The run up to Christmas, Christmas and New Year builds 2020/21

[Mike.K 60]

I`ve done a bit recently.

October and November saw the rebuild of two old Pat French foam wing Zlin 526 models. One from Rob and the other via ebay. Both currently fitted with two strokes. One has a .91 and the other has a 1.08. Yet to be test flown. Both were complete rebuilds. One had seen previous service at Sevenoaks Club whilst the other had never been completed. Registration graphics by dear Emma who now has a vynal cutting machine. Give her a call if you need graphics cutting.

December saw me rebuild an ex-Rob`s ceiling Seagull MSX-R which had had a hard life. A couple of days work had it all fixed up again. The metallic blue covering was a bit tatty so became over-covered with black and white checker film from Hobby King which is cheap as chips. Once I got started, one thing lead to another...hence the huge amount of checker on the model. The existing spats were pulverised and the cowl had seen better days. These were replaced with new items. I`ve now nailed a nice used Saito FA120FS on the front. Yet to be test flown.

The MSX-R was followed by a new yellow and black liveried Seagull Yak 54 kit. Just a couple of days needed to assemble all the bits. Fitted with a nice ball raced set of pre-used JR servos from Rob`s box together with an eBay used ASP120FS, this model is also ready to go.

Covid restrictions and boredom set in and an impuse had me buy a Seagull 70" Funky Cub. This is really a sport model rather than a true scale rendition. That said, it does have significant styling cues taken from one of the modern Cub Crafters modernised Cubs. I have the Seagull supplied American registration stickers I could apply although there is a red and silver UK registered example which I could model this example upon. I`ll have to see what our Emma could produce for me. The trouble with these ARTF kits is that they assemble so quickly that if you had the time, space and money, you could easily turn out three a week at a rough cost of about £35,000 a year!!!

I`ve been closely looking at the new Limited Edition Hobby Craft 1400mm Stearman marketed by Hobby King. It appears to be a very well produced kit with loads of rivet type detail. Not so cheap perhaps at £287 with included delivery, the model follows on from the earlier Limited Edition 1400 Pitts Special. I really should have got one of those but missed the boat. Tonight the temptation prooved too much and I pushed the button for a Stearman from the UK HK warehouse. I didn`t want to miss out on this model. I`d be kicking myself if I did. Delivery should be in 2-3 days depending upon postal service holiday disruptions. Although the kit is designed for 6S electric power, mine will be converted to .91FS IC power and be fitted with the last of a bunch of used  .91FS and 1.20FS motors I bought in November and December.

Note that the lovely Seagull "Gispy" Moth, ie (Gypsy Moth in non Vietnamese English) has now been withdrawn from the makers range. There are just a few of them left on the shelf at some model shops so if you want one, you need to move quickly.

My camera/laptop upload/down load is presenly playing up something rotten. I`d have like to upload images of the Funky Cub but I`ve failed miserably.

Finally, here is a link to the HK 1400mm Stearman currently available from the HK UK warehouse. Again you will have to move swiftly if you want one. Re-stocks are not anticipated. See Youtube for vids of this model which flies very nicely.

Kingcraft Limited Edition (ARF) Super Stearman 1400mm (Balsa/Ply/Composite)

super_stearman_manual_8b.pdf

Kingcraft Limited Super Stearman MAIDEN FLIGHT!! by HobbyKing JohnVHRC JohnVHRC • 96 views 1 hour ago New

 

All the best to fellow members.

Kind regards,

Mike Kennedy

Edited December 26, 2020 by Mike.K
Typo corrections

[Mike.K 60]

It seems I now have the upload facility working again on my camera/laptop.

Here are a few more images that have just become accesible to me starting with the Seagull Funky Cub. This is definately a designer inspired sport model which looks something like a modern Cub Crafters rendition of the original Piper Cub design. Horses for courses......like it or loath it. That`s your personal choice.

Next in the attached image batch are five images of one of the tired, used Zlins being overhauled. Visually, it is hard to beielve this is one and the the same airframe..... but believe me, it is!

Also aquired about three months ago via Rob is a pre-owned 120 size Seagull Space Walker. This was a lightly used example which didn`t need much work to get straight. Originally it would have appeared to have been fitted with a petrol engine. Having sorted the front bulkhead to receive an ASP 180FS, there wasn`t much else needed other than to fit my radio gear and obtain a sensible C of G. Its a big, weighty old beast with apparently beneign flying characteristics. I look forward to flying it in the coming season.

