AeroModeller – June 2018

Free Flight Scale

54 AeroModeller - June 2018

For the fi rst time since my RE8 in 1967,

I went with the wing tied on with elastic

bands. I had considered making the

outer panels plug-in but it would have

taken as long as the rest of the build.

I shall use bands made up from clear

elastic cord from the bead shop so I can

pretend I can’t see them.

It will be a very impractical model,

diffi cult to store and transport and limited

to good conditions. No doubt I will break

it getting it out of the car but hopefully

it will be a sight to see – and remain

in sight.

Auster Autocrat

Peter Rea is working on an Auster

Autocrat based on the Rupert Moore

Auster V/J1 plan from Model Aircraft but

enlarged a little and with more detail.

Peter is hoping to use compressed air,

with rubber as back up. It looks very

fl yable; I cannot quite make out how

the wings are attached and this is one

area that often needs modifi cations on

these old designs. Peter is modelling

G–AGTO based at Duxford. I can clearly

remember being taken up for a spin in

an Autocrat around 1960 at what is now

‘Nottingham Airport’ at Cotgrave.

A Documentation Wheeze

Here is a quick tip for anyone out

there who is as computer illiterate as I

am. If you are planning a scale model

for competition, you may well need

documentation, including the Holy

Grail of photos in plan view and head-

on. These are frequently impossible

to fi nd but there is a way round it if

your subject type is currently fl ying.

Paradoxically, some of the easiest

machines to document now are from

WW1, given the number of aircraft

brought back to life by The Vintage

Aviator enterprise in New Zealand. If it

fl ies, there is every likelihood of video

being available on Youtube, in which

case pause it at the appropriate point

and then copy and paste it. If you put

it onto Paint or some other programme

which allows you to edit, you should

be able to crop the image to remove

excess sky. The picture quality may not Andrew Hewitt’s latest diesel model is a big

Fokker EIV. In contrast to the more usual

EIII, this one has a double-row Oberursel

rotary, long-chord cowling and a streamlined

cockpit fairing for extra speed! (Photos by

Andrew Hewitt)

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