Table of contents for November 2025 in RCM&E

Welcome to the November 2025 issue of RCM&E. With all the sunny weather we’ve been lucky to have over the summer, my local lying patch, where sheep are usually put out to pasture, has not o fered a terribly good menu for grazing. Of course, what goes in must come out, to put it plainly, so one benefit of not having any animals around is that there were a lot fewer ‘obstacles’ to avoid when taking o f and landing. And those that were there were rather desiccated and largely scooped up during mowing sessions. The resulting ‘clean’ strip has been great for lying from but with everything greening up following recent showers and thunderstorms I suspect it won’t be long before our woolly friends return. Another benefit of their…

The idea for this project started many years ago at the very beginning of the EDF modelling scene, way back in the early 2000s. At that time, I made myself a foam Fouga Magister spanning just 1.5 metres using Styrofoam construction and fitted with a pair of 70 mm HET fans running on 2 x 3S LiPo packs. The model flew so well. I must have had hundreds of flights to this day and it was so versatile I even slope soared it with success! As this was just a try-out, I wanted to build a bigger one with more scale detail. Around this time, I also became very interested in Power Scale Soaring (PSS) and after a visit to The Great Orme, Wales with the PSSA, I decided to…

Go back 20 years or so and electronic speed controller (ESC) cooling was a popular topic. It was a time when they didn’t seem as well made and reliable as they are now, so doing everything possible to keep them cool in the air might be the difference between a good or bad day at the flying field. It didn’t help that some RTF model manufacturers hadn’t appreciated that ESCs like some headroom (20% is the figure commonly quoted these days) so fitting a 40A ESC in a model where 40A, or perhaps a tad more, was regularly drawn by the power system wasn’t very sensible. But ESC reliability and headrooms improved, some ready-to-fly (RTF) foam models incorporated a bit of airflow cooling and the subject seemed to disappear from…

Mithering is local parlance for worrying/bothering in my neck of the woods. The lovely new engine test mount I’d bought recently had a drawback - using the engine bearer clamp strips interfered with access to the motor carby needle and the fuel inlet on the small engine I needed to check out. Blast! What to do? Simples! Do away with the top clamp strip, drill and tap the mounting pillars and secure them to the base. Yes, it’s a little extra work but, as you can see, the result gives easy access to the needle and fuel inlet whilst ensuring a good solid mount for the motor. By turning/repositioning the test mount pillars, plus inverting them, you can drill and tap other hole pitches for smaller motors several times over,…

JAGUAR GR.1 For December’s pull-out Pro-Plan, Tony Nijhuis introduces the second of three new models to be published in RCM&E, the Jaguar-GR.1. Tony says, “I have decided in recent years to concentrate on my particular favourite kinds of aeroplane - and the new Jaguar is just that!” Tony’s 29” span EDF jet has been in the pipeline for some years now and started o f being designed for a pair of 50 mm 4S fan units. Having had so much success with the recent 70 mm 4S Powerfun unit, Tony was going to convert the design to a single 70 mm unit but having reviewed the di ficult design alteration it seemed appropriate to leave well alone and stick with the trusted twin fan version. “This really is a cracking…

AEROBATX POWER UK MODEL AVIATION WITH DESERT AIRCRAFT Model aviation in the UK has always been driven by passionate pilots, dedicated retailers and world-class engineering. Now, with AerobatX officially appointed as the exclusive UK Distributor and Factory-Approved Service Centre for Desert Aircraft, hobbyists and retailers alike can enjoy direct access to one of the world’s most trusted names in model engines, with full warranty and support right here at home. Desert Aircraft has long been regarded as a gold standard in R/C petrol engines. Their legendary reliability, smooth running and unmatched build quality have made them the first choice for scale, aerobatic and 3D pilots around the globe. With AerobatX now appointed as the UK Distributor and Factory-Authorised Service Centre customers can buy with confidence knowing that: • Full warranty…

It seems only a couple of months since my report from the Best of British 2024. It’s not surprising since the organisers decided to move the event from the autumn to summer, hence the short gap. It was a good move in my mind and the great weather, although a little blustery, attracted an eclectic mix of models. The modelling trade was also well represented with stands in the Goldsmith Hangar from SLEC, Southern Modelcraft, Model Shop Leeds, Inwood Models, Modern Vintage Products and Warbird Replicas. Phil Clark of Fighteraces was able to deliver some orders but transport issues meant they couldn’t have their stand on site. The weekend remit was to celebrate all things British, be it engines (Lasers mostly), kits, including Flair and DB Sport and Scale models,…

