Westwind: A classic lives again

[tandemairbike]

Charlie Pipes redrew the plans from the original article from MAN March 1958.

Mr Valentine of Top Notch Models lazer cut the flat kit.

Now I am building a second copy of my very first R/C airplane, theWestwind designed by Ted Strader.
Back in the fifties,the pioneering days of R/C, there was no such thing as digital proportional control. There was escapement, compound esapement also referred to as "cascade multi" and then there was pulse proportional or "galloping ghost". the majority of the sport models were
single channel flown with escapement.The high wing cabin style plane was preferred due to it's inherent stability.After all, these were nothing more than radio guided free flight models. Low wing aircraft were deemed too unstable. Mr Strader mentions in his article that he built a low wing plane to take advantage of this instability for stunt(aerobatics), but the plane turned out to be "stable as a table". This quality plus the good looks of the plane is what took hold of me and I ordered the plans and built one. This was my first R/C airplane and after a few attempts and repair sessions I learned to fly it and enjoyed many subsequent flights until, I believe, one day a tree reached out and grabbed it and destroyed it.Now I am building another one.

I apologize for not being able to show the complete kit. I had the photos of the fuselage parts all lined up pretty and downloaded to my computer. A couple of days later I was looking at them and hit a wrong key and lost them. Unfortunatly, I had already deleted them from my camera.
I have the wing parts laid out though, and a shot of the beginning of the fuselage framing.These photos can be seen in the Gee Bee Model "D" thread in "scratch building". I am unable to post them here too.

The next photos show the progress of the fuselage and wing. Right now they are ready for final sanding and covering. I have not decided what to cover it with yet. The original was covered with silkspan and doped. We'll see.

Wig tip blocks ready to be shaped. Vertical fin on original was made of 1/16th plywood. I opted to make this a built up unit. The original was single channel with escapement on rudder. This one will be rudder and elevator with micro servos.I planned on finding an OK Cub .074 on Ebay as this is what powered the original. I did not find one so I bid on and won a Norvel .07.
I never received the .07 due to ownership issues. I have ,however obtained a vintage Wen Mac .049 which originallywas equipped with an exhaust throttle, the parts of which are missing. I intend to use it anyway.
Hope to have more photos soon.

[PipesCS]

No fair Terry

You started your build along after the model was half finished.

Also I may note you finished it to this point in about a week and a half even with the flooded basement.

Looking good.

[tandemairbike]

I can't help it if I'm impulsive and prone to get carried away. I would have brought it to this point sooner but making a living and the honeydo list got in the way. Is nothing sacred?

All work on the Westwind was done prior to the flood which is in clean up stage at this time.
Fortunately none of my models and supplies got ruined but, unfortunately some of my wife's antiques that were in storage suffered to some degree.

My computer is high and dry and I used what would have been building time to post this thread.

[tandemairbike]

Flood is all cleaned up and I managed to get in acouple of short building sessions this week.

The original westwind carried it's batteries in an openong in the top center section of the wing. I kept this opening in this copy to provide access to the blind nuts for the landing gear attachment.Blind nuts can pop out from time to time, even when they have been CAed in place.

Covering will be silkspan just like my first one. The magazine article called for silkspan on the fuse and silk on the wings. Good idea back when silk was $3.00 a yard. Not too cool now that it's $17.00 a yard. Covering this airplane with heat shrink covering would be blastphemy in my opinion. the only heat shrink material used here is a strip of Silkspun Coverite , top and bottom, at the center section joints of the wing to strengthen this area.

I will also be making my hinges from Silkspun Coverite and will cover that in a little more detail as these hinges can be made from any covering film and have many advantages. They weigh almost nothing, will match the color of your surfaces, making them all but invisible and provide the most free moving, non binding hinges possible.

For you younger modelers, Silkspun Coverite is a polyester product that looks and feels like silkspan but has a heat sensitive adhesive and irons on and heat shrinks like the glossy stuff. I don,t know if Coverite still makes it. I have about a half roll left over from the seventies.

The photos show wing and tail surfaces covered and covering started on the fuselage. the opening in the top of the wing center section can be seen also.
I will be back with more photos as time permits.

Tandy

[PipesCS]

Looking great

[PipesCS]

What radio gear are you using.

I would thing the Hitec 55 servos would be plenty for this model.

[tandemairbike]

I ordered three Hi tec 55s and only one was in stock. Dealer says it will be two weeks before he gets the others. No rush. He wanted me to try some new servos that are supposed to be better than the 55s. they are more expensive but he'll sell them to me for the same price as the 55s. I might take him up on it.

[tandemairbike]

I will be using a Corona RS610 6channel receiver and a Hi tec 270 MA receiver battery pack. I will try the BMS 307 servos that the dealer offered. He claims that they are the same size and are faster and have more tourque that the 55s. Time will tell.

[tandemairbike]

Postings are going to be fewer and far between from now 'til fall. I won a couple of good bids for trucking jobs and between management, operation and maintenance of my equipment I will have little free time. It's not to say I'm out of it completely, I just have less time. I will be posting, just not as often.
I will be posting some more photos soon as time permits.

