RC Sport Flyer Dec 2016 (Vol-21-01)

RC Airplanes | Gliders | Helicopters

6TH VINTAGE GLIDER MODEL MEETING

DECEMBER 2016

BEIJING MODEL EXPO TOUR

AN INSIDE LOOK AT SHENZHEN’S

T-ONE JET FACTORY

GIANT SCALE PIPER CUB BUILD

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Working Frequency: 1520 μs / 330 Hz

Operating Speed: 0.05 sec/60º (6.0V) 0.04 sec/60º (7.4V) 0.037 sec/60º(8.4V) Stall Torque: 8.8 kg-cm (122.23 oz-in.) (6.0V) 12 kg-cm (166.68 oz-in.) (7.4V) 14 kg-cm (194.46 oz-in.) (8.4V) Weight: 50g (1.76 oz)

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Deadband: 2 μs default

BLS2507S L ARGE-AIRPLANE SERVO

Stall Torque: 22.2 kg-cm (308.36 oz-in.) (6.0V) 25 kg-cm (347.25 oz-in.) (7.4V) 28 kg-cm (388.92 oz-in.) (8.4V) Connector Type: JR

Stall Torque: 14.2 kg-cm (197.24 oz-in.) (6.0V) 16 kg-cm (222.24 oz-in.) (7.4V) 18.5 kg-cm (256.97 oz-in.)

Connector Type: JR

Stall Torque: 27.8 kg-cm (386.14 oz/in.) (6.0V) 30 kg-cm (416.7 oz/in.) (7.4V) 35 kg-cm (486.15 oz/in.) (8.4V) Connector Type: JR

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Dimensions: 41.1 x 20 x 26.5 mm /1.6 x 0.78x1.03 in.

Working Frequency: 1520 μs / 330 Hz

Operating Voltage: DC 4.8 – 8.4 V

Operating Speed: 0.11 sec/60º (6.0V) 0.13 sec/60º (7.4V) Stall Torque: 7.5 kg-cm (104.18 oz-in.) (6.0V) 9.2 kg-cm (127.79 oz-in.) (7.4V) Weight: 26.20 g (0.92 oz)

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Operating Voltage: DC 6.0 – 8.4V

Operating Speed: 0.18 sec/60º (6.0V) 0.15 sec/60º (7.4V) 0.13 sec/60º(8.4V)

Deadband: 2 μs

THIN-WING SERVO

Wire Length: 333 mm (13 in.)

Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 40.9 mm /1.56 x 0.78 x 1.6 in.

Working Frequency: 1520 μs / 330 Hz

Weight: 80g (2.82 oz)

CLS0911W

Operating Voltage: DC 6.0 – 8.4V

Operating Speed: 0.07 sec/60º (6.0V) 0.06 sec/60º (7.4V) 0.05 sec/60º(8.4V)

Deadband: 2 μs default

LARGE-AIRPLANE SERVO

Wire Length: 333 mm (13 in.)

Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 40.9 mm / 1.56 x 0.78 x 1.6 in.

Working Frequency: 1520 μs / 330 Hz

Weight: 71 g (2.5 oz)

CLS3015S

Operating Voltage: DC 6.0 – 8.4V

Operating Speed: 0.08 sec/60º (6.0V) 0.07 sec/60º (7.4V) 0.06 sec/60º(8.4V)

Deadband: 2 μs default

AIRPLANE SERVO

Wire Length: 190 mm (7.41 in.)

Dimensions: 40 x 20 x 40.9 mm / 1.56 x 0.78 x 1.6 in.

Working Frequency: 1520 μs / 330 Hz

Weight: 69 g (2.43 oz)

CLS1606S

Operating Voltage: DC 6.0 – 8.4V

Connector Type: JR

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Wire Length: 185 mm (7.28 in.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS

10 LEADING EDGE 106AD INDEX 107 MYSTERY PLANE

PG 58 EVENTS

12

6TH VINTAGE GLIDER MEET

18

TAKE A STEP BACK IN HISTORY SEEING THESE MODELS IN ACTION. Vincenzo Pedrelli

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016 LOOK AT WHAT THE CHINESE FACTORIES WERE SHOWING AT THIS YEAR’S SHOW. Wil Byers

WHY BUILDING SCALE REQUIRES VALIDATING PLANS.

HOW TO

FEATURES

A 58 BUILDING SCALE L-19

76

SCALE BUILDERS ALWAYS FACE CHALLENGES TO MAKE IT RIGHT. Tom Wolf

TOUR T-ONE’S JET FACTORY WE GO IN THE FACTORY TO SEE HOW COMPOSITE JETS ARE MADE. Wil Byers

PG 76

PLAN

3-VIEW

AIRCRAFT 72 68 PIPER J-3 CUB IT IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL SINGLE-ENGINE LIGHT AIRPLANE. Wendell Hostetler 6

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

SCHEMPPHIRTH SHK-1 IT IS A GORGEOUS, MODERN CLASS SAILPLANE, WITH CLASSIC LINES Hans-Jürgen Fischer

PG 72 twitter.com/rcsportflyer

DECEMBER 2016

BUILD

28 IRON-ON COVERING, III SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE COVERING GO AROUND CORNERS. Jeff Troy

34

1/3-SCALE PIPER CUB - PART I

MODELS 42 AIRBORNE CLIPPED WING CUB

WE SHOW YOU HOW THE RÖDELMODELL PIPER CUB BUILDS. Philipp Gardemin

LEARN HOW THIS CUB GETS TURNED INTO AN AEROTOW TUG. Wil Byers

PG 34 & 86 GRAUPNER HITEC TESTING GET THE FACTS ABOUT RADIO RECEPTION RANGE IN THIS REPORT. Wil Byers

REVIEWS RC 88 HACKER PARAGLIDER

96 E-FLITE ULTIMATE

2

DISCOVER HOW MUCH FUN YOU CAN HAVE FLYING THESE NEW PARAGLIDERS. Wil Byers

WE TAKE THIS LITTLE BIPLANE TO THE MAX WITH ITS SAFE® TECHNOLOGY. James VanWinkle

PG 96

PG 88 rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

7

EDITOR IN CHIEF Wil Byers wil@rc-sf.com ASSISTANT EDITORS James T Baker Asa Clinton

Doris Chen Jenn Hart

PRODUCTION Ilya Zhivko Ilya@kionapublishing.com PHOTOGRAPHY Wil Byers GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Meng Zhe

Bess Byers Jess James

WEBMASTER CONTACT Vivian Wells OFFICE MANAGER Jenn Hart support@kionapublishing.com OFFICE ASSISTANT Terra Woodford CIRCULATION Christian Wells MARKETING Wil Byers ads@rc-sf.com

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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Christian Belleau, Rob Caso, Gene Cope, Richard Kuns, David Phelps, Steve Rojecki, Jeff Troy, Robert Vest, James VanWinkle, Tom Wolfe RC Sport Flyer (ISSN: 1941-3467) is published bi-monthly for $19.95 a year ($2.19 ea digital) in the USA by Kiona Publishing, Inc., 1754 Sagewood, Richland, WA 99352. Periodicals postage paid at Richland, WA and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER Send address changes to RC Sport Flyer, 1754 Sagewood, Richland, WA 99352-9679 OFFICE (509) 627-3200 HOURS Mo–Th 9-4 Closed Fri, Sat, Sun

SUBSCRIPTIONS rcsportflyer.com ADVERTISING (509) 627-3201 E-MAIL subscriptions@kionapublishing.com EDITOR/ADS/DESIGN (509) 627-3201

Ask for RC Sport Flyer at your local hobby shop!

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Hobby Shop Orders (800) 558-1544 ext. 818 www.retailers.kalmbach.com

HOBBY SHOP DISTRIBUTION BY

Kalmbach Publishing Co. (800) 558-1544 ext. 818 Subscriptions: USA $19.95 and Canada: $29.95 per year, $36.95 overseas.

Washington residents add 8.5% sales tax. Single copies $6.49 plus $4.00 S&H U.S. All payments must be in U.S. funds. Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover accepted.

Send to: RC Sport Flyer – Circulation, 1754 Sagewood, Richland, WA 99352-9679.

Please allow eight weeks for change of address.

MEDIA USE:

FOR PRESENTATION PROJECTIONS, FLAT SCREEN MONITORS, CRT MONITORS USE

a. HEXACHROME #09195B or b. R = 9 G = 25 B = 91

FOR PRINT (Lithography, Screen printing), USE

a. PMS 294 Uncoated b. C = 95 M = 65 Y = 17 K=5

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CONTRIBUTIONS: Articles and photographs are welcome, but cannot be considered unless guaranteed exclusive. When requested we will endeavor to return all materials in good condition if accompanied by return postage. RC Sport Flyer assumes no responsibility for loss of or damage to editorial contributions received. Any material accepted is subject to possible revision at the discretion of the publisher. Publisher assumes no responsibility for accuracy of content. Opinions of contributing authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.

RC Sport Flyer will retain author’s rights, title to and interest in the editorial contributions as described above in both print and electronic media unless prior arrangement has been made in writing. Payment for editorial materials will be made at our current rate. Submission of editorial material to RC Sport Flyer expresses a warranty by the author that such material is in no way an infringement upon the rights of others. The contents of this magazine may not be reprinted traditionally or electronically without permission of the publisher.

Copyright ©2016 All rights reserved.

Printed in the USA

twitter.com/rcsportflyer

1815 South Research Loop Tucson, Arizona 85710 Phone: (520) 722-0607 E-mail: info@desertaircraft.com Web Site: desertaircraft.com DA-200

DA-100I

Price $2795

Displacement: 12.20 cin (200 cc) Output: 19 hp Weight: 10.95 lb (4.95 kilos) Length: 9.625 in. (244 mm)

Price $Call

Displacement: 6.10 ci (100 cc) Output: 10 hp Weight: 7.0 lb (3.18 kg) Length: 9.3 in.

DA-170

Price $1695

Displacement: 10.48 ci (171.8 cc) Output: 18 hp Weight: 8.05 lb (3.56 kilos) Length: 7.67 in. (195 mm)

DA-150

DA-70

Price $1395

Displacement: 9.15 ci (150 cc) Output: 16.5 hp Weight: 7.96 lb (3.61 kilos) Length: 7.67 in. (195 mm)

Price $749

Displacement: 4.28 ci (70 cc) Output: 11 hp Weight: 3.55 lb (1.61 kg) Length: 5.54 in. (141 ,,)

DA-120

Price $1199

Displacement: 7.4 ci (121 cc) Output: 11 hp Weight: 4.95 lb (2.25 kilos) Length: 6.25 in. (159 mm)

DA-100L

DA-60

Price $999

Displacement: 6.10 ci (100 cc) Output: 9.8 hp Weight: 5.57 lb (2.53 kilos) Length: 6.5 in. (162.5 mm)

Price $649

Displacement: 3.7 ci (60.5 cc) Output: 1200–7200 Weight: 3.1 lb (1.41 kg) Length: 6.7 in. (170 mm)

DA-85

Price $795

Displacement: 5.24 ci (85.9 cc) Output: 8.5 hp Weight: 4.3 lb (1.95 kilos) Length: 5.9 in. (150 mm)

DA-50-R

Price $595

Displacement: 3.05 ci (50 cc) Output: 5.0 hp Weight: 2.94 lb (1.33 kilos) Length: 6.7 (170 mm)

All Desert Aircraft engines come with a Manufacturer’s Warranty

DA-35

Price $449

Displacement: 2.14 ci (35 cc) Output: 1,500–8,200 rpm Weight: 2.06 lb (935 kg) Length: 6.35 in. (161 mm)

LEADING EDGE

A

WIL BYERS

fter an ten-month hiatus from publishing, RC Sport Flyer is back! Kiona Publishing, Inc. has changed how we’ll do business in the future. Importantly, we will be publishing for many years to come.

To the point, you can see the new customer interface at www.

RCSportFlyer.com. And, our December 2016 issue is now a download in either a singlepage or double-page (two facing pages) layout here: https://rcsportflyer.com/products/ magazine-rc-sf-digital. If you are currently a subscriber, you’ll want to use the simple conversion process to get your data entered into the new store’s database.

Let me start by saying, we consider our customers our friends. Moreover, we absolutely believe you do not take advantage of friendships…. As such, all current subscriptions to RC Sport Flyer magazine will be honored in full! This means that if, for example, you have 14 issues remaining on your subscription, Kiona will deliver 14 issues to you by either hardcopy or — our preferred method — digitally. As a result, we hope — that after this significant delay in service — you’ll continue to consider us your friend; and you’ll keep subscribing to RC Sport Flyer (RC-SF) to get honest, indepth, informative content.

As a current digital subscriber you can transition to our new digital solution by using the code we’ll send via our newsletter on checkout from the store. Hardcopy subscribers will be able to convert to the digital editions for only $0.19 by also using the newsletter’s code. Note that we researched other options to convert subscriptions to digital, but this method is the only affordable way to get your data into our new online database.

Now we’d like explain why we stopped publishing in January 2016.

First and foremost, it is basically a story of fundamental changes in the publishing business over the last decade.

While Kiona Publishing, Inc. struggled to remain profitable, the reality is the last three years we’ve lost money — lots!

Unfortunately, we kept following the business model we had evolved over the previous 20 plus years. It turns out that model changed drastically; and, it changed fast — as is the worldwide economy that is fundamentally changing global economics in ways unforseen.

Even so, the basic principles for publishing companies remain. They are that there are only three ways magazine publishers make money: The first is to sell lots of copies, like Sports Illustrated magazine. (Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue sells more copies than any other magazine.) In so doing, they are able to sell enough advertising to support a low subscription price, yet still make a nice profit — sex still sells! The next example is that of Taste of Home magazine, which was published by Reiman Publications — incorporated by Roy J. Reiman in 1965. Taste of Home has no external advertisers because the publisher sells Reiman branded products to support the magazine; and the magazine prints large numbers of copies to keep production

10

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

costs low! Also, the magazine’s contributing editors write for FREE! It is worth noting that Remain sold in 1998 for a record $640 million. Lastly, there are the typical publishers like Kiona. Kiona now produces only one title, RC Sport Flyer. To be profitable Kiona must sell advertising and subscriptions for RC-SF. It is a tough business to say the least, especially because we’re a niche, RC model aviation title.

The problem for niche titles is that since the iPad’s introduction on April 3, 2010, advertisers have assumed that hardcopy magazines are dead or dying. That assumption makes selling advertising challenging to say the least. Then too, subscribers have turned to the Internet for content, where they can often find it for FREE! (In our RC world many reviews and reports are posted online as a way to get free kits or products, or for the authors’ 15 minutes of fame.) Further, companies the world over have turned to search engine optimization (SEO) as a way to market — with numerous products never seeing the light of day in brick-and-mortar stores. Rather, they go from warehouse to customer by way of UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS Priority Mail, Amazon, Prime Air, and soon drones…. Finally, quantifying readership, both hardcopy and digital, for the advertisers is a serious challenge, especially when consumers easily share digital content — even copying protected material from hardcopy issues to distribute digitally.

Look at it! Forbes magazine was founded September 15, 1917, however, under increasing financial pressure it too sold in 2014. Steve Forbes explained their situation by writing, “The Web has made this way of doing things obsolete.

Today everyone is a content creator. Google and Facebook — and numerous other websites — now garner tens of billions of dollars in advertising. Print revenues are shrinking.

With few exceptions — and who knows how long these will last — content is free, like bread and water at restaurants.

Advertisers are using metrics to try to measure effectiveness in ways not possible before the digital era.”

Publishers can hope that ad-blocking software and browsers will take the tarnish off our old business model somewhat, thereby making display ads in published pages valuable once again. Until then it will remain a struggle to stay relevant in this content-free and SEO environment.

In light of the above, Kiona Publishing, Inc.’s RC Sport Flyer magazine has faced unprecedented challenges. While RC-SF’s writers still want to be paid — even while they sometimes give their content away for free on message boards and forums — the reality is that selling subscriptions, advertising, and fulfilling newsstand distribution is an extremely difficult financial dynamic.

