DB Models Auster J1

[alan2525]

I was looking at an old plans catalogue dated 1963, the models suitable for R/C where all great boxes of things, the remainder being control line or free flight. It was rather scary thinking of IC powered cars controlled by a tether or nothing other than a piece of stout string and a peg in the ground.

The miniaturisation of electronics in R/C has really opened up lots of new avenues, and the current trend for Robot's on TV shows has made the kinds of equipment more widely available too.

 

[OOLILISSIMA]

As Bluewavestudios says, servos have never been so cheap. That goes for radios and anything else electronic associated with modelling and, importantly, all kinds of tools.

We never had it so good...

 

[wonwinglo]

Tethered petrol engined race cars.

Alan,the tethered IC Cars started during WW2,it was forbidden to fly model aircraft with petrol engines, which were beginning to come over from America,what people did to keep the engines running was build tethered cars,some of them had aluminium beaten body shells and were based on the old Brooklands type racers.

The 'Aeromodeller' magazine did a few articles on these cars,and even today they have a following and models demand high prices at auction.

I was looking at an old plans catalogue dated 1963, the models suitable for R/C where all great boxes of things, the remainder being control line or free flight. It was rather scary thinking of IC powered cars controlled by a tether or nothing other than a piece of stout string and a peg in the ground.The miniaturisation of electronics in R/C has really opened up lots of new avenues, and the current trend for Robot's on TV shows has made the kinds of equipment more widely available too.

 

[Bluewavestudios]

Just a small update for you David,

There was a nice little article on this very Kit in the April 1994 issue of RCM&E, The article itself is 4 pages long with some pics there too. I would imagine given the date now that a Back Issue is No Longer Available but I still have that issue right here in Mint Condition....with the plane itself on the Front Cover too.

If you want it, drop me a PM with your address and I'll stick it in the post.

Regards......Mark.

 

[wonwinglo]

What a co-incidence Mark,an original car turned up also on the Antiques Road show the other evening,it even had the original petrol engine intact,this is one aspect of vintage model cars that still gets the occasional airing on the compass swinging pad at Old Warden.

Flat out I bet they move.

 

[Glider Guider]

The construction of the wings is now complete and they are ready for covering. Looking at the plan I thought “A couple of days per wing” that was a couple of weeks ago and a bit more! There is a lot more building work involved than you would think plus there are numerous occasions where the part built structure has to be left for the glue to really cure before progressing.

The balsa for the ribs was quarter grain and of a perfect density except for the outer of the two root ribs which were of a relatively soft balsa and these have a good deal of stress on them as they carry the stress from the wing joining rods, however they had ply doublers so it was no real problem. For some reason the ply doublers ended just forward of rear spars, I can think of no reason why they weren’t continued for the whole length of the rib as both cost and weight savings are negligible. The other balsa components were spot on for the job it has to do.



There were a few minor problems, the ply mounting plates for the wing fixing for the struts were cut a little short and had to be replaced and the wing fixing bolt position of the rearward strut was a quarter inch or so from where the plan said it should have been, maybe it was a ‘build up of tolerances’ (I believe that is the euphemism for building errors). If you build one I would recommend not drilling the rear mounting hole until the wing and spar are fitted to the fuselage.



I am using standard ballrace servos for all surfaces and decided on having a servo for each aileron rather than the single servo and bellcrank method detailed on the plan. My only addition was to toughen up the wing root by covering it with wing skinning glass cloth bonded with epoxy resin. Unfortunately I discovered when it hadn’t full cured after 24 hours that the epoxy resin had gone off and after a week it still has a slight tackiness to it, if anyone has a fix for this I’d be pleased to hear it.

Due to restricted room in my workshop and the inclement weather I haven’t fitted both wings at the same time so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they have equal dihedral and that another ‘build up of tolerances’ hasn’t occurred.

 

[wonwinglo]

Wipe the epoxy over with a thinners cloth to remove the tackness,it is only residual uncured resin that has bled through,probably old stock.

Nice work,she is a lovely model.

 

[Greyhead]

Glad to see the thread back on course and it’s certainly starting to look like an Auster now. Did you mean “struts” rather than “spars” when you say the bolts where in the wrong position?

