104 MODEL AVIATION
SMALL-FIELD COMBAT—Full-Contact Style: In the June
2010 column I had the pleasure of presenting Jack Pignolo’s
Origami E2: a rendition of a paper airplane made from sheet
foam. After reading that issue of MA, Jerry Hagood of
Gadsden, Alabama, sent me a nice note regarding a fun
activity he and his friends have been enjoying for several
years.
They have developed several designs, also similar to paper
gliders that are made from sheet foam. However, their intent is
to fly the models into each other; they enjoy full-contact
combat.
The aircraft that Jerry and his friends fly are set up for
small-field operation. They are lightweight and have
wingspans and lengths of less than 24 inches. The cost for one
of those airplanes is minimal, as is the time required to build
one.
Jerry reports that the models built for this engaging activity
last quite awhile. That is a result of their ability to take a
beating and keep flying and the fact that actually hitting
another airplane is difficult.
He provided a photo of his aircraft. You can see the design
features that allow it to be effective for combat. The motor is
mounted where the propeller is protected, the battery pack is
protected, and the general layout promotes good pitch and roll
response.
If you and your flying buddies want to get in on the action
of small-field full-contact combat, Jerry gave me permission to
provide free plans for his design on my Web site. See the
source listing at the end of the column for that address. Go to
the downloadable plans section when you arrive.
Recycling crashed models is a good thing. Jack Pignolo,
whom I mentioned at the beginning of the column, likes to
keep undamaged or easily repaired parts from his wrecked
airplanes. His Playstick is a good example of why doing that
makes good sense.
Jack sent a photo of his aircraft. It is made from the stick
Paul Bradley | bradleyp@Small-Field Flying ix.netcom.com
Also included in this column:
• Recycling parts
• CL without the lines
• Model storage: one approach
• Dime-store ARF: a surprisingly good RC conversion
• Mixing current micro-size gear with a Guillow’s T-28
• Making equipment accessible in small models
Full-contact combat on small fields
Jerry Hagood and his buddies enjoy small-field, full-contact combat with
models such as this sheet-foam-based design.
Jack Pignolo built this Playstick from recycled Fundango
and Baby Playboy parts.
Charles Lambour brought back a model from his past: an electricpowered
RC version of the 1950s Guillow’s CL Barnstormer.
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 104
December 2010 105
fuselage assembly of a Great Planes Fundango and the flying surfaces
from a Baby Playboy.
He used a low-cost brushless motor and a two-cell Li-Poly battery
pack to motivate his Playstick. Jack reports that flight times are in the
30- to 40-minute range, and the model can do loops and touch-and-gos.
Great work, Jack; recycling is good. Jack is from the greater
Houston, Texas, area and spends his summers in Maine, hanging out
with the DownEast Soaring Club.
CL Without Lines: I have occasionally written about experiments
with adding RC to a CL model. CL designs are true small-field flyers.
The experiments I mentioned retained at least one line of the CL
arrangement, so that the aircraft would fly in a constrained circle.
Charles Lambour of Largo, Florida, claims that adding a radio to a
CL airplane is fine but to lose the lines altogether! Talk about coming
full circle. (That was a bad pun.) I know this is not a new concept, but
it is rarely seen in practice.
William Bonner’s answer to the question,
“How do you store your models?”
Above: Bradley Faul found this small-field flyer at a toy store near
his home in Burlington, New Jersey.
Above: The author’s approach to providing equipment access in a
stick-and-tissue model conversion.
Below: Glenn Lewis turned this Guillow’s 900-series T-28 into a
great-looking and -flying scale small-field flyer.
Charles used a CL Guillow’s Barnstormer, which he built in the
early 1950s. He still had the plans from that long-ago project and used
them to develop a plan for the RC conversion.
Charles kept the outlines faithful to the original. He made a few
structural changes for lightness and aerodynamic changes for threedimensional
flight, such as equal wing-panel lengths.
I have included a photo of the nicely finished design. Weighing 33
ounces and having a wingspan of 45 inches, it is probably best suited
for the larger end of the small-field spectrum.
