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Coupe Des Barons.


David Davis
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I have entered a competition called the Coupe Des Barons. This year it will take place on 2nd June. The event is for a classic French trainer dating from the 1970s called a "Baron 1914."

I will be entering my "Russian" Baron. I'm in the process of building another, non-aileron wing so that the model conforms to the regulations, i.e, ailerons are not allowed in the event.

baron apres premier vol (1).jpg

I am also finishing off a second Baron in case I crash my Russian shortly before the event. In intend to finish the reserve model in RAF inter-war colours and power it with an electric motor. You can only take one model to the competition!

The event takes the following form, after a Concours D'Elegance there are four flying tests:

  1. Baguettes. Where you have to hit 1 metre high balsa sticks stuck into the ground.
  2. Pylon. Which is a straight forward pylon race, then after a typical French lunch....
  3. Renard. Where you have to cut off a streamer towed by a trainer.
  4. ...and finally Limbo where you have to fly between an enormous "goal post."

You can get extra points if you manage a "touch and go" in tests 1, 2 or 4, or if you have a period engine or if you manage to get under the cross bar while executing a loop. This is a video of last year's event: **LINK**

The guy with the samurai headband who flies the "Japanese" No 1 model seems to be a leading light in the organisation as is the bearded gentleman with the No 5 model. The pilot of the No 2 model did well in the limbo. Nice to see a few youngsters competing including two young girls who could be sisters or even twins. There are three female competitors in this year's event. Check out the mid airs! devil

At the end of the video there are a series of of stills. At 17.38 there is a picture of thirteen competitors including the two girls, holding on to their models. I presume that these are the survivors!

 

Edited By David Davis on 31/03/2018 05:55:54

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  • 3 weeks later...

You know how it is when you're looking for something and you find something even more useful? Well, I keep a lot of spare parts in two sets of document drawers which were designed for office use. I've placed a building board on top. I can't remember what I was looking for but I found a wing rib from a Super 60. The Super 60 dates from 1959 and has probably taught more British aeromodellers how to fly R/C than any other model until the arrival of foam wing kits and ARTFs. For those who don't know what they look like, there's a picture of a couple of mine below.

The Super 60's wing has three 1/4" sq balsa spars, two of which are on top of each other, the other is a supplementary spar about two thirds of the way back. The trailing edge is made up of 1/16" sheet with balsa webbing between the top and the bottom sheet, grain vertical. The top of the wing is sheeted back as far as the mainspars and there is 1/16" webbing between the spars, again, grain vertical. On another website I was advised to build a lighter wing for my reserve model in the Coupe Des Barons competition, I tentatively offered the Super 60 wing rib up to the Baron plan and they are pretty well the same length!

The Baron has five spars plus two 1/8" turbulators in each wing-half, and it has thirteen wing ribs in each wing-half. The Super 60 has nine ribs in each wing-half and only three spars. Furthermore, Super 60 wings are not famous for clapping their hands, so I'm considering building a Baron wing but using Super 60 wing ribs spaced out to 6.5 cms (2.5" between the ribs. The ribs on the Baron plan are at 4.5cms (1.75" between centres. That way I'll save weight both on the spars and the ribs. The Baron's fuselage and centre section are narrower but that's nothing that cannot be accomodated with a simple mathematical calculation.

Two questions for you highly knowledgeable gentlemen.

1. Should I use full-depth plywood dihedral braces?

2. The Super 60's wing rib is considerably taller than the Baron's rib, about 1 cm or 0.4" taller. Should I make up a set slimmer Super 60 wing ribs or leave things as they are?

I am also going to build a lighter fuselage for the reserve model. The forward part of the kit fuselage is made from 1/4" plywood!

The other item in the picture is a cartridge and the remains of a charger clip which I picked up off the Somme Battlefield years ago and it somehow ended up in that drawer. It was obviously issued to some British or British Colonial soldier and never used. If only it could talk eh?

Finally it's been a glorious day here in central France and bare chested, I've dug over the potato patch by hand. Mind you at my age I had to do it in three installments!

modelling room after (2) (small).jpg

super 60 squadron 3.jpg

a fortuitous occurrence (1).jpg

Edited By David Davis on 17/04/2018 16:20:45

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  • 1 month later...

I participated in La Coupe Des Barons in South-East France on Saturday. It's only a light-hearted competition but it was the first time that I have ever participated in any model aeroplane competition at all. Full Battle Report over on RC Universe, posts numbers 5984 and 5987 but in brief I flew too low in the first round and the model flipped onto its back without damage, in the second and third rounds I ran out of battery and had to land before the end of each round, and just before the final round, the "limbo," a small circlip failed at the back of the electric motor and the propeller wouldn't turn so I had to "abandone."**LINK**

I finished 53rd out of 68 entrants but at least I wasn't the first person from my group, Serie 6, to crash, neither did I crash on the first take off through nerves, though my hands were shaking when I assembled the model, neither did I finish dead last, so I achieved three out of my four objectives!

