NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
02sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/21/09 10:37 AM Page 60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
02sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/21/09 10:37 AM Page 60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
02sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/21/09 10:37 AM Page 60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
02sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/21/09 10:37 AM Page 60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
02sig2_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/21/09 10:37 AM Page 60
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/02
Page Numbers: 54,55,56,57,58,60
NOT SO L ONG ago , I was at my usu al h angout—th e Puget
Sou nd S ilent Flye rs ’ field n ear Oly mpia, Washington—
wonderin g which airpla ne to fly next, when a g uest flier pul led a
cut e li ttl e No rth Ame ric an A T-6 ARF out of his ca r. As a Sca le
pilot , I h av e alw ay s had a so ft s pot for that mod el.
So e ven tho ugh I ha d not pai d mu ch atte nti on when E-flite’ s
ARF ver sion ap peared on t he market, I m ade a point of wa tchin g
car efully as this guy got his aircra ft i nto the air. It di dn’t take
lo ng to rea lize that he wa s ha vin g some diff iculty kee pin g up
wi th it . Before I cou ld get out t o the fligh tli ne t o of fer help, that
di ffi culty t urned into real trouble.
Th e littl e (1/9 sc ale , 54-i nch win gsp an ) AT- 6 is a go od spor tscale
ver sio n of a cla ssi c militar y advanced trainer. As s uch, i t
tu rns out t o be a fi ne RC Scale w arb ird—b ut not a good RC
train er. My new friend had just learned that t he h ard way . ( Mo re
about that later.)
By t he time I got a goo d look at th e
c arn age , he ha d tosse d the remains o n the
grou nd in th e pi t area an d started
stri ppi ng out t he rece iver an d se rvos. He
didn’t need to r emo ve t he mo tor and ESC ;
they were in the pile of loose pa rts he ha d
c oll ect ed at th e cr ash sit e.
“He y, you’r e gonna f ix that , r ight? ” I
c oul dn’t help asking.
“Ar e yo u kidding? ” he r ep lied. He
looked up at m e and th en d own at th e
wrec kage ag ain, as if we could no t
possibly be tal kin g ab out the same
a irplan e.
“No, r eally,” I sa id. “T hat’s a n AR F,
but i t’s the sam e as a ny othe r bu ilt -up
bals a airpl ane , no ma tter who di d the
orig inal assembl y, and you c an rebu ild
it.”
“Na h, this th ing ’s g oing into t he t ras h
c an as so on as I get th e rest of my s erv os
out,” he replied.
“If you really d on’t want i t, gi ve it to
m e,” I told him. “I’ve fi xed muc h worse
c ras hes than th at.”
I knew just the motor to put in it. I could
strip and re-cover the airframe and do a
painted finish. Maybe I could make a better
scale cockpit. As I helped this man pull out
the aileron servos, I think he still suspected
which are destined to become patterns.
There is no way I can tell you what’s going
to work on the aircraft you fix; every
broken model you restore is going to be
different and will require good judgment
on your part.
Regardless of how much structure you
can save, you need basic cutting, gluing,
and sanding skills. There will be no
specific directions for what you are doing,
but all you’ll need is plenty of care and
patience—no secret knowledge or magic.
As the postcrash photo shows, most of
the Texan’s damage involved the wing
center-section and the nose ahead of the
wing LE. My friend kept the receiver,
servos, motor, ESC, and battery pack, but
he left the undamaged Robart mechanical
retracts for me. I decided to start by
rebuilding the center-section around them.
In the absence of plans, I had to decide
on a part of the broken structure to trust as
a reliable reference for alignment. That
that I was jerking his chain, so I reassured him.
“I’ll do this project as an article for one
of the magazines I write for, and you’ll be
able to read all about it.”
And that’s what I did. Following are
details of how I repaired a seriously
broken ARF warbird and, while I was at it,
turned it into a one-of-a-kind sport-scale
model.
Before repairing any crashed model, pick
up and save everything. Much of a broken
structure can probably be reassembled to
fly, and you can use the thoroughly
smashed bits to make patterns for
replacement parts. (It helps if you are
working on an electric-powered airplane,
because there will be no fuel-oil
contamination to spoil components that
would otherwise be easy to repair.)
Once you get all of the remains spread
out on the workbench, decide which pieces
can safely be glued back together and
way, everything would fit back together
and, more important, fly safely.
The E-flite Texan’s outer wing panels,
which suffered little damage, had been
designed to slip-fit to the center-section
with retaining screws. Using that
relationship as a template, I detached the
outer panels from what was left of the
center. Then I arranged the panels in
correct alignment upside-down with the
more or less intact center-section TE as a
guide for where everything ought to come
back together.
