Vickers Wellington MkI (oz4415)

About this Plan

Vickers Wellington. Scale model WWII twin bomber for radio control. For 2 x .10 engines.

Quote: "THE VICKERS WELLINGTON was one of those not so glamourous aircraft that played a significant role in World War II. It was originally designed in 1933 by Barnes Wallis; however the prototype did not fly until 1936.

The unusual feature of the Wellington was the use of geodetic construction, the airplane's framework having the appearance of a woven basket. This unique construction proved to be very rugged in combat. Large sections could be destroyed, while the multiplicity of members held the aircraft together.

During WWII, the Wellington initially was used as a daytime bomber, but suffering heavy losses, it was quickly withdrawn from this role. For the rest of the war, Wellingtons were a major component in the night bomber force, along with Lancasters, Sterlings, and Halifaxes. A total of 3,456 Wellingtons (of all models and mods) were built. Profile Publications Number 125 provides an excellent history of the aircraft, as well as many photographs.

What attracted me to the Wellington as a modeling subject was that it met all the criteria I mentioned in my earlier B-25 article (March 1979 Model Aviation). In particular, the original had to fly well on its aerodynamics with modest power. The Wellington also has unusually good moments for a model, having a long fuselage and lots of wingspan beyond the engine nacelles.

I pondered the geodetic construction, and finally decided that, since it could not be seen, I would not use it on the model. The only deviation from scale outlines was to widen the wing chord at the wing tips; the Wellington had rather pointed wing tips, a feature that leads to poor stall characteristics in a model.

In keeping with my earlier dictum of building Scale models big and keeping them light, this model has a 66-in wingspan, yet is powered by two OS Max 10 FSR engines. Because the engines don't weigh much, and we have a large model, the Wellington is prone to tail-heaviness. Consequently, we need to build as light as possible from the wing spar rearward. Wood should be selected carefully, and a minimum finish should be used.

Construction. While not a beginner's airplane, the construction of the Wellington follows rather standard practice. However, it must be built in a particular order. Let me go through this order and describe some of the most important construction elements.

Start with the wing. Build the basic wing structure, join the panels, and sheet the top from rib 1 to rib 5 only. Note that the spuce spars are flush with the top of the sheeting..."

Update 22/02/2017: added article, thanks to RFJ.

Supplementary file notes

Article.

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