To keep the look and feel of the original Barnstormer, Charles built
a dummy glow engine to hide the E-flite brushless outrunner motor that
he extracted from an Apprentice. Controls are handled by a Spektrum
AR6100e receiver and four 9-gram servos.
According to Charles, the model flies great.
Storing Small-Field Models: In Bob Aberle’s November 2010
“Frequently Asked Questions” column he presented a good solution to
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 105
the problem of storing airplanes. William
Bonner developed the idea.
Please review the accompanying photo,
which William submitted, of his fleet of
small-field aircraft that are safely tucked away
in his garage. He wrote:
“I know this has probably been done
hundreds of times before, I just wanted to
share the plane racks I made. They are made
of 11/2 inch PVC pipe. I used pressure fittings
instead of DWV fittings because they are
stronger. The racks are 18 inches wide, 12
inches center to center between planes, and
the arms that come out to support the planes
are 12 inches long.
“There are two racks side by side. I
staggered the racks by 6 inches to allow the
wings to slide in between planes on the rack
next to it to conserve space. The planes are
well supported and very easy to get to. It is
now a breeze to load or unload the planes.”
As William noted, PVC-based storage
racks are not new, but he hopes his
arrangement will be helpful to anyone who is
looking for a slick aircraft-storage solution.
Thanks, William, for sharing your
approach to the universal quest for the
ultimate model-storage arrangement.
The Dime-Store ARF—Well, Close: There
are no dime stores these days, and few of the
old-style slip-together FF models are still
available. Fortunately Guillow’s does still sell
some of those designs.
If you look around in stores that sell toys,
you might see the Guillow’s Flying Machine.
There is such a store in or near Burlington,
New Jersey, where Bradley Faul lives, and he
bought one that spans 17 inches.
Then he mixed a ParkZone Micro P-51
power system with a Spektrum brick radio, to
result in an excellent small-field flyer.
Bradley provided a photo of the completed
project next to his Spektrum transmitter for a
size reference.
With a flying weight of 1 ounce, Bradley
claims that the Flying Machine cruises at half
throttle and has proven to be a terrific flier in
its electric-powered RC configuration.
I have converted a slip-together rubberpowered
FF design and can fully endorse
Bradley’s positive results. This is a great way
to get a small-field flyer up and running fairly
quickly.
Thanks for sharing your work, Bradley.
Small and scale can coexist in a great way.
Many Guillow’s FF kits are ideal for
conversion to RC—especially using the
current crop of micro RC gear. The Guillow’s
900 series comes to mind.
The 900s have wingspans in the 16- to 18-
inch range. Their structures are well suited to
RC conversion. Glenn Lewis makes this point
in spades with his converted 900-series T-28
Trojan.
That particular model has a wing that
spans 16 inches. For the conversion he used
the ParkZone Micro P-51 power plant and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system that
controls rudder, elevator, and throttle.
The photo that Glenn provided of the
finished product shows that you don’t have to
sacrifice a wonderful scale appearance to have
a little model. Glenn’s effort is excellent by
all measures.
The finished T-28 has a flying weigh of 40
grams, or approximately 11/2 ounces. Glenn
reports that the miniature Trojan flies at half
throttle and handles surprisingly well.
Outstanding work, Glenn.
Magnets can be a small-field aeromodeler’s
best friend. Glenn Lewis’s T-28 conversion
brings to light one aspect of smaller models
that I usually find vexing: how to provide
access to the installed equipment. I faced that
challenge with a project I recently completed.
I was converting the old Comet 25-inch
Stinson SR-7 Reliant to an electric-powered
RC model. My equipment selection includes
the power unit from a Micro P-51 and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system.
Controls include rudder, elevator, and
throttle.
Because the SR-7 has a round nose, I
decided to use a sliding tray to carry all of the
equipment. The tray slides in and out through
the nose.
That setup makes for great equipment
access but does require a means for
making and breaking the connection
between servos and pushrods. Magnets
seemed to be the perfect solution, but how
would I connect them to the pushrod ends?
