Not a dead blog yet!

Hi there, I realize that it has been MONTHS since my last post. Funny, then it was snowny and really cold. Now we have more snow than ever and actually today the temperature rose to -4,5 C. Have I just quit my model airplane madness? No.

The MiG-21 is progressing fast and it has already undergone some taxi trials. I have an agreement on the MiG material with a magazine not to publish it in here. So lets be verbal here! Right now the laboursome fuselage re-shaping is taking place to make the 21MF model look more like a 21Bis.
Some wing bags have also been made. Yesterday I received the decals made by Tarra-Arska in Jämijärvi, Finland. They were scaled up and redrawn from 1:72 scale into 1:6.

There is also a new model in the shop. It is an EDF Viperjet by Tomahawk Design in Germany. The foamie has a wingspan of about one meter and is powered by a Wemotec Minifan. The Viperjet flies nicely and delivers like a jet should, nice speed and precise aerobatics. A fantastic foamie!
The MiG-15 project is now on hold to allow the 21 to be completed faster. The extremely cold winter makes model building in the workroom challenging...

Sorry I cannot post any pics with iPhone now.

Photo Art with the flying Christmas tree

Tonight I did some light painting with the Twinstar. It was -20 C and calm. The snow also provided a nice touch-and-go runway. The exposure times were about 6 minutes in both pictures. Now I only need to find a place free from those terrible yellow lights...

In this photo there are loops, rolls and even a spin...

Here I made some touch-and-goes and finally landed...

Not your ordinary photo lighting! The Hobbyking Lumilite system is great fun. 

Also, its very seldom that one flies in temperatures like this...the equipment in the model is very cheap overall and works flawlessly! This model is probably the best value ever. Its also maybe the ugliest, but only in daylight!

MiG-15 standing on its wheels now!

Woohoo! One significant milestone in the MiG-15 project was reached when the model stood on its wheels for the first time. The wing number 2 progresses much faster then the first one-as I´ve already thought everything over once.

The nosewheel is not the final one! In fact it is from the Boomerang Intro fixed gear. The real one is still being made. As a soothing answer to my deepest fears with wing and landing gear alignment, it all look real nice now. The working room is so small, that in there is is easy to lose the big picture! 

This will be a gourgeous model. 

Some rudder development...the lower servo hole is so close to the moving part, that I had to make up something with a clevis and piano wire (again from the Intro kit...stuff that I discarded then) It will be secured in place with a collar later on. 

For You Eyes Only....

Some new challenges in the future will be offered by this Fei Bao MiG-21MF. I will modify it slightly to make it look more like the "bis" that was in operational use here in Finland until 1998.  Hopefully the model will make it here in a few weeks.

The colour scheme will probably be this from the 80:s.

The 15 is progressing rather that regressing! Updates soon...

Some nostalgy...

I found this old picture from the 80´s. We are at the Malmi airport´s model airplane field flying control line. My father is kneeled down in the background, and behind me is the car of Mr. Olavi Lumes, who also took this picture. He is now over 80 years old, and still active in modelling! The aviation radios sure have developed since-see the box on the left of the car. Nowadays there is no this possibility in Malmi.

Twin-The Flying Christmas Tree-Star successfull flown!

I planned first to try the model out in daylight, but since it has been raining for two days now, had no chance. The weather, however, permitted flying this evening around 8.30 PM so I walked into the nearby field and gave it a go. Splendid! The underside LEDs are forming an arrow sign in the sky, and the red and green LEDs are also very visible in the wingtips and tail. The truth is evident, the more lights you have in the model, the easier it is to fly...I made some aerobatics and also low figure 8:s and never "really, REALLY!" lost the orientation of the model. The spin looks marvellous at night! This ugly model is much more beautiful at night when I can see the LEDs only. But with the twin brushless motors screaming with those tiny 5x5 APC:s it is not exactly the most silent one to explore the night sky, although it does glide well. The LHS stocks small props quite limitedly, but maybe I´ll try some 6x6:s later. This is all fun and games until the neighbours file some UFO sightings...
Maybe, with some more night models, we could do a night show with music, like in Jet Power in Germany...

The Great Landing Gear Door Saga!

As the real MiG is made of aluminium, I came across the idea of making aluminium gear door for it. The thin offset aluminium  (litho plate) provides exellent material for this when it it sandwiched with carbon fiber. At least that was my original idea. Well, after cutting the aluminium parts to shape with the Polyply templates, I protected the opposite side wing top side with plastic.  This method gives the doors the right shape. Then I drew the outlines of the doors into the plastic to help putting the top and underside door parts to match each others position-there is carbon in between, so the lower one cannot be seen. Then, after cutting two layers of 130 g carbon cloth, the Z-poxy laminating resin was mixed.

After some work, this is what could be seen:

Then I made the main gear door- its was slightly over the inner door, but it really was no concern in the shape. 

This was also carefully taped into shape and allowed to cure overnight.

Meanwhile I fitted in the extra gear ram...

This turned out to be difficult-surprise! Eventually I had to make a hole in the front spar to be able to fix the ram into place. 

The yellow airline still need some more space.

After some sanding, carbon dust, and some sweat it all worked out! 

All left to do now is the inner door ram and the outer door. Gear down...

Gear up! The aluminium looks really cool.