What did you do aeroplane wise today?

[Spiros]

The idea is not mine. It was George Kandylaki's

Since the tissue of Jodel Bebe is not transparent, it makes it difficult to find the exact spot for the rubber/peg hole. I made a stick that stops exactly on the hole, making it easy to directly put the peg through and hold the rubber.

Fast change of rubber if needed.......

[TheLurker]

Finally got around to the final odds & ends for the Chiribiri, i.e. a motor peg & doing up the wheel nuts.

It's now a race between the arrival of a flat calm that coincides with me not being at the code face slaving for "The Man" and the aerodrome being cut for silage/haylage.  Last year the race was lost and the D VIII had to wait until May this year for its first test flights. I really don't want to have to wait until May next year for the C.5.

Aaanyway..., I need a motor for it and was pondering where to start.  It's 24.6g without ballast and motor so and thought I'd have a bit of a play and run a least squares regression using motor sections and weights from (very) roughly comparable models (high wing, with struts in lieu of rigging) to see if that'd give me a clue.

Model	Weight	Motor Section
Comper Swift	11g	0.08"
Lacey M-10	16g	0.095"
Ryan M-1	31.5g	0.16"

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The Lacey doesn't have struts, but a sample size of only two would have been... silly.

Which having turned the handle gives section = 0.004xweight+0.034 or 0.13"

Which was interesting as I was thinking I'd start with a loop of 1/8" (0.125") and see where it took me.

How good is this figure?  I think the answer must be, "No better than a wet finger guess." The sample size is tiny and I know my Comper will need a 0.085" section loop in a cold hall.  I suspect that if it survives it's going to need a lot of nose weight and will probably end up around 30g and needing something towards the 0.16" mark.

[Jmk89]

I went to a reunion in Newcastle (on Hunter) today.  It was in New Lambton, so I went to Frontline Hobbies at Broadmeadow on the way to the train station on the way home.  Good selection of balsa, spruce, CF, tools, glues, etc.  Yes they had spruce - I haven't seen any since the early 80s in ordinary hobby shops.

[Spiros]

Went through many many many peanut plans and eventuqally condluded on my next peanut...... I think....

[g_kandylakis]

Well, mot exactly today but in the last days...

During the BMFA indoor scale nats I managed to lose the tailskid of my Moth Major peanut, so I had to make a new one. A rather dreaded task which I keep postponing.

I chose instead to repair my Avro monoplane which had some tissue tears, a broken leading edge and rear fuselage. Ended up removing all the covering and repairs are underway. The model has yet to fly properly after 13 years...

My Batboat is also in the workshop after a nasty wing damage, when it hit a table leg after landing. Took many things apart, waiting for the right mental state to recover the broken section.

At some point I will eventually have to do the Moth tailskid...

[dputt7]

I can feel your pain all the way down here.

[Lastwoodsman]

What Did You Do Airplane Wise Today?

Monday July 6 2026   

30"  Gipsy Moth

    I finished gluing up the right side fuse frame,  and I added a  3/32"  finger tip grip plate,  between Station 5 and Station 6,  for hand tossing the model.  That right hand plate,  sits flush to the right hand side,  of the right fuse frame (longerons are  1/8" sq.).

    This gave me the chance to use my newly refreshed sanding blocks.       I also had the fin/rudder and stab frames,  previously only glued up  -  so they all got a final sanding to 220 grit.

Pic #1    3826    Here is a pic of the completed parts so far.

    Note the  'hand carved' ( sanded, filed,  etc.),    8"  Hamilton prop,  already completed.  I will re-post this prop tutorial,  as it was lost to the ether ...

    Also,  here are my spoked wheels,  made by my computer Guru Bob,  with his new  3-D  printer.  He also printed my two Beaver pilots. 

Update coming in my  30"  Gipsy Moth thread.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Pete Fardell]

Those 3D printed wheels look interesting, Richard. How heavy/light are they?

