David Davis

How is the Domino's nose-wheel pushrod attached to the servo? I always adjust things mechanically before going to the computer in the transmitter, a DX9 in my case. Mind you I'm Old School.

Thank you gentlemen for all your responses. In the end we found out that we had sufficient Solartex and Oratex to cover the Radio Queen. Having sorted out problems caused by excessive power from the motor, the balance point and inadequate rudder travel, the model now flies very well. We're only waiting for some better weather.

It's change. Whether it's progress is a matter of opinion.

As a matter of fact I have been following his other thread. It would appear that there was nobody at his first club who knew how to tune a simple two-stroke engine. A sign of the times I guess.

Can't help thinking that you'd have saved all this trouble and expense if you'd fitted a decent two-stroke to the model. 😏

Thank you John, I'll do my best to make them as identical as possible though the wing structure will be different. I have discovered several metres of flourescent yellow film in the workshop. Perhaps I'll use that to cover Boris's wing retaining the black and white undersides for the British Baron. Normally the darker covering goes on the underside of the wing doesn't it?

Apropos of wing tips, the standard wing tip of the Baron is effectively a triangle 24cms x 10cms and under-cambered to echo the sort of wing sections in use during the Great War but these wing tips are not compulsory. Last year's event was won by Christian Bolis flying the No.2 Baron which has wing tips and tail surfaces similar a Vought F4U Corsair. Others simply build their wings with squared off tips. So a question for those with superior aerodynamic knowledge. Would there be any advantage in changing the shape of the wing tip on the new wing which I will be building for the British Baron? The Ukrainian Baron will have a stock Baron wing. Video of last year's event attached. I crashed out in the first round and finished second to last. I hope for an improvement this year! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMm24PTZ_Y

A Vicomte was a Baron made under license by Svenson.

I have decided to repair Boris's wing first. The starboard wing snapped off at the wing route. After a considerable amount of fettling I've got this far. I've simply added two new plywood dihedral braces over the old ones because I doubt that I could have removed the old dihedral braces without damaging the main spars at the same time. This will add a little weight butI don't think it will make much difference. This is the standard Baron wing, it has a total of nine spars including the leading and trailing edges. Four of these spars are arranged in pairs and they are all balsa except for the main spars which are basswood. The rest of the airframe is undamaged though a glue joint at the tail seems to have sprung. I will investigate. I've bought some new grey covering film marketed by Kavan. It is a shade darker than the Oracover which covers the rest of the model, not that that greatly concerns me. I am going to cover the lower surface of one of the wings in black film and the other in white, rather like the early British fighters of the Second World War. This is to aid orientation.

Have you flown a radio controlled model aircraft before Lewis?

The first time I entered they shoved a microphone under my nose and asked where I was from. I said, " La Creuse!" Then they asked me where I was born. I replied, "Shropshire, Angleterre." The man with the microphone said that the competition was now "La Coupe Des Barons International." Apparently a German and a Swiss national are regular competitors and this year there will be at least two Englishmen competing if all goes well. PS. I haven't taken French citizenship though I know several who have. I have a residency permit until 2031!

I rebuilt the club's Seagull Boomerang trainer in twenty days in December which is a record for me! Before and after pictures below, build blog here: https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/54030-repairing-an-artf-trainer/page/2/&tab=comments#comment-985092 I'm currently getting two Barons ready for La Coupe Des Barons competition in June. More info here: https://forums.modelflying.co.uk/index.php?/topic/54099-la-coupe-des-barons-2024/&tab=comments#comment-985643

Thank you Robin. The Ukrainian Baron, Boris, has a stock dihedral which makes it easier to fly than the British one. It also has the standard Baron wing construction consisting of five spars and two turbulator spars. Of these five spars, only two, those at the wing rib's widest point, are made from basswood. The starboard wing had snapped off at the junction of the centre section in a crash. To repair it simply involves repairing one of the balsa spars and the trailing edge and cutting two new wing ribs before joining the wing back onto the centre section. I'll post a few pictures of the job later. I must drive over to La Chatre to buy a gas stove to heat the workshop. I intend to build a complete new wing for the British Baron, Bertie, with the stock dihedral or a little more. The model is currently in flying condition but as I have said above, it is not very pleasant to fly with its reduced dihedral. However, I intend to change the construction of the wing quite radically. Three balsa spars arranged a la Super 60, ribs at 3" centres as opposed to the standard Baron spacing of 2" centres, fully sheeted D section at the front of the wing, depron ribs with cap strips and a fullt built-up trailing edge. I'm hoping that this form of construction will produce a lighter wing and with the increase in dihedral, it will be a more pleasant model to fly. I may even make the leading edge out of carbon fibre tube. I know that this will increase the weight but it may help in a collision. Thesae are not unknown in La Coupe!

