Name: Slingsby T31 M Model type: Scale motor glider Designed by: Peter Miller Wingspan: 86” Fuselage length: 47” Wing area: 682 sq. in. All-up weight: 5 lbs Wing loading: 17oz / sq. ft. Functions (servos): Aileron (2); elevator (1); rudder (1); throttle (1) Rec’d engine. 40cu. in. four-stroke Originally featured in the March 2010 issue of RCM&E Back in 1947, Slingsby Sailplanes produced a single-seat powered aircraft by hanging the wings & tail of the pre-war T8 Kirby Tutor (or Cadet Mk.II as the RAF called it) on a new fuselage with either a JAP or Scott engine up front. The result was the T29 Kirby Motor Tutor. You don’t remember it? No, well there’s no reason why you should, really: the Kirby Motor Tutor was a rather half-cocked bid for a share of the power training market. It did fl y, but the little ultralight scarcely made it over the hedge of the CAA’s certification process before settling heavily back to earth with no prospect of ever going into production. Putting this sorry episode behind them, Fred Slingsby & his factory got on with better things
- things like the Slingsby T31 Tandem Tutor, or the Cadet Mk.III as you’ll remember it if PETER MILLER MODELS AN UNUSUAL BUT ODDLY ALLURING PHOENIX you learned to fl y with the Air Training Corps. Given Slingsby’s post-war successes, the T29 might have remained a forgotten familyembarrassment
- Fred apparently described it as a “foolish & wasteful venture”
- if it hadn’t been for the fact that, when the RAF sold off its T31s in the 1980s, home-builders remarked on the similarity of these trainers to the old T29 Motor Tutor, & set about fitting undercarriages & bolting in engines where the front cockpit used to be. All this effort turned the stolid sailplanes into T31M Motor Cadet IIIs whose configurations display all sorts of variations but which share one important common denominator: they all offer large measures of low-cost flying fun. So much for full-size history, then; what’s the background to this model? Well, several years ago I built a 73” span electric-powered T31M for an acquaintance who flew gliders & vintage models but wanted something a little more advanced. It was a lovely model to fl y & inspired me to build one for myself around an old pre-Surpass O.S. FS40. I based my model on G-BSHM (now PH1121) because I liked the look of the angular front deck & its colour scheme. The result is a model that’s accurate in most respects, save for a couple of omissions: I wasn’t sure whether ‘HM has the spoilers that are fitted to some T31 Ms, so I didn’t put any on the model
- which makes the build easier, of course
- & the cowl has been simplified slightly by omitting the bump that hides the self-starter. Building the model is quite straightforward
- very much like a vintage design, in fact
- indeed the only area that calls for care & great accuracy is the strut assembly & wing mounting, but we’ll come to that in the fullness of time.






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First Appeared in: RCM&E Magazine January 2009 Model type: Vintage R/CDesigned by: Dick Schumacher / Peter Miller Wingspan: 58” Wing area: 609 sq. in. All-up weight: 4 lbs 7oz Wing loading: 17 oz / sq. ft. Fuselage length: 46” Power. 15
-. 25cu. in. two-stroke.20
-. 30cu. in. four-stroke Functions (servos): Rudder (1); elevator (1); throttle (1) The Big Ship After a long spell designing & building sports, aerobatic & scale models, I was feeling the need for something more relaxing to fl y, something that I could enjoy cruising around, making low passes & performing the odd touch-&-go. Looking at the SC. 30 four-stroke around which I planned to build this new model, I realised that what I really wanted was something just like a larger version of Dick TIME HONOUREDThe Little Ship is one of the many designs from the drawing board of legendary aeromodeller, Dick Schumacher. With a wingspan of just 44”, it was designed for a. 074 engine & Otarion radio, which operated a ‘ruddervator’
- a rotating, angled vane behind the tail that could be stopped in any of four positions to give either right rudder, down elevator, left rudder, or up elevator. Back in the 1980s, I revisited Dick’s design
- which was published in the January 1951 issue of Model Airplane News
- & drew up a set of plans for a Little Ship of my own. The. 074 engine was replaced with a worn out Mc Coy. 098 & the model was fi tted two standard servos. Test fl ights proved that she fl ew perfectly, so I swapped the Mc Coy for an O.S. 10FSR, which gave the model an impressive turn of speed, & also allowed me to fl y rudder / elevator rolls. That Little Ship really started something: everyone at my club built one. They were powered by an assortment of engines in the 1.5cc range, & covered in film or Solartex; the fact that you could fit three standard servos abreast made radio installation easy, too. Those little models flew & flew, indeed they could be flown in the wind, they found thermals, & they could be slalomed around trees & hedges. One member fl ew his Little Ship every weekend for six years until its fuel soakage fi nally forced it into retirement. We even have an electric-powered version flying on a regular basis.IDEAL CAMERA PLATFORM? The Little Ship has an unusual wing section. The maximum thickness occurs well back from the leading edge, whilst the bottom is fl at right up to the leading edge. The profi le works well, though
- so well, in fact, that I used a scaled-up version of the Little Ship wing for my latest camera plane. Using this wing section & taking into account the Big Ship’s handling characteristics, I’d say this model would make an ideal platform for the Fly Cam One.





