Table of contents for April 2025 in RCM&E

Welcome to the April 2025 issue of RCM&E. It’s that time of year when even feeding the birds in my garden is fraught with risk. The feeders hang from a tree at the bottom of the lawn, the end of which is on a slight slope. But, as has become usual in recent years, after weeks of wet weather, interspersed with damp, overcast conditions that do nothing to help dry out conditions underfoot, the end of said slope has become a short mudslide. I have yet to end up ‘base over apex’ but it’s been close! It reminds me of the flying session I had at around this time last year when, checking out a large puddle in the adjacent field as a possible venue for some impromptu floatplane flying,…

My first adventure with an EDF (Electric Ducted Fan) model came to a frustrating and embarrassing end when my brain and thumbs simply refused to catch up with the little Arrows Hawk that I had bought myself as a birthday present. After three increasingly awful crashes I excavated the hardware out of the wreckage and put it all on a shelf, well out of sight. A couple of months later I was talking to a friend about the Keil Kraft and Veron models we had built as kids. My favourite was the Avro 707. We had a long garden in the 1950s and it made perfect sense to treat it as a glider. But the inevitable transition to a Jetex version resulted, as they all seemed to do, in a…

I have built and flown several Pitts biplanes and their derivatives during my model flying career and I always missed my red Practical Scale Pitts S-1 that I flew a lot at public shows many moons ago. So, looking for something that fitted into the back of my Volvo estate and which could use a Zenoah 74, led me to Pegasus Models in Norwich, who found out the cowl dimensions for me. A quick measure up of the ZG74 and silencer showed that it would fit - just! This engine is heavier than the recommended DLE 60 Boxer twin, but I like quiet models with a good reserve of torque and the large canister silencer and electronic ignition I had fitted to the Zenoah had proven themselves already. Money exchanged…

TOP RC SF-260 £88.99 I www.jperkins.com One of the latest additions to J. Perkins inventory, TopRC’s SF-260 is a super-detailed, 450mm span ready-to-fly EPP interpretation of the Italian SIAI-Marchetti military trainer. Available in a choice of vibrant colour schemes this suitcase-friendly 4-channel indoor/ park flyer can be enjoyed by beginners and experts alike thanks to a 6-axis gyro whilst a fixed, demountable trike U/C make both ROG and hand-launch operation a breeze. An efficient electric powertrain served by a 1S 400 mAh LiPo combine to provide a healthy duration of around 12 minutes. Available from your local J. Perkins stockist for £88.99. For an in-depth review, check out David Ashby’s report of this lovely model in last month’s issue of RCM&E. X-FLY SPITFIRE £299.99 I www.cmldistribution.co.uk One of the most…

Top letter For his letter this month John Dimond wins a compact e455 multi chemistry AC input charger courtesy of Overlander Batteries: www.overlander.co.uk FOAM SAFE PRIMER When I read Steve Hadland’s query on ‘Foam Safe Spray’ in the March edition of RCM&E, I had just completed spray painting a new EPO foam model (photos attached) and thought my experience might be helpful. First, I experimented with various spray can leftovers on scrap EPO from the model’s packaging. Whilst applying light ‘mist coats’ avoided damage to the EPO, it would take many such coats to build up solid cover. Furthermore, any inadvertent ‘wetting’ with paint melted the EPO. I tried pre-coating with water based polyurethane varnish, but this had little effect. Some internet research led me to a spray styrofoam…

FUNDROID Fun ly models are typically high wing monoplanes with minimal structures, large wing areas and thick aerofoil sections. Competition lying involves manoeuvring close to the ground, passing through limbo gates and fast landings. The airframe is likely to take some knocks and some people might be put o f risking a model in Fun Fly. To address this Mike Bell decided to investigate whether he could reduce the cost of building a fun ly machine and make pushing the light envelope less of a financial risk. In the last few years Mike has been experimenting with alternative materials, including Foamboard and Depron, but can they stand up to the rough and tumble of competition or enthusiastic sport lying? Fundroid has proven to be just as strong as any wooden…

MODELAIR AT OLD WARDEN We recently received an update about the immediate future of the popular ModelAir aeromodelling events, which have been held at Old Warden airfield for many years. Emma Chase provided us with the following statement on behalf of the ModelAir team: “Since the July 2024 model flying event, we have been working very hard trying to secure the future of model flying events at Old Warden, which we ran on behalf of Shuttleworth, but to no avail. Our last course of action was to appeal to the Shuttleworth trustees who have replied with a letter which basically says that Shuttleworth will no longer host model flying events on the airfield. The trustees mention the use of the parkland for modelling events. We have thoroughly investigated all the…

