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JULY 2015
WORTH £11.99
LARGE MODELS AT EAST KIRKBY PLAN FEATURE! BERGFALKE IV
Issue 378 £4.30
SUPER SIZE SCALE 1/4 SCALE GLIDER BUILD PROJECT
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
32
16
FRONT COVER
56
REGULARS 6
PRE FLIGHT
8
TAKE OFF
12
SHOP WINDOW
75
ROTARY WINGS
78
SILENT SCALE
Introducing this issue
JULY 2015 • ISSUE #378
REVIEWS
40
Neil Hutchinson is a man on a mission to record fine photographic images of the best giant scale models belonging to members of the Large Model Association. To do this Neil visits nearly all of the LMA events; this year he starts the season with a trip to East Kirkby. You can read his report starting on page 68
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TACTIC ANYLINK 2
We flight test a clip-on adapter that can be used to allow a wide range of transmitters to work with Hobbico’s range of ready to fly aircraft, as well as Tactic 2.4 GHz receivers. It worked well using a Spektrum DX6i
For his latest scale glider design, Chris Williams builds one of the last wood and fabric winged gliders before all-glass machines dominated the full size soaring scene. Designed to 1/4 scale, with the express intention of rendering it suitable for slope soaring in light conditions, it will also fly in a stronger wind or off aerotow
MULTIPLEX PROFI 16
Multiplex’s top line R/C system is packed with useful functions, but it helps if you are familiar with operating one of the company’s other radio sets. We asked our MPX guru, Frank Skilbeck to guide us through some of the transmitter’s most useful and innovative features
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36
John Stennard tries out a trio of new Revell Control multi-copters
48
A look at the latest R/C products
Richard Morris dedicates this month’s heli column to models seen in the air at the popular Charmouth Fly-In, held in April and hosted by the Association of Helicopter Aerosports
YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS?
Alec Barber finally gets around to building a DB Autogyro kit that he has had in storage for over forty years. Sounds familiar? Before gluing the parts together there was just the small job of tracing over the (very!) faded plan
MULTI ROTOR REVELLING
Latest R/C model flying news and readers’ model pics
DRAWING UP AN AICHI VAL
Phillip Kent shows how to design your own scale model from readily available information such as photographs and three view drawings, concentrating on a fixed undercarriage WW2 fighter to fly from rough grass flying strips
BOOK PREVIEW
We browse through a new book, Model Planes - Aerofoils and Wings, which will be a welcome addition to any modeller's home library
BERGFALKE IV
BALSA WOOD 101
If you have yet to build a model aircraft from scratch using blasa wood as the main building material then you are missing out on one of the great joys of aeromodelling. Peter Kraus offers up some tips to use when working with this versatile modelling material
Chris Williams flies his scale soarers at the first White Sheet Scale Fly-In of 2015 and describes an invaluable, yet simple to make fuselage jig. He also introduces his next vintage glider design
110 DIARY DATES
Two packed pages of summer model flying events
113 THE SPORT CHANNEL
Gray writes on another selection of sport model topics
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SCALE FLYING IN SWARMS
58
AN ITCH TO SCRATCH
62
SPEEDY
68
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Bruce Corfe makes regular trips to Australia. And while he is there he has become a regular visitor to the South West Associated Radio Modellers Society Scale Rally, from where he files this event report
Bill Bowne reaches the penultimate part of his short series on scratch building. This month he turns his attention to the art of scale modelling
No, it’s not an open cockpit Spitfire. Instead, Alan Wooster has chosen to pay homage to a favourite free flight rubber model by basing his latest electric R/C design on the tiny FROG Speedy. But at 38 inches wingspan, Alan’s model is quite a bit bigger than the original!
EAST KIRKBY 2015
To start this year’s regular reports from around the large model show scene, Neil Hutchinson takes his camera and telephoto lens to the Large Model Association’s airshow at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre
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SOUTH WEST MODEL & HOBBY SHOW
Derek Small takes us on a tour of the annual model show held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Somerset, where the R/C flight line is hosted by the local Blackdown club
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F3P WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
75
Donatas Pauzuolis reports from the second world championship event for indoor aerobatic models, with additional pictures by Esa Eirola, Ignas Matulevicˇius and Rokas Lukšas
102 FRENCH FRIPPERY
Our tame ‘Brit In Brittany’, Dave Goodenough helps his club to host a multi club gathering at the local army gymnaseum, and which attracted a fabulous line up of fine scale lightweight aeroplanes
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BERGFALKE IV
For his latest scale glider design, Chris Williams celebrates one of the last wood and fabric winged gliders before all-glass machines dominated the full-size soaring scene
T
he Bergfalke IV is the last in the line of two-seater Bergfalkes from the German Scheibe company. It was built around the 1960s at a time when all-glass machines were becoming the main choice for the serious glider pilot. Built, like its predecessors, with a steel tube framed fuselage and wood and fabric wings, the model is designed to 1/4 scale with the express intention of rendering it suitable for flying off the hill in light conditions. This doesn’t mean that it won’t fly in a strong wind or off aerotow of course, but with an AUW of around 13 lb it’s well within the powers of even an older gent like myself to self-launch with a reasonable amount of urge into a light wind. To this end only top-mounted airbrakes have been fitted, as a hurried landing on rough ground could easily cause lower-mounted airbrakes to be damaged. Left: Despite its relative size the 4.4 m span Bergfalke IV is a very handy model and is easy enough to hand-launch 16
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FEATURE PLAN
Basic fuselage structure in the jig
View of the front of the fuselage at an early stage
Adding the ply turtle decking
View of the 1.5 mm planking at the front
Adding the triangular balsa strip to increase the gluing area for the ply sheeting
View of wheel housing
Fuselage The fuselage is assembled on a jig, which consists of a series of vertical supports, fixed to a base, and which locate on the main full-length longeron. On the prototype a purpose built adjustable aluminium jig was used, but any straight piece of timber will do the job. Having assembled the jig peg the formers to their supports and add the lower and main central longerons. Where the longerons curve sharply at the front the process can be eased by cutting part way down the centre of the wood at the front of the longeron, slitting it into two parts. Masking tape is an ideal medium for holding the spars into the formers. Add the remaining upper spars and the 6 mm balsa diagonals between the two upper longerons to the rear of F7.
It can be a fiddly process lining up the fuselage correctly, even with the help of the jig, so before adding the vertical diagonals and 6 mm balsa sheeting where the wing roots will sit, lay a straight-edge along the top of the fuselage at the rear and ensure that all the formers are correctly in line, adjusting where necessary. The front of the fuselage at the top has a compound curve (it’s a fibreglass moulding on the full size); this can be achieved with strips of 1.5 mm ply planking. On the prototype this was made by scoring up strips of ply to make three planks at a time, bending and cracking along the score lines to render the curve and tapering to allow for the shape of the fuselage. All of the diagonal bracing needs to be added now, including along the bottom of the cockpit aperture. The top ply decking at the rear encompasses a slight compound
curve, which can be accommodated with one piece of ply and which gives greater strength. But this slight hassle could be avoided by making a join at F8 if you prefer. With the front planking and the diagonal bracing completed the fuselage can be removed from the jig, the wheel boxes added, the inside of the front planking reinforced with glass mat and resin, and the longerons at the front built up with 6 mm triangular balsa strip to increase the gluing area for the 0.8 mm ply sheeting. The ply sheeting for the sides is purely to make the fuselage strong enough for slope operation, where sudden landings can sometimes be expected. The sides can be added in one piece, but a thin diagonal slot will be required at the front to allow the ply to fit over the slight compound curvature. www.rcmodelworld.com
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