Table of contents for September 2023 in RCM&E

Welcome to the September 2023 issue of RCM&E. In late spring I received an unexpected birthday gift in the form of some pristine £10 notes. It wasn’t a vast amount but was welcome nonetheless, especially as I have been making good headway on cleaning up my workshop ready for, I hope, some good old-fashioned balsa bashing come autumn and winter. I instantly knew what I would spend it on and that was a label printer so that I could neatly mark up the contents of the multitude of small boxes that had piled high during my recent clearing out sessions. A bit of research online, including visiting that famous internet shopping company, whittled down my options to two well-known makes of label printers, with one product coming out marginally better…

Last column I made a few predictions that the mystery item was going to prove challenging, my Kwik Fly 3 would only take a few hours to repair the mouse vandalism, and someone would have a plan or kit for the DB Bumble-B. Well, I was very wrong. On the upside I’ve probably had the best ever response to a mystery item and everybody was correct. It was a combustion chamber from a WW2 V2 ballistic missile on display at Cosford museum. V2 The V2 (project name Aggregat A-4) was the world’s first long range, liquid propellant rocket engine, guided ballistic missile and was also the first man made object to travel into space by way of passing the Karman Line, 62 miles above sea level. Developed in WW2 the…

SLINGSBY T.30 PREFECT £1.25 – £202 I www.sarikhobbies.com Conceived at 1/6 scale by top designer Chris Williams, the plan for this classic vintage glider recently graced the centrefold of the June and August issues. Every inch a traditional build, the 90.55” (2.3m) span Prefect is a superb, vice-free performer both off the slope and from an aerotow using four channel R/C (aileron, elevator, rudder & tow release). If she whets your appetite but you want to spend less time building and sourcing materials then Sarik Hobbies can provide a set of laser-cut parts (WPRC2252 - £107), an additional wood pack containing the rest of the wood required to complete the model (AWPRC2252 - £96) and PETG sheet for the windscreen (RC2252WSC - £1.25). Additional copies of the plan and articles…

This is the third model in this latest Mini Jet series. I think it may be safe to say that it’s probably not a particularly well-known aircraft to the wider aviation enthusiast. It certainly an aircraft that is not often modelled, that’s for sure. The Cougar was a replacement to the Panther in the 1960s but was, in essence, a swept wing version of the Panther. Consequently, it pushed the speed of the design to well above 1000km/h with a vast improvement in manoeuvrability. To many enthusiasts it’s a bit of a Marmite aircraft, but I love it and I hope you will too. US Navy planes from around that era of the 1960s used plenty of exciting colour schemes. So, finding a scale scheme that suits the use of…

An advantage of building to a relatively big scale, in this case half size, is that some of the more intricate components are easier to make. The carburettors used by the ENV Company were usually by Zenith and were placed on top of the engine in a prominent position. I knew from the outset that any sort of modern equivalent would simply not do. Instead, the nettle would have to be grasped and a scale Zenith designed and built. It has turned out to be an intriguing project all on its own. “…the nettle would have to be grasped and a scale Zenith designed and built” INFORMATION GATHERING The Zenith Company was started by a French engineer, Francois Baverey, who realised that by making a vital improvement to the…

Spring appears to have appeared in our neck of the woods and my thoughts are turning to the new outdoor R/C scale season. I know the first round has already happened at Osbournby and, apparently, a great day was had by all. Ady Hayward once more took the honours, followed by Nigel Nixon and Russ Bovey. The next event was to be Pontefract, however that had to be cancelled due to a poor forecast which turned out to be a wise move as it rained most of the day. The next weekend competition is at Druids, down South in the shadows of Stonehenge, a terrific site and we are always made very welcome by the members. I know many of you have probably been flying all through the winter and…

My local gliding club is well into its second season of our one-model summer evening gliding competitions. Our chosen model is the Volantex Phoenix S 1600 which has proven to be a superb all-rounder and pretty much the perfect glider for this kind of low-key thermal soaring competition. A summer one-model gathering is a superb way of bringing together lots of clubmates who, for whatever reason, may not otherwise be able to come together and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a bit like a winter indoor session, whether for flying or just a social, and the extra dimension of pitting your thermal soaring skills against a group of friends all using the same model certainly adds to the fun. Our Phoenix 1600 comp was the brainchild of Graham Lorimer, who…

