounting bays were of 6mm 64 E.F.-U.K. ply. The remainder of the construction outboard of the motors was fairly standard. - The centre section located above the fuselage, and behind the secondary spar, was built on 3mm ply. This was to strengthen the wing where it rested on the fuselage. - A hatch was made in the underside of the wing between the main and secondary spars for wiring access. Plastic tubing was installed through the wing ribs from the hatch bay out to the engine bays on either side. - This was to carry both the power and the aileron wiring. The wiring runs are close together inside the tube for about 30cm but the power does not seem to cause interference to the aileron control. - Plywood, 6mm sheet, was added between the main and secondary spars behind the engine bays. These pieces were cut to carry aileron servos. - Ailerons, about 70cms long and 6cms wide were let into the trailing edges of the wings. These are hinged at the upper surface of the wings and directly coupled to the servos behind the engine bays.
The port motor, mount and securing arrangement E.F.-U.K. 65 The rear of a motor mount - The ailerons are probably rather larger than need be, but my test pilot, one Peter Beeney, told me at an earlier experimental stage that the originals were not worth zip. The next time I thought I would make them the size of Dumbo's ears. Now, like Mr Kipling's cakes they are exceedingly good. That pretty much covers the changes to the wing. Since the wing uses uncut spruce elements at its centre there is of course no dihedral. Engine Mounts: - The ply wing plates were drilled for captive threads to carry Olympus mounts beneath the wing. After a good deal of experimentation these were superseded by direct drive 600 ferrite motors using 8" x 4" Slim Props. - A short length of round plastic tube, about 7mm OD is glued into a piece of square plastic tube about 65mm long. The square tube is drilled to suit the positions of the captive threads and the round tube is cut to leave about 5cm protruding in front of the wing. - The ferrite motor is lightly taped in place on the protruding plastic tubes. A short length of heat shrink, 72mm tube, is slipped over the motor and plastic tubes and shrunk down to give a snug fit. This arrangement seems quite firm but in the event, heaven forbid, of a heavy landing, the plastic tube breaks rather than the heavy ferrite motor tearing a section out of the wing. 66 E.F.-U.K. The power and servo connnections to the wing
Powering, Props and Electrical Connections: The electrical motors used are cheap ferrite standard 600 motors. Various sizes of propellers, both geared and direct drive have been tried. The latest arrangement is using 8" x 4" Slim propellers, direct drive. Sanyo 2000mAh cells are used. Combinations of between 7 and 12 cells were tried in parallel and series configurations. However, nothing seemed to give enough power and / or duration. A series configuration was preferred since a failure of the circuit would not produce an imbalanced flying condition. The motors, which were nominally 9.6v, required 8 cells to give a reasonable performance. Thus, to connect the motors in series a different controller capable of handling 16 cells was required. A Fleet controller for up to 20 cells is now installed. This set-up gave an acceptable performance. My inexpensive charger is capable of mains fast charging up to 9.6 volts so two, double 8 cell packs, can be prepared fairly quickly. Checks with a watt-meter indicate that the 19.2v, 16 cells source, delivers, through the controller, about 440 watts at 25amps to the motors. Presumably, losses in the controller and watt-meter account for the loss of a few watts. The current E.F.-U.K. 67 falls-off reasonably quickly from a high initial peak but after taking-off the model is throttled back in any case to reduce the current drain. It will fly comfortably on two thirds throttle estimated to be a load of about 15amps. The take-off run is about 20 metres in reasonably quiet conditions. Flight duration is 5 minutes or so thus allowing a few trial approaches before landing. It has flown for a little over 8 minutes but with not enough power left to taxi-in. Now that reasonable flight has been achieved, how does it sit with the 'rules of thumb'? Weight: - Airframe = 5lb 10oz - Battery = 2lb 3oz Total = 7lb 13oz = 7.813 lb = 125oz Wing area = 77” x 10.4” = 800.8 sq in = 5.56 sq ft. Loading = 125oz / 5.56 sq ft = 22.5 oz / sq ft. Power to Weight = 440/7.813 watts/lb = 56.3 watts/lb. Thus after considerable experimentation the inescapable 'rules of thumb' have been vindicated yet again.
