Tom Wolf’s 1/5-scale de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito
by Sal Calvagna [email protected]
Welcome back to the RC Giants column. One of the most famous and unusual aircraft of World War II was the de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito. It’s famous because it was fast, excelled in many roles, was strikingly beautiful, and deemed unusual because it was made mostly from nonstrategic materials—plywood and balsa.
The twin-engine, multirole aircraft served in all theaters of operation during the war and was affectionately known as the Wooden Wonder. Read further about a man from California who built and owns two Wooden Wonder models.
Those of us who have been around for a while, especially in Giant Scale, surely remember some of the great early Bud Nosen kits. These Giant Scale models were designed to fly on a glow .60 and reduction gear.
Tom Wolf of Goleta, California, recently completed a 1/5-scale de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito FB Mk VI that sports a ZDZ-100 inline twin gas engine. His model is a replica of NS850/TH-M Black Rufe of the No. 418 City of Edmonton Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, based at Holmsley South in June 1944.
This aircraft was flown by Squadron Leader Robert Allan Kipp and Flight Lieutenant Peter Huletsky. They are credited with having shot down 10 aircraft with one shared destroyed, one shared probable, one shared damaged, seven destroyed on the ground, and eight damaged on the ground. Their Mosquito was destroyed in a landing accident on November 1, 1944, when it overshot the runway after landing with an engine out.
Tom’s background on the project
“I built a 1/8-scale (82-inch-span) version of this airplane about 20 years ago from a set of plans purchased from Bob Holman Plans that were a 115% blowup of a 71-inch Brian Taylor design. This airplane has been my workhorse competition aircraft for Scale Master events for a number of years, as well as two trips to Top Gun.
“I tackled this more recent project because, while my original Mosquito is an excellent flyer, it is small by today’s standards for Scale competition, especially for Top Gun. This, together with the fact that the larger airplanes fly better and look more prototypical in the air, prompted me to go bigger.
“The newest Mosquito was built from a 175% blowup of the same Brian Taylor design, resulting in a wingspan of 124 inches. The plans and a set of spun aluminum spinners were purchased from Bob Holman. No other accessories are currently available, so everything else had to be scratch-built, including the scale landing gear mechanics for the main landing gear and the tail wheel, the vacuum-formed canopy, and the epoxy fiberglass engine nacelles.
“Because of the high degree of enlargement of the design, a lot of scale reengineering of the structure was required to be appropriate for the size of the aircraft. Intermediate partial bulkheads between the main fuselage bulkheads were added, the wing spar was modified, and the wing/fuselage interface was redesigned to change from a one-piece wing to plug-in wings utilizing a 1.5-inch diameter carbon-fiber joiner tube. The wing interfaces with the fuselage to retain the scale joint locations. Other than the fiberglass nacelles, the construction of the model is built-up balsa and plywood, with 3/4-ounce fiberglass/epoxy over all sheeted surfaces.
“The only open framework item is the rudder, and it is covered with Super Coverite. The airplane is finished with RC Giants paint from Warbird Colors, with a dead-flat clear coat by Klass Kote over the entire airplane.
“Cockpit detailing utilized a Best Pilots 1/5-scale Adolph Malan pilot and radio-operator/navigator, and the scale WWII British instruments were from inZpan and iFlyTailies.
“Robart air cylinders, control valves, and pressure vessels drive the main landing gear, with separate systems in each wing. Thus, there are no air system connections impacted by wing removal or installation. This also provides a more realistic retract operation, in that each side works independently and smoothly.
“A conventional retract servo is the moving force for the retractable tail wheel. The model features functional bomb bay doors, bomb releases at the wing stations, four bombs inside the bomb bay, retracts, and flaps.
“For better ground handling, especially during takeoff, the airplane includes mechanical brakes on the main landing gear, which are actuated with the rudder channel. The right rudder applies light braking to the right main wheel; the left rudder applies braking to the left main wheel. A similar brake system was utilized on the smaller Mosquito, and it completely tamed the Mosquito’s notoriously poor directional control during the early stages of the takeoff run.
