Radio Control Giants - 2011/03

102 MODEL AVIATION
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Giants Sal Calvagna
Accessories for the Ziroli Spitfire Mk I-V
Also included in this column:
• 1/3-scale Oberursel Le
Rhone and Clerget dummy
engines
• Walt Moucha’s 1/4-scale
Hawker Sea Fury
Nick Ziroli Plans sells these accessories and everything else
needed to complete the Mk I-V Spitfire.
Cast-resin 1/3-scale dummy rotary power plants for German,
French, and British WW I aircraft can be constructed as
Oberursel, Le Rhone, and Clerget rotary engines.
A finished Oberursel rotary engine. The
UR.II was a replica of the Le Rhone 9J.
The completed Clerget rotary engine as it
would look mounted inside the cowling.
WELCOME BACK. Thanks to winter’s
frosty grip, it has been a relatively quiet
month in the Northeast with regards to
giant-scale modeling. However, the slack
time provided me with an opportunity to
visit Nick Ziroli Plans (NZP), to check out
its latest and greatest offerings.
Hey, it’s not as if I had to make a “road
trip”; NZP is located a mere 10 minutes
from my home and five minutes from
where I work! Mike brought me up to
speed on the company’s newest products,
and it was nice to spend some time with
him, Nick, Diane, Felix, and the rest of the
crew.
In the April 2010 column I reported on
the newest NZP giant-scale offering: a 1/4-
scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk I-V that
spans 100 inches, has a length of 811/2
inches, and has a wing area of 1,575 square
inches, with an all-up weight of 30-34
pounds. Suggested power is a 62cc-85cc
engine.
While I was at NZP, Mike reported that
plans have been selling briskly and he
brought out some of the accessories that
you can purchase with the plans or short
kit. An accompanying photo shows the
ABS radiators for water and oil, fiberglass
cowl and belly scoop, canopy, scale
exhaust manifolds, gear door kit, rearview
mirror, trim tab actuators, and fairings.
NZP offers everything else to complete
this model of the famous World War II
fighter, from fiberglass cloth to retracts and
pilot figures.
The company’s newest releases are castresin
Oberursel and Clerget dummy rotary
engines in 1/3 scale. These will be available
as basic kits or finished models, complete
with oil stains for that authentic look.
Prices start at approximately $50 for the
basic resin kits and are somewhat higher
for the completed painted versions. These
dummy engines will add that extra bit of
realism to any large model of World War Iera,
rotary-powered aircraft.
Many WW I airplanes had rotary
engines—not to be confused with the later
radial power plants, although they look
similar, especially when they are not
running. Both designs feature cylinders
arranged around the crankcase in a circular
manner. However, the major difference is
that on a rotary engine the cylinders rotate
around the fixed crankshaft; on a radial the
cylinders are fixed and the crankshaft turns.
This means that the propeller on a rotary
is bolted directly to the engine case, which
spins along with all cylinders. On a radial
the propeller is bolted to the crankshaft;
neither the engine case nor the cylinders
moves.
At the start of WW I, engine and aircraft
designs were still in their infancy; powered
flight was only realized a mere 10 years
earlier. Aircraft power plants needed to be
03sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 1/25/11 7:57 AM Page 102
Walt Moucha with his 1/4-scale Hawker Sea Fury, which he plans to power with
a 3W-120 twin-cylinder gas engine. He constructed the wing in three sections.
An Oberursel is seen inside the distinctive
Fokker cowling. The finish includes oil
staining, mimicking the full-scale engine.
as light as possible with the highest powerto-
weight ratios available.
Early water-cooled V8 designs by
Curtiss and others were heavy and
unreliable. The rotary engine was simpler,
easy to produce, and the better choice for
power output at that time. In addition, the
cooling advantages of the spinning rotary
were exactly what the engineers needed at
a time when it was difficult to produce
metals that would not distort at high
temperatures.
There were also downsides to the rotary
engine, such as the considerable
gyroscopic effect of the large rotating
mass. It also suffered from poor fuel
consumption, because of the limited
throttle capability, and a high degree of oil
consumption caused by the total-loss
system.
This meant that during combustion, oil
was pumped out of the cylinders and not
returned to a reservoir. Thus the need for
the scarves that pilots wore; they
were used to wipe the castor
oil from their faces and
goggles. Another downside
to the total-oil-loss
system was that
the pilots’
constant
ingestion of castor
oil caused severe stomach
issues such as diarrhea.
The Oberursel UR.II was a
replica of the Le Rhone 9J;
however, the Le Rhone was
preferred to the
Oberursel
because of the superior materials used in
the French engine. There are stories of Le
Rhones being removed from downed Allied
aircraft and fitted to German aircraft.
Le Rhone engines were quite reliable,
and by the end of WW I they were being
manufactured in Great Britain, Italy, and
the US, in addition to France.
The Clerget was made in 110- and 130-
horsepower versions. It
differed from the Le Rhone
in that its valves were
actuated by conventional
rocker arms from two
pushrods per
cylinder.
After WW I the
rotary engine was
replaced by radial,
in-line, and Vee
engines, because
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producing a rotary with more power
increased the weight and gyroscopic forces.
For more information about the 1/3-scale
dummy engines, the 1/4-scale Spitfire, and
other NZP products, please visit the
company’s Web site.
Walt Moucha of Port St. Lucie, Florida,
sent me a photo of his latest project; it’s a
1/4-scale Hawker Sea Fury with a wingspan
of 120 inches. The wing is built in three
sections: a 48-inch center-section that
houses the retractable landing gear and two
36-inch outer panels.
The fuselage is 93 inches long, and the
cowl diameter is 15 inches. Walt intends to
power the Sea Fury with a 3W-120 twincylinder
two-stroke gas engine. He reported
the airplane to weigh 36 pounds. It will
feature flaps, all surface detail, wingtip
lights, and a functional sliding canopy.
Walt hopes to finish and test-fly the
aircraft sometime this spring, but he has no
plans to kit it. He kits many other models,
such as the Marquardt Charger, Piper
Pawnee, Bristol Scout, Piper L-4, and Miss
Los Angeles. If you would like more
information about Walt’s current project or
his kit offerings, please contact him using
the info in the “Sources” listing.
The specifications for a new British
fighter in 1942 were the direct result of
Luftwaffe pilot Oberleutnant Arnim
Faber’s navigation error. He landed his
Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-3 at the British RAF
104 MODEL AVIATION
Pembrey because he thought it was a
Luftwaffe channel-coast airfield. That was a
major mistake!
The Fw 190 had been causing havoc
with the Royal Air Force, and as a result of
that error the British had a fully operational
aircraft to study. The result was
Specification F.6/42, which called for a
new, high-performance fighter. Thus the
Hawker Sea Fury’s beginning.
The Fury was a successor to the Hawker
Typhoon and Tempest fighters. The design
called for a lightweight aircraft, and in 1943
the requirement was modified to meet Royal
Navy specifications for a carrier-based
interceptor.
The prototype flew in September 1944,
and by the time different engines were tested
and modifications were made to the airframe,
the war was over and the contract for the Sea
Fury was canceled. It was the last pistonpowered
fighter developed during WW II and
was arguably the fastest ever manufactured,
reaching speeds of close to 485 mph.
So ends another column. Send me digital
photos and a write-up of your winter
project, and I will be happy to share them
with readers. MA
Sources:
Nick Ziroli Plans
(631) 467-4765
www.ziroliplans.com
Walt Moucha Designs
5803 NW Zinnia St.
Port St. Lucie FL 34986
(772) 460-6436
International Miniature Aircraft
Association
www.fly-imaa.org
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