I was tired of trying to start model aero engines so I changed to all electric.

Now I fly cleanly and quietly and all those starting problems have become just a bad memory.

Now I just switch on and fly !

My first succesful purpose built electric model.

Contact me !

This model is just about as simple as you can make an R/C plane. The fuselage was built up to a thickness of 1/4". There are full length 1/8" square longerons in it to make it rigid enough.

If I made another, I would use two thicknesses of 1/8" liteply fretted out and epoxied together.
The wing is also very simple. A big spruce spar and pre-shaped trailing edge provide strength and it is very light.
Tailsurfaces are from light 1/8 " square balsa to keep the weight down. Hinges are good old sellotape !
Only the tailsurfaces are fixed to the fuelage as this allows adjustment of both the wing incedence and the motor thrustline.
Those Gunther props ( available through Multiplex ) are amazingly efficient for a prop that looks like a toy !
If anyone is interested the drawing is available.....

Other Modelling Areas
As well as being interested in model aircraft, I also build model boats and I have an old Tamiya buggy ( Grasshopper ).
I am also experimenting with a Positive Bouyancy Submarine and a Hovercraft idea.
My other big interest is in small gliders.
The first I built in 1986. It was only 32" wingspan, but was of low aspect ratio giving around 250 square inches of area. It only weighed 10 ounces (quite good back then!- less than 6 ounces per squar foot !), and was towed up on a kite string.
I have no picture of this model, although I still have my drawing and intend to build another, which will be lighter (modern radio equipment) and therefore will perform better.

Wild Canary Glider
This model is an own-design of only 36" wingspan. The wing chord is 4.125" .It weighs 7 ounces ready to fly and is VERY maneouvrable.
I read about the bird in an Encycopedia. I thought the colours I had used looked similar to the photos of the bird, so the model had a name, then a beak!
It is built very light and the wing ribs are not equally spaced; they get further apart from each other towards the tip so as to keep down the inertia.
The receiver battery is one I bought that is marketed for cordless telephones in the U.K.
It has about 180mah capacity ( not sure as it seems to get better! ).

It is a great model for those mini slopes! Being light it withstands the occasional 'unscheduled landing ' very well. It has been seen to cartwheel on its wingtips better than an Olympic Gymnast!
The wing has two 1/8" square spruce spars with hard 1/32" sheet balsa webbing and leading edge sheeting and is Very Strong!
Tailsurfaces are built up from light 1/8" sheet balsa. Covering is Solartex on the fuslage and Solarfilm with Solartrim elsewhere.The rudder is hinged with a strip of solartrim each side, the elevator is hinged with sellotape each side. The logos on the wings are from solartrim.


I just found some photographs of a mini glider I made in around '92 !
It was 32" span and had 3 Futaba S133 servos.
It climed like a rocket in anything more than a light breeze and was VERY aerobatic.I called it Etoile Lumiere
I sold it to finance the repair of the car I had at the time !
See the photo page for the pics

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