Weston Park is a unique venue for a model show as the runway strip is surrounded by trees! If you were looking for a club flying field you’d run a mile from this place but the pilots flying at Weston Park Model Show seem to love the excitement- or is it jeopardy - of flying so close to and in amongst the trees. The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy it. This unique location, along with the organising skills of Steve Bishop and his team, draws the very best pilots from home and abroad. There was a rich sprinkling of championship pilots, top manufacturers and suppliers along with independent club fliers, all with stunning models and flying skills to boot. Add the traditional trade and Mass Pyro Ring of Fire slots,…

CLOUD WALKER Having recently sold his Super Scorpion, which he used as a camera plane for his Mobius camera, Peter Miller was feeling the need for a vintage style model which needed simple building skills, but which did not require masses of time and effort when cutting out the parts. After perusing available kits, he opted for the Value Planes Cloud Walker from 4-Max, where he always goes for advice and electric power items. DAMBUSTER In May issue’s ‘Switch On’ news pages we promised you plans for a small slope soaring Avro Lancaster to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the famous Dambusters raid on the Ruhr valley dams. It too a bit longer than anticipated but ace PSS design duo Gordon Studley and Martin Gay have now finished the pull-out…

Well, this is a seriously impressive drop of ready-to-fly R/C aeroplane. You’re looking at a B1-B with twin 70mm EDF units, bespoke CNC machined undercarriage, an onboard stabiliser, eight navigation and landing lights and - yep - a swing-wing mechanism that pushes the span out from 1040mm to 1776mm (70”). It’s a bit of a beast. But then, so is the real thing. If you’ve ever seen a ‘Bone’ (as it’s affectionately known, B1 - Bone) fly past then you’ll know what I mean. For sheer presence, noise and downright impressiveness it’s right up there with the Vulcan and B-52. There’s insufficient space to relate the type’s history (do look it up, it’s interesting), suffice to say that the prototype first flew in 1974, it’s capable of mach 1.25 (around…

Last month we looked at the selection of an aircraft to model, how to assess whether it could make a practical flying model, sources of information on that aircraft, determining the best size for your model and, finally, what you may need by way of a plan. With all these stages completed the stage is set to begin the build. My Shackleton project was planned to be electric powered with four 300W motors and two fuselage mounted 3S 5000mAh LiPo flight batteries. Flying weight was calculated to be less than 7.5 kg, with a wingspan of 7 ft 6 inches. Additional ‘toys’ were retracts, flaps, operating bomb doors with torpedo drop, lighting system and forward-facing cannons. My preference is to make a kit of parts before starting the build proper…

SWISS FUNFIGHTER Attached are some photos of my ‘lock down’ model that has now flown. Usual story: work and weather got in the way. It’s a Cambrian Funfighter based Bf109 wearing a Swiss based WWII colour scheme. I wanted to do something different and easy to see in the sky. Personally, I think I achieved that! It is powered by a 4-Max set-up, with a PO3541 1070 kV motor on a 10 x 7 prop, a 40A ESC, 3S-3300mAh LiPo and uses 9g MG servos. Flight duration, taking it steady, is 10 minutes plus. The funfighter was covered in glass cloth and airbrushed using acrylic paint. All up weight, ready to fly, is 3 lbs 4 oz. It flies as if it’s on rails! Colin Low LITTLE BIRD This…

BUTCHER BIRD We close this issue with some superb photographs by Bill Cousins. The equally stunning R/C warbird is described by Frank Skilbeck: ‘Dave Keen’s 28% scale Vailly Aviation Fw190 gets away on an LMA over 25kg certification flight in the capable hands of Steve Holland. Dave’s model spans 113” and weighs just short of 30kg. Powered by a Moki 215cc five-cylinder radial it sounds as good as it looks.’ Camera: Canon EOS R5 Lens: RF100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 IS USM Aperture: f/8 Focal length: 343mm Shutter speed: 1/2500 ISO: 500 Settings: Pattern metering…