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First Appeared in: RCM&E April 2009 Issue Name: Propellosaurus Model type: Electric-powered pterosaur Designed by: Cyril Carr Wingspan: 39” (991mm) Body length: 41” (1041mm) Wing area: 2.7sq. ft (0.25sq. m) approx. All-up weight: 14oz (0.4kg) Wing loading: 5.2oz / sq. ft. (1.6kg / sq. m) Functions (servos): Elevator (1); rudder (1); throttle (ESC) Deflections: Elevator ±0.6” (15mm) at rear of skin Rudder ±0.8” (20mm) at rearmost point C of G: 2.75” (70mm) behind the joint between body & neck Rec’d powertrain: 1500k V brushless outrunner (50
- 80W), 15A brushless ESC, 3s 1p 350 – 700m Ah Li-Po Materials required: Three sheets of 6mm Depron (1m x 0.8m); 50mm pink foam; UHU Por; carbon fibre rod Pterosaurs (wing reptiles) were close relatives of the dinosaurs & existed over the Mesozoic era, which covers the Triassic, Jurassic & Cretaceous periods, i.e. between 245 & 65 million years ago. Presumably they suffered the same fate as the dinosaurs, with the arrival of a major climatic change. The earliest discoveries of fossil remains date back to 1784 but it wasn’t until the 19th century that the reptilian nature of the creature was established. The skeletal structure showed that the 4th finger was very elongated & supported a wing, & as a result they were called Pterodactylus (wingfinger). Further study has confi rmed that they were remarkable reptiles with large brains & very effective lungs & circulatory systems, making them highly specialised flying creatures. They were able to flap & soar in the turbulent skies of ancient times & would have been quite a terrifying sight. Many varieties have been found, with sizes ranging from the wingspan of a sparrow to Quetzalcoatlus at 50’ (15.2m). Their skulls & teeth evolved to specialise on the type of food that was available, ranging from fi sh to carrion. Many of them had projections from the skull that may have functioned as an aerodynamic balance for the head, or for steering, or possibly making noise. Apparently winged reptiles were very efficient flyers, a characteristic that seems to have been transferred to the model.
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First Appeared in: RCM&E May 2009 Issue Name: Stunt Monkey Modeltype: 3D electric Designed by: Julian Beckett Wingspan: 35” (889mm) Wing area: 2.18sq. ft. (0.2 sq. m) All-up weight: 5.2oz (148g) Wing loading: 2.5oz / sq. ft. Functions (servos): Ailerons (1); elevator (1); rudder (1); throttle (via ESC). Rec’d powertrain: AXI 2204/54; 8
- 10 amp ESC; 8 x 3.8” prop; 400
- 600m Ah 2s Li-Po Stunk Monkey Our first indoor meeting of the season was an annoyingly quiet one for me this year, as a rummage through the pile of tatty foamies in my workshop yielded not a single toy in fl ying condition. It was no use
- I’d have to build a new ‘un, but what? The criteria had to be fairly simple. A model of 30
- 35” (760
- 890mm) span, powered by a 2s Li-Po of around 400m Ah & a brushless outrunner. Three 5g servos on aileron, elevator & rudder, carbon bracing & pushrods, & weighing in the region of 5oz (140g). Not exactly rocket science in leccy model terms these days, but still very relevant for anyone who enjoys indoor aerobatic aircraft. Nothing really took my fancy commercially, with a long list of ‘been there, done that’ airframes, leaving me with little option but to put pen to paper. After a few pleasant evenings sketching ideas out on sheets of A4, I transferred the design via my scanner to Adobe Illustrator where I could scale it up or down, stretch it, squash it & fi nally redraw it accurately, incorporating the slots & tabs that would be needed to glue it all together. In this regard I have to take my hat off to the work of Tim Hart at the Foamy Factory, as I could fi nd no better way of jointing the fuselage than his slot-&-tab method. Up close & personal. Positioning for the hand catch. Absolutely de rigueur for indoor one-upmanship. Mind that prop though, it gives a healthy nip!