Always good to see inside the Kandylakis Aerowerkes too. Glad to see you've not lost faith with the Avro F, George, and the Batboat is an absolute masterpiece even by your standards.
I can't imagine seeing the replacement of a Moth tail skid as a major repair job though? Isn't a case of finding a small stick of balsa, maybe on the floor of your workshop, and just sticking it under the rear fuselage? (It could be that my methods are somewhat less thorough than yours of course...)

Anyway, the other day I had a bit of an inspiration regarding the slight loss of trim in my Bleriot. I remembered that whilst walking across Port Meadow last month, with all my models rattling about in their big box, the tailplane got knocked off the Bleriot and I'd rather hastily re glued it on the field. Could this be why it now wasn't flying as well as it did before? Then I remembered that Toon Verbruggan, who designed my wing aerofoil, told me that it works best at a high angle of attack. So I re-set the tail with a good bit more up elevator and had another go at my field this morning, before it got too hot. Quite pleased with the result; instantly slower in its rather nose up attitude, and a bit of added downthrust just about keeps it from stalling...

[Squirrelnet]

That's looking so much better and flying like I remember it. Glad you remembered the tail incident at PM

[TheLurker]

Witchcraft!  Nothing can fly that slowly and stay aloft!

Lovely to watch.

[Lastwoodsman]

What Did You Do Airplane Wise Today?

Wed July 8 2026

Pete Fardell's  Bleriot

    Those really are beautiful flights Pete!  Your Bleriot has a wonderful angle of attack on climb-out after launch.  It's a very exciting and entertaining flight when the they get jostled around by the wind.  Long live the core!   

Pete I'll weight up those printed wheels in a bit in my Gipsy thread,  and the prop, etc.    The printed halves are all about  1.57 grams.  Two halves glued up as one =  3.11 g.  1 1/2 " wheels.    The black plastic kit wheels are 3.44 g for two halves.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Jmk89]

Not a great day for real aeroplane stuff - but a useful activity. 

I started to make the pdf versions of AM and Free Flight News (FFn) that I have text searchable. 

While the AM index that you can find  in the Plans Gallery compiled by Colin (Surname a victim of incipient dementia)is wonderful, the "Hatband" search exercise made me think that full text search facility would be a helpful additional tool.

I've got the technique down to being able to do one year of 12 issues at a time, my 'puters spit the dummy if I try to do more than one year of issues at once.

So I have to do 56 years of FFn and 75 years of AM to get a fully searchable collection.

[Bargle]

Well, not exactly today but in the last days...

During the BMFA indoor scale nats I managed to lose the tailskid of my Moth Major peanut, so I had to make a new one. A rather dreaded task which I keep postponing.

My Batboat is also in the workshop after a nasty wing damage, when it hit a table leg after landing. Took many things apart, waiting for the right mental state to recover the broken section.

At some point I will eventually have to do the Moth tailskid...

I know the feeling. My particular bugbear is propellers. I have to be in the right mood before I'll tackle making them. Got a Sparky that's been waiting on one for at least 3 years.

[Jmk89]

I put up a Twist rear motor anchor that I designed for 3D printing on the Plans Gallery.
It's for use when you wind your rubber motor outside the fuselage and then insert it using a suitable stick. The idea is that the motor is held on the stick with the two prongs of the anchor pointing towards the motor peg - the prongs are aligned so they pass one each side of the motor peg. Once they have done that the stick is twisted so that the two prongs engage on the motor peg. The prop is then attached to the motor at the other end ( I use a Tim Grey style hook and hook it over a pin when it's on the stick, leaving the loop free for the prop shaft to hook onto). Then the stick is withdrawn.

When I get a moment, I'll do a photo shoot so you can see what I mean!

[ramses]

What did you do aeroplane wise today?

Completed the structural work of a new project:
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22
West Wings Kit
Rubber Power Free Flight
Span: 24.6"/ 625mm



Next to do is lightly sand all parts and ready the Spitfire for the tissue covering:



Cheers, Ramses