About three weeks ago I had the chance to get one of these fairly old and therefore rare models. It was offered on Ebay and the seller had tried to sell the model already three times before- with no success. The price dropped each time and when it reached $150, I pulled the trigger on it, being the only bidder Still a little bit on the expensive side for such an old model which is not even made of EPO but of EPS. Yet, I had to have it as the He-162 is an aircraft I always liked very much.
Long ago (around 1998/99), I had a fiberglass version of the He, made by FVK. Although being a very nice model, I sold it years back because the power came from a brushed motor, fed by NiCad's. It was just too heavy and under-powered to have fun.
Having read some of the posts in the associated thread here on RCG, I knew I had to reinforce the Heinkel on some of her well known weak spots. Such are the tail section or the wings that have no spar. I went a little further and not only strengthened the tail with at least three flats of carbon fiber, but also the lower part of the rudders, the fins of the elevator(s) and of course the wings. The wings itself were reinforced by two carbon flats per wing and a long aluminum (tube) spar that reaches from the servo pocket of one wing, through the fuselage and into the other wing. My first attempt was to use a carbon fiber tube, but this would have meant to fly without any dihedral, which I found to be a little risky. I bent the aluminum tube...Continue Reading

After having flown my Dynam Bf-110 since her release in 2014, I decided to 'need' their Bf-109 also. This is my third 109 since 2008, the first one being an EPS model distributed by 'Robbe' and the second one being PZ's Bf-109. Both are sold since long and I never thought to have another 109 again...to err is human
I am satisfied with the overall quality of the kit, although there were some smaller issues I had to correct. My rudder was straight out of the box, but had its hinges glued absolutely misaligned. Also there was a 'hump' in the lower third which I had to sand off. I removed all the hinges supplied, sanded the hinge line straight and re-hinged the rudder, using four CA hinges I had left over from another project. Now everything looks fine.
To strengthen the v-stab and avoid warping, I inserted a piece of carbon strip 5mmx1mm, that runs from the tip to the root of the v-stab.
Another issue were the two elevator halves. They were bent or warped in a way so the had the shape of a lifting airfoil instead of a symmetrical one- with the 'lifting' side facing downwards I carefully bent both of them back to a more symmetrical shape and reinforced both, the stabilizer and the control surfaces with carbon strip. The 'kid pilot' was swapped to a more 'adult' version.
To avoid overheating of the motor, I cut a large hole on either side of the fuselage, along with a cutout under the supercharger intake. The holes for the motor cooling were covered with two plastic...Continue Reading

During the past six months I built another two models from Maxford USA: the 50" PT-17 Stearman and the 'Rumpler Taube'. This build log will cover the Taube first.
Prior to ordering this model there was alot of hard thinking which model I should buy. I had to decide between the 'Bleriot monoplane', the 'Curtiss pusher' and the 'Rumpler Taube', all three sold by Maxford. I searched the net for some useful information to make the decision a little bit easier, but it wasn't as easy as I thought- there is really not much to find on the net. Finally I ended up with the Taube as she has (in my opinion), the most advantages of all three.
I had to order my model at McGregor Industries in the U.K. because it isn't available here in Germany. It took only from Tuesday to Thursday for the package to arrive at my home- really quick
Everything is safely packed and secured to the inside of the box by clear tape. All parts were in very good condition, no damages Along with the model I took the opportunity to order the separately available engine dummy as it really adds to the look of such a model.
The following photos show the content of the box....Continue Reading

After not having written anything for quite a while, it's time again for something new
During Fall 2015 I built a Fokker DVII kit about which I will report soon, but this time it's about my latest project, Maxfords Nie-17 in 1:5th scale. In mid-January I got the permission from my wife to buy my next model because my birthday was only two weeks later This time I chose Maxfords Nieuport, about which I read a lot on the net. After my good experiences with their DH.2, I knew this decision couldn't be wrong. Unfortunately I do only have two options to buy Maxford ARF's, either import them directly in the U.S., or order them in the U.K.. I didn't want to go the hard way with customs and extra charges, so I purchased my kit at 'Steve Webb models'

http://www.stevewebb.co.uk/index.php...om+Maxford+USA

Within a few days the kit was at my doorstep and I could start the assembly of this beautiful model. The single parts, like the fuselage, the wings, etc., are well crafted and covered with shiny, silver Mylar film. Some of the decals are already pre-applied and there are only the smaller ones left over. They come with an extra decal sheet. In most cases I repaint my models, but this time I chose to stay with the silver as it fits a Nieuport perfectly. The only thing I changed was the 'Escadrille' and the pilot that belongs to this mount.
I also planned to add some exterior details, as the model itself is relatively naked and shouted for some added realism
The wingspan of...Continue Reading

