triflyer

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Help!
I'm trying to gather information on the WWII bomber Martin A30. I would like to build one but I am having a problem finding full scale construction 3 views or drawings. I have located pictures and 3 view line drawings but I need more information, particularly on the tail group. Does anyone know if the fin/rudder and the stab/elevator was fabric covered? I know that the rudder and elevator were, and the earlier predecessors of the A30 apparently had the tail group fabric covered.
Any information would be appreciated
Thank you

warbird51

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Wing Mfg. used to have plans for an R/C version of the A-30. You might check with them if the plans and canopy/turrets are still available.

triflyer

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Thank you for the reply. I have these plans. However, they are very old plans that date back to the early to mid 60's, using reed equipment or early proportional, either Orbit or Bonner. The plans are very nice and appear to have reasonable scale outline but I suspect that the tail feathers, because of the time in which the plans were drawn, are oversize, which was very common in the earlier days of scale R/C. Also these plans are what made me suspicous of whether the tail group was all fabric covered. The designer looks like he took great care and time towards rib spacing in the stab and fin that indicates, I suspect, that he was following some kind of original construction plans. The cowels, turrets and canopies etc. are still available from Wing Mfr at a very reasonable price and have remarkably good detail on them and I have purchased them already which has spurred me on to do this project.
Thanks again

R8893

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Triflyer,
I have the "Aircraft in Profile" covering the Maryland and Baltimore. I quote: "Both the Maryland and Baltimore were conventional two-motor monoplanes of all-metal contruction, with stressed skin Duralumin covering to all surfaces." Usually this series of books gives more information about the plane's construction, but unfortunately not for these planes. The photos are small and not very clear but appear to show a fabric covered rudder. I can't tell on the elevators or ailerons. The five-view centerfold painting of a Baltimore depicts fabric covered control surfaces. The stabilizer depiction is a little ambiguous but overall I think the artist was showing a metal covered stab.
Chuck

warbird51

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The A-30 was of all metal construction with fabric covered ailerons, elevators and rudder. The flaps are metal covered. I'll try to look for more info for you.

Regards, Wayne


Back in the 60's I had the plans that you have for the A-30. I thought it would make a great r/c model.

Veltro

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Triflyer,

I picked up a new book on the Martin Baltimore (A-30) in Italian Service from ianallansuperstore.com in the UK a couple of months ago. (The Brits supplied some to the Italians after the surrender in 1943). You should be able to pick up a copy from pacmodels.com here in the U.S. in a couple more months. They get their supply by ship. Takes a while but keeps the cost down. Says fabric covered rudder and elevators. Decent 3-view of the Mk. IV (top, front, left side). A bit smaller than 1/72.

Jay

triflyer

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Thank you veltro and R8893 for your helpful information on the covering of the tail group on the A30. This was one of my main question marks.
Thank you to Veltro for the info on the book. I will attempt to purchase it.

bash-ace-RCU

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I have the Wing Manufacturing short kit that they used to offer for this plane, hopefully some day I'll get around to building it.

triflyer

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This is what I'm building currently. I have the fuselage and tail group done and starting the wing now. The plans are dated and it is hard to confirm scale outline and construction.

bash-ace-RCU

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This site is the best I have found for any scale documentation on the A-30, probably your best bet.

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=ba...ltimorembl.htm

Looks like if you find this model kit it may have some scale documentation with the decal sheet.

tubig

i was interested in this kit a short while ago. i was looking for something to put two os .52fs's in. how does it build?

bash-ace-RCU

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tubig, You may want to consider the Wing Manufacturing A-26 Invader, it builds straight forward and fairly easy and would be a great match for your .52's (I am building the A-26 at the moment and plan on putting .52's on it). the A-30 would do well on a pair of .40 four strokes, plus it's a little more involved with the construction. On the other hand, the A-30 is quite rare, I've never seen an R/C model of one at any field in 20 years of flying, makes it worth the effort.

triflyer

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Thank you both for your recent iinterest in the A-30. This is a very challenging plane to build. I am using foam wing cores that Wing Mfg. cut for me. I have redrawn the tail group for a more scale outline and construction. The drawings may soon be available thru Wing. The short kit presently available thru Wing consists of very detailed cowls, canopys, and turret. I am putting retracts by B.D. also available thru Wing. It is a very different and unusual attack bomber, not seen very often. It is buildable, but is a challenge and I would not recommend it unless you have lots of experience. I think you are right about twin .40's, as the plane is very light. It builds almost like a large rubberband plane. I may try a pair of .30's(4 cycle) for power. We'll see where the weight ends up at. I have opted not to use balsa blocks for some of the fuselage forming in favor of lighter sheeting. The fuselage is almost complete now with minor sanding and filling. I am starting the wings now and anticipate further challenges. The Wing A26 would really be overpowered with .52's. 40's would make a smoother better flying plane. The plane is a very clean design and flies very fast.

warbird51

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Pictures! we need pictures! I want to see your progress!

I think it's cool when someone does something different than the same thing over and over again

triflyer

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I will post pictures by the weekend. I am currently out of town on business. Thanks to all you guys for your interest and continuing help on this project.
Curt Spicer

triflyer

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These are the pictures of the Martin A30. A little rough yet, more windows have to be cut in the nose, side and rear of fuselage. The wings are next.....

bash-ace-RCU

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triflyer, looks pretty good, have you started the nacelles yet? Those looked interesting to build.

triflyer

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The nacelles do look like they will be THE challenge. I will be starting those soon and we'll see how much patience I really have.

bash-ace-RCU

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I've examined them at great length trying to figure out the most logical way to build them to include retracts. If you come up with a good way to do it, take some pictures. Looking at the pics of your progress so far has got me itching to start mine, but I have too many projects at the moment, so I will just gather all the info and materials required to build the plane when the time comes.