RC Sport Flyer has over the last five years, or so, tried to remain profitable by offering the readers in-depth articles, huge event reports with big photo spreads, ongoing build series, large plans, drawings, how-to articles, press releases (even for companies that do not advertise), honest reviews, etc. Even so, hardcopy has been difficult to sell on a subscription basis — again, why pay when you can get it for free? The result has been that the cost of production and distribution was just too much to keep doing business as we had over the previous 21 years.

So it was that in January of 2016, after hair-graying financial analysis, we concluded that publishing hardcopy was simply no longer possible. However, closing the twitter.com/rcsportflyer

company was not amenable either. Rather, we opted to stop printing hardcopy for a time, rewrite our business plan from the ground up, and relaunch the magazine, which is what we have now done.

RC Sport Flyer magazine will now publish hardcopy six times a year and 12 in digital form. Digital subscribers will thereby receive their editions each month by download.

Again, to sign up go to: rcsportflyer.com and click on the RC Sport Flyer link. Then select your preference: hardcopy or digital. Our new digital editions will offer a new level of quality and presentation, especially if you can enjoy them on a large, high-resolution, display. That said, there is still nothing like the joy of a high-resolution cover image on a hardcopy edition, so we’ll keep those coming your way on a bi-monthly basis (six times a year).

Kiona Publishing, Inc. will also now sell select items via the rcsportflyer.com store. For example, we now offer RCRCM gliders, King Max servos, Yuneec drones, PowerBox System power management systems, and we’ll add other specialty items as we see fit. Please know we’ve added our back issues as digital downloads — through 2009, and we’ll add more weekly. You may also buy our downloadable digital plans files, as well as get Paul Matt’s three-view drawings and photos, with more added regularly. As well, we plan to continue to offer a unique selection of aviation books — some being extremely rare, collectors’ editions.

Visit the store often to see what’s upcoming and featured.

Note, some items will be offered at special subscriber prices.

We thank each of you that subscribes to RC-SF! You’ve been loyal and kept us in business many years. So, please stay with us for future content, and promote RC-SF with your friends and those companies that can benefit by advertising in our editions. I want to underscore that

Horizon Hobby and other advertisers came to our pages about 20 plus years ago. Horizon has continued to advertise non-stop since our second issue! Obviously Horizon Hobby is searching for return on investment for their ad dollars spent. However, it is obvious to us that they are committed to the RC community at an ardent level, always trying to grow the hobby we all love by way of their products and innovation. So, when you are buying RC please look to those that advertise in our pages because they’re making it possible for RC-SF (#RC-SF hashtag) to keep publishing content you want.

Finally, we want to underscore our enduring dedication and commitment to the RC hobby! Therefore, please recognize that Kiona Publishing, Inc. is not a huge corporate operation located in a high-rise building in downtown Seattle, with a corporate-logo-emblazoned airplane parked at Boeing Field that we take a huge IRS deduction on.

Rather, Kiona is a small company solely owned by Wil Byers.

I’ve has been investing heavily in the company over the last few years so you would continue to get the latest model aviation news and information from the pages of RC Sport Flyer magazine. Quite simply, as subscribers, you’re our dear friends and we need you!

Stay informed about the other happenings at RC Sport Flyer by visiting: Blog: www.rc-sf.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/rcsportflyer Instagram: www.instagram.com/rcsportflyer Tumblr www.rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/rcsportflyer YouTube: www.youtube.com/rcsportflyer

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11

EVENT The Schweizer TG-2 was design as a trainer glider. It first flew in June of 1938. It has a 18.84-meter wingspan.

6TH VINTAGE GLIDER MODEL MEETING TAKING A STEP BACK IN TIME WITH QUIET FLYERS

BY VINCENZO PEDRELLI

12

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

twitter.com/rcsportflyer

The smile on Carlo Cobianchi as he holds his Orlik II glider says everything about the fun had at the 6th Vintage Glider Meeting.

He is another example of the quality of the model’s shown and flown. This is the cockpit of the famous IS-4 Jastrzab glider.

An Axel pilot fills the cockpit of this Bocian model glider, which was built as a 1/3-scale version — nicely done!

O

n 20th September 2015, at the airfield of Annicco, near Cremona, the Sixth Vintage Glider Model Meeting was held for modelers. It is an event which increases every year in the number of models and pilot that participate.

In its sixth edition 33 pilots attended.

They came from different regions of central and northern Italy, entering 43 vintage models, There were also 11 tow airplanes used to launch the model gliders.

The G.A.C., Gruppo Aeromodellistico

rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

Cremonese, had put in place twenty members of the Club to take care of the various stages of the event. With this force deployed, the event could not have been carried out any better and in complete safety.

A lunch was served on the airfield.

It was delicious pasta and fried fish, with about a hundred meals being served together with white and red wine. It made for many relaxing moments being shared by friends and model fans, many not seen for a year or more. As is always, they had many

stories to tell and lots of technical questions to ask.

After lunch and before continuing flight activities, a lottery organized by the C.A.G. was started. The first prize was a Swift model offered by the company X-Model. The second prize was a watch of the fiftieth anniversary of the “”Frecce Tricolori” (Italian Air Force Patrol), donated by Tullio Facchini, one of the historic founders of the C.A.G. The participation in the lottery was good, and the lucky winners were quite satisfied.

Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

13

EVENT

6TH VINTAGE GLIDER MODEL MEETING

Here is you see the Minimoa during an aerotow. This is the joy of this facet of RC. It is fun to watch the models embracing the sky!

The SZD-9 Bocian glider as is shown, was copied after the 1952, 17.8-meter wingspan, single-place trainer glider.

14

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

twitter.com/rcsportflyer

The Schleicher Ka3 glider was a 1950s singleseat glider with a 10-meter wingspan. It could be home built. This model is 1/3-scale.

One of the most recognizable gliders ever built was the Gรถppingen Gรถ 3 Minimoa. The full-scale version had a 17-meter wingspan.

This Slingsby T-21 was one of the more beautiful models to fly. It was copied after the 16.5-meter, two-place glider.

This is a beautiful example of the Musger MG19b Steinadler glider. The colors on the model made it a standout in the air.

The Teichfuss Turbine was an Italian singleseat high-performance glider, designed by Luigi Teichfuss and first flown in 1939. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

The Slingsby Petrel Prototype first flew in 1938.

This example was done in the natural wood colors, which makes it beautiful in flight.

Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

15

EVENT

6TH VINTAGE GLIDER MODEL MEETING

The success of this meeting was largely due the weather. After starting out with partly cloudy sky early in the morning, around noon the sun appeared with its summer heat. The result was that many cumulus gradually formed, which created appreciable thermals as you would well imagine.

Because of the large number of pilots entered, it was required to limit the duration of their flights as much as possible to allow everybody to fly.

I found it difficult to make a ranking of the most beautiful models, a really embarrassing task. I can say only that some models in flight could easily be taken for that of full-scale gliders. My pictures I think can prove it.

I was also very pleased to see the presence of scale models of Italian design. They were probably modeled from the plans and images presented in my book Italian Vintage Sailplanes.

Among them was a CVT4 Strale designed by the Morelli brothers, the Sparviero and the Turbine of Teichfuss, the Gheppio of Gianfranco Rotondi of Feltrinelli Institute of Milano, and the CVV6 Canguro of the Politecnico di Milano.

I do have a small criticism. It is for those models that were perfectly built to scale specifications, but flew without a pilot in the cockpit. Remember, there is no need to buy expensive scale pilots, but just a small puppet will do to fill that void. Without such a figure the model compromises the reality of the aircraft’ flight.

At 6:00 p.m. the 6th Vintage Rally came to an end, with the satisfaction of all present. Then the pilots began to derigging their models, preparing to return to their hometowns. As with many of the entrants, I want to extend a warm thanks to Marco Pattoni, president of G.A.C. and his group.

We’ll be seeing them again next year at Annicco, for the 7th edition of the vintage models glider meeting. We certainly invite vintage glider pilots and builders from all over the world to attend.

Carlo Cobianchi’s Orlik II was built in 1/3 scale. It sports a 5-meter wingspan and weighs about eight kilograms.

Carlo Cobianchi’s Orlik II was built in 1/3 scale. It sports a 5-meter wingspan and weighs about eight kilograms.

The full-scale Schleicher ASK 13 was designed as a two-place glider.

It sported an 16-meter wingspan. The model is done in 1/3-scale.

Contact Information: Vincenzo Pedrielli vincenzopedrielli.it/raduni_eng.html Slingsby’s Petrel was a development of the German DFS Rhonadler designed by Hans Jacobs — had a 17.34-meter wingspan.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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EVENT

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016

CHINESE FACTORIES BRING IT TO MARKET

BY WIL BYERS

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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M

y first trip to China for the Beijing Model Exposition was in 2001. I was sponsored to attend the event by Mr Huang. I remember the drive from the airport like it was yesterday in that there was not much traffic and that the city looked like it was stuck in the ‘50s. It is a complete and utter understatement to say much has changed in Beijing. Now the city boasts a population of 36 million, the traffic is typically a true nightmare, and the air pollution can be utterly stifling if not choking.

During my 2001 visit to the trade show, the event was quite small, and the quality of the products left something to be desired. Again, much has changed!

While the venue is still the same, the Beijing show has grown into a huge event, with the waiting lines to enter extending for a block or more.

If you’re a dedicated RC aircraft enthusiast like me, I suggest you make plans

The Beijing Model Exposition has grown since my first visit in 2002. It is still hosted at the same venue. The waiting line at the gate was about a block long this year. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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EVENT

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016

If you want to fly a jet but don’t have a huge budget, you should take a look at this Jetstar. It is an EDF that comes ready to fly.

There were many models made of foam being shown this year. The detailing and quality is outstanding. This Skyraider is an example, with all the bells and whistles.

This model is a foamy copy of the Chinese J-10 jet. It even sported retractable landing gear. I’d think you’ll see this one in online stores for the Christmas season.

While not a foamy, this was a very unique drone, which can take off vertically and then transition into forward flight. I think we’ll see more of these.

to attend the 2017 show. The Hobby Expo China show dates are April 21 – 23. The show address is: Beijing Exhibition Centre, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie, Xuanwu District, Beijing, China.

A roundtrip coach airfare from Seattle to Beijing will cost you between $500 and $700, but you must book early to get the best rate. I’d suggest you take a few extra days as well to sightsee The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the museums, and the Forbidden City.

Plan to eat some authentic Chinese food too — it is scrumptious. If you feel challenged by the organization and communication of such a trip, please contact me and I’ll help — maybe I can organize a group trip if enough people are interested. I could arrange for an interpreter too to make certain you understand what is being communicated in any purchase agreements.

Suffice it to say, you can find some exceptional buys when attending the show. However, shipping large items back to the USA or Canada will offset any savings you’ll likely get. Let

Top Model was showing this unique Texaco racer. It is a foamy, but comes almost ready to fly. It is of course electric powered.

If you want a warbird, this electric-powered Hawker Typhoon comes loaded with bombs and rockets — very nicely done too.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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The FW-190 comes as you see it.

You’ll need to add a battery, but the assembly time on this model is going to be about 15 minutes.

me underscore that the show is not really a consumer show, but more of a dealers show, so it is unlike most of the trade shows that you’ve attending in the USA. Even so, the products you’ll see will have you salivating like Pavlov’s dog!

The Beijing show is unlike any show I’ve attended anywhere, including the great shows in Germany.

The Hobby Expo often debuts new products made by the factories throughout China. As such, you’ll see products that often never make it to the USA market — some good and some not so good. If you’re an airplane enthusiast, you’ll find every kind and vintage imaginable.

The helicopters shown run the gambit from full-on 3D machines to outstanding scale models. Glider pilots will feel a bit left out, especially if you’re into large-scale sailplanes and gliders. On the other hand, drone pilots and first person view (FPV) enthusiasts will be absolutely blown away by the variety of products shown. I’m not a big drone or FPV

You’ll like this Viper EDF, which comes with motor and fan installed. Plus it has retractable landing gear for thos high-speed passes.

rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

See our factory visit of T-One Jet Models to learn more about this sexy, hot turbine-powered jet. It is a custommade model for those with the budget.

enthusiasts, but even I was taken aback by the products shown and flown at the Hobby Expo. I found myself trying on headsets and goggles, checking out the video monitors, the transmitters and receivers, and even the FPV racers.

What you’ll also enjoy about the show is how engaging the manufactures are to you. They will practically pull you by shirttail into their booth to explain what they

have to offer. Moreover, if you don’t understand how a product works they’ll explain it in detail. You can even give some of the models a try outside the show hall or in their booth.

In Total Summing up the show is as easy as saying you get to see what is coming to the RC market soon. Every year that I’ve attended the show I’ve had the opportunity to see products that

Again, this is a foam model. You need to get up close and personal with it to see how well done the detailing is from tip to tail.

Here is a second look at the Skyraid. Notice how well it is detailed, and that you get a complete package of bombs and rockets with in the kit.

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EVENT

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016

Almost everywhere you looked at the show you saw drones and more drones. This Jumper FPV drone is designed for the 250 race class.

This Amigo drone was typical of the many commercial quality drones being shown. It comes with a 1080p camera built in.

This drone featured tilting rotros, a Naze32 Acro controller, a 20-amp ESC, and 2204, 2300 Kv motors for its four rotors. Saw it fly — WOW!

ZTR was showing their 260-size race drone. It is powered by 2204 260 Kv motors and sports a 1/3-in. Sony 700 video camera built in.

One of my favorites of the show was this P-51 Mustang, which is an electric-powered foamy — comes with retracts too.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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The Marvel Vision headset features a video display screen that is removable. The unit operates on 5.8GHz and has 480x272 resolution.

Want hardware? You can find anything you need and more at the Beijing Exposition.

Up close and personal, you would appreciate the quality of this electric ducted fan unit.

You could find just about any shape and size carbon tube at the show too.

During my first trip to China I was introduced to the Zhuhai Himark Company. We reconnected at the show.

JR was showing their retro C.O.L.T. transmitter, which is programmable to the max!

This pretty face was seen at the KD LiPo booth. They make a complete line of LiPo battery packs that will fit nearly any size aircraft or drone.

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EVENT

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016

Parrot.com people were there showing this ground runner drone, with video. I think these will be hot items this coming year.

often turn up in the USA market only a few months later. It is just fun to see all the products that make our hobby as exciting as it has become over the years. I can underscore by saying that if you attend the show you just may get a glimpse at what is true innovation coming from some of the biggest model aviation and drone factories in China. As an example, I

Yuneec had a superb booth for their drones. This is their new Typhoon H model, which is now available at our store: rcsportflyer.com

met Frank Wang at the 2010 Shanghai Show. He was demonstrating, to rather skeptical audience, his new DJI hexacopter. It was an innovative product that left me scratching my head as to its eventual audience. Need I say more?

Parrot was showing this very unique transmitter, with antenna, that controls their drones.

The Beijing show is for everything RC including boats. As you can see this Nordic tug is quite well done, and had me very interested.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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The Parkour is a 280-mm carbon frame racer. It comes with a Sony 700TVL FPV camea, 20-amp ESC, and 2204 2300 Kv motors.

These FPV goggles are by JYU. They also make the now popular Hornet S quad that is compatible with the goggles and hardware.

Another foamy EDF that was capturing the attention of the crowd was this F-14 Tomcat — the wings don’t sweep though.

This is the CEO of Parrot Company.

They had some very interesting new products on display and demostrated.

This motor glider captured my attention. Again, it is a molded foam model, but one that should fly well.

Flying wing enthusiasts will love the Neptune-II pusher powered model. I expect we’ll see it FPV equipped soon. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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25

EVENT

BEIJING MODEL EXPO 2016

The P-39 Cobra is an electric-powered foamy. It has a 980-mm wingspan and is powered by a 3648 Kv motor.

This AT-6 Texan is brushless powered. It uses an ST3511-KV760 motor, with a 30amp ESC — wingspan is 956 mm.

