106 MODEL AVIATION
Almost ready to fly: the Polikarpov I-16
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Also included in this column:
• Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17
• Mike Klintworth’s scratchbuilt
Bolero
Left: The newly painted 1/4-scale Polikarpov I-16 sits on its gear.
The author thought that this finish looked too clean and
unrealistic.
Below: Sal improved the I-16’s look with a bit of weathering. He
used an inexpensive airbrush, Testors flat black paint, and wetsanded
over the wing-rib tape and tail-feather ribs.
Applying flat black paint and wet-sanding the I-16’s vertical fin and
rudder helped make the realistic appearance more convincing.
Jeff Shutic with his 1/4-scale Balsa USA Nieuport 17 (L) and SR
Batteries 1/4-scale Fokker Eindecker. The full-scale versions were
adversaries early in WW I.
Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17 presented no surprises on its maiden flight.
Its custom gear is more narrow than that provided in the kit.
SOMETIMES THOSE LAST few items to be installed or adjusted
to prepare a model for its maiden flight seem to take forever to
complete. I wanted to include a flight shot along with a static photo
of the Polikarpov I-16 in this column, but circumstances dictated
otherwise. In other words, “It ain’t ready to fly.”
So I decided to include a few photographs of the model: one with
a nice, clean coat of paint and two showing what some weathering
can do for an aircraft’s appearance.
I painted the I-16 using inexpensive Krylon spray cans. The top
color is Krylon dull aluminum, the bottom is a light blue, and the
stars are red. Then I covered the whole airplane with Krylon flat
clear. This is how it is shown in one photograph.
10sig4.QXD 8/21/09 1:15 PM Page 106
The “Bolero” in the bones, designed and built by Mike Klintworth.
The gorgeous model has the look of a Schneider Cup racer.
The completed Bolero sports an O.S. Pegasus four-cylinder glow
engine. The long tail moment surely helps balance the model.
I thought the Polikarpov looked much too clean that way. In
addition, it was difficult to make out the cloth covering on the tail
feathers and the simulated rib stitching on the wing. So I used my
inexpensive spray gun and a little Testors flat black to dirty it a bit.
I sprayed residue straight back from each exhaust outlet and gave a
light coat across each rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail
feathers. I applied a fine mist over most of the aluminum, to take away
the factory-clean appearance. Now the I-16 looks like it has been in
service for sometime but still has a perfect painted finish.
The last step was to use some 800-grit sandpaper to wet-sand each
rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail surfaces. It took only
a few minutes to do and the results were outstanding. Now I don’t have
to worry too much about hangar rash.
If this model stays in the air long enough during its first flight, I
promise to have some in-air shots in the next column.
Jeff Shutic of Wakeman, Ohio, built a great-looking 1/4-scale
Nieuport 17 from the ever-popular line of Balsa USA kits. It spans
80 inches and has a fuselage length of 61 inches. Jeff made a
number of modifications to the kit to improve the scale proportions.
He moved the firewall back 11/2 inches, to establish a more scale
location for the cowling. He also fabricated the landing gear to be a
bit narrower and taller.
The aircraft is covered with Stits Lite polyester fabric, finished
with the Stits process that is identical to that used on the full-scale
fabric-covered aircraft. Functional rigging and control cables are
vinyl-covered Kevlar “Kev-Cord,” which Aerospace Composite
Products sells.
Jeff modeled his Nieuport after the Russian Imperial Air Force.
The rudder markings are of the Victory or Death Squadron, and the
pennant on the fuselage represents the Order of St. George.
Boris Guber piloted the full-scale aircraft. According to Jeff, the
unusual lettering reads “Boris” in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
With all the changes Jeff made, the model came in at 19 pounds.
However, the Zenoah G-26 engine has no problem getting the model
airborne at one-third throttle.
The other model in the photo is an SR Batteries 1/4-scale
Eindecker that Jeff powers with a Zenoah G-38 engine. Unlike the
model, the full-scale Fokker Eindecker employed wing warping
instead of ailerons to control roll.
