Graupner Cirrus X 3

[ingrahal]

Hello Martin, thanks for posting. Please update us on your progress. I have been away from models since we bought a 27 acre farm and relocated. I will eventually get back to the models but there is so much to be done on the farm it will be a while. My new shop will be nice but needs a lot of wok and is way down on the to-do list.

I will probably never do Cirrus #3. I have some other more interesting projects lined up and having done 2 of them already I just don’t think I can do another one. It was an ambitious project and I bit off more than I could chew!!!

[neilk]

does anybody know where fibreglass Cirrus fuselages can be procured from ? Asking for a friend who is admiring my lovely Cirrus !

[Martin Roberts]

Hello again
Arup - I will get into the Vintage Hangar and take some photos of the Colditz Cock replica we have. I'll try my best with the photos of the pattern and colour of the fabric! I'm going tomorrow and I will try then and post the photos here.
I'm with Neilk - does anyone know where to get a fibreglass Cirrus fuselage? I would build a new one. My orginal ABS fuselage must be pretty brittle - I'm worried a hard landing would finish it off!

[ARUP]

You could pull a mold off the fuselage and make a glass one. Just cover all of the 'holes' including the cockpit opening with cellophane tape. Cut a midline parting board and you're off to the races!

[Martin Roberts]

Unfortunately I could not gain access to the vintage hangar to look at the Colditz Cock. It's off limits due to Covid-19, but it won't be like that forever and I will get in there eventually.

Meanwhile - my Graupner Cirrus re-furb is crawling along. Working with 0.5mm Plasticard is interesting - but it is too thick to bend to shape in order to form it around the fin. It doesn't take kindly to being heated either and is tricky stuff. So - I am going to attempt to sand down the plasticard so that it is 0.4mm at the point of bending around the leading edge of the fin. Hopefully that will work without it splitting. Then I would glue the sanded side inside the fin and the shiny side on the outside. We'll see how it goes. Then I have the daunting task of stripping off the 35 year old paint from the fuselage, refitting the fin/rudder and re-integrating and refinishing the complete fuselage. Then - even worse - re-kitting the wings. Phew!

[RCPECC]

Martin, I replaced my damaged fuse with one from "Francis Products" 1514 Brommer st. Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (408)476-5449..This was in 1982. The fuse is more to scale and allows sufficient space for standard servos. good luck!
Joe

[dbarrym]

TWO. In fact I had a REAL Schempp-Hirth 17.7m Cirrus for 2 years 1992 & 1993 (photo attached - glider 782). I have 200 hours on type. In fact - my main passtime these days is flying my DG800B self-launching sailplane (G-CLSZ "44") - which I have just over 200 hours on. I got into real gliding from model gliding - but I am still a modeller at heart! As a pilot at Lasham - the worlds largest gliding club, I have access to prototypes of virtually all european gliders ever made. This is because Lasham is home to the Gliding Heritage Centre - a historic collection of vintage gliders http://www.glidingheritage.org.uk/

Martin - Thanks for the link and mentioning Lasham. I was briefly a member of the Lasham Gliding Club while based in London (Maidenhead, actually) when my employer took over an avionics product line and design rights from BAE and I was relocated from the USA for 6 months to assist with the transition...circa 1986/87. I was very active in full scale soaring back then (finishing up my HP-18 and flying a partnership owned Slingsby T65A Vega, the actual prototype, long story there). There was no formal collection at Lasham back then but I do remember a big old hanger full of classic gliders, many hanging from the rafters. Heaven for this young'un (aged late 20's back then) used to seeing only Schweizers and modern German glass slippers! I also fondly remember getting signed off to do winch 'snaps' in club ships by Ann Welch at Duxford, what an honor! Pretty sure she signed my logbook for that one.

Thanks for the memory trigger. Oh, and I'm working on a Paritech 4.5m Cirrus-v1, just to close the loop. Good luck with the resurrection!

Barry

[Martin Roberts]

Hello Barry/everyone

I'm pleased to be triggering memories of some very interesting prototypes; HP-14, Slingsby T65 Vega. I remember seeing a stunning 1;4 HP-14 at Ivinghoe in about 1985. It was too beautiful! Modelling definitely inspired me to take up the real thing!
Meanwhile, I have finished the tail feathers of my Cirrus. I'm quite pleased with it - even down to the balance tab on the rudder.
So - the fuselage is complete. I am now re-equipping with modern elevator and rudder servos - re-siting those servos much further forward (old 1970's/80s 27MHz radio was sooo bulky!) and beginning to think about re-kitting the wings with ailerons and Schempp-Hirth type brakes. I have obtained the 185mm electric brakes from Topmodel.fr and they look and work brilliant!

More in a couple of weeks!