It`s always worth looking at the used models hanging from Rob`s ceiling. Look past the dust, any light damage, the odd missing part or tatty appearance. Choose carefully and you might land a real bargain. Hobby King sell seriously high quality covering film in 5m lengths for around £10 a roll plus a bit of postage. With covering effectively only around one quarter of the cost of Oracover, recovering a sound but down at heal model becomes economic and well worth doing....Cheap models for all!

Finally, I couldn`t resist the Limited Edition HK Stearman 1400mm so ordered one last night. Further updates on that model when it arrives. In the meantime, I`m sat cross legged on the hall floor waiting for Parcel Force to make the delivery.......Santa is arriving late for me this year. Hopefully HK will be back in the warehouse tomorrow and the kit will be despatched with rocket like speed!

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Hey, hey,hey! I`m happy as Larry!!

The Stearman arrived yesterday with thunderclap suprise and rocket like delivery from Hobby King in Ipswich in only about nineteen hours. Bravo HK and Parcel Farce. A job well done. Paid for in USD via Pay Pal and the HK site, my bank account has been debited with £4 less than I pinged on the HK UK site when I ordered. My Stearman boxed kit arrived in great shape and without internal contents damage. It appears that this Limited Edition kit is just that....somewhat limited. My kit with identifying SKU number is possibly No 104 of a consignment of 134 held by the UK HK warehouse. If you want one of these kits, you need to order IMMEDIATELY or stock holdings will quickly expire. There are no further Stearman kit deliveries expected.....

Value for money, its a medium sized 1400mm (56") model marketed at a large Seagull type price. One has to ask......why did I buy this kit? My reasons were having seen the You-tube vids, looked at Google images and perused a couple of forums, I liked the special rivet type details and the PR publicity sealed the purchase regardless of the slightly above competitor level price. Apart from the usual internet forum bitching, negative vibes and general pointless silly anal comments, an orange flag presented which lead me to cross my toes, take a calculated flyer and trust that the resulting kit delivered would be as good as a previous Kingcraft 1200mm HK (Kingcraft) Pitts Special. That kit was well received and did everything it said on the tin...well, on the box really. I`m only sad that I didn`t aquire one of those when it was available.

So the Stearman is here and it doesn`t disapoint except for just one minor area. This hits the 2mm solid mild steel rigging wires and elevator push rods which came out of the packet covered in black mucky mill scale filth and displaying some minor ferrous corrosion. The corrosion can be cleaned and nutralised easily enough so this minor issue is no big deal at all. It was just a bit of a downer to find a good kit harbouring a few dodgy components. Don`t let that slight issue stop you buying this kit though.

Assembly began with an immediate first major modification. Off with the electric motor box in favour of a modfied and beefed up F1 capable of withstanding the torque of an SC.91 FS IC glow motor. Having experienced a recent and unexpected 6S LiPo pack explosion and resultant fire within my building area, all my electric gear has now been decommissioned pending disposal to other intrepid modellers. I`ve not touched the LiPo gear since this frightening occurance and for me, four stroke glow motors offer an much safer handling and maintenance experience. If you doubt what I`ve said, please do blow up a LiPo pack and see how you feel after that! Its like a genade going off!!!!!! Manny Williams article in the latest BMFA magazine refers to my incident so have a read and make comments if you wish.

So this Stearman has been modefied to four stroke glow power which was simple and very straight forward....anyone want an electric model motor mounting box? You are too late...its on the way to the Tandridge waste disposal facility. I still have a number of LiPo batteries in "The Hangar". Offers please, in ink, and preferably via a pen nib. Alternatively PM me or call me if you have my phone number. If you don`t have it, please ask Emma or Ian to give it to you. Best not shown on this thread for personal security maintenance. I really do want these time bombs gone......................I have motors, ESC`s LiPo packs etc. No reasonable offer refused for all or part of my pile.