I have the servos. They are Bluebird BMS 371s. They are about 1/32 inch longer than Hitec 55s but the same in all other dimensions. Weight is 8 grams. Torque is 21oz-in. at 4.8volts. Speed is 0.12sec/ 60degrees.

I will be using theCorona RS610 6 channel receiver.
Specs are:
2.0 microvolts sensitivity.
Ultra narrow
DSP
Auto-shift.
full range.(1.2KM claimed)
Size is 1.3" x 0.75" x 0.32".
weight 0.25 oz.
FM/PPM

Battery will be Hitec #57405 270 mah flat pack.

I will include photos of these items in my next post.

a great day to all,

Tandy

[tandemairbike]

Here's the latest update.
Have very little time to devote to modeling so ai spent it building rather than posting.
Squirted some paint on it. A friend of mine has been using automotive finishes on his models for years so I decided i would try it. I used Dupli Color truck, van and SUV spray can paint. It's an acrylic laquer type material and is fuelproof.
After three coats of Sig supercoat clear and 2 coats of homemade sanding sealer on the entire airplane, I lightly misted on three coats of ivory. I them masked of the separation line and misted on medium blue metallic. (Had to do that. Metallica is on of my favorite bands.) I used light coats to keep the weight down with the result of a mediocre finish. Had I known that the completed plane with all equipment aboard would come out to 16.07 ounces, I would have put on a few more coats and it would have rubbed out nicer.
But I guess I'll still keep it though. Here are some pix.

[tandemairbike]

In the last photo with the radio equipment, the servo on the left is a Hitec 55 and the one on the right is the Bluebird BMS-271. Here's another photo showing the weight of the plane and all equipment. The second time I weighed it it came ti 16 .8 oz. or 1 lb. 0.8 oz.

[PipesCS]

Considering I only sent the kit to the kit cutter the last of March and you did not get it until April it is amazing how much you have accomplished in such a short time

I looks so good we may have to go ahead and cut a .40 size one next.

I looks like a crop duster with the hi canopy line.

[tandemairbike]

There is also a close resemblence to the full size Mini-Max 1600 I used to own.

Each time I stop to look at this model another old memory comes flooding back. Like when I first finished The original. The article gave instructions to test glide it as was the S.O.P. back in the day. I tossed it over tall grass in a hayfield and the damn thing just refused to glide at all. I guess I didn't throw it hard enough for fear of breaking it. My Ukie flying buddy that was there with me said "Just start the engine and I'll throw it for you." That was my first flight which lasted about six minutes before I got confused with that damn self neutralizing escapment. after three more flights and three more repair sessions I installed a compound escapement and enjoyed many more flights.

This whole project has been extremely rewarding for me. I'll probably fly it a couple of times and then hang it up where i can admire it from time to time.

Tandy

[PipesCS]

Might as well build another to keep one flying and one to hang up to give the grandkids one day. I made up my mind tonight to scale this up on my next trip to a 56 inch wing span and get another kit cut. Do you want one? I figure a .46 will pull it fine

[tandemairbike]

I have to hold off on it for now. Business is booming and time is at a premium. Late next fall things will calm down.

Tandy

[tandemairbike]

The Westwind is ready to go. I would have flown it this past weekend but it rained both days and the cameraman I had lined up had a family emergency and could not have showed up anyway.
I am going to shoot for next Sunday and have my son do the photography with the digital camcorder like he did with the Indicator flights.

I will probably maiden the "Watts This". That's what I'm calling the electric project I built. This is all subject to some big time co-operation from Ma Nature of course.

Tandy

[PipesCS]

You still out there????

[tandemairbike]

I'm still here.
Extremely busy with my trucking business. Working on a 22 mile bypass around Gorham, Maine. The job is supposed to last until June of 2009.
It involves thousands of yards of fill which is bread and butter to dump truck operators.
We leave here at 5:30 AM and don't get back until 7;15 Pm. By that time I am pretty well used up. Time for a shower, a quik light dinner and then bedtime.
Stole a few minutes between weekend maintenance sessions to work with the models.

I've been having fuel problems with the Wen mac engines. my tank must have been too far away and they didn't want to draw. I tried everything from changing tank positions to two different Wen mac engines. Neither will keep running.
Solution:Remove tank and replace Wen mac with Cox
Golden Bee. The change has been made but have not had time to run it yet.

I will be attending the club picnic and flying session on August 19. Hope to fly it then.

Checked out progress on the D and the Y. Your doing a fine job, keep it up.

Tandy.

[tandemairbike]

As soon as I find a new needle valve for the Golden Bee the Westwind will fly.

If your bored some time, try retrieving the broken tip of a needle valve out of a Cox integral tank engine. Believe me it's a challenge. I tried a common pin, a thin piece of wire, a magnet (steel needle inside aluminum tank backplate), blowing back through the intake, all to no avail. lost a bit of patience and slammed it on the table and the piece popped out. DUMB luck.

A couple of guys in the club are checking their inventories of indispensible parts, pieces and assemblies (junk boxes)to see if one can be found.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Getting to this event will be an adventure with a .15 powered 48" cub, a 4 stroke .70 powered 81" cub, the "Watts This" elctric job and the "Westwind", field box, plus three cases of canned soft drinks for the picnic and my fat butt traveling in a Geo Tracker. Talk about life on the edge.