To handle this dilemma I started with
short lengths of dowel that were equal in
diameter to the magnets being used. A hole
was drilled through the dowel axis, and then I
adhered the dowel to the pushrod end. I glued
the magnet to the dowel face.
To ensure that the joint was secure, I
installed a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the
magnet and dowel. Then I followed that with
a few drops of thin CA. The resulting magnet
attachment turned out to be robust.
An accompanying photo shows the
finished sliding-tray setup. It works better
than I had hoped and makes it easy to get to
the equipment. The magnet’s make/break
connections have more than enough strength
to handle the push/pull loads of the flying
surfaces.
I have included several references, under
“Sources,” for the ParkZone Micro P-51
motor and gear drive; one is A Main Hobbies.
This column also mentioned the ParkZone/
Spektrum brick radio systems. Two sources
for those items are A Main Hobbies and BSD
Micro RC.
I am out of space once again. I hope
everyone has a great holiday experience. I
look forward to hearing about your projects
for 2011. MA
Sources:
DownEast Soaring Club
www.downeastsoaring.org
Guillow’s
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A Main Hobbies
(800) 705-2215
www.amainhobbies.com
BSD Micro RC
(417) 358-9521
www.bsdmicrorc.com
Paul Bradley
10201 Scarletoak Dr.
Independence KY 41051
www.parmodels.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/12
Page Numbers: 104,105,106
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/12
Page Numbers: 104,105,106
104 MODEL AVIATION
SMALL-FIELD COMBAT—Full-Contact Style: In the June
2010 column I had the pleasure of presenting Jack Pignolo’s
Origami E2: a rendition of a paper airplane made from sheet
foam. After reading that issue of MA, Jerry Hagood of
Gadsden, Alabama, sent me a nice note regarding a fun
activity he and his friends have been enjoying for several
years.
They have developed several designs, also similar to paper
gliders that are made from sheet foam. However, their intent is
to fly the models into each other; they enjoy full-contact
combat.
The aircraft that Jerry and his friends fly are set up for
small-field operation. They are lightweight and have
wingspans and lengths of less than 24 inches. The cost for one
of those airplanes is minimal, as is the time required to build
one.
Jerry reports that the models built for this engaging activity
last quite awhile. That is a result of their ability to take a
beating and keep flying and the fact that actually hitting
another airplane is difficult.
He provided a photo of his aircraft. You can see the design
features that allow it to be effective for combat. The motor is
mounted where the propeller is protected, the battery pack is
protected, and the general layout promotes good pitch and roll
response.
If you and your flying buddies want to get in on the action
of small-field full-contact combat, Jerry gave me permission to
provide free plans for his design on my Web site. See the
source listing at the end of the column for that address. Go to
the downloadable plans section when you arrive.
Recycling crashed models is a good thing. Jack Pignolo,
whom I mentioned at the beginning of the column, likes to
keep undamaged or easily repaired parts from his wrecked
airplanes. His Playstick is a good example of why doing that
makes good sense.
Jack sent a photo of his aircraft. It is made from the stick
Paul Bradley | bradleyp@Small-Field Flying ix.netcom.com
Also included in this column:
• Recycling parts
• CL without the lines
• Model storage: one approach
• Dime-store ARF: a surprisingly good RC conversion
• Mixing current micro-size gear with a Guillow’s T-28
• Making equipment accessible in small models
Full-contact combat on small fields
Jerry Hagood and his buddies enjoy small-field, full-contact combat with
models such as this sheet-foam-based design.
Jack Pignolo built this Playstick from recycled Fundango
and Baby Playboy parts.
Charles Lambour brought back a model from his past: an electricpowered
RC version of the 1950s Guillow’s CL Barnstormer.
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 104
December 2010 105
fuselage assembly of a Great Planes Fundango and the flying surfaces
from a Baby Playboy.
He used a low-cost brushless motor and a two-cell Li-Poly battery
pack to motivate his Playstick. Jack reports that flight times are in the
30- to 40-minute range, and the model can do loops and touch-and-gos.
Great work, Jack; recycling is good. Jack is from the greater
Houston, Texas, area and spends his summers in Maine, hanging out
with the DownEast Soaring Club.
