Notes from Steve Hailes
Some modelling biography
In 1999 my wife and our two sons moved to Eastbourne. Having some time on my hands and a nearby boating pond I returned to a fond childhood hobby of RC model boating. This was great fun and I was amazed to discover the fabulous amounts of power now available in the form of modern motors and batteries.
As we settled into our new home I began to explore the rolling hills of the downs and soon came across some RC slope soarers and wondered if this could be the time to try again at the one thing I had never been able to conquer; Radio controlled flight……Oh the crumpled balsa and doped tissue that littered my attempts over the years!
Then I discovered EPP foam in the form of the ‘Bullet’ and I happily bounced my way off Beachy Head, The Long Man, Butts Brow, and other local flying sites until I had attained a passable level of control and a certificate no less!
Larger gliders came and went along with glass fuss’ carbon this and that and electric gliders which is where I am now…I do like having that bit of power to get me out of trouble when I go too low over Beachy Head, and to be honest I still don’t think I have ever really ‘caught’ a thermal despite my latest glider being well able to do so.
But I still hadn’t built a genuine rise-off-the-ground type plane.
Eastbourne and Blériot monoplanes
I was most surprised to discover that Eastbourne had at one time actually produced an aircraft of its own and on further investigation I thought It a very pretty thing and worthy of a go. I checked the model shops but didn’t see any kits of it I liked. Then in Feb 2005 in RC Model world…behold! A free plan of the Eastbourne Monoplane. Having never built anything from only a plan I thought this would be a great challenge and set about it.
The plan and article made the construction very straightforward and it soon took to the air in my local park proving to be very realistic in flight and greatly admired by many. Years later it still adorns one of my sons’ bedrooms hanging from the ceiling!
Encouraged by this I started to look for a new project. I liked the period of the Eastbourne and eventually settled on the Mick Reeves plan of the Bleriot IX. My wife bought me the plans for my birthday…Oh what a lovely surprise…! I took one look at them and thought, ‘There is no way my marriage is going to survive me building this thing on the dining room table, It’s huge!’
Mick very kindly exchanged the plans for some half that size which produces a model of 4ft 10” wingspan. Still pushing the limits of marital bliss but more than big enough for me!
Construction
Construction has taken place mainly over the winter months and with no laser/CNC cutting techniques available to me I photocopied areas of the plan, say a wing rib, used Pritt stick to stick it to the balsa and then cut round it. This is probably a well used modelling method but I figured it out whilst constructing the Eastbourne and find it’s very adaptable, and most homes have printers now.
I was determined to make as much as I could and not resort to ready made wherever possible. With this in mind the wheels were made from some brass channel heated and bent around a coffee mug.
The tires, rubber tubing. The dummy motor carved from blue foam. Also ‘Monsieur Bleriot’, although I have to admit that he looked like an alien so I decapitated him and bought a head and shoulders pilot.
One of the most visual features is the large brass fuel tank. The centre was easy, just roll up a thin sheet of brass. The ends were hell! I tried everything and no doubt true model engineers are laughing and know exactly how, but I tried hammering hot and cold over wood and metal dollies and never even got close! As the pictures show, a ping pong ball cut in half liberally covered in body filler came to my rescue. Mounted in a drill I could easily sand it to the correct shape. But the finish was another matter. I didn’t want to paint it as I knew I would not be able to reproduce the shiny brass look. So I bought a roll of gold coloured profilm and set about it. I kid you not, I used the whole roll! The last little bit of the curve just proved too much..for me not the product ..I am sure it is possible. You can see the wrinkles but I can live with it.
Fanfare
I knew I wanted a Brushless/Lipo set up but with so many variables in motors, props, controllers and batteries I didn’t know where to start. Enter John Swain of ‘Fanfare’ I told him my needs and desires for the model and he did everything else. Now this might be a not uncommon level of service to someone requiring a helping hand in our hobby, but later when something failed he spent ages on the phone with me, outside office hours, trying to diagnose the problem, sent me a full motor/controller set up FOC to try, and has quite simply got my business re anything electrical forever!
Thrust meter(?)
I thought I would try and get all technical and make a thrust meter as I had asked John for ‘more than enough’ power and just see what I had got. Here’s my recipe:
- Place model on shiny dining room table.
- Attach cable to front, dangle over end of table and add weights till the model just moves when pushed but does not accelerate.
- Attach another cable to back, lead off other end of table and attach to large bag of sugar that is sitting on an electronic kitchen scale on floor.
- Run engine and see how much the weight of the sugar reduces by!
Radio and bracing
Radio is Hitec Eclipse 7 with 3 mini servos for rudder, elevator and wing warping which was not without its problems; although it now works well. The wing warping servo is mounted below the dome at the end of the control column and operates via a belcrank to the wings. I had decided to use black fishing line for the miles of bracing wires as it was certainly easier/cheaper and I was a bit worried about how all that wire might affect the radio signal. This was fine except it had a bit of ‘give’ in it so was changed for wire cable on the warping servo. However as the fuselage was also cross braced with the nylon fishing line when I first tried the control the wings hardly moved but the box fuselage did a parallelogram twist from side to side! The cross bracing behind the pilot and in front of the tank was replaced with piano wire and the problem disappeared.
Take-off
One warm evening in June it took to the air and despite my son giving ten to one that I would crash inside thirty seconds; it flew around gracefully on about one third throttle.
...and landing.
Now let me make it clear I like scale and so I was merely trying to reproduce Monsieur Bleriot's historic landing in Dover when he ‘arrived’ and damaged his plane!
Actually it was not too bad, it just looked it; one side of the suspension collapsed sending a brass rod into the arc of the propeller shattering it, one wheel is even more buckled than when I made it and the trailing edge of one wing (wire on the larger plan but thin balsa on mine) snapped.
I think I have to incorporate loads more down thrust in the engine as it needs almost full down elevator with even half power. Another modeller suggested reducing the angle of attack of the wings. In any event I am very pleased with the result.
As for my next project.
Despite growing up and living in Felixstowe for 21 years I didn’t know that there actually was a ‘Felixstowe’ seaplane. Landing on water, now there’s a new challenge!