Happy landings to all
Tandy

[tandemairbike]

Have located a used needle valve for the Golden Bee.
Will fire it up this coming Saturday to make sure it runs OK for Sunday.:)

[PipesCS]

Did you ever fly it.

[tandemairbike]

Not yet.
engine runs OK, plane balances ok.
Mistake covering wing with silkspan as I've become used to handling silk covered and Iron on film covered models and therefore a little too clumsy for silkspan covered models.
It is ready to fly,however, despite the patches. All I need is a good photographer and a good calm day when I don't have to work.

It will come together some day, I'm sure. If it don't crash I will strip the wing and cover it with heat shrink film.

[tandemairbike]

Westwind has flown successfully and with determination.

Dec. 24 2007, the forecast is for temps in upper thirties to low forties with high winds developing.

7;00AM, load up and head up to the field. New private field that I negotiated permission to fly from. Winds dead calm.

unloaded planes and gear.Winds dead calm.

Flew the Watts This EP job. flew beautifuly. Winds dead calm.

Fueled and started Westwind's engine, checked controls and launched .
Winds dead calm.
Westwind flies beautifuly for about a minute and a half. BANG a twentyfive MPH gust opening a fifteen to twenty MPH constant wind.

Westwind being only two channel, rudder and elevator is impossible to control, no penetration sails away over the woods and comes to rest in a pine tree.
First the search trudgeing through fourteen inches of snow to finally locate the plane with servo sounds. Climb the tree and retrieve the plane.

Damage: I still don't believe it. the !/8 inch dowel that connects the elevator halves came unglued from one side. That's it no punctures in the wings. Not a scratch.

Small plane ,hard to photograph in flight. lay photographer took about sixteen shots. we were able to come up with one pretty decent one.

[PipesCS]

Looking great. I am in search of the magazine article to get the plan number. I am in the progress of cleaning the shop and out and will find it I promise.

[PipesCS]

Found the number you are looking for.

The plans were offered as plan set number 42. They cost 50 cents postage paid.

The set came with the Westwind, the Tenderfoot which is discribed as a 1/2a FF and the Big D also a FF for .049-.15s

I believe we checked last year and MAN no longer offers the set.

I really like your paint scheme and may still end up blowing it up to a .40 size with ailerons and a flatter wing. Would look nice with wheel pants also.

[tandemairbike]

I had also thought that it would look good with pants but the plane being so small the grass and weed strips I fly from would take them out in no time.

It's an excellent two channel flyer and was very satisfying until the wind came up. We should have got some photos of it sitting in the tree but my son left the camera locked up in the car while we looked for the plane.

My son managed to come unload another recognizeable photo which I am including here

[tandemairbike]

I went over the photos on my sons camera memory card and unloaded a couple more to post.
The first is the Ol' Poop twiddling the needle on the engine, the second is the Westwind in the high wind.

That's about what it looked like to me trying to control it!

[tandemairbike]

Hmmmmm.

[tandemairbike]

Thank you Charlie for the research on the Westwind plan no.
I needed it to submit the plane to the "Great Builder's Bash'. that was announced in the Jan. 08 print issue of Model Airplane News.

[PipesCS]

It appears that it was the 42nd model plan ever offered by MAN

[PipesCS]

Hey

Tandem

You still out there???

[tandemairbike]

I'm still out here Charlie.

My last two jobs were completed last fall and the construction business climate looks pretty bleak. Retirement is possible.
I am now in the process of closing down my business and between meetings with my business manager and my attorney I am busier than when I was going flat out.

Got in a couple flying sessions though.
Lost the Watts This electric job. It seems the li-po pack contained too many calories for The ESC and the latter kind of melted, shorted out the primary wires and made the pack pregnant. It looked pregnant anyway.
Plane flew nicely up to then. three ten minute flights before it cooked and crashed.

Three flights on the Westwind that day with no problems. Learning landing techniques took some concentration as all were dead stick from various altitudes and attitudes but bundles of fun.

Next session I lost my Phoenix Dolphin when another flyer turned on his transmitter on my frequency. I had the frequency pin on my antenna at the time.
Dolphin a super performing sport aerobatic ARF My wife bought me for Christmas last year. She got it at Tower Hobbies along with a Phoenix Super Decathalon which I have yet to fly. I probably won't fly it until I pick up one of those 2.4 Gig super radios.

Yup. I'm still here.

Tandy

[PipesCS]

Ive always thought the Westwind would make a great electric with a speed 400 out runner in it.

Glad to hear you still have it.

[tandemairbike]

I don't expect to have many flying sessions this season but when winter comes the Westwind will be hung from my bedroom ceiling and may be flown once a year. I get off more with the memories of that airplane than the flying.
We old pharts are like that.

Tandy

[tandemairbike]

The Westwind flies with plenty of authority with the Cox Golden Bee .049
so it ought to be great with a speed 400. Flatten out the dihedral and add symetrical or semi symetrical airfoil and ailerons and it should be a great sport aerobat.

Tandy