Last year I sold my FMS Fw-190. Although it was a really nice model with great flying characteristics, it was just too large for me to be handled convenient. The space available in my car barely allowed me to take another model to the flying field and assembly was always a bit of 'work'.
This year an Austrian dealer had a bargain offer for PZ's Focke Wulf and I pulled the trigger on this one. The smaller size allows for easier transport, as well as assembly on the field.
Along with the model, I ordered a set of retracts which are way better than the ones from the initial release. They are sturdy, do have no slop or wobble and have the toe-in issue corrected. And their gear doors fit much better.
As always, I couldn't leave her untouched A complete repaint and some more or less minor technical/ electronic mods were a must.
It all started with removing the decals....

The Me-163 'Komet' is one of my favorite aircraft and, although I would have loved it if she was a little bigger, when she was out, I bought one of them
She comes well packed and as one piece design, the only thing one has to glue is the vertical fin/rudder. The overall quality of the foam and the paint job is very good- no phantasy colors or the like.
Yet, when I had the model on my workbench, I started modifying some things, like widening the track of the dolly, another motor and so on. The first thing on my to-do list was the dolly. I cut two pieces of brass tube with an outer diameter of 4mm and an inner diameter of 3mm and made two slots in each with a grinding wheel. These two pieces were attached to the axle stubs of the dolly and secured with a wheel collar. Then I took the two leftover wheels of my Dynam Tiger Moth which already had an axle hole of 4mm and mounted them onto the brass tubes. I didn't want to use the stock wheels at this time as I wanted to make sure everything works as planned.
The scans I attached clearly show that even on the full size aircraft the engineers were testing a dolly with a wider track. Here on a '163-A' version....Continue Reading

The Airco DH.2 is an ARF- model built up of laser-cut balsa and plywood parts and covered with Mylar film. This model isn't available in Germany, but I got the opportunity to buy one on Ebay.
The span of this model is around 50" (127cm) and its length is 42" (112cm). The weight, ready to fly is stated with 4lbs. 10oz. ( ~2.1 kg).
The full size aircraft was designed in early 1915 to end what was called the 'Fokker scourge'. Due to the lack of reliable interrupter gears, it featured a pusher concept with a 'Gnome Monosoupape' (single valve) rotary engine, leaving the field of fire for the forward firing Lewis machine gun unobstructed.

From the beginning on I planned some modifications, such as a different color scheme, larger wheels or a pull-pull setup for rudder and elevator.
This is my 'standard' motor for models of this size, aTurnigy SK-3 with 620kv:
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ner_Motor.html

It will swing a 16x8 APC-E propeller on a four cell lipo with ca. 40- 42 amps. As the wing cutouts on lower and upper wing are not too wide, I had to use a different motor with higher kv's in conjunction with a smaller airscrew. This:
http://shop.lindinger.at/product_inf...cts_id=9700083

is the motor I'm using. A 'Joker 4250-7 720 ' The propeller will be a APC-E 14x7, fitting exactly between the twin booms and the wing cutouts.

I know there are smaller (in diameter) motors available that also have around 700 kv, as I had one of these in my E-flite Yak 54,...Continue Reading

In August this year I sold two of my models- it was time again for something new... As I had to give away my beautiful PZ-Albatros in June, I decided to get me this aircraft once again- but this time in a bigger version. Guess I seem to be addicted to this type
The new model is an ARF one, built up from wooden laser-cut parts. It's distributed by the German company 'Robbe' and is the same model that once was sold by the Belgian company BMI. Robbe made only slight changes/improvements on the original design which seems to be from Green Models, as is visible on a laser print in the battery compartment.
I call my thread 'the third', because about five years ago I already had built this type from a Depron kit made by Kavan, followed by PZ's model in June 2012. The size increased since then
At first, here some shots of her 'ancestors' ...Continue Reading

From the announcement of her release to the availability in Germany, I had to wait for long eight months. But by the mid of May she was there- and only two days later I had this beautiful model in my workshop
As with all of my ARF's, this one 'needed' a repaint, as well as some minor technical modifications, too.
I will divide this build log into several steps, following in a (more or less), chronically order my progress.

