Seagull 72" Gypsy Moth assembly with images.

[Mike.K 60]

With Seagull kits now well and truly established in my model collection with a Stearman, a Fly Baby and a Miles Sparrowhawk built recently, I just couldn`t resist the 72" Gypsy Moth. A Youtube video of an identical Gypsy made that resistance impossible. Rob had a kit delivered from Perkins in just a couple of days. This video shows an identical model being flown in the Australian Outback. The model flies wonderfully in the hands of an experienced pilot. The video alone sealed the deal and I`ve had a great time assembling this enigmatic and charismatic model. I had no constructional issues with it at all. Highly recommended and in my opinion, probably the best Seagull model I`ve yet been involved with. Definitely a Five Star job. Note how "Gypsy Moth" has been corrupted in translation to Vietnamese and back. "Gispy Moth", Ho, ho! Gypsy Moth by Seagull Models - YouTube

I`ll use the term "assembly" because that best describes the action needed for completion to flying state. Its not difficult at all with all the parts fitting well and with good covering applied. Weight and balance experience with the Stearman had me immediately move the Gypsy servos as far forward as possible with substitution of the then too short, 2mm mild steel push rod wires being changed for four lighter and longer carbon fibre rods. Believe it or not, the steel rods weighed three times as much as the carbon replacements. I`d encourage any builders of Seagull kits to as a matter of course to also substitute carbon rods in place of the overly weighty kit supplied mild steel rods. That really does help when it comes to finally balancing the model.  A couple of ounces saved at the tail end doesn`t sound much but that equates to a six ounce ballast saving at the front end. This modification is one that I`m also going to retro apply to the Stearman which has a very significantly heavily constructed tailplane and makes obtaining a decent Centre of Gravity a hard fought thing. The Moth tail feathers by comparison are of a sensible weight. Combined with the forward servo move, carbon push rods and disposing of the heavy "Fly Baby" type tail wheel assembly has meant that just the OS 91FS up front, a heavy 16x8 composite Master Airscrew prop and the cowl provide enough nose ballast to have this model balance perfectly for an "out of the box" C of G to be obtained. Its not often that that occurs!  That said, the final and finished all up weight is 11.2Lb, some five ounces heavier than the manufacturers stated figure. When selecting a kit, weight becomes important as we fly within a 7Kg limited Flight Restriction Zone. I`ve learned that a manufacturers quoted airframe weight is often miles off the truth.  I tend to add a couple of Lbs to the figure to get a reasonable idea of what the finished model weight is likely to be. If it comes out at over 7Kg, then building such a heavy model for local use is a complete non-starter. Such weight factors materially now emphatically dictate the kit or scratch built models  I now choose. Sad but enforceably true!

 

The assembly of the Moth follows typical Seagull kit practice. Once you have put together one of their kits and learned the simple methodology, they all follow the same construction pattern. The instruction manuals provide sufficient detail but sometimes the magnifying glass has to come out. Images lack density of pixelization which can make some detail spotting a bit of a head scratch. All parts are of high quality but generic "Fly Baby" type tail wheel units often find their way into several different kits in an inappropriate  fashion. A home made bent wire skid attends to that matter as well as trimming a couple of ounces off the tail end of the model. The vac formed generic plastic pilots were nothing short of a joke. Their appearance would suggest they were produced as drivers of a bob sleigh! A re-paint had them looking like 1930`s civilian pilots and rather more suitable for the application. Windshields were another small item that required some modification to make smaller and more in keeping with that found on the full size aircraft. As previously said, rudder and elevator wire pushrods were removed and carbon rods substituted together with a forward servo move.