The completed Electric Eighty 68 E.F.-U.K. Electric Piggyback ©©by John Stennard I’ve had great fun flying my 920mm (36¼”) span Scorpio threedee400 and my review of it was published in Quiet &Electric Flight International (Q&EFI) as was my follow up detailing its conversion to AXI brushless power. With this AXI motor and an 8 cell pack of the latest HV 4/5 AVP 1700 NiMH cells I reckoned that there was enough power to spare for lifting a small RC hand launch glider aloft, piggyback style. Not only did I think this would be fun but also an ideal way to give novice pilots some useful extra training. This is just a summary of the system as a full feature on it was published in the December Q&EFI. A suitable small hand launched glider was available from Flitehook. It is an ARTF model of 980mm (38½”) span called the Zip. Assembling the Zip was problem free and test flights showed it to be very easy to fly, and the AUW is 183g (6.5oz). As can be imagined the pylon mount for the glider took a while to perfect. It involved a number of modifications before the system was safe and reliable. The pylon is constructed from 1.5mm ply plus 6mm dowel rod and balsa.
The mount fitted to the threedee400 E.F.-U.K. 69 The release mechanism uses a servo operating on an auxiliary channel (in my case channel 5). The movement of the output arm releases the two rubber bands that hold the glider in place on the pylon. The test flight program initially involved flying the threedee400 with the pylon in place. This replicated the post launch situation and was fully successful. The second series of test flights took place with the glider in position for both take off and landing. This replicated a non-functioning launch situation. These flights resulted in several changes to the pylon to stop the glider rocking in turns. The final test was to release the glider in flight. This test was successful and the piggyback system has now been operated on numerous occasions. The threedee400 climbs very well with the Zip on top, I guess the extra wing area more than compensates for the extra weight. I am sure the brushless powered threedee400 could easily lift a larger and heavier glider. Piggybacking is an easier option than towing although I am confident that the use of an electric powered ‘tug’ is entirely practical. This has been an interesting project and demonstrates yet again how far electric power has come.
A close-up of the piggyback mount in use 70 E.F.-U.K. The combination takes to the air
Have you got an electric powered model that others might be interested in hearing about. If so, please send a photograph (or more) a details to the Editor, using the contact details listed on page 4. E.F.-U.K. 71 R.O.C.C.A. by Mike Pitchers There was quite a lot of interest in "Rocca" last Sunday at Pillerton Hersey, so I thought that you would like to know more. "ROCCA" is an acronym for Remotely Controlled Camera Carrying Aircraft. It was started as a design project by my Grandson while at school (with a lot of help from his Grandad). It was based on the general dimensions of "Heron" and build around the very efficient "Master Airscrew" power train. It is 5' 6" (2 m) span and 4' 10" (1.5 m) overall length, the wing chord is 9" (23 cm).
The ROCCA airframe completed, but uncovered and covered The build weight was kept down as much as possible without compromising the airframe strength. In flight it has exceeded expectations; it will take off with the camera, a Canon Ixus weighing 8ozs. (227 g), on board and without the camera has thermalled in good lift.
Another view of the covered ROCCA 72 E.F.-U.K. “Rocca's" first job was to carry out an aerial survey to see if it was possible to find my "Sportwagon". The "Sportwagon" a vintage design which suffered radio (?) failure and disappeared into very deep bracken, many hours of searching has failed to locate it. I was not surprised to see nothing but bracken, I had expected that the aircraft had dived through the canopy and would be out of sight.
The missing Sportwagon (before the disappearance)
This is the foam mount used to hold the Canon Ixus digital camera in position. This camera is a 2M pixel camera giving images of up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. The camera is mounted upside down, so that the trigger button is easily operated. It is held in place by a hook and loop strap to allow speedy removal.
E.F.-U.K. 73 Above is a photograph of Newtown Linford village & part of Leicestershire. Below is a shot of part of the Pillerton Hersey flying site showing the cars (pits) and patch (just).
74 E.F.-U.K. Left - a more complete view of Pillerton Hersey patch with several modellers stood around the bottom corner.
Below my house and garden.
