Colin Leighfield

I put that I can't remember but actually as a very small chilld, due to family connections I was fascinated by aeroplanes seen on visits to RAF stations and in the early 50s military aircraft, piston engined and early jets, were an every day sight in the sky. Also, we lived close to Sutton Park and visited it regularly. Model aircraft were very popular then and you saw them every time you went to the park. I was naturally enormously interested and have never lost that keen interest. My recollections certainly cover more than 60 years. A strong memory is of a visit to Stratford on Avon with mom, dad and little brother in the motorbike and sidecar, (makes it before 1954) and saw a control line display on the green not far from the Shakespeare memorial. I can still remember parked on the ground a red low winger with what looked to me like a huge cylinder sticking up at the front, because of the upright engine. My overwhelming impression was that it didn't look right, probably because I judged it by my natural comparison with "real" aeroplanes. In that sense I don't think I've changed very much!

I've received the plan and canopy. Also I've contacted Steve Davis at Vortex Vacforms. He supplies parts for the 45"Tucano. Canopy £7-00, 2xpilots £3-00, 2x seats £3-00, £13-00 for the lot, which I have ordered because I don't mind having a spare canopy.

Lucas. Vortex Vac-forms list on their web-site both a canopy and a cockpit set for the 45"Tucano, complete with two pilot figures.

I reckon that's very likely.

Thanks Phil, I'll wait for the wood kit then. I note that Vortex Vacforms do the canopy and a cockpit with two pilots. Cheers, Colin.

It looks as if you're right. Ah well!

I've just had a message from Tripod Com which says that there is an error and it looks as if the site has been hi-jacked by a scammer or something like that. That's a shame, I'm surge that Nigel will want to know about it.

I found the BVR site by putting Nigel Hawes Tucano kit into Google. I've just ordered on line and got a reply saying that Nigel will contact me! Can't wait!

Are we allowed to build from the BVR kit? Hope that's not a daft question.

Thanks Nigel and Tim. I'll take a deep breath and - - - - !

I'm going to build the Tucano, only concern is I'm hopeless at hand launching low wingers, which is why I voted for the Whizza. (love my Fizza). Can some kind soul give me some advice on this please?

About time I joined in, include me please!

I think we've covered all of the bases. When the Matador was introduced it was pretty unusual for a 48" span plan to be able to fly well with a heavy super-regen valved receiver, (e.g. Hill Mk2)? heavy dry batteries, rubber powered escapement, (Elmic Conquest)? and be sufficiently stable longitudinally to not need elevator control. There were one or two, (APS Sparky), but in that context the Matador had a well deserved excellent reputation. In free flight mode they'd even fly with a Mills 0.75. i bought the Ben Buckle version about 10 years ago to fulfill a boyhood yearning. I think I'd lost my diesel knack over the years and didn't find the PAW 1.49 easy to start, (didn't like being inverted)? but the Matador flew beautifully and probably would have been perfectly ok with a 1cc motor. Eventually becoming over exuberant and going for terminal velocity dives followed by consecutive loops would have seen Henry J. Nicholls turning in his grave and I should have known better. However reinforcing the centre section is not difficult and is something I would definitely do today. Can't knock the Junior 60 and wouldn't dream of it. However I've still got my Frog Jackdaw (60" inthe loft and that takes some beating. Now that I'm semi-retired that's another one that will re-appear eventually. The plans are available, it would be great to see a few more of those about, It's a later design than the Junior 60 and more contemporary with the Super 60, but personally I prefer it. it's very refreshing to talk about model aeroplanes that really fly!

Interested in your comments about take off and rudder issues with a Matador. My diesel powered Matador always took off with no problem and controlled excellently with rudder and elevator. Can't think for the life of me how such an inherently stable design could benefit from fitting a gyro, it's just extra weight you don't need. I eventually folded the wing on mine through over exuberant looping (my fault, completely out of character), but it's repairable and I'll get around to it one day! The Matador is such a proven design over the last 60 years or so that your problem must be connected to something fairly basic. Overall weight, c of g, trim, control movements. What you describe is completely out of character, I've watched plenty of these things flying in Sutton Park back into the 1950s.. Although I fly electric myself as we'll as IC, they don't look or sound right to me without a proper diesel engine up front, although I'm not suggesting that's yourproblem here.

I've built a Doug McHard Wee Snifter with a Mills 0.75. (Made the last one in 1960). Greenacres could be a good idea.

Might be worth speaking to Dave Wright. He used to fly all of these models for Jim and he's still around. Currently in the Sutton Coldfield Radio Control Aeroplane Club (SCRCAC) and flies at Fradley..

It all looks very nice, one's I've seen fly very well. However you ought to look at the Dynam Spitfire IX. I've had it for 6 months with nothing going wrong and after early reservations due to my own misunderstanding, it's excellent and the price including the very good worm drive retracts is most reasonable for a 47" decent scale model. Colours not quite right but for the price it's easy to re-paint accurately and fit a decent pilot. (Deagostini Spitfire pilot from Pete's Pilots is perfect), although I think the later ones might be better in this respect. Even comes complete with good radio tx and rx plus 3S 2200 Lipo in the price, although it's mode 2 so I've fitted my Spektrum Mode 1.Can't fault the flying characterisitcs, fully aerobatic with no vices. Could perhaps use a bit more power but it's not bad and it wouldn't be difficult to up-grade. However, I've decided to leave it alone, best electric foamy I've ever had and my son flies it all of the time. About £150 all in, it's well worth it. photos in my album if anyone wants to look at it.