I positioned all the subassemblies off of
the working surface with various lengths
of balsa strip and odd pieces of aluminum
channel, so that all of the curved upper
airfoil surfaces lined up. Then it was time
to start putting the pieces together.
Several large aggregates of ribs, spars,
and joiner tubes had broken loose
somewhat intact. I glued as subassemblies
as many odd pieces as I could trust to
remain in alignment. Then I adhered those
in place on the relatively intact top center
skin, using all of the broken spots of glue
and places where balsa had been ripped
loose as alignment guides.
For this job I chose Titebond aliphatic
resin wood glue. I prefer it to CA, because
it permits me to take all the time I need to
line up all the parts.
That left me with both center-section
end ribs waiting to be installed in empty
places where they were clearly supposed
to go. A job such as this becomes a sort of
three-dimensional puzzle, except that
when the next piece you need turns out to
be smashed or even missing, you get to
make a new one. That’s what happened
with the 1/16-inch bottom sheeting.
A photo shows how badly the original
was ripped up. I flattened what was left of
it to use as a pattern, traced that onto a
wide sheet of new balsa, and cut a new
part.
With the center-section in one piece
again, I checked it for alignment, made
sure that the Robart RLG units functioned
the way they were supposed to, and
assembled the outer wing panels. I
couldn’t see a real need to have removable
panels with a model this size, so I glued
the entire wing into a single assembly
using more Titebond.
That left me with a broken nose to
worry about. The firewall/nose former was
another badly smashed part. It was also
going to have to serve as the key to
rebuilding a straight fuselage, to say
nothing of providing a safe mount for my
new AXI motor from Hobby Lobby.
Therefore, I elected to trace another
pattern and cut a new firewall.
The original ARF included a lightplywood
part. Since my new firewall
would serve as an area of the fuselage that
was probably going to require extra weight
for balance as well as strength, I chose to
make it from 1/8 aircraft plywood from my
local hobby shop.
I added a flange of 1/8 balsa to the rear
face of the firewall and carefully trimmed
away material from what was left of the
nose structure, so that the new assembly
could slip into place and align itself.
With that completed, it was time to
rebuild the nose from the wing LE
forward. This would be achieved by filling
all of the empty spaces with new balsa
strip and sheet, cut to fit as needed.
The fiberglass cowl was badly dented. I
could have ordered a new one, but I
wanted something a bit more substantial,
and this was another place to add
structural strength and a little weight for
balance.
Since the old cowl could readily be
pressed and coaxed back to its original
shape, I decided to do that. I employed a
temporary cardboard former at the back.
Then I rebuilt the cowl with a skin of 1/32
plywood laminated in position using
Titebond, held in place with a tight wrap
of masking tape while it dried.
I faired the front edge of the plywood
into the front contour of the old cowl with
Stits SuperFil epoxy, and carefully sanded
it to shape.
This is where what might have been “just
a repair job” turned into a custom rebuild.
To start with, I had to get rid of what was
left of the original covering. Plastic film
provides a quick, neat finish, but it is
always going to look like plastic film,
regardless of the brand you choose.
I prefer the traditional process of
covering with a type of paper or fabric,
sealing it and building up a smooth base
finish, and adding a top color coat of paint.
The airplane might weigh slightly more
that way and the job will demand more
skill and effort, but it will be more durable
and the final appearance will be beyond
comparison.
The AT-6’s original covering was not
attached well. Draw your own conclusions
about the resulting strength and durability
when that happens.
If what’s left of your model’s film
covering is properly bonded, brushing
lacquer thinner or MEK (methyl ethyl
ketone) beneath a free edge will make it
easy to peel the covering away without
damaging the balsa. Wear protective
gloves and use a vapor mask if you use
those solvents.
There are many ways to put a new
covering and finish on your airplane,
ranging from applying a film of your
choice to applying more combinations of
fabric and paint than I could list here. I
used tried-and-true silkspan (a kind of
strong tissue) and nontautening clear
nitrate dope, with color coats of Stits Poly-
Tone full-scale aircraft paint.
Along with the new covering and
finish, I added several personal touches:
scale details that were not included with
the ARF version of the design. Perhaps the
most obvious addition is the color-andmarkings
scheme.
My model represents an SNJ-6 (the
naval version of the Texan) that is part of
the full-scale flying collection at the
Olympic Flight Museum in Olympia,
Washington. The museum’s SNJ is actually
an Air Force T-6 that was restored and
60 MODEL AVIATION
offers a believable impression of scale
cruising flight at close to three-quarters
throttle. All of the basic positive-G
maneuvers (loops, rolls, stall turns, split
“S”s, Immelmanns, and so on) look right
if you enter them after a few seconds at
full throttle with the nose level or slightly
down. In a stall, my model looks identical
to the full-scale Texan.