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First Appeared in: RCM&E June Issue Name: Beretta Model type: EDF park jet Designed by: Dave Royds Wingspan: 40” (1016mm) Fuselage length: 41” (1041mm) Wing area: 2.1sq. ft. All-up weight: 35
- 45oz (1
- 1.3kg) Wing loading: 16.5
- 21.5oz / sq. ft. (5
- 6.6kg / sq. m) Functions (servos): Ailerons (2); elevator (1); rudder (1); throttle (via ESC) Rec’d powertrain: 70mm We Mo Tec 480 Minifan; HET 2W- 20 motor; 60A ESC; 3s 2500
- 3300m Ah Li-Po (20C min) Beretta EDF Park Jet Advances in brushless motor & Li-Po battery technology have made a huge impact to the popularity of Electric Ducted Fan models. With batteries now capable of providing massive amounts of power for their diminutive size, & motors spinning faster than ever thought imaginable, there’s been no better time to enter the world of the electric jet. Although not aimed at the outright novice, Beretta’s low wing loading offers a wide & safe speed range that’s ideal for sport fl ying. Moreover, the more experienced fl yer can use a hotter powertrain, which will provide unlimited vertical acceleration & ‘seat of the pants’ performance. Constructed from tough EPP foam & utilising full span carbon wing tubes, Beretta should prove a little more robust than your average foamy, whilst its removable wings make it compact enough to fi t inside the smallest family hatchback... a true pocket rocket! Bags of wing area & large control surfaces make this model a real delight to fly. My simple take-off dolly is fabricated from 20mm plastic water pipe & leftover undercarriage assemblies. While a little larger than the average park jet, Beretta dismantles to fi t in a small hatchback.




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First Appeared in: RCM&E July 2009 Issue Name: Roamer Model type: Vintage R/CDesigned by: Cal Smith / Peter Miller Wingspan: 62” Fuselage length: 45.5” Wing area: 666 sq. in. All-up weight: 5 lbs Wing loading: 17oz / sq. ft. Functions (servos): Rudder (2); elevator (1); throttle (1);optional nose wheel steering (1) Rec’d engine. 25 two-stroke;. 30 four-stroke Roamer Peter Miller Rejuvenates One Of Cal Smith’s Classic Designs To Create A Model That’s Perfect For Long Summer Evenings... Better Get Building! Hot Metal You can make ballast blocks by pouring molten lead into moulds carved into blocks of wood. The moulds need to be tapered so you can get the lead out again, but more importantly the wood should be as dry as possible: damp wood will make the lead spit back, & hot lead will cause serious burns. Be warned, then, & protect yourself with thick leather gloves & safety goggles at the very least. If you have any doubts about casting lead weights, you can make up blocks by cutting sheet lead into small pieces & gluing them together. If you need some lead sheet, try scrounging it from your friendly local roofi ng contractor. ...

First Appeared in: RCM&E October 2009 Issue Name: Wave Model type: Seaplane Designed by: Ton van Munsteren Wingspan: 45” (1140mm) Fuselage length: 31” (787mm) Wing area: 2sq. ft. All-up weight: 28oz (790g) Wing loading: 14oz / sq. ft. (4.3kg / sq. m) Functions (servos): Rudder (1); elevator (1); throttle (via ESC) Rec’d motor: Typhoon 15/10 Rec’d ESC: 25
- 30amp Rec’d battery: 3s 1p 1500
- 2000m Ah Li-Po I’ve been flying R/C for over 30 years now, & whilst it’s good fun operating ‘full house’ models I still like to fl y 3-channel rudder / elevator occasionally. When pondering an own-design fl ying boat I decided that this, too, would be a rudder / elevator model, with old timer looks & powered by an electric motor spinning a 9” (or thereabouts) prop. The internet puts such a wealth of information at your fi ngertips, & it didn’t take too long to fi nd a free-flight model upon which to base my design. I used a picture of it as the wallpaper on my PC for continued inspiration, & set about designing the Wave using CAD. With the plan drawn & the prototype quickly built, I was keen to get to the water’s edge to see how she’d perform. I’d given Wave a wide, boat-shaped fuselage with a V-bottom words & photos » Ton Van Munsteren section before the step & a fl at ditto after the step, which hopefully pointed to easy taxiing & fuss-free take-offs. I’m glad to say that I was right; take-offs are as long as you like & as smooth as silk, & on only half power, too. Open the taps, & a full-power ROW only takes about five metres! Once airborne, the lack of ailerons doesn’t spoil the fun for Wave will lift her skirt & loop, roll, stall turn & do a (sort of) half Cuban 8
- just on rudder & elevator. Still interested? Then let’s get building! Article In October 2009 RCM&E


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