The Eindecker was the master of the skies over the front in 1915
and was responsible for many losses for the French and British—so
many that this early period was known as the “Fokker Scourge.”
In January 1916, the Nieuport 11 “Bebe” was responsible for
ending the Fokker Scourge. Some weeks later, in March 1916, the
Nieuport 17 began to replace the smaller 11.
Although both aircraft sported two wings, they were not
considered biplanes; the lower wing had less than half the area of
the upper wing. These were classified as sesquiplanes.
The lower wing was present only to support the V-strut that
supported the upper wing. The lower wing was extremely weak
because of its single-spar construction, and many aircraft were lost
because of its tendency to disintegrate in flight.
Jeff has been flying RC for six years and started building Scale
models three years ago. He is a member of the Lorain County RC
Club and flies at Crawford Field, just west of Elyria, Ohio.
Building and finishing a kit is certainly worthy of praise these
days. However, designing and scratch-building your own model is
an accomplishment that few realize.
Mike Klintworth of Greenville, Ohio, built his original-design
Bolero. He named it that, because that was what he was listening to
when he first drew the plans.
The model has a foam-core wing and a conventional stick-built
fuselage. It spans 84 inches, has roughly
1,300 square inches of wing area, and
weighs 16 pounds, 10 ounces dry.
The Bolero is powered by a unique
O.S. Pegasus 3.20 four-cylinder glow
engine that spins an APC 20 x 8 propeller
more than 7,900 rpm. Mike constructed
the mufflers, since he owns a “one man”
machine-shop business.
He made a muffler manifold that all
four mufflers exhaust into, which contains
the single pressure tap for the fuel tank.
According to Mike, the engine idles like a
dream, sounds great, and takes only one
flip to start when primed properly.
Mike wrote that he has migrated to the
larger models because they fly so well
and that designing and building models
are half the fun for him. Although he
hasn’t built a Scale model to date, he’s
gathering documentation for two of his
favorite subjects: the North American T-
28D and the OV-10D.
Great job with your own design, Mike.
You’re an inspiration to your fellow
modelers.
RC events were plentiful during the
summer months. Send me your favorite
flight shots, and I’ll be happy to feature
them in an upcoming column. MA
Sources:
Balsa USA
(800) 225-7287
www.balsausa.com
Aerospace Composite Products
(800) 811-2009
www.acp-composites.com/home.php
SR Batteries
(631) 286-0079
www.srbatteries.com
O.S. Engines
(217) 398-8970
www.osengines.com
International Miniature Aircraft
Association
www.fly-imaa.org
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
106 MODEL AVIATION
Almost ready to fly: the Polikarpov I-16
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Also included in this column:
• Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17
• Mike Klintworth’s scratchbuilt
Bolero
Left: The newly painted 1/4-scale Polikarpov I-16 sits on its gear.
The author thought that this finish looked too clean and
unrealistic.
Below: Sal improved the I-16’s look with a bit of weathering. He
used an inexpensive airbrush, Testors flat black paint, and wetsanded
over the wing-rib tape and tail-feather ribs.
Applying flat black paint and wet-sanding the I-16’s vertical fin and
rudder helped make the realistic appearance more convincing.
Jeff Shutic with his 1/4-scale Balsa USA Nieuport 17 (L) and SR
Batteries 1/4-scale Fokker Eindecker. The full-scale versions were
adversaries early in WW I.
Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17 presented no surprises on its maiden flight.
Its custom gear is more narrow than that provided in the kit.
SOMETIMES THOSE LAST few items to be installed or adjusted
to prepare a model for its maiden flight seem to take forever to
complete. I wanted to include a flight shot along with a static photo
of the Polikarpov I-16 in this column, but circumstances dictated
otherwise. In other words, “It ain’t ready to fly.”
So I decided to include a few photographs of the model: one with
a nice, clean coat of paint and two showing what some weathering
can do for an aircraft’s appearance.