It all began when on May 20th, a really large box arrived at my doorstep containing another large box of almost the same size It was a real piece of work to carry it two stairs up to my workroom
Once opened it revealed no surprises. Everything neatly and safe packed without any damages, except for a little scratch on the right hand side of the fuselage.
Typically for Dynam, the decals were supplied on a separate sheet. Only the 'Wasp' had been pre-applied in the factory. Probably because of the spherical shape of the fuselage, thus making it a little harder to apply it. A nice feature is that there were four propellers in the box, so in case of an accident you still have some spares. The size of the propellers is 10x7x3.
There are also some scale details, like the nose armament or the gunner/radio operator machine gun. And two pilot figures.
But pictures tell more than words, therefore.........Continue Reading

While waiting for the release of Dynams Bf-110, I had the opportunity to buy an unbuilt fiberglass kit via a German forum. The kit is from a Czech manufacturer called Peter Maissinger and is kept very simple. All you get is a handful of parts (exactly five), with no instructions or hardware, nothing. There are also no details like underwing radiators, exhaust stacks, machine guns, etc. There are just some engraved panel lines on the fuselage and the upper side of the wing.

The single parts are built up relatively light weight, except for the horizontal stab, here I had to make a new one from balsa wood which only weighs the half of the glassfiber one. I had to do this because when I had finished the model, there was no chance to achieve a proper c of g without adding a lot of weight in the nose.
Also it is very hard to mount the motors, as the wing with its nacelles is one piece and one has to find his own solution. The previous owner had already dremeled off both engine cowlings and had made two firewalls of plywood.
Although this stage of work was already done, there was still plenty of work to do. And a lot of thinking

I started the build with the wing and horizontal stab mounts to be able to screw the parts together. Into the wings leading edge I glued two 6mm carbon fiber dowels and on the trailing edge I mounted two 4mm blind nuts into the fuselage that hold the wing.
The horizontal stab is also screwed to the fuselage, using one 4mm blind nut and a single...Continue Reading

Bill Forresters Mosquito
When I purchased my Parkzone Mosquito, I knew I would do a repaint as I really like the paint schemes of the Mosquitos that flew in Burma during WW-II.
This is a fictitious paint scheme and also a fictitious squadron code but I was inspired by one of my favourite movies featuring one of my favourite actors- Gregory Peck- and therefore - here’s the story:

“Maj. Bill Forrester serves as squadron leader in Burma during spring 1944. His squadron is equipped with Mosquito Mk. VI Fighter-Bombers and is successful fighting against the Japanese Army, when they are ordered back to Europe immediately.
To gain supremacy in the air, the R.A.F desperately needs a special unit that has to fulfil special tasks to support daylight raids over Nazi Germany. Time schedule is very tight so after the aircraft arrive in England there is no time to give them a complete repaint in the standard daylight fighter colours. Everything remains as is, only the invasion stripes are applied and the roundels are adopted to the European theatre.
A few days later Bill Forrester and his brave men are back in combat again.”

The movie in which Maj. Forrester appears is called “Flames Over Far East” (it’s the translation of the German title) The book after it was filmed is called ”The purple plain”, which is also the original title. In this movie you can see some great looking (real) Burma Mosquitos and I loved it ever since I was a...Continue Reading

In November/ December a German dealer sold the Dynam Tiger Moth for a good price. Loving biplanes I had to pull the trigger on this beautiful model.
Before it arrived at my home I was thinking about a complete repaint as I have done so often in the past to many of my models, but this time I was really surprised with the factory applied paint: very even, clean and what I like most: matte! I know, the full size aircraft wasn't but being a warbirdlover, I like aircraft and their models being matte painted.
So I left everything as it was and gave only the cowling a coat of black paint and painted the spinner red.
Prior to to the assembly of the Tiger Moth I did some minor technical and cosmetically changes on her.

As I'm using bigger batteries than recommended, I had to enlarge the battery compartment by cutting foam from the sidewalls to accommodate the 4S-3000 mAh batteries that I have. I also had to cut some foam from the battery hatch as it hit the battery and therefore couldn't be closed. The next thing was gluing a piece of a wooden coffee stirring stick into the rear part oft the cockpit/ battery hatch to ease opening against the power of the magnets without damaging the foam. Giving the landing gear more forward rake was the next point on the list and is one of the things mentioned by some of the members in the Tiger Moth thread. This will help to prevent nose-overs on rougher landing strips/ grass. Finally she got a set of better and a bit more realistic looking...Continue Reading

As I was asked frequently by some People how I did my repaint of my Albatros, I will post the complete thing now.
It's the same as I have posted before in the Albatros thread but now gathered in one single "story".