I plan to enter next year but this time probably with a model with an i/c engine, certainly something capable of flying for over 15 minutes rather than the 8-10 minutes I was getting from my 2200 LiPos, and next time I'll stay in a hotel. Two nights of sleeping or rather not sleeping in the back of a van have taken their toll on my seventy year-old body. face 24

Picture of the Barons lined up for the static judging. I finished in eighteenth position in the static! My model is the second one from the right in the second row. The lilac and yellow model beside it was the first one from my group to crash in the competition however, the pilot repared it using gaffer tape inter alia and flew all four rounds of the competition.

coupe des barons 2018.jpg

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Posted by David Ovenden on 05/06/2018 08:00:40:

David,

Where exactly in France was the event held. Site looks nice!

Ste Marie d'Alloix. A village about seventeen miles to the south of Chambéry in the Savoie. The event is held on the rugby field of the neighbouring village, Le Touvet.

There was still some snow on some of the surrounding mountain peaks even on 2nd June. Apparently it all melts away in July and returns in November.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...

They have changed the rules for the 2019 event to allow four-strokes of up to a 52. Last year the maximum sized four-stroke engine you could use was a 40. These were uncompetitive against the OS35 AX. I am in the process of fitting a Magnum 52 to Boris and I'm building a second, lighter model as a reserve in case I stuff-in Boris the week before the event! I plan to finish the reserve model in British inter-war colours.

Fuselage of my Reseve Baron in the SLEC jig below. I've changed the construction a bit. On the original model the forward section is made from plywood, I have substituted 1/4" sheet balsa. Actually it's 6mm balsa so it's a litle thicker and I've had to sand it down to match the longerons. The longerons themselves are from basswod instead of balsa. Metal geared micro-servos will be mounted in the rear fuselage for the rudder and elevator and an OS 52FS will power the model. I have already built the tailplane, fin and wing halves using a conventional D box wing structure instead of the multi-spar construction of Mr Chauzit's original wing. I am hoping by this means to produce a lighter model than standard.I still need to make up a firewall from 1/4 plywood and the wing centre section.

second baron fuselage in slec jig.jpg

Should I glass the tank bay now that I've dispensed with the plywood forward fuselage or will the basswood longerons provide adequate strength?

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There is a fine line between " strong " and " too strong " David as you know.

I don't like glassing interiors simply because the business end can get the most damage, and glassing interior parts are a devil to cut out and repair later, if needed

Fit further doublers and maybe triangular stock, s the .52 has some poke

Edited By Denis Watkins on 05/02/2019 17:15:36

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David, suggestion, I've just looked through the U Tube photos.

And I can't help thinking, ( no limit on electric propulsion?), a winner is a big electric motor, a big esc, a small battery to do the baguettes, and loops round the post, and giant batteries, bigger prop, big watts to pylon race.

That machine could do the weight. Also, a variable incidence tail surface, screwjack like a Lysander, to get the thing to fly straight and level in the pylon.

You don't need much fron a modern electric setup to blow a a 46 2st, or a 52 4st away.

Petrol head, can't work out the necessaries. David Mellor springs to mind. Other authorities in innovation also exist.

Edit, the big batteries sit on the c/g.

Edited By Don Fry on 05/02/2019 19:57:50

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  • 3 months later...

Work in progress on the second Baron.

Wing built as per Super 60 as mentioned above with just three spars as opposed to the seven spars on a standard Baron. The spars have been reinfoced with carbon fibre tows and I have used full depth plywood dihedral bracing. I also sheeted the lower wing between the leading edge and the first spar producing a D-section leading edge. The wing is very light but rigid.

The nose of the fuselage has been reduced by 2 cms to make allowance for the extra weight of the 52 four-stroke and I intend to fit the servos in the back.

lightweight wing (1).jpg

lightweight wing 4.jpg

P.S. There are restrictions on the power of electric motors Don, 825 Watts. Scroll down to "Reglement 2019" here for details. **LINK**

Certainly several of the electric-powered models went well last year, though the podium places went to pilots using the OS 35 AX, besides, I cannot work up much enthusiasm for electric motors Don, guess I'm just an old rocker!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I assembled the Reserve Model with its lighter competition wing yesterday, in a sort of rough and ready manner, in order to check the centre of gravity. The engine mount was only screwed to the firewall with two small wood-screws, the tailplane was pinned in place and the wheels were simply pushed on to the undercarriage.

The model was originally designed for a 19 two-stroke. For the competition, La Coupe Des Barons, four-stroke engines up to a 52 are permitted. Because the OS52 is so heavy I fitted two standard servos in the rear fuselage to balance the model. If the model had proved to be tail-heavy I would have replaced them with smaller, lighter servos of the same power.

With the rx battery moved to a forward position it balanced perfectly.

bertie.jpg

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