December 2017Saving one of CMAC's most remarkable scratch-built models till last for 2017, for December we feature Steve Grzeskowiak's scale DH.98 Mosquito. Starting back in 2009 from just three sheets of paper - the LDS: Brian Taylor Plan - Steve has spent well over three hundred hours building, fitting-out and finishing this 82-inch wingspan model. It is powered by two Saito 56FS motors with scratch-built scale exhausts and is fitted with pneumatic retracts. Steve explains that his color scheme for the model is based on that of a Mosquito Mk XVI of No 571 Squadron at RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire in late 1944. See Mosquito ML963 (8K-K). In the model's detailed cockpit, the navigator (RH seat) even has a scale map of southern England open in front of him! The maiden flight of Steve's precious Mosquito model is planned soon, but only after he's absolutely satisfied that everything checks out safely on the ground. Wikipedia tells us that "The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British twin-engine shoulder-winged multi-role combat aircraft. The crew of two, pilot and navigator, sat side by side. It served during and after the Second World War. When Mosquito production began in 1941, it was one of the fastest operational aircraft in the world." A total of 212 Mosquitos were built in Australia at the de Havilland, Sydney plant. For a short YouTube video of this plant in full production see Wartime film of the construction of the Mosquito in Australia. November 2017For November we couldn't go past Risto Petreski's shiny new scale model of the 1977 Boeing/Hughes Super Stearman. He started with the Great Planes Super Stearman ARF kit, then selected a OS GF-40 four-stroke petrol motor to power this 1.8 m wingspan model, and the brilliant new Spektrum DX18 system for radio control. Risto explains that there's still some finishing work for him to do on his model, particularly installing the inter-plane flying wires and then adding some of the decorative stickers provided by Great Planes. In the air, with its glossy white-and-red colour scheme and a slow-revving motor with a deeper exhaust note, Risto's new Super Stearman already looks and sounds like a real scale winner! October 2017CMAC President Gowrie Waterhouse is now firmly in the jet age with his second example of the Polish Aero L-39 Albatros, the most widely used jet trainer in the world. (Gowrie's first Albatros was our Model of the Month back in November 2016). For his latest model Gowrie chose the Vietnamese Blackhorse Models L-39 Albatros ARF kit as his starting point, although it was designed primarily for electric ducted fan (EDF) propulsion. Gowrie reports that "some major strengthening mods were required in the engine bay and wings to convert it from an EDF model to gas turbine power", in his case the Taiwanese KingTech K45-G "True Fuel Start" Turbine with 4.5 Kg thrust. The Blackhorse Albatros has a wingspan of 1450 mm, CNC Suspension metal struts and electric retract gear, for a flying weight of about 5kg. Prior to its first test flight in mid-September the model was certified by an MAAA-appointed Gas Turbine Model Inspector from BMAC (using MAAA Form 039: Turbine Checklist) and issued with a Permit to Fly. Gowrie reports that his new Albatros flies well, cruising on half throttle at around 120,000 rpm and goes briskly at full rpm, which is 170,000 rpm. September 2017With the following specs, Paul McFawn's big new TWM Commander has a real presence in the air:
Paul describes it this way: "A big pussy cat to fly, very gentle and easy to land. Slow stall is just a slight nose mush down with no tip stall. However, it will do an unintentional snap if I force it. Only occurs when doing a reverse half-loop turnaround manoeuvre. If I pull too much elevator and throttle-up too suddenly in the loop then the engine torque will snap the model into a high-speed stall and roll it on its back. Recovery is easy: centralise controls then the model will quickly steady and recover within one plane length. I like flying the Commander, but its size is a storage and transport issue. The tailplane and wings are removable so it takes me about ten minutes to assemble the model for flight." August 2017According to Wikipedia 'The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. From the first prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were manufactured,in 16 separate models, in the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in U.S. history.' Steve Millar's scale model of the gull wing Corsair is a great example of the type. He assembled it in mid-2016 from the one-fifth scale Top Flight