E.F.-U.K. 75 Conclusion:- The power from the geared Maxcim 13Y brushless motor is quite astonishing as some of you may be aware, this model at the present is not quite as powerful as my smaller Maxcim 13 D powered Acro Wot, but then my Acro has 103 watts per lb. and climbs at 90 degrees from take off with a 45 amp current at full. I am very confident that with a few more cells and re gearing of the MEC Monster box I can push the 100+ watts per pound mark, this is the first Xtra Wot I have seen fly and as you might expect this must be the first electric one ever! That’s all for now from me - Paul Cook. Should you wish to contact me on any relevant details with this model you can Email me at [email protected].
JUNE 28TH & 29TH 2003 at North Weald Airfield, Essex (Just off Junction 7 - M11 motorway) The largest RC Model Show in the South Flight Line directed by The Ghost Squadron Electric Model Display Pilots welcome, pre booking required. Please contact us if you are interested in displaying your model.
Other attractions include:- Large Model Boat Pool, Model Car displays, Over 70 Model Trade Stands, Gigantic Modellers Bring & Buy, Bar, Refreshments, Saturday Night Entertainment plus lots more!!
See all about the 2002 Show on our web site www.wingsnwheelsspectacular.com
Tel./Fax: ++ 44 (0) 1480 462265 email: [email protected]
Designaction Limited, Wings & Wheels, PO Box 284, HUNTINGDON. PE28 9AE 76 E.F.-U.K. FOR SALE / WANTED Member's Sales & Wants
For Sale on behalf of the estate of the late Sqn Ldr Ken Wood, MBE. The models are all fully built & shipping is difficult, but delivery and/or viewing can be arrange at any of the BEFA fly-ins or the AGM. For more details (or digital photographs), contact Jan Bassett on 01935 472743 or [email protected]: • Goldberg Electra powered sailplane with modified nose shape (78” span single-piece wing of 663 sq. in.). Fitted with 1 Hitec HS-80 & 1 Futaba S143 servo. The motor mounting is designed for a Keller 22/12 motor, but would fit a 600 motor & compact gearbox with little or no modification. Covered in SolarFilm, the fuselage, fin & wing centre are red, with the tailplane, elevator & rudder in white and yellow outboard on the wings. Intended for 7 Sub-C cells, but would take 8 Sub-C or 10 4/5 Sub-C. Price for a quick sale to a good home at £40 ono. • Goldberg Electra powered sailplane with modified nose shape as above. Fitted with Fleet FPS-24A speed control, Micron Mini Rx and 2 Fleet FPS-18 mini servos. Covered overall in Fibafilm with the fuselage, elevator & rudder in white and the wings, tailplane & fin in red. Intended for 7 Sub-C cells, but would take 8 Sub-C or 10 4/5 Sub-C. Price for a quick sale to a good home at £40 ono. For Sale by Neil Stainton, telephone him on 01926 314011 or email at [email protected] • New Aveox 27/26/2Y high efficiency motor - £69 • New Jeti 40-3P brushless controller - £59 • New Jeti 70-3P brushless controller - £78 • Ceto 35Mhz receiver with 2 WES Technik 2.4g servos (see photograph below). Complete weight is 10g. Rx xtal not included - £60
E.F.-U.K. 77 For Sale by Eric Cable, the following motors which are boxed and unflown. Contact Eric on telephone 01935 478974 (Yeovil). • Plettenberg HP 200/20/12 motor - £75 • Astro 05 FAI, 6 turn motor, geared 2.2:1 - £95 • LRP Super 400 - £25 For Sale by Dave Chinery, a Aveox 1406-2Y and controller - £120 ono. Contact him on 020 8573 4687 or at email [email protected] For Sale by John Deeming, a considerable number of electric flight motors, too numerous to list, including MaxCim, Astro, Graupner and Permax. Most are boxed, new and unused. Also some miniature 35MHz receivers and a Multiplex ‘Brick’, all boxed, new and unused. Please telephone John for details on 01395 233102 (Exmouth, Devon). Wanted by the Editor (contact details on page 4) any of the following: • Articles. • New products. • Event write-ups. • Photographs of models (preferably with dimensions, equipment installed and flight performance please). • New items of interest for inclusion in this magazine. • Photograph prints supplied will be returned if you supply a return address, unless you specify otherwise. • Digital photographs should be at least 1000 pixels wide, in colour and uncompressed wherever possible.
