Radio Control Giants - 2009/05

108 MODEL AVIATION
Lawrence Klingberg’s Sikorsky S-35 debut at the AMA Expo
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Also included in this column:
• Fred Jungclaus’s Nieuport
• Craig Dieter’s Curtiss Jenny
• A Teeves and Braun radiator
by Ron Prestin
• The spies have answered
• Check the fuel tubing
Below: Fred Jungclaus is proud of
his “Billy Bishop” Nieuport 17C1.
He scratch-built it for a movie
project that failed, but the model
was a success.
Right: A miniature Billy Bishop is at
the controls in Fred Jungclaus’s 1/3-
to 1/4-scale Nieuport 17C1.
Above: Lawrence Klingberg’s
Sikorsky S-35 at the 2009 AMA
Expo. The full-scale version cost
more than $100,000; it was the
most costly aircraft of its day.
SPRINGTIME IS HERE, flowers are
blooming, and birds are singing. As the
warmer weather returns, fanciful thoughts of
flying our models come to mind. Okay,
maybe “fanciful” is not quite the right word,
but you get my meaning; it’s time to finish
those winter aeromodeling projects.
On that topic, 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 in “Sikorsky S-
35” on the YouTube video Web site. Great
job, Larry!
Fred Jungclaus of Martinsville, Indiana,
built an outstanding Nieuport 17C1 that is
similar to the one Canadian Ace Billy Bishop
flew with the 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 Williams Avery (Billy) Bishop,
titled Courage of the Early Morning.
“In 1988 I had finished building a 7/8ths
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
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Ron Prestin duplicated a Teeves and Braun wing-mounted
radiator for his Halberstadt D.V. The unit contains 126
aluminum pieces of 4-inch-long, 1/16-inch-ID tubing. That’s
42 feet total!
Craig Dieter’s Jenny spans 60.375 inches and weighs only 25 ounces, including
the motor and 1800 mAh battery pack. It’s technically legal for IMAA
contests.
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 4 months I had the airplane
flying and sent the producers a video tape 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 video tape 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 the Esturmal Raid for which he received
the Victoria Cross. It is powered by a Tartan
Twin glow engine hidden behind the dummy
110 LeRhone. 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
and glued to a block of wood, band sawed 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 rudder bar moves, with the
pilot’s feet attached. The rib stitching, boot
cowl lacing, 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 as of
yet but one of these days it will fly. 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.
That’s a beautiful model, Fred, and thanks
for sharing the great story!
Craig Dieter of Madisonville, Tennessee,
built his barely IMAA (International Miniature
Aircraft Association)-legal Curtiss Jenny from
plans that he drew. As an experienced
draftsman, Craig likes to draw plans on a
board versus using one of the modern
computer-aided design (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 identically to the
full-scale aircraft, to include pull-pull controls.
Craig used nylon upholstery thread to install
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. See the
“Sources” list at the end of the column for the
group’s Web site address.
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 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 wingmounted
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 (inside-diameter) aluminum tubing cut
into 126 4-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!
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/
operation of the clunk. MA
Sources:
Knoxville County Radio Control club
www.kcrctn.com
Balsa USA
(906) 863-6421
www.balsausa.com
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