Back to the Stearman for the latest happenings. With the SC.91 motor mounted on the original bulkhead thrust lines, a tank install with a 2600NiMh beneith, work moved to the cowl. This is of ply frame construction "over plated" with some very nice thin wall pre-coloured glass fibre sheet. I`ve not seen that product previously and it makes a welcome change from the usual horrible plastic cowls or indeed some of the rather better glass fibre offerings. Knowing I was going to hack a hole in the side of it for the .91 cylinder head, I approached the alteration with caution. I was reasonably confident that epoxy would adhere to the thin glass fibre sheeting but concerned that I might destroy a fair amount of the integral strength of the unit. Last night saw me insert balsa reinforcement into the cowl in areas that were about to be the subject of my attack with drills, cutters and sanding wheels. Today I marked out the areas to receive the chop and ploughed in with the power tools. A couple of hours later, the cowl was able to fit over the installed .91 with the cylinder head being exposed to air-flow and the exhaust being given the option of either internal or external fitting. The balsa laminate installed within the cowl then received several coats of fue proofing epoxy resin. I`ll be buying some fuel proof red coloured `Guild` produced paint from Rob on my next visit to his shop.

The cowl and its fitment has progressed as planned and expected. I`ve done quite a few cowl chops over the past couple of years so have the methodology down to something of a fine art. I`m quite pleased with the outcome of this cowl as it was of unconventional construction and could have fallen to pieces had I made any significant error in the planning and excecution of this rework. Judge for yourselves in the attached images.

So with the IC modifications now almost complete, I`m back to typical ARTF assembly needs. The tail plane is now in place and alignes well with the lower wing spar which I used to ensure the tail plane was leveled and geometrically aligned before fitting it to the fuselage with 5-min epoxy. My favoured epoxy is a Devcon two part product available via eBay. Its £18 cost gets you 2x125ml of resin and hardener together with included delivery. Its the best value product I can find but in an emergency will resort to buying from either Screwfix or Tool Station. Value is not quite so good but those products are of good quality but are not quite so keen on price when compared to the Devcon sourced via eBay.

The overall quality of this Hobby King (Kingcraft brand) is of surprisingly fine general quality. Although of Chinese origin, its a head and shoulders above other Chinese kits I`ve previously built. I love my Vietnamese Seagull kits because they perform well but they often lack any real scale detail. Yes, they look convincing enough as a sport type offering which is in anycase how they are marketed. Those Seagull kits serve well to use as a basis for a model that will stand detail improvement if you so wish. This premium grade ply and balsa HK Stearman kit lifts the barrier up a notch or two in detail and quality. The user manual has to be found on the internet but HK were sensible enough to provide a link to a PDF document which you can view prior to purchasing a potential next project. Again the HK build manual exceeds Seagull document quality by some measure. Concidering Seagull are one of the largest kit makers around, their manuals are lamentably poor in quality, accuracy and often technical plausibility ie C of G placement! Quite clearly, HK had their manual written in clear English probably by an American and readability and clarity together with high quality illustrations combined with a total lack of ambiguity serve to make their model assembly process a low stress experience. It makes a refreshing change. Well done HK.

That`s enough for tonight.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

A while since I updated this thread. Assembly has moved on well and the model is now complete.

I`ve thoughly enjoyed the assembly of this model. It gets my "Kit of the Year" award and a four and a half star rating out of five.

What a belter this model has turned out to be. Without doubt the best ARTF I`ve yet built. Well done Hobby King with my expectations exceeded by a considerable margin. Yes, I had a few dislikes...namely the previously mentioned push rod type flying wires and also the dreadful plastic tail wheel cowl. The flying rigging was replaced by 100Lb breaking strain, stainless shark fishing trace wire, modified threaded 2mm clevis couplers, clevises and 6mm long ali crimps individually cut from a length of soft ali tube. A huge improvement visually, a decent reduction in weight, inappropriate bulk, mill scale, dirt and rust removed from the scene. The flying rigging is NOT load bearing so the heavy steel rod flying wires can be left off the model if desired. Some modellers have replaced them with elastic chord. The awful tail wheel cowl was binned and soft balsa scraps laminated to the lower rear fuselage spine before being machine worked and sanded to profile. The re-work was covered in matching identical Hobby King red film. The modification blends to the model and is almost invisable. The job took little more than an hour.

