144 MODEL AVIATION
Highlighting the Henschel Hs 129B-2 built by Victor Gearhart
[[email protected]]
Control Line Scale Bill Boss
Also included in this column:
• 2006 Nats CL Scale schedule
• Making a simple micro vise tool
Victor Gearhart’s (Torrance CA) Henschel Hs 129B-2 spans 70 inches, is powered by two
Magnum .36 engines, and has many operating features. Gearhart photo.
The Hs 129B-2’s large fiberglass cowls allow the engines to be fully
enclosed for a better appearance. Gearhart photo.
Needle-nose pliers, a rubber band, and a shop vise act as a third
hand in the shop for holding tiny objects for soldering.
IN THE DECEMBER 2005 column I
introduced Victor Gearhart of Torrance,
California, and his work with an electricpowered
B-25. This month I’m going to
present Victor’s work with standard glow
engines and, in particular, the Henschel Hs
129B-2 he built in two sizes.
Before getting into Victor’s models I’ll
give you some history of the Henschel aircraft
from Jane’s Encyclopedia of Aviation. The
Henschel Hs 123 single-seat biplane was
designed as an interim dive bomber until the
Ju 87 class was brought into service.
The Hs 123A-1 became the production
aircraft and entered Luftwaffe service in
October 1935. The Hs 123s were also used as
ground-attack aircraft and were in service
until roughly the middle of 1944. This aircraft
was powered with an 880-horsepower radial
engine and had various armament
arrangements employing machine guns, a
single 250-kilogram bomb, or four 50-
kilogram bombs or two cannons for ground
attack.
The next Henschel was the Hs 126,
designed for short-range reconnaissance, and
it carried a pilot and observer/gunner. This
design had a parasol-wing configuration,
strut-braced tail section, and streamlined
cantilever main landing-gear struts. It was the
first all-metal aircraft of its type to enter
Luftwaffe service and was used effectively
until 1943, when more advanced aircraft took
its place.
The Henschel Hs 129, designed for
ground-attack operations, entered service in
1942 on the Russian Front. The Hs 129A was
equipped with two Argus As 410A 12-
cylinder, inverted-V, air-cooled engines
driving Argus automatic controllable-pitch
propellers.
The next variant was the Hs 129B series;
the Hs 129B-1 and 129B-2 became the
production models equipped with two
French-built, 660-horsepower Gnome-Rhone
radial engines driving Ratier propellers.
Depending on the variant, armament
included an MG 151 20mm cannon, MG 17
machine guns, a 30mm MK 101 cannon, or
350 kilograms of bombs in place of a 30mm
cannon and four machine guns. More than
800 Hs 129s were produced.
Victor chose the Hs 129B-2 version of the
129 because it used the radial engines and the
cowling size would provide sufficient space
to entirely hide the Magnum .36 engines he
uses for power. As I noted, Victor made two
models of the Henschel 129B-2. One had a 1-
inch = 1-foot scale, yielding a wingspan of
approximately 46 inches.
That version was powered with two AP
.15s and had throttle and flaps as operational
features. It appears to have been a test bed for
his larger version, which is featured in the
accompanying photos.
The larger version is built to a scale of
1.5 inches to 1 foot, yielding a 70-inch
wingspan. However, this model has many
more operating features that are electronically
controlled. It has operating flaps, bomb
drop, throttle, and homemade, electrically
driven retractable landing gear.
Another of the model’s features is that the
engine exhaust exits through the exhaust
stacks on top of the engine nacelles, as in the
prototype. Victor noted that the exhaust
stacks work great, have a fine sound, and are
equivalent to a Magnum muffler.
The paint scheme is that of an airplane Lt.
Walter Krause of 10.(Pz) Sch.G9 flew on the
Eastern Front in early 1944. The electronics
are turned off and on by twisting the cannon
in the belly pod, and there is a small, red LED
in the tip of the cannon to indicate when the
power is on. Because of the model’s size, the
wing and fuselage are separated for travel.
Planned
Giving to AMA
You may make gifts to
AMA of:
or with a Charitable
Remainder
Trust (CRT)
• Immediate income tax
deduction
• Lifetime income for
you and your spouse
(or other beneficiary)
• Reduction in estate
taxes
• Money for your favorite
charities
Interested? Contact
Joyce Hager at (765) 287-
1256, extension 200.
Cash
Securities
Insurance
Gems
Real Estate
Etc.
Our Full-Size
Plans list has
hundreds of models
from which to
choose. See page
207 for details.
Victor said that another project in the
works for him is the Westland Whirlwind. As
of this writing the fuselage framework is
almost complete, and this will be another
electric-powered aircraft. I’m sure we will be
hearing from Victor with another great model
when it is finished.
CL Scale at the 2006 AMA Nats will take
place Friday through Sunday, August 4-6, and
will be under the direction of Chuck Snyder: a
member of the F4B team that will represent
the US at the 2006 CL World Championships.
Static judging will take place Friday at
Worthen Arena at Ball State University in
Muncie, Indiana. Flying will be done
Saturday and Sunday. CL Scale events to be
offered are Fun Scale, Sport Scale, FAI
(F4B), Profile, and Designer. The Profile
event will be divided in separate classes for
Junior, Senior, and Open.
