Slingsby Perfect - Mini Me

[SteveNeill]

Thanks a bunch!

[GunnyK.]

I love it.

[SteveNeill]

A bit more progress. I'm about to start with the Dope. That old time hobby shop smell is about to be present in my studio. Yellow tissue. Once its doped I will be painting it with some red trim and a red curved back nose and graphics civilian style.

[SteveNeill]

A bit more done. Yes Michael they should. But I do have a small Carbon Cub and a J-3.

[ARUP]

Somebody will have to build a 'Pint Pawnee', 'Bitty Bidule' or 'Czrunken Czmelak' to tow this little jewel!

[SteveNeill]

Still more progress. I setup the elevator according to scale pictures. Connected the two feathers using an balsa joiner and piano wire with "L" bends. They are very strong and I'll only need one control horn to control both.

Sheeted the til s bit for pushrod exits and a better seat for the horizontal stab and also the wing.

Tomorrow I can install the radio and pushrods. Moving into the wing next.

The more I work on this the more I want to build a 3rd scale as my first 3rd scale scratch build project.

[SteveNeill]

I believe this is the same model. Not sure who the gentleman is. The other is my fuse n my big hand. I feel like Godzilla building this little bird. I have seen them fly and for a small plane they fly remarkably well.

[SteveNeill]

While I decide whether to build the 1/3 scale Cherokee RM or a Slingsby Prefect I had this Easy Built Models Slingsby Perfect for free flight. I thought it would be fun to convert it to RC. As it turned out it has been harder than it looks.

First of all if you have ever built free flight models you know they are delicate. And more than once I have put my bug thug fingers through the fuselage stringers.
The first thing I did was build the fuse. It went up pretty quickly but then the hard part came that I overlooked. Having access to the cockpit for the RX and the battery! Argg…so I sheeted the areas between the stringers and carefully cut the cockpit deck away. Then rebuilt everything I destroyed in the process.
I added more support and wood to the frame and the removable section sanded everything smooth again and voila.
I’m using a Spektrum RX brick and a 150 lipoly , 2 pushrods for rudder and elevator. Don’t think I could take putting ailerons in the tiny wings.
I don’t think I mentioned this sailplane has a whopping 36 inch span.
The tail feathers I have modified for actual movement trying to stick to the scale sized planes. I added more ribs and wood to better mount then. I’ll also be adding more wood to the wing mount area and a bit of balsa aft for the push rod exits.
I have to say this has been fun so far and a lesson in patience and delicacy.
I have a small Carbon Cub that could tow this but the problem is I’d need to figure out a way for a release in this tiny girl, So high start might be the only answer.

More to come…