CL Without Lines: I have occasionally written about experiments
with adding RC to a CL model. CL designs are true small-field flyers.
The experiments I mentioned retained at least one line of the CL
arrangement, so that the aircraft would fly in a constrained circle.
Charles Lambour of Largo, Florida, claims that adding a radio to a
CL airplane is fine but to lose the lines altogether! Talk about coming
full circle. (That was a bad pun.) I know this is not a new concept, but
it is rarely seen in practice.
William Bonner’s answer to the question,
“How do you store your models?”
Above: Bradley Faul found this small-field flyer at a toy store near
his home in Burlington, New Jersey.
Above: The author’s approach to providing equipment access in a
stick-and-tissue model conversion.
Below: Glenn Lewis turned this Guillow’s 900-series T-28 into a
great-looking and -flying scale small-field flyer.
Charles used a CL Guillow’s Barnstormer, which he built in the
early 1950s. He still had the plans from that long-ago project and used
them to develop a plan for the RC conversion.
Charles kept the outlines faithful to the original. He made a few
structural changes for lightness and aerodynamic changes for threedimensional
flight, such as equal wing-panel lengths.
I have included a photo of the nicely finished design. Weighing 33
ounces and having a wingspan of 45 inches, it is probably best suited
for the larger end of the small-field spectrum.
To keep the look and feel of the original Barnstormer, Charles built
a dummy glow engine to hide the E-flite brushless outrunner motor that
he extracted from an Apprentice. Controls are handled by a Spektrum
AR6100e receiver and four 9-gram servos.
According to Charles, the model flies great.
Storing Small-Field Models: In Bob Aberle’s November 2010
“Frequently Asked Questions” column he presented a good solution to
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 105
the problem of storing airplanes. William
Bonner developed the idea.
Please review the accompanying photo,
which William submitted, of his fleet of
small-field aircraft that are safely tucked away
in his garage. He wrote:
“I know this has probably been done
hundreds of times before, I just wanted to
share the plane racks I made. They are made
of 11/2 inch PVC pipe. I used pressure fittings
instead of DWV fittings because they are
stronger. The racks are 18 inches wide, 12
inches center to center between planes, and
the arms that come out to support the planes
are 12 inches long.
“There are two racks side by side. I
staggered the racks by 6 inches to allow the
wings to slide in between planes on the rack
next to it to conserve space. The planes are
well supported and very easy to get to. It is
now a breeze to load or unload the planes.”
As William noted, PVC-based storage
racks are not new, but he hopes his
arrangement will be helpful to anyone who is
looking for a slick aircraft-storage solution.
Thanks, William, for sharing your
approach to the universal quest for the
ultimate model-storage arrangement.
The Dime-Store ARF—Well, Close: There
are no dime stores these days, and few of the
old-style slip-together FF models are still
available. Fortunately Guillow’s does still sell
some of those designs.
If you look around in stores that sell toys,
you might see the Guillow’s Flying Machine.
There is such a store in or near Burlington,
New Jersey, where Bradley Faul lives, and he
bought one that spans 17 inches.
Then he mixed a ParkZone Micro P-51
power system with a Spektrum brick radio, to
result in an excellent small-field flyer.
Bradley provided a photo of the completed
project next to his Spektrum transmitter for a
size reference.
With a flying weight of 1 ounce, Bradley
claims that the Flying Machine cruises at half
throttle and has proven to be a terrific flier in
its electric-powered RC configuration.
I have converted a slip-together rubberpowered
FF design and can fully endorse
Bradley’s positive results. This is a great way
to get a small-field flyer up and running fairly
quickly.
Thanks for sharing your work, Bradley.
Small and scale can coexist in a great way.
Many Guillow’s FF kits are ideal for
conversion to RC—especially using the
current crop of micro RC gear. The Guillow’s
900 series comes to mind.
The 900s have wingspans in the 16- to 18-
inch range. Their structures are well suited to
RC conversion. Glenn Lewis makes this point
in spades with his converted 900-series T-28
Trojan.