Chuck has stated that the Team Scale
event that has been sponsored by the Queen
City CL club will not be offered at the Nats
because of the small number of participants in
the past couple years.
Team Scale provided an opportunity for
the older modeler with great building
experience who could no longer handle the
flying because of age or illness to get with a
younger, more capable pilot for the flying
portion of the event. The older modeler could
dust off a Scale model or two he or she could
no longer fly and see it or them go around the
circle once more.
The ideal situation would be for a pair of
modelers—young and old—to get together,
pick a Scale subject, and go through the
building and flying process together before
entering competition. This would give the
older, more experienced modeler an
opportunity to impart valuable building skills
to the younger, inexperienced modeler.
The older modeler, who had been
successful at flying Scale models, could give
the less-experienced partner pointers on what
to be careful of while flying a Scale model.
It’s too bad that more CL Scale modelers
didn’t see the value in the event.
Chuck also wanted me to mention that
there are always opportunities for new people
to get involved with the judging aspect of the
contest. It requires flight and static judges,
pull-test officials, and scorekeepers to make a
contest happen.
If you want to learn more about yourself
and improve your Scale-modeling abilities,
there is nothing more enlightening than
having the experience of judging. Judging—
especially in the static portion of the Scale
events—will allow you to see the mistakes
you may have made in your own models and
allow you to make tremendous improvements.
If you want to try judging or help run an
event or two, please contact Chuck Snyder at
[email protected] or by telephone at (513)
489-8681. Any help will be greatly
appreciated.
Workshop Hint: Have you ever needed a
third hand at the workbench when working
with minute components? There is a simple
solution. All you need are a pair of needlenose
pliers, a rubber band, and the small shop
vise many of us have in our workshops. The
accompanying photo shows it all.
All you do is double the rubber band
around the handles of the pliers and clamp
one of the pliers’ handles in the vise. Once
clamped, pull on the opposite handle of the
pliers to open for holding the work. The photo
shows my wife’s bracelet being held in the
pliers for silver-soldering the loop of a charm.
You can use this idea for any of a model’s
small parts, such as holding a pushrod clevis
for soldering. Be careful not to touch anything
you have soldered until it has cooled. Safety
in the shop keeps you away from accidents
and harm.
Please send ideas, notice of upcoming CL
Scale events, contest reports, and especially
photos of CL Scale activity to me at the
address at the top of this column. MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/04
Page Numbers: 144,146
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/04
Page Numbers: 144,146
144 MODEL AVIATION
Highlighting the Henschel Hs 129B-2 built by Victor Gearhart
[[email protected]]
Control Line Scale Bill Boss
Also included in this column:
• 2006 Nats CL Scale schedule
• Making a simple micro vise tool
Victor Gearhart’s (Torrance CA) Henschel Hs 129B-2 spans 70 inches, is powered by two
Magnum .36 engines, and has many operating features. Gearhart photo.
The Hs 129B-2’s large fiberglass cowls allow the engines to be fully
enclosed for a better appearance. Gearhart photo.
Needle-nose pliers, a rubber band, and a shop vise act as a third
hand in the shop for holding tiny objects for soldering.
IN THE DECEMBER 2005 column I
introduced Victor Gearhart of Torrance,
California, and his work with an electricpowered
B-25. This month I’m going to
present Victor’s work with standard glow
engines and, in particular, the Henschel Hs
129B-2 he built in two sizes.
Before getting into Victor’s models I’ll
give you some history of the Henschel aircraft
from Jane’s Encyclopedia of Aviation. The
Henschel Hs 123 single-seat biplane was
designed as an interim dive bomber until the
Ju 87 class was brought into service.
The Hs 123A-1 became the production
aircraft and entered Luftwaffe service in
October 1935. The Hs 123s were also used as
ground-attack aircraft and were in service
until roughly the middle of 1944. This aircraft
was powered with an 880-horsepower radial
engine and had various armament
arrangements employing machine guns, a
single 250-kilogram bomb, or four 50-
kilogram bombs or two cannons for ground
attack.
The next Henschel was the Hs 126,
designed for short-range reconnaissance, and
it carried a pilot and observer/gunner. This
design had a parasol-wing configuration,
strut-braced tail section, and streamlined
cantilever main landing-gear struts. It was the
first all-metal aircraft of its type to enter
Luftwaffe service and was used effectively
until 1943, when more advanced aircraft took
its place.
The Henschel Hs 129, designed for
ground-attack operations, entered service in
1942 on the Russian Front. The Hs 129A was
equipped with two Argus As 410A 12-
cylinder, inverted-V, air-cooled engines
driving Argus automatic controllable-pitch
propellers.
The next variant was the Hs 129B series;
the Hs 129B-1 and 129B-2 became the
production models equipped with two
French-built, 660-horsepower Gnome-Rhone
radial engines driving Ratier propellers.
