Last year I was 'gifted' a vintage Top Flite kit of an SE5A biplane. I would guess that this kit is from the 1970s. Most main parts have been well-built. However, there is a 'ton' more work to do, and a lot of customization for modern equipment and an electric power system.
I was lucky that in the kit box were separately purchased scale wheels and machine guns. There was also an older (maybe 15 - 20 years old) Axi 2826-12 electric brushless motor, an speed control (without label), and a more modern Spektrum receiver. I will test the electric components before using them.
The instruction booklet has no photos, and only a few line drawings. The back cover shows other model kits for sale, the most expensive being under $40., for a 60-size pattern plane.
After many months, I finally decided to attempt to finish this model.
After looking at the parts and planning how to proceed, the first thing I did was modify the front fuselage to make space for a battery pack, and fashion a firewall to install the motor.
The motor should turn a 14/6 propeller on a 4-cell lithium polymer battery pack. I think this will provide ample power to fly this plane (53" wingspan), based on my experience with other models of this size. I have no idea what the completed model will weigh.
Michael,
Neat project. Designed by Mr. Scale.... Dave Platt.
Will check some old magazines to track back its history.
Judging from the packaging and price it has to be from the '70's.
Keep the post going. There sure is still a ton of work to be done.
Frank
FURTHER THOUGHTS:
- re: what the finished product will weigh? Roughly 1 pound less than the IC equivalent. Caution on short-nosed WW1 models. They tend to come out tail heavy on conversion.
- this model appears to be from the late '60's to about 1970.
- here are photos from the 1973 (Canadian) Academy Products Catalogue. It is shows this model priced equally to the KwikFli III. At that time Canadian prices were almost double the published US prices because of the value of the dollar and import duties*.
- caution: It is Top Flite kit number 13. (from Wikipedia "Fear of the number 13 has a specifically recognized phobia, triskaidekaphobia, a word first recorded in 1911. The superstitious sufferers of triskaidekaphobia try to avoid bad luck by keeping away from anything numbered or labelled thirteen). Bring it on! 8)
Frank
* my first RC model in 1966 was the Goldberg 1/2A Skylane. The price in Canada was $9.95. In the US it was $5.95.
The instructions that come with the kit, written by Platt, indicate that the longer nose on this biplane basically makes a tail-heavy model improbable.
Anyway, it is fun to work on an older kit.
So far, I have spent several days working on the main landing gear. I'll post photos when I've achieved some more progress.
The pre-bent landing gear wires are attached (screws and a metal clips) to plywood; the front wire to a wood plate that fits into a slot in the fuselage, and the rear to the rear of the bottom wing. A small part of the fuselage bottom is built onto the landing gear, and when the bottom wing is screwed onto the fuselage, the landing gear is held tight. The bottom wing can be removed if necessary, but it'll be difficult, especially when attached to rigging and struts. I'll likely build a hatch in this area, to get to radio components.
The wires are glued to metal plates that hold the wire axle. I felt that this was not strong enough to withstand harder landings, so I braced the area with carbon-fiber tape and epoxy.
Die cut wood parts are glued to the assembly, and then sandwiched with more balsa. These landing gear struts will be sanded to an airfoil shape.
I cut and shaped the hardwood axle-fairing, and test fit it with the wire axle.
This was many hours of work, but it was fun and rewarding.
I really can't wait to see this, Michael. Bravo
I have a Royal SE5 about the same scale and size. Should be fun to fly them together.
I started working on the lower wing. While mostly built, the ailerons were not yet constructed, so I built them.
The plans show a system of rods and bell-cranks to move the ailerons, with a servo in the center wing, but no holes had been drilled or cut out of the ribs. I'll have to do that carefully with the assembled wing. The wing airfoil is quite thin, but for simplicity sake, I may install a small servo in each wing for the ailerons. I'm thinking/planning what to do.
I've decided to skip the original aileron bell-crank control system, and go with a small servo in each lower wing panel.
I cut holes in each rib for the servo extension wires, and used balsa as a base onto which the servo will sit on its side. I cut and glued balsa bits onto that base to hold the servo in place, and then used thin plywood (1/64th inch) as a cover which also holds the servo firmly in place.
Looks fantastic! Them be thin ribs. :o
Lower wing ailerons sanded, fitted and temporarily hinged, and control horns cut to shape.
Tail parts sanded, fitted and temporarily hinged, and pinned in place.
I'll work on the servo-tail linkages next.
Love the wooden structure.
It so needs fabric covering (Solartex) but it is no longer made.
Worth sending 5-6 members out to the 905 Swap Meet and buy up any available before anybody else can even look at it.
Frank
I have 2 large rolls of matte-fabric covering; one olive drab and one natural white (matte green and off-white).
The tail has been temporarily mounted, and the 'flippy' parts have been hinged. I used the old method of using wire, wood stick, thread and glue to make the pushrods; this has worked well for me in the past. This was all simple work, but took several hours to make sure everything fit just right.
I wanted to make a steerable tail wheel, but I think I'll stick with a wire skid, which is scale. I've seen a few photos of full size SE5A biplanes with a wheel at the back, but I think these are more recently refurbished planes.
The tail control horns are made of wood, and were already installed/glued on.
I'll probably put a fake/non-functioning pushrod on the other side of the rudder, just to look more scale.
So no pull-pull rudder control then...
Still looks fantastic.
Guy
One side will be push-pull, the other side fake push-pull.
I built up and shaped the fuselage area under the lower wing; a lot of work but not a lot to show for it.
I also made a hatch, so I could adjust the servos without removing the wing.