Requests for inclusion in the For Sale & Wanted pages can be made by email, post or by telephone, to the Editor using the contact details on page 4. Entries can also be submitted on-line from the For Sale & Wanted page on the BEFA website at www.befa.org.uk If you wish to have pictures included with your for sale or wanted entry, post photographs, or email graphic files, to the Editor. Graphic files should be in colour and uncompressed were possible. Adverts will be included in both E.F.-U.K. and on the BEFA Website unless instructed otherwise.
78 E.F.-U.K. Electric Flight Calendar If you would like details of your event to appear in these pages please send full details to the Editor EF-UK, contact details on page 4. For last minute info check out the events list onthe BEFA website at www.befa.org.uk Dates, times and, even, locations of events can change at the last minute. You are strongly advised to check on events with the given contacts before setting out on your journey to any event. You are asked to please check with the organisers of non-BEFA events for their qualification requirements before the event. All BEFA flying events require proof of BMFA or equivalent insurance to fly. Additionally, all models must have been satisfactorily test flown prior to the BEFA event to fly - NO TEST FLIGHTS ON THE DAY. The BEFA has not yet set minimum qualifications to fly at our events, i.e. no BMFA certificates are required to fly. Currently all that is expected of pilots is a reasonable level of flying competency. January 2003
11th Unfornuately, due to lack of interest, the BMFA Northern Area Indoor fly-ins for this winter have all been cancelled. March 2003
9th BEFA Annual General Meeting - see the details on page 7. June 2003
28th / 29th Wings and Wheels Model Spectacular at North Weald Airfield, Essex. All the usual attractions of this annual event. Please see the advert on page 72 for more details. July 2003
27th Bath SpaRCS Fly-In at Colerne. Just to let you note it in your diaries, more information to follow. August 2003
16th/17th Greenacres Fun Fly at Walsall Airport. Cost per frequency £2.50. The usual arrangements for camping, trade, etc. For further information contact Andrew Moult on telephone 01922 724311 or email [email protected] or alternatively Peter Hubbard, on 07754 058872 or email [email protected]
E.F.-U.K. 79 New to ELECTRIC FLIGHT? START HERE . . . . . You may be taking up Electric Flight for the first time, you may be converting from another discipline. Whatever your situation, help and advice is available. BEFA has prepared an information sheet which details further sources of information which you may find useful when just joining the hobby. To receive a copy, please send a Stamped Addressed Envelope (SAE) to Robert Mahoney, address on page 4. BEGINNER'S GUIDE A Beginner’s Guide to Electric Flight is available, which explains many of the 'Mysteries' of Electrics’ and will, hopefully, set you off on the right foot. Please send £3.00, per copy required, to The Editor of EF-UK at the address on page 4. Please add £1.00 extra for overseas postage and remit in Sterling, cheques payable to BEFA. TECHNICAL HELP SERVICE Technical help is now available again for the use of all members. We regret that no telephone service is available, but all questions in writing (or email) will be answered by our new Technical Liaison Officer (TLO). Please refer your queries to our TLO, to the postal or email address on page 4. Please ensure that you include an SAE for a reply. CONNECTIONS SERVICE Requests are frequently received from members who wish to be put in contact with other members living in the same area. The easiest method of doing this is to place a free 'wanted' advert in the classified section of this magazine. Alternatively, a request may be made IN WRITING to the Membership Secretary who is allowed to divulge such information to members ONLY. Please supply as much information about your location as possible and please remember to include an SAE for your reply. B.E.F.A. MEMBERSHIP Membership of the Association is open to all members of the BMFA. Those who are not members of our national controlling body may only subscribe to EF-UK with no other benefits of membership. Overseas members are very welcome and will be classed as full members if they belong to their own national controlling body. CONTACT For full details, please send an SAE to the Membership Secretary (address on page 4) requesting a membership application form. Those with Internet access may visit the B.E.F.A. website at http://www.befa.org.uk, where you will find all the membership application form & information you should require.
