Post your 1/2A pics

[Tony Oliver]

Not a very original title, but someone had to start it.

I understood 1/2A to be 049 power, but I'm pleased to see it expanded to include the 2.5cc size.

This model is my all-time favourite F/F sport flying model. The photo is a scan from a colour transparency.

It's called Saracen, and was an 'Aeromodeller' free plan in the 1960s. Powered by a Cox Golden Bee, I wore the first engine out after losing the model and getting it returned. Very stable, and easy to trim.

The 1/2A Planes should be a total hit!

Tony

[leccyflyer]

This is Little Mo - an RCM&E free plan from yonks ago.

25" span Cox .049, 25% nitro fuel, battery clip, finger stall, transmitter and five minutes of sheer abject terror that feels more like five hours. Then silence and a beautifully smooth glide to land at your feet (or into the side of the oildrum rubbish bin one time- Little Mo is tough).

[PROACE]

Heres the the start of the Top Dawg from RCM July, 1966 plan #180.

Originaly designed as a free flight. I will be using ASP .061 and three channels.

Please excuse the photo quality. New camera and it is quite a bit smarter than me
:p

[TEM]

ACE extra230. Norvel .074. 4ch FMA micro servos. Batman head for a pilot(incorrect scale). AUW 19oz. Plane is built real well, but I'm a real crappy flier. Gonna save this one for when I get good at flying. And at which point I want to transfer the "guts" over to something like a tantrum or similar(yeah, theres a response to electric to nitro conversion but give me a few years!).

[Aircombat J]

0.15 powered clipped wing spitfire 3 channel running on an o.s 0.15La real nice flyer.

[steelhead]

whos plans is that clipped wing from? Looks really nice

Dean@steelheadproducts.com

[Tony Oliver]

I thought it looked rather nice, too.

'Aeromodeller' had a published f/f plan for a clipped wing Spitfire which was around that size. I think I'll look it up again and try conversion to electric.

Tony

[Aircombat J]

Hi there is no plans as such, it was taken from a 3 view drawing and cut out of foam, its an old design and has a pretty boxy fuz in comparison to the latest spits we are knocking out. J

Might have some blocks already cut somwhere have to have a look around J

[mlbco]

Here is a Norvel .061 powered "3-Fin" design. It is aerobatic and can perform 'flat' turns. Built as an experiment.

[mlbco]

Guillows kit converted to 3 channel RC (aileron, elevator, throttle). Powered by a PAW 03 diesel.

[mlbco]

Guillows Cessna converted to RC. 2 channel (rudder+ elevator) and powered by a Cox .010

[mlbco]

Sterling Fokker D-7 with rudder, elevator, and throttle control. PAW .03 diesel power.

[mlbco]

Guillows Fokker DR1 converted to 2 channel RC with Cox Pee Wee .020 and rudder + elevator controls.

[mlbco]

Goldberg Jr Falcon Built from original kit plans. Cox Medallion .049 powered. Mattel single channel (rudder only) pulse proportional control.

[mlbco]

Roaring 20 built from plans. Cox .010 power with homemade throttle. 3 channels (rudder, elevator, throttle)

[mlbco]

Sterling Sopwith Camel powered by a PAW .03 diesel and 3 channel (rudder, elevator, throttle) control

[mlbco]

Thermic 50 converted to 2 channel RC and powered by a Cox Pee Wee .020.

[Bud Morrison]

Originally posted by mlbco
Sterling Sopwith Camel powered by a PAW .03 diesel and 3 channel (rudder, elevator, throttle) control

Was that a free flight kit ?

[mlbco]

Bud,

This was from a Sterling rubber powered kit (24" span) that is discontinued. I bought this one on E-bay for $30 and converted it to RC. As you may have noticed from my pictures, I have a habit of converting old rubber power free flight kits to RC. They never flew worth a darn when I built them as a kid, but now I can fly them radio control!

