Author: Sal Calvagna
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/05
Page Numbers: 108,109
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Radio Control Giants - 2009/05

Lawrence Klingberg's Sikorsky S-35 debut at the AMA Expo

Springtime is here, flowers are blooming, and birds are singing. As the warmer weather returns, thoughts of flying our models come to mind. It's time to finish those winter aeromodeling projects.

In the October 2008 column I wrote that Lawrence Klingberg of Huntington Beach, California, was busy scratch-building a 1/6-scale, 17-foot-wingspan Sikorsky S-35 tri-motor. He has finished the model since then and displayed it at the 2009 AMA Expo in Ontario, California.

I have included a couple photos of the Sikorsky at the show. If you would like to see the full-scale aircraft fly, type "Sikorsky S-35" into the YouTube website. Great job, Larry!

Fred Jungclaus’ Nieuport 17C1

Fred Jungclaus of Martinsville, Indiana, built an outstanding Nieuport 17C1 similar to the one Canadian ace Billy Bishop flew with No. 60 Squadron during the Great War. With a wingspan of 91 inches, the model's scale falls between 1/3 and 1/4.

How this model came to be is interesting. Fred wrote:

In July of 1990 I got in touch with CFTO television in Toronto, Canada when I heard they were making a made-for-TV movie from William Arthur Bishop's book about his famous father William Avery (Billy) Bishop, titled Courage of the Early Morning.

In 1988 I had finished building a 7/8-scale replica of an SE5a and wanted to offer the use of it to the production company for their movie (with me flying it, of course). I met with the executive producer in Toronto; one thing led to another and I came away not with a contract for flying in the movie but rather an agreement to build a large-scale RC model of Billy Bishop's Nieuport 17.

I owned a set of wheels from Balsa USA, so I enlarged a set of very nice scale Nieuport 17 drawings to match those wheels and went to work. Within four months I had the airplane flying and sent the producers a videotape of a movie film shot at 24 frames per second and slowed down to a rate of 18 frames per second, added a music track and in effect blew their socks off.

I still have the videotape and on occasion will watch it for pure enjoyment. As more often than not happens with movies, the production languished and finally ceased altogether. Because I was never paid for the model or my work, as it was all spec anyway, I kept the model.

As mentioned before, it is a Nieuport 17C1 made to look as close as possible to the one Billy Bishop flew with 60 Squadron RFC. This is the one he reportedly was involved with in the Esturmal Raid for which he received the Victoria Cross. It is powered by a Tartan Twin glow engine hidden behind the dummy 110 Le Rhône. The cowling was handmade of fiberglass.

In the model, not one stick of balsa was used, only spruce and thin plywood. All-up weight was 19 pounds; however, I crashed this model at a flying event and rebuilt it with additional scale details. The revived model came in at 24 pounds.

The pilot figure, Billy, is hand carved out of sugar pine from a front and side view I drew. I glued the drawings to a block of wood, band-sawed them, and proceeded to cut away everything that didn't look like Billy. The moustache was glued on by pressing a small paint brush into CA glue and trimming it off. The real leather helmet and clothing were applied to the various hand-carved limbs and torso. The details were taken from the photo of Bishop standing beside his aircraft.

The Lewis gun is totally scratch-built from aluminum, wood and brass as is the mount. The stick moves back and forth with the elevator and the gunner's hand moves, with the pilot's feet attached. The rib stitching, boot cowl lacing, and wing nuts on access panels are all spaced by count the same as on the vintage reference photos.

It hasn't flown in its restored state yet, but one of these days it will. The trauma of nearly destroying it in the first crash is still fresh in my mind.

Whereas I didn't fly either the model or my SE5a in that movie, in 1994 my cinema debut did finally take place. If you watch the "Attack of the Hawkmen" chapter of Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, you will see in one brief shining moment a formation of six SE5a aircraft. The one in the lead with white wheel coverings — well, that's me. Don't blink or you'll probably miss it. At least it wasn't lost on the cutting room floor.

Fred's Nieuport 17 is covered with white Coverite and painted with Hobbypoxy paint, including the insignia, which were masked and spray painted. He made the numbers using Trim MonoKote.

Fred is one of the founding members of the Indianapolis RC South club, but he has since moved to the next county where he owns a large farm. He has his own airstrip where he can fly full-scale and model aircraft.

Craig Dieter’s Curtiss Jenny

Craig Dieter of Madisonville, Tennessee, built a barely IMAA-legal Curtiss Jenny from plans that he drew. As an experienced draftsman, Craig likes to draw plans on a board rather than using modern CAD programs.

All the parts were hand-cut, and Craig readily admits to leaving DNA samples on the parts. The Jenny is covered with silk and dope. Craig dyed the silk an extremely light tan and then used two coats of thinned nitrate dope followed by two coats of butyrate dope.

The model is fully rigged identical to the full-scale aircraft, including pull-pull controls. Craig used nylon upholstery thread to install the crossbracing in the wings and fuselage. The crossbracing shows up nicely in the sunlight.

The model's finished weight, including the power system, is a whopping 25 ounces. It is equipped with an MP Jet AC 28/7-30D outrunner motor, a Jeti 18-amp controller, and an 1800 mAh, two-cell Li-Poly battery.

"They don't need to be heavy to look great and fly great," claims Craig.

He has been a member of the Knoxville County Radio Control Club for the past seven years. There are approximately 65 members who fly all types of RC models.

According to Craig, "This project has been an absolute joy, frustrating at times, but worth every second of time put into it." Super work!

Ron Prestin’s Halberstadt D.V build details

Ron Prestin of Huntington Station, New York, is building a 1/4-scale Halberstadt D.V from Gary Sunderland plans. It will span 87 inches and will be powered by a Saito FG-36 four-stroke gas engine.

So where do you start when building such a model? With the Teeves and Braun wing-mounted radiator.

Ron used a combination of balsa and 1/64 aircraft-grade plywood covered with aluminum tape to simulate the metal radiator. To fabricate the unit, he used 42 feet of 1/16-inch ID aluminum tubing cut into 126 four-inch pieces. The completed radiator weighs 4 ounces.

Look for more about the Halberstadt build in upcoming RC Giants columns. Ron, the radiator looks great!

Balsa USA "spy" photo

A big thanks to the numerous RC Giants readers who responded to the Balsa USA "spy" photo in the February issue. For all those who haven't guessed, the photo is of a wing for the new Balsa USA 1/4-scale kit of the de Havilland D.H.4.

Reminder

If you fly gasoline-powered models, remember to check and/or replace the fuel tubing in the fuel tank, because the ethanol in blended fuel causes the tubing to harden. This will hinder proper movement and operation of the clunk.

Sources

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.