That particular model has a wing that
spans 16 inches. For the conversion he used
the ParkZone Micro P-51 power plant and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system that
controls rudder, elevator, and throttle.
The photo that Glenn provided of the
finished product shows that you don’t have to
sacrifice a wonderful scale appearance to have
a little model. Glenn’s effort is excellent by
all measures.
The finished T-28 has a flying weigh of 40
grams, or approximately 11/2 ounces. Glenn
reports that the miniature Trojan flies at half
throttle and handles surprisingly well.
Outstanding work, Glenn.
Magnets can be a small-field aeromodeler’s
best friend. Glenn Lewis’s T-28 conversion
brings to light one aspect of smaller models
that I usually find vexing: how to provide
access to the installed equipment. I faced that
challenge with a project I recently completed.
I was converting the old Comet 25-inch
Stinson SR-7 Reliant to an electric-powered
RC model. My equipment selection includes
the power unit from a Micro P-51 and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system.
Controls include rudder, elevator, and
throttle.
Because the SR-7 has a round nose, I
decided to use a sliding tray to carry all of the
equipment. The tray slides in and out through
the nose.
That setup makes for great equipment
access but does require a means for
making and breaking the connection
between servos and pushrods. Magnets
seemed to be the perfect solution, but how
would I connect them to the pushrod ends?
To handle this dilemma I started with
short lengths of dowel that were equal in
diameter to the magnets being used. A hole
was drilled through the dowel axis, and then I
adhered the dowel to the pushrod end. I glued
the magnet to the dowel face.
To ensure that the joint was secure, I
installed a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the
magnet and dowel. Then I followed that with
a few drops of thin CA. The resulting magnet
attachment turned out to be robust.
An accompanying photo shows the
finished sliding-tray setup. It works better
than I had hoped and makes it easy to get to
the equipment. The magnet’s make/break
connections have more than enough strength
to handle the push/pull loads of the flying
surfaces.
I have included several references, under
“Sources,” for the ParkZone Micro P-51
motor and gear drive; one is A Main Hobbies.
This column also mentioned the ParkZone/
Spektrum brick radio systems. Two sources
for those items are A Main Hobbies and BSD
Micro RC.
I am out of space once again. I hope
everyone has a great holiday experience. I
look forward to hearing about your projects
for 2011. MA
Sources:
DownEast Soaring Club
www.downeastsoaring.org
Guillow’s
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A Main Hobbies
(800) 705-2215
www.amainhobbies.com
BSD Micro RC
(417) 358-9521
www.bsdmicrorc.com
Paul Bradley
10201 Scarletoak Dr.
Independence KY 41051
www.parmodels.com
Edition: Model Aviation - 2010/12
Page Numbers: 104,105,106
104 MODEL AVIATION
SMALL-FIELD COMBAT—Full-Contact Style: In the June
2010 column I had the pleasure of presenting Jack Pignolo’s
Origami E2: a rendition of a paper airplane made from sheet
foam. After reading that issue of MA, Jerry Hagood of
Gadsden, Alabama, sent me a nice note regarding a fun
activity he and his friends have been enjoying for several
years.
They have developed several designs, also similar to paper
gliders that are made from sheet foam. However, their intent is
to fly the models into each other; they enjoy full-contact
combat.
The aircraft that Jerry and his friends fly are set up for
small-field operation. They are lightweight and have
wingspans and lengths of less than 24 inches. The cost for one
of those airplanes is minimal, as is the time required to build
one.
Jerry reports that the models built for this engaging activity
last quite awhile. That is a result of their ability to take a
beating and keep flying and the fact that actually hitting
another airplane is difficult.
He provided a photo of his aircraft. You can see the design
features that allow it to be effective for combat. The motor is
mounted where the propeller is protected, the battery pack is
protected, and the general layout promotes good pitch and roll
response.
If you and your flying buddies want to get in on the action
of small-field full-contact combat, Jerry gave me permission to
provide free plans for his design on my Web site. See the
source listing at the end of the column for that address. Go to
the downloadable plans section when you arrive.
