Working on an idea for a glider built from an old 60's none-R/C plan and would like to update it, thinking on 2 or 3 channel R/C and adding a motor and folding prop to get me out of the brown smelly stuff when needed. Model is of a slope or thermal glider with a 2 metre (about 78 inch) span which originally had a one piece wing which would have been very awkward to move around so I have added a 3'' fixed section above the fuse to 'plug' the two modified mainplanes into, not knowing much about motors etc and particularly the merits of the new brushless type I need to know what size motor and prop to use and battery type, any info and help much appreciated,
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Many thanks, have registered and it looks like a most useful site to keep an eye on, I have a new unused 540 somewhere but wondered if the brushless type of motor would be any better i.e weight to power etc. There seems to be an absolute mass of different sizes of motors and motor types around these days and knowing just what motor can power what prop is a mystery to me not having worked with electrics before, the only powered aircraft I ever flew was at school and were control line jobs,
- and therefore not suitable for much over 4lb total weight.
50W/lb is an acceptable minimum power to weight ratio for aircraft that do not stand on their tails..
There is nothing wroong woth a brushed motor, especially couoled to LIPO batteries..more than adequate power to wight and cheap as chips.
Of course eberyone 'knows' that brushless are more expensive, the latest thing and therefore 'better'..which in many cases they are. But taht old 540 is probably *good enough*..
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The 540 was originally meant to power a 3 foot trawler model and I was thinking it is a bit of a brick to stick in the nose end of an aircraft so may end up in a trawler anyway where weight doesnt matter, my usual 'meat' is static scale sailing ship models for collectors and museums but need a change so decided to go back to large gliders for the summer which is something I have meant to do for years as it is a damned sight more relaxing and fun than building to deadlines from 300 year old plans and at the end working on something you are probably pizzed off with the sight of. I started out building ship models for the fun of it then ended up making the bulk of my income from it which,like the ever-decreasing circle, took all the fun out of it so now its time to change things, I will still build ship models but alongside other projects and ideas I have wanted to do for many years and before I sign up for a wooden overcoat.
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Cheers, soon as the present commission is finished and shipped i will have the funds for some new toys and materials to work with and intend to make the best of it too, on the subject of aircraft do you know of any newsgroups concerned with wreck recovery particularly prop driven a/c ?, there appears to be a lot of stuff coming out of the Russian wilderness these days,
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Will do, there have beenc a number of rumours of late about some pretty rare stuff coming out of bogs and forests in Northern Russia including a brace of 109's in nice condition after landing with shortage of fuel problems and a substantial chunk of a Henschel 129 tank buster but not found any more info on that one, only one Hs129 in existance and as usual it is in storage for the Smithsonian. A friend who lives just 100 yards away is based at Cosford and has a job that would keep me going for a lifetime repairing and restoring WW2 aircraft for Hendon, he had the job of suspending the Tempest from the ceiling there plus other daft ideas but quitly they are building a complete Hampden from bits quite a few of which were salvaged from a crash up in Norway few years ago. I worked at Cosford for a few years as a volunteer research librarian in the late 70's and early 80's and was one of the early society members who did a bit to get the museum started before Hendon stepped in realising it was a good money-spinner, i heard many stories from ex-RAF guys including a Spit belly landed on a remote Orkney/Shetland island and in all probability never recovered, also twenty DH Hornets buried alongside the strip at an auxiliary airfield out in Burma complete with engines etc which had been replaced by Meteors and Vamps so were obsolete and not worth bringing home, I know the location but nobody seems interested,
Fantastic..I live quite close to Duxford..and visit regularly.
I was thinking of visiting Hendon or Cosford next - which do you recommend?
I think the magazine I mentioned is just what you need by the way..I tend to get it more regularly than any modelling periodicals..as it is not filled with adverts for the latest glossy rubbish.
I remember reading about a LOT of stuff being pulled out of lakes and bogs everywhere..plus replicas of 109's now in 'production!!'
I have not visited Duxford for some years now and the collection has expanded in a big way since then with a number of American aircraft never seen in British airspace during WW" such as the Bearcat, my favourite big fighters I think are the Bearcat, Tempest and Fury and the last products of the Japanese the Frank and Jake, the Itialians seem to have drifted off radials onto licence built DB 605's and the like.There are rumours of three or four Fury's in the Iraqi desert result of malfunction and belly landings that were never recovered but I dont think I will go looking for them at the moment.
Both sites have their own recommendations really with Hendon being squeeky clean and somewhat 'operating theatre' climate but there are aircraft there that you wont see anywhere else like the two seat FW190 and Ju87 and being free entry is a bonus as you can spend all day there under cover if the weather is bad whereas Cosford is spread out through three or more hangers and many aircraft are outside but again a number of aircraft tto be seen nowhere else in the world like my old girl Me410 which i spent many happy hours tarting up and cleaning out and is the last complete example in existance. Cosford is a great place in summer to stroll around and the collection of experimental aircraft is an eye opener as to what the British aircraft industry was capable of in its day with the sister aircraft to the Fairey FD2 speed record holder and many other prototypes such as the prototype Hunter, prone-position Meteor, TSR2 and many more.
.as it is
This is the reason I stopped buying 'Model Boats' magazine, it is so power orieentated with so much advertising it wasnt worth paying over three quid for.
I would have loved to see the 109 G that was rebuilt to flying by the RAF before they managed to crash it, it took years to rebuild with reliable parts and find an engine that was guaranteed low-hours and so on to meet RAF and other requirements then some nurd stuffed it in a field, I believe there is a 109 G6 flying again in Germany with a lot of support from Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm who handled much of the airframe rebuild and a German aero engine technician is doing nothing but rebuild
601/603/605 engines these days. If you have read the history of 617 sqn and 9 sqn particularly the Tirpitz attacks may remember they flew to Northern Russia first to stage before attacking the ship, two aircraft at least were low on fuel as i recall and mistook a marsh for a landing area and bellied two Lancs into it and they couldnt get them out again, so are they still in there out in the wilderness complete with 7 ton Tallboy bombs on board I wonder?,
A lot of these airplanes have likely been recovered or vandalized beyond restoration. Beyond that, the elements make short work of anything made of aluminum. Moisture of any sort is the biggest enemy, making electrolysis possible. Aluminum can't wait to get back into the ground. Salt in that moisture accelerates the decomposition exponentially. The best salvageable airplanes I've heard of were right here in Canada, way up North where the climate is very dry, even in the winter. There were a few that were lost on the way to Alaska, ran out of fuel or got lost or whatever, and sit there in the middle of nowhere. There's a lot of empty land up there and many aircraft have disappeared over the years without a trace. Shoot, even right here in Southern Canada the Rockies hold a bunch of lost airplanes. A few years ago there was some European outfit that was going to produce a kit form of the FW190 for the homebuilt market. They were going to power it with a currently-produced Polish radial similar to the original. I haven't heard how that came off; perhaps the projected kit price (around US$450,000) killed it. I could see a P-51 kit making the cut, if a suitable V-12 was available. Someone would probably have to tool up and build them new. None of this turbine-powered stuff, now.
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