This plan (No. MW 2842) was featured in the February 2001 edition of Electric Flight International (now Quiet & Electric Flight International). I read the article and promptly forgot about it until asked "What do you want for Christmas?" I drew up a list of four plans and replied "One of these please Mum". I got all four on the list in the end - Thanks Mum!
I built the model with a couple of modifications, partly so that I could stick with the radio setup I was used to. I had planned to complete the construction before finishing with the Twinstar so that I could transfer all the gear straight over but I managed to total the Twinstar first. It was hit by a low flying toolbox in the back of the van - botherations!
The first modification was to add an undercarriage. I have had little experience of wheeled take-off so it seemed reasonable to manufacture something that wouldn't add huge amounts of weight, would look scalish and would come off easily if it didn't work. I like to think that I succeeded on all counts although at the time of writing, I haven't had the chance to prove it. The undercart is a tricycle type with the nosewheel through the keel in roughly scale position. The rear wheels gave me some angst as I was worried I would have to modify the fuselage to take the loads during landing thus adding more unnecessary weight. I managed to create a 'clip on' rear u/c with one small hole to allow a stabilising wire to be fitted to stop movement (I hope).
The rear of the fuselage is as plan, 3/16in square stick construction which is blended to the boxy looking forward fuselage section. The front fuselage on my construction differs because in an effort to save a few grams, I replaced the 3/32in sides with 1/16in, but reinforced the sides with 1/64in ply skeleton doublers. This may be why the flight battery now seems to need to be so much further forward over the front of the battery tray front stop.
The solid flight deck proved an annoyance, so I scrapped that and used 3/32in sheet to make the windscreen, with superglue and balsa dust fillets for support. I have yet to add the raydome to the nose. I also managed to sheet the nose topdeck in one piece instead of the suggested planking method. The wing was as per plan, but with two wing mounted servos instead of the suggested central single servo.
All the equipment from the Twinstar transferred easily but access for the battery was tight. Looking at the pictures in the magazine I noticed that one of the cross pieces had been removed, presumably to improve battery access, so I did the same. I'm actually still not happy because the battery access is via the wing which means taking out three screws to get the wing off (It also means that a mixture of thick and thin wires get tucked back into the fus in a slightly different arrangement each time the wing goes on, making a range check advisable before every flight - Ed). I shall probably cut a hatch in the flight deck area at some point to simplify battery changing.
I re-used the extension leads to the wing servos but, to simplify things and avoid the possibility of cross-connecting the ailerons, I fitted a Multiplex 6 pin connector to the receiver. After the first flights I will get around to finishing the detailing. The covering is white Profilm, sprayed with plastic primer and Fiat Broom Yellow (Halfords Acrylic). It's nice and bright - the only place you'll lose this plane is in the sun!
Wingspan of the Canadair is 44ins (2in shorter than the plan, due to shortened tip blocks). The model uses the same equipment as the Twinstar so should be slightly faster, although the fuselage general shape and profile are quite similar to the Twinny. With its wooden fuselage and foam wing, this model may be a possible progression for newer flyers who want to build, but are unhappy with the complexity of some plans on the market. Then again ARTF/kit style models are also available.
I will follow this write-up with flight reviews and the battery
hatch modification. Thanks for reading.
(Just in case the suspense is too much for you, you may like
to know that the model has since safely negotiated its first
test flights - Ed).