A small tin of silver Guild fuel proof paint needs to be collected from Rob Newman when I next visit Avicraft. This will allow the inside of the cowl to be painted and a few touch ups done to the dummy radial engine where I had to remove one cylinder to afford cooling for the SC.91FS engine. Remember please that this model was designed for electric power but I`ve modified it to IC power. Conversion wasn`t in the design team brief at all when they developed this model solely for electric power. The weight of my IC installation is very similar to the suggested electric 6S application. By placing a 2600NiMh battery for RX and servo power under the false fuel tank floor, obtaining the correct C of G was a doddle. A spare 12oz Dubro fuel tank fitted into the space for the LiPo without any difficulty at all.

Dumping the 2mm rusty and heavy mild steel so called flying wires, saved me nearly 5oz on the basic construction weight. However the tank weighed 3oz and my balsa tail wheel fairing added another ounce. So I was nearly back where I started. Nothing lost and nothing gained. Good enough though! Completed dry weight of this model comes to 8.42Lb/3.8Kg which I consider to be quite acceptable. That`s less than a 60" H9 Ultra Stick. This Stearman has a 55" wingspan but obviously rather more wing area. I`m quite happy with this final weight outcome.

Following and contributing to an HK Stearman thread on RCGroups on the internet, a useful dialogue between modellers evolved. How interesting that has been. Almost all HK Stearman models built appear to weigh in at a very similar figure to my own with mine being the only one as yet being IC converted. Also useful on that thread were build and flying videos by John VH in America and the manic Petrincic Bros (Salute, eh?) in Slovenia. These guys often review newly introduced model kits and very helpful and informative those videos are too. On the RCG blog site, ideas are discussed, likes and dislikes are debated and images of various salient points are posted. I will often latch on to build and flying videos and forum sites prior to buying a specific kit. They frequently give a useful pointer towards kit quality, any issues and finally the success or not of the model at the flying field. It is very helpful to know what you are likely to encounter prior to ordering or taking delivery of your selected model. That couse of action at least tells you whether the kit is good, bad or just downright plain disasterous! In the case of this HK Stearman kit, the minor highlighted issues didn`t stop anyone from completing their own model and several examples on other worldwide continents have now flown successfully. This does not include my own example primarily due Covid restrictions and the current block on out door activities. The Stearman sits waiting for us to be released back into the real World......

One issue came to light as I assembled the Stearman. It is totally unrelated to the kit as it concerned the SC.91FS I had fitted. This was the last example of a number of pre-used, eBay sourced SC or ASP .91FS motors that I had gathered up in November for my forthcoming Winter 20/21 model building extravaganza. This particular engine arrived with me rather short of compresssion and producing an audible "click" from the void inside the camshaft housing when rotated through the four stroke cycle. It became the runt of my pile of similar ASP/SC .91 engines and was the last one remaining on the shelf when the Stearman kit arrived. Despite being heated and treated to a slurp of after-run oil laced with graphited penitrating oil, this engine refused to improve in any way. It just got worse by the moment and with every revolution turned.

This morning I removed and stripped the dying engine finding the piston ring solidly glued into the piston with gum. Ten minutes of heating and oiling eventually released the ring from the piston and end clearances sprung back to provide good hoop pressure against an almost unworn cylinder bore. I`m happy that compression will easily be restored without ring or liner replacement but the valve gear problem is another matter.

The camshaft and followers were in terrible condition. I can only assume the previous owner ran the engine with tight valve lash clearance which caused significant and irrepairable damage to the camshaft lobes and followers. The Just Engines site showed the spares situation to be a problem. Now out of production, these obsolete engine parts are on a dwindling spares stockholding. The camshaft is no longer stocked, although cam followers, piston rings and liners are still available. Seemingly if I wanted those particular parts I was ok. The non availability of the camshaft alone essentially wrecked my rebuild hopes. Cussing somewhat, I put a distress call out on WhatsApp to members of my other model flying club, the Falcon Flying Group. The request was simple.....did anyone have a slightly scrappy ASP or SC .91 that might donate some of its valve gear and perhaps a good compression, piston, liner and ring to the situation? Ten minutes later, Martin Wood (also a Croydon member) sourced and offered me a suitable donor motor. It looks as if I might be able to make one good unit out of the parts provided by my own engine and the one Martin offered me. I`ll have to wait until we are out of this current lock-in before I can go and collect it. I suppose I could be cheeky and ask Martin to post it to me...but then he would have to go to the Post Office and that really isn`t fair to ask him to do that! Obtaining this mechanical replacement godsend is my problem alone. There`s no rush because we `aint going flying are we?! To Martin I say a big thanks...you really are a total Star. Loads of beer for you if we are ever allowed in a pub again. The last two images in the attached images below are of the parts donor engine and were sent to me by Martin for a suitability check.

