Scale Soaring UK

Hi all,just a quick heads up regarding the pilatus,l have arranged with cliff evans to purchase the plans and laser cut kit for this model,l will be posting on this site as the build progresses,so hopefully this will be of intrest to you guys out there,thanks to you cliff for your willing help,bench is clear and l am looking forward to getting stuck in !!....jack.

Looking forward to the build Jillies. Ter

Hi jillies. Do you have some details about the kit ,span,weight, price.
Do you need some one to prove the kit?
Stu

Gents
Please forward any questions from the UK or Europe about the Pilatus B4 or any other of my design to Cliff Evans
Cliff has all the details and can tell you the price for drawings and parts.
There is a B$ from my plans built in New Zealand at the moment photo's of the fuselage are on the SSUK forum.
This built is at a halt at the moment due to the passing away of the builders wife.

The spelling of my name is always a problem but I am used to it now

Cheers

Jilles

H guys,seems to be a little confusion regarding the b4,Jillies is the designer,not the builder,Cliff Evans is set up to supply the plans and kit in the uk,l am just a willing(very!),builder of the kit from cliff,any queries etc will be ably dealt with by cliff evans,though l am happy to help where l can as the build progresses....Jack.

thanks so much cliff,it will take me a week to stop drooling over the kit!!,l will post some pics of the kit and plans over the next few days,there is a serious amount of wood here!,and thats without the strip wood and skinning ply,still,it will cure my drinking habit...wont have time or money for that,cheers all,jack.

ok,l am trying to post some pics but keep getting an error msg saying the file is too large...really?,just one pic is too large?,l am obviously doing something wrong,so can any of you savvy guys out there put me right?.....jack.

Or you can send them to me, Jack

Cliff is usually busy setting fire to Balsa and Ply...

modelgliding [at] aol.com

BC

Hi all,the Pilatus b4 is now in build,so far l have managed to put together the basic fuselage frame and am progressing to the tail fin,the kit builds very well indeed,everything slots together,albeit needing to be eased slightly,l did comment to cliff about this,apperently he preffers a tight fit to a sloppy one ,l cannot fault him on that!!,so all is well thus far,l hope to be skinning the fus towards the end of the month,never having done that before it promises to be an educational experience,thankfully l have the late great cliff charlesworths excellent book close to hand,thats it for now,cliff will be posting the latest batch of pics soon,all the best,jack.

hey cliff,your in lift!,at least according to the vario you are,not bad for just a dash panel,what happens when you have a whole glider??

thanks for the dash panel cliff,lovely piece of work,jack.

Looking good. Like the workshop!

Richard.

ok people,as you will see from the latest pics,work continues on the B 4. The fus is now out of the jig and inverted to finish the ply skinning, the kit quality is top notch, everything fits where it should. If it doesn't you have got something wrong!! I am now looking at making a start on the wings, I tend to bounce between things, it keeps the interest up on a long build, and also progresses construction a lot faster> With regard to the retract gear, there is more than enough detail in the drawing to enable a copy to be made, I had some dural plate in stock so I now have a retract unit for very little outlay. Ok that's it for now, more to follow, thanks for the kind comments about the workshop, Richard, as with full size aircraft hangars its never big enough!!, cheers for now, Jack

Well done Jack. Looking forward to seeing the Retract operational, sounds good

Hi jack. I do not know if the retract you are makeing is the same one I made from plans from cliff that I did a build thread on a few months ago. Or not . If it is I have been using it in my 1/3 scale dg 800 that is 14 kg and have found that it has bent a few time on landing. I am in the process of adding a compression Spring to take the landing loads. It has been esay to do if you want ifo and pic's let me know. rearly enjoying this thread may have to get one of the kits .ROO

Roo - I would love a copy of your mods so it can be added to the plan

Hi roo,as near as l can judge the retract drawn up by jillies looks to be a fema copy....l have never had a fema retract but it is what jillies recommends so its worth a go..really simple and straight forward,l am no machinist but found the construction to be no trouble,l am happy to do a bit of a feature on it if people are interested,but it will how l did it,which is not necessarily the right way,all you model engineer types please take note!!,any info on a shock unit will be most welcome roo,all the best,jack.

jack wrote:Hi roo,as near as l can judge the retract drawn up by jillies looks to be a fema copy....l have never had a fema retract but it is what jillies recommends so its worth a go..really simple and straight forward,l am no machinist but found the construction to be no trouble,l am happy to do a bit of a feature on it if people are interested,but it will how l did it,which is not necessarily the right way,all you model engineer types please take note!!,any info on a shock unit will be most welcome roo,all the best,jack.

