wonwinglo

***I see which one you mean Nigel,it is actually the tail of an early Spitfire,I love the De Havilland Hornet,what a great looking twin.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Bunkerbarge

I know you can justify it but it still saddens me to see so much work end its days so unceremoniously!!

I know that things get beyond economical repair and I hoard far more than I should but I just can't bring myself to throw things like that out. Drives Annette nuts!!

Thanks for the advice regarding the ESC. I had the foresight to buy a special charger but it never occured to me that I would need a special ESC as well.

wonwinglo

A new era Richard,space precludes getting sentimental and it is quicker to build up new major components from scratch,one of the models that you see there was on its third set of wings,I have had my enjoyment from them,these models are very large and even if I restored some to non flying status for exhibition the time spent would be prohibitive,I have in the past done this and given the finished item away to a worthy cause,prolific building needs the occasional clearout,my new shed workplace is all set for some new paintings.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

The model of the Spitfire that was scrapped off the other day has quite a bit of history attached to it,not good history but the trials and tribulations of getting her flying,this is how it started with her,a story in itself-
When I had the model shop one of my neighbouring shops was a furniture restorer and dealer,one day he came in the shop and said that he had been offered some furniture,but the stipulation was that he had to clear the house of everything that was in it,the thing was he had discovered some model aircraft parts and things in the loft,would I like to come and see what was there,and if possible make an offer to defray the costs of his furniture,yes there was method in his madness ! I went along and we climbed into a very dusty loft,in the corner was a big box of balsa wood and plans and things,next to it was a very forlorn looking Spitfire not in the best of condition and covered in dust and cobwebs,we dragged the bits out and I offered him a twenty pound note which he accepted gladly,quite honestly I did it out of a favour more than anything as there was not much in the box,just brittle old balsa wood and a few old Aeromodeller magazines.
The Spitfire looked like a Mick Reeves kit,it had been badly built out of the wrong grade of wood,the softest timber that you have ever set eyes on,it lay in the corner of my workshop for three years before I even touched it,one day I decided to see if she could be finished off,I tackled the missing tail first,then fitted a set of undercarriage legs,made some engine bearers from beech,and sheeted the wings with sixteenth balsa,the whole lot was sanded down,the grain sealed and covered in heavyweight tissue to seal the grain and knit everything together,I fitted an MDS 61 a brand motor purchased for the model,fitted servos and modified the aileron links so a servo would drive each aileron via a Y-lead,at this stage I deided not to paint her until after the test flying.
After waiting for some decent weather I took her out,ran the motor anf after numerous pre-flight checks opened up the throttle,she was a right shopping trolley to steer on the ground and I decided to do a few fast runs across the strip first before committing to flight,after a few such runs it was time to get her airborne,she took up most of the strip but climbed away in a rather nose high attitude,I got her up high and let her settle into a cruise the nose was still alarmingly high,I decided to get her down and see what was wrong ? after lining her up and keeping plenty of power on she touched the ground but there was a resounding 'crack' as the back broke just aft of the cockpit,the landing was not heavy and what had happened was the brittle soft balsa had given up the ghost,she looked a very sorry sight and I dismantled the wings from what was left of the fuselage and went home,if you fly model aircraft then you must always be in for the occasional disappointment,just go back to the workshop and assess the damage,in this case more pressing tasks were ahead of me and the broken Spitfire was relegated to the back of the workshop until I could find the time to repair her.
Another year passed by ( as they do ) and out she came again,this time I removed all of the fuselage skin in order to splice together the two broken halves,this time I managed to incorporate some medium grade wood especially where the wing joined the fuselage,it was a very fiddly task done over a period of weeks,I made a simple jig to make sure that everthing was in alignment working slowly,the job was finished and on went the wing again,after checking the centre of gravity it seemed that I had flown her somewhat tail heavy on her first flight,this was rectified by adding a metal weight from a set of old Avery scales,quite a lump but I needed it to get the c of g right,all of the weight on this model was wrong due to a poor choice of timber,the light stuff was used on the nose,and it would have been more beneficial to use heavy wood rather than the lump of ballast that I needed to add which added no structural strength whatsoever.
So after a lot of extra work she was ready once more for the air,did it go well this time ? well you will have to wait and see until tomorrow when I will continue the saga of this Spit.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

tigertc

Oh man.......You cant leave it hanging like that!!!!!
Next episode please Yoda!