Steve

[PROACE]

Hi mlbco,
You seem to have the knack/art of converting those rubber power models to power figured out pretty well. Maybe you would be so kind as to share some of the techniques with us or (me) if no one else cares. I am very interested in converting the Guillow kits, as for now my attempts are far from successful.
Thanks,
Ace

[mlbco]

Ace,

I started a separate thread on this list that shows 5 pictures of my BF 109 conversion.

Thanks,

Steve

[PROACE]

OK, I'll look it up.
Thanks

[Tony Oliver]

PROACE - I care too!

mlbco - it's good to come across a real modellers - these conversions are superb. It's just like seeing the ingenuity and originality you get at somewhere like Old Warden for the first time.

A breath of fresh air.

Tony

[MZanders]

Really like that Dr.I!! I've got the same kit and a peewee here.. brings me to idea's... howzit flying? More pics or a website perhaps?

This is my 1/2A: Graupner's Citabria.. Cox Black widdow.049 power.

[mlbco]

The Dr1 flies fine, much better than I would have ever thought for such a small plane at 8 oz weight. I did enlarge the vertical tail a bit for more stability. The rudder control is still touchy so don't use too much, maybe ± 3/8 inch at first.

I got started in this 'conversion' rut a few years ago when my friend Alan Porter showed up at my house with his own converted Guillows Dr1 powered by a Cox 020. We went to the field to test fly it, both of us expecting to see his nice model crumpled to bits after the first scary hand launch. To our surprise it flew and flew well! It was amazing to watch his miniature triplane meandering around the local park with the sun shining through the tissue wings. We were both sure it would snap roll or do something horrible in those first few seconds after launching, but it behaved itself. I wouldn't call it any easy model to fly, but certainly a fine model for winds under 10 mph.

Since then we were both hooked and started converting other Guillow and Sterling WW1 planes. We convinced another friend, Steve Adams to do the same and that's when the WW 2 models started to be converted. I would like to build another DR1 with a PAW diesel in it instead of the high RPM glow engine.

Here is another picture some of Alan's Dr1 and D-7 along with mine. Alan ran the tissue through a color printer to make the lozenge patterns for his model.

[Bubbafly]

Here is my latest project. Still have a few nit-picky things to do before it is ready to fly.
This is a 35.00 Lanier Dominator 200 kit. I clipped the wing to 30", thinned the airfoil a little bit, put some edges on the tailfeathers, and generally used just enough wood to keep it together. The engine is a .061 Norvel ( C/L ) with an APC 5.5x4 prop. I probably took a little speed off by putting landing gear on it, but we have a nice paved runway, why not use it?

Bubbafly

[Bubbafly]

Another pic, gives you an idea of the size.

[Bubbafly]

The business end!!

[Tony Oliver]

This was a model built from a plan I got from a pal. I think it was a Bowman Kit originally. It's a bit quick and a bit small so you need to be ahead of it when flying.

Powered by an MVVS 1.5cc diesel with a fuel cut-off in case of a need to slow it down.

Tony

[aporter]

This is a Fokker D7 built from an old Sterling kit. I originally planed to fly it with an peewee 0.020 which is shown in the photo (with the head hidden behind the cowl screen). I think the model came in around 10 ozs with the 0.020. After experimenting around with the engine and exposing the head for more power, I finally gave up on the 0.020 an put a killer bee 0.049 engine with a dragonfly throttle into it. It is pretty overpowered in this configuration but flies and throttles well.

Alan

[aporter]

Here is another view of my Fokker D7.

