mgnostic

One of the benefits of being a band kid in high school is that it expanded my taste in music. My best friend in high school/college room mate was a music major so I had lots of exposure to a wide variety of music. The frustrating thing is I often discover a group or genre well after they have passed their prime.

Telemaster Sales UK

It's very handy having a Master Builder in the construction industry as a member of your model flying club, they can turn their hand to anything including repairing cameras! This is a picture of my Guidato, an early radio model dating from 1957. I have always admired its quirky snub-nosed appearence! It weighs 4lbs 2 ozs or 1.87kgs and I plan to use it as an ab initio trainer with elderly beginners on the buddy box.. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=7378

My dog is such a diva that she has to photobomb at least one of the shots!

mgnostic

It's beautifully done. I also saw the posts of this plane on Facebook. Planes like that are a good way to keep small four strokes in the air. I've lately inherited several small four strokes and a couple of O&R spark engines and although it will be several planes down the line I'm wanting to build another G.E. Cabinette with one of them.

donnyman

I try to keep at least one model of that type so I may wake up my thumbs after a long time away from flying, I surely will need one if I ever get into flying again. Mine is a eagle 63 with 40 size engine. Recently the urge to get some building accomplished has passed my mind right up until I climb the stairs to my shop and open the door to the big mess caused by the freeze and bursting of water pipes in my shop.

That guidato is a nicely finished model.

mgnostic

I've a great fondness for the Eagle 63. it was my first successful RC plane. It got rebuilt a number of times and by the time it got retired it had transformed into a clipped wing taildragger with an enlarged rudder.

mightyhorn

My dad built the Little Freak when I was a baby, based on what their yard looked like and his age in the pic.
He built the Sultan shortly after it his the magazine with an Orbit 10 channel reed system. Right after words proportional systems hit and his radio system was out of date. Also the bottom dropped out of the hardwood floor industry. Once he got hired by another small company he didn't have the time and lost interest.
This spring when it STOPS raining, I'm going to start up with my trainer. I've got a club.....10 minutes away. WAY better than where I lived in CA- both local clubs were a mile away!

David John Davis

You're lucky. It's snowing here!

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

What you care? You got something to build and some great wine.

Telemaster Sales UK

...and someone likes the weather!

Telemaster Sales UK

On 11th September 2002 my best friend and former lead guitarist, Michael Harker, died of leukaemia. He was fifty-two years old. He was fairly active until the last few weeks and in his last year he asked me to recommend a model aeroplane which he could build. I suggested all of the usual suspects but he had a private pilot's licence and for him it had to be a scale model and just to make things more interesting he chose to build Bob Wright's HM18 Flying Flea as modified by Abbott-Baynes. https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=12222. This aircraft has a fixed tailplane, or more correctly a fixed rear wing and pitch control is achieved by pivoting the mainplane. He had never built a model aeroplane before but he was very handy and a better woodworker than I will ever be. After he had died his widow gave me a box containing all of the parts which he had cut out.



After over twenty years it's high time that the model was built and flown so this evening I opened the box and as far as I can see most of the parts are there, beautifully cut out too. So after I've finished the Guidato https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/ind...dato/#comments I'm going to have a go at steaming the spars to a curved template he made up stuck to a piece of oak.



One question for the aerodynamicists amongst you. On the plan it states that the leading edges of the wings should not be rounded off. I have always thought that sharp leading edges were more likely to provoke a sudden stall while rounded leading edges made the stall more gentle.



Is this true and if you were me would you leave the leading edges sharp or round them off?

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I have always rounded my leading edges, frankly, I thought they look better. I have never seen a full size airplane that didn't have a rounded leading edge, I always thought it had something to do with the airflow over the wing but never bother to research an answer to the question.

mgnostic

I had a look at the plans. There doesn't seem to be any explanation in article or on the plans so I would bet that it is a scale detail. Looking at a couple other large scale (a relative term with this plane) plans the leading edge doesn't seem to be that critical. What is noted is being careful with the wing incidence and not overpowering the plane. I've had an opportunity to see several full scale Fleas at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville. They are fascinating little airplanes. The museum has photos of each of the planes they have on display.

donnyman

Mgnostic
I too have a fondness for the eagle 63 it makes a great trainer bird that will do most maneuvers which makes it quite versatile. many of my flying buddies back in the day enjoyed flying my eagle so I built several for them the most interesting was one I built the fuselage from balsa instead of lite ply it was a real floater and a blast to fly.

Telemaster
The idea of square leading edges has been bugging me for years, I built two eaglets (small version of the eagle 63) and rounded the horizontal and vertical stab leading edges, Neither if these birds flew very well, but one I purchased with squared leading edges was a exceptional flyer. I have been tempted to build two more to test just what is going on but do not believe I would be able to figure it out. In general conversation someone said the turbulence caused square edges increased the effectiveness of the control surfaces, I have seen this used on full size birds also, Any body have some info about this??