“The two engines’ throttles are also on separate radio channels that are mixed together to allow synchronizing the engines throughout the throttle range via the radio’s mixing curve. In addition, there is a small amount of mixing between the rudder channel and the throttle channels to aid in taxiing and to provide a little more realism for that portion of the flight routine. The left rudder advances the throttle slightly for the right engine, while right rudder advances the throttle slightly for the left engine.
“The 1/5-scale Mosquito weighs 51 pounds and is powered by two O.S. 1.60 two-cycle engines. The glow engines were selected because suitable gas engines could not be found that would fit within the Mosquito’s slender nacelles. Guidance is via a Futaba 10 CAG 2.4 GHz radio, driving 19 servos. The model was built over a two-year period, and was completed in late November 2011.”
Notable features and systems
- Scale: 1/5 (wingspan 124 inches)
- Construction: built-up balsa and plywood; 3/4-ounce fiberglass/epoxy over sheeted surfaces; epoxy fiberglass engine nacelles
- Covering/finish: Super Coverite (rudder); RC Giants paint from Warbird Colors; dead-flat clear by Klass Kote
- Cockpit: Best Pilots 1/5-scale Adolph Malan pilot and radio-operator/navigator; WW II British instruments from inZpan and iFlyTailies
- Landing gear: Robart air cylinders, control valves, and pressure vessels driving main gear (separate systems per wing); conventional retract servo for tail wheel; mechanical brakes actuated by rudder channel
- Flight control and tuning: separate throttle channels mixed for engine sync; small rudder/throttle mixing for taxi realism
- Armament/function: functional bomb bay doors; bomb releases at wing stations; four bombs in the bomb bay; flaps and retracts
Flight characteristics
Tom reports that he is pleased with the flying characteristics of the newly finished Mosquito. It tracks well throughout the flight, including takeoff and landing. It slows nicely on final with full flaps and some power carried to touchdown.
Historical note
Here’s an interesting World War II fact: the Focke-Wulf Aircraft Company, under Kurt Tank, designed and built its own “Wooden Wonder,” the Focke-Wulf Ta 154, which was named the Moskitto in recognition of the successful British design.
Only one factory in Germany made the special phenolic resin adhesive called Tego Film that was used in construction of the Ta 154. The Royal Air Force bombed the glue factory and a different adhesive was used. The new glue had a corrosive effect which caused the plywood to delaminate, thus causing wing failures in the Mosquito. The entire project was canceled.
Total production of the Mosquito was 7,781, including more than 1,000 built in Canada and nearly 200 in Australia.
The Bud Nosen Mustang
Rich Schaffer of Atlanta sent photos of his recently completed Bud Nosen Mustang. The Mustang spans 102 inches, has a 92-inch fuselage, and weighs 35 pounds. It was an 11-month project for Rich, who wanted something different when it came to the color and finish. He stated that the model is for his own pleasure and not built for competition.
Rich chose a captured P-51 refinished in Luftwaffe colors, specifically the captured P-51D from the Staffel of the Versuchsverband Oberkommando der Luftwaffe. This aircraft was recaptured by American troops in May 1945. At least two P-51D Mustangs had their upper surfaces repainted in dark green and were flown in the Rosarius Flying Circus.
The model is powered by a ZDZ 100 R2 inline twin-cylinder gas engine and has Robart retractable landing gear. The model is covered with 3/4-ounce fiberglass cloth using Z-Poxy finishing resin and painted with Rust-Oleum paint. Rich belongs to the Stone Mountain RC Club and the model was test-flown at Scenic RC in Winder, Georgia.
Rich plans to detail the cockpit area. A YouTube link to a video of its first flight is listed in Sources.
Next Column in June
That’s all for this month. The next “RC Giants” column will appear in the June issue of MA. See you then!
SOURCES
- Bob Holman Plans — (909) 885-3959
- YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KTT-p5FGZ0
- International Miniature Aircraft Association
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