Alan

[GWhaling]

Heres a photo (at least I hope) of some of mine. 1 House of Balsa Mustang 4 channel Super Tigre X-.11 powered. 2 Bill Evans Scimitar with Cox td .o2o. That's the blue flying wing. Has been radared at 58mph level 68 mph in a shallow dive!! 3 One Cent .010 design, fly's great a real blast at 5 ounces ready to fly. 4 Ken Willard SE-5 peanut scale .010 bipe. More a mantle piece than a flyer.
Glen

[Ragwing]

Beautiful airplanes guys....couldn't help but address Mlbco and Aporter: Absolutley georgous airplanes you guys have built. I worship the ground you walk on. :D See you around,
--Derek

[Terryoc]

Here is my 1/2a pylon racer 36.5" span 21oz all up weight powered by a OS 11 PS top speed measured by radar gun 155 mph. This is my favorite racing plane to fly dont know why just like it better than my others.
Terry

[Terryoc]

From above

[Terryoc]

OOps wrong one you can see the wing has been moved up in the fuse this was because my wife is my lancher/caller and it is a lot easier for her to lanch like this also the white upward mark on top of the wing near the trailing edge was for the torque rods to slide through now for the top.
Terry

[mike50]

My Cox Black Widow powered Piece-of-Cake

[mike50]

A OS .15 powered Tri-Squire, a Cox Black Widow powered Q-Tee and a Cox TeeDee .049 powered House of Balsa Mustang.

[aporter]

This is an old photo of my first Gullows conversion. I retouched my friends hand out of the photo. It flew just find with a TD 0.020. My subsequent conversions were more scale. It came in at about 8.5 ozs.

[aporter]

This is my most recent project. The paint job was done via an injet printer. I wanted to build a model powered by my Gmark 0.030 and scratch built this from old Sterling plans. One of the great things about the Guillows and Sterling plans is that they give you patterns for all of the parts. I love these types of plans. You can also scale the models larger or smaller by zooming the plans at Kinkos.

This model came in at 10oz. Unfortunately, the Gmark doesn't pull it around very well. The Gmark is a wonderful engine but either the model needs to be lighter or I need a bigger engine.

Alan

[aporter]

Another view of my Spad with hand retouched out.

Alan

[aporter]

Here is an 0.049 Hobby Hanger Piper Cub that I built using a Norvel 0.049 with a Joker paint scheme (using monokote). The model had typical adverse yaw issues and I once put into a flat spin that I couldn't recover from. The model landed from the spin at such a low velocity that it suffer no damage whatsoever.

Alan

[aporter]

Another view of my 0.049 Piper Cub.

Alan

[Remby]

Hello all,
Super planes! So many it will take a while to recover! Thought you may like a look at my current 1/2a, the Buzzard Buster. Cox Medallion powered, based on a older plane from the late 70's. Redone to fly better, and last. Over 100 flights now.

Remby:)

[Remby]

Another 1/2a Buzzard, 43" span , 24oz plane, flys great on Cox .049 Medallion!:)

Remby

[DICKEYBIRD]

Twin Lizzie 2 (Redesigned from a 1959 M.A.N. plan by Keith Laumer) with 2 modified exhaust sleeve throttled Tee Dee .049's. 408 sq. in., 35 oz. Yup, dey do run at the same time!

[DICKEYBIRD]

Stealth Camel - 250 sq. in., Doculam covering, exh. sleeve throttled Tee Dee .020, 8oz.

(Photo by aporter, Thanks Alan!)
ps: Did ya get over that unfortunate mid air at Little Rock?

[mike50]

aporter,

The very first plane I ever built was a Goldberg Jr. Falcon, back in 1975. It had a Cox black widow. I got it into a flat spin once that I couldn't get out of. It came down so softly that the motor didn't even quit when it landed. It was really amazing.

Mike

[Tony Oliver]

Here's another of my early models (recovered from a colourslide).

It's a 'Timber' which was an early 1960s model - single channel, rudder only, powered by a Frog 150 diesel. Unusually for that time, it was all sheet construction and was very strong. The sort of model you built more than once.

Tony

[Mattfly]

Here is mine.

