Nikolina (oz8922)

 

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User comments

Very happy to see that the Nikolina Plan is up on the Zone. I built this one in the spring of 2015 from this same plan. It's a very straightforward build except for the prop hub. A homemade jig was a big help, along with a lot of forethought... then I had to "forethought" again! But, once I had it, I had it. It ranks right up there as one of my favorite models. I'm sending a few pics of the finished model [more pics 003-006]. Keep up the good work!
David - 10/07/2017
I am now about to get started over delaying a build on the Nikolina for best part of 6 months. I started with the Propellor hub, and have balsa for two sets of prop. blades standing by (since this time last year)! I think I may do two prop hubs and see which is best/offers best strength to weight as I am not sure it will be robust enough with the pine centre. I have some harder Tulip Wood bits to try also. I have also given this part much forethought too, and have found some 16 swg brass bushes to put in centre of the pine hub maybe (instead of just a drilled hole through) - it is very old school. I did actually commence work on this model during my O levels (also old school GCEs!) in 1978. I got as far as most of the fuselage balsa construction before I finished the exams and spent the summer working in a carpet warehouse and pursuing an alternative athletics career. The latter effectively took over from aeromodelling for the next 30 plus years. Now I am using the same Aeromodeller/MAP free plan 40 years later. My Dad kept all this safe for me - plus the unflown Garter Knight I had meticulously built in 1979 for the winter French/English completion. After he died in 2012 I initially meant to build a KK Slicker as I inherited a photo from 1950 of him about to launch this. Instead I got round to a rushed refurb. of the Garter Knight using a Performer kit propeller assembly and entered the Coupe de Brum (at a windy North Luffenham) a couple of years later in 2015 I think. It flew all rounds great with no trimming, but to be fair with my old unadapted Stanley winder and first time helper, I was too scared to put too much turns on with the strange narrow rubber (I could not find the old stash of ?" dark tan Pirelli from Henry J Nicholls). The Garter Knight wing got dashed in half by the strong winds on way back from the last flight at the North Luffenham trip. I did not mind, it was a surreal experience after a 38 year delay and I was just a bit euphoric. I am hoping this little Coupe may make this contest for me again - this year ... or sometime in the future.
JohnWheeler - 14/11/2018
Ok, I am now getting on with it, prop assembly done 2019, and got out again a month ago (September 2021!). But have noticed a few errors on the plan, which are confusing for wing and tailplane. Now I know why I gave up in 1978, it was not just the competing attentions of O levels and working/sport!
So anyone out there reading this, please suggest (if you know) how the wing construction really goes, main section ribs with undercamber, tips with flat bottom rib profile? Is this right? I am now desperate/determined to finish it soon to fly in an event or two...
John Wheeler
PS. I warmed up at end of this summer with a Senator build from the plan - all the ribs on that have the undercamber, tips included!!
John Wheeler - 12/10/2021
Update 2022: I finished the Nikolina "return" in 2021, and tried it out at the Coupe de Brum...despite looking good (photo in "Aeromodeller" it did not fly well, refusing to climb. A rebuild of the fuselage over winter showed a built in downthrust in the first effort - so I remade it carefully jigging up a bit...I also rebuilt another wing and Taiplane!!
Next (test) flew at FF Nationals at North Luffenham, and East Anglain Gala this year - not yet on more than 60% full turns, climb better, but glide not, longest flight 1.30 with a bit of a dolphining glide pattern. So, still not ready for competition, a shame. Anyone wish to offer advice...it would be nice to visit Coupe de Brum this year in December to try and fly the flag more successfully for classic Coupe d'Hivers!
John Wheeler - 18/10/2022
I am the least able to offer constructive advice, but allow me to contemplate your philosophical awareness. You state "...so I remade it ...I also rebuilt another wing and Taiplane!!" Now, this is the foundation of the Ship of Theseus Paradox (nice discussion in Wikipedia), which basically reads "After several centuries of maintenance, if every part of the ship of Theseus had been replaced, one at a time, was it still the same ship?".
This ontological problem has generated a number of corollaries, and there are other comparable problems. To us, it boils down to: When you replace major or minor components in your model, is it a new model? Is it the same model? Is there any point you can say the model changes identity?
This headache has been plaguing Humanity (and air modellers too!) since old Grunt broke his stone axe head, or since the Wright Brothers cracked their first landing skid, requiring a splint!
Miguel - 18/10/2022
Well. thanks for that Miguel, I am not that hot on philosophy, never really grasping it as a student....my son however now enjoys it a lot more at University, so I must consult him. He will be amused as he considers aeromodelling one step up from Playmobil and lego (I seem to remember we (I) did quite a few large lego airplanes and helicopters together some years back).
In my defence, I have kept the folding prop assembly (a major component!) from my first model....this was so tricky to build despite inaccurate plan details, that I could not bring myself to do it again like the rest ...
John Wheeler - 31/10/2022
Hello John, Legos and Playmobils are important tools in child development, there's no possible negative association. If air models are seen as a further stage of the former, then let them. I wouldn't mind being reminded of a happy part of my youth, those memories allow me to extend my youth. Even when those memories consist of chasing a model that went across a big clump of brambles :)
Miguel - 31/10/2022
Nobody has mentioned the error in the plan re. the propellor. Apparently a discrepancy in the depth of the block in the side view. This was addressed in Aeromodeller February 1965 Hangar Doors
bill dennis - 14/02/2024
re Nikolina plan error: Added text and photos from Feb 1965 Aeromodeller [see pics 007, 008], thanks to RFJ.
SteveWMD - 15/02/2024
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