Monday 18 January 2016

Bellerina 115

The RCM&E Mass build this year (2016) is Peter Millers Ballerina - published in the December 2015 RCM&E magazine as a free plan.

The full build blog is here on Model Flying website and I am not going to repeat it here

http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=112868

I was quite pleased that this model was selected as it is reminiscent of the Fred Dunn Astro Hog from 1958, the  first Aerobatic World Champion.


This is Peter's original

It is designed for a 40 Four Stroke or 32 Two stroke. Having neither but I did a have a preference for a larger model I chose to scale it up by a factor of 1.15 to suit the spare clapped out OS70FS that I have.

This gives a model with a span of about 62 inches and 12.5" root chord.

 A couple of my build shots - I elected for a built up tailplane around a flat plate, a flat plate fin with built up rudder.



The Fuselage





Tailplane and Fin and Rear Fuselage





I'll post a few more photos as the build progresses

It's a very pretty looking aeroplane. Quite pleased with it so far

The wing was quite straightforward - the only real deviation from the plan was the laminated wing tips that I chose to use




The undercarriage is designed to be removable. Held in place with M3 cap head bolts through a 3mm ply plate to star nuts behind.

Just about ready for covering



Fit out was very straightforward - 2 mini servos fitted for the ailerons with mechanical differential built in.


The cowl is bent from 0.5mm aluminium sheet - hand formed then reinforced on the inside with 150g glass cloth.

And then covered in Solartex


Underneath

Just waiting for a Canopy and Pilot to show up

The model was maidened on the 29th January 2016.  It flew beautifully although just a little nose heavy. Much more agile and responsive than I imagined that it would be.

Great fun. A superb Peter Miller design