I`ll let the attached images tell the rest of the story. As you will see, this HK kit really stands out from the crowd. Money is waiting in the hope they will produce another equally charismatic model that is again capable of blowing the socks of this slightly cynical model kit builder! Well done to HK because they have made an outstanding job of this kit. Note well though. No further kits remain at the HK UK depot as of 14/01/2021. However, there are still some available from the HK European Depot in the Nederlands. Move very quickly if you want one. No restocking is envisaged by HK. Buying price is £274 converted by the HK site and PayPal into USD at the exchange rate of the moment.

I`ll post more on this model when test flying and set up has been carried out. Come on Boris...if nothing else, can`t we fly alone as singletons? That could and can be done by driving to the field without encountering any other human contact. We could fly then and come straight home again without contact with others. I gather the Fishing Association has approached the Government in similar vein. Perhaps the BMFA should also make a similar representation.

As always, comments and observations appreciated.

Mike

Edited January 17 by Mike.K
Corrections to text.

[Mike.K 60]

The Stampe build story begins. In due course, I`ll copy and paste this text into a separate Stampe thread. For convenience tonight, I`ve just added it to the thread I started late last year.

So here we are again on the first of February 2021 with the World at a halt, travelling, shopping and leisure activities all reduced to a frustrating base existance level. My personal salvation has been the internet for contact with others, ordering of supplies and some entertainment. I`m a prisoner in my own home as is everybody else. Its tough going isn`t it?

With boredom setting in again, I started looking to the next model build. The Stampe bi-plane pulled at my heart strings. Back in 1974, I built and flew the somewhat heavy 63" Dennis Bryant version. I used to watch the Rothmans Stampe display team at Biggin Hill and grew to love that wonderful Belgian designed aircraft based loosely around the Tiger Moth concept. It was natural then that I modelled the Stampe. The urge was increased by also seeing the Tiger Club flying at the Biggin displays and G-AWEF, a bright yellow with sun-burst red colour scheme caught my fancy. Not surprising then that my 1974 model wore that very colour scheme.

In 1993 I undertook a Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineers course under Section A8-20 of the CAA Air Natigation order. As part of the course sylabus, I was required to work on live aircraft. Joining Eagles Aviation at Kemble for an altogether too short a period, I enjoyed working on Stampe G-BHFG. I sat in the cockpit of that aircraft long before Harrison Ford and Shaun Connery "flew it" after launching from the underside of a German Zeppellin airship! My bond with the Stampe grew even stronger as a result of working on FG.

In choosing my next Stampe model kit in 2021, I had a bit more choice than I had forty seven years ago. The large 88"? Precident kit although out of production is re-engineered by SLEC under their name. The downside of that kit though is that the finished weight is well over 18Lb and cannot obviously be flown within our local Biggin Hill FRZ area. That option was a non starter for me.

The Bryant kit and plan are still available from Sarik so that provided a known option but I was looking for a more modern take on this traditional model. Fortunately I tripped over the web site of a small modelling concern, Guix Model. They are based deep in World War 1 trench country in a sleepy French rural village.  This company laser cut kits to the design of Frenchman, Laurent Buissyne. Laurent is a tremendously talented and very experienced designer and flyer of RC models. I`ve grown to regard him as a similar character to our UK based Tony Nijhuis.

Contact with Laurent at Bul Concept was by email and his response was immediate. Between us we managed to communicate in broken French and English which resulted in Laurent being sent funds in Euro`s via PayPal. Around £65 got me a CAD drawn three sheet plan and a CD-ROM based build manual. Making copies of Laurents plans or build manual is forbidden by copyright. The manual and plan are written in French so my internet Google translator has been doing overtime! Fortunately most instructions together with images found within the PDF manual or on the plans make reasonable sense. Sadly the plan has to be cut up into bite sized pieces to keep the large amount of plan paper under control during kit construction.