Gas Giant Scale Warbird Almost Ready-to-Fly kit, covered with flat MonoKote in the matt blue of the US Marines. Steve chose the ASP FS400AR 5-cylinder 4-stroke radial motor. This formidable 64cc power plant has glow plug ignition, drives a 22x10 prop, and sounds most impressive at full throttle. There's got to be an award for Steve's Corsair at a scale rally real soon now! July 2017Greg Oakes's immaculate Bell JetRanger helicopter is our model of the month for July. Greg explains : "The helicopter is a 1:6.7 scale replica of a Bell 206B JetRanger III operated by Santini Air in the popular 80's series 'AirWolf'. See Rotary Action: AirWolf. I built this scale JetRanger helicopter through 1987-88 while on an AirForce posting at RAAF Butterworth Malaysia. Sadly I never finished the matching Bell 222 AirWolf helicopter. Some mechanical parts are from Hirobo Japan who made an SST Eagle series helicopter back in 1981. Many other parts were hand-made with the help of friends, including the rotor head, swash mixer and main rotor blades which are a fiber glass Kevlar composite. The fuselage was scratch built and is made up of several fiberglass shell molds which took considerable hours to manufacture, join, fill the imperfections and paint. Considering its 30+ year age it still looks amazing. I flew the helicopter only twice back in 1988 and it has never been out since or shown in public until this weekend (CMAC Scale Rally 8-9 July 2017). Back then there were no modern electronic stabilizers only a spinning metal gyro for the tail rotor control. Some specs: June 2017Ray Botten's military Piper L-4A Grasshopper was CMAC's Model of the Month back in April 2015. Two years on, we feature Ray's civilian version of this aircraft, the Piper PA-18 Super Cub. Ray has based his latest model on a VQ Models Super Cub kit, an ARF (almost ready to fly) product. This new Super Cub has 2.7 m wingspan and is powered by a DLE-20 two-stroke gasoline engine. Ray chose a JR DX18 system for radio control of the new Cub. Interestingly, in real life, the N1538P registration number on Ray's model was assigned to a tricycle-undercarriage variant of the Cub, the Piper PA-22-135 Tri-Pacer. See AIRPORT-DATA.COM May 2017We've chosen Terry Lovett's (AUS 69276) eye-catching scale model of the Pilatus PC-21 as this month's featured aircraft. To replace its ageing fleet of PC-9 trainers, the RAAF has now ordered 49 PC-21s for the Australian Defence Force. The first two units were delivered to Avalon, Victoria on 03 March 2017. See RAAF Technology for more about this order. Terry selected the Sebart Pilatus PC21 (50e class RC Plane) in ARF form, with a 1.51m wingspan and 6S LiPo electric power. Among other features the Sebart model includes two realistic military pilot dummies and a very detailed scale cockpit fitout. To increase the scale realism, Terry has added a throttle-linked Turbine Sound Card and a front-seat pilot's knee pad with a set of nav waypoints for a flight from Canberra to Cooma! April 2017Ray Ogle (AUS 7091) has been flying his Grumman Bearcat "Beetle Bomb" at CMAC for four years now. Over this period "Beetle Bomb" has also appeared at model aircraft meets from Cooma to Coffs Harbour and Ray placed second with it in the 2016 NSW State scale championships. This great-looking 96in wingspan scale model is a CY Models F8F Bearcat, powered by a Chinese MT-106 100cc two-stroke gas engine with twin pipes.
According to Wikipaedia: "The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II. It went on to serve into the mid-20th century in the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the air forces of other nations. It would be Grumman Aircraft's final piston engined fighter aircraft. Modified versions have broken speed records for piston-engined aircraft, and are popular among warbird owners."
The United States Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron operated the yellow-painted F8F-1 Bearcat "Beetle Bomb" from 1949 to 1950 initially in an air combat exhibition role and later for solo aerobatics before their main formation flights. March 2017
Here is Shisei Oya's show-stopping GR-7 Q40/F3T pylon racer.
At full song ("on the pipe" at 30,000 RPM) this thing is an absolute missile! February 2017
For February our model of the month is Byam Wight's large-scale Ventus 2cx sailplane. This fully-molded model is manufactured in Canada by Icare (Icarus). January 2017
January 2017's model of the month is Ray Ogle's venerable (12 years old!) example of the Gee Bee Model Y Sportster.
The single seater Gee Bee was a famous American racing aircraft in the early 1930s and the Sportster variant was a two-seater. |