80 E.F.-U.K. MAIL ORDER MODEL SUPPLY GOLD PLUGS Ideal for Speed 400/600 2mm plug 75p; cuts into two giving one plug/socket 2mm solder socket 43p. 2mm plug and a 2mm socket £1.15 Lightweight 2mm plug and socket 55p; Max 15A motor current draw Spares. 2mm light plug 40p. 2mm light socket 20p Pack of red/black shrink: 3.2mm or 4.8mm 50p GOLD PLUGS 600 or larger motor 4mm plug 90p; cuts into plug/socket. Very low resistance 4mm hollow plug and a separate 4mm solder socket £1.15 Spares. 4mm hollow plug 85p. 4mm solder socket 43p Lightweight 4mm plug and socket 75p; Max motor current 35A suggested Spares. 4mm light plug 55p. 4mm light socket 25p Pack of red/black shrink: 6.4mm £1.25: 4.8mm 75p Providing that you bear in mind the suggested amp ratings all the 2mm and 4mm plugs are interchangeable. All fit any of the same size. EXTRA FLEXIBLE WIRE. 0.5mm2, 129 strands, Max 10A, 35p/metre Red or Black or White. Park Flyers etc. or servo extensions. EXTRA FLEXIBLE WIRE Supplied in packs of 1 metre of red and 1 metre of black, i.e. 2 metres of wire 0.75mm2, 196 strands; ideal for weight saving, Max 15A, £1.00/pack 1.00mm2, 258 strands; ideal for weight saving for speed 400, Max 19A, £1.40/pack 1.50mm2, 378 strands; ideal for speed 400, £2.00/pack 4mm2, 1036 strands; £3.50/pack SILICONE INSULATED WIRE. Pack of 1 metre of red and 1 metre of black 1.5mm2, 378 strands. £2.50 2.5mm2, 651 strands. £3.00 All wire can be cut off the roll, in longer lengths if required. CELL HEATSHRINK metre lengths 25mm 50p; suits single AAA or AA cells or any same size 48mm 75p; suits single sub C cells/sticks or packs of dumpy 600 65mm 85p; suits 1700 or 2000 packs, also RC oblong sticks etc. 94mm 95p; suits double deck packs (1700 etc.) All sizes layflat width, supplied in clear. 48mm available in opaque blue also. WIRE HEATSHRINK metre lengths 1.6mm 50p; 2.4mm 60p; 9.5mm £1.00. Black only 3.2mm 75p; 4.8mm 80p; 6.4mm 95p. All in red or black. ALL ORDERS PLUS POSTAGE: 60p UK; £1.10 Europe; £1.70 World M. E. DONKIN, 37 WYDALE ROAD, OSBALDWICK, YORK, YO10 3PG Tel/Fax 01904 414738. Mobile 0771 202 8329. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] All messages - an attempt will be made to contact you. (I work shifts) Computer faxes must send start signal before my fax will respond! E.F.-U.K. 81 B.E.F.A. Sales
BEFA Round, Coloured Rub-down Decals - 50p each
BEFA 2000' Millennium Decals - £1.00 each
Back Issues of EF-UK - No's 38, 40, 41, 44, 52, 53, 55 to 63 (inclusive) at £1.00 each for BEFA members, or £2.00 each to non-members. Issues 64 to 70 are also available to BEFA members at £3.00 each, or £5.00 each to non-members. These prices include UK P&P, overseas rates on application. Please Note these are the ONLY back issues now available.
EF-UK Index. A comprehensive index of EF-UK from issue 28 to 59 is available by sending a £1 coin to cover copying and postage cost.
Binders:- are available to hold eight issues of Electric Flight U.K. Produced in dark blue with gold lettering on the spine, these cost £4.50 each including U.K. postage. Please add £1 for European postage and £2 for Worldwide postage.
Sweat Shirts & Tee-Shirts: Stock of these is now almost all gone - please contact Robert Mahoney regarding remaining stock, sizes and prices.
Please send all orders to Robert Mahoney at the address on page 4.