Recycling crashed models is a good thing. Jack Pignolo,
whom I mentioned at the beginning of the column, likes to
keep undamaged or easily repaired parts from his wrecked
airplanes. His Playstick is a good example of why doing that
makes good sense.
Jack sent a photo of his aircraft. It is made from the stick
Paul Bradley | bradleyp@Small-Field Flying ix.netcom.com
Also included in this column:
• Recycling parts
• CL without the lines
• Model storage: one approach
• Dime-store ARF: a surprisingly good RC conversion
• Mixing current micro-size gear with a Guillow’s T-28
• Making equipment accessible in small models
Full-contact combat on small fields
Jerry Hagood and his buddies enjoy small-field, full-contact combat with
models such as this sheet-foam-based design.
Jack Pignolo built this Playstick from recycled Fundango
and Baby Playboy parts.
Charles Lambour brought back a model from his past: an electricpowered
RC version of the 1950s Guillow’s CL Barnstormer.
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 104
December 2010 105
fuselage assembly of a Great Planes Fundango and the flying surfaces
from a Baby Playboy.
He used a low-cost brushless motor and a two-cell Li-Poly battery
pack to motivate his Playstick. Jack reports that flight times are in the
30- to 40-minute range, and the model can do loops and touch-and-gos.
Great work, Jack; recycling is good. Jack is from the greater
Houston, Texas, area and spends his summers in Maine, hanging out
with the DownEast Soaring Club.
CL Without Lines: I have occasionally written about experiments
with adding RC to a CL model. CL designs are true small-field flyers.
The experiments I mentioned retained at least one line of the CL
arrangement, so that the aircraft would fly in a constrained circle.
Charles Lambour of Largo, Florida, claims that adding a radio to a
CL airplane is fine but to lose the lines altogether! Talk about coming
full circle. (That was a bad pun.) I know this is not a new concept, but
it is rarely seen in practice.
William Bonner’s answer to the question,
“How do you store your models?”
Above: Bradley Faul found this small-field flyer at a toy store near
his home in Burlington, New Jersey.
Above: The author’s approach to providing equipment access in a
stick-and-tissue model conversion.
Below: Glenn Lewis turned this Guillow’s 900-series T-28 into a
great-looking and -flying scale small-field flyer.
Charles used a CL Guillow’s Barnstormer, which he built in the
early 1950s. He still had the plans from that long-ago project and used
them to develop a plan for the RC conversion.
Charles kept the outlines faithful to the original. He made a few
structural changes for lightness and aerodynamic changes for threedimensional
flight, such as equal wing-panel lengths.
I have included a photo of the nicely finished design. Weighing 33
ounces and having a wingspan of 45 inches, it is probably best suited
for the larger end of the small-field spectrum.
To keep the look and feel of the original Barnstormer, Charles built
a dummy glow engine to hide the E-flite brushless outrunner motor that
he extracted from an Apprentice. Controls are handled by a Spektrum
AR6100e receiver and four 9-gram servos.
According to Charles, the model flies great.
Storing Small-Field Models: In Bob Aberle’s November 2010
“Frequently Asked Questions” column he presented a good solution to
12sig4x_00MSTRPG.QXD 10/22/10 8:45 AM Page 105
the problem of storing airplanes. William
Bonner developed the idea.
Please review the accompanying photo,
which William submitted, of his fleet of
small-field aircraft that are safely tucked away
in his garage. He wrote:
“I know this has probably been done
hundreds of times before, I just wanted to
share the plane racks I made. They are made
of 11/2 inch PVC pipe. I used pressure fittings
instead of DWV fittings because they are
stronger. The racks are 18 inches wide, 12
inches center to center between planes, and
the arms that come out to support the planes
are 12 inches long.
“There are two racks side by side. I
staggered the racks by 6 inches to allow the
wings to slide in between planes on the rack
next to it to conserve space. The planes are
well supported and very easy to get to. It is
now a breeze to load or unload the planes.”
As William noted, PVC-based storage
racks are not new, but he hopes his
arrangement will be helpful to anyone who is
looking for a slick aircraft-storage solution.
Thanks, William, for sharing your
approach to the universal quest for the
ultimate model-storage arrangement.