I painted the I-16 using inexpensive Krylon spray cans. The top
color is Krylon dull aluminum, the bottom is a light blue, and the
stars are red. Then I covered the whole airplane with Krylon flat
clear. This is how it is shown in one photograph.
10sig4.QXD 8/21/09 1:15 PM Page 106
The “Bolero” in the bones, designed and built by Mike Klintworth.
The gorgeous model has the look of a Schneider Cup racer.
The completed Bolero sports an O.S. Pegasus four-cylinder glow
engine. The long tail moment surely helps balance the model.
I thought the Polikarpov looked much too clean that way. In
addition, it was difficult to make out the cloth covering on the tail
feathers and the simulated rib stitching on the wing. So I used my
inexpensive spray gun and a little Testors flat black to dirty it a bit.
I sprayed residue straight back from each exhaust outlet and gave a
light coat across each rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail
feathers. I applied a fine mist over most of the aluminum, to take away
the factory-clean appearance. Now the I-16 looks like it has been in
service for sometime but still has a perfect painted finish.
The last step was to use some 800-grit sandpaper to wet-sand each
rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail surfaces. It took only
a few minutes to do and the results were outstanding. Now I don’t have
to worry too much about hangar rash.
If this model stays in the air long enough during its first flight, I
promise to have some in-air shots in the next column.
Jeff Shutic of Wakeman, Ohio, built a great-looking 1/4-scale
Nieuport 17 from the ever-popular line of Balsa USA kits. It spans
80 inches and has a fuselage length of 61 inches. Jeff made a
number of modifications to the kit to improve the scale proportions.
He moved the firewall back 11/2 inches, to establish a more scale
location for the cowling. He also fabricated the landing gear to be a
bit narrower and taller.
The aircraft is covered with Stits Lite polyester fabric, finished
with the Stits process that is identical to that used on the full-scale
fabric-covered aircraft. Functional rigging and control cables are
vinyl-covered Kevlar “Kev-Cord,” which Aerospace Composite
Products sells.
Jeff modeled his Nieuport after the Russian Imperial Air Force.
The rudder markings are of the Victory or Death Squadron, and the
pennant on the fuselage represents the Order of St. George.
Boris Guber piloted the full-scale aircraft. According to Jeff, the
unusual lettering reads “Boris” in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
With all the changes Jeff made, the model came in at 19 pounds.
However, the Zenoah G-26 engine has no problem getting the model
airborne at one-third throttle.
The other model in the photo is an SR Batteries 1/4-scale
Eindecker that Jeff powers with a Zenoah G-38 engine. Unlike the
model, the full-scale Fokker Eindecker employed wing warping
instead of ailerons to control roll.
The Eindecker was the master of the skies over the front in 1915
and was responsible for many losses for the French and British—so
many that this early period was known as the “Fokker Scourge.”
In January 1916, the Nieuport 11 “Bebe” was responsible for
ending the Fokker Scourge. Some weeks later, in March 1916, the
Nieuport 17 began to replace the smaller 11.
Although both aircraft sported two wings, they were not
considered biplanes; the lower wing had less than half the area of
the upper wing. These were classified as sesquiplanes.
The lower wing was present only to support the V-strut that
supported the upper wing. The lower wing was extremely weak
because of its single-spar construction, and many aircraft were lost
because of its tendency to disintegrate in flight.
Jeff has been flying RC for six years and started building Scale
models three years ago. He is a member of the Lorain County RC
Club and flies at Crawford Field, just west of Elyria, Ohio.
Building and finishing a kit is certainly worthy of praise these
days. However, designing and scratch-building your own model is
an accomplishment that few realize.
Mike Klintworth of Greenville, Ohio, built his original-design
Bolero. He named it that, because that was what he was listening to
when he first drew the plans.
The model has a foam-core wing and a conventional stick-built
fuselage. It spans 84 inches, has roughly
1,300 square inches of wing area, and
weighs 16 pounds, 10 ounces dry.
