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"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Cox_ba12




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Cox Engine of The Month
November-2024
Kim's

"A Space Bug Jr. pulls the Q-Tee up high over Sky Tiger Field"



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Post  Kim Wed Jan 25, 2023 12:45 pm

So, it's always been a personal affront to my creative nature to try and build a model "by the book".  This attitude has lead to several still-born projects and the occasional outright disaster...but sometimes...there has been fun.

My first Bash Entry (and you are hereby invited to submit yours) is mostly "light cosmetic".  I took a Spickler "Quickie 500" racer, and turned it into a "Sorta Messerschmidt 109".  About the only mods were a reshaping of the tail, addition of a canopy and pilot, along with a cowling and spinner.  One of my beloved O.S. .35's was bolted to its snout, and we were ready for the Battle of Britain.  I named it "The Kraut".

The plane's generous wing area made it as sweet a flying machine as you could ask for, and I used it to teach myself to dependably fly inverted close to the ground.  In spite of its DIhedral becoming ANhedral when up-side-down, it was super stable once trimmed, and the plane spent a lot of its flying time with its pilot looking at the ground.  This would lead to a later, much more radical bash on another innocent model kit...to be listed next.

The plane had a long, hard life, finally succumbing to face plant that shattered the front end and wing root.  This was another sickness-induced crash where I shouldn't have been flying, but Sunday was our one chance to all get together, so I pushed it, and paid the price.

I caught some crap about the Swastika on the fin, but the plane wouldn't look right without it.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 5_71

My flying bud Neal got permission to use this giant stubble-filled field.  There was a lot of clear dope/silkspan patching that following evening.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 6_73
"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 7_69
...............................................
Luckily, Neal was a major camera bug, and caught a bunch of my flying on slides.  This one shows the huge amount of wing area on the Kraut...along with its "Field Repair" patches.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 8_53
"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 9_015
"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 18910

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 111710


Last edited by Kim on Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:51 am; edited 2 times in total
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Post  GallopingGhostler Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:15 pm

Kim wrote:I took a Spickler "Quickie 500" racer, and turned it into a "Sorta Messerschmidt 109".  About the only mods were a reshaping of the tail, addition of a canopy and pilot, along with a cowling and spinner.  One of my beloved O.S. .35's was bolted to its snout, and we were ready for the Battle of Britain.  I named it "The Kraut".

The plane's generous wing area made it as sweet a flying machine as you could ask for, and I used it to teach myself to dependable fly inverted close to the ground.  In spite of its DIhedral becoming ANhedral when up-side-down, it was super stable once trimmed, and the plane spent a lot of its flying time with its pilot looking at the ground.
"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane 5_71
Actually, I like the still life behind the aircraft. It looks dated, would expect Maud and Farmer holding his pitch fork upright. Smile

Haven't done much in kit bashing, except for the cartoonish Half-A Ringmaster Gee Bee Z.
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Post  rsv1cox Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:12 pm

I have posted so many of mine here that I won't bore everybody by posting them again, but three of my favorites and a picture I haven't shown before. (You can find them, along with many of Kim's on the internet.) Somehow they find their way there through no effort of mine.

My infamous scratched out P-38 and a flaps thing made from the horizontal stab from a crashed R/C plane.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Loft_p15

And my best and my worst.............

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Scan_161

How about just bashed.  ebay that I passed on.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Old_pl12
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Post  Kim Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:35 pm

[quote="GallopingGhostler"]
Kim wrote:
Actually, I like the still life behind the aircraft. It looks dated, would expect Maud and Farmer holding his pitch fork upright. Smile


Thanks George...as kids, we piloted a lot of bicycles, wagons, and sleds down this great old street.
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Post  Kim Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:36 pm

rsv1cox wrote:

How about just bashed.  ebay that I passed on.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Old_pl12

Great Bob!!!!!!!!
cheers cheers cheers cheers Paranoid Paranoid Paranoid Paranoid
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Post  rsv1cox Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:43 pm

Kim wrote:
GallopingGhostler wrote:
Kim wrote:
Actually, I like the still life behind the aircraft. It looks dated, would expect Maud and Farmer holding his pitch fork upright. Smile


Thanks George...as kids, we piloted a lot of bicycles, wagons, and sleds down this great old street.


Agreed Kim.  Our kids enjoyed the same street.  Dead end, grade.  Sleds in winter, go-carts in summer.