Keep the wings level with the rudder,
or you might get to practice spin
recovery. Flap extension reduces this
tendency, and carrying full flap (roughly
40°) and a little power all the way to
touchdown makes good landings look
easy—which is precisely the way it’s
supposed to be. MA
R.A. Benjamin
[email protected]
Sources:
E-flite
(877) 504-0233
www.e-fliterc.com
Hobby Lobby
(866) 933-5972
www.hobby-lobby.com
Stits Poly-Tone, Stits SuperFil:
Stits Lite by F&M Enterprises
(817) 279-8045
www.stits.com
Nitrate dope:
AeroDyne
17244 Darwin Ave. Unit C
Hesperia CA 92345
www.freeflightmodels.com
e-flightline hobby
(877) 252-2653
www.e-flightline.com
Red5 Designs Inc.
(631) 281-7633
www.red5designs.com
Frank Tiano Enterprises
(863) 607-6611
www.franktiano.com
repainted to represent a fictional fighter/
bomber that might have flown from the
carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) just before
World War II.
I gathered images of the pseudo SNJ for
reference and arranged for RED5 Designs to
make custom markings on pressure-sensitive
vinyl. It is my understanding that Mike at
RED5 has those specifications on file, in
case you want your own version of the
museum airplane.
In addition to the markings, I built a
better dummy scale engine using a 1/8-scale
resin casting from Frank Tiano Enterprises,
a working sliding canopy with added
cockpit detail, a more realistic pilot figure,
and simulated panel-joint covers on the
wing. I made those from strips of 3/8-inchdiameter
round styrene tube, split in half,
that were obtained from the model railroad
shop.
An admission of how involved I let
myself get in this project is that I called my
friends at e-flightline hobby for a
varioPROP adjustable-pitch propeller. This
was as much for its high cool factor as for
the ability to fine-tune the pitch to match my
SNJ’s performance requirements. I used the
8B two-blade hub with 12.4-inch scale
blades.
This Texan flies scale. Remember what I
mentioned about its being a good scale
model but not much of a trainer? It helps to
understand that the full-scale version was
designed to be demanding to fly, to prepare
soon-to-be WW II fighter pilots for the real
thing. My new friend at the RC field had
allowed his model to slow in a climbing
turn, permitted himself to get distracted, and
then let the turn get steep.
If an advanced student in 1943 got
careless and let a full-scale Texan fly too
slowly, it would probably snap over into a
spin and immediately remind him of all the
things he had been taught about spin
recovery—along with all the other stuff
about not getting careless when flying that
aircraft.
This model reacted as it was designed to
and snapped over into a spin—which is easy
to get out of if you know how and
detrimental if you don’t. My new friend did
not.
Although the E-flite Texan ARF is not
meant to be a competition-accurate Scale
airplane, it is endowed with the same
combination of wing shape, tail moment,
vertical fin size, and balance that made
flying the full-scale AT-6 such a great
learning experience. There is nothing wrong
with this.
Part of the challenge of flying RC Scale
models is reproducing the full-scale
subjects’ flying characteristics. The ones we
call “warbirds” would not be nearly as
exciting if we didn’t know that they will
always be ready to turn on a careless pilot
and bite if not handled with proper respect.
I have found what I believe to be one
serious oversight in the instruction manual,
and it applies whether you are scaling out
your E-flite Texan or flying it stock. Setting
the balance (CG) at the recommended
location—roughly 41/8 inches behind the
wing LE—results in a dangerously tailheavy
model.
Every stock E-flite ARF I have seen
flown or discussed with other modelers has
exhibited the same characteristic. My
scaled-out version handles the same way.
With everything else as far forward in
the fuselage as it would go, it took nearly 8
ounces of weight on the firewall and moving
the CG location up to 31/2 inches to get my
AT-6 flying the way I wanted. Isn’t it great
to have battery packs so light that we have
to add weight to balance an airplane?
The rest of the manual’s preflight and
flight performance info is on the mark. If the
main wheels are aligned, the model will
accelerate to takeoff speed with little
tendency to swerve to one side. Keeping it
straight with a touch of rudder is no big
deal.
Don’t try to force this Texan into the air;
let it accelerate for nearly 100 feet and it
will fly itself off with only a touch of upelevator
pressure. If you hurry this aircraft,
it will wobble for a few seconds and maybe
threaten to drop a wing. Using a takeoff flap
setting (approximately 20°) on my airplane
eliminates that source of excitement.
The AT-6 is not blisteringly fast and
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