That makes sense Odd - I was put onto him by Traplet as being 'their' wheel producer and asked him if he would make me a pair of 7" wheels. I gave him the section drawing but never heard back so I suspect he is either snowed under with work and could do without any more or has retired (semi?).

Too bad he doesn't seem to be around anymore... I'm not sure what to do about wheels if it comes down to it, I may just machine my own. The ply is 3/16" 5-ply, I think. Its for the wing
Spars, 2 fuselage formers, nacelles, and number 2 and 8 ribs. The rest of the inner-wing ribs and fuselage formers will be of 1/8" light ply, and the outer wings and tail surfaces will be balsa. I'll be cutting either tonight or tomorrow afternoon, depending on how fast I can do some templates tonight after work.

Have an awesome day, everyone!

Alex

I am aware that 7" wheels are available - from at least half a dozen suppliers, but they are foam, which sounds good except that they are intended for much heavier models than we electric-power guys produce and are far too hard. Virtually no give at all. I reckon they'd survive being the wheel under a wheelbarrow-full of concrete.

Are you aware of Cyparis Alex? Similar weight to heavier grades of balsa but much stronger and more flexible making it about the most crash survivable material I know. I always use it for spars these days. The only drawback to it is that it doesn't like superglue.

Have fun cutting!

Isn't the point you're not supposed to crash I'm not using any heavy load-bearing spars in the wings, so I don't have to really worry about using Cyparis on this build, though I may keep it in mind for the horizontal stab.

Tires with some give are pretty important for this model, too. I don't need to be sending my landing gear through my nacelles!

Alex

I think there are two options for wheels - Kavan, which only go up to 5" IIRC and Dubro, which go to 6".

The Kavans are lighter and thinner walled but made of a harder rubber which is more plasticy. I have these on my Pe-2, but this is still not finished.

The Dubro 6" are 'proper' rubber with nice give but are about twice the wall thickness needed (even for the Stirling at 20 pounds AUW) and about twice as heavy, contributing about 1.5 of those 20 pounds. I do not put any additional air in them to keep them soft.

There used to be an eastern European make I was about to order a pair of - but they deleted the ones I wanted from the range just before I did.

CORRECTION:
I see the range on the last site mentioned is still there...
http://www.topmodelcz.cz/index.php?P...u_eshop_id=341
so it must have been that the Dubro 7" wheel disappeared - although by the time I found the Topmodel site the undercarriage was built and unable to accommodate the wider tyre of the 7" wheel.

Also there is still the RadioActive wheel available.

ODD, I may have got the wrong man! You called him Len Gardiner but when I looked up the man I had been put in touch with I see he is Vic Gardner.

There are a few requests for information on Len Gardiner on the LMA website and others which seem to suggest that he has retired from business, but nothing on Vic Gardner that I can see.

I have emailed Vic again in the rather forlorn hope of a response.

Hello There:
I am in the middle of a MK-2 Beaufighter, interested in your build.
Have at thread at RCSB under scratch builds. You may be interested in
this book.

Regards Larry

Nice build! If you need any inspiration here is John Ranson flying his Beaufighter.

JOHN RANSOME FLYING HIS SCALE EP BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER RC PLANES AT HDMFC (4 min 26 sec)

Apologies for the hijack, but do you have any more information on John Ranson's Beaufighter? Links etc? A PM would be great so as not to sidetrack this topic.

There's information out there - just type John Ranson Beaufighter into your browser and you should find plenty... like this...
http://store.laser-design-services.c...products_id=61

Nice to see another Beaufighter on the go....I'm building the 104.5" version by Patrick Deslandes out of France.

7inchwheels are available from SDSHobbies according to their web page. I bought the same wheel in 5 inch, it is very light and robust with aluminum hub. Doug B

Hi Doug,
Do you have a link to those 7" wheels please? SDSHobbies' search facility is most unselective... how can they think a prop spinner for example fits a search of 7" dia airwheel ?

Can you tell me if they are semi pneumatic or foam filled like all the others please?
It certainly looks right at 5"
Robin

Hi eye4wings: Make sure you get to their home page. From there go to Airplane accessories, then wheels at bottom of the list. I'm sorry not literate enough with computer to do a"link", but above will get you there. Doug B

Originally Posted by Doug Bartley

Hi eye4wings: Make sure you get to their home page. From there go to Airplane accessories, then wheels at bottom of the list. I'm sorry not literate enough with computer to do a"link", but above will get you there. Doug B

Thanks Doug.
Finally found the 7"wheels after three quarters of a frustrating hour ploughing through huge ranges of stuff I wasn't looking for (you'll gather I'm still not impressed with their search facility!). Must have taken a wrong turn somewhere...
http://www.sdshobby.net/7inch-pu-whe...l#.UJOGBGdmwhQ

Having a laugh aren't they?
The price seems to suggest a huge hike for rarity value... $67 ? And that doesn't even appear to be for a pair.
My assessment - SDSHobby = Rip-off specialists.

Or maybe the days of China = Cheap are gone already?
Ah well.... take a deep breath and get on with things...