Airfix kit converted to flying model…

Plastic kits with rubber band motors have been made to fly quite realisicaly…. in a swiming pool! Article in Aeromodeller about 1958.

John

Here you go lads, simple, plus endless supply of free power plants, in fact possibility a of a twin wasp version 😉

free flight

As a boredom exercise, I fitted an Airfix B29 with four cheap electric can motors, hooked them up to a long cable that ran out of the tail turret, and into a pair of scalextric controllers. One controller was throttles for the left engines, the other for the right engines.

The wheels were fitted with metal axles in a little brass sleeve, and the nose gear was transformed into some castoring monstrosity that vaguely resembled the B29’s original nose gear if you looked at it from half a mile away through the bottom of a jam jar.

It would taxi on a smooth floor, and would steer quite well, gaining lots of interest from the cat. It surprised me as I didn’t think the props would pull it, but they did!

After getting bored of renacting the last few ‘pre-fire’ minutes of the Kee Bird, I laid a load of books out as a rough runway in the hallway, lined her up and let rip at full throttle.

The speed was good but it failed to rotate, and I hadn’t thought about brakes (there were none.) Not that stopping was much of a problem as when the nose gear went off the end of the books, the quarter inch of clearance on the wildly spinning props was reduced to negative 1/4 inch and 16 blades went flying.

The motors screeched their last moments in agony at no load, tripping the electric in the house as they did (thanks Scalextric… :rolleyes: ) the cat decided being shot at by little pieces of plastic wasn’t so amusing, and the B-29 wiped its gear out as its own momentum took it fully off the end of the books and slammed it into the radiator in the dining room.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t attempt indoor flight in a small hallway.
2. You can’t fly with the control locks in.
3. B29 props are fragile and sting when they hit you.
4. I think it needs more power.

I have just bought another Airfix B29.

😀

This, I love

YOU EPIC EPIC NORTHERNER

:D:diablo:

Jetex solid fuel rocket, exhausting through some cunningly designed pipework out of the sides? One strong piece of fishing line into the floor, and you get a loud, noisy hovering Harrier…

I also experimented with Scalextric motors with similar results. Prop blades do sting 😀
A few kits have also met their fate strapped to bottle rockets:D

Far to grown up for all that now though :rolleyes: What to do with this old
1 32 Harrier :confused::):):D
Ben

As a boredom exercise, I fitted an Airfix B29 with four cheap electric can motors, hooked them up to a long cable that ran out of the tail turret, and into a pair of scalextric controllers. One controller was throttles for the left engines, the other for the right engines.

The wheels were fitted with metal axles in a little brass sleeve, and the nose gear was transformed into some castoring monstrosity that vaguely resembled the B29’s original nose gear if you looked at it from half a mile away through the bottom of a jam jar.

It would taxi on a smooth floor, and would steer quite well, gaining lots of interest from the cat. It surprised me as I didn’t think the props would pull it, but they did!

After getting bored of renacting the last few ‘pre-fire’ minutes of the Kee Bird, I laid a load of books out as a rough runway in the hallway, lined her up and let rip at full throttle.

The speed was good but it failed to rotate, and I hadn’t thought about brakes (there were none.) Not that stopping was much of a problem as when the nose gear went off the end of the books, the quarter inch of clearance on the wildly spinning props was reduced to negative 1/4 inch and 16 blades went flying.

The motors screeched their last moments in agony at no load, tripping the electric in the house as they did (thanks Scalextric… :rolleyes: ) the cat decided being shot at by little pieces of plastic wasn’t so amusing, and the B-29 wiped its gear out as its own momentum took it fully off the end of the books and slammed it into the radiator in the dining room.

Lessons learned:

1. Don’t attempt indoor flight in a small hallway.
2. You can’t fly with the control locks in.
3. B29 props are fragile and sting when they hit you.
4. I think it needs more power.

I have just bought another Airfix B29.

😀

[ATTACH]189796[/ATTACH]Whilst not Airfix conversions (i think weight is the main prob with that idea)Take a look at www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk they market these 1-72 indoor warbirds they are quite incredible.

There’s a vid floating around on YouTube of the prototype Spitfire model being flown. Very nice!

I think they tried to add extra functions to it (possibly rudder, or aileron, not sure) and it wasn’t good!

There are several of the larger scale helis been done, such as the Trumpeter chinook in 1/35th

[ATTACH]189796[/ATTACH]Whilst not Airfix conversions (i think weight is the main prob with that idea)Take a look at www.micronradiocontrol.co.uk they market these 1-72 indoor warbirds they are quite incredible.

I don’t see why you can’t get a rocket motor and stick it up the tail pipe of a F86 or something. Technically it would be free flight due to the thrust.

I don’t think it’d be easy to convert an actual kit to R/C, for a number of reasons. That said, it wouldn’t be massively difficult to build a model to the same kind of scale (I’ve seen a 1/72 scale Spitfire and Hellcat done once!).

A number of free-flight scale models (Keilkraft or similar) have sucessfully been converted for R/C though.

I did once….when i was nobbit but a lad way back in the 70’s !

I had an old B-25 or poss B-26 ,American anyway, well battered and with bits falling off. Stuffed it with paper, one of those plastic fag lighter refill things and other bits of inflamable stuff. struck a match to the paper and flung it out of a 2nd story window, and damn me if the thing didnt go almost straight down then recover for a few seconds before the whole thing went bang very spectacularily !

Cant remember if it was an airfix, frog, revell or what but it must have glided for all of about 4 or 5 seconds !

Interesting thought phil – Id have thought the shere weight of the thing would make the idea an exercise in futility?

Would have to be a big model for a start and the wing would need total redesign. most of the lads that build scale model aircraft (I think) dont use scale aerofoils – Im sure vultee35 will correct me there