In the pic it is powered by a Norvel .061. I upgreded it to the Norvel .074. 5 channel, rudder, elevator, ailerons, throttle and flaps. It has since been retired after 100 flights. It was my first aileron plane. Fuselage is part of a 2 meter sailplane. Tail surfaces are balsa sheet, and wing is built up. Flew great, 15min of flying per tank. Never let me down :D

Matt

[Lynn S]

This is a Wattage Giles G202 electric ARF converted easily to glow power. (Norvel .074)
Great flying plane!

The cowl is not installed because it was a new engine and I wanted to give it a few runs without it. Sorry to say I flew it into the sun and crashed it on the second day out.

Lynn S

[sircrashalotnot]

How did it fly with a .074? I know a guy that had one with a .10 and it flew real well.

[Lynn S]

Originally posted by sircrashalotnot
How did it fly with a .074? I know a guy that had one with a .10 and it flew real well.

I was still getting used to its quick responses to aileron when I crashed it. It rolled faster than any plane I have ever flown. I did have two good flights the day before.(this was last Mon.)
I can say the take-offs were the easiest of any tail dragger I have ever made...just gave it throttle and no rudder needed.
It was a thrill to fly, just wish I had put my sunglasses on.
It will fly with a .061, the .074 had plenty of speed and power. A strong .10 would be great. I have seen one of those (Cap)on another forum recently.

Lynn S

[Bud Morrison]

Actually I have found the .074s on 30% heli fuel have the same or even more power than the cheaper .10 engines out there.

[BMatthews]

Anyone for rudder only with a vintage look?

This is a Debolt inspired original design that is meant to look similar to the Rebel and Live Wire Champ of the late 50's.

I've got about 20 flights on it now and I'm thinking of converting it to 3 channel with the addition of an elevator and *gasp* a throttled Norvel 061. Seems my RC club doesn't like me flying upwind when it's behind the flightline (something about safety rules). But anyone that flies rudder only knows that you NEED to keep it generally upwind. Oh well, at least with throttle I can touch and go.

As a rudder only it's a demon. Climb to about 300 feet and then it's a spiral away from continuous rolls, loops split S's, Immelmans and whatever until the engine quits.

Currently sitting at 19 oz's with a Black Widow for oomph. Get this, the radio is my new Airtronics RD6000 full computer set. Talk about overkill.... :D

The pic.....

[DICKEYBIRD]

NanoBipe - 7 5/8" span, 4.5 oz., rudd/elev control, Tee Dee .010, built for RCU unofficial "Smallest Airplane Contest" Yup, it is a SQUIRREL to fly!;)

[DICKEYBIRD]

"DinkyBird" 302 sq. in, 16 oz., 4 channels, NACA 2414 airfoil, Modified (I call it my "John Deere") Medallion .049. Tee Dee front end so's a bushed down (.063" I.D.) venturi could be fitted, Texaco head with 5 gaskets, Medallion cyl. (no sub-piston induction) with .008" shims between case & cyl., Ace throttle sleeve. Pulls 7x3.5 Cox black at 11,100 rpm and idles at 5500. Really nice early morning/late afternoon flyer at 1/3 to 1/2 power.

[DICKEYBIRD]

"Zot!" No, it ain't no Shrike! 'Twere inspired by the same Model Aviation article on Russian R/C combat planes that Joe Beshar developed the "White Electrician" from. (Later morphed into the "Shrike")

Shoulder wing for easier construction, radio installation, hand launching and belly landings. Changed wing aspect/taper ratio, airfoils and V/stab area. Pressure fed Tee Dee .051 with bored venturi and Galbreath/Nelson head, 13 oz., 230 sq. in., sliding tray elevons coupled to elev. A real adrenaline pumper!

[KeithLuneau]

Those are some really nice planes! I wish I had pictures of my older ones... They included an Ace Grasshopper, Simple Extra 230, old Global Baby Birdie (anyone know where I can find another one of these?), a Piece O' Cake, and a scratch built glider much like the POC.