At a wingspan of 1100 mm, this foamy is designed for speed. It is powered by a 4-cell battery and a brushless 3848-KV870 motor.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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BUILD

IRON-ON COVERINGS,PART III SUPER SPORTSTER 60 WING AMEND

BY JEFF TROY

M

y four prime directives of film covering were explained in the two previous filmcovering installments. They are: 1) don’t make a seam; change the color, 2) it’s not about shrink; it’s about stretch, 3) the “Four Corners” application method, and 4) my “Divide-By-Half” (DBH) sealing

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technique. In review, a color change never looks like a seam, stretching the film during application goes a long way toward eliminating loosening and bagging covering, my Four Corners method is the essential step toward drum-tight covering, and the “Divide

by Half” (DBH) sealing method helps you iron down perimeters without

Circus Pink MonoKote was applied next to the white covering in my previous installment.

Do not shrink the outboard area of this covering material until the adjacent gray covering is added to your model.

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

gathers or creases. This installment will address applying the final trim color to the Great Planes® Super Sportster 60 wing, adding accent stripes, and “cleanup” strips.

The upper covering scheme of my SS60 wing has a Jet White Top Flite MonoKote® center, with Circus Pink and Dove Gray MonoKote, two bays each, transitioning outward from the white. Sky Blue MonoKote will cover the last bay, as well as the wingtip.

Presently, the SS60 wing has Metallic Platinum MonoKote completely covering its underside, and two patches of Jet White MonoKote extending outward from the center section on the top of the wing. I had also ironed sections of Circus Pink over the two bays outboard of the white covering. This pink covering was shrunk over the inboard bays, but not the outer bays.

Shrinking the covering next to a stillopen bay could easily put pressure on the rib, and cause it to bow toward the tightened film.

My next step is to cover the outermost bay and wingtip with a single piece of covering. Most modelers, including me, will agree that wingtips — or any compound twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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One piece of Sky Blue MonoKote will cover the wingtip and the outermost wing bay. Begin the application tacking down a small area at the center of the next-to-last rib.

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Firmly pull the material tight while you tack down another small area at the approximate center of the wingtip. Pulling the material snug will help to prevent wrinkles when shrinking.

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Pull the material firmly once more, this time at the trailing edge (TE) of the wingtip. Stretch away as many wrinkles as you can, and iron down the TE tip.

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Repeat the procedure at the leading edge (LE) where it meets the wingtip. Pulling left or right as you stretch helps to get the material laying as flat as possible.

curves — are some of the most difficult areas to cover with iron-on polyester films. The reason is that polyester films are relatively stiff, and trying to get them around compound cures without a little help will often result in nasty wrinkles and creases.

Fortunately, ‘a little help’ is available, and it comes in the form of your patience and skill, and your proper use of a hobby-quality heat gun.

When modelers think of a heat gun, the first thing that comes to mind is shrink.” However, going back to second of my four directives, shrink mentality must be replaced by stretch mentality. Instead of trying to make a stiff polyester covering conform to curves that it cannot match, the heat gun will be used to soften the covering so it can be pulled and stretched around those compound rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

curves as if the film was made of thin rubber and not unyielding polyester.

Just imagine covering your model with material similar to a Playtex glove. You could pull and stretch it around almost anything — even a Ping-Pong ball — without a single crease or wrinkle.

I start at the inboard end of the last wing bay by tacking down approximately one inch of covering over the center of the rib. Then I pull the material tightly toward and over the center of the wingtip, and iron a one-inch area there. The only concern so far is to tack the material at the center of the rib and tip, and ensuring it is smooth and tight between those two points.

The curvature from the center of the wing chord to the trailing edge (TE) of the tip is less severe than it is

from the center to the leading edge (LE), so you should get familiar with the rest of the tip-sealing method by doing the rear section first. Grab the loose end of the covering and pull it back evenly toward the TE of the rib and wingtip. The objective is to pull the material tightly to eliminate as much creasing and wrinkling as possible before trying to attach it to any part of the structure. If you can do this without using the heat gun, great!

Use the iron to tack the covering down, first at the rearmost tip of the wingtip, then by alternately dividing by half along the rear half of the rib and the curve of the wingtip.

If you cannot get the covering to lay completely flat by pulling, you’ll need to use the iron or the heat gun to soften the material and make it pliable. Pull the material snugly to Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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IRON-ON COVERING

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Starting with only the rear half of the wingtip covering, pull and stretch the MonoKote while using the heat gun to soften the material and secure it along the tip.

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Measure and cut a piece of Dove Gray MonoKote to fit between the pink and blue sections. Don’t be too artistic: measure for an ample overlap of the wing ribs.

remove as many creases and wrinkles as possible, and tack down a small area at the rearmost tip of the wingtip.

Try the next step with the iron first, and switch to the heat gun if the iron doesn’t do it for you. There is truly greater control over heating the surface with the iron, but sometimes, using the heat gun in a constant, circular motion will give the material increased pliability.

With the tip tacked down, pull on the material over the rear of the rib, only now you will do this while applying heat with the iron or heat gun. Use the divide by half method to seal a few points over the rib. Hold the material slightly above the rib while applying heat to soften it and make it pliable, then you can tack down small sections as you continue the DBH method.

Turn your attention to the

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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Use the same side-to-side technique to stretch and attach the forward area of the blue covering. Then seal the covering to the LE, TE, LE sheeting, and the wing rib.

Tack the gray covering material using the Four Corners method.

Then, starting with the ribs, use my Divide-By-Half technique to seal the covering to the ribs, LE and TE (see text).

curvature of the tip, and repeat the pull, heat, and stretch procedure.

Pull tightly at the halfway point while applying heat with the iron or gun.

Keep working the DBH method as you progress, and always remember this: if you iron down a wrinkle or crease, it will always remain a wrinkle or crease.

Most likely, you will have to lift and re-tack the covering a time or two in problem areas, and having to do this should be expected. This is why you tack instead of seal the covering over the structure until the perimeter of the covering is completely wrinkle free. Never seal covering to any part of the structure unless the covering is absolutely smooth and wrinkle or crease free before attempting to iron it down.

After you have the covering applied over the rear half of the rearmost bay and the wingtip, you can

move on to the area ahead of center.

Just as you did with the rearward area, start by tacking down a small area where the wingtip meets the LE. Because of the deep thickness of the SS60 wing, you will almost certainly need the heat gun here, but if the depth of your project is less severe, the iron will most likely do the job.

With the forward point attached, pull a section of material tightly inboard near the center of the LE sheeting. Use heat to smooth it completely in that area, and then iron down approximately one inch over the sheeting. Now, do the same near the center of the forward section along the wingtip. Just as you did with the rearward section, pull tightly, apply heat, and try to eliminate any wrinkles or creases before ironing the material to the curvature of the tip.

Continue pulling and heat-stretching twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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After the gray has been sealed, use the iron to shrink the gray section, as well as the remaining areas of the pink and blue MonoKote that weren’t shrunk earlier.

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Cut several thin strips of Platinum MonoKote to be used as cleanup strips. These will be ironed along the separation lines to hide any wavy irregularities in your straightedge cuts.

the material as you use the DBH method to tack the remainder of the tip/rear bay covering.

After the covering is ironed down to your satisfaction over the tip curve, pull, stretch, and iron the material down and over the center of the tip. Trim away the excess, and if no wrinkles or creases are present, seal the covering to the tip. Slip a piece of thin cardboard — a cereal box works fine — under the excess covering over the LE sheeting, then you can use a straightedge to trim away the excess without cutting into the balsa sheet. Seal the covering tightly to the TE and the LE sheeting, then seal the covering along the inside edge of the cap strip over the wing rib. Use the iron, heat gun, or both to shrink the covering over the tip, but not over the outer rib bay.

Cut the final piece of covering rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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Cut strips of white MonoKote. Lay them over the ribs at the color separations, gently stretch from TE to LE and tack them down.

Seal them with the Divide-By-Half method.

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Tack approximately 1 inch of the end of the cleanup strip. The strip’s line must be parallel to the LE, and must cover any cutting errors along the color-separation line.

(mine is Dove Gray) to fit between the pink and blue areas. To prevent the material from pulling away during the shrinking process, you should maintain at least one-quarter inch of material overlap everywhere, especially over the cap strips. Use the Four Corners method to seal the gray material to the LE and TE at the inboard and outboard points of the bays, and then use the DBH method to tack it down. When you’re satisfied with the application, seal it permanently with the iron.

Go around the wing and verify the topside covering is completely sealed along its perimeter. You’ll want to make sure the covering is wrapped around the LE, TE, and wingtip, and overlaps the platinum bottom covering by approximately one-eighth inch past the center point. Once the center covering is applied, you can

shrink the remaining bays of the pink and blue upper covering — and the gray — with the iron or gun.

Is the covering tight and crease free? Good! Complete the upper covering by cutting 1/4- to 1/2-inchwide strips of white material to reinforce the pink/gray and gray/blue covering seams. Tack a strip at the TE, then pull it snugly toward the LE and tack it down. Use the DBH method to gently tack the strip from LE to TE. Then, when no creases are present, iron it down. Repeat for the remaining strips.

Understanding that the LE and TE of the SS60 wing are straightedges, you can use them to guide your blade as you trim away the excess upper covering. Do that, and don’t ignore the wingtips. Again, the upper covering should overlap the bottom covering all around by approximately Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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IRON-ON COVERING

Gently pull the cleanup strip toward the wingtip, ensuring that the strip runs in perfect parallel with the LE. Iron at the tip, and seal it with my Divide-By-Half technique.

one-eighth inch. Invariably, there will be some waviness in a few areas along the centerline, and there is easy way to address these. I call them cleanup strips.

Cut several strips of Metallic Platinum MonoKote — or whatever color and material covers the bottom of your model’s wing — approximately one-eighth to one-quarter inch wide.

These strips will be used to ensure a perfectly straight line along the center seam, and eliminate any waviness in the trimming cuts. Tack down one end of a cleanup strip at the root of the LE, and then, pulling it snugly, tack it at the outboard end of the LE. If the strip is long enough, you can bring it around the wingtip, but if not, cut off the end of the first strip and use a second strip to do the tip. If necessary, repeat for the TE from root to tip,

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Stretch the strip around the wingtip, where most straight-line errors were likely to occur. Don’t divide by half. Just pull and tack as you draw the material around the tip.

although a strip will probably not be needed because the ailerons will hide most minor irregularities. If no creases are present in your strip tacks, iron the strips down permanently — goodbye waves.

This completes the covering my Great Planes SS60 wing, and in the coming installments, I’ll show you how I handle some of the tricky areas of covering a fuselage and control surfaces. I also wanted to show you the covered flying and control surfaces of Stinger 120, which was built from an original Lanier R/C kit.

I chose ToughLon from AirBorne Models (airborn-models.com) for the job, but because there were diagonal seams in the scheme I designed, I installed 1/2-in. balsawood diagonals between the ribs to support the covering seams. Apart from these

True to my original sketch, here’s the wing of the Great Planes Super Sportster 60, neatly dressed in Jet White, Circus Pink, Dove Gray, Sky Blue, and Metallic Platinum MonoKote.

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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supports, the same preparation and covering techniques were used for the Stinger 120 as the ones I’ve offered you here and in previous articles.

Many of the techniques I describe in my series for RC Sport Flyer have been demonstrated in previous installments. If you are enjoying the series, and find your building skills improving from the information presented, please consider buying back issues for reference. Back issues can be ordered online. A subscriptions to the magazine is only $34.95 too.

SOURCES

BUILD

Top Flite & Coverite Great Planes P.O. Box 9021 Champaign, IL 61821 Phone: 800-637-7660 greatplanes.com

My previous installment showed the addition of diagonal balsa supports to serve as a base for angled covering schemes. This is my Lanier Stinger 120, covered in AirBorne Models ToughLon.

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BUILD

AWE PIPER PART 1

THIRD-SCALE PA-18 PIPER CUB - PART 1

BY PHILIPP GARDEMIN

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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After four months of relaxed fun, construction the model is up to this point in the build.

A

gain, I’ve opted to build a 3.6-meter PA-18. It was 12 years ago that I built my first 1/3-scale Piper aircraft, and it was electric powered even then. At the time, the kit was from Eduard Seidl. That Cub was fitted with 60 NiCd cells and a “Torcman Monster” outrunner motor.

I enjoyed flying the model for many years.

My fascination with this classic aircraft never left me. Then, before rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

glider Fair 2014, I became interested in Christian Negele’s Rödelmodell Cub, after he shared images of their new PA-18. Again, the Cub is 1/3-scale and of wood construction. It was right up my alley. The final temptation was when I spent three days at Gliding Fair. A demonstration of the Cub had me hooked. Assured of my choice, I ordered one and it arrived in my workshop in time for the 2015 construction season.

Structure The structure of the model showed me all sorts of construction techniques and assembly solutions that I did not previously know. For example, the tail is made of an 11-millimeter-thick, three-layer sandwich of wood, with a middle layer of plywood, two layers of balsa, and the assembly resin-bonded in a press. I like the layered material in different thicknesses! In the nose, Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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AWE PIPER

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The wings are built in the classic fashion. They are large Balsa sheets with planking on all the ribs.

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Also, the fuselage’s construction is quite convenient to do because of the size and the thoughtful design by Rödelmodell.

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The Cub’s landing gear is fully suspended, similar to that of the full-scale. The wheels have 150-mm diameter.

The long tail is built as a multi-layered part, so the build is quite extensive, but fun to do.

The wingtips are made of ten parts. You’ll find that the assembly of these parts is somewhat like doing a 3D puzzle.

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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The core structure of the horizontal stabilizer consists of an 11mm sandwich of balsa and ply.

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The kit parts are all CNC milled, so there is no charring on the edges. What you see here are fuselage parts — very good quality.

there is a Rödel type plywood firewall, and the model’s wingtips were milled from plywood.

First, the horizontal stabilizer uses vertical grain strips of balsa, with cap strips — the result creates tremendous torsionally rigidity, which is free of distortion. The vertical stabilizer was planked with 1.5-mm balsa. Thus, the tail should withstand any blows from a tow rope easily. The construction resulted in a finished weight of just 779 grams (28.35 grams in an ounce), including the central plywood construction, with joiner and screw for mounting on the hull.

The hull (fuselage) is built almost rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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The horizontal and vertical stabilizers get planking on both sides with 1.5-mm-think balsa — nice!

The tailwheel’s parts are beautifully engineer and fabricated, which will make for a model that has good ground handling.

100 percent of poplar plywood parts.

Only the main frames are made of lite plywood. Interestingly, the fuselage sides were designed to mate directly on the rear main. The purpose of this design revealed itself to me at first glance to be immensely beneficial, and made assembly of the whole thing easy. The front fuselage was constructed in manageable lengths and thus went together quite well.

The rear fuselage was also built bit by bit. The connections between four plywood parts are designed to interlock with each other, as well as to to the hull’s bottom. Obviously, you must use a very flat building board.

Because of the design, the fuselage was assembled in only three long evenings. My choice of glue was high-quality wood glue and Express® superglue, which provided the necessary strength. The fuselage was modified by the addition of a service door in the front left. It was made of wood and milled fiberglass hinges.

The door is servo controlled so it can be opened and closed remotely — a nice gimmick to show at the airfield.

For access to the power system, the model has a rear firewall and cockpit floor openings. The covering and RC fittings permit good airflow for motor and battery pack cooling, and pilot is a Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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The forward fuselage section is constructed with half-frames, moldings, and a double paneling.

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The main spar is shown with its CNC cut parts: groove strips, CFRP rovings, and milled interlocking combs.

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A view of the wing’s airfoil structure shows the servo mount and wing strut plywood attachment point.

My daughter shows that I fabricated the forward fuselage separately from the after section, which aided the build.

The forward fuselage marries to the rear by way of four plywood tabs as are shown here. It is an ingenious method.

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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The wingtips are designed such that they mate to the wing with with two tongues, and then glued in position.

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Here you can see how Rödel made the main landing gear. It is quite sturdy and will handle rough landings.

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The landing gear gets balsa fairings that have leading and trailing edges. They are glued in place as shown.

bust figure, which puts it up and out of the airflow.

