Table of contents for December 2025 in RCM&E

Welcome to the December 2025 issue of RCM&E. With nights drawing in a ter the long summer lying season I thought it was time to get together with some lying buddies and put some air under the wings of our LED equipped aeroplanes. Several clubmates had been posting about their newly acquired night lyers, ARTF foam versions of which are now widely available, whilst others had gone the DIY route by adding lights and LED strips to existing models. The response to my call-out was more than I had hoped for and we had quite a few brightly lit models take to the air as the skies darkened from dusk onwards. My own steed is a venerable FMS Fire ly, an almost control line style stunter with its short moment…

I built my first Flamingo in 2009, back when I was just a lad. Thus, the five metre wingspan and 20 plus pounds in weight at 1:3.5 scale were no problem when it came to chucking the thing off the hill. Time, as it does, rapidly moved on and I was forced to build a fifth scale version to accommodate the ravages of age. Thinking maybe I had gone too far, I then built one to quarter scale. All three of these models are, for me, at the apex of all that is good and great in vintage glider performance, and they remained at the top of my all-time faves. Until now… Feeling that there was unfinished business, I decided to build a fourth version, this time to 1:4.5 scale,…

The Greenacres Model Aero Club (MAC) flying site in the West Midlands started life as the Walsall Municipal Aerodrome which opened in 1935. It was a commercial airfield but model flying on the site can be traced back as far as 1947 when the SMAE organised the ‘Midland Rally’, an early incarnation of a modelling Fly-In. The airfield closed in 1956 but model flying continued on an ad-hoc basis until the mid 1990s when Greenacres MAC officially started. They even took their name from the bar/restaurant in the main terminal building of the original airfield. Greenacres MAC has a long history of hosting club Fly-Ins but sadly the club’s days are numbered as the landowners, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, have other plans for the site. Hence, the August 2025 Fly-In…

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Glow engines or model aeroplanes? I have memories of being a young boy up the shed in winter, with snow on the ground, a paraffin heater burning away in the corner and my Dad running in some Cox ‘Black Widow’ .049s. I can’t remember if he had model aeroplanes at this point or just a couple of .049s which I think he acquired from a friend at work. So, was it a case of ‘I need a model for this engine’ or ‘I need an engine for this model’. I really cannot remember. But I can remember Dad being in the doorway of his shed, winding back the springs on these little engines, and I remember the paraffin heater. But I can’t…

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JP! If you read the October issue of RCM&E it cannot have escaped your notice that a long serving member of the UK model trade has been celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. Step forward J. Perkins Distribution Limited, or J. Perkins as it’s more commonly known. Jim Perkins started the company in 1975 to distribute toy and model products to independent shops across London and the South East. During my first stint as RCM&E Editor in the early 1990s I was lucky enough to visit JP’s warehouse in Greenwich several times, where my overriding memory was of Jim’s huge fish tank mounted in one wall of the large meeting room complete with, if my memory is correct, a wave making function to oxygenate the water. That, and…

Following my acquisition of this well-known 1970s aerobatic model in early 2025, I set about trying to find out a bit more about the model and its history. I am indebted to Kevin Caton, Graham Gooch and Nigel Brackley for their help in formulating this article. Thanks, guys! TOP PILOT The Capricorn and the slightly larger ‘International’ version were designed in the early 1970s by Mike Birch, who by then was well established as the UK’s top R/C aerobatic pilot. He came to prominence in 1967 in the early days of proportional radio control. For those who were around then, or know the history of that era, radio control had developed from the single channel (rudder only) ‘escapement’ systems to multi-channel reeds, where the control surfaces moved independently - but…

RBC F-16 FIGHTING FALCON €279 I www.rbckits.com If you’re in the market for a ‘builders’ EDF, then check out this F-16 from RBCkits. Developed in 1974 by General Dynamics and still in production today this iconic, single-engine supersonic multirole fighter became a crucial element of the USAF, with improved versions now being built for export only. Suitable for a 100 mm Midi Evo fan and 8S (2 x 4S) 5000 mAh LiPo, the kit for this 1185 mm span model is an absorbing, traditional build (for experienced hands!) that includes 175 CNC-cut balsa and ply parts and all the required supplementary wood – five balsa and ten lite-ply sheets, plus spruce and balsa stringers. Vac-formed canopy, nosecone and paper inlet and outlet ducts are also included, along with full-size rolled…

HORNET MOTH This is my own design, scratch built de Havilland Hornet Moth biplane that I recently completed. It’s a ‘sport scale’ model for electric or IC power. Wingspan is 53” (1.36 m) and it’s a classic three-channel (rudder, elevator, motor) design. I considered a .45 four-stroke during construction but in the end I used electric power on a 4S 2200mAh battery which gives over 10-minute scale-like flights. Ailerons could have been added but with the dihedral just a little over scale I decided that they were not necessary. Handling is very positive without. Flying weight is right at 4 lbs (1.8 kg) without any nose weight. The windscreen area lifts out to access the battery. From the outset I wanted to keep the cabin area as clear as possible…

