Tiger Moth (oz13252)

 

Tiger Moth (oz13252) by Matt Halton 2002 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Tiger Moth (Economy Tiggie). Radio control scale model for electric power using geared 280 motor.

Quote: "Use the gear from your GWS Pico Stick in this classic Park Flyer. 28 inch span scale park flier for geared 280 motors, by Matt Halton.

I became interested in electric flight models, following a foray into Pico Stick flying recently. This was a very enjoyable model to fly, but soon felt the urge to build something of a scale nature!

Years ago, I built and flew a .40 four-stroke powered Veron Tiger Moth and was more than pleased with its excellent flying qualities on 3 channel radio (rudder/elevator/throttle), so the idea was born.

My park flyer would be powered by the inexpensive Simprop 280 'Park drive' system with gearbox. I could use the Perkins micro servos supplied with the Pico Stick, and GWS receiver. An Ikarus mini speed controller and their 7x 270mAh 2/3 AA cell pack completed the power train.

For reference, the old 1/72 scale Airfix plastic kit model was used. A wingspan of 28 in seemed to be a good size and would offer a reasonable amount of wing area. The section of the wing is the flat bottomed variety, for ease of build and to give a nice amount of lift.

The model is constructed in the traditional way (it took me back to my childhood days, when I avidly built most of the old Keil Kraft range of free flight flying scale rubber powered models. My parents and brothers did not share my enthusiasm, however, once the dope tin was opened!).

It really isn't a difficult model to build at all, the only pain is the cutting out of all those ribs, but a ply template made this easier.

The model was test flown in my local park that has a small hard standing which allowed me to take-off conventionally. With that large prop, I was expecting some torque, but the model accelerated away briskly under full power, needing only a small right rudder input to keep her straight. After about 12 feet or so, she was climbing well. I got her to a reasonable height, performed trim checks - only minor elevator/rudder trim corrections were required - I then settled into some smooth circuits, then lazy 8's. The stall was checked - if she is flown too slowly, she will warn you of an impending stall with a 'wobble'. If you insist on staying slow near the stall, she will depart from controlled flight by dropping a wing, with a resultant spin. Application of full power soon saw her back under full control again.

Loops and stall turns are possible, but only with a bit of dive inertia to boot her around - nothing from straight and level flight here!

In dead calm conditions, she is superb, flies beautifully smoothly, and just floats through the air - gorgeous! Everyone at my 'big' club are amazed at how well she flies - in the park, complete strangers are always full of admiration of her looks and flyability. It's great to take a model out regularly, fly it, and take it home with no cleaning!

With the Ikarus 270mAh pack, I have been achieving flights of 11-13 minutes, culminating with a conventional landing and roll out if the ground is suitable - if it's not, hand launches are a cinch, she flies from your hand, so no running is required! When landing, don't let her slow up too much - as she is a biplane, a fair bit of drag is present, so always land with a bit of power on, it's easy in practice -even if you get it wrong, she is light enough to escape damage.

Try her, I know you'll love her!

Fuselage: Select the lightest wood available, use the mildly harder wood for areas prone to be easily damaged, such as wingtips, wing seats, or any area likely to endure some level of stress when handling or flying. It is very important to try and build this little aeroplane as light as possible, scale detail can be added, as long as it is done using recognised weight saving methods, be warned weight gain can happen almost silently, without you noticing, if care is not taken here. Use medium cyano adhesive sparingly throughout, as this will also help contribute to an overall lightweight structure.

Commence the build by making two fuselage sides essentially from 1/8th balsa strip - refer to the 3 dimensional sketch on the plan. If you build the second side over the first, use a sheet of clear polythene as a barrier, as it will prevent you from sticking the sides to each other!

Cut former F2B from 1/8 medim sheet balsa. Remember to cut the hole, this comes in very handy when passing the wires from your ESC to the motor! Cut the cross pieces of 1/8 sq balsa as indicated on the plans, then join the two sides together to make a basic fuselage box, after adding F2B. Remember to use a set square, or similar aid, to ensure accuracy during this process..."

Tiger Moth, R/C Model Flyer, September 2002

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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Tiger Moth (oz13252) by Matt Halton 2002 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz13252)
    Tiger Moth
    by Matt Halton
    from RC Model Flyer
    September 2002 
    28in span
    Scale Electric R/C Biplane
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 05/04/2021
    Filesize: 561KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: Circlip, RFJ
    Downloads: 818

ScaleType:
  • De_Havilland_Tiger_Moth | help
    see Wikipedia | search Outerzone
    ------------
    Test link:
    search RCLibrary 3views (opens in new window)


    ScaleType: This (oz13252) is a scale plan. Where possible we link scale plans to Wikipedia, using a text string called ScaleType.

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Tiger Moth (oz13252) by Matt Halton 2002 - pic 003.jpg
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Tiger Moth (oz13252) by Matt Halton 2002 - pic 004.jpg
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* Credit field

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Scaling

This model plan (like all plans on Outerzone) is supposedly scaled correctly and supposedly will print out nicely at the right size. But that doesn't always happen. If you are about to start building a model plane using this free plan, you are strongly advised to check the scaling very, very carefully before cutting any balsa wood.

 

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