The finished fuselage weighed 3,105 grams. The big, fiberglass cowl has a plywood frame inside. The cowl then gets bolted to the fuselage with six screws that are almost invisible. The motor was mounted to four Rödel GRP standoffs, which was then fitted to the firewall. They put the motor at the proper distance forward in the fuselage so it mates properly to the cowl. This configuration works well and is well suited to the PA-18 Cub. The wings are of the stringer and rib design — routine assembly for an experienced modeler, but not quite! For the designers at Rödelmodell have created a double-T beam, which gives the wings incredible strength but with little weight. The design consists of two grooved balsa top and bottom pieces. In the grooves, in each case, several CFRP rovings are inserted and impregnated with resin.

Then, the milled comb was pressed into the lower groove strip, such that the ribs get aligned on the plan. Finally, the upper groove strip was pressed in place. This was done as a wet-on-wet assembly to achieve optimum bonding. This technique was applied to both the main and the rear spar, ahead of the ailerons and flaps. Before placing the ribs in Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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The model is a large-scale woody that is fun to assemble and build.

It has many exceptional design features built into the kit.

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Rodel. Thanks to the ball-joint fittings, the struts can be left attached to the wings, which shortens the assembly and disassembly time.

The finished wings weigh 1,620 grams each almost exactly, which is quite good (the wings of the “PA-18 eleven years ago weighed almost two kilograms each). They provide 1.65 square meters of wing area, which will keep the wing loading down.

The Piper went together easily, even for the first time. That was thanks to the 40-mm wing joiner tube that did require the struts during assembly.

The Rödelmodell guys say you could probably fly the Cub without the struts because the joiner is so strong, but I will not!

If you are into precision mechanics, you will appreciate the undercarriages of Rödel Piper. The main gear is a high-quality welded part that is sprung similar to that of a full-scale Piper. Then too, the tailwheel is a premium metal product.

They require a few hours of work to assemble. My model’s gear was fitted with 150-millimeter Kavan® wheels.

Note that the landing gear struts’ legs got balsa fairings. When complete the main gear weighed only 800 grams

— compare that to the 1.65 Kg of gear on my PA-18 from eleven years ago.

I spent about four months of totally relaxing wood model assembling the PA-18. Once the shop build was complete, it was assembled outside on its wheels in the beautiful Baden, Germany sun. It weighed in at just over eight kilograms— excellent for its intended purpose.

The next part of this article will detail how I applied Oratex® covering and installed the RC components, including the JR® receiver and Emcotec® power management system. See you next month.

SPECIFICATIONS

the wing’s assembly, I recommend you sort the ribs accurately and have them placed at the ready. It is easy to get two reversed, which can then result in interference with the servo well and the associated hardware.

The rest of the wing assembly was routine: planking with balsa strips on the ribs, plywood strips as end strip in front of the rowing, etc. The ailerons and flaps were constructed as per in the instructions. Note, I laid in the trailing edges resin-impregnated, 15-mm wide strips of fabric 120 g/ m2 to create super strong edges. This effectively prevents any distortion of the edges as well as absorb shock resistance.

The next highlight of the Cub was the large wingtips. They’re constructed of ten pieces. It was like assembling a 3D puzzle. They mate to the wing by way of two tongues in the corresponding sections of the last two wing ribs. For this I used swelling wood glue.

The wing struts are made of pine wood, with shaped profiles. They fasten to the wing with large femoral heads, and the fuselage with a quickattach aluminum parts — they’re all metal and of course supplied by

Scale : Third Wingspan : 3.6 m Length : 2.37 m Weight : ≈16 kg Airfoil Profile : Clark Y Motor : 80 cm³

DISTRIBUTOR

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Rödelmodell Christian Negele Lausangerweg 4 86874 Tussenhausen / Mattsies Germany roedelmodell.com twitter.com/rcsportflyer

Maxx Products is your complete source for Electric Airplane Accessories

Mounts - Heatsink or plain mounts for beam mount Fit 20, 28, and 36 mm motors.

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Spinners - 29, 38, 44 and 50mm lightweight polished aluminum spinners - Fit 2 to 5mm motor shafts.

Gearboxes - Assorted planetary and offset gearboxes to fit a variety of motors.

Tools - Universal Pinion Puller. Universal Extracting Tool

1570 Switch - This simple switch temporarily disconnects BEC power to the radio system between flights.

• Micro wire (32AWG) extensions, Y-harness, switch harness for small electric airplanes, • Full line of Himax Brushless motors and gear motors, • Full line of ferrite motors and high performance cobalt & neodymium motors, Micro servos, micro receivers, and battery packs.

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www.maxxprod.com

BUILD

AIRBORNE MODELS’ CLIPPED WING CUB

DA-120 POWER MAKES THIS CUB AN AGGRESSIVE TOWIN’ MACHINE

BY WIL BYERS

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o apologies, I love largescale sailplanes and gliders.

Aerotowing them to soaring altitude is part of the fun of this facet of the hobby. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the number of available tugs and their pilots has dwindled in my area of the country. It has done so to such an extent that at some events there has only been one tug and pilot available to the event, which obviously impacts the number of tows for the pilots.

Consequently, I’ve been planning to become a tug pilot for about the last 10 years. However, every time I’ve built an airplane to serve as a glider/ sailplane tug it has been snatched up by a fellow enthusiast.

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This year, I made the decision to build an airplane as a dedicated tug; and, I was committed to keeping it! After researching a number of airplanes that I thought would be suitable as a good tug, my final choice was the Airborne Models Clipped Wing Cub. I chose it because: it would accept the DA-120 for power, was durably built, would be sporty to fly, had plenty of room for a large fuel tank, and it could be fitted with the Robart.com 1/3-scale Cub shockabsorbing landing gear.

So the model was ordered. And, within only four days it arrived. It came extremely well packed against shipping damage. It is worth noting that the model’s kit included a very

good hardware package, however, some of the parts and pieces were changed out to suit my wants and needs for a tug aircraft.

An Easy Build The Clipped Wing Cub is an easy build, even when modified to accept the DA-120 and a 100-oz fuel tank.

You’ll need to modify the landing gear if you use the PR bush wheels, but that is easy as well.

I started my model’s build by sealing all the internal wood parts and the firewall against fuel damage.

I used epoxy finishing resin for this purpose — I thinned it with 10% alcohol. I just brushed it on with a throw-away, inexpensive paint brush.

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AIRBORNE MODELS CLIPPED WING CUB

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I started the build of my Clipped Wing Cub, with a third-scale Cub landing gear (#691) from Robart.com. It comes primed in grey. It was painted red with bomb-can paint that I oven cured.

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My Robart landing gear’s paint was cured in the my home oven.

The paint was cured for about 30 minutes on a setting of 200 degrees, and then sat in the over for another 30.

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The Cub’s power is being provided by a DesertAircraft.com DA-120 2-cycle engine, which has a 121-cc displacement and weighs just 4.95 lb, without the stock mufflers — high-quality plus!

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Robart provides some rubber snubbers for shock absorbing springs. I bought more at the local Ace Hardware store. They are sold as “O” ring gaskets. You’ll want at least five per side for good absorption.

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The model was fitted with Hitec HSB-9485SH servos throughout. They’re probably overkill, but the current drain is low for the outstanding power that they provide for the control surfaces.

Next, I fabricated a new rudder servo/receiver tray out of 3/32-in. fiveply plywood, which was reinforced with one layer of 1.4-oz fiberglass.

Later in the build, the tray was installed behind the fuel tank tray, as is shown in the photos. I also fabricated a throttle/ignition tray, which gets installs forward of the tank tray.

I suggest you assemble and modify the Robart landing gear to fit the narrow fuselage of the Cub first. You must modify the wishbone and the struts. You will shorten the wishbone by about 1/2 inch on each side and do the same for the struts. I used my drill press for this task, but center punched the wishbones legs before drilling. I also used a 1/32-in. carbide drill bit for the initial hole and then progressively rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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The Cub comes with these superb servo mounts, which double as servo well covers. The mounting studs are molded into the covers, so they are super strong and rigid.

One of the many things I like about Hitec servos, is that they come with the best control arms you can find anywhere. And, they are built tough as well. The arms are extra thick plastic and reinforced at the hub for durability.

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AIRBORNE MODELS CLIPPED WING CUB

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The wings have pull strings built in. However, note that the run is not completely straight to the roots’ exit holes so be careful with the pull such the string does not come loose or break.

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I used heavy-duty heat shrink tubing on the clevises that attach to the servos’ control arms to prevent them from opening in flight — do it or else....

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All the model’s pushrods are steel with a carbon fiber outer.

I fabricated them from 4-40 rod that has one end threaded. The clevis solders to the other end.

They’re rigid and strong.

Hitec’s servo arms are quite thick, so I used a drill end and counter sunk the attachment point for the DuBro clevises such that the clevis’ pin catches the opposite side as needed.

Rather than use strutting wire for the horizontal stabilizer, I fabricated these brass horns and made strut wires from 2-56 wire that I purchased from the hobby store.

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Again, the clevises are soldered at one end and are threaded on the other. You must cut the wires so that you get them the proper length and the control surfaces are aligned with the wing. twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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My model is fitted with a Spektrum® AR12110 Power Safe receiver. The rudder servo is an HS-7956SH, which comes with the hardware you see in the photo.

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Check out the load bearing on the 7956. It will withstand the loads from the rudder servo, without transferring that load the servo’s gear train.

This is what a complete pull-pull control linkage connection looks like with the Hitec servo provided parts. When you buy a HS-7956SH all these pieces come in the servo box.

The control horns that I used on the elevators and the ailerons are from Dubro.com, as are the rudder’s control horns. You’ll spend about $50 for them, but they are worth it!

increased the hole size until it fit the pin. The same procedure was used for the struts.

Airborne models offers all-plastic servo covers, with integrated servo mount legs. They are excellent in that they fit the Hitec servos perfectly, and because you simply drill the posts for the servo screws and they’re ready to install in the airplane. Don’t forget to center all the servos before installing in their respective covers. Then you’ll simply pull the servo leads thru the wing to the wing roots and fasten the covers in place. Note that I custom made my model’s lead extensions so they exit the wing at the length I wanted for field connections. I suggest you do the same for the servo lead extensions in the fuselage. It will keep the wiring neat and tidy. And, absolutely secure all plug connections with heat-shrink tubing.

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This is the tailwheel that came with the Cub. It works, but I’m changing it for one made by Ohio-Superstar.com, which is a miniaturized full-scale Cub gear — I like it.

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The connection between the tailwheel and the rudder works as shown. It has not presented any problems to date, and I don’t expect any with the new gear.

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Heat-shrink tubing is a must on the servo-lead connections. Don’t take shortcuts in the area of the electronics or your model may find its way to the ground quickly.

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I sealed all the wood inside my Cub with epoxy resin to prevent it from becoming oil soaked over time. This step will add less than 30 minutes to the build.... twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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I made a servo tray for the rudder and receiver that fits in the aft of the airplane because my model is fitted with an 100-oz DuBro tank and hardware.

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This is the original servo tray as it came in the kit. I applied epozy resin and 1.4-oz fiberglass cloth to both sides to make it strong enough to hold the large fuel tank.

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The interior of the model was painted white. Then the new tank tray was installed as shown. Look carefully and you can see the rudder tray in the back.

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World Model’s Cub firewall is plenty strong enough for the power of the DA-120 engine. Again, it was sealed with epoxy before the motor was mounted.

Control pushrods are important….

Don’t skimp on them! Take an extra hour to fabricate robust pushrods and linkages. I made my model’s pushrods from 4-40 steel rods (threaded on one end only) that were shrouded in carbon fiber pushrods. You’ll want to center the pushrod in the carbon fiber and then wick thin cyanoacrylate (CA) glue down the rod from both ends — do not go crazy with the CA. The pictures rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

detail the finished rods. I used DuBro. com hardware throughout, and carbon rods from a hobby shop.

The only real challenge of this build is fitting the engine to the cowl and cutting the cowl to fit the engine’s cylinder heads. You’ll start by fitting the cowl to the fuselage and taping it in place on the airframe. You must then measure the distance from the front of the cowl’s hub opening to the firewall

exactly — measure twice! Then you can use the measurement to calculate the length of standoffs required. Note that the length from the back of the DA-120 engine’s mount to the front of the engine hub is 6.23-inches. I had the standoffs custom made for my model by a friend who is a retired machinist. As you would expect, they were the perfect length. However, fender washers were added behind the Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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Gene Cope made these aluminum standoffs to position the engine the right distance from the firewall. Fender washers were added between them and the firewall after this photo.

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A 3/32-in. plywood throttle servo and ignition module tray was fabricated to fit just in front of the tank tray. There is room to work up front, but do so before the tank tray is glued in place.

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Use cardboard templates that get taped to the aircraft’s nose.

Do not remove them. Then fit the cowl onto the airplane again and mark the cowl as to where it must be cut.

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The cowl was cut and drum sanded (Dremel) to fit around the DA-120 engine’s cylinders. Don’t get carried away with cutting or sanding fiberglass or you’ll be buying another cowl.

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You’ll cut the cowl as shown to allow for the spark plug wires, and to clear the exhaust mufflers. I put the cowl on the airplane 20+ times as the cuts progressed to get the right fit.

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Here is how the cowl was cut to allow the mufflers to clear, and to get the needed airflow. You’ll need a hole for the choke pull and one to allow a socket in to tighten the muffler’s bolt.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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This photo shows you the Aero-Works.net fuel dot, the 100-oz fuel tank installed, and the aerotow release servo as I have it installed in the fuselage.

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Notice that the fuel pickup line has a brass tube inserted inside. This was recommend to me to prevent the tube from doubling back on itself in flight.

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The model is fitted with Spektrum batteries: two 7.4-volt LiPo packs for servos, and one 6.6-volt LiFe for the engine’s ignition module.

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I used Sticky-Back Velcro tape on the battery packs and on the ignition module. Plus they were strapped in place with snap-ties to prevent airborne disconnects from their trays.

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Notice that the antenna leads on the Spektrum DSMX module don’t exit the case straight. They get bent and out of shape. You want them straight our from the case for best signal reception.

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The solution is to add a length of heatshrink tubing to the case exits. Once it is shrunk tight to the case it will keep the antennas pretty much at a right angles to the Rx case.

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AIRBORNE MODELS CLIPPED WING CUB

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The tank is positioned as is shown, which maintains the proper CG at all fuel levels. Notice that there is high-denisty foam between the tank and the tray. The pilots fit atop the tank.

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I painted the pilots with Testors fuel-proof paint. Once the fuel tank was in position, the pilots got wire-tied to the top of the tank.

The pilots add just a touch of realism to the flights.

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Pacer Products Formula 560 was used to glue the windows into place in the Cub’s frame. As you can see, I used lots of clamps to hold them in tight as the glue was drying.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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standoffs to provide more mount area, which provided a more vibration-free fit — learned that after the first day of flying the Cub. If you build this model, you will discover that cutting the cowl to fit the engine’s cylinder heads and mufflers is going to be somewhat of a challenge. You’ll want to do this without the mufflers attached to the engine. I did this by making cardboard templates. The cardboard was scavenged from a cereal box.

You’ll must cut the cardboard to fit over the cylinder heads, with about rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

3/8-in. clearance all around. With the motor mounted to the firewall, you must tape the cardboard to the airframe while maintaining the 3/8-in. clearance. Be sure to tape the cardboard to the Cub’s airframe so the tape acts as a hinge. Next, remove the engine from the firewall. Then you’ll reinstall the cowl and mark the cylinder head openings on the cowl with a black Sharpie® pen. Cut the cowl openings just shy of the line.

Then with the engine remounted, and the spark plugs removed, you must progressively trim the cowl until it fits

Here is what my model looks like ready for its first engine start. The model is definitely not 100% scale, but it draws people’s attention at the airfield, and it has a ton of power for tugging.

the engine perfectly. Note that you’ll also need to cut openings in the cowl to facilitate the mufflers’ protrudings a bit, as well as the opening in the bottom for the muffler stacks and cooling airflow. I recommend making cardboard templates for this as well.