July 1917..

...the Albatros DV was introduced into service. July 2012...my Albatros is ready to be introduced into service too...finally After two weeks of constant work with an estimated 80+ hours, it's time to show what came out in the end. I want to start with the profile of the aircraft I tried to recreate and some histrical facts about her pilot. His name is "Otto Fuchs", Fuchs is pronounced like "looks" with an F instead of an L and means "Fox" in english.

Otto Fuchs was born on March 7 1897 in the then Bavarian Frankenthal (Pfalz). After completing high school he started to work as a one-year volunteer for military service and came as a volunteer “Feldartillerist” (Field Artillery) to the front. Fuchs 1916 then assigned to the Air Force. He completed his flight training at the pilot replacement section #6 (FEA 6) in Tournai, and then went to the field plane division (A) 292 (FAA 292), led by Lt. Franz Hailer and then to Fighter Squadron 30 (Jasta 30), then lead by Hans Bethge. According to the federally-oriented transformation of the Air Force, Otto was a sergeant in the Jagdstaffel 77b (Jasta 77b) which operated near Habsheim / Alsace and later saw duty in the spring offensive on the Somme in 1918. The...Continue Reading

In September 2009 I purchased my kit of the PT-17. Within the first weekend I had my maiden and fourteen flights with more than two hours in the air. I became literally addicted to this model.
The equipment is as follows:
Motor: Fusion 3551\04, 930kv weighing 183grs. complete with prop Adapter

Battery: Zippy 3S\4400 mAh, It’s too big but the next smaller size I have are only 2200’s so I have to use these instead.

ESC: Hype 40Amps. BEC

Prop: G-Sonic 12x8 (Graupner)

Current draw with this setup is around 28-30Amps at full throttle but I'm able to cruise around with very little throttle input and a little elevator applied at about 10-15mph- if wanted! At full throttle she almost climbs vertical.
I did some modifications, as there are: changing the heavy pushrods and installing 2mm Bowden cables, lighter servos on all four positions, shifting rudder and elevator servos a little more forward and at last, I changed the heavy steerable tail wheel assembly into a fixed one which weighs less. Despite of all these changes I had to add 70grs. of lead to the inside of the cowl to achieve a proper C.G. which is at 3 1\2".

One other thing I did on her, was to dremel three holes of about 1\2" in diameter in the lower portion of the cowl, right between the lower three cylinders of the dummy engine. They remain almost invisible, unless you take the model in your hands to search for them but they supply cooling air to the ESC which in my opinion is much more...Continue Reading

I bought my „190“ in spring this year and like all my ARF’s I couldn’t leave her untouched too. I gave her a complete repaint of the upper surfaces in RLM 70/ 71, as I like this combination very much. The markings she wears assign her to Hauptmann (Captain) Alfred Grislawski. He flew her while serving as Squadron leader of 1./ JG 1, stationed at Lippspringe in January 1944.
The red band around the fuselage, the yellow chin and the squadron badge are historical correct, as is the “Werksnummer” on the top of the vertical stab. The number on the fuselage of course is wrong. It should be a “White 9” instead of the “Red 8”, but my spray gun gave up its ghost and so I had to use the sticker supplied by FMS until I get the chance to continue my work to completion. This is also the reason why she still lacks any kind of weathering, except for the soot at the exhaust openings.
I also removed the factory applied stickers from the trim tabs on all control surfaces, then first painted them white as a base coat and afterwards red to give the colour a brighter appearance.
To ease and speed up assembly on the flying field, I soldered all the leads from the servos and nav lights onto two MPX-connectors. I did this with success on my FMS P-51 and HH Hurricane before and never had any issues. I like this model very much and I’m looking forward to a (maybe?) upcoming D-version.

...Continue Reading

Several weeks ago I built up and test flew this model for a guy who bought it from me. As I didn't like the stock colours, I chose a paint scheme from a captured aircraft.
The Nieuport is powered by a Turnigy Park- 480 with 850kv. The Propeller is a APC-E type 12x6. On a 3- cell lipo the static current is only at 19 amps but it has plenty of power for almost unlimited verticals.
I chose this relatively heavy motor to avoid c.g. issues. The overall flying weight is about 820grs.
I added a lot of details, such as a complete dummy rigging like on my Albatros, actuator rods on the ailerons, a fuel filler cap and an instrument panel with some instruments.
I also changed the linkage of the rudder and elevator control into a full scale pull-pull setup which makes the model look much more realistic.
Here are some photos of the finished model.