American Gothic.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Americ11

Sorry, cold winter day with snow. RX-7 caught up......nothing to do................
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Post  roddie Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:56 pm

That BLUE type color...... sets-up the bash.. Laughing like shootin' feral hogs.. oops.. sorry.
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Post  HalfaDave Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:08 pm

Hi Kim,

I bashed a Q500 ScatCat kit.
Called it the Spice Girl. ( guess when I built it Smile )
Modded nose for a 6oz tank and 'torsion' wire LG. (like an independent suspension. )
Magnum Pro.25 was plenty of power even with a big goo deflector tube.
Double width flaperons with wing mounted Fut133servos. Built up tail with large el/rud.
Like you say, with the 'large' wing...flew great.
The flaperons were fun to play with, quite the 'ground effect' on a low winger...
Spun great.  (should have named it after a figure skater !)
No pictures,
But I can google images of the Spice Girls if you like... Smile

Doah, the snowplow went by, again...
That was easy, flagged a nice Ram with a Fisher plow. $20 for two passes. (We used to make cash when I did that 30yrs ago, and know how heavy wet snow is...)
Anyways,
The demise of my Spice Girl, almost matched their careers. In winter.
12 inches of ice (drove out there, drilled icefishing holes.) Beautiful sunny winter day. (~freezing)
Great flying, several planes. (no fish)
Last flight on the SG, I shifted my boots, slipped,
I fell flat on my ass. Not sure how I held on to the transmitter, but it was wrong.
She went in vertical. Poor 'Maggy.25', did not survive. They call it Hard Ice, for a reason... Radio survived...
Could be a sort of simily type metafor, or weird pun here, but, I am not that good.
But, I do appreciate,
Sharing stories with you,
Dave

P.S. I had enough crap back then for calling it Spice Girl. Do not need it anymore. It was just a sweet performer with a flawless solarfilm skin, a 9-4 that sang with the wind....





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Post  Kim Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:52 am

Still another "More Mod than Bash Project", Midwest's Lil'T was my first sailplane build, and yielded what I thought was a very pretty little scale-like glider.  I was shooting for the "scale-like part", and changed a few items to take it more in that direction, even with it already being one of the most realistic-looking gliders of the 1960's.

My first "Scale Decision" was to flatten out the polyhedral in the wing, building it with only dihedral from its center.  This, coupled with a tiny rudder designed for single channel control, caused it to steer somewhat like cement truck on ice, but I learned to give it plenty of lead, and NOT to count on any quick bank recoveries down close to terra firma.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_16

I modified it's fixed horizontal stabilizer to be an all-flying stabilator, using a Goldberg 1/2A steering block.  The actuating arm was epoxied into the fin, about a third back from its leading edge, with its mounting block bolted into a ply plate in the stabilator.  With a control cable running up the front of the fin, this turned it into a two-channel glider, with the added bonus of the stabilator being easily removed for transport.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_17

Then, rather than just put a power pod on its back, I decided to make a droppable unit to ditch the weight of the engine at altitude.  At the time, there was already such a device on the market called a "Para-Pod", but I was ALSO looking to dodge the castor stream from the .049, so attached the engine to the plane's belly.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_19


I built up the pod with space for a small parachute, and with a rubberband-loaded paddle to kick it out, once it fell from the glider.  A ply hook at the back of the pylon engaged a dowel peg in the fuse, while another peg at its front was locked in place by a spring-loaded pin that was actuated by the elevator servo.  A short command of "full-up" elevator, released the pod to a hopefully slow descent back to earth.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_18

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_20

Probably needless to say, this required many "trimming flights" and mechanical adjustments to get the pod and stabilator working together. There were several repairs from the plane landing with its pod still attached when its engine failed at takeoff, or accidental releases with the .049 still at full song, and choking on its own chute.  Things could also get exciting when the pod's chute didn't deploy, with the engine whistling back to earth at terminal velocity.  The price you pay for realism!

One pleasant off-shoot of the engine's ultra-low thrust line was that, once everything came together, Lil'T would climb nicely on its own, with just slight rudder inputs needed, and it's elevator untouched 'till release of the pod.

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Midwes12

"Kit Bashing"  What You Got??!!  Midwest Models "Lil'T" Sailplane Lil_t_21







Last edited by Kim on Thu Feb 09, 2023 1:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Levent Suberk Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:33 pm

Thanks for that interesting model Kim.

Here is a pdf file of Lil'T from Flying Models magazine:

http://www.thermalrider.com/nost/fly.html

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Post  Kim Thu Feb 09, 2023 12:50 pm

THANK YOU!!!!
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Post  GallopingGhostler Thu Feb 09, 2023 2:55 pm

Interesting story, Kim, and a little of your earlier past with kit bashing a glider. Smile I thought your power pod approach was innovative, also. Cool That was some time back when you flew that one, still got it? Smile

Me, I'd probably take the least path of resistance, remove the glider balsa nose cone and placed the engine there. Once the engine cut, would provide a little drag, but not much. (It is interesting on rubber powered aircraft, the free wheeling prop actually added more drag than if it were stopped, but looks cool in doing it. (Could be conceived to do dethermalizing activity. Huh... Laughing I think this is why some of the higher performance rubber powered's used a folding prop instead.) sunny

I still have an unbuilt House of Balsa 2x2 (2 meter) glider, the ancestor to their later 48 inch 2x4 glider, that it was based on. If I ever built it, would put a 1965 OS Max .10R/C on it and may be a 4 oz. fuel tank for decent loitering. Laughing
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