wonwinglo

Suitable weather again and virtually a new rear fuselage after the rebuild it was off to the flying field,the usual through checks were undertaken including a full power run up with the Spit held vertically to make sure that there were no fuel flow problems that showed up on the ground,the following account just goes to show that gremlins can creep in at any time and never to take anything for granted with aeroplanes whether model or full size,the take off this time was un-eventful and the model climbed in a nice level attitude,after about 300 feet it was time to throttle back and check out the trim,the nose dropped and I added a smidge of up trim to make her comfortable to fly,she was flying a little to port throttled back so I added a bit of aileron trim to compensate,then I decided to open her up and do a few circuits,well that was my plan but for some reason unknown at the time the engine would not respond to throttle,now a big Spit like this has quite a high wing loading is is no glider she needs all the power that you can get,you need to keep motoring a model like this around the sky,and this one was loosing height on a fickle motor,what could be wrong as the engine was still running ? well she also had a large fuel tank to cope with the big guzzly motor,so it was time to try and get her down to a landing,well that was easier said than done,she was just about maintaining altitude but needed some careful flying with no engine reserve,I tried long wide circuits but every time that I lined her up into wind she would loom up again holding onto that power setting,this was hard work,to cut a long story short half an hour later the engine finally cut and I had to make a smartish dead stick landing and get it right first time,no luxury of a go around this time,she landed a bit heavy on the main legs ripping out the undercarriage legs and slithered to a halt,she was down at least.
Investigations found that the throttle servo ( a new one ) had failed leaving the throttle pushrod in a set position,never had a throttle servo go before but lost models where aileron servos had failed in flight,the soft balsa had reared its ugly head again with very little support in the wings for the undercarriage,modifications were made and the wings repaired,the only problem with such major repairs is the extra weight penalty incurred,but I thought that one last try at least to see if I could get a respectable flyer out of her.
After a few weeks work back to the strip again,everything checked and functioning with a new throttle servo installed,another take off and things were going well,even a slow roll or two,after all what good is a Spit if she will not roll ? then a loop nice and wide against the blue sky,lovely she really looked the part,I did not attempt a spin having lost heavy models that would not pull out but was happy with the simple aerobatics,right time for a few touch and goes to get the feel of the circuits,throttle back and downwind leg,nice square approach and into wind lining up with the strip,wheels just touch,open up and repeat it a few times then with fuel running low time to get her down on the ground,as she touched this time there was another crack,not the back this time,in fact nothing vey visible at all ? what could it be this time ? and then I spotted some stress cracks around the nose area,what had happened was the soft wood and inferior adhesive used had given way obviously with the vibration of the big motor,this had previously been hidden from view and not having built the basic model I was not aware that she had been glued with balsa cement ! fine for small scale models but nothing as large as this beast.
So the decision was made to withdraw her from use and there she lay for ten years until the other day when everything was removed,there really was nothing that could have been done as it would have been inpractical to even get at everything,when you build something yourself you know the quality of work that goes into the model,but something like this was an unknown until you start to place stress onto the airframe,then as happened here things start to show,the basic error on the part of this builder was not to grade the wood,soft balsa is fine for non stressed areas but not for major load bearing areas,also the prudent use of plywood re-inforcement would have helped considerably.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

tigertc

A truly sad end after so much hard work.
Every build tells a story. Thanks for sharing Barry.