The temperature is forecast to drop to as low as -6C here and not to rise above freezing point till Wednesday. No wind though! Think I'll stay indors and repair something!

I have a strap-on Kavan silencer which should suit your engine. The strap is probably not serviceable but it's yours for the cost of the postage from France. PM me if interested.

I believe that P&R silencers are no longer made. Just Engines used to supply BCM strap-on silencers but they are showing "out of stock" on their website. However, they still sell the straps o if you can find an old silencer you may be able to strap it onto your engine. https://www.justengines.co.uk/shop/exhaust-systems/two-stroke-exhausts/bisson-custom-mufflers-by-engine-manufacturer/universal-strap-on/bcm-strap/?v=11aedd0e4327 Otherwise I'll see what I have amongst my souvenirs. I've owned several Enya engines, my Enya 50 powers the club's Boomerang trainer, and I think that I may still have some of the exhausts. If I have any you may have them for the cost of postage from France,

Thank you for all of the advice gentlemen. There's no easy way to reduce weight as both models are already built and despite all that I've written above, I've decided to repair the wing of the Ukrainian Baron first. Apart from basswood main spars it is absolutely stock then I'll decide what to do with the other wing.

Still getting the pop ups. Don't know haow to ad block.

Well I've certainly experienced enough repaired models to realise that the weight of the repairs can adversely affect the performance of the model but I've looked into the question of wing to tail area ratios and the consensus seems to be that a tailplane with 20% of the wing area is adequate so I'm going to go ahead and make my new wing 10% longer in the hope of gaining a bit more lift. It only amounts to adding an extra bay to each wing. I will also use more dihedral on this new wing than I did on my first wing in order to make the model more stable, something like one inch for every foot of half-span plus an inch, so about 9cms (3.5 inches) under each wing tip. PS. They are accepting ninety entrants this year, nine groups of ten pilots and yes, a four stroke engine of up to 0.56 cubic inches is eligible. Two strokes are limited to a 35. It's a pity they don't allow 36s to compete as there are some strong engines in that category.

Thanks for your reply Chris. I have two Barons. The one in the Ukrainian colours is stock. The one in the RNAS colours has a shorter nose but it's only about 1 cm shorter than stock. It also has a wing with a lower dihedral. This makes it less pleasant to fly hence the idea of making a new wing. The new wing will have the standard dihedral but I haven't yet decided whether to make the 10% longer because the tailplane will be proportionately 2.2% smaller and that might make the model less stable. At the moment the Ukrainian one has a broken wing but with a bit of hacksawing, some glue and some covering film it'll soon be back to flying condition. The fuselages on both models are sound and I'm reluctant to start hacking them about to move the engines back because I want to get on with finishing off my Galaxy Models Mystic and my DB Sport and Scale Auster. There is no minimum weight rule in La Coupe. Some people even fit wheels intended for indoor models.

A question for the cognoscenti of aerodynamics. The wing are of a standard Baron is 3720 sq cms. The tailplane area of the standard Baron is 25.64% of the wing area. If I increase the wingspan by 10% to allow for the extra weight of a four-stroke engine which is permitted under the rules of the competition, the wing area increases to 4080 sq cms, so the tail area is now only 23.2% of the wing area. Will increasing the wingspan by 10% make that much difference to the model's flying characteristics? Will the proportional reduction in tailplane area (2.2%) make any difference to the model's flying characteristics? Or should I stick to the tried and trusted wing and tail?

Apparently classic cars are ULEZ exempt.

I've cut out the wing ribs for the new wing out of depron. I am going to make up a D section wing with a third spar halfway between the main spars and the tailing edge. I will be using a film covering so will fit cap-strips to the wing ribs to protect them from the heat. I am thinking of using carbon fibre tube for the leading edge. I have bought some UHU POR glue for the balsa-depron interface but which glue should I use to fit the carbon fibre tube to the wing ribs and the balsa leading edge sheeting to the carbon fibre tube?

Evening Graham. I never got round to finishing my own BE2e, other projects and repairs have got in the way. Instead I have flown the BE2e which I bought from an estate sale but in my opinion the cg position shown on the Roy Scott plan is too far to the rear and it should be under the observer's cockpit. That's the front cockpit in the BE2 of course. While mine flew with an aft cg, I was playing a piano sonata on the transmitter! I resorted to melting some lead into a sardine tin and this made the model easier to fly. I've attached a picture of the lead which I glued to the under cowling and a picture of the model in flight. I am using an OS FL 70 which is lighter than your Laser.

I've only two things to say to you!