David John Davis

Donny, the leading edge of the Flying Flea is made from 1/4" sq balsa fitted into a bird's mouth in each of the wing ribs so the corner of the strip wood is in the foremost position presenting 90 degree angle to the airflow..

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I know a lot of homebuilt aircraft used round tubing for a leading edge I wounder if square tubing would work?

donnyman

Yes that type of L.E. is like a tabulator at angles of attack I do not know why it is used!

donnyman

My goodness the square leading edge question just stopped dead! I was hoping for some enlightening information.

I have been looking into several different planes and was wondering what would happen if they had better engines, The f7u-1 cutlass is one of my favorite planes but was a clunker for the navy due to low engine thrust. and the long nose gear didn't help either. I've read someone is rebuilding a f7u using stronger engines. I'd love to be able to do something like that but as you know the money ain't there.


This one in my opinion is the best looking version (the f7u-1) pure sex.

I have a kit that builds a standoff scale with a pusher engine that flies well but will use it only If it can be modified to look more like this. or start from scratch. with some powerful ducted fans. Although I love turbines, they are too much of a hastle.

David John Davis

Gentlemen, the 1/4" sq balsa which makes up the leading edge on the Flying Flea is not "square" as such. It is rotated through 45 degrees and mounted in a triangular opening in each of the wing ribs thereby giving a very sharp leading edge to the airflow.

donnyman

I have built several models with 1/4" leading edge's but they were always rounded off before flight, If left sharp my experience is it induced a easily stalled wing due to turbulent air flow but maybe this is what the designer wanted ???

David John Davis

I agree with you Donny, I've always rounded off leading edges but the Flying Flea has a reflex wing section, i.e, the last 25% of the wing rib kicks upwards on both wings. Someone described it as a tail-less heavily staggered biplane!

mgnostic

I've long thought the Cutlass as an attractive plane but, yeah, it joins a long list potentially interesting aircraft that were let down by underperforming or underdeveloped engines.

ETpilot

The SPAD has a sharp, triangle like, leading edge. It has a nasty stall characteristic. My first RC airplane getting back into RC was a SPAD like this. Lost it on a turn and destroyed when it spiraled in.

The foamy has square blunt LE’s. I haven’t flown it yet. Curious as to how it will fly.

GallopingGhostler

I've found a little washout toward the wing tips may help prevent that nasty stall problem. Otherwise, that SPAD you built is a really nice looking sport flyer. Also like the smaller foam board sport flyer at the bottom. Goes to show one doesn't have to break the bank to fly.

Picked up a 1960's earlier K&B .35 Stallion off an Internet auction a couple years ago. Finally got around to cleaning it up. Bought it for under $30 shipping and tax included. With the intake bypass port showing through the exhaust opening, piston skirt cleared the opening giving the appearance it had SPI (sub-port injection).

Moved this engine discussion to a more suitable thread.

RCU K&B Stallion .35 Engine

Found that a previous owner installed the piston and cylinder backwards, so after freeing the engine of aged Castor oil residue with light machine oil, disassembling and correctly reassembling, now I have a new, hardly run engine. It has strong compression.

Not to worry, took it apart then after making a new cylinder to crankcase gasket from a cracker box cardboard, reassembled it. Lo and behold, after the light machine oil had a chance to penetrate and loosen old Castor, it has like new compression. This is a like new engine. I can salvage the needle valve spring off one of my Testor McCoy .35 Red Head parts engines.


Engine now reassembled.

I have an old, used but unmodified Tatone .45-.65 Peace Pipe muffler that would make a good muffler for this engine, should I fly C/L in a circle requiring. How many here have ruined their legacy 1950's - mid 1970's cross scavenged motors, because these used Tatone aftermarket mufflers? They are chambered too small for the range stated.


Holding the Stallion .35 with the .45-.65 Peace Pipe. Now I need to make a strap.

How many of the over 50 crowd remember these legacy cross scavenge engines and these historic mufflers, brought out to save flying fields lost over engine noise, but ended up ruining their engines for using them?

Telemaster Sales UK

The windscreen doesn't look very satisfactory but I plan to maiden the Guidato tomorrow morning when light winds and temperatures of a balmy 6C are forecast! Just need to charge the batteries. I have not run the engine in the model yet but I have on the test stand.

donnyman

the reflex airfoil is another that has me a little baffled, The use of them is prevalent in flying wings and high speed deltas, on some birds without the reflex the plane tends to tuck at higher speeds, I noticed this on a f4d Skyray rc bird some years back but never got the chance to check it out (Blocked by stupidity...Long story) The Horton h0229 flying wing rc bird has a reflex airfoil that acts differently in flight when powered by ducted fans (tucks) as opposed to turbines. The glider version plans (low speed??) show no reflex.