The other area that may be a bit of a challenge is mounting the fuel tank and installing the rudder’s servo tray. Neither is difficult to do, but plan the process. I fitted the rudder’s tray behind the tank tray as shown in the photos. Then I installed the throttle and ignition tray forward of the tank Subscribe @ RCSportFlyer.com

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AIRBORNE MODELS CLIPPED WING CUB

tray. Once the throttle linkage was made and fitted, the ignition module was mounted and secured in place with wire ties. Next the rudder’s tray was installed. The servo was mounted and the pull-pull cables fitted to the rudder and the servo. After that the receiver was mounted to the front of the rudder tray. After all these trays were fitted, the tank tray was installed and glued in position. As you can see in the photos, the 100-oz tank fills the cockpit area. Between the tank and the tray I used a piece of high-density foam. Then the tank was fastened in position with long wire ties. The ties loop thru the base of the pilots too as a way to hold them in place in the cockpit.

My Cub uses two receiver battery packs and one ignition pack. The receiver packs are fastened with Velcro to the rudder’s tray and then wire tied in place. The ignition’s battery pack is fastened to the floor of the model with Velcro tape. I purchased extensions for each of the packs so they can be accessed for charging easily.

Note that the wing tubes for the model are high-strength aluminum.

They have a nylon liner inside.

You’ll be interested to know that I inadvertantly had the wing strut come loose on the right wing during a flight.

And even with a hard pull-up the tube did not fail. It did, however, suffer a slight bend. Consequently, I’m going to check and double-check the struts in the future to make certain they are fastened securely before a flight.

About the only part of this model that I’m not happy with is the tail wheel. It is a substantial part. Even so, I cannot keep if from becoming offset during taxiing, takeoffs, and landings. My friends have suggested that I countersink the set screw. I’ve opted to replace the tailwheel with a 1/3-scale tailwheel from OhioSuperstar.com. Their wheels are to die for, and very scale looking too.

Synopsis The Airborne Model’s Clipped Wing Cub is a superb stand-off scale model for either aerotowing or for fun flying. I know that some pilots have used this model for 3D flying, but I wouldn’t buy it for that purpose.

The PR bush wheels make it ideal

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The DA-120 engine is equipped with a Falcon brand 28x10 wood propeller. I’m not happy with the ignition and power switches, so they will be replaced.

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You’ll want to use a short length of rubber tubing as a filler nozzle. I’m using an inexpensive basket ball pump to fill the tires — they only need a couple of pounds pressure.

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My Cub was hangared next to my friend’s (Gary Weaver) kit-built full-scale Cub Crafters Inc. Carbon Cub, which climbs like a homesick angel — seriously powered! twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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PRBushWheels.com is the maker of the 11.6-in. tires. The tires come with custom hubs, with integral bronze flange bushings that fit a 3/8-in. axel.

They weigh about two pounds.

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I’m shown here getting ready for a maiden flight of the Clipped Wing Cub. I’m new to being a tug pilot, so I’m checking and double-checking to make certain all is good.

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BUILD

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

Wingspan : 120 in. (3050 mm) Length : 90.5 in. (2300 mm) Wing Area : 2402 in.2 (155 dm2) Weight : 29 lb (13.15 kg) Engine : DA-120 2-stroke Propeller : Falcon 28x10 Beechwood Fuel Tank : Du-Bro 100 oz Receiver : Spektrum® AR12110 DSMX Transmitter : Spektrum DX9 Servos : Hitec HSB… Batteries : Spektrum 7.4-volt 4000-mAh LiPo Landing Gear : Robart 1/3 scale — narrowed Tires : 11.6-in. PR Bush Wheels Pilots : Du-Bro AirBorne Models, LLC 4749-K Bennett Drive, Livermore, CA 94551 airborne-models.com

SUPPLIES

for doing some water skimming or rough-field service work. Further, the DA-120 pumps out so much power this Cub will pull anything from a 1/2-scale to a 1/5-scale glider; albeit, it’ll pull the 1/5-scale at about 20 percent power.

I’ve only run a couple of tanks of gas through the Cub’s airplane’s engine to date. Even so, what I like most about this model is, it is just a ton of fun to pilot. The clipped wings make it sporty in maneuvers, as do the generously-sized control surfaces. I’ve also learned that you must “stick” the model on landings because the big PR bush wheels will bounce the model if not. The power is a “gas” too, right?

Suffice it to say, I’m looking forward to putting hours and hours on this model in 2017. It will definitely be my tug aircraft for at least a year.

SPECIFICATIONS

This photo was snapped at Weaver’s airfield in Othello, WA. Note that the airplane had not yet been turned around for a tow, so the towline is not in position.

DISTRIBUTOR

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AIRBORNE MODELS CLIPPED WING CUB

AirBorne Models airborne-models.com Desert Aircraft desertaircraft.com DuBro Products dubro.com Falcon Propellers Falconpropellers.com Hitec RCD hitecrcd.com PR Bush Wheels prbushwheels.com Spektrum spektrumrc.com Zap zapglue.com Model Price $749.99 (A186C)

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The model only functioned as a tug for one event, so there is still some fine tuning that must be completed. However, the Cub pulls large-scale gliders with ease!

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HOW TO

BUILDING SCALE FOR COMPETITION PART IV THE FUSELAGE BUILD

BY TOM WOLF

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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I

n my previous installment in this series, we discussed the importance of validating the plans or the kit before starting work. As outlined, a significant number of scale deviations were uncovered during the validation of the plans that I had purchased for my L-19 project. The required corrective actions to fix those issues were also identified. However,

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since that installment was published, the very reason for a complete and thorough validation reared its ugly head on this project, which resulted in a very significant change in direction.

This installment will cover what happened, what my plan is going forward, and describe the initial phases of construction of the L-19.

An Unpleasant Surprise Based upon what I believed was the successful validation of the L-19 plans I had purchased, I began construction of the fuselage, with changes made to mitigate known scale deviations that I’d identified. For example, the upper part of bulkhead five was modified to correct the shape and location of the fuselage/

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HOW TO

BUILDING SCALE FOR COMPETITION

The L-19 Bird Dog has a narrow fuselage, with a tandem seat configuration, as clearly shown in this head-on photograph

The “too fat” 1/4-scale version of the build is shown on the right with the accurate 28%-scale build on the left. Note the significant differences in fuselage cross-sections. The fuselage on the left conforms to L.G. Halls’ 3-view drawing.

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Scaling the 3-view involves a process of drawing reference lines for each feature and applying the appropriate scaling factor to measurements taken where the reference lines intersect the feature on the drawing. For a 28%-scale model, a scaling factor of 3.36 is required for this set of drawings. twitter.com/rcsportflyer

wing-joint in the area of the flap and I revised the horizontal stabilizer hinge line and counterbalances to reflect the scale configuration.

Rapid progress was made in framing up the fuselage and I was quite pleased with the pace of the project. And then one day upon walking into the workshop, it struck me that something did not look “right” with the fuselage. It looked too wide in the cabin area for the tandem-seated cabin arrangement of the Bird Dog, which is actually quite narrow and relatively tall.

Hoping that this impression was not correct, I consulted photos I had taken of my buddy’s full-scale L-19 and made measurements of the three-view drawing I was working off.

Unfortunately, this confirmed that the fuselage was indeed too fat. In fact it was over an inch too wide in the cabin area. This deviation is quite noticeable and is entirely unacceptable for a competition airplane. Whereas the L-19 is quite a tall, slender airplane when viewed from the nose (as shown in the photos), the fuselage that I’d built looked short and too wide.

This was a very upsetting development, which meant the work done to that point was wasted.

Further comparison of the fuselage’s three-views and the plans revealed the fuselage cross-sections were incorrect at almost all positions from the nose to the tail of the airplane.

This situation left me with only one viable course of action to develop a serious competition airplane: I would be forced to draw my own plans.

That effort would be based upon the L.G. Halls three-view drawing (dated August 1969) and augmented by photos of my friend’s airplane.

The obvious question is: Why didn’t I more thoroughly validate the fuselage width prior to starting work? I should have, but instead I took the shortcut of comparing the general shape (side and top view) of the fuselage with the three-view.

The general shapes were correct, but the aspect ratio of height versus width was totally wrong. That was not obvious when making individual comparisons of the side and top views. While many of the other scale rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

The first step in a build such as this is to generate a “kit” of parts. In this case, the kit is a set of fuselage formers. The formers in the cabin area are reinforced with carbon fiber strips to achieve good strength and stiffness with the minimal structural volume available.

The fuselage sides in the cabin area are made from 1/8-inch lite plywood.

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HOW TO

BUILDING SCALE FOR COMPETITION

The fuselage formers are tack-glued to the cabin sides and the 1/8 x 1/2 spruce crutches. A building jig or alignment fixture is used to hold the fuselage in alignment while adding stringers, and prior to final gluing of all the formers.

The fuselage sheeting is applied in large sections, approximately one quarter of the circumference per section. The fuselage is supported to ensure alignment during sheeting application.

The sheeting for the lower half of the fuselage has been applied. Note the joint with the remaining sheeting sections occurs on the 1/8 x 1/2 basswood crutch, providing a solid backing for the glue joint. The other joint will be along the upper center stringer, which is 1/4 x 1/4 basswood.

The final section of sheeting has been applied. Note the liberal use of rubber bands and scrap pieces of basswood strips to hold the sheeting in place while the glue dries.

deviations I found during validation were probably intentionally done by the designer to make the airplane easier to build, it is not clear why he would have designed a “fat” airplane, unless it was simply a mistake. When the issues are taken in totality, it is clear his design is a “sport scale” rendition of the L-19, and as such is not suited to serious scale competition.

Recovery and Changes Over the course of about three weeks I drew a set of scale plans, using the L.G. Halls three-view as the

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source of the design data. Luckily, the Halls three-view includes all of the critical fuselage cross-sections, wing rib profiles, flap and aileron details, as well as many other scale details, thus facilitating the generation of accurate plans. This three-view is highly regarded for accuracy and was originally developed from Cessna factory drawings. My copy of Halls’ three-view drawing is printed on four sheets of 24 x 36-inch paper, which means the scaling factor is modest to achieve the final model size, and measurements of three-view features can be accurately taken.

Because the Saito 57T opposed twin that I purchased for the project was a tight fit inside the “too fat” quarter-scale cowl, it was obvious that the engine would not fit into a proper-sized cowl, which would be over an inch narrower than what I had been working to. Thus, I was forced to go to a slightly larger scale for this project: The airplane would now be 28 percent scale, which results in a wing span of 121 inches, versus 108 inches, and the cowl width would be approximately the same as the “fat” fuselage version, thus allowing the engine to fit nicely within the cowl.

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The lower nose area is closed out with a series of block balsa sections. The full-scale airplane has a recessed channel area that is replicated by the lite ply structure in the lower center of the nose.

The fuselage structure is shown complete and ready for fiberglass, prior to installing the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces, and cutting out the cabin door.

The plug for the fiberglass cowl is made from blue foam that is shaped using two lite ply formers as templates to achieve an accurate cross-section. The aft-most former is match-sanded to the fuselage firewall prior to bonding to the foam, which will ensure a good fit to the fuselage for the finished part. Reference lines are used to ensure alignment. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

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BUILDING SCALE FOR COMPETITION

The side view profile is drawn on the foam, and then sanded to shape. Final shaping is done slowly and with careful examination to ensure an accurate final shape. It is important to wear proper protective gear while shaping the foam.

The plug is now ready for the application of fiberglass. Once the plug is completed, a female mold will be fabricated and the finished cowl will then be made.

The stabilizer construction starts with cutting a “kit” of parts, including ribs, spars, leading and trailing edges, and sheeting.

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Generating Plans Given that the three-view contains the basic data necessary to develop fuselage formers and wing ribs, there are two choices for generating plans at the appropriate scale. First, the three-view can be copied and blown up to the appropriate size by an oversize copy service. However, once that is done, there is still a significant amount of drawing required to define the construction elements.

In addition, sometimes distortions creep in during the copying process so care must be taken to verify no such distortions are present. The other alternative is to manually enlarge the three-view data by taking measurements of each feature and applying a scaling factor to determine the final feature size. The latter process is what I employed to develop my plans.

To achieve a 28% scale, all measurements taken from my set of the Halls’ three-view are multiplied by 3.36. All measurements of the threeview were taken with a pair of digital calipers to ensure accuracy. As seen in the accompanying photos, reference lines were drawn on the 3-view to provide controlled measurement points. Similar reference lines were drawn on the plan sheet with the reference line spacing increased by the 3.36 factor to achieve the final geometry. All outlines (side, top, front views), fuselage formers, and wing rib profiles were developed using this technique. In the case of the wing ribs, I also employed computer software to scale and plot the rib profiles.

Fuselage Build The Bird Dog’s fuselage construction approach follows the conventional former and stringer design with 1/8-inch balsa sheeting over the exterior. Because the cabin structure must be minimized to preserve a scale appearance, liberal use of .010- x .375-carbon fiber strips bonded to the lite plywood formers achieves excellent strength and stiffness with minimal structural volume. The accompanying photographs show the three cabin formers that have the carbon fiber reinforcement. The remainder of the rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

The stabilizer sheeting is edge glued and sanded prior to gluing in place on the stabilizer. The sheeting pieces are taped tightly together, then one side is folded back to allow application of glue into the joint.

The sheeting is then taped on the opposite side to hold the joint closed.

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HOW TO

BUILDING SCALE FOR COMPETITION

The stabilizer leading and trailing edges are shimmed during construction to maintain the rib centerlines parallel to the building surface, ensuring a straight, warp-free build.

Once all of the formers are fabricated, 1/8- x 1/2-inch basswood crutch pieces are glued to the two lite plywood cabin sides, using care to ensure accurate alignment.

Former locations are carefully marked on each of the two crutch pieces. Using alignment blocks or a suitable building jig to maintain fuselage alignment, the cabin formers are tack-glued to the cabin sides, and the remaining formers are tack-glued to the 1/8 x 1/2 crutch pieces, as shown in the accompanying photo. When satisfied the formers and fuselage is properly aligned, the formers are glued firmly in place. The remainder of the airplane’s stringers are added while the fuselage is supported in the building jig.

The fuselage sheeting is applied a large sections, which each cover approximately one quarter of the fuselage’s circumference. The sheeting sections are made up of

multiple pieces of 1/8-inch thick balsa sheet that are cut to size, edge glued and then sanded prior to being glued in place on the fuselage. The result is almost invisible glue joints. The goal is to have the final glue joints between the four sheeting sections occur on one of the longitudinal stringers.

During the sheeting process, liberal use of rubber bands and clamping blocks ensure the sheeting is held down tightly against the formers and stringers, as shown in the accompanying photos.

Summary While discovery of the major problem with the plans I’d purchased set my project back a few months, I am back on track and now feel very confident that the finished project will be a very accurate scale model.

At this point, there are no known

deviations to scale, since I scaled all features directly from the three-view, with validating data from the full-scale airplane.

In the next installment of this series we will continue with the build, concentrating on the wing’s construction.

SOURCES

formers are lite plywood, with the exception of the firewall, which is 1/4inch birch plywood.

Balsa, plywood, basswood, spruce National Balsa 413-277-9500 nationalbalsa.com Balsa USA 800-225-7287 balsausa.com

The upper sheeting is applied while the stabilizer structure is shimmed and pinned to the work surface, which ensures the alignment is true.

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PLAN

PIPER AIRCRAFT J-3 CUB THE QUINTESSENTIAL SINGLE-ENGINE AIRPLANE

BY WENDELL HOSTETLER

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one of the best known light aircraft of all time. The Cub’s simplicity, affordability and popularity — as well as its large production numbers, with nearly 20,000 built in the United States — invokes comparisons to the Ford Model T automobile.

