Table of contents for October 2022 in RCM&E

I wanted to start this month by saying a big thank you to everyone who has passed on their condolences and kind thoughts about our dear friend and popular columnist Alex Whittaker. There has also been a touching reponse from several experienced contributors to the magazine, who have either already sent articles, or who have promised to do so, particularly show and event reports, to try to fill the ‘roving reporter’ brief that Alex had fulfilled so well. We already have several such event reports on file, and quite a few more on the way, so we will be able to keep you updated on lots of model flying events going forwards. And please, dear reader, do not fret about other content. Even before Alex’s untimely passing, we were in…

In the previous thrilling episode, we had got to the point where we had, in the immortal words of Richard Rawlings, ‘Fired it up’ (Misfit Garage, TV show). Read on, as we get this beast finished and airborne. “One challenge was the creation of the life rafts, which the helicopter carries in pods on the sponsons” ATTENTION TO DETAIL Once the tail was attached, I then had the joyful task of re-installing everything that I took out before. Once that was done, I began work on getting the scale details right. I began by making the ‘strake’ that runs down the side of the tail boom. Curiously absent from other scale AW139s, mine was made from 1/2” sheet balsa, cut and sanded using a cardboard template. Since it sits on…

As mentioned last time around the SZD Pirat was to be the subject of my recent endeavours. And in the fullness of time the job was done. As usual there was the usual tussle between scale fidelity and practicality, the main focus of which was on the three-piece wing. Previous experience has shown that, on the slope especially, three-piece wings have some considerable drawbacks, the main one being the fact the centre section must be rigidly bolted to the fuselage. This means that in the event of an unplanned landing (i.e., when the lift suddenly goes AWOL) there is no longer the luxury of the absorption of untamed forces that is the gift of the rubber band and instead those same forces are free to savage the airframe instead. Additionally,…

MODEL MAGIC The Soviet Yakolev 11 trainer was based on the earlier Yak 3 fighter. Work on the design began in mid-1944, and a prototype first flew in late 1945. Since it was a WWII trainer, rather than a fighter, it initially suffered from low production priorities. It used the same metal wings as the Yak 3U, and the fuselage was of mixed metal and wood construction. It had a wingspan of 9.4 metres or 30’ 10”. The power plant was a Shestsov Ash-21 air-cooled radial piston engine of 700 hp. Maximum speed was 460 km/h (289 mph or 248 knots). The range was 1250 km or 795 miles (691 nautical miles). Service ceiling was 23,295 feet. Armament was one machine gun, and it could carry up to 200 kg…

“I vowed to get myself a Piper Cub at the next possible opportunity” I’ve hankered after a model of a Piper Cub for a long time. And when I say a Piper Cub what I really mean is a J-3 in traditional Cub Yellow. The daft thing is that I inherited an unwanted J-3 kit when editing another magazine many years ago, which I placed behind the office door as a future build and basically forgot about. Roll on a few years and an office clear-out required some drastic action. I still wasn’t in the mood to build her, so the dusty kit was snapped up by my then colleague and current clubmate, Barry Atkinson, who had her up and running in very short order. Barry also took the flying…

“It is rock steady in flight until you want to something, then it does it with no fuss or twitchiness.” Hound Dog is a sports aerobatic model designed during that long flying desert of the lockdowns. It is a bit of a mongrel because my brain had shut down, so I was strongly influenced by past designs, and I used favourite ideas from my favourite models. I am not claiming that it is better than they were, but it is just as good from my flying point of view. HOUND DOG UNLEASHED Hound Dog is a very nice model to fly. It is rock steady in flight until you want to something, then it does it with no fuss or twitchiness. I found that the control throws needed to be…

Over the years the models produced by Argentinian pilot Mariano Gostanain have wowed the aerobatic fraternity with their unique design and appearance. Readers of this column will recall the Cuantic and the Quark biplane in recent years as being examples of a significant departure from the ‘normal’ looking F3A models we see in the European circuit. The latest design, the Karma, retains the Beluga whale like appearance shared previously with the Cuantic; it is simply huge, even by today’s standards. This is not a derogatory statement; the model has been optimised in the high wind conditions of the South Atlantic. I flew in the 2007 World Champs in Argentina and have first-hand experience of how wild the winds there can be. The huge side area of this model is not…

I’m compiling this column a scant couple of days after hearing about the sudden and shocking demise of my friend and colleague, Alex Whittaker. Yes, he was closer to others in real life, but whenever we met up at events and shows we always enjoyed some good-natured banter and mickey-taking, particularly about each other’s columns in this publication. The aeromodelling world will be a distinctly emptier place without him. NICHE TERRITORY Most of the diesel-powered models that I’ve seen, either online or in the flesh, are predictably of the vintage ilk, which spend their flight times pottering about in gentle circuits or maybe pulling the occasional positive-G loop now and then. For these models there’s nothing wrong with a simple fuel tank with its feed pipe sucking fuel from the…

Luckily for me, LMA Cosford is just over the border in England. This means no dawn Pennine crossings. In fact, I can be there in less than two hours of leisurely driving through leafy Shropshire. However, the weekend weather forecasts were a bit dodgy. On Friday the BBC said rain was more likely on Saturday, and unlikely on Sunday. On the sabbath, the drive was a bit cloudy, but on arrival there were breaks in the cloud. Soon, weak shafts of sunlight pressed through. My spirits lifted. PCR CODE These days the modern LMA is very digital. Their Press Pass comes in the form of a PCR code delivered digitally to your smart phone. Being a pensioner, naturally, I printed out a back-up paper copy in case of iPhone battery…

I enjoy making and refurbishing model IC engines. To me, it takes a lot to beat the sound of a recently completed engine starting for the first time, or after the re-build of a classic engine that probably has not been used for some 40 years. My model flying days are long gone, so all my engines are ‘test bed’ items. My standard procedure with a new engine, after initial start-up, is to go through the run-in procedure, then try it with different propellers and settings, while recording the RPM for each setting. After about a total run time of an hour, I find my interest for that engine tapers off and I then clean it up and mount it on a stand for display. Some years ago, at an…

Get in touch... Kevin.Crozier@mytimemedia.com TAILDRAGGER FLEETWING The hairs pricked on the back of my neck when I read your editorial in the July edition of the RCM&E as, at the time, I had a Fleetwing on the bench approaching completion! Early in the year I acquired a PAW 35 from the estate of a club member. I was browsing through the Keil Kraft catalogue and came across the Fleetwing and thought that it would be an ideal candidate for the PAW. Whilst building it, I glanced across at my Astro Hog and there is no doubt there is a strong family resemblance. I did take the liberty of making some changes whilst building, including making it a tail dragger, my preferred type of undercarriage. I’ve tried to keep it to…

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BEDE’S WANDERING WING Following on from his sequence of shots in the May issue showing the crash of a large scale Nieuport, Arnaldo Correia witnessed a similar train of events at the Bellota Jet Meeting in Cáceres, Spain. Over to Arnaldo: “One of the jets taking part in the last Bellota (Acorn) Jet meeting at Cáceres was an X-Treme Jets 1/2.3 scale Bede BD-5J, owned and flown by Francisco Cepeda of Castilla-La Mancha (Province). The engine was a Jets Munt M210TS. Unfortunately, during its second demo flight the left-wing unlatched, causing the wing panel to try to separate from the rest of the airframe, with predictable results. Fortunately, it did not catch fire.”…