Doug McHard's "Wee Snifter" for my old Mills 0.75. I built one in 1961, also with a Mills 0.75. This one will be radio controlled, which was impossible then, even if I'd had any money!

By comparison with all of that, I'm definitely a wimp.

Hi Erfolg. Only just had a chance to look at this. You should definitely and try to finish the Crusader. It looks great, just as I think that the original looked very purposeful. Really an aeroplane without wings, the De Havilland Ghost certainly adding to the similarity! The book I referred to is called " The Last Crusader: John Cobb's World Water Speed Record", by Barry Stobart Hook. Because of your obvious engineering tendencies, I think you'd love it. There are sufficient of the people who were around at the time who are still alive to contribute authenticity, plus access to records such as those at Vospers which no one has since looked at since, make this a fascinating read. Additionally a much improved understanding of the personality and determination of John Cobb puts the whole thing into context. it's fairly clear that it was a more competent design than Donald Campbell's Bluebird in the sense that the sponsons set to the rear instead of at the bow meant that the boat would never fly out of the water, which the Bluebird was almost guaranteed to do after re-engining wIth the Sapphire, it only needed a few degrees of positive angle of incidence to become a flying machine with the c of g too far back! During the initial testing on Loch Ness, some structural weakness around the bow was found and artificial reinforcement was created by wedging wooden baulks inside. Vospers wanted to take Crusader back to properly strengthen it, but Cobb insisted that he hadn't got the time and wanted to push on. Vospers relented on the condition that he didn't exceed 180mph, which I believe would have got the record and left space to come back later and go much faster after modification. Cobb agreed, but when he went he ignored the technical advice and went up to 230 mph. Suddenly, the bow structure collapsed catastrophically with the consequences I think we've all seen on film. He'd never worn his seat belt and was thrown out. From the injuries he suffered, they reckon that he may have survived if he had worn it, but apparently he always refused. I believe it's 60 years this year, time to finish it! I hope that it's close enough to being a plane for colleagues to excuse me getting this carried away, but it really interests me.

Thanks Erfolg. Fascinated to hear you're working on a Crusader, I can't recall the name of the book I referred to, borrowed from my brother, but it's recent and you'll probably find it on the Internet. It tells the whole story, things that have never been revealed before, including the structural failure. Very highly recommended. Couldn't agree more with your comments about the Keil Kraft 3/9 kits, but as you say, the bigger ones worked ok, I think the same was true of Frog and Veron as well!

Mike. All those familiar names. I still have the free plan for "Chatterbox" from a 1958 Aeromodeller. My modelling career has been affected, like most others, by motorbikes, (still riding them), cars and family, but I'm still flying when I can, though I've never tried to go beyond my "A" license. On the way I got a group "A"private Pilot's license as well, though I haven't exercised that for a few years now. I built a Ben Buckle Mercury Matador a while ago to fulfil a youthful ambition. Fitted a PAW 1.49 diesel, couldn't believe how hard it was to start. (Not like the diesels I remember). I learned that aerobatics weren't a good idea when the wings folded in a loop, so that was it! You can get a kit for "Chatterbox" and other Vic Smeed models, I think from Phoenix models? Must dig out my Mills .75.

Dear Mike and Erfolg. They also did profile models of a number of the then current jet fighters and I had the Gloster Javelin, with the Jetex 50. The best that I ever got was really just an extended glide with the motor hissing away. It was generally on the deck before the fuel had run out. However, I did get some results with the smallest Jetex, the "Atom 35", in a number of small own design chuck glider types of model. On one occasion I had one land on a factory roof about 100ft along a valley gutter. I remember walking almost the whole length of the roof on cracking asbestos to get it back, lord knows why I didn't fall through it. A few (10)? years ago, Jetex became available again, supposedly much improved and I bought a 50. Nothing had changed, burnt fingers and dismal flight results. Still got it somewhere. As an aside, I recently read a book about John Cobb and his Crusader jet boat, in which he was killed (1952)? attempting the world water speed record on Loch Ness. The boat was designed by Vospers and the model tests were all done using a large "Jetex" motor designed especially for the job by the company, which I believe was started by a chap called Henry Mansour (something like that). It worked very well and high speeds were reached. They got the boat design right that way, the catastrophe was caused by structural failure in the bow, not by striking a log as is usually claimed. Vospers knew about the problem and wanted to take Crusader back for strengthening, but Cobb wouldn't wait and we saw what happened as a result! I seem to remember that in the original Aeromodeller Plans Service there was a plan for a model of the Crusader with a Jetex motor. Sorry for rambling, it's my age.

Ah yes Erfolg, these are life long traumas. It's probably why I have a tick, dribble and walk with a limp.

Great to hear that I'm not the only who knows that the Frog Minx existed! My lingering sense of failure from those days forces me to have another go and prove I could do it after all! The previous mention of Jetex was interesting, many memories of burning the skin on my fingers white and setting fire to the grass.