SPECIFICATIONS

T

he Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design that gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is

J-3 Cub Crew : One pilot Length : 22 ft 5 in. (6.83 m) Wingspan : 35 ft 3 in. (10.74 m) Height : 6 ft 8 in. (2.03 m) Wing area : 178.5 ft² (16.58 m²) Empty weight : 765 lb (345 kg) Useful load : 455 lb (205 kg) Max takeoff : 1,220 lb (550 kg) weight

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69

PLAN

PIPER J3 CUB

The Cub was originally intended as a trainer, and saw great popularity in this role and as a general aviation aircraft. Due to its performance, it was well suited a variety of military uses such as reconnaissance, liaison and

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ground control, and was produced in large numbers during World War II as the L-4 Grasshopper light observation aircraft. Large numbers of Cubs are still flying today. Notably Cubs are highly prized as bush aircraft.

The Cub is a high-wing strutbraced monoplane with a large-area rectangular wing. It is powered by an air-cooled piston engine driving a fixed-pitch propeller. Its fuselage is a welded steel frame covered in fabric,

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SPECIFICATIONS

seating two people in tandem.

The aircraft’s standard chrome yellow paint has come to be known as “Cub Yellow” or “Lock Haven Yellow”.

Powerplant : 1 Continental A-65-8 aircooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder Horsepower : 65 hp (48 kW) at 2,350 rpm Maximum speed : 76 kn (87 mph, 140 km/h) Cruise speed : 65 kn (75 mph, 121 km/h) Range : 191 NM (220 mi, 354 km) Service ceiling : 11,500 ft (3,500 m) Rate of climb : 450 ft/min (2.3 m/s) Wing loading : 6.84 lb/ft2 (33.4 kg/m2) Power/mass : 18.75 lb/hp (11.35 kg/kW)

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3-VIEW

SCHEMPPHIRTH SHK-1 A GORGEOUS, MODERN CLASSIC SAILPLANE

BY HANS-JÜRGEN FISCHER

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the Standard Austria was constructed primarily of wood, with plywood skins, and a fiberglass nose section, pilot’s seat, and tail-cone. Weight- and dragsaving features included the use of an all-flying V-tail. The V-tail increased cost and complexity of the controls. It also had the tendency to slightly pitch the aircraft with application of rudder and yaw the airplane with elevator control.

After 1962 the Standard Austria’s design development continued with improved models. The glider got an optional retractable undercarriage

and the NACA sectioned wings were replaced with the Eppler 266 section, which improved low-speed performance.

SPECIFICATIONS

T

Crew : One Wingspan : 15 m (49 ft 3 in.)

Length : 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in.)

Wing area : 13.5 m2 (145 ft2) Aspect ratio : 16.7 Airfoil : NACA 652-415 Empty weight : 205 kg (452 lb) Gross weight : 323 kg (712 lb) Wing loading : 24 kg/m2 (4.9 lb/ft2)

VARIANTS

he Standard Austria is one of the few designs you fall in love with at first sight. It has the design lines that landed it on the flight line immediately after the vintage era (those built before November 27, 1957 — the advent of fiberglass sailplanes with the flight of the Akaflieg’s Stuttgart FS-24 Phoenix) and just as modern class sailplanes came to the scene. As such, it has a big roomy fuselage, a constant tapered wing, a V-tail, top-and-bottom type spoilers, and a retractable gear in the SHK version.

The Standard Austria was a singleseat glider that was designed and built in Austria beginning in 1959. However, production was moved to SchemppHirth factory in Germany in 1962.

It was commissioned by the Österreichischer Aeroclub (Austrian Aero club). The designer was Rüdiger Kunz. It was purpose built to compete in the 1960 Organization Scientific et Technique du Vol à Voile (OSTIV) competition for standard class sailplanes. It won acclaim as the best standard class aircraft entered.

The design goals were focused on producing an aircraft with a low wing loading but with a high lift-todrag ratio. To achieve its design goals

Standard Austria Model built in Austria.

Standard Austria S Production aircraft by Schemp-Hirth under license Standard Austria SH Improved heavier model — five built Standard Austria SH-I The SH with retractable undercarriage Standard Austria 1964 model with Eppler 266 airfoil SHK Schempp-Hirth 17-meter Open Class — designed by Klaus Holighaus in 1965 from the SH-1 version.

Stall speed : 55 km/h (34 mph) Velocity never : 250 km/h (155 mph) exceed Rough air speed : 140 km/h (87.0 mph) max Aerotow speed : 140 km/h (87.0 mph) Winch launch : 95 km/h (59.0 mph) speed Terminal velocity : w/ full airbrakes 250 km/h (155 mph) Maximum glide : 34 @ 105 km/h ratio (65.2 mph) Sink rate : 0.7 m/s (140 ft/min) @ 70 km/h (43.5 mph) G limits : +8 -0 @ 230 km/h (142.9 mph) twitter.com/rcsportflyer

A

425

G

Schnitt F-F 2000

(Maßstab x 2)

Höhenflossen Ausschlag (Maßstab x 2)

90 110

B

F 800

Schnitt A-A (Maßstab x 2)

Schnitt G-G (Maßstab x 2)

Schnitt B-B (Maßstab x 2)

C

Schnitt C-C

123

(Maßstab x 2)

Schnitt D-D 40

(Maßstab x 2)

D

Schnitt E-E (Maßstab x 2)

Lackierung Stand 2010

E

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3-VIEW

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SCHEMPP-HIRTH SHK-1

RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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FEATURE

SHENZHEN’S T-ONE JET FACTORY TOUR

H

aving been to China a number of times, I’ve visited quite a few factories to see how our RC models and drones are manufactured.

Most of the factories visits have been to companies that make foam or wooden models, not high quality, hollow molded composite aircraft.

That changed in April when I was invited by the T-One Model team to tour their factory.

The name T-One isn’t immediately

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recognizable to modelers in the USA. That too may change in the near future. The reason I say so is that T-One is clearing a path for themselves in the area of composite aircraft, and at this juncture, specifically turbine-powered jets.

Their dedicated team of engineers and designers have set a goal for T-One to build what may be arguably some of the best custom made jets money can buy. twitter.com/rcsportflyer

IT’S FULL-THROTTLE AFTERBURNER FOR THESE DEDICATED ENGINEERS!

BY WIL BYERS To meet their goal the team has set about creating computer generated solid models of their aircraft in Pro Engineer. These solid models are not much different from those you might find at a company like Boeing. They replicate the project aircraft in every detail so that the model’s tooling can then be produced by computer numeric controlled (CNC) machining.

As such, the design engineers takes into account everything from tool

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FEATURE

T-ONE JET FACTORY

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Here is where a model begins at T-One. The model is drawn in 3D in Pro/Engineer sotware, making certain there are no interferences.

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This is a male plug before it is faced to make a female mold. You had see it up close to appreciated how the detail was added.

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Each female mold is meticulously made by the Chinese craftsmen, with the engineering team overseeing each step in the process.

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The molds include rivets, ducting, slats, panel lines, and etc. in them, so the finish part requires little work from the builder.

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The worker is shown here removing and imperfections from the female mold before it is used to make a part.

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On closer inspection you can see how much work goes into each mold before it is used to pull and composite part!

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Each part gets a lamination of Rohacell type foam that is ≈20 mm thick between the composite laminations.

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mating to interferences that could impact the way tools and parts fit together and come apart. Absolutely nothing is left to chance. Each and every part is engineered to produce the most accurate and detailed model possible.

Visiting the front office area and seeing the engineers at work gave me a sense of the dedication of the entire T-One Model staff. Further, I felt T-One wanted to make a mark for themselves in the area of composite turbine-powered jets.

In the Factory T-One’s operations team shares upper floors of a printing company.

They don’t have a huge, state-ofthe-art facility. Rather, there is an engineering office, the factory floor for mold making and production, and a dedicated paint booth.

As I toured the factory I saw tooling for the many models that T-One has produced over the years.

More interesting, however, was the mold making and production of the current T-One aircraft, which includes their Fortune jet and the upcoming Eurofighter Typhoon.

To a person, the workers making the tools and the parts were focused on quality. I got a clear sense that they had the utmost respect of the engineering team and vise versa.

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While the engineers were overseeing the processes, the workers knew exactly what needed to be done to create a model that would withstand the rigors of turbine power. Each tool was hand polished and properly prepared for composite laminations.

The internal structures were laser cut to fit the airframe perfectly; and, the workers fastened them to the aircraft’s composite body such that they would not part under heavy flight loads.

I was particularly impressed by how T-One had engineered all the control systems and their placement in the model. It was not like they were afterthoughts — you could tell at an instant the systems had all been

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A primer coat of paint is applied to the mold before the epoxy and composite laminations are laid into them.

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The craftsmen make certain that the composite materials gets laid into the mold properly and that there are no voids in the corners.

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All parts are CAD drawn, including the Rohacel foam parts. Then patterns are made for cutting such that parts are made exactly per the plans.

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The craftsmen adds a layer of peel-ply, which will provide a good adhesion surface on the composite material after curing is complete.

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The outer lamination is fiberglass, then the foam is laid in, which is followed by the carbonfiber and more fiberglass.

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A vacuum bag is placed over the complete laminations and the peel-ply. Then a vacuum is pulled on the part before it is oven cured.

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T-ONE JET FACTORY

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They use a foam box as an oven. The parts are cured at a temperature of about 200 degrees for eight hours.

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After the composite part comes out of the oven it receives a wooden structure that will supports other parts.

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This shows you what the wing’s internal structure looks like before it is installed inside the composite wing mold.

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The peel-ply is removed from the composite part after it has been oven cured. This leaves a tooth surface for good bonding.

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Notice the Rohacel has small holes burned in it, which makes for an exception bonding between laminations.

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The internal wooden structure is also used to hold parts in place when the two mold halves are joined — very important step.

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The fuel tank for the T-One Model’s jet is custom made composite part to fit the airframe perfectly.

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Looking inside the fuselage you can see that every part of the internal structure is well engineer.

These fuselage formers are also designed with aluminum retainers, which clamp to a wing joiner rod.

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T-One has designed the nose cone to be easily removable. The nose has this builtin carbon reinforced crutch.

Each former in the fuselage is held in place with a bead of epoxy resin and milled fiberglass, so they are secure!

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Looking forward in the fuselage, you can see there is plenty of room for electronics and control systems.

In the middle right of this photo you can see how the wing retainer clamps work to hold the wings fast to the fuselage.

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As you can see, fastening the nose of the fuselage to the airframe could not be easier — one screw does it all.

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T-ONE JET FACTORY

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This photo shows how the elevators are made and how they fasten to the fuselage by way of the aluminum joiner and carbon locator pin.

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A look inside the elevator halve, shows you how easy the servos mount. The mount is designed so that you simply fasten the servo in place with screws.

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As with the rest of the airplane, the landing gear wells are designed such that the gear is quick and easy to mount with only four screws.

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The flaps’ hinges and control horn come installed in the model. You’ll need to mount the servos in their respect well and make the pushrods.

No detail is left out. Such is the case with the wing tips of their new model, which if you look closely will have leading edge slats that work.

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This design is not a vinyl decal. It part has been stencilled and then painted — you don’t get this level of detail on mass-produced kits. twitter.com/rcsportflyer

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T-One is using hinge points on the model throughout, with hard fasten points built into the airframe.

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These tip tanks are shown as they come out of the female mold, but without their flashings removed — a later step.

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In this photo, you see how the tip tanks will get fastened to the wing once the model is complete.

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The landing gear is the trailing link type, so it is designed to withstand some hard landings and taxiing.

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The T-One gear includes pneumatic brakes. The tires and rims are well made too, so they’ll give good useability.

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FEATURE

T-ONE JET FACTORY

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designed in their solid models.

Then too, I liked how the build processes had been compartmentalized. There were dedicated tool makers, then those that prepared the tools, this was followed by the laminators. Then the parts were oven cured. This was followed by the parts being trimmed as necessary, which was then followed by internal structures being built into the parts. As parts were being assembled, I noticed that the engineers had developed a special technique to improve the strength of the composite bonds — it was all well engineered.

T-One’s jets include a finish

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package. Again, the engineers have opted to use technology to create superb parts. For example, the cockpit of the new Typhoon is 3D printed.

What would normally take a builder hours to create, the T-One cockpit replicates that of the full-scale aircraft nearly identically.

Its a Team What I witnessed at the T-One factory was teamwork! It was clear no person was responsible for their models. Rather, it was a team effort, with an emphasis on high quality, custom made jet aircraft.

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3-D printing made this cockpit possible.

T-One’s lead engineer is now using 3-D printing to prototype and fabricate some of the parts for their models.

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Here you see how the jet’s exhaust stack is supported in the fusealge. Notice the exceptional installation, with good glue seams around the plywood support.

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This is the female end of the exhaust stack that will mate to the turbine’s exhaust. The two tabs are how it will be fastened into the model’s fuselage.

FEATURES: • Removeable tail feathers • Removeable nose cone • Double-clamp retainers • Trailing-link landing gear • Kevlar® fuel tank • Servo mounts in nose for steering • Large pre-hinged control surface • Extensive hardware included in kit • Optional gear doors • Custom paint schemes available

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T-One has their model’s jet exhaust custom made. Notice the louvering of very thin aluminum used to prevent heat transfer to the external tube.

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This is what the complete exhaust stack looks like for the T-One jets. It is extremely lightweight and very well made, as is the entire jet.

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T-One’s engineering team is truly dedicated to making super RC aircraft.

I’ve known Kin (left) for about 13 years and he has an unequaled passion for RC.

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SPECIFICATIONS

Wingspan : 1.92 m Length : 2.20 m Net Weight : 10.5 Kg Power : 10 – 14 Kg turbine Fuselage : 2-piece joined composites Wings : Hollow molded foam/composite Spar : High-strength aluminum

DISTRIBUTOR

Structure : Carbon fiber reinforcements

T-One Models jy3076@sina.com

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FEATURE

RADIO RANGE TESTS GRAUPNER & HITEC HOW MUCH IS THAT SIGNAL IN THE WINDOW

BY WIL BYERS Kiona Butte, which overlooks Benton City and Richland.

The radio was charged such that the battery was peaked. The receiver’s battery was also peaked.

The test was started by turning on the transmitter and then the receiver.

Once the transmitter and receiver were bound and communicating the testing commenced. The transmitter remained stationary, while the receiver was taken farther and farther away from the transmitter’s signal.

When the signal was lost, the distance was noted on a Google earth map.

Back in the office the distance was measured by using the measure function in maps.google.com.

As you can see the Graupner mz-12 system provided uninterrupted signal up to a distance of 2.83 miles, at which point the signal reception became interrupted and “glitching.”

I

t has been a while since we published a radio range test report.

Gene Cope and I have teamed to do these reports. Not surprisingly, they are one of the most popular pieces we’ve done. Radio range is the typical question that we get from newbies or onlookers; i.e., “How far away can your model fly and you still have control?” These radio range tests provide the answer: a very long way!

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

The parameters of our radio range tests are described in RC Sport Flyer’s back issue volume 17-10 (November 2011), which you can get at: rcsportflyer.com/collections/2011.

Graupner mz-12 & GR-16L The day of the Graupner test was clear and calm, with visibility exceeding 60 miles. The test was performed in Washington State at twitter.com/rcsportflyer

Hitec Flash 7 & Optima 7 We repeated the setup and test procedure identically to that of the Graupner for the Hitec system.

The Hitec Flash 7, when communicating with the Optima 7 receiver, provided uninterrupted signal reception up 3.97 miles, with the hundredths value letting us round up to 4.00 miles.

Conclusion You can garner from our tests that you can rest assured you’ll be able to control your model with either of these system at a very long distance.

I’d say much farther than your eyes will let you discern what your model’s attitude is in flight!

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REVIEW

HACKER RC PARAGLIDER

IT’S MUCH MORE THAN JUST HANGING AROUND

BY WIL BYERS

Flying a parasail is much more than just hanging around. With the new Hacker parasail you can power up for some exciting under-the-canopy fun.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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R

C Powered Paragliding (PPG) has arrived. Hacker Motor GmbH has long been known for quality-manufactured brushless power systems in the USA. However, Hacker’s German headquarter’s team makes and sells other top quality RC products. Hacker’s Munich facility employs some avid full-scale paraglider pilots. They’ve worked several years with the full-scale paraglider firm, SWING, to develop a Hacker line of functional RC paraglider wings. These Hacker wings offer “no-excuses” performance, so you get quality piloting time. These new Hacker wings don’t just hang in the air like flapping bedsheets, as has been the case with other brands — not even, these wings really fly.

