Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799)

 

Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799) by Ray Ferguson 1991 - plan thumbnail

About this Plan

Hansa Brandenburg W29. Radio control scale model WWI floatplane. Wingspan 62 in. Scale is 1/8.

Quote: "Why did I build a scale model of a fairly obscure type of a fairly obscure type - with floats? Twenty years ago I would not have considered such a project as the reliability of the radio equipment (mine was homebuilt) was far less than 100%. I might have considered fixing floats to my old 'Stringalong' biplane, but a full scale design - never! With efficient engines and radio equipment, apart from the odd dose of black negative wire fever, the only limits to scale R/C modelling are building ability and piloting skills.

If you have mastered your SMAE A and B certificates there is no reason why you should not go on to the scale models of your choice, for me it was the W29. From the photographs I had seen of the prototype in flight it looked as though it had been designed as a model. yes, it does have a funny, cranked-up, rear fuselage but this helps to keep the spray away from the tailplane. I am not the first to produce a flying model of the W29, there have been others, including free flight examples.

Fellow club member Sid Sutherland, a great water-plane enthusiast, had flown a Heinkel floatplane for sometime and this created the enthusiasm I needed to get started. Studying scale drawings of the W29 revealed a similarity to Sid's Heinkel model (see Prototype Parade on the history of the W29 - Ed) and gave cause to believe that it might perform well in the air and on water. A few quick calculations suggested that 1/8 scale would produce a model of convenient size with room for the radio and - with a minimum of cheating -a four-stroke engine.

Construction: There are no special difficulties to building the model an no complicated canopy or cowlings to make - but there are quite a few struts. Balsawood and plywood are used throughout, glued together with white glue (waterproof variety) contact adhesive and cyano. It is entirely a matter of preference whether you build the wings or fuselage first, but do keep the tail areas light and the front end of the floats strong.

The engine bay area is a tight squeeze for some engines. I would strongly recommend temporary fitting of the engine, radio equipment, wings, floats and tail surfaces to ensure accuracy before finishing is commenced.

Fuselage: Cut the two sides from 1/8 medium balsa, ensuring they are of equal strength and weight. Use contact adhesive to glue the ply doublers in place, from F1 to just beyond F4. A building jig is useful in assembling the fuselage so that you do not finish up with a waterborne banana, alternatively draw a centreline on your building board and mark vertical centres on all formers. Dry position all formers to the sides and when satisfied that all is true, cyano in place. Add the main longerons with white glue and leave overnight to set. Follow this with the crosspieces, bracings and minor formers, white gluing all the joints. Plank the top, add the wing seats, but leave the cowling until later

Wings: These are self explanatory from the drawings. Cut ribs in three separate batches, to the different sizes, initially and adjust each as necessary as they are fitted - note that the capping goes over the spars. More up aileron movement than down (differential) is an advantage.

Tail Surfaces: 1/8 medium balsa is used for the tail surfaces with lightening holes cut to minimise the weight. Do not fit permanently until the model is complete.

Floats: Be careful again in your selection of balsawood for the float sides, unless they are of equal 'elasticity' the float will twist as soon as it is removed from the building board. Construct the floats upside down and keep them on the board until the bottom is completed and dry. Every affort must be made to keep the floats absolutely watertight..."

From R/C Scale Aircraft, February 1991.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Update 22/1/2025: Added the missing sheet 4 (ribs) thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.
Sheet 4 (ribs).

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Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799) by Ray Ferguson 1991 - model pic

Datafile:
  • (oz15799)
    Hansa Brandenburg W29
    by Ray Ferguson
    from Radio Control Scale Aircraft
    February 1991 
    62in span
    Scale IC R/C Floatplane Military
    clean :)
    all formers complete :)
    got article :)
  • Submitted: 09/01/2025
    Filesize: 1276KB
    Format: • PDFbitmap
    Credit*: Circlip, RFJ
    Downloads: 548

ScaleType:
  • Hansa-Brandenburg_W.29 | help
    see Wikipedia | search Outerzone
    ------------
    Test link:
    search RCLibrary 3views (opens in new window)


    ScaleType: This (oz15799) is a scale plan. Where possible we link scale plans to Wikipedia, using a text string called ScaleType.

    If we got this right, you now have a couple of direct links (above) to 1. see the Wikipedia page, and 2. search Oz for more plans of this type. If we didn't, then see below.


    Notes:
    ScaleType is formed from the last part of the Wikipedia page address, which here is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansa-Brandenburg_W.29
    Wikipedia page addresses may well change over time.
    For more obscure types, there currently will be no Wiki page found. We tag these cases as ScaleType = NotFound. These will change over time.
    Corrections? Use the correction form to tell us the new/better ScaleType link we should be using. Thanks.

Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799) by Ray Ferguson 1991 - pic 003.jpg
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Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799) by Ray Ferguson 1991 - pic 004.jpg
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Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799) by Ray Ferguson 1991 - pic 005.jpg
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User comments

Awesome model of a rarely modeled aircraft
Madhukar - 22/01/2025
Are the plans complete? Last page says 3 of 4? Looks like the whole aircraft is there though.
Marc - 22/01/2025
Aha, good point. Well spotted. Fixed now thanks to RFJ, see supplement file.
SteveWMD - 22/01/2025
The missing plan is that of the rib profiles.
I am currently 50% through building this model from the original plans which came free over two editions or RCS. The plans are not perfect and so much is left for the builder to figure out himself which is partly the reason for the "stop / start " feeling I have had for this build. I will send photos when I finally finish it.
Kind regards Gino
Gino Franchi - 22/01/2025
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Download File(s):
  • Hansa Brandenburg W29 (oz15799)
  • Plan File Filesize: 1276KB Filename: Hansa_Brandenburg_W29_oz15799.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 1556KB Filename: Hansa_Brandenburg_W29_oz15799_article.pdf
  • Supplement Filesize: 481KB Filename: Hansa_Brandenburg_W29_oz15799_sheet_4_ribs.pdf
  • help with downloads
 

Notes

* Credit field

The Credit field in the Outerzone database is designed to recognise and credit the hard work done in scanning and digitally cleaning these vintage and old timer model aircraft plans to get them into a usable format. Currently, it is also used to credit people simply for uploading the plan to a forum on the internet. Which is not quite the same thing. This will change soon. Probably.

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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