Adhesive decals registration letters were cut from the supplied sheets and carefully applied to the model individually. This avoided having to handle a number of letters as one large and unco-operative sticker and greatly reduced the amount of clear plastic decal material between the letters. I`ve grown to hate the appearance of un-necessary clear decalage material which spoils the appearance of the model and shows every air bubble or defect under the excess plastic. Careful dimensioning and marking out though is required if you wish to keep decal excess down to a minimum. The inter-plane struts were square edged, clumsy and covered in inappropriate Oracover Cub Yellow. I removed the covering, sanded off the remains of the Oracover and rounded off leading and trailing edges. Two coats of epoxy resin were applied, left to cure, flatted down to a smooth finish before being given a couple of varnish coats. The effect brings it into line with the full sized aircraft. This Moth kit has some nice decal touches....... namely the DeHavilland Stars either side of the fuselage and also two large Moth stickers on each side of the rudder. Such greatly detailing adds to visual model credibility.

The glass cloth cowl is well made and finished. Holes of irregular shape can easily be cut into it using hole saws or by chain drilling to link up the drilled holes. Rough edges are easily smoothed using a small power rotary sander, a quality smooth cut file and P280 sand paper. The top gloss paint coat though, has been applied over a non flatted colour coat and is easily separated when using masking tape. Use only the low tack masking tape on these cowls.

The flat tread profile kit wheels have been changed for balloon type wheels of similar size. Again that adds to the credibility factor.

The OS91FS motor has been upright installed without difficulty. The standard exhaust exits on the starboard side of the cowl. I could have inverted the engine but I saw no point. Upright is perhaps more practical at the flying field. Plenty of air-draft has been cut into the cowl with full glow plug access and viewing of the throttle linkage has been afforded. Internally the fuel tank floor has been raised 30mm to bring the tank up to carburettor spray bar level. A 2600NiMh batter suitably wrapped and fuel proofed now lives below the tank on a removable plate. If needed at a later date, the plate, tank and battery can be removed from the model as one complete module in a couple of minutes. That is very useful if you have fuel issues at the flying field.  Some modification to the front end of the removable fuselage top combing has been required to allow the top rear end of the tank to enter that section. The throttle servo tube and wire also run up from the low mounted servo and has require a little relieving to allow that to occur. Mods within the combing section are small and discrete. As this model is a sport flyer and not a Nationals winning full blown scale model, it does not concern me that the exhaust is visible or that other none scale features have occurred. Practicality has over-ridden aesthetics. Flying wires are easily rigged using crush crimp tubes, fishing trace wire and clevis type turn-buckle adjusters. Each flying wire took about five minutes to construct and again the additional detail adds to model ambience.

I suppose I`ve spent about a hundred hours "assembling" this model which includes making mods to suit my own taste and needs. The kit retails for about £356 but if you look for or ask a seller for discount, this is frequently available. Model kit selling is a competitive game. The near new OS91FS came to me for £165 and pre-used servos came from Rob`s best used servo draw at reasonable prices. I used one and a half twin syringe five minute epoxy packs from Tool Station and about 25ml of CA from the same source. Both great products at best prices. Add to the final tot up a 2600NiMh battery for less than a tenner and your choice of six channel radio receiver for what ever price you can find one. A 16x8 Master Airscrew came for £15. Everyone`s own final build costing will be different dependent on the type of equipment you choose.

So a few final points.

Five Star quality model of nice shape, appearance and general presentation.

Ease of build. Experienced and knowledgable. Not for a beginner who would struggle with details and apparent complexity.

Note a real need to keep these Seagull kit productions as light as possible at the tail end. Substitute carbon rods to help with that requirement.

Move servos right forward when you install them. It saves a lot of extra work when you find the model is tail heavy and have to tear it all to pieces to then have to shift the servos forward!

The kit has a nice parts goody pack which includes nuts, screws, washers and bolts together with a 14oz fuel tank, engine mounts, electric conversion kit, wheels and tyres, decals, control horns and mild steel control pushrods.

Note that you will probably want to re-paint the generic kit pilots make look half decent and also have to cut the windscreens down to a scale size.

Value for money? Definitely good. Try scratch building a similar model for what this one cost. Include the price of Oracover which isn`t exactly cheap stuff.

The end result has pleased me greatly. As said previously, this is the best Seagull kit I`ve yet built. No trouble at all. All done and dusted and awaiting test flights once the good weather returns.

Mike