...Continue Reading

Since I'm flying this model I always had the wish for more power. Nowadays brushless motors became much more cheaper and affordable and so I was searching for a solution to equip the Heinkel with two of them without having to do a major surgery on a ready built model. I finally found a solution that was simple to do and yet optical not to disturbing the overall appearance of my nightfighter.
The photos clearly show what I did and it was a real success
I'm using 10x6" propellers that provide a lot of thrust while having a static current of about 22Amps. She now behaves completely different and the overall performance is way better than ever. From the second flight on I had to switch to folding props, because one of the rigid propellers broke on the first landing. The diameter is now to large to use such types.
This new setup is very economic also, as I can achieve long flight times using 3-S 2200's Turnigy batteries. The first testflights lasted around seven minutes and I could recharge between 810- 840mAh's. So there's still plenty of reserve to stay longer in the air.
And now some photos of the "rebuild".

...Continue Reading

Ever since I was a child the Hawker Hurricane was one of my all time favourites. I built plastic models of this aircraft in different scales and the largest one was one from Revell in 1/32nd scale, but this was forty years ago. When E-flite announced their model of a Hurricane, the time had come for a rc-version but unfortunately it was way to pricey for me. Several weeks ago, an Austrian dealer started a discount on this model and reduced the price by almost fifty percent. Now I knew, my time had come and I pulled the trigger....
When the model arrived I checked the content of the package and the overall quality of the parts was very good. But on some spots there were things with which I wasn't happy too much. The two fuselage halfes weren't glued properly from aft of the cockpit back to the fin, so I had to find my own solution to fix this problem as glueing together wasn't as easy as I thought. My approach was useing a special kind of glue with which I "spackled" the gap and, after the glue had dried, painted it over in the corresponding colour. I ordered the retracts with this model as it deserves it for the scale touch, but installing them with the struts that were delivered with the retracts was a bit tricky. Therefore I ordered the pre-bent struts too which make things a lot easier. One of the major changes I did, was altering the whole drive unit. I'm flying a FMS P-51 and so I have a bunch of 4-S batteries at home but very few 3-S ones. The only ones I...Continue Reading

Since spring 2012 I am flying version 6 of the P-51 model and I am very happy with it. Of course, I did some modifications beforehand, as some others may have as well. Except an external 7A U-BEC and CA hinges on all control surfaces, I removed one of the elevator Bowden cable tubule since it was crooked, and stuck in a new one in such a way that the control wires did not crisscross anymore but meet in front of the servo. Because of this, the elevator linkage works a lot easier. On the wings, I replaced the linkage with carbon rods and thicker wire as well as ball links. And after the control horn of the RH aileron broke at my tenth flight, these were also replaced by quite sturdier ones. Another technical adjustment concerned merging the servo wires for an easier assembly on the flying field. On each wing panel one and a half Multiplex connectors are affixed and hence three entire sockets in the fuselage. This way, assembly on the flying field is much easier and faster.

One of the key improvements for me was the additional support of the motor mount right behind the motor, with “clamping” of the rear end shield. The distance from firewall to spinner tip is rather long with the Mustang and leaves plenty of room for vibrations. With the help of the additional support the powertrain now runs smoothly. With the original propeller the motor draws about 39 amperes. I fly my model with an APC-E 15x10 with a static current of about 30A or an APC-E 16x8 with about...Continue Reading

I built my Scout during Winter 2009/10 from scratch. She's a very good flying model and I'm absolutely pleased with her. Her wingspan is 125cm (49,2in.) and the length is 112cm (44in.). A complete build log with all technical data, a flight video and a lot of photos, shot during the various stages of construction can be found here:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1264085

A few days ago I mounted my FlyCam onto the model on two different locations, the first one was underneath the right side of the upper wing and the second one directly in the cockpit instead of the pilot. In the cockpit the cam was mounted onto a servo driven platform, allowing me to film to each side during flight. Here are the videos:

Scout mit FlyCamOne² am Flügel (4 min 18 sec)

Bristol Scout mit Cam im Cockpit (3 min 51 sec)

...Continue Reading