More than 110 international pilots were welcomed by the organising team on the Schönjoch and all of them found their way from the valley via the Schönjochbahn cable car and a short 15-minute walk to the starting point. The walk can be done either via a mountain road or via the Kunstweg, a mountain hiking trail. For larger models there is also a shuttle service. At the top of the mountain the Flying Circus has a cordoned-off take-off and landing area, a meadow for pitting models and a registration/transmitter tent. In principle model flying is also possible on the Schönjoch outside the Flying Circus, subject to Austrian legal regulations. However, for the event a separate ascent permit and a corresponding NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) are issued so that other aviation…

Earlier this year we left John Daniels having a ball with one of Volantex’s 500 mm P-51D Mustangs. More recently, Volantex’s UK distributor CML sent over the latest in what is known as ‘The Legends’ series of mini warbirds, a rather fetching navy blue Corsair F4U. As with the Mustang, I had planned a studio photo shoot to show off this fine-looking model to best effect before handing it over to John. But when another model needed taking to the flying field, to be captured by my good friend Barry’s new camera, I decided to take potluck and have the Corsair photographed too, skipping the studio session altogether. At the patch the sun was shining, but this summer’s all too regular strong and gusting wind had also decided to make…

As my I approach my mid-sixties my thoughts sometimes wander towards what I would do with myself when the time comes to hand over the Editor’s baton to someone else. I’ve often heard it said that some retired folk find themselves even busier at that stage in their lives than when they were working. There is certainly no shortage of things that I would like to do when the time to draw my pension eventually comes, with more aeromodelling firmly at the top of a list of a handful of other hobbies. My dear wife, of course, has plenty of other ideas, mostly concerning jobs around the house and sorting out the garden. Unfortunately for her my headspace doesn’t allow for too much of that. Instead, it’s full of lots…

I doubt you will have heard of the Linnet aircraft, but you may have come across the Emeraude which was designed by Claude Peil and first flew in 1954. It is a low wing, two seat wooden aircraft with a fixed undercarriage and an elliptical trailing edge. Many aircraft were built both commercially and as home builds, and a good number are still flying. If you think it looks a bit familiar it ultimately served as the basis for the aerobatic CAP-10. In the late 1950s Air Vice Marshal Don ‘Pathfinder’ Bennet started a company called Fairtravel and set up a small factory to build the Emeraude under licence. He called it the Linnet. Don believed that it would make an excellent RAF trainer but unfortunately it was not to…

Top letter For his letter this month Simon Blades wins a compact e455 multi chemistry AC input charger courtesy of Overlander Batteries: www.overlander.co.uk BENT RETRACTS RCM&E readers may be interested in a way to straighten those cheese-like (i.e. not the best piano wire) retract legs! They are very easy to bend on a bad landing but very difficult to straighten whilst still in the model. In my experience you do much more harm than good and can rip them out of the wing trying. If you try to straighten them out of the model, but still in the plastic body, again there is a high risk of breaking the mechanism. However, most retracts are reasonably easy to take apart. But when you do, you are presented with a cam…

I don’t know about you flying fettlers out there, but I sometimes get the urge to trawl the interweb and look for something interesting to design and build. For some unknown reason I came upon a website showing Japanese gliders of the 1930s and 40s, a couple of which had my ‘looks interesting’ antennae wiggling. The Nippon ‘Tombo’ (Dragonfly or, more accurately, Tonbo) looked almost model-like and whispered, ‘build me!’ Thankfully, there was a reasonable 3-view of the craft. The Tombo was a simply made glider, designed to meet Japan’s need for training whilst readying for war. Easy to assemble and disassemble, Asahi Miyahara’s cheap to build glider, with its viceless flying manner yet aerobatic ability, fitted the bill. With little other information available the wee beastie presented here is…

Open the window and in flies a Mosquito, pursued by a Slow Ultra Stick! In a way this is a follow on from the Vapor as two new models have appeared and one looks related to the Vapor. It’s called the E43 Mosquito and at first glance it could be a Vapor. At 360 mm wingspan and 350 mm length it’s very similar in size and the flying weight and battery match up as well. The geared coreless motor also looks similar but it’s when we get to the R/C that things change as it has a micro-Rx and two 1.7g rotary servos. The Rx is listed as DSMX/2 and the Tx E-FHSS. It comes with or without a micro palm size transmitter. I guess that you can bind your…

At County MAC there has been an outbreak of Gloster Gladiators! They are from the Dura ly Gloster Gladiator Mk 1 biplane kit. With a wingspan of 1100 mm they are powered by a 770 kV brushless outrunner motor turning an 11 x 7 prop. Using a 2200 mAh 4S LiPo lights in the order of 10 minutes duration are perfectly feasible. Two of the aircra t are in the markings of No. 73 Sqn. The third is in the markings of No. 56 Sqn. The models in the line up are owned by myself, Gordon Libbey and Robin Acton. The action shot is of Chris Montagu’s version. DATAFILE…