Starlite, by Sig / Herr Engineering

So I've been dabbling with the "dark side" again. Yes, radio control, but at least it is a balsa and tissue model - 36" span and very "free flight like". I won't say any more, just show you some pictures instead. It's a lovely, beautifully laser-cut kit available from Sig/Herr direct. Exceptional value for money, especially wood bag and plan.

Do you remember your first ever model plane?

I do. I get the feeling that many (if not all) aeromodellers do too. Yes, the memories are hazy. I wonder how many of them in later years decide to build their first model again? For me it was a small 24" tow glider called the CROFTER by Ian Barrett published in Aeromodeller in 1973.

I built it during an after school club run by my teacher. Recently, I located and bought the plan for it. How weird to see it again? It's like that feeling of going back to your old school after many years - everything seems smaller and simpler than it did as a child.

I also remember the frustrations at the time, because no one explained how to trim and fly it properly. It is a simple design with Jedelsky style balsa sheet wings and 6mm balsa fuselage. Should I build (again) it or leave it for my son to cut his teeth on? Actually, it would be fun to strap it to a rocket motor! Now that's an interesting idea....

Andy Crisp's World of Free Flight Model Aircraft

If you've ever met Andy Crisp, you would know that infectious enthusiasm which he has for free flight. What a character! Now Andy has just published a new book. It's one of those instant download e-books and is available at the bargain price of £2.99 from http://www.instant-books.org/

I've bought it and the transaction was smooth. I received the book in a 47 page long pdf file. The book includes many plans and notes of gliders, hlg, clg, dlg, power and rubber. It's really great to see this book - it is not only a record of some of Andy's fabulous models but also a really encouraging e-book project from Instant Books.

I wish you every success!

Video of discus launched glider DT

I've not been able to fly Lipzoid much (or blog for that matter). Here's a quick view of how the glider's dethermaliser operates. In the video below, the DT timer triggers at about 3 seconds in. It brings the glider down, but could be improved (and I have some thoughts on how to do that). The second video is a rare event captured on camera. Watch out for the kite flyer near the end and sorry for the dark skies!

Model aircraft building board heals itself!

I started to build a model aeroplane on the building board (see the May 2008 post below). The plane is a 1m electric job. I have to say that this is the best building board I've ever used. It holds the pins with just the right grip and "feel". However, stupid me, for using thick brass thumb tacks (or as we call 'em "drawing pins") to pin the plan down. The next photo below shows what happened to the balsa block underneath:

As you can see, the thumb tacks left significant holes and dents while the proper modelling pins (pink ones in the top photo) left negligible fine holes. However, after a quick wipe with a wet rag, the balsa healed itself "organically" in just a few minutes:

Wow, that's cool! As you can see the drawing pin holes closed up a lot and the dents have gone. completely The modelling pin holes were not an issue anyway, but even they have virtually disappeared. I won't be using drawing pins again - I've found some finer map pins for holding plans down. Proper modelling pins are well worth buying. These are Czech ones, from Flitehook.

Who says wood is dead when it can still heal itself like that?

Building Boards

My building board is knackered (for those not familiar with English slang, just read "unuseable"). A good building board is an essential piece of kit for the free flighter. The requirements are simple, it must be:

• flat
• easy to pin and grip pins well
• big enough for your needs - long wings, bigger board

Some people are lucky enough to find a suitable fibreboard, blockboard, soft timber board or other ready made sheet in their local DIY shop or hardware store. I searched all over and could not find anything suitable. So I decided to make my own and here is the build sequence. It did not take long and cost me less than £10.




I used hard 15mm balsa planks, 4" wide mounted on a flat chipboard backing (an old bookshelf).

The planks and the chipboard were evenly coated with contact adhesive.











After 10 minutes, the planks were glued down to the chipboard. In addition to the contact adhesive under each plank, PVA glue was used between the edges of each plank. The excess PVA was wiped off with a clean damp rag.








The whole thing was weighted down overnight while the glues set.












Here is the finished board, trimmed and sanded flat. It takes pins well with good grip.


Now, what shall I build on it....?

Model gliders - all Chuck Gliders - Old and New

Here is a photo of 4 hand launched model gliders. In a way, they represent many decades of aeromodelling between them. Anti-clockwise from the top right:

• 20" span vintage HLG by Bowers from the 1930s. This is the oldest polyhedral design HLG that I'm aware of. This one has a drinks can aluminium side flap dethermaliser (DT). Build information is shown elsewhere in this blog. Since then, I've maxed it (>60s) a number of times.
  

• 14" span vintage HLG from a range of books entitled Newnes Pictorial Knowledge. This seems to be from the 1940s and is a good basic all balsa design. I found it in a SAM35 year book.
  

• 8" span HLG based closely on Kevin Moseley's excellent LET'S ROLL design (bamboo "kebab skewer" fuselage instead of carbon fibre and dihedral angles are slightly different). This one flew out of sight on its maiden flight (literally the first hard throw). It was found months later many miles away - always write a mobile phone number on your model! When I picked it up the wing was fine and it still flew, but the tail needed replacing.
  

• 36" span tip launched glider LIPZOID. Its design and build is shown in this blog below. It follows the recent discus launch developments and I suppose represents the modern era of chuck gliders.