The Bolero is powered by a unique
O.S. Pegasus 3.20 four-cylinder glow
engine that spins an APC 20 x 8 propeller
more than 7,900 rpm. Mike constructed
the mufflers, since he owns a “one man”
machine-shop business.
He made a muffler manifold that all
four mufflers exhaust into, which contains
the single pressure tap for the fuel tank.
According to Mike, the engine idles like a
dream, sounds great, and takes only one
flip to start when primed properly.
Mike wrote that he has migrated to the
larger models because they fly so well
and that designing and building models
are half the fun for him. Although he
hasn’t built a Scale model to date, he’s
gathering documentation for two of his
favorite subjects: the North American T-
28D and the OV-10D.
Great job with your own design, Mike.
You’re an inspiration to your fellow
modelers.
RC events were plentiful during the
summer months. Send me your favorite
flight shots, and I’ll be happy to feature
them in an upcoming column. MA
Sources:
Balsa USA
(800) 225-7287
www.balsausa.com
Aerospace Composite Products
(800) 811-2009
www.acp-composites.com/home.php
SR Batteries
(631) 286-0079
www.srbatteries.com
O.S. Engines
(217) 398-8970
www.osengines.com
International Miniature Aircraft
Association
www.fly-imaa.org
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
106 MODEL AVIATION
Almost ready to fly: the Polikarpov I-16
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Also included in this column:
• Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17
• Mike Klintworth’s scratchbuilt
Bolero
Left: The newly painted 1/4-scale Polikarpov I-16 sits on its gear.
The author thought that this finish looked too clean and
unrealistic.
Below: Sal improved the I-16’s look with a bit of weathering. He
used an inexpensive airbrush, Testors flat black paint, and wetsanded
over the wing-rib tape and tail-feather ribs.
Applying flat black paint and wet-sanding the I-16’s vertical fin and
rudder helped make the realistic appearance more convincing.
Jeff Shutic with his 1/4-scale Balsa USA Nieuport 17 (L) and SR
Batteries 1/4-scale Fokker Eindecker. The full-scale versions were
adversaries early in WW I.
Jeff Shutic’s Nieuport 17 presented no surprises on its maiden flight.
Its custom gear is more narrow than that provided in the kit.
SOMETIMES THOSE LAST few items to be installed or adjusted
to prepare a model for its maiden flight seem to take forever to
complete. I wanted to include a flight shot along with a static photo
of the Polikarpov I-16 in this column, but circumstances dictated
otherwise. In other words, “It ain’t ready to fly.”
So I decided to include a few photographs of the model: one with
a nice, clean coat of paint and two showing what some weathering
can do for an aircraft’s appearance.
I painted the I-16 using inexpensive Krylon spray cans. The top
color is Krylon dull aluminum, the bottom is a light blue, and the
stars are red. Then I covered the whole airplane with Krylon flat
clear. This is how it is shown in one photograph.
10sig4.QXD 8/21/09 1:15 PM Page 106
The “Bolero” in the bones, designed and built by Mike Klintworth.
The gorgeous model has the look of a Schneider Cup racer.
The completed Bolero sports an O.S. Pegasus four-cylinder glow
engine. The long tail moment surely helps balance the model.
I thought the Polikarpov looked much too clean that way. In
addition, it was difficult to make out the cloth covering on the tail
feathers and the simulated rib stitching on the wing. So I used my
inexpensive spray gun and a little Testors flat black to dirty it a bit.
I sprayed residue straight back from each exhaust outlet and gave a
light coat across each rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail
feathers. I applied a fine mist over most of the aluminum, to take away
the factory-clean appearance. Now the I-16 looks like it has been in
service for sometime but still has a perfect painted finish.
The last step was to use some 800-grit sandpaper to wet-sand each
rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail surfaces. It took only
a few minutes to do and the results were outstanding. Now I don’t have
to worry too much about hangar rash.
