Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
 

Pete pol’s Tiger Moth by Keith Young

When Peter Poll decided to give up flying, I decided to take it on: his Tiger Moth, that is. Terry Antell had taken some of his models and equipment round to his garage, and that’s where I saw the model. It was only slightly damaged and as it was meant for an IC engine I checked the balance point and the plane stood on its tail vertically. Terry Butterfield said with a grin on his face “it will need a house-brick or two to get the C of G correct on this one!” The plane was from Phoenix Models, had a 56” wingspan and had never been in the air.

Having got her home I set bout getting the model modified for electric power. I first extended the nose and used a piece of conti-board for the bulkhead. I knew I needed lots of weight at the front, so this helped. Following that a 4”long motor mount was fitted with a little down and right thrust. The motor I used was a powerful JP c4220-16 with 695 rpm/volt, and with a 12” prop my watt-meter read 580 watts at 40 amps. Power was a 4-cell Lipo and an 80 amp ESC with U-Bec.

With 1lb of lead bolted to the motor mount, the C of G was almost there. She flew, but not well as she was still a little tail heavy. More lead was fitted and with a 13” prop I tried again. The result? Beautiful. Total weight is 7lb 9oz and flying time is 5 minutes.

I am well pleased.

Ed’s note. The Phoenix description says: “The charismatic and ever popular Tiger Moth. At 56.5" wingspan this is a practical model, offering realistic appearance and stable flight characteristics. Built from lightweight balsa and plywood components, and hand finished in classic yellow Oracover. Factory pre-painted fibreglass cowl. Hardware pack.”

You can see another electric conversion of this plane at http://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=45303 – Ed)

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