At the end of last year I was privileged to be given regular updates on the development of XFly-Model’s 1200 mm span Supermarine Spitfire, which was a co-operative project between XFly and their UK distributor CML. Jason Varley, CML’s MD, recognised a gap in the market for a foam British warbird at this size and so he made a shared investment with XFly to develop a new Mk.IX Spitfire kit, as well as providing the background information for two versions, one in desert livery and the other a D-Day version. We were lucky enough to be passed on a pre-production prototype of the new Spitfire in its desert scheme to test, the assembly and maiden flights of which were described in Switch On in the March 2025 issue. The test…

MITE EP Aerobatic, easy and inexpensive to build, plus it fits in the car fully assembled. What’s not to like about this compact 37” wingspan mini multi-model blast from the past. Originally featured as a plan feature in Radio Modeller, August 1971 by David Lyall, our retro models correspondent Shaun Garrity has modified the design to incorporate electric power. David designed the Mite to overcome some perceived drawbacks in a well-known 38” span aerobatic design of the time when powered by an O.S. 19 glow engine. These related to the C of G position and the width of the fuselage preventing the fitting of more than two servos. Also, the tricycle undercarriage gave too much drag on grass when taking off so all take-offs were made from a hand launch.…

Whilst perusing the pits area at model shows I invariably find a model that jumps out and says, “Look at me!” and Weston Park 2025 was no exception. Thomas Hoffmann from Switzerland is one of the tug pilots for the Red Bull Schaerer massive twin glider display team but he also brought along and displayed his rather distinctive looking 30% scale model of the Farner Werke (F+W) C-3605, a target towing plane used by the Swiss Air Force to train their fighter pilots. THE FULL SIZE The C-3605 is a later incarnation of the earlier Swiss Federal Aviation Works C-3603 which was designed as a multi-purpose combat aircraft with a machine gun in each wing, plus one in the tail, looking back. The C-3603 entered Swiss Military Service in 1942…

The British Scale Nationals weekend brings together modellers to compete in several classes: F4B for control line scale, ‘Profile Scale’ for profile control line models, whilst ‘Flying Only’, as the name suggests, is for flying only, with no static judging. Then there’s F4H or the ‘Stand Off’ class and F4C or ‘Open Scale’ which is the pinnacle of scale radio control modelling. We had some rotten weather and many lightly loaded models struggled with the high winds. I had entered my DB Sport & Scale Auster J1 in the Stand Off F4H class, but the 20 mph winds kept it on the ground. The same applied to my Chipmunk in F4B. Sometimes discretion is called for. In fact, nobody was able to put in a competition flight in F4B. Some…

This is the second model in a series of three EDF offerings. Yet again it pays homage to a classic British jet fighter of the 1960s. Although the Jaguar didn’t enter service until 1973 its manufacture and design was embedded in the 60s. The Jaguar has always been a favourite of mine and although I would have loved to have squeezed in a nice, single 70 mm fan the size option didn’t really work. So, the model started its life and remained as a twin 50 mm fan model, I guess in homage to the full-size aircraft. As with all the other prototypes in this new series of models I have been flying the Jaguar in its bare wood state for quite a few years now. I really don’t like…

As entomologists out there will know the Cinnabar Moth ‘Tyria Jacobaeae’ is a striking example of a day flying moth. It was introduced in many countries to control a poisonous plant, Ragwort. Using the name, the Vintage Model Company have expanded their range to not only produce dozens of well-known kits of ‘yesteryear’ models, but they have also brought us their larger ‘Balsa Basics’ radio control models. Most are scale, with ‘Cinnabar’ being the first glider in that range. It’s designed to be a ‘first build’ model for a beginner. This lovely and traditionally constructed balsa/ply model owes only its name and manner to the moth genus, as gentle day flying is the model’s forte, whether under moderate electrical power or as a glider. So, what did I find in…

Top letter For his letter this month Paul Evans wins a compact e455 multi chemistry AC input charger courtesy of Overlander Batteries: www.overlander.co.uk GREEN FOAM CREATIONS Having returned to model flying after a 30-year break around ten years ago, I have been less active for a couple of years because life is like that. Anyway, I have been getting back to building and flying this summer, my first build being a small balsa Ugly Stik from an internet plan. It was chosen because there was a CAD file which I could import into LightBurn and hence cut myself a kit with my laser cutter. Anyway, at the flying field the summer brought out an interest in gliders and old timer models. So, I was thinking of a lively glider…