Radio Control Giants - 2006/05

May 2006 103
Sal works feverishly on his 1/4-scale Balsa USA Fokker D.VII
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Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
WHAT HAVE YOU been working on this
winter?
After a vigorous campaign by my wife to
move my building room from the cold garage
to the not-so-cold basement, I finally
capitulated. Working in the garage was fine
during the spring, summer and fall, but it was
uncomfortable during the coldest months of
the year—the building season.
I wonder if she was really concerned about my comfort, or did she
just want the garage back for her automobile?
I’m now in the basement, working feverishly to complete a 1/4-scale
Balsa USA Fokker D.VII—one of the finest fighter aircraft of World
War I.
I have much of the model framed. The unfinished areas include the
landing gear, joining the wing panels, cabanes, struts, the engine
cowling, and a few odds and ends before covering.
The D.VII is a relatively new kit being offered by Balsa USA of
Marinette, Wisconsin. This rendition fits nicely into the company’s
World War I aircraft theme. The kit is constructed using the tried-andtrue
stick-built method.
Balsa USA provides full-size building plans, so all the structures
are built directly over the plans. The company also provides a
comprehensive instruction manual with many photos, step-by-step
explanations, and a history of the full-scale aircraft. It’s certainly not
the kit of yesteryear, where a dozen typed pages with an equal amount
of photos were all you got. The assembly manual includes more than
150 photos.
The model spans 88 inches, has a length of 68.875 inches, and
should build to a weight of roughly 18-20 pounds. It has a wing area of
2,225 square inches and is designed to take a 1.50 four-stroke or 25-
Also included in this column:
• Wendell Hostetler’s 26%
Aeronca Champion
• Silas Seandel’s 1/4-scale Art
Chester Jeep from Henry
Haffke plans
Wendell Hostetler is shown with his 26% Aeronca Champion
designed for gas/glow or electric power.
An everyday flier, this 1/4-scale Art Chester Jeep was built and
flown by Silas Seandel of Manhattan, New York.
The fuselage on the author’s Balsa USA 1/4-scale Fokker D.VII is mostly framed up. When
completed, the model will span 88 inches and weigh 18-20 pounds.
The vertical stabilizer and rudder on the author’s D.VII use the
tried-and-true stick-built method.
scheme. Two of these books are published by Osprey Publishing and
the third is from Squadron/Signal Publications. A quick search on the
Internet for these books will find them readily available.
Although famous or infamous, depending on what side the
combatant was on, the Fokker D.VII was an aircraft that almost wasn’t.
Anthony Fokker, the Dutch aircraft manufacturer, along with design
engineer Reinhold Platz, were working on a prototype—Experimental
Aircraft No.11 (V.11)—for the first competition for D-class machines
at the end of January 1918. Many types were entered in the competition
and the winner would produce sorely needed fighters for front-line
operations.
Fokker’s new aircraft had an in-line engine and cantilever wings just
like the famous triplane which required no
external bracing wires. Anthony Fokker test
flew the new aircraft before the competition
Balsa USA provides full-size building plans, so the D.VII’s horizontal stabilizer and
elevators are built directly over the plans.
These are great books for documentation
on the D.VII. There are many excellentstarted and it performed poorly.
In a last-ditch effort, Fokker and his staff
worked through the weekend, lengthening the
fuselage and enlarging the vertical fin. The
result was a remarkable-flying aircraft that
won the competition.
The V.11 was designated the D.VII and
Fokker was awarded a large contract;
however, he was unable to produce the large
number of aircraft needed, so his rival
Albatros and OEW had to manufacture the
D.VII under contract. The exact number of
D.VIIs produced by the end of the war is
uncertain, but it is estimated that
approximately 2,000 airplanes were completed
by the three manufacturers combined.
The Fokker D.VII became so feared and
respected by Allied pilots that at war’s end the
Treaty of Versailles specifically instructed the
Germans to surrender all D.VIIs. While most
were given up, Fokker was able to appropriate
enough parts for roughly 120 D.VIIs by train
to Holland. The aircraft became the mainstay
of the Dutch Air Force after the war.
The Fokker D.VII was popular with the
German pilots. It was fast, strong, easy to fly,
superb at high altitudes, and arguably the best
fighter of World War I. It has been said that it
made mediocre pilots good and good pilots
great.
My flying buddies are hoping that my 1/4-
scale rendition of this famous aircraft can
make a bad model pilot mediocre! Gee, thanks
guys!
Model-aircraft designer Wendell Hostetler
of Orrville, Ohio, recently released his latest
design: a 26%-scale Aeronca Champion. The
Champion was designed to be powered by a
gas or glow engine or by an electric motor.
The model has a ready-to-fly weight of
less than 15 pounds. It spans 109 inches, is 67
inches long, and has a wing area of 1,622
square inches. The ideal engine size ranges
from 1.20-2.00 cubic inches for gas or glow
and 100-1,400 watts for electric power.
The plans include two 42 x 96-inch sheets,
three-views, and 20 construction photos.
Wendell says that all the accessories are
available from other sources.
The Aeronca Champion was a popular
light aircraft, and more than 10,000 were built
after World War II. It was based on the Model
K Scout, which had tandem vs. side-by-side
seating. The first production Champion was
designated the 7AC and the later military
versions were designated L-16s.
Aeronca sold the production rights to the
Champion Aircraft Corporation in 1951 and
later that year the aircraft was dropped from
production. In 1970 Bellanca acquired the
assets of the Champion Aircraft Company and
returned the Champion to production as the
7ACA. Only a small number of these aircraft
were built.
If you’re interested in building a model of
this famous aircraft, you can order the plans
through the Web site www.areo-sports.
com/whplans. You can also call Wendell at
(330) 682-8896 or write to Wendell
Hostetler’s Plans, 545 Jerome Dr., Orrville
OH 44667.
Art Chester Jeep: Silas Seandel of
Manhattan, New York, submitted a photo of
his well-flown 1/4-scale Art Chester Jeep. The
plans were designed by Henry Haffke. The
full-scale aircraft was built strictly for racing
and once held the world speed record of 237
mph.
The model spans slightly more than 50
inches and weighs roughly 6 pounds. It’s
hard to believe that the wingspan on the fullscale
racer was a remarkable 16 feet, 4
inches.
Silas used Randolph dope, which he
mixed to get the correct color. The canopy
frame is made from litho plate and the
louvers are made from card stock that was
shaped first then wicked with thin
cyanoacrylate glue to make a hardened,
strong louver. A Saito .72 four-stroke glow
engine powers the model.
Silas is a member of the Hackensack
Valley Flyers of New Jersey, which flies
from a small field near Giants Stadium in the
Meadowlands.
That’s all I have room for in this month’s
issue. Look for more about the Fokker D.VII
building project in next month’s column.
Now that I have shown you what I have
been working on this winter, how about
sharing your latest project with the readers?
Send me a few photos with a brief write-up
and I will do my best to include them in a
future column.
It’s time to get ready for another great
flying season! I’ll be back next month. MA