Feeop

I noticed the last post here was quite some time ago. Do you have any more recent photos of your construction. I just decided the other day that this is something I would like to try. I will be using the Wing drawings, so any further info you could provide would be very much appreciated. From you photos, it looks like a nice build. Assuming you've finished it or almost, what size engines did you decide to use.

Thanks for any assistance.

PS did you get the tail group drawings finished

triflyer

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Thankyou for your continuing interest in the A30. Due to work related things and home things(college graduations, son getting married, a short, to short, vacation up north, and the repainting, repair, refinish, and general upkeep of our house, now 127 years old, the time needed to finish the A30 properly has been in short supply since April. I have the structures all build and waiting for fine finishing and covering. I have to do some sanding on the nacelle fairings yet and cut the openings for the front green house before I can glass the fuse and middle wing assembly. The nacelles, which I thought would be the most difficult thing to build, went together very well with out to much work. I found that by following the plans, for the most part, they fit well and were not overly complicated to modify for retracts. I built the nacelles with removable firewall assemblies. Four 4-40 allen screws hold the 3/16 thick 5 ply firewalls to the 1/8" 5 ply bulkheads. Instead of struggling inside the nacelles trying to acess the fuel tank,throttle servo and linkage, I devised a way that the tank, servo and linkage are on frame work that is mounted to the back of the firewall. When the firewall is is unbolted from the nacelle, the engine and cowel (still mounted to the firewall),tank and servo are removed as a assembly. It is sort of a power pod. With the removal of the 4 screws, only the throttle servo lead will have to be unplugged to remove the complete assembly from nacelle/wing . There is even room for on board glow driver if needed. The only negative thing is that I could not get the retracts up far enough to completely enclose the wheel when in the up position. It only needs about 3/8" more to completely enclosed the wheels and after some more thought, it could be done using slim line fuel tanks. On the next one I build or help with, (I cut two more kits for other people when I cut my parts) I will try this arrangement. Although not 100% scale, it does look as if it is correct, similar to the B17 and other bombers designed in the mid 30's with the main wheels partially visiable iwhen in the nacelles. I believe(I could be wrong) the Baltimore's predecesor, the Maryland , had it's wheels showined when up. This plane is not 100% scale anyway and I don't plan on entering it in any scale contests. I planned on using OS Surpass 48's for power, thinking I had two. As it turns out, I have a Surpass 40 and 48.But only one of each. So I am currently looking for a used 48 or 40 to make a pair of either. I think I would prefer the .48. I say used, only to try and match the used one I have in similar wear and power. I do have a pair of older OS 40 4c, but they are not Surpass's and are slightly larger and may cause interferance with cowel. I'm not sure if the standard older 40's have enough power anyways. The 48's fit perfectly under the cowels with the valve rocker cover just fitting inside the housings(supercharger housings?) on top of the cowels. I did finish the tail group drawings and will gladly send a copy of them to you. Email your address. I do have some photos of the A30 assembled in it's present state and will post them here this weekend. I still have not found any usable drawings or three views of the orginal plane yet. I did obtain an old Frog plastic kit of the A30, but it is not very well detailed. There seems to be alot of info on some of the Italian sites, but without English translations. I may just not know or be smart enough to figure out how to get them in English.
Again, thanks for your interest.
If you want the tail drawings, contact me through my Email - [email protected] for arrangements.
Sorry for the terrible spelling, Spell Check is on strike tonight!
Curt Spicer

Feeop

Triflyer, thanks for the info. I'll be looking forward to your pics. I just got a little more info from Dan Gipe at Wing Mfg, so between both of you, I should soon be ready to start.

Feeop

TriFlyer, lookin very nice. I have a question about the wings. Do they really come apart or are you building them together? The reason I ask is that I can't see a good way to keep them together during flight. Any help would be appreciated. So far I have one wing and one nacel done through the frame up. I'm also building a Cub for my dad so things are a lottle slow.

triflyer

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The wings do split just outside of the nacelles. I used a little different method of joining them from what the plans show. The plans show a sliding "shear" web as I believed they called it. Are you using the foam cores that Wing Mfg. makes, or are you building the wings as shown in the plans. I used the foam cores. I used a plug in system for the wings that use two screws to hold them into the main fuselage and wing assembly. This consisted of 3/8" wood dowels that plugged into aluminum tubes that were epoxied into the wing cores. Two sheet meet screws go the wing skins into the aluminum tubes and thru the dowels and lock the wing into place. Carbon Fiber rods could be used also, but this would be somewhat of an over kill. The dowels and tubes are located with a lite ply rib on the end of each mating surface of the wing core. I also use a couple of 1/8" wood pins just behind the leading edge to help keep the wings in proper position. It seems very strong and straight. If you need pictures, I could take a few to show you if it would be of some help. I got this idea from the plans of the Wing P38 and could send you a picture of this area of the plans if needed.
I'm just about ready to paint the A30. My work schedule has really put a damper on finishing this project, but I am getting a little excited about it now that I see light at the end of the tunnel.
If l can be of any help feel free to email
Curt Spicer

Feeop

TriFlyer, Thanks for the info. I'm using the plan wings instead of the foam cores. I like a challange, so any pics you could post would be great. How do you access the components to seperate and join the inner and outer wings as required?

Thanks again.