RC-FREE & RC-FREE v2 + Backpack Power System LITE Hacker’s RC-FREE paraglider, when combined with the Backpack Power

Your Hacker parasail will come neatly packed against shipping damage. The kit includes everything you need to get flying with the exception of battery — you’ll need to pick all the power components too.

There is not much that must be assembled.

Probably the most difficult task will be fitting the motor to the backpack, which is easy.

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REVIEW

HACKER PARAGLIDER

This shows how the motors mounting screws must be fitted to the paraglider’s backpack.

You’ll feed the screws thru the nylon.

System (Small), is the best place to start a RC paraglider adventure. The system is designed to ensure success!

The RC-FREE paraglider wing is made as a single-skin parafoil structure.

During launches, single-skin fabric wings open more readily, and they also stay open in rough air or in the course of aerobatic maneuvers. The Backpack Power System is simple to assemble, and it provides plenty of power for beginner PPG flights.

Pilots Must Learn — Unlearn — Some Basics: Power modulation The Hacker Backpack Power System (Small) has more than enough power for the entry-level pilot.

Contrary to conventional RC practice,

Here the motor is being attached to the backpack and propeller guard. Notice the motor is also supplied by Hacker.

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Our paraglider is fitted with Hacker servos. The frame, servos, receiver, and battery pack all fit inside the backpack.

too much power in RC paragliding is a BAD thing. A paraglider wing’s speed range is narrow. The wing will only fly in V2level flight within a small speed range. Deviate from that range and the wing is either climbing or descending.

PPGs do not have an elevator!

Adding more power to a paraglider will simply cause the power pack to accelerate away from the wing. That’s not a good thing because the power pack is attached to the wing by lots riser cords. Additional power will, therefore, make the power pack rotate up and over the wing, or around the side of the wing, or other undesirable gyrations. In other words, selecting a moderately powered system reduces the likelihood a beginner pilot is going to wrap the paraglider up in a big ball.

The Launch It’s not difficult, but there is a technique. I recommend you watch the Hacker video to see how it is done. A smooth overhand pull directly into the wind, with a gentle application of power after the power pack has left your hand, is the best way to launch the Hacker paraglider.

Ballasting Remember when I said that paragliders have a narrow speed range? That range can, however, be shifted up or down somewhat by changing the overall weight carried by the wing. You’ll want to add weight to increase the wing’s level-fight speed range of the paraglider. Also, always set up your paraglider to fly faster than the wind in which it will fly.

This is the aluminum support frame for the paragliders shroud lines. It fastens to the backpack with only two screws. twitter.com/rcsportflyer

You’ll need to fasten the propeller guard to the backpack. You’ll just fasten four screws to the plastic frame.

Learning to Fly Once the basic skills are mastered, pilots can learn the challenges of flying their paraglider in slope lift, in the flatlands under power, or in thermal lift. You’ll discover it is quite a thrill to catch a thermal and then pilot your paraglider to a high altitude!

Beginner Options The RC-FREE comes in blue/ orange and white/orange. The RCFREE V2 extends those color choices to green/yellow/black, and also to the more scale Sensis pattern. The V2 pattern modifications require more work for the manufacturer, hence they have slightly higher price.

Moderately Skilled Once the basics are mastered,

As you can see, this step is quite easy and straighforward, as is the entire assembly of the Hacker paraglider.

pilots can opt to add more capabilities to their model, or challenges.

For example, different paraglider wings are not necessarily better, just different.

FLAIR 2.4 The Flair 2.4 square meter wing offers nearly an additional square meter of wing area over the Free and Free V2 models. However, the additional area requires the use of a larger power pack. That said, the larger area also means you can outfit your wing with a trike landing gear.

The Flair’s chord is also thinner in relation to its span than the Free. The increase in aspect ratio provides for better flying efficiency and a better glide ratio. Generally speaking, the FLAIR wing will provide better thermal

The radio receiver, battery, speed controller, and paraglider’s control module are shown in this photo — not much to it. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

performance than a paraglider with a lower glide ratio.

Trikes Hacker’s Airbull and Bullix trikes let pilots add a different option and look to their paraglider.

The Airbull trike is surprisingly stout — remember that weight is not always a bad thing in paragliders.

Adding a trike to your paraglider gives it the option of rise-off-ground (ROG) takeoffs, as well as adding to its scale experience and realism for the spectators. The trike’s steel frame may comes in handy for some of your landings too!

Note that the Hacker Bullix trike is a scale model of a powered paraglider trike. You’ll find It offers your model a real-life presence in the sky.

We’re soldering the speed controllers battery leads to their respective pins in this photo — used E-flite plugs for connections.

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REVIEW

HACKER PARAGLIDER

These are the pilot’s control arms, which are used to pull on the control lines for turning and even braking the paraglider.

It’s a tight fit but all the components fit snug inside the pilot’s backpack. Notice that the receiver is placed adjacent to servos’ bottoms.

Indoor Flying Paragliders can be flown low and quite slow. This makes them good candidates for indoor flying. For this environment, the paraglider should be as lightweight as possible. It is best to replace the steel seat frame with Hacker’s plastic frame, and you’re advised to use the lightest motor and battery setup.

The Free is Hacker’s most maneuverable paraglider and it excels at this sort of flying.

The Flair is indoor capable as well.

It is larger so would permit an even lower wing loading.

I would underscore, that you

must ensure that the flying space you’ve chosen is large enough before attempting to pilot your paraglider indoors. You’ll discover that they do require a bit of room to maneuver.

Expert Piloting Accomplished paraglider pilots can push the outside of the envelope with aerobatics. Aerobatics does, however, require that you push your piloting skills to the limits.

To make your model do aerobatics you must increase the brake line throw and the wing loading. You must also have respect for the ground clearances!

Set up properly, the beginner’s wing, the RC-FREE, can be turned into a spinning dervish that will challenge the boldest pilots. Its size and aspect ratio enable it to have much quicker turning performance than any of the other Hacker paragliders. The RCFREE wing’s ability to open quickly will be welcomed as the ground approaches.

Some tuning tips for aerobatics are: Use more control throw. Fit your model with top-quality servos.

Reduce line snag possibilities by eliminating or covering all points where the lines could snag on the power pack.

You MUST tie the ESC’s wires to the propeller guard’s frame to avoid having them be hit by the propeller during flight.

This is how your paraglider will look when it is assembled, less the pilot. A pilot figure can be just about any figure you choose.

Ours was purchased at a toy store.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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We love having Woody be the pilot of our paraglider. He makes for a happy figure that will put a smile on your face as he flies by.

He is not included in the kit.

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93

REVIEW

HACKER PARAGLIDER

Giant Scale FLAIR 4.5 The FLAIR 4.5-meter paraglider is big! It offers impressive weight carrying capability and it is very stable in the air as a result of its size.

The XXL power pack and harness system provides you with easy access to the radio gear, battery, and ballast. Its steel frame also delivers exceptional durability.

While flying giant-scale model gives it more realism in the air, it also requires more care on the ground.

For example, launching the larger model, while straightforward, requires you slinging that heavy power pack forward in a steady, calculated manner that will get the wing flying as you add the motor power.

SPECIFICATIONS

RC-FREE Wingspan : 250 cm Projected : 200 cm Wingspan Wing Area : 1.28 m² Projected Surface : 1.1 m Motor : Hacker A30-28S ESC : X40-SB-pro Propeller : 10x5 APC-E Weight : ~0.9 – 2.0 Kg (w/ pilots/gondolas/trikes)

For the maiden flight, we picked Kiona Butte. The wind was blowing about five to eight miles an hour, which was nearly ideal.

FLAIR 2.4 Wingspan : 304 cm Projected : 257 cm Wingspan Wing Area : 2.32 m² Projected Surface : 2 m² Aspect Ratio : 5

You’ll use a modified overhand throw to fill the paraglider’s sail. Then you simply push it straight forward as you apply throttle.

The paraglider is pretty easy to land too. Here Lee is flying it straight into his hand, but without the motor running — it just glided in for a nice, slow catch.

Weight : ~2.0 – 4.5 Kg

FLAIR 4.5 Wingspan : 445 cm Projected : 356 cm Wingspan Wing Area : 4.50 m² Projected Surface : 3.86 m² Aspect Ratio : 5

DISTRIBUTOR

Weight : ~3.5 – 8 Kg Hacker Motor USA Box 1210 Leawood, KS 66224 913-488-0277 hackermotorusa.com

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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REVIEW

ULTIMATE² BNF ® BASIC WITH SAFE

BY JAMES VANWINKLE

H

orizon Hobbies, and E-flite in particular, continue to turn out amazingly designed aircraft — ones that handle anything a pilot can throw at them. The Ultimate² is another design from Mike McConville that is a pure joy to fly! Like many of their new designs, this aircraft utilizes the Spektrum™ AS3X® technology, which turns a good model into a great one, thanks to their stability system.

Even a step above, is the ability to recover from unwanted attitudes with the use of a Panic Recover Mode.

With an E-flite 10-size motor, coupled with a 40-amp ESC, and using Z-foam construction, the Ultimate² is a treat to fly. The bright color scheme helps a pilot maintain aircraft orientation during even the most blistering 3D flights, no matter the sky conditions.

In the Air Flying the Ultimate² is a wonderful experience in every regard. It takes off in about 30 feet and tracks extremely well thanks to AS3X doing its thing.

If trim is needed, small adjustments should be made in the precision flight mode. Then no inputs are made for about 2.5 seconds, so the

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receiver can learn the new settings and incorporate them as standard for following flights. This is mentioned in the manual, though my Ultimate didn’t require any trim adjustment.

The first flight of the Ultimate was performed in somewhat windy conditions, though it proved to be absolutely no issue for this model.

I was never really concerned, even during the maiden, because I also own a Visionaire, which handles the wind like a champ. I expected this aircraft to perform similarly.

One of the first things I like to try with a new model is a stall, which the Ultimate2 is reluctant to do without a lot of effort. It tends to just drop to a slightly nose down attitude, regain a bit of airspeed and fly away. After a few stalls, it was time to check out inverted flight. Once again, this was pretty automatic with zero loss of altitude. The stability system was working flawlessly and keeping the airplane’s nose-level to the horizon.

Knife-edge flight always seems to wow my buddies at the airfield.

Holding a good knife-edge can’t be any easier thanks to the AS3X stability system. I just held the rudder and adjusted the power to control the

elevation, never having to think about correcting for roll or pitch. It will fly slow and nose high, or add some power and zip across the runway with the nose lower to the horizon. The choice is yours because the Ultimate2 is more than up to the challenge, without asking much from the pilot.

Another of my favorite maneuvers are rolling harriers, which are lightning fast with this airplane on maximum 3D control rates. In fact, I reduced the rate via the flight mode switch to add more of a harrier aspect rather than just a blistering fast rolling circle. The model’s four ailerons make for a very fast roll.

Of course I eventually had to try out the panic recovery system, and I tried it multiple times from many positions with the same result: the Ultimate snapped directly upright wings level again and again no matter what I tried. Most of the time it took less than one second to return to a neutral position, thanks to the agility of the aircraft — all with very minimal loss of altitude.

This airplane is capable of all the normal 3D aerobatics plus a lot more than I can possibly explain. A quick search of online videos will twitter.com/rcsportflyer

DOUBLE THE PLEASURE, DOUBLE THE FUN IT’S ALL WAITING FOR YOU!

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97

REVIEW

E-FLITE ULTIMATE2

The bottom wing contains two servo leads that plug into the AR636A receiver. The wires have numbers on them that correspond to their respective receiver slots. The wing then snaps in place quickly and easily.

The top wing rests on a cradle to maintain proper position, and is attached via a plastic locking pin. It is quick and easy to remove the wing if needed.

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The outer wing struts slip into their keyed position, then have this ingenious locking system where you slide the metal keeper in place and it snap locks for a secure fit.

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reveal some amazing maneuvers the Ultimate2 can perform — you can create your own. It also has plenty of power to hover, though pull out is not what one would characterize as rocket-like, but the standard 3-cell battery provides enough power to maintain a good rate of climb.

A smaller 4-cell battery would be pretty exciting to try out, though it isn’t required and I don’t like to make the sacrifice of less flight time or additional weight by using a different power source, so I happily chose to stay with the recommended setup.

Landings are very predictable and stable. Because there is a lot of drag on the airframe, a bit of throttle is needed to maintain a smooth descent rate. This is my third version of Ultimate Bipe and all of them from this electric to my 100-cc gasolinepowered model are exactly the same when it comes time to land. Keep about a quarter throttle and let the airplane gently settle onto the runway with a very light flare before cutting power for a perfect landing.

Expect flight times of about five minutes depending on your piloting style. After a few flights of full-on 3D aerobatics I landed the model at five minutes. The battery was in great shape, at right about 3.75 volts per cell, which is where I keep them for a storage charge. Perfect!

Assembly and Set Up The Ultimate² is one of the easiest models I’ve assembled. It requires no tools other than a basic screwdriver, and takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. A look at the model in the box makes that very clear since there are only a few parts in the kit, making it truly a bind-n-fly (BNF) model.

The foam container holds all parts very securely and it’s clear a lot of thought went into the shipping container layout. Foam supports cradle all components, with specific slots molded to fit the horizontal tail surfaces as well as the wings and fuselage. This may be lost on most of us because we just want to tear into the kit and get it airborne, but the attention to detail is very evident in all aspects of the Ultimate, beginning with the container and following all the way to every portion of the model. rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

Ball links hold the pushrods in position, which provide a secure attachment method. I haven’t seen them on a small model before, but think it’s a excellent feature.

Tail wheels are often overlooked by modelers, until they fly an airplane without one. This wheel is ultra lightweight, and provides outstanding ground handling for the model.

Digital servos come installed in all locations. They do require the addition of pushrods, which are quick to install thanks to the ball-link design. I checked each servo to ensure they were secure.

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REVIEW

E-FLITE ULTIMATE2

The digital servos come installed in aft of the fuselage. They require the addition of pushrods, which install quick thanks to the ball-link design. I checked each servo to ensure they were secure.

The distinctive Ultimate² spinner is an absolute necessity to finish off this beauty. It is made of high-quality plastic, and is fastened in place with screws and a center fastener.

All parts fit precisely and match the instruction manual exactly as written. Putting the landing gear in place takes three small screws, then the model is ready to sit on its ‘legs’.

The main wheels and foam wheel pants are already in place, so too is the tailwheel. Next step is the addition of the horizontal stabilizers, which take a carbon fiber rod in the middle for added strength, then the halves simply key to each other, held in place with small pieces of tape.

Servos come installed and connected to the receiver, except for those in the wing, though they are waiting to plug into the receiver once the wing is ready for installation. The two wing servo extensions are labeled with a number that corresponds to the slot where they plug into the receiver. A small locking pin holds the bottom wing in place. The top wing fits on a cradle and is also held with

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another locking pin. The outer wings are next connected via struts, which are held in position with an ingenious pin design that simply pushes through the strut until is snaps in place.

Finally the spinner is screwed in place and pushrods can be connected to complete the assembly of the aircraft. The next step is to set up the transmitter and bind the receiver for the model. Transmitter setup is extremely simple thanks to the manual’s step-by-step instructions for various Spektrum DSM2®/DSMX® technology transmitters.

The battery fits in the front hatch and is secured with Velcro straps, which are already in place. The hatch snaps into place with a plastic latch that is more secure than using magnets, which often come loose from the foam with repeated use.

That is not going to happen with this system.

A plastic latch keeps the hatch in place. Inside, there is plenty of room for the battery, which is held in position with the Velcro secure. A 40-amp ESC is positioned under the battery compartment.