A short kit plus extra wood kit is now ready to be despatched from Guix Model. I ordered from the site but had issues entering the UK as a shipping destination. Eventually I managed the order via PayPal which was paid in Euros. A couple of weeks passed after I received an initial order confirmation and invoice reference. I tried a phone call and also wrote an email to Guix. All remained quiet and I began to fear the worst. I pinged off a mail to Laurent and asked for his assistance saying that I suspected an issue with insufficient funds being sent for carriage. Laurent contacted Guix and matters took a turn for the better. Guix have asked for a further 13E which I`m more than happy to send them. Guix have asked if I have a payPal account which I`ve confirmed and I`m awaiting their banking details with IBAN and BIC codes. The matter should be resolved tomorrow after which the kit should be sent with delivery taking about a week.

Another issue also serves to befuddle this somewhat convoluted transaction. Yes, its Brexit and the new import and export regs and VAT liabilities. The plan and CD came from Laurent with French VAT paid and total door to door postage charge being included in the transaction value. This transaction is an export from France and I`m now wondering if I should have had to pay their VAT. I wasn`t asked by our Royal Mail for any extra delivery money or was I asked to pay any additional import type UK VAT. I`m not an International tax expert or do I intend to become one. The transaction value was about £65 paid after the 1st January this year, (2021). That was fine by me.

The unknown quantity now is the possible additional UK VAT liability applicable for the separate wood kit and carriage. The transaction amount is 194E, ex France. The monies were paid directly to Guix Model as another transaction separate from the one done with Laurent. Despite looking at our Gov.HMRC site and thinking I had a handle on what monies might be due, I found one section to contradict another so closed the site down and went and got myself a very large brandy! Talk about a buggers breakfast!!

So tonight I`m hopeful that the kit will start to move out of France over the next few days but haven`t a clue if I`ll have to stump up further monies once the kit hits the UK Customs sheds. It will probably sit there for three weeks until it receives attention from HMRC. Leaving the EU always worried me. I had a feeling trade with remaining EU countries would become extremely cumbersome and lead to us becoming disadvantaged. For that reason alone, I would have prefered it if we had stayed in the EU. The confusion surrounding this recent simple transaction confirms my misgivings formed as the UK referendum voted for leaving the EU. Now we are a small fish in a big pool instead of being a reasonably strong influence Internationally. Now I struggle with obtaining a few balsa sticks and twigs from Northern France. I want my Stampe kit without paying two lots of VAT!!!! Rant over!

Last week saw me ordering loads of metal strip and tube from eBay. Steel strip, aluminium strip, brass tube, ali tube and carbon fibre wing spars. The specifying and finding of suitable materials took ages and wasn`t cheap. Copious amounts of postage also added to the total costs. I also bought a pair of 4" Kavan air wheels which weigh a fraction of the equivalent Du-Bro equivalents. £28 for those at the cheapest price I could find which was from MWM. Normally I try to give Rob at Avicraft the majority of my business. Being unable to travel during lockdown makes that impossible. So I`ve sourced my present parts requirements from whoever can get them to me with the least hassle and at the best prices. 

As Chairman Ian and I recently debated...it costs more to scratch or semi-scratch build using self selected parts and materials than it does to buy something like a Seagull, Black Horse or VQ ARFT kit. One of those kits gets you flying quickly and effectively with almost all parts you need being included in the kit. When you scratch build, individual prime core parts costs rocket and I often wonder why I don`t just stick to ARTF kits. Then I remember I`ve built most of the ones I like from those sources and end up back on the expensive scratch built treadmill! Here I am again with a pre-cut short kit from Guix, a plan from Laurent and all the other bits from the model trades collective spares bin....

I`ve spent a couple of spasmodic days turning raw strip metal into landing gear, cabane struts, interplane struts, flying wire brackets, tail wheel unit etc whilst I await the delivery of the short kit. I`m confident this kit will build to make a lovely model despite the agravation of just getting it to my front door. In the meantime, I`m making all the fiddly bits which most people would leave until the model was near finished. Doing the gutty bits first makes eventual finishing of the model a fairly painless process. Just a couple of images here showing the metal work completed todate. Hours of work and not much to show for the effort!

More on this build again as it progresses.

Mike