JHMIN

Hi.

Sevral years ago, I found a little MK CURARE 20 kit from very old local hobby shop.
This little bird is really rare in my country,so I was very lucky.



Recently I got a very old MK spinner,I decided to make this little MK CURARE.




Here is some results. Thank you.

R_G

My Feedback: (1)

Very nice!

Rg

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

JHMIN,

beautiful work! Just like your Aurora 25.

What retracts and radio did you use on the Curare? Some photos of your installation would be great!

Love the classic 2.4 converted radios too! New encoders or originals?

David

JHMIN

Rg

Thank you very much.

David

Thank you for remembering my AURORA 25.

MonoKote covered
engine : ENYA 25 SS
elevator : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
aileron : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
rudder : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
throttle : WAYPOINT 150MG (will be changed)

Turnigy MCR All Metal Retract System 3mm pin & MK 3mm strut X 3

And KRAFT signature and 78's JR Radio 6ch : Frsky module modified with original encoders (still works well and has no problem)

Thank you.

JHMIN

ehsanmorshedi

Nicely done

dhal22

Very nice! More details please.

ThermalSniffer

My Feedback: (1)

That is a very neat result! Yesterday I discovered there is a laser cut kit available for the Curare 20 from Germany (eBay.de), a little googling about the design brought me to your build. You're very lucky to have found an original kit. The Enya suits it nicely!

EDIT: Seems like it just says it's a CNC cut kit. Could be CNC routed instead of laser cut.

BERUSTY

My Feedback: (3)

Classic Jewel!

Holy cow did you do a great job!!!!

Rusty Dose
Team Futaba

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

TS,

After your post, I decided to look into the offering from the German kitter and picked up a kit from him.

It turns out to be a CNC cut (router cut) replica of the MK C20. It is a partial kit with all 3-ply birch (typical of MK kits) replaced with 3-ply poplar (lite ply). The engine mount beams also typical of MK kits are also reproduced resoanably well and made of 1/4" (actually 6 mm) 5-ply wood. I'm not certain what kind of wood it is but it is neither birch nor poplar although it resembles the latter in color. The kit also includes some of the machined balsa parts typical of MK kits. The pre-carved cowl chin, cowl top, fuse bottom front sides, vertical LE and wing saddle fairings are included. Wing spar and TE material is included and also CNC cut from sheet stock. The kit also includes 2 mm (3/32") wing sheeting which is of reasonable quality but strikes me as too heavy for a 25 sized model. I believe the MK kit used 1.5 mm (1/16") balsa which is what I will replace with. The turtle deck is also sheeted with 2 mm which I've actually come to like for decks as 1/16" is often too thin unless heavily supported and 3/32" is a tad thicker than needed (2 mm is a little under 3/32"). No hardware (MK or otherwise), decals or printed plans are included but a CD-ROM comes with the kit with a modified and re-arranged MK plan which uses the original drawings but none of the Japanese text. All MK part numbers have been replaced by sequential numbered parts (i.e., no F1, S1, V1 and so forth typical of MK kits).

I bought this kit as I was interested in seeing what a German re-engineered CNC cut MK replica would look like. Overall I would say the kit quality is fair with good quality wood. The precision of the CNC cut parts is somewhat coarse with circles being rather random in shape and angles (e.g., 45 degree former angles) being somewhat rounded. I noticed that details like the fit of the supplied spars and wing rib slots is also not very accurate as the spars (which seem of the appropriate size - 3/16" square) don't fit in the rib slots (which will have to be enlarged). In retrospect, this kit appears to be hand cut with a router using metal templates and probably several duplicates of each set of parts (e.g., a sheet of wing ribs, a sheet of lite ply formers) made at a time. I would not be impressed with CNC cutting if this was the result but I know that much higher precision can be obtained with computer controlled routing. Perhaps not quite as accurate as laser cutting but pretty close. Parts like spars which are cut from sheet balsa are actually cut with a saw so they contain a fair amount of "fuzz" along the length of the parts which needs to be cleaned up prior to the part being used. In other words, the sometimes claimed advantage of CNC over laser cutting not needing part cleanup doesn't hold at least for this kit. Last but not least, the PET reproduced canopy is of appropriate thickness and molding but the clarity is a bit questionable and it contains bubbles in the rear half portion.

In summary, I'd say this is a fair quality kit which is certainly buildable with a few parts replacement and a little "adjustment" work during the build. Wood quality is good but will require replacing in some areas - particularly the wings. I have no problem with this as it grows my stock of 2 mm balsa sheets which I like for some other specific applications. I will probably also replace the canopy with one from Keith at PFP's which was made from an original MK C20 canopy we provided him. His should be clear of bubbles just like those in the MK kit originals.