If this model stays in the air long enough during its first flight, I
promise to have some in-air shots in the next column.
Jeff Shutic of Wakeman, Ohio, built a great-looking 1/4-scale
Nieuport 17 from the ever-popular line of Balsa USA kits. It spans
80 inches and has a fuselage length of 61 inches. Jeff made a
number of modifications to the kit to improve the scale proportions.
He moved the firewall back 11/2 inches, to establish a more scale
location for the cowling. He also fabricated the landing gear to be a
bit narrower and taller.
The aircraft is covered with Stits Lite polyester fabric, finished
with the Stits process that is identical to that used on the full-scale
fabric-covered aircraft. Functional rigging and control cables are
vinyl-covered Kevlar “Kev-Cord,” which Aerospace Composite
Products sells.
Jeff modeled his Nieuport after the Russian Imperial Air Force.
The rudder markings are of the Victory or Death Squadron, and the
pennant on the fuselage represents the Order of St. George.
Boris Guber piloted the full-scale aircraft. According to Jeff, the
unusual lettering reads “Boris” in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.
With all the changes Jeff made, the model came in at 19 pounds.
However, the Zenoah G-26 engine has no problem getting the model
airborne at one-third throttle.
The other model in the photo is an SR Batteries 1/4-scale
Eindecker that Jeff powers with a Zenoah G-38 engine. Unlike the
model, the full-scale Fokker Eindecker employed wing warping
instead of ailerons to control roll.
The Eindecker was the master of the skies over the front in 1915
and was responsible for many losses for the French and British—so
many that this early period was known as the “Fokker Scourge.”
In January 1916, the Nieuport 11 “Bebe” was responsible for
ending the Fokker Scourge. Some weeks later, in March 1916, the
Nieuport 17 began to replace the smaller 11.
Although both aircraft sported two wings, they were not
considered biplanes; the lower wing had less than half the area of
the upper wing. These were classified as sesquiplanes.
The lower wing was present only to support the V-strut that
supported the upper wing. The lower wing was extremely weak
because of its single-spar construction, and many aircraft were lost
because of its tendency to disintegrate in flight.
Jeff has been flying RC for six years and started building Scale
models three years ago. He is a member of the Lorain County RC
Club and flies at Crawford Field, just west of Elyria, Ohio.
Building and finishing a kit is certainly worthy of praise these
days. However, designing and scratch-building your own model is
an accomplishment that few realize.
Mike Klintworth of Greenville, Ohio, built his original-design
Bolero. He named it that, because that was what he was listening to
when he first drew the plans.
The model has a foam-core wing and a conventional stick-built
fuselage. It spans 84 inches, has roughly
1,300 square inches of wing area, and
weighs 16 pounds, 10 ounces dry.
The Bolero is powered by a unique
O.S. Pegasus 3.20 four-cylinder glow
engine that spins an APC 20 x 8 propeller
more than 7,900 rpm. Mike constructed
the mufflers, since he owns a “one man”
machine-shop business.
He made a muffler manifold that all
four mufflers exhaust into, which contains
the single pressure tap for the fuel tank.
According to Mike, the engine idles like a
dream, sounds great, and takes only one
flip to start when primed properly.
Mike wrote that he has migrated to the
larger models because they fly so well
and that designing and building models
are half the fun for him. Although he
hasn’t built a Scale model to date, he’s
gathering documentation for two of his
favorite subjects: the North American T-
28D and the OV-10D.
Great job with your own design, Mike.
You’re an inspiration to your fellow
modelers.
RC events were plentiful during the
summer months. Send me your favorite
flight shots, and I’ll be happy to feature
them in an upcoming column. MA
Sources:
Balsa USA
(800) 225-7287
www.balsausa.com
Aerospace Composite Products
(800) 811-2009
www.acp-composites.com/home.php
SR Batteries
(631) 286-0079
www.srbatteries.com
O.S. Engines
(217) 398-8970
www.osengines.com
International Miniature Aircraft
Association
www.fly-imaa.org