DH.53 Hummingbird (oz7428)

About this Plan

D.H.53 Hummingbird. Free flight scale model.

Quote: "THE DH 53 was designed in 1923 by the De Havilland Aircraft Company to be entered in a series of trials organised by the Daily Mail at Lympne.

The RAF Humming Birds were painted aluminium all over and had red, white and blue roundels on the sides of the fuselage and the underside of the wings only. The rudder had vertical stripes of red, white and blue, and carried the serial numbers (J.7270-3) in black. The colouring of the civil machines was aluminium all over, with (as in the case of G-EBXN) green struts and lettering.

Fuselage Construction: Start by building up the sides of 3/16 in square medium balsa. When the cement is hard, remove the sides from the plan and steam the rear of the longerons to the shape drawn on the plan. Join the sides together with 3/16 in square, and cement the stern posts together. Next cement on F1 ply bulkhead, then add formers 2-11, and sheet with strips of 1/16 x 1/2, holding down the strips until the cement has set hard.

Remove the pins, and sandpaper lightly until smooth. Cut out the hole for the cockpit and smooth down the edges with fine sand-paper. Next, carve Out the headrest from soft balsa, and hollow out to an overall thickness of 7/8 in.

Drill the engine bearers to suit the engine being used and make sure the right amount of side-thrust is incorporated. Insert the bearers using fish glue. Bind the undercarriage tube to one-eighth ply former with tinned copper wire, and solder the tube. Build up and cement the lower part of the cowling after the engine has been mounted, and then carve out the top from block balsa. Sheet the underside of the fuselage with 1/8 sheet inserts up to the rear of the cockpit and cement a strip of 1 mm ply where the front of the undercarriage wire is spring tensioned to the fuselage. Drill holes to take the fibre tubes that hold the wing and strut fixings and cut a space in the sternpost large enough for the pendulum and weight to pass through..."

Update 12/04/2016: Replaced this plan with a clearer copy, thanks to TonyP.

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