wonwinglo

After a lot of research on Lithium batteries here are a few things that dispell some myths on the subject,it should prove very useful to prolong the life of these batteries-
A lithium-ion battery provides 300-500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.
Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". Here is the reason: Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less accurate.
Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance caused by oxidation. Eventually, the cell resistance reaches a point where the pack can no longer deliver the stored energy although the battery may still have ample charge. For this reason, an aged battery can be kept longer in applications that draw low current as opposed to a function that demands heavy loads. Increasing internal resistance with cycle life and age is typical for cobalt-based lithium-ion, a system that is used for cell phones, cameras and laptops because of high energy density. The lower energy dense manganese-based lithium-ion, also known as spinel, maintains the internal resistance through its life but loses capacity due to chemical decompositions. Spinel is primarily used for power tools.
It is essential to use the correct ESC Speed controller with this type of battery,the special controllers automatically cut off the supply to the electric motor but allow enough reserve on the BEC for the radio,the use of standard speed controllers will lead to certain battery failure with lithium types,once they go beyond that crucial voltage then they cannot be retrieved,once the battery has cooled after use charge up again and store in a cool place.
Whilst these batteries are superior to anything we have today in terms of capacity giving long flight times,they do require very careful use if early failure of the battery is to be avoided.
Never use a standard charger for Lithium,use a dedicated lithium charger,this can be one of the special one battery pack chargers to the more sophisticated 'cell count' Chamaleon units available from specialist model shops.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

The delightful little Dinky Toys Cierva C.30A (shown here aprox twice size ) Autogiro produced by Meccano circa 1936,the boy of the prewar era could look skywards and see one of these never to be forgotton machines in action,I was lucky to see the last one flying back in the fifties,it rattled overhead my house heading towards Birmingham,see the pictures of G-ACUU below.
(Authors collection )


American Pitcairn Autogiro die-cast made by Tootsietoy U.S.A and later copied In the UK by Dyson ( no not the vacuum cleaner manufacturer !) as in Britain America was fascinated with the introduction of the Pitcairn machines,these toured America one landing on the frontage of the White House,Ciervas patent was spreading world wide,such a pity that his tragic death in a take off crash at Croydon airport in a Douglas DC-2 airliner put a sudden end to the development of the autogiro.
(Authors collection)


This fascinating picture was taken in the summer of 1931 when Regie Brie a pioneer aviator popped into land at the playing field of his old school at Bishopshalt school,Hillingdon.Mr Brie is standing just behind the port wingtip of G-AAYP Cierva C19-IV (Avro 620) behind the wing with a rosette in his buttonhole is the then headmaster Mr John Miles with the head deputy Mr.A.F.Gotch.
The autogiro was scrapped a year later in 1932.
My thanks to my friend Roy Boyle for the picture.



Penguin model of the Cierva C.30A Autogiro,this was known as the Avro Rota whilst in R.A.F service,the autogiro was used for radar calibration duties during the Battle of Britain.
Thanks to Peter Van Lune for submitting these pictures from his extensive historic collection of Frog Penguin models.


G-ACUU Cierva C.30A Autogiro when with the Skyfame museum at Staverton,this aircraft was formerly owned by Guy Baker and based at Elmdon airport in the sixties,its sister machine owned by Rotatowels Ltd G-AHTZ was written off on 04-03-58 when it turned over and burnt out at Elmdon in full view of the then Lord Mayor of Birmingham about to board his flight.
This is the machine that I witnessed flying overhead my house many years ago.


The very same Cierva C.30A G-ACUU taken at Elmdon in the sixties by Terry Lee.The other sister machine was G-AHTZ ,which turned over and burnt out here on 04-03-68 right in front of the then Lord Mayor of Birmingham who was taking his very first flight in an aeroplane.
The autogiro could in fact make a jump start into flight by spinning up the main rotor,it is ironic that most of the technology learned in the autogiro was incorporated into the helicopter as wee know it today.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

Lets revel in these fascinating machines from yesteryear-

The rotor head of the Cierva C.30A Autogiro,here you can see to good advantage the floating blades,the advancing blade lifts in flight something that Cierva worked on for many years to get it right,modern day helicopters use the very same system albeit with different linkages,see the cut away drawing below to study the system.


Pitairn Autogyro,note how the blades are linked with cables something that Cierva tried on some of his earlier autogyro designs,note also the fairly extensive stub wings to support the load of the large blades.



Ryan XV-1 a later day Autogiro developed for the U.S.Army.


Tootsietoy/Dyson Autogiro even has the original white tyres,a little perished and hardened.



Cierva C.30A at Contrao Ventos stored with the Spanish museum.


Main rotor assembly removed from a Cierva C.30A Autogiro showing the substantial fork end of the blades.



Period 'Flight' magazine cut away drawing of the Cierva C.30A Autogiro,these drawings are works of art in themselves.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/