Once the radio was set up and the receiver bound to the transmitter, a basic checkout was completed to ensure all stick movements correspond to the proper control surface deflection. This was followed by a check of the AS3X® system, which will help stabilize the aircraft from un-commanded movements.

In other words, this system helps compensate for wind currents and other forces that act on the model.

The amount of automatic compensation is adjustable through the receiver, though the standard setup has three different levels of compensation (or gain) that are used with the Ultimate2, from a 3D mode with high gain, to a very low gain precision mode. To check the correct direction of AS3X correction the manual lays out a step-by-step approach with photos showing which way the control surfaces should move twitter.com/rcsportflyer

Rolling into a turn presents the excellent color scheme to the pilot, so orientation with the airplane is never lost. I enjoy how stable and comfortable this airplane is to fly.

Rolling out of a knife-edge pass and it is off to the next fun maneuver. The AS3XÂŽ lessens the workload of the pilot by helping compensate for wind and other disturbances.

Pitching to the vertical, the Ultimate2 has plenty of power to maintain a good rate of climb. The motor gives it the ability to let you fly it in hover as well, but climb out is not fast.

Even going away, you’re going to like the look of this airplane. Notice the interconnect between the upper and lower ailerons, which give the model a superb roll rate.

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101

REVIEW

E-FLITE ULTIMATE2

You’ll enjoy how easy it is to orient yourself to the direction the model is flying thanks to the exceptional color scheme. I like the feel that SAFE® gives this model in all attitudes.

At a price of just $249.99 at E-fliterc.com this little biplane is an excellent buy. SAFE technology gives you enjoyment to practice maneuvers you would not try with your high-dollar machine.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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I found myself pushing the outside of the envelope with the Ultimate2 because it just gives you a feeling of confidence you don’t normally get with a model that isn’t using SAFE technology.

Pitching to the vertical, the Ultimate2 has plenty of power to maintain a good rate of climb. The motor gives it the ability to let you fly in hover as well, but climb out is not fast.

SPECIFICATIONS

Rolling into a knife-edge pass and it holds a heading without much pilot effort.

The AS3X® lessens the pilot’s workload by helping compensate for wind and other disturbances.

Length : 42.6 in.

Wingspan : 37.6 in.

Wing Area : 519 in.2 Weight : 2.80 lb Transmitter : Spektrum™ DX9 (DSM2 or DSMX required) Receiver : Spektrum™ AR636 (installed) Servos : Digital Micro Servo 13g (4 ea – installed) Motor : E-flite® 10BL 1300 Kv brushless motor (installed) ESC : 40-amp brushless (installed) Battery : 11.1V 3S 2200-mAh LiPo Propeller : 12 x 4 (installed) Retail Price : $249.99

DISTRIBUTOR

Ultimate² BNF Basic : (EFL10850)

Horizon Hobby 4105 Fieldstone Road Champaign, IL 61822 Phone: (800) 338-4639 horizonhobby.com

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when the model is pitched, yawed, or rolled.

Another amazing feature is the Panic Recovery Mode, using what is referred to as SAFE® technology. SAFE will return the aircraft to upright flight, no matter the orientation when the panic button/switch is pushed. It will turn the model upright in a very short time, around one to two seconds in almost every case I tried, no matter the orientation. It’s one awesome ‘get out of jail free’ card to have available when things get a little out of hand.

The aircraft may lose a bit of altitude when reorienting itself, such as in the case of nose down or inverted flight, but it definitely won’t lose much as it rights itself every time.

These safety features are nothing short of phenomenal, though they will not likely ever be used from loss of orientation. The color scheme chosen for the Ultimate2 makes it very easy to see in the sky, no matter the conditions. I flew the model in both clear and completely overcast conditions and the orientation of the aircraft was never in doubt thanks to

Even in the wind SAFE® makes flying the Ultimate2 quite easy to maintain inverted flight, so you can do low passes for the onlookers and impress your friends at the airfield. It is just fun to fly.

the bright sporty scheme.

Conclusion Super fast to build and get into the air, the Ultimate² delivers outstanding performance thanks to AS3X stability system. The panic recovery system deserves a standing ovation, as it can save an airplane from trouble within a few seconds. This airplane is easy to assemble, and once in the sky it’s one of the easiest models to see in flight I have ever flown. As for what it can do in the air, there are no drawbacks.

A quick search for online videos will show the aircraft’s capabilities.

This model may be designed for intermediate to advanced pilots, performing anything a pilot cares to throw its way, but it actually handles much more gently than the name Ultimate² would let on. This model is perfect in this size category, and is already giving my E-flite Visionaire a solid run for my favorite. Luckily I can fit both of them in my car, so I don’t have to choose.

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103

Now Available in the US! Qualität electromotoren

Precision brushless motors 35 watts to 15,000 watts

HackerMotorUSA.com

E-flite® airplanes are developed to make the most of your time. From sport flyers and warbirds to giant-scale and high-performance 3D, we put the work in so you don’t have to. There’s no painting or finishing and all the required electronics are pre-installed for you. Even transmitter programming is easy, thanks to pre-configured setups you can load to your favorite Spektrum™ radio. Innovations like AS3X® and SAFE® Select technologies give you more time to fly by making the days when there’s a little wind a great time to enjoy a smooth flight.

SpitFire Mk Xiv 1.2M BNF BASIc (EFL8650) WINgSpAN: 47.25 IN (1200 mm)

CarBoN-Z® p2 proMetheuS™ BNF BASIc (EFL10950) WINgSpAN: 48.0 IN (1219mm)

Brave Night Flyer BNF BASIc (EFL6950)

CarBoN-Z t-28 ®

WINgSpAN: 48.0 IN (1219mm)

BNF BASIc (EFL1350) WINgSpAN: 78 IN (198 cm)

to find out more, visit e-fliterC.com and check out the retailer near you.

VISIT

Your Local Retailer

CLICK

horizonhobby.com

CALL

1.800.338.4639

SERIOUS FUN.®

©2016 Horizon Hobby, LLC. E-flite, Spektrum, Carbon-Z, AS3X, SAFE, Serious Fun and the Horizon Hobby logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Horizon Hobby, LLC. The Spektrum trademark is used with permission of Bachmann Industries, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks and logos are property of their respective owners. 53027

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Maxx Products

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PowerBox

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APC Propellers

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E-flite

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105

Florida Jets

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Hacker

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Hitec RCD

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Icare RC

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2, 27

67

41, 75 107

8 87 4 17

8

P o i n t Yo u r b r o w s e r a t t h e N E W

R C S P O R T F LY E R .C O M S T O R E t o S U B S C R I B E & g e t R C- S F p r o d u c t s .

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RC Sport Flyer retains the right to reject unsuitable advertising and does not necessarily endorse products advertised.

TRAILING EDGE Trailing Edge Because we’ve moved the magazine’s every-other-month production to digital we now have room for one contribution a month as a new Trailing Edge column. You could call it a Letter to the Editor column, but what I’m looking for is a place where a reader can contribute to the content of the magazine in a positive manner. There is no pay for these contributions!

It is simply a way for RC Sport Flyer to share your insights into the hobby and the happens therein….

Dirk Augustine writes: “I’m relatively new to the hobby. This past summer I attended a few events in my area of the country. I found them immensely informative, at least from those pilots that were able to find the time to share their knowledge with me.

The reason I’m writing you is to ask about the protocol for interfacing with RC pilots during events — I’ve mostly attended fun fly type, but also was at Joe Nall 2016. What I did find is that it seems some of the pilots treat the hobby almost like a religion, rather than a hobby. I’m wondering if this is normal or just an anomaly at the larger events. I must say, I was impressed with the quality of both the building and the piloting that I witnessed at Joe Nall. I’m quite anxious to attend more events in 2017. Are there any events that host workshops for those of new to the hobby? If so, where are they and what are the dates?

Also, I’ve been flying some SAFE® equipped airplanes to date. Now, I’m working on a giant-scale warbird project. What would you or your readers recommend as a good trainer model to make the transition from a SAFE-equipped foam airplane to my giant-scale warbird? Also, is there any RC gear available that will emulate the control provide by SAFE for my warbird?

Since I’ll have quite a bit of time and money in the warbird I don’t want to lose it to pilot error, so control module that functions as SAFE does would be an asset for a pilot such as myself.”

Readers, won’t you help us answer Dirk’s questions. I know that Eagle Tree Systems makes a control module similar to that of SAFE, but I would like your feedback on how well it works and how it would function in a giant-scale warbird. If there pilots that have had experience using this system or another in your aircraft, RC Sport Flyer would like you share your knowledge with our readers.

So please, we would like your Trailing Edge contributions to benefit our readers. The reality is that our hobby has become so utterly diverse that no one individual, at least that I know, can comprehend it all. Consequently, your knowledge is shared by way of these pages, we will all benefit. I say that as content hungry editor that has over the past 23 years come to have an unrelenting zeal for all things aviation and especially RC — gliders and sailplanes being my ultimate and uncontrollable passion.

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

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THE Mystery SAILPLANE

WIN

A FREE SPORT FLYER HAT

Give us the name of this cockpit to

win!

Last month’s

ANSWER

was the Douglas M-2 cockpit. We hope you enter to be a winner in this month’s Mystery Airplane/Cockpit contest.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION Please e-mail your response to

support@rc-sf.com or mail a letter to Kiona Publishing ATTN: RC-SF 21-01 Contest

1754 Sagewood Richland, WA 99352

Submissions must be received by

1/30/2017

Statement of Ownership 1.) Publication Title: RC Sport Flyer 2.) Publication Number: 19-202 3.) Filing Date: December 2015 4.) Issue Frequency: Monthly 5.) Published monthly.

6.) Annual Subscription Price: $24.95 7/8.) Complete Mailing Address of Publisher: Kiona Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 4250, West Richland, Benton, WA 99353 9.) Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor: Kiona Publishing, Inc., William R. Byers, PO Box 4250, West Richland, Benton, WA 99353. 10.) Owner: Kiona Publishing, Inc., PO Box 4250,West Richland, Benton, WA 99353, 11/12.) N/A 13.)

Publication Title: RC Sport Flyer 14.) Issue Date for Circulation Data: December 2015 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: (a.)Average No. copies each issue during preceding 12 months / No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date: 13,681/12,151. (b1) Paid/Requested Outside County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: 6108/4872. (b2) Paid in County Subscriptions stated on form 3541: 13/14. (b3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: 4969/4900. (b4.) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 0/0. (c) Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 10843/9786. Free Distribution by Mail: (d1) Outside County as State on Form 3541: 2182/1690. (d2) InCounty as Stated on Form 3541: 0/0. (d3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS: 0/0. (d4) Free Distribution Outside the Mail: 327/275. (e) Total Free Distribution: 2509/1965. (f) Total Distribution: 13681/12151. (g) Copies not distributed: 329/400. (h) Total 13681/12151. (i) Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: 79/81. 16.) Publication of Statement of Ownership: December 2016.

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107

Cylon X-tail Carbon $589.99 Carbon/Glass $479.99 2.0-meter Slope Racer 2 Versions: Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which gives adequate stiffness and torsional rigidity — recommended for sport flying.

Includes: Ballast tube, servo tray, push rod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, carbon reinforced fuselage, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — significant stiffness and torsional rigidity.

Specifications: Wingspan Length Wing area Weight

Features: • Ailerons, rudder, elevator, and flaps.

• Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon fiber or glass wing design • Carbon fiber square wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coated finish with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

CG Transmitter Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

2000 mm (78.75 in.)

1250 mm (49.21 in.)

34.9 dm2 (3.75 sq ft) ≈1600 g (57 oz) 90 – 95 mm back of leading edge 7 channel King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Designed and Built for Sailplane Modelers RCRCM Gliders Give You More for Less

Mini Vector X-tail

Sunbird X-tail

Carbon $389.99 Carbon/Glass $319.99 1.69-meter Aerobatic Glider

Carbon $349.99 Carbon/Glass $259.99 1.5-meter Sport Sloper

2 Versions:

Includes:

Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which gives adequate stiffness and torsional rigidity — recommended for sport flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, carbon reinforced fuselage, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — significant stiffness and torsional rigidity.

Features: • Ailerons, rudder, elevator, and flaps.

• Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon fiber or glass wing design • Carbon fiber square wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coated finish with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Ballast tube, servo tray, push rod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) Airfoil CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

1690 mm (66.54 in.)

1070 mm (42.13 in.)

720 g (25.40 oz) 830g (29.28 oz) JH8-10 Symmetrical 72 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Includes:

2 Versions: Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Features: • Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) Airfoil CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

Strega V-tail

2 Versions:

2 Versions:

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Features: • Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

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RC SPORT FLYER • DEC 2016

550 g 640 g JH Series 60–65 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max Mini (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Tabu V-tail

Carbon $839.99 Carbon/Glass $709.99 2.9-meter F3F Racer Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

1500 mm 900 mm

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) Airfoil CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

2880 mm (113.4 in.)

1470 mm (57.9 in.)

Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

1610 g (56.80 oz)

Features:

1720 g (60.67 oz) JH8 Blend 102–110 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

• Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Carbon $1299.99 Carbon/Glass $1119.99 3.0-meter F3B/F3F Glider Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

2976 mm (117.17 in.)

1500 mm (59.06 in.)

1680 g (59.26 oz) 1760 g (62.08 oz) 90–95 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

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Toba V-tail

Tomcat X-tail

Carbon $959.99 Carbon/Glass $829.99 3-meter F3B Glider

Carbon $669.99 Carbon/Glass $489.99 2.5-meter F3F Racer

2 Versions: Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Features: • Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Wing area Weight (carbon/ glass) Wing airfoil Stabilizer airfoil Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

3085mm (121.46 in.)

1456mm (57.32 in.)

58dm2 (6.24ft2) ≈2000 g (74.07 oz) RCRCM2010-8 RCRCM2010-10 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

2 Versions: Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Features: • Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Tornado V-tail

Features:

2480 mm 1280 mm 1240 g 1310 g 96 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Carbon $1269.99 Carbon/Glass $1079.99 2.9-meter F3F Racer

2 Versions:

• Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Specifications: Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

Typhoon Plus X-tail

Carbon $1299.99 Carbon/Glass $1099.99 2.9-meter F3B Glider Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

2 Versions:

Specifications:

Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Wingspan Length Weight (glass/ carbon) Weight (carbon) CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

• Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

2900 mm 1490 mm 1550 g 1640 g 95 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Features:

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Wing area Weight (glass) Weight (carbon) Airfoil CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

2940 mm (115.75 in.)

1560 mm (61.42 in.)

57 dm2 (6.13 ft2) ≈1640 g (57.85 oz) ≈1740 g (61.38 oz) JH* 96 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

Typhoon X-tail Carbon $519.99 Carbon/Glass $419.99 2-meter Slope Soarer 2 Versions:

Sold by RCSportFlyer.com we Save You Money rc-sportflyer.tumblr.com

Fiberglass+Carbon: Hollow-molded fiberglass construction reinforced with carbon fiber, which provides the required stiffness and torsional rigidity for sport and aerobatic flying.

Carbon: Wings are full carbon cloth, with carbon from leading edge of the wing to the tail — provides significant stiffness and torsional rigidity, yet is lightweight and strong.

Features: • Ailerons, elevator, flaps, and rudder control • Two-piece hollow molded composite carbon or fiberglass wing design • Carbon wing joiner • Live hinges on the wing and rudder, with wipers • Gel-coat finish, with pre-painted graphics • Full-flying stabilizer with pre-installed bellcrank

Includes: Ballast tube, motor mount, servo tray, pushrod, clevises, linkages, control horns, servo covers, wing joiner, tail joiner, servo plate

Specifications: Wingspan Length Wing area Weight Weight (Glass) Weight (Carbon) Airfoil CG Radio Servos wings Servos fuselage Battery

2000 mm (78.75 in.)

1210 mm (49.21 in.)

34.9 dm2 (3.75 sq ft) ≈1600 g (57 oz) 900 g (31.75 oz) 960 g (33.86 oz) JH8 82 mm back of leading edge 7 channels King Max CLS0911W (4) King Max (2) 4.8 – 8.4 Volts

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