Slingsby Firefly (oz15046)

About this Plan

Slingsby Firefly. Radio control scale model, for electric power. Wingspan 1330 mm.

Quote (google-translated from the Italian): "Slingsby Firefly. A model by Alberto Dotti. The electric semi-scale model of a British single-engine aircraft with excellent aerobatic characteristics, used for first level training by the RAF and numerous other air forces.

On this new occasion I introduce myself again to my aeromodeller friends who are readers of this magazine and who love to build their own models, with a new proposal that I have recently completed and tested. When I set about building a new model last autumn, I was a little disoriented because, when you start leafing through magazines or visiting Internet sites, there are so many planes that pass by under your heads. eyes, beautiful, attractive, recent or ancient, to create a great embarrassment in the choice.

However, I always like to do something original and having traveled along roads with this characteristic in the past (I am referring to the first small electric models, to the slope gliders and then to the various full-wing ones, to the ducted fan delta, to the acrobatic mono sports and biplanes), I was still looking for an airplane that I liked, that could give a sufficient guarantee of good flight characteristics, that would give me a feeling (and here it gets very personal!) from an aesthetic point of view and, finally, who had not already been targeted by others.

After narrowing the choice to a few aircraft in the single-engine tourism category, I took my attention and then decided to build the Slingsby Firefly. This plane had already attracted my attention a few years ago and I promised myself to keep it in mind for a future occasion and at this point I decided that the moment had come. In fact, it is an aircraft born as a project by Fournier, the French company specializing in motor gliders, which however in this case had launched itself in the direction of a pure tourist aircraft, largely following the lines of its motor glider predecessors.

I really liked the Firefly also because, as I said before, it has characteristics that guarantee good flying qualities and at the same time excellent maneuverability. A good wing dihedral also gives it good intrinsic stability. These qualities were appreciated by the English company Slingsby which began producing it under license as a fast tourist aircraft and as a first level trainer for fighter pilots. It was so successful in this last capacity that it also supplied many of them to the US Air Force with more advanced engines and military equipment.

From an aeromodelling point of view, I found various features that are convenient, such as the fixed tricycle undercarriage, a fuselage with the seats side by side (and therefore quite large) which allows you to easily install servos, battery, receiver, regulator and motor. The aesthetics are very pleasant, with an elegant and streamlined side line and a beautiful teardrop-shaped cockpit hood. It was a little complicated to make, but it was worth it.

Having made the choice, I developed the construction project to create a model with small dimensions of only 1330 mm of wingspan which requires only three LiPo elements and a 36 mm diameter and 1200 kV motor. There are two reasons for this choice: first, my box is saturated and therefore I am forced to keep it small; second, low costs to keep in line with current times..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

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