I temporarily assembled the landing gear (now sanded smooth) to make sure everything fit well.
It's a cold, wet and windy day.
The next step in construction/assembly, is to mount the upper wing. This includes figuring out how to attach the inner struts and the struts at the outer wing panels.
The kit comes with plastic parts for a specifically designed fit, but the parts are old, brittle, and likely irreplaceable. I decided to go with a simpler method, but that means making my own parts.
I'm making brackets that will screw onto hard plywood on the wing (see photos), cut, drilled (in a home-made jig) and bent to screw onto the strut, and with a tab for wire rigging. The corners were sanded slightly round for safety and appearance.
To mount the wing, the front inner struts need to be fitted and glued, with temporary height gauges (see photo), and once set, the rest of the struts are made and attached. Holes had to be cut in the fuselage sides so the struts could be fitted and adjusted before gluing.
Wing strut and rigging brackets.
These are cut from quarter-inch airfoil-shaped aluminum tubing, which is then flattened, drilled, corners rounded, and bent to shape. Hard plywood mounting plates are glued to the hardwood spars on the wings, onto which the brackets are screwed. The brackets will be removed before covering, and the holes will be strengthened with CA glue.
I'll keep careful track of which brackets go where, since each strut will be custom fitted to its position.
Wing struts cut, shaped, sanded, drilled, and very carefully fitted to the wings, making sure to avoid twists and warps.
This looks magic!
The model comes with upper and lower cowl aluminum covers. I re-made these in balsa; the bottom is a screw-on hatch for access to the speed control; the top is a batter hatch.
Battery hatch is hinged.
More hard-points and rigging anchors on the wing.
The basic air-frame construction is finished, but a fair amount of detail-work needs to be done before covering, including: preparing mounting spots for the guns, windshield, cockpit, dashboard, pilot, (dummy) engine and mufflers. After that some painting, then covering, hinging, assembly, rigging, and then finish electronics installation, programming and balancing.
I started with the lower machine gun. I've assembled only the barrel section, and cut off the rest, since that would be hidden in the fuselage. Then a section of the fuselage was cut out, and covered with concave-bent thin plywood. The area was sanded, and the gun is test-fitted.
The upper-wing gun has been assembled, and a gun mount was constructed from scrap balsa.
A gun-sight was constructed of carbon-fiber tub (instructions suggested a dowel), and strips of masking tape.
Beautiful job on the gun mount!
It needs a full scale colour scheme with this level of details.
Quote from: GuyOReilly on April 03, 2024, 09:02:16 AMBeautiful job on the gun mount!
It needs a full scale colour scheme with this level of details.
With this level of work on the details, this thing better fly!
Engine (cylinder-covers?) and mufflers constructed of balsa and dowels.
Windshield constructed of thin plywood and balsa.
Combing (insulation from co-axial wire) and a headrest (carved balsa) were fashioned and fitted.
A dashboard (scale SE5A) was copied from an image on the internet, reshaped and sized in Photoshop, printed, and glued onto balsa.
Amazing dashboard. Nice job.
Frank
WOW!
Next pilot of the correct size.
David kindly printed and donated a pilot for the project. It is now painted and shown in place.
I wanted to finish and paint the cockpit before covering, because it would be easier to reach these areas.
The windshield is painted with paint that matches the covering.
Combing and headrest are painted; the headrest is glued in place.
The pilot, combing, windshield and gun sight are not yet glued in place. That will happen after covering.
Beautiful paint job on that pilot.
Looking forward to filming its Maiden Flight.
Parts are painted before covering.
Fuselage front/cowl/radiator painted to match the covering. The first image is a photo of a full scale.
Last photo is the fin/rudder with fake ribs.
Very cool.
I started covering with fabric-texture plastic covering, Oratex.
I used translucent white for the bottoms of the wings, ailerons, elevator and stabilizer, and also on the rudder which will be painted.
I'm trying to do a nice job, so I'm working slowly.
All main components have been covered and mostly painted.
A little more paint to go, followed by receiver/gyro-stabilizer/throttle installation.
Then some basic assembly.
The under-sides of the wings and stabilizer/elevator remain translucent off-white.
Rudder painted.
Radio, receiver and gyro/stabilizer installed.
Lower wing and main landing attached to the fuselage.
Tail secured onto fuselage and hinged.
Assembly started.
Attaching the top wing is next.
Wire rigging is done, and the wings are very strong now.
Aileron linkage (from bottom to top) and tail rigging done.
Decals and the upper machine gun added.
That's a very pretty plane!
Looks absolutely stunning, Michael. 👍🏻
Amazing!
Thanks, guys.
Battery compartment.
Dual (triple) rates set, stabilizer/gyro working in the proper directions, plane balanced, and 14/7 propeller installed.
Full throttle draws 50 amps on 14.8 volts.
All done; waiting for a nice day to maiden; maybe this coming Wednesday afternoon, if the forecast is suitable.
Looks FANTASTIC!!
I hope you car is big enough to carry it all rigged-up!
Congratulations Michael. A fantastic model.
Beautiful Michael- congratulations!
Successful maiden and second flights today. Thanks to Glenn and David for their help. Both flights had good landings.
The photo was taken after the flights.
Too funny... photo taken after the flights...
There are some maidens you come to expect all will go well, and this was one of them.
She just lifted into the air... both times... lovely. A bit of trimming and all was good.
Michael kept the power on for landing or else she'd just drop... and she settled down beautifully.
Nicely done.
Lots of rudder?
The model does not need lots of rudder in flight.
While it needs constant attention, as do most biplanes due to drag, it flies well.