The only small glow plane I have now is a School Boy, with a Hornet .09 on it. I replaced the heavy dowel pushrods with nyrods, and took the nose wheel then moved the main gear forward. I haven;t flown it yet after the changes, waiting on fuel.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures:

[KeithLuneau]

Last one:

[DICKEYBIRD]

"Gyrator" Autogyro - Rotor Dia: 30", Rotor Area: 706 Sq. in., Weight: 17.5 oz, exhaust sleeve throttled Tee Dee .049. 4 channels incl. direct control of rotor left/right tilt. 15 degree "Delta" hinge angle on rotor hub with .032" polypropylene flex material. Flies good!

[PROACE]

Pretty cool. Might there be plans available?
Thanks,
Ace

[KeithLuneau]

All of those are cool, but the Gyrator tops the list I think...

How do you spin the rotor up before takeoff?

[skylane42]

Plane was built using some simplified construction. Totally scratch built using my own plans.. 2 channel, Cox Med .09, total flying weight was 28 ounces. Plane would do 10 foot dia loops forever..

[DICKEYBIRD]

Hi Keith, PROACE....Sorry for the slow response, I only have web access at work and am off on weekends.

Here's a link to a thread over in the RCU 1/2A forum that will answer all your questions.....probably more than you want to know actually!;) http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_612161/mpage_1/key_gyrator/tm.htm

It's a fairly long thread but documents the design and construction pretty well.

Keith, I just start the rotor turning with a flip of the finger and run into the wind.....the 15 deg. Delta hinging and the SG6042 airfoil does th rest.

PROACE, there are no plans available at this time but I'm supposed to be doing a const. article with plans for F.M. magazine.

[KeithLuneau]

Milton, that's some excellent work you've done. I really like the obviously large amount of time and effort that you put into your designs. The soda bottle cowlings are great too, I never though of shrinking them...

Keith

[Half-A- HEC]

Here is a picture of my Herr Piper Cherokee. It is four channel with Norvel .074 for power. Plane flies great!

[Half-A- HEC]

Here is a pic of my Littlest Stick. It is pictured with a TD .010 but now flies with a TD .020! It really hauls now! It weighs 6.5 oz. and has aileron/elevator for controls. All wing incidence has been removed. This little plane stays in the back seat of the car cuz you never know when you need a fix! Haw!


:D

[DICKEYBIRD]

OK, OK....now we're doing .010's again are we? Here's my KwikStik 010. 25" span, 121 Sq. in., weighs under 5 oz. Clark Y airfoil, rudd/elev control. Flies great. Pic shows it sitting on the cowl of a 40% Edge.....the prop on the Edge is bigger than the plane's wingspan!

[DICKEYBIRD]

'Nudder pic:

[Half-A- HEC]

D-Bird,

My Low Stick is full house four channel. I may build another wing for it with retracts!:D I have a set of the GWS micro retracts just waiting for a wing.


Hec

[DICKEYBIRD]

COOL!:cool:

[PROACE]

Here is a pic of the Top Dawg I started last month. The frame up pic is on page 1 of this tread. I modified the canopy area for a little different look. The engine hangin on the front is an Norvel .061

[Lynn S]

The Top Dawg was a great kit from Top Flight. I built one and crashed it in a pond in the late 60s. My dad saw it fly and wanted to learn to fly too. He never got to.
I ordered the plans from RCM and hope I can build another one some day.

[clipclop]

My boy and his Wing-power magnum15 8x4 prop
it realy winds up if set rich revs like a pylon model , its super stable "till you touch something " lol
Way to fast and agile for dad

[PROACE]

Looks fast!

[clipclop]

Proace,
Estimated top speed is about 180-200kph , yep FAST!
Allup weight is only22 oz , it has a long flat glide due to low drag and light wing loading , its 44" span

[PROACE]

WOW!!!!!!