PLEASE REMIT IN STERLING ONLY, WITH ALL CHEQUES MADE PAYABLE TO B.E.F.A. Advertisers Index BEFA Sales ...... 82 Buzzflight ...... 30 E-Zone ...... Inside Front Cover Fanfare ...... Inside Back Cover For Sale / Wanted ...... 77 Mail Order Model Supply...... 81 New-2-U ...... 8 Traplet ...... Outside Back Cover Wings & Wheels ...... 76 E.F.-U.K. advertising rates are £20 per full page, £10 per half page, per issue. Please contact the Editor for further information (see page 4). 82 E.F.-U.K. – MAIL ORDER – SPORTS ELECTRIC FLIGHT FANS AND GEARBOXES www.fanfare.f9.co.uk
FANS GEARBOXES Master Airscrew 2.5, 3, 3.5:1 ...... £16.00 Morley ‘Jet Elec’ Fan ...... £15.00 TAB Inline 2.65 540/600’s ...... £40.00 Adaptors for TAB Inline 2.08 & 3.05 480’s ...... £40.00 480 & 410 motors ...... £3.00 TAB Inline 2.1 700’s ...... £50.00 WeMoTec MiniFan 480 ...... £28.00 Mini Olympus ...... £8.00 Olympus ...... £12.00 MidiFan for 540’s, 600’s 930’s ...... £38.00 MOTORS / GEARBOXES MOTORS MFA 2.5:1 N.I.L. with 540 ...... £21.00 WEP Turbo 10 ...... £55.00 Speed 400 FG3 ...... £17.00 Speed 500 E Race ...... £13.00 SpeedGear 400 4:1 Inline ...... £35.00 Speed 600 8.4v BB SP ...... £15.00 SpeedGear 480 3.45:1 ...... £48.00 Speed 600 8.4v Race ...... £18.00 SpeedGear 500 2.8:1 ...... £40.00 Speed 650 9.6v BB Race ...... £33.00 SpeedGear 600 2.8:1 ...... £41.00 Speed 700 ...... £14.00 to £22.00 SpeedGear 700 2.7:1 9.6v ...... £60.00 Neodym ...... £38.00 SpeedGear 700 Neo ...... £82.00 RE 380 / Rocket 400 ...... £4.50 Mini-Olympus & RE380 ...... £12.00 Speed 480 PB .. £14.00 BB ...... £21.00 Olympus & 540 ...... £19.00 Pro 400 ...... £5.00 Pro 480 ...... £7.00 Robbe 410/35/45 ...... £36.00 MAXCIM BRUSHLESS PROPS Max Neo 13Y 1430 rpm/v ...... £160.00 M.A. Folding 12x8 ...... £14.00 Max Neo 13D 2470 rpm/v ...... £160.00 15x12 ...... £15.25 21 Cell Controller ...... £140.00 M.A. Wood Electric 10x6/10x8 ...... £4.00 25 Cell Controller ...... £180.00 11x7/11x9 ...... £4.25 12x8/12x10 ...... £4.50 Superbox 1.6 to 4.28:1 ...... £50.00 13x8/13x10 ...... £5.00 Monsterbox 4 to 6.8:1 ...... £60.00 Carbon Folders 7x4 ...... £6.00 Motor Mount ...... £12.00 (Perkins) 8x4.5 ...... £6.00 11x8 ...... £9.00 Slimprops 8x4, 8x6, 9x5, 9x6 ...... £3.50 CHARGERS APC Electric 6” - 12” dia...... £4.00 Speed 1 Pulse / Pk (full range available) 13 ” - 18” dia...... £5 to £10 Det 4-8 cells ...... £27.00 Selection of Graupner & Aeronaut Speed Ex Digital folding & fixed props. as above with discharge ...... £55.00 Wheels, Wire, Servos, Fuses, Caps, Simprop 25 cell ...... £100.00 Powerpole, 4mm & 2mm gold conns. FANFARE • 18 HILLSIDE ROAD • TANKERTON • WHITSTABLE • KENT • CT5 3EX ‘Sports Electric’ Helpline - Phone / Fax: (01227) 771331 - E-mail: [email protected] Now online at - www.fanfare.f9.co.uk