Early in my R/C model flying career I had a few fast aeroplanes. A couple that stood out were a Flair Dara pylon racer and a Ken Stokes Mirus. Both were mighty fast, even when powered by stock second-hand .20 and .40 glow engines, and the thrill of flying them has always stuck in my mind. But as time went on my interests went in other (slower!) directions. Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I joined a local club where some members were actively involved in electric pylon racing. My visits only coincided with them flying their zippy little models on a couple of occasions, but they did look fun to fly. Not long after I was pleased to see one of the double page spreads taken…

DB SE5 This 80-inch wingspan, 1/4 scale SE5 had been on my Bucket List to build for more than 20 years. I purchased it directly from DB Sport & Scale in 2023 and began the build in 2024, which took me about 13 months to complete. I powered the SE5 with a Leopard 6362-10T 210KV Outrunner motor, a Castle Creations Edge 120A HV ESC and 2 x 5S 5000 mAh LiPos, configured in series. I redesigned the tailskid to include two WW1 wheels, either side of the skid, to expedite retrieval of the aircraft from the runway. The SE5 weighed just under 19 lbs. on completion. The photo was taken after a successful maiden flight at the Tokay RC Modelers Club, near Walnut Grove, California. Nigel Watson SHORT STIRLING Steve…

Let’s start with a frightener… Does your wife/partner/tamer/nurse/doctor enjoy your hobby? Do they take part, just nudge you along disconsolately or simply put up with your particular bent? My wife of, oh so long, has borne my obsession with this wonderful hobby for over half a century of tolerance and forbearance. In short, she’s a gem. However, a week ago I had cause to rethink my ignorant lack of understanding her. She presented me with a gift that marks me out and nails me good and proper as a dedicated R/C model aviation nerd, even getting a dig in with her single word nom-de-plume. The pictures say it all, the red face is well-earned, and I’ll wear the tee shirt with humility. Icarus indeed! STUCK UP? Sometimes your ‘I’ll do…

A bonus to writing for RCM&E is that I receive some interesting emails. These can be a follow up to something I’ve written, sharing information, or occasionally a request for advice. A blast from the past came from Slater, who had been given a Snelflight Hoverfly helicopter. He was hoping to get this in the air after a long period in storage. Founded in 1998, Snelflight are still in business with drones, but their innovative helicopters have been out of production for some while. Before coaxial helicopters made piloting a helicopter easier the initial stages of just taking off and hovering could be challenging. I learnt to fly on a .30 size IC Hirobo Shuttle and found the new indoor Ikarus FP Picollo no problem to handle. However, I witnessed…

Regular readers will remember that in the last issue we introduced a pair of new and exciting models of the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX which will be hitting model shop shelves soon. Indeed, they may already be available by the time you read this article. Developed by XFly-Model in collaboration with their UK distributor, CML Distribution, two versions are being offered with matte finish scale liveries, one being for MK392, the aircraft which Commonwealth ace ‘Johnnie’ Johnson flew during the Normandy landings, complete with invasion stripes. In this article I’ll be taking a closer look at one of the first production kits of this famous fighter, our review model being of the D-Day type. The other colour scheme, the subject of the prototype kit that we built and flew last month,…

I’ve been really pleased with my Hi8us flying wing model which featured in the July ‘22 issue. That is until one winters day when I launched it and the spinning prop clipped a knuckle as it flew past! I hadn’t heeded my own advice to quickly get my hand out of the way. Thankfully, I had gloves on and they took the brunt, but it still hurt! To avoid the risk of it happening again I decided to build an EDF version using one of the tiny 50 mm Powerfun units that George at 4-Max Models sells. These delightful little units are very reasonably priced, but I was shocked at the cost of balsa these days. Whilst searching for a cheaper alternative I remembered a model I’d designed 33 years…

Let’s deal with some simpler issues for the Valiant design, namely the fin and tailplane. As this is a semi-scale model there is a popular option to increase the tail surfaces by about 10% to improve flight stability. I have incorporated this on several designs and I concur that it does seem to give an improvement in performance. If I chose to go this way, then it’s a simple maths question to recalculate the surface area at 10% larger while retaining the shape. For a semi scale model, I have opted to go with 6 mm sheet balsa main tailplanes with built up elevators and rudder from a combination of strip and 2 mm sheet. This can be easily shown with a plan view and a sectional view through the…

Having successfully scratch built some twin-engine biplanes, I felt ready to take on a really challenging build. A few years ago, my daughter bought me a 1965 Air Classics magazine that included a Barling Bomber article, which enticed me to make a scale R/C model. Its proper name is the Wittemann‐Lewis XNBL-1 (experimental night bomber long range) ‘Barling Bomber’, lovingly named after British designer Walter H. Barling. Initially lauded as an aviation advance, the Barling quickly became disliked by its pilots because it was exhausting to fly. Enthusiasm waned further once it was realised that it needed an expensive hangar to be built to house it. The coup de grâce for the Barling came in 1925 when it was invited to the west side of the Appalachians, but the Barling…