The photos below are some snaps I took of the kit. Note that wood is all metric with sheets being 1000 mm long (~ 40"). I was hoping the kit would fit in my nice flip top 37" long boxes but not so. I will trim the wood sheets where I can so that it does.

As a last comment on this model and kit, I should mention that it forms part of the MK 20 size conservation project for which I still have full intentions and desire to reproduce. The design aspect was taken up by my friend Victor in Germany (this is not his kit) who does excellent 3D CAD work but unfortunately the design layout for laser cutting never came to fruition. In fact, I have had little luck bringing to production three of the MK 20 kit designs which were taken up by others who volunteered for the task. The models included the Curare 20, Skymaster 20 (mostly done by myself actually), Aurora 25 (re-designed as the Aurora 30 from the A60 plan rather than the A25 plan) and Cosmos 25. In the throws of that work I ended up switching mostly to 40-50 size classics re-design which seemed like more suitably sized models for pattern practice while keeping fuel and parts costs down yet still having models which performed well in general flying conditions. I expect models which I have finished re-designing including the Arrow 40 and Citation 45 to make it to production in 2015. Hopefully, I will also be able to bring at least one of the MK 20 classics to production as well.

David

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Switching gears momentarily but not going too far astray, I wanted to mention that I will be producing a laser cut kit of the equivalently sized Tiporare 20. As many of you know, this was Dave Brown and Dick Hanson's adaptation of the Curare design conceived to be easier to build but have equal (or some may argue superior) flight performance to Prettner's original Curare design. The Tipo has been a long time "obsession" of mine being the first model I wanted to "salvage" back in 2008 when I rejoined the hobby and long before the "classic pattern conservation" resurgence took place since the beginning of this decade. We are very fortunate today to have a number of classics to choose from being offered by several sources in various scales and construction materials. My principle interest has been in the 25-32 size space as well as the larger 40-50 size space although I have also been interested in the "larger than classic" 90-120 size models. I have brought one 25-32 size kit to production, the UFO 25, and would like the next model of that scale to be added to my offerings to be the Tipo 20 which I actually will be calling the Tipo 30 due to its slightly larger scale.

The CAD re-design work is done and as can be seen from the attached plan snaps (glow and electric versions), I have re-engineered the way the model is built further yet to simplify the construction particularly from laser cut components. The fuse design is entirely interlocking and rather than making use of thick balsa tristock and top balsa blocks, the fuse has a stressed skin turtle deck (much like the MK C20) and a forward removable canopy section which unlike the C20 is not transparent but intended to be covered or painted with the rest of the fuse. This T30 canopy will be carved and sanded from two light white foam blocks bonded to either side of a lite ply keel. The canopy structure is made up of three lite ply parts including the keel, base and back forming a rigid yet light part which is easily removable for access to the fuel tank and/or Lipo battery. All parts will be precision laser cut from excellent quality wood and have tight tolerances. I will be building a prototype first to insure proper re-design engineering and accurate parts fit. Flying surfaces (wing and stab) will be built from foam cores, CF reinforcements and 1/32" balsa skins which I expect to be very light and comparable to the MK C20 wing when using 2 mm balsa for sheeting.

I expect the model to fly well with a good 25-28 size engine and excel with a 32-36 size engine. As an electric power plant option, the various EF1 offerings on 4s should provide an equally thrilling flying model.

David

stuntflyr

JHMIN,
Super nice, very convincing with the period correct components, the prop and engine and spinner make it look like the 70's. Bravo.
Chris...

ThermalSniffer

My Feedback: (1)

Nicely done David and thanks for that in depth review. I wondered what happened to those kits as I was planning to buy one of them. There were 3 and they had languished unnoticed until I mentioned them here and then they dissapeared before I got my chance to buy. Luckily I've since found the original manufacturers website. It seems it is very much a cottage industry product which is manufactured on order.

I have a CNC router and have cut a few kits for myself with it. It is deadly accurate but if you get the router bit, speed through the wood or depth of pass wrong it can leave ragged edges on the parts. I don't think it's the tool best suited for wooden kits, I bought it with the modern milled foam core molded wing in mind as is prevalent in soaring circles right now.