[clipclop]

Heres a flying wing I built up for my youngest son(holding it)
It's got cox .049 with pusher prop 2 channel radio/ mechanical mixer . Slow initial climb till the 5" prop gets to bite then flys great Stewart

[Ragwing]

Here are a few pics of my aircraft. The Baby Bombshell is plans built, Texaco .049 for power, 36", the usual. The P-51 (next post) is JKA's pocket P-51, I got it so I'd have a trainer/beater, its powered by a TD .051, weighs 13 oz and flies great!

[Ragwing]

The Pocket P-51D

[Bipe Flier]

Hi, this is my first post on RC Groups. Here are a few planes that are scratch built from my own plans.

1/2A Ultimate

Wingspan: 25" (635mm)

Length: 26" (660mm)

Weight: 19 Oz (539g)

Engine: Norvel Big Mig .061

Channels: 4

[Bipe Flier]

Bipe Stik

Top Wing: 28"
Bottom Wng:24.5"
Engine: Norvel .074

[Bipe Flier]

Cloud Buster

Wingspan: 31" (787mm)

Length: 28" (711mm)

Weight: 22 Oz (624g)

Engine: Norvel .074

Channels: 4

[Bipe Flier]

Waterbug

Wingspan: 35" (88.9cm)

Length: 25.5" (64.7cm)

Weight: 19oz (538g)

Engine: Norvel BigMig .061

Channels: 4

[Bipe Flier]

1/2A Stik

Wingspan: 32.5" (81.8cm)

Length: 26" (66cm)

Weight: 17.5 oz (496g)

Engine: Thunder Tiger .07

Channels: 3

[Bipe Flier]

Extra Edge

Wingspan: 31" (787mm)

Length: 26.5" (673mm)

Weight: 20 Oz (567g)

Engine: Norvel .074

Channels: 4

[Tony Oliver]

Isn't there a wing missing on each of the last three?

Nice tidy models you have there.

Tony

[Bipe Flier]

Thanks for the compliments tonyo.

Sorry about those funny lookin' monoplanes.

Here you go.

[Bipe Flier]

Mini bipe

[Tony Oliver]

Ah, that's better!

[Remby]

All great looking planes! So much diffrent stuff, lots of things to look at. Here is the latest Revision of the Buzzard Buster, Got the minor bugs out of the plane now, Should be even faster!

[Remby]

Another view, Cox medallion .049 powered, 42" span, around 22oz. Almost ready to go!

[Tony Oliver]

What I like about this '1/2A' business is the sheer enthusiasm and enjoyment everyone gets for relatively little outlay in time and money.
Beautiful models for the fun of it - not as po-faced as other disiplines.

Tony

[PROACE]

I agree with you 100% Tony.
Ace

[driverm391]

Hello everyone!
Here is a pic of my 34" Guillow's Stuka powered by a .049.
A bit unstable, but it sure goes!!
Had a rough landing recently, so I have to do some work on it, and strengthen the structure.
Anyways I have a 25" WS guillow's FW 190 on the table now, so I'll have some pics of that soon

P.S.- Sorry about the quality of the photo.

[Tony Oliver]

That looks like a useful project!

How about some details? -Is it freeflight or radio? What changes have you made, or intend to make to the kit?

I've not considered these models even though they are available in the UK.

Lokk forward to your replies

Tony.

[driverm391]

It is R/C, elevator and rudder. The .049 does not have throttle control, so it runs like a CL model. I am going to reenforce the fuselage with planks to hold up a little better. This was my first RC conversion, and am still working out some bugs.
The .049 with a 6x4 prop provides more than enough power.
For electronics, I installed GWS pico servos. The dihedral on the wings needs to be increased for stability
I will keep everyone updated on the project!

[Tony Oliver]

Thanks for that - looks like a very promising machine once you've got it sorted.

Tony

[Bipe Flier]

A COX .049 is perfect for scale sound in a Stuka!