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The Leicester Model Centre Gnatty. I don't recall a thread on these classic 80's kits, was certainly popular at our club at the time, i had the Gnatty Sports which featured a straight wing but always wanted the Super Gnatty which featured a swept anhedral wing and finally got my hands on an old kit a couple of years ago and have been putting it together a little bit at a time since. The kit featured a fibreglass fuselage and foam wing with sheet tailplane and loosely based on the Folland Gnat, ok very very loosely based but has an undeniable jet like character. The part kit i acquired had no plan or instructions so has been put together based on memory and examination of on line photos, i have added a few personal tweaks such as the wing tips but has been a fun project and now very close to its maiden flight so thought i would post a few pics.

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Linds

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That's brilliant Lindsay - very swish - best of luck with the maiden flight, these are superb flyers and look fast and agile just sitting on their wheels.

I have the Super Gnatty and approached it with a bit of trepidation when I first flew her, but that was unfounded as the model was so super stable and easy to fly. Unfortunately after not too many flights I lost the model, deadstick next to the euphemistically termed waste water treatment works at our club site. I followed the club procedures, as we were super careful not to encroach on our landlord's airspace, which meant the model was in there over night and a very nice chap took me into the plant to retrieve the model, which had ended up in what he described as "brackish water".

We hosed her down of the worst of the mess, but I still wasn't keen, so ended up scrapping the foam wing but retaining the fibreglass fuselage. That was 20 years ago - I managed to get a set of wings from LMC, the OS 40 Max was taken out of the model and she still awaits putting back together again. The radio gear was all trashed, the copper pins on the receiver were either bright copper or covered in blue-green corrosion dependent on their polarit, so the "water" was definitely brackish.

LMC Super Gnatty

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I learnt to fly with a Gnatty..it was quite stable and forgiving, I eventually retired it after upgrading the engine from an OS 40fp to an SC45 (IIRC) in an effort to counteract it's burgeoning weight due to my lack of fibre glassing skills whenever the inevitable mishaps occurred....happy days, long ago!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well Gnatty was ready for flight so with the weather holding good i decided to get the maiden out the way and then assuming all good finish of the decals etc later. Pleased to say generally hugely successful, in fact the cg was a little too safe so will adjust by moving the battery back a little. The OS46 LA never missed a beat on the 11x5 graupner prop and even without a stearable nose wheel tracking was not a problem.

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Full chat but running just a little on the rich side as the motor has not run for years, wheels just about to leave the ground

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Steady as a rock on climb out

7f5a8170.jpg Classic Gnatty Farnborough pass

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Just a lovely model to fly and has not lost any of its charm

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The model was a delight to fly. A few minor tweaks to make to the CG and a look at the wing just to make sure all is ok as there was some evidence of some flex in the top film covering but i suspect this may have been caused by how the wing was packed for transport. causing some pressure but with foam wings its difficult to know so i would rather go overkill and insert a ply spar than have a wing failure. Its been a long time since i had a model with a foam wing but this should only take a couple of hours to cut a slot cut a ply brace, glue in place a pact the covering up and i will do this now with the some extra finishing touches to complete. a Good day.

Linds

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Hello, now that brings back some memories, i had one of these back in the 80/90s. I always had problems with my landings with it keep droping a wing not very pretty ended up in the bin.Looking back i was probably trying to land too slow. I still like the model yours looks good and glad the maiden went well. Here's a couple of shots of mine from back in the day.

Lmc Gnatty

Lmc Gnatty

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Many years ago we had a club member who would always build a model that was far in advanced of his flying skills at the time. He either crashed or would ask another member to fly it. He turned up one day with a Gnatty. Egged on by fellow club members who should have known better he decided to fly it himself. He exelled himself and after a great landing announced "this was the best trainer he ever had".

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Hi Leccyflyer, yes wings built with 6inch wide bandage although i always us pva rather than epoxy as i prefer not too have a hard edge on the veneer that could form a shear edge but i did let in a channel and pockets for mini servos although these are all 3mm hard balsa lined with attention to grain direction. The veneer is only very thin and as Bob say's it could be down to some degradation of the adhesive over the years but the the fact is when i put pressure on the wing from the underside there is a compression on the veneer on top that indicates a line some 9 inches away from the center line on each side. it only flex's a very small amount so the jury is still out as to if this is actually an issue but i just don't like seeing it so i think i have mentally now decided to drop in a spar just to be on the safe side as it is not that big a job and once done you will never know so its all about piece of mind.

Linds

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  • 3 months later...

Oh dear I missed all that, posting on RCMF, .

My 1985 Rossi powered one went in 2 years ago after the aileron servo decided that one roll wasn't enough,

So as I have a mould of it, I made another one, I made a thicker wing and a bit deeper, new bearings on the Rossi and flew it 3 weeks ago, what a plane !, it's the best thing I have ever flown ( 35 planes in my garage at the moment )

Oh dear, my ortograph corrector won't work here, and most of it is underligned in red,, angry 2 and the site one,, it just shows, coller ctrl+vcrook

OMG and no direct way to post an image,, thumbs down

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