I’ve spoken to a couple of modellers who have built DB kits, SE5a’s in this case; both mentioned that there were some minor errors, either on the plan or in the pre-cut wood, which needed sorting out, but the finished models look great and fly beautifully.

Good tip about the resin Barry; I’ve had this problem in the past and have resorted to sanding the “soft” resin but even using wet wet & dry it’s still an awkward / messy job, I wish I’d known about using thinners before!

 

[Glider Guider]

Did you mean “struts” rather than “spars” when you say the bolts where in the wrong position?

Well spotted; luck you - there is a prize allocated for the first person to point out my deliberate mistake! I’ll PM you with the number to ring.

There was not a lot to report in building a pair of bog standard wings apart from the novel wing retaining system so it didn’t seem worth it. I’ve started on the instrument panel so I’ll take a couple of shots of it and post them shortly.

 

[Greyhead]

WOW!! A free holiday worth £3500 and all you want is a £300 managment fee; I can't believe it!

 

[Glider Guider]

The instrument panel is based on that of G-AGOH from the photos kindly posted by OOLILISSIMA.

The instruments were scaled, touched up and then printed out. Unfortunately I couldn’t use OOLILISSIMA’s but managed to find others on the internet.



The panel is card and the front detail is from 1mm ply all sprayed matt black.



This gives an Idea of what it will look like but it has a good bit still to be done to it.

 

[Greyhead]

That instrument panel really looks the part! The use of the 1mm ply to produce the “shaped” panel is very effective; when completed it’ll certainly enhance the cabin and is just what it needs with all that “glass”.

 

[wonwinglo]

Well done David,a few toggles and switches and it will really come alive.

 

[Dirk]

Hello again David,

please be sure that I'm following your thread even if I don't have the time to write long replies. You've done a good job so far and I'm very curious to see what you'll have done in the next steps.

Greets from Germany,

Dirk.

 

[birdman]

Glider Guider, I have recently aquired an ancient DB Auster kit similar to you. although I have built several kits including a flair brisfit I must admit this Auster kit is causing me to scratch my head somewhat! I have obtained the new wing fixing kit so I am ok there. Like you I spotted that there was downthrust built in so I assembled the engine bearers accordingly. The main point of worry is regarding the root ribs. It says in the instruction that they should be glued at an angle as per template shown on the plan. Presumably this is to give them slight dihedral to aid with stability and avoid the "drooped wing effect". The problem is that on my plan the template shows the angle of the root ribs as being 90 degrees to the spars, in other words exactly the same as the rest of the ribs. Have you any idea as to what the angle should be, or alternatively how much dihedral there should be under the wing tip. One final point is again regarding the ribs, since all the ribs in the kit are the same size I am presuming that the aileron ribs are made by simply cutting the appropriate ribs in two, using the smaller piece for the aileron and the larger piece for the wing above the aileron. Am I right in this assumption? I would be very pleased if you could find time to offer your advice on this matter.

 

[Glider Guider]

Birdman

It’s a good while ago that I made the wings and to be honest I can’t remember the details of the ribs as to whether I had to cut them to form the aileron. I know David Boddington often leaves details like that to the modeller.

I agree with the wing root rib and remember pondering over it as it is shown on the plan as right angles although referring to it as a wing root template inferring that it should be at an angle. I built mine at right angles but then glued the fuselage aerofoil shaped ply wing facer to the fuselage when the wing was assembled thus getting a nice fit.

As to the dihedral if you make the wing with its wing strut fixings and the fuselage strut fixings accurately, when the wing is assembled with the wing struts dimensioned as per the plan the result is the correct dihedral. I’ve not measured it but by eye it is about 3°.

I hope this helps.

 

[Glider Guider]

The Auster instrument panel was completed a while ago with the addition of a few toggle switches and labels.

After some repairs to my Piper Cub following a failure of my transmitter battery during a flight I will be returning to fit out and cover the Auster fuselage. Luckily the fail-safe kicked in and damage to the model was limited.

Immediate suspicion for the crash fell onto the new transmitter battery but I later found it was an ‘own goal’ as I’d fast charged the battery in the transmitter and later discovered that the in-line diode in the transmitter fools the charger into thinking the battery is fully charged when it is only partially charged.

 

[Greyhead]

Nice to see the thread restarting now that the “building season” is well and truly with us! The instrument panel looks really nice.

