Hello,

This is my first build in over 35 years so guaranteed to make a few mistakes along the way .

I was going thru some boxes and found some photos and news paper article's my Dad had given me a while ago of my Grand Fathers 1929 De Havilland DH60GM Gipsy Moth CF-APA SN/1322 that he had purchased and rebuild over 4 year period back in the 60s and flew all over with my Grandmother and a lot of flights with my Mom and a commemorative mail flight recreation in Alberta. Even found one picture of me on my dads lap in the cockpit when I was just a pup " 4years old I think" lol.

Dusted off the photos and found a place on the wall for them and the news paper articles. That got me thinking, wonder if I can find 1/4 RC plans for the Gipsy and build a functional RC plane.

That was back in October 2016..lol . I purchased the short kit and plans from Bob at Laser Design Service and Im off to the races.

10 months later I have made a lot of progress, talked and emailed back and forth with great folks for information on the DH60.

The build has been going great so the first few posts for the build log will go quick to get up to where I'm at currently with the cockpit and controls.

Before I get going there are a few fellows I would like to send a huge thanks to for information, pictures, blueprints, emails and phone calls and such.

Cubcrafter60 "Robin"
Gary Sewall - gipsymoth236k
Ray McDougall - Ray built a beautiful Gipsy Moth, his current project "Swordfish" looks awesome. Rays R/C Hanger link below
http://www.raysmodels.ca/NEW%20PROJE...ome%20page.htm

When my Grandfather finished the rebuild, hew flew the gipsy for a few years and then sold it to Benson & Hedges Tobacco company back in 1973 I think it was and then purchased his Waco.

In 1974 the plane crashed just outside of Banff, Alberta during the Great Belvedere Air Dash from what I have been able to find out and now resides in a crate in Langley BC at the Museum awaiting restoration for the past 40 some years.

I'm hoping to have her completely finished and in the air for spring 2018, I thought I would be done sooner but taking a little longer getting in a few hours here and there when I can but really enjoying the build and research and talking with other folks.

Cheers
Terry

Hello,

Just some photos of the progress early on in the year

Cheers
Terry

Hello,

and some more

Terry

Hello again,

Some update photos and post of progress over the past 10 months, let me know if this is way to many photos. Never done a blog or build log before. Complete newbie here..lol

Best regards,
Terry

Some photos of work on the cockpit

Hello,

some more pics

Terry

Really neat story behind the build! I love it! I am a new builder myself and what you are doing craftsmanship wise looks superb! Frustrating yet rewarding at the same time!
/cheers

Hello flyboy,

Thank you for the kind words, yup...can get frustrating at times but awesome ....and very addicting I'm finding.

Best regards,
Terry

Great coverage Terry, look forward to watching this one progress! When I get the Seagull Gipsy Moth done maybe it will inspire me to get going on the laser kit I've got for these plans.

Is it going to be IC or electric? If the latter, you could set it up for proper anti-clockwise rotation.

Good morning George,

I'm going to go with the Saito 1.80 4 stroke on spark, not sure what the Anti-clockwise rotation is but I hope this will do the trick for power. Any info I should look out for regarding the rotation would be awesome as I'm still brand new to this.

My apologies for posting so many pictures all at once on progress but my goal was to get the base line airframe together so I could really have a good picture of the overall build when working on the small details.

I don't know very much about planes but sure learning a lot along the way.

It seems like every piece I make I always have to think 10 -15 steps ahead but so far so good. I still have lots of finish work to do on the wings and tail but enjoying very hour I get time to work on it. Also trying to keep it as close as possible to my gramps plane he built. So hopefully I get it right when I'm all done

Cheers
Terry

Anti clockwise is what the Brits say for counter clockwise. For most planes, the prop turns clockwise, left to right around the circle, from the pilots perspective. Anti clockwise goes right to left around the circle, from the pilots perspective. (It's always about the pilot, isn't it?)

I don't know enough about 4 stroke cycle engines to know if the rotation can be reverses but I doubt it. Check the fuel engine forum. I suspect you're stuck with clockwise rotation. Because a scale X-Moth cowl is designed for reverse rotation, there have been overheating issues with some Moth builds.

Not positive but if the cams from the FA 1.82 twin are the same you could use the reversed one to make the 1.80 run backwards. Even if you could though finding a suitable prop in that size might be a challenge and you'd have to find a way to reverse your starter as well (unless you hand prop it). Also would you then need to mount it with left thrust to counter act the torque?

The MAC (Moth Aircraft Corporation) built DH.60GMW's with Wright built Gipsy engines that turned clockwise. However most of the fuselage was a mirror image of the British and Canadian built machines.

thank you for the info on the engines and rotation, would be awesome if I could track down a new in the box O.S. IL-300 inline 4cyl, that would be the icing on the cake, but for now will stick with the 1.80 when I get to finishing that end ....time and money dictate what man does lol

I finished the pedal assembly for the front rudder bar, just need to finish off the rear. I came across a couple of photos yesterday and when I enlarge them on the computer it sure looks like the gipsy had and upper set of pedals on main rear rudder bar and sure looks like there is another set directly below them close to the floor. Will do some more research for them.

Attached are the 4 pdfs of the control box from the full size DH60G blue prints that Gary had sent me that I resized on the computer and saved. I printed them out, trimmed exactly where the lines end and tapped the 4 pages together but I ended up stretching the control box exactly 1.5" right behind the hole where the rudder bar center hole is and also added a 1/4 in height to the bottom rear of the box to get the fit in the fuse 100% and still be able to utilize the wing joining tubes if needed or the folding wings that I'm going with.

The seats I purchased from Craig at the Traplet Shop from their 1/4 Tiger Moth Kit, great fellow to deal with. I will scan the other components I made If anyone wanted to tackle this in the future.

Should have it finished in another week or so time permitting.

Cheers Terry

Hello Terry,

Is that the Hanger 9 Tiger Moth landing gear? Thanks, nice build.