Author: Sal Calvagna
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 106,107,108
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Radio Control Giants - 2009/10

Sal Calvagna [[email protected]]

Almost ready to fly: the Polikarpov I-16

Sometimes those last few items to be installed or adjusted to prepare a model for its maiden flight seem to take forever to complete. I wanted to include a flight shot along with a static photo of the Polikarpov I-16 in this column, but circumstances dictated otherwise. In other words, it ain't ready to fly.

So I decided to include a few photographs of the model: one with a nice, clean coat of paint and two showing what some weathering can do for an aircraft's appearance.

I painted the I-16 using inexpensive Krylon spray cans. The top color is Krylon Dull Aluminum, the bottom is a light blue, and the stars are red. Then I covered the whole airplane with Krylon flat clear. This is how it is shown in one photograph.

I thought the Polikarpov looked much too clean that way. In addition, it was difficult to make out the cloth covering on the tail surfaces and the simulated rib stitching on the wing. So I used my inexpensive spray gun and a little Testors flat black to dirty it a bit. I sprayed residue straight back from each exhaust outlet and gave a light coat across each rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail surfaces. I applied a fine mist over most of the aluminum to take away the factory-clean appearance. Now the I-16 looks like it has been in service for some time but still has a perfect painted finish. The last step was to use some 800-grit sandpaper to wet-sand each rib tape on the wing and along the ribs on the tail surfaces. It took only a few minutes to do and the results were outstanding. Now I don't have to worry too much about hangar rash. If this model stays in the air long enough during its first flight, I promise to have some in-air shots in the next column.

Nieuport 17 and Fokker Eindecker (Jeff Shutic)

Jeff Shutic of Wakeman, Ohio, built a great-looking 1/4-scale Nieuport 17 from the ever-popular line of Balsa USA kits. It spans 80 inches and has a fuselage length of 61 inches. Jeff made a number of modifications to the kit to improve the scale proportions. He moved the firewall back 1 1/2 inches to establish a more scale location for the cowling. He also fabricated the landing gear to be a bit narrower and taller.

The aircraft is covered with Stits Lite polyester fabric, finished with the Stits process that is identical to that used on the full-scale fabric-covered aircraft. Functional rigging and control cables are vinyl-covered Kevlar "Kev-Cord," which Aerospace Composite Products sells. Jeff modeled his Nieuport after the Russian Imperial Air Force. The rudder markings are of the Victory or Death Squadron, and the pennant on the fuselage represents the Order of St. George. Boris Guber piloted the full-scale aircraft. According to Jeff, the unusual lettering reads "Boris" in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.

With all the changes Jeff made, the model came in at 19 pounds. However, the Zenoah G-26 engine has no problem getting the model airborne at one-third throttle.

The other model in the photo is an SR Batteries 1/4-scale Fokker Eindecker that Jeff powers with a Zenoah G-38 engine. Unlike the model, the full-scale Fokker Eindecker employed wing warping instead of ailerons to control roll.

The Eindecker was the master of the skies over the front in 1915 and was responsible for many losses for the French and British—so many that this early period was known as the "Fokker Scourge."

In January 1916, the Nieuport 11 "Bebe" was responsible for ending the Fokker Scourge. Some weeks later, in March 1916, the Nieuport 17 began to replace the smaller 11.

Although both aircraft sported two wings, they were not considered biplanes; the lower wing had less than half the area of the upper wing. These were classified as sesquiplanes. The lower wing was present only to support the V-strut that supported the upper wing. The lower wing was extremely weak because of its single-spar construction, and many aircraft were lost because of its tendency to disintegrate in flight.

Jeff has been flying RC for six years and started building scale models three years ago. He is a member of the Lorain County RC Club and flies at Crawford Field, just west of Elyria, Ohio.

Original-design Bolero (Mike Klintworth)

Building and finishing a kit is certainly worthy of praise these days. However, designing and scratch-building your own model is an accomplishment that few realize.

Mike Klintworth of Greenville, Ohio, built his original-design Bolero. He named it that because that was what he was listening to when he first drew the plans.

The model has a foam-core wing and a conventional stick-built fuselage. It spans 84 inches, has roughly 1,300 square inches of wing area, and weighs 16 pounds, 10 ounces dry.

The Bolero is powered by a unique O.S. Pegasus 3.20 four-cylinder glow engine that spins an APC 20 x 8 propeller more than 7,900 rpm. Mike constructed the mufflers, since he owns a one-man machine-shop business. He made a muffler manifold that all four mufflers exhaust into, which contains the single pressure tap for the fuel tank. According to Mike, the engine idles like a dream, sounds great, and takes only one flip to start when primed properly.

Mike wrote that he has migrated to the larger models because they fly so well and that designing and building models are half the fun for him. Although he hasn't built a scale model to date, he's gathering documentation for two of his favorite subjects: the North American T-28D and the OV-10D.

Great job with your own design, Mike. You're an inspiration to your fellow modelers.

RC events were plentiful during the summer months. Send me your favorite flight shots, and I'll be happy to feature them in an upcoming column.

Sources

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