I use a “field” charger for the flight batteries on my electric glider but have always been a bit wary of using it to charge Rx and Tx batteries. With the very unpredictable weather we’ve had this year, which meant it was difficult to decide whether or not to charge up for flying the next day, I did start to use it for Rx batteries but continued to use slow charging for the Tx and having just read your account above I’m glad I did! I wonder how many people are aware that there is a diode in the charging circuit or what its effect can be?

 

[Bill Oliver]

Bill Oliver

I have been prevailed upon to write-up the 87” wingspan David Boddington Auster J1 model that I am building at present; my contention was that it was a bog standard kit and would be of little use to anyone but it was argued that someone may find my tale of building it useful.The kit was acquired 3rd hand (at least) but had not been started, it was a kit that was produced before the new wing fixing method (see bottom of New) was incorporated into the kit which makes it about 6 years old at least I’m informed.

The kit is very complete with all parts accurately cut and the wood selection is also very good, obviously a kit put together by a real modeller. It has a proper well drawn plan which is getting rare these days. My only quibbles to date are a part numbering error where two parts have the same number, this is no problem to an experienced modeller but could cause same head scratching for a less experienced modeller – but having said that it isn’t a model for the novice. Also the instructions, although good, are Roneoed and have a very dated look, in a few places they have been modified and are unreadable but once again it’s no problem to an experienced modeller.

When I used to build Keil Kraft 3/6d kits in the 1950’s it was standard practice to build the fuselage sides of strip balsa on top of each other to ensure that they were the same size, the sides of the Auster are also built up of strip but I built them separately, the result being that they were different to a degree that I find difficult to explain however this has caused no problems but ‘next time’ I’d build them on top of one another.

The fuselage has gone together nicely the only problem up to now was achieving the necessary quite sharp curve in the longerons just aft of the cabin as the fuselage sides are straight to the tail, I used a lot of hot water very carefully and managed to get them to the required curve. If I had read Barry’s tip on using ammonia a week earlier the task would have been a lot easier as I gather from Greyhead that it works very well.

Well that’s where I am up to at present; I’ll post an update when the fuselage is complete.

Hi,

Sheer coincidence that I am at the same stage of building this model. I was looking up images of the Auster J1 on the internet when I came upon your article! This kit was donated to me by a modelling friend and is only the second fully build model in more than 40 years. The last one (completed this year) was a Flair Sopwith Pup now flying very well. Some of the metal components are coroded and may have to be replaced or reconstructed. The screws for the undercarriage sadles had no bite at all!

I did build the two fuz frames on top of each other (using cling film between to prevent them sticking together) and, as you say, it is no model for a beginner. The item I miss most is a kit contents list & showing the component number, material & description (as in the Flare kit). Some 3D sketches would also be useful - but it is an OLD kit. Also I am somewhat confused as to the use of split pins for strut securing/location in the wings. Any tips?

Currently I will be concentrating on kitting out the cockpit interior (seats, upholstery, intruments & controls) before moving onto the wings, etc. so it will be some weeks before I have to get stuck ito the struts.

Incidently I live in Spain near a village called Relleu, which some 15 miles inland from Benidorm. We have a private flying site up in the mountains with VERY "interesting" wind conditions.

 

[Glider Guider]

Bill

First let me apologise for the slow reply but we’ve been away a lot recently and I’ve only just had a look at my thread.

I have built the model as per the plan with the split pins for the wing strut, we’ll have to see just how practical it is to rig. In other models I’ve built that have struts they have been for show only so a simple clip on fixing could be used but in this case I’m sure the wings would fold if the struts were omitted and a more robust fixing is vital.

I visited my local model shop recently where the proprietor has flown this model in the past and wasn’t at all complimentary about its flying qualities. He said that it was very unresponsive to aileron but extremely responsive to rudder that made it ‘interesting’ to fly so be careful on its first airing.

I’ve added an on board glow system as an experiment and really it just wants painting and it should be ready for flying, I was hoping to get it painted when the weather was warm enough to have all the doors and windows open but somehow this didn’t happen with one thing and another.

I’ll bet that living in Spain you don’t have to work around the weather as we do!

When it’s complete I’ll post a couple of photos.