Depending on the variant, armament
included an MG 151 20mm cannon, MG 17
machine guns, a 30mm MK 101 cannon, or
350 kilograms of bombs in place of a 30mm
cannon and four machine guns. More than
800 Hs 129s were produced.
Victor chose the Hs 129B-2 version of the
129 because it used the radial engines and the
cowling size would provide sufficient space
to entirely hide the Magnum .36 engines he
uses for power. As I noted, Victor made two
models of the Henschel 129B-2. One had a 1-
inch = 1-foot scale, yielding a wingspan of
approximately 46 inches.
That version was powered with two AP
.15s and had throttle and flaps as operational
features. It appears to have been a test bed for
his larger version, which is featured in the
accompanying photos.
The larger version is built to a scale of
1.5 inches to 1 foot, yielding a 70-inch
wingspan. However, this model has many
more operating features that are electronically
controlled. It has operating flaps, bomb
drop, throttle, and homemade, electrically
driven retractable landing gear.
Another of the model’s features is that the
engine exhaust exits through the exhaust
stacks on top of the engine nacelles, as in the
prototype. Victor noted that the exhaust
stacks work great, have a fine sound, and are
equivalent to a Magnum muffler.
The paint scheme is that of an airplane Lt.
Walter Krause of 10.(Pz) Sch.G9 flew on the
Eastern Front in early 1944. The electronics
are turned off and on by twisting the cannon
in the belly pod, and there is a small, red LED
in the tip of the cannon to indicate when the
power is on. Because of the model’s size, the
wing and fuselage are separated for travel.
Planned
Giving to AMA
You may make gifts to
AMA of:
or with a Charitable
Remainder
Trust (CRT)
• Immediate income tax
deduction
• Lifetime income for
you and your spouse
(or other beneficiary)
• Reduction in estate
taxes
• Money for your favorite
charities
Interested? Contact
Joyce Hager at (765) 287-
1256, extension 200.
Cash
Securities
Insurance
Gems
Real Estate
Etc.
Our Full-Size
Plans list has
hundreds of models
from which to
choose. See page
207 for details.
Victor said that another project in the
works for him is the Westland Whirlwind. As
of this writing the fuselage framework is
almost complete, and this will be another
electric-powered aircraft. I’m sure we will be
hearing from Victor with another great model
when it is finished.
CL Scale at the 2006 AMA Nats will take
place Friday through Sunday, August 4-6, and
will be under the direction of Chuck Snyder: a
member of the F4B team that will represent
the US at the 2006 CL World Championships.
Static judging will take place Friday at
Worthen Arena at Ball State University in
Muncie, Indiana. Flying will be done
Saturday and Sunday. CL Scale events to be
offered are Fun Scale, Sport Scale, FAI
(F4B), Profile, and Designer. The Profile
event will be divided in separate classes for
Junior, Senior, and Open.
Chuck has stated that the Team Scale
event that has been sponsored by the Queen
City CL club will not be offered at the Nats
because of the small number of participants in
the past couple years.
Team Scale provided an opportunity for
the older modeler with great building
experience who could no longer handle the
flying because of age or illness to get with a
younger, more capable pilot for the flying
portion of the event. The older modeler could
dust off a Scale model or two he or she could
no longer fly and see it or them go around the
circle once more.
The ideal situation would be for a pair of
modelers—young and old—to get together,
pick a Scale subject, and go through the
building and flying process together before
entering competition. This would give the
older, more experienced modeler an
opportunity to impart valuable building skills
to the younger, inexperienced modeler.
The older modeler, who had been
successful at flying Scale models, could give
the less-experienced partner pointers on what
to be careful of while flying a Scale model.
It’s too bad that more CL Scale modelers
didn’t see the value in the event.
Chuck also wanted me to mention that
there are always opportunities for new people
to get involved with the judging aspect of the
contest. It requires flight and static judges,
pull-test officials, and scorekeepers to make a
contest happen.
If you want to learn more about yourself
and improve your Scale-modeling abilities,
there is nothing more enlightening than
having the experience of judging. Judging—
especially in the static portion of the Scale
events—will allow you to see the mistakes
you may have made in your own models and
allow you to make tremendous improvements.
If you want to try judging or help run an
event or two, please contact Chuck Snyder at
[email protected] or by telephone at (513)
489-8681. Any help will be greatly
appreciated.
Workshop Hint: Have you ever needed a
third hand at the workbench when working
with minute components? There is a simple
solution. All you need are a pair of needlenose
pliers, a rubber band, and the small shop
vise many of us have in our workshops. The
accompanying photo shows it all.
All you do is double the rubber band
around the handles of the pliers and clamp
one of the pliers’ handles in the vise. Once
clamped, pull on the opposite handle of the
pliers to open for holding the work. The photo
shows my wife’s bracelet being held in the
pliers for silver-soldering the loop of a charm.
You can use this idea for any of a model’s
small parts, such as holding a pushrod clevis
for soldering. Be careful not to touch anything
you have soldered until it has cooled. Safety
in the shop keeps you away from accidents
and harm.
Please send ideas, notice of upcoming CL
Scale events, contest reports, and especially
photos of CL Scale activity to me at the
address at the top of this column. MA