I was 8 years old in 1988 when I got the flying bug and my dad would regularly take me to watch the local model flying club's activities where I now realise they were flying pattern. Obviously, I only caught the tail end of classic pattern but it left a lasting impression. Back then I bought myself an IC trainer but didn't get to fly it with the pattern flyers before we moved to another city and my model flying interest veered sharply toward thermal soaring - hence my username here.

I recently came across some photos that my dad took on our visits to watch the club flyers and, with that, the slippery slope was greased and I'm now falling for the idea of an IC trainer followed by a small pattern flyer. There probably isn't much beyond the engine for me to learn on an IC trainer but want to build one for nostalgia's sake and I am looking for a small pattern flyer to follow on from it. Perhaps you could suggest something that would have been available to me in the late 80's early 90's as far as a 20-25 size mini pattern model goes. I have identified that there were a couple of SupraFly's in the photos so I'm thinking of building a SupraFly 25 but am loathe to scratch build one if I can't get a canopy and cowl for it.

JHMIN

Thank you very much everyone!!

Here's new work for another one.

70's wheels , but hard to find.

So I use Dubro wheels for the vintage pattern plane.

JHMIN

Fast food sauce cups ,a replacment for a wheel cup


I have to save the Tettra's wheel cup for the next project

.

JHMIN

MK 190cc Oval type fuel tank and 9X6 prop



70's spinners (45mm) MK,IM, KaVan

JHMIN

same spec. except the engine.

MonoKote covered
engine : OS 25FP
elevator : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
aileron : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
rudder : HITEC HS 225MG X 1
throttle : WAYPOINT 150MG (will be changed)

Turnigy MCR All Metal Retract System 3mm pin & MK 3mm strut X 3

JHMIN

logo work

JHMIN

MK CURARE 20 in 2014

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

JH,

I can't say enough good things about your 20 size classics - just beautiful!

Please take some pictures of the underside of your model too and seeing the gear installation is always interesting.

David

ThermalSniffer

My Feedback: (1)

He does it again! JHMIN, is your newest Curare 20 a scratch build or did you just happen to have 2 of these ultra rare kits, or perhaps you also ordered that kit from Germany? Your results look excellent as always. I recommend you look at the Graupner Air Ultra Light wheels too (or as they're properly called in German, Graupner Air-Ultraleicht Räder). They already have chromed hubs, are lighter than the equivalent dubro and have that gloss look that wheels used to have. I haven't tried them but plan to use them on my 70s and 80s kits as I feel the wheels are an important detail.

I just got hold of an original MK Happy 20 kit. It's just a 3 channel trainer but seems to be of similar vintage to the MK mini pattern kits. The photo on the box shows they even covered it in a similar way to the pattern models. It has a similar shape tail to the curare and comes with exactly the same landing gear arrangement. It'll be the flashiest 3 channel trainer at the field when I'm done with it

JHMIN

David

Thank you very much.
But if you look my plane closer, probably you will be disappointed.





ThermalSniffer

Thank you.
This newest Curare 20 is a scratch build from the original MK CURARE 20.
I made them together, but MonoKote covered later
and tried to make her 99% equal to original MK curare parts.
I made her to enjoy flight without worry .

And I heard that the MK happy 20 is great pattern thrainer.
I will wait to your MK HAPPY 20!!
(And I will try Graupner Air Ultra Light wheels. Thanks again.)

JHMIN

cockpit of the MK CURARE 20

JHMIN

another angle

more colorful than original design.

JHMIN

with my favorite transmitters



Next year I will start to make a new vintage 20 class MK pattern plane.

And I will start new thread about vintage 60 class MK pattern plane soon.


Thank you very much and please forgive my poor english.
..

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

JH,

not so! Your static display pictures are taken with much artistry and excellent lighting. It is very nice to see the model stand out as yours does from the white neutral background.

As to your building a covering, any "1 foot" model (viewing distance) qualifies as top notch in my book. I know how difficult these little pattern models are to build and cover so I very much applaud your efforts.

What 20 size design will you be building next year? The sister ship to the Aurora, the Cosmos, would be great!

Otherwise, the Skymaster and Arrow would be excellent choices in my humble opinion. If you need a glass deck for the Skymaster, I can provide you with one.

As far as I know, the Arrow 20 never came to market (please let us know if otherwise in Asia) but Hatori seemed ready for it as they actually have a header designed for the OS 25 VF intended specifically for the Arrow. Using a scaled down Arrow 40 plan, simplified somewhat, could work well. Hatori also has the S-shaped headers for the inverted VF in the Skymaster.

Best, David

P.S. Say, how much does each model weight ready to fly without fuel? I assume you have 180 cc tanks in them?