The Dime-Store ARF—Well, Close: There
are no dime stores these days, and few of the
old-style slip-together FF models are still
available. Fortunately Guillow’s does still sell
some of those designs.
If you look around in stores that sell toys,
you might see the Guillow’s Flying Machine.
There is such a store in or near Burlington,
New Jersey, where Bradley Faul lives, and he
bought one that spans 17 inches.
Then he mixed a ParkZone Micro P-51
power system with a Spektrum brick radio, to
result in an excellent small-field flyer.
Bradley provided a photo of the completed
project next to his Spektrum transmitter for a
size reference.
With a flying weight of 1 ounce, Bradley
claims that the Flying Machine cruises at half
throttle and has proven to be a terrific flier in
its electric-powered RC configuration.
I have converted a slip-together rubberpowered
FF design and can fully endorse
Bradley’s positive results. This is a great way
to get a small-field flyer up and running fairly
quickly.
Thanks for sharing your work, Bradley.
Small and scale can coexist in a great way.
Many Guillow’s FF kits are ideal for
conversion to RC—especially using the
current crop of micro RC gear. The Guillow’s
900 series comes to mind.
The 900s have wingspans in the 16- to 18-
inch range. Their structures are well suited to
RC conversion. Glenn Lewis makes this point
in spades with his converted 900-series T-28
Trojan.
That particular model has a wing that
spans 16 inches. For the conversion he used
the ParkZone Micro P-51 power plant and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system that
controls rudder, elevator, and throttle.
The photo that Glenn provided of the
finished product shows that you don’t have to
sacrifice a wonderful scale appearance to have
a little model. Glenn’s effort is excellent by
all measures.
The finished T-28 has a flying weigh of 40
grams, or approximately 11/2 ounces. Glenn
reports that the miniature Trojan flies at half
throttle and handles surprisingly well.
Outstanding work, Glenn.
Magnets can be a small-field aeromodeler’s
best friend. Glenn Lewis’s T-28 conversion
brings to light one aspect of smaller models
that I usually find vexing: how to provide
access to the installed equipment. I faced that
challenge with a project I recently completed.
I was converting the old Comet 25-inch
Stinson SR-7 Reliant to an electric-powered
RC model. My equipment selection includes
the power unit from a Micro P-51 and a
Spektrum AR6400 brick receiver system.
Controls include rudder, elevator, and
throttle.
Because the SR-7 has a round nose, I
decided to use a sliding tray to carry all of the
equipment. The tray slides in and out through
the nose.
That setup makes for great equipment
access but does require a means for
making and breaking the connection
between servos and pushrods. Magnets
seemed to be the perfect solution, but how
would I connect them to the pushrod ends?
To handle this dilemma I started with
short lengths of dowel that were equal in
diameter to the magnets being used. A hole
was drilled through the dowel axis, and then I
adhered the dowel to the pushrod end. I glued
the magnet to the dowel face.
To ensure that the joint was secure, I
installed a piece of heat-shrink tubing over the
magnet and dowel. Then I followed that with
a few drops of thin CA. The resulting magnet
attachment turned out to be robust.
An accompanying photo shows the
finished sliding-tray setup. It works better
than I had hoped and makes it easy to get to
the equipment. The magnet’s make/break
connections have more than enough strength
to handle the push/pull loads of the flying
surfaces.
I have included several references, under
“Sources,” for the ParkZone Micro P-51
motor and gear drive; one is A Main Hobbies.
This column also mentioned the ParkZone/
Spektrum brick radio systems. Two sources
for those items are A Main Hobbies and BSD
Micro RC.
I am out of space once again. I hope
everyone has a great holiday experience. I
look forward to hearing about your projects
for 2011. MA
Sources:
DownEast Soaring Club
www.downeastsoaring.org
Guillow’s
(781) 245-5255
www.guillow.com
A Main Hobbies
(800) 705-2215
www.amainhobbies.com
BSD Micro RC
(417) 358-9521
www.bsdmicrorc.com
Paul Bradley
10201 Scarletoak Dr.
Independence KY 41051
www.parmodels.com
