Tiger Moth (oz7492)

About this Plan

Tiger Moth. Radio control electric scale model. Note this is not a complete plan, this is a modification of the earlier 1975 Walt Mitchell RCM Tiger Moth plan, numbered RCM#592.

Quote: "Return of the Tiger Moth - Electrifying a 28-year old design for geared Speed 400 power. Tiger Moth by Richard Beach Adams.

Twenty-eight years ago, a cute little deHavilland Tiger Moth (oz5963) appeared on the cover of RCM. Inside was a well researched construction article, brimming with humor, by Walter Mitchell of Atlanta, Georgia. Walts' Tiger Moth sported blue and yellow doped silk and was powered by a COX TD .020 glow engine. I bought that issue, loving the lines (swept wings and aristocratic nose) and compact size of the Tiger Moth and thinking it would he a good project with which to rejoin the ranks of active modelers who I had left during my school years.

I also wanted to see if R/C equipment was more reliable than the Citizenship radio I had purchased with hard-earned paper route money in ray early teens - if anyone in the Detroit area ever stumbles across an olive drab L-19 Bird Dog powered by a Cox Babe Bee, with a Bonner escapement on board, please give me a call as l am still offering a reward!

As fate would have the Titer Moth project didn't make it to the building board that year. My move north from the Detroit area to the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 1976, my career change from an NIASE certified engine re-builder to a legal services attorney, my marriage to a local copper miner's daughter and the raising of two kids put the Moth project off-track for almost 30 years.

When I ran across the old RCM magazine in my basement last fall, my interest was again whetted to build this neat little bird but my thinking was to power it with a geared Speed 400. I really like the clean and quiet side of our hobby, having built a number of Astro Flight 05 powered models, the first being a converted Olympic 650 from the Airtronic kit, the second a 'Voltswagen' from plans by Woody Woodward, and most recent]y, the Ace Puddlemaster. This time I wanted to go even smaller and more portable, and was interested in seeing what a small electric motor with a gear drive could do.

When I discovered from RCM's Website that the plans for the Tiger Moth were still available (Plan 592), I enthusiastically ordered a set and brought out the building board. Winters are long in the area of the Upper Peninsula, where we receive 300 inches of snowfall annually and are billed as 'Big Snow Country.' That gave me time to figure out and fiddle with the changes needed to convert this little airship to electric power while I sat at my kitchen table, drinking hot toddies and watching the winter storms march by our bay window.

Spring finally came, and I finished the Moth and made her first flights on Fatber's Day. Since it was 'my day,' I was even able to get my wife up to our scenic flying field perched on one of the hills that ring Lake Supc6or, a really beanifu.1 spot. When l put the Moth on our grass field and conked the power on, I was delighted as she lifted off and flew out over the Black River Valley! This is one of the sweetest flying airplanes have ever built!

With a 6-cell 600 mAh NiCad motor pack, she came in at 19.3 ounces, and can actually lift off our grass runway (if my flying partner has recently mowed it). On six cellas she handles calm air and light winds. With a 7-cell pack she flies with authority, and can handle decent breezes, but doesn't fly quite as long (five minutes vs_ six minutes). I recently tried a lightweight 7-cell 1100 mAh NiCad pack from Hobby Lobby. It only adds two ounces and duration has increased to 12 minutes with mixed throttle demands.

She has no bad habits, and is very well mannered when she stalls. Landings are fun, because with all the drag those two wings, flying wires, and a big freewheeling prop produce, you can set up high and close in and just chop the throttle. She drops out of the sky at a steep angle, but slowly, almost like a hover descent, and then flares out just like an airplane should. You can apply throttle if you have any battery juice left, and I have yet to stall or snap roll her on an approach..."

Quote: "The sketches in this article, of the changes needed to make the electric conversion, are the handiwork of David Mitchell, the son of the original designer"

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, text and pics.

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