Please post your feature on the mod. I'm interested

Hi guys it a very simple mod to do takes. Only about a hour to do. I will post some pictures they should explain. The compression spring is fixed on with kelver thread and epoxy. It looks very basic but it works.

And so much better than those stupid Gas Struts.

Congratulations Andrew..

BC

Cheers for the pics roo,l will post some of my retract, its been trial fitted but is currently out of the airframe,l found a very neat servo mount on our favourite auction site that fits perfectly and is identical to the one on the plans,seems they are intended for b***s!!,l plan on fitting a power hd 20kg servo as l happen to have one to hand,reckon that should move it okay!!,cheers guys,jack.

Watching this build with great interest, the pilatus always had a place in my heart. Years ago I remember Barry flying one from a German manufacturer from white sheet hill & it had a great presence in the air.

G'day gents,

Subscribed and following with interest.

David.

Hi all,thanks to cliff for posting the pics for me,and apologies to all for my enforced absence,however,all seems well now,so l will be pushing on with the B4,and also getting some stick time in at last,......the b4 is essentially complete as regards actual construction,first time l have used ply skinning,my thanks to Mr greenly for his excellent "how to" videos,its not as scary as l had first thought!!,l started glassing the wings this evening,undersides are glassed and curing,l do worry about the heat in my shop,got a fan running to try and keep it down,funny really,when l started this build l was in danger of frostbite,now its heat stroke .....my home built retract is ready to go in,and l will be sourcing a pilot from,Real model pilots,l found some really good wing servos from airtek £18 each not at all bad,so that's where l am at the moment,back in harness and raring to go....ps :- love your little wolf cw,but really-rolling manouvers??,my full size Grunau was stressed for aeros,but l never tried that!!!..jack.

A Wolf toured with Alan Cobbham's Flying Circus, giving aerobatic displays. History does not record if there were any rolling manoeuvres.
The type had a reputation for dangerous spinning and most were grounded, which is why so few survive today.
All of this goes to show that if they had the use of the HQ section I use back then, it might have turned out differently!
(This is not a rolling manoeuvre , it's an approach)

Given the resemblance to a Grunau 2b,you would think the wolfs handling would also be similar,l seem to recall hearing some tales about the wolfs spin problems a long time ago,never got to see one in the flesh though,my Grunau was always no problem,unlike the L-23 super blanik!!!,that one really made me appreciate bike clips

Well done on the build Jack - it looks fabulous. Hope the maiden flight goes (has gone) well. Maybe you could post B4 and after photos?

Rog

P.S. What's the final weight?

Rog

First Middle wallop of the season is next month 18/19 May. We will all be looking forward to the first flights.

AEB

Gentlemen,the middle wallop maiden flight looms ever closer,my butterflies grow ever larger,but l view the approaching day with great satisfaction...its been a while coming for various reasons!....anyway,the all up weight is about 12.5/13 kg,now to me that seems on the light side for such a large airframe,so l checked it again..yep,thats what my scales are telling me again,l am suitably impressed,having had to locate some 3lbs of best church roof in the nose to put the c/g on the main wing joiner,and also not renowned as a light builder,l was expecting it to be between 15-20 kg,l have not added cockpit detail or a pilot yet,l prefer to get the maiden over with then do the detail stuff....so there we are,she is now fit to fly,all the wiggley bits wiggle in the right directions,the wheel goes up and down on demand,all l have left to do is the cockpit canopy latch...and find a willing test pilot!! ,mr greenfield,are you busy at the moment,l have this little job for you??

B4s fly great! I know mine is only 1/4 scale but all will be well. Go for it!

Jack

I will be happy to assist with the test flights, no problem. see you at MW.

AEB

Hi all,first off,my abject apologies for not making it to MW,the gremlins bolixed up my alternator bearings and l ended up sitting at the side of the road for what felt like a couple of ice ages waiting for the RAC,then another wait for the recovery truck to arrive,mortified is the best description of my mood that day …….however ,l WILL BE AT THE NEXT MW!!!!,by any means necessary, ,john,your offer of assistance is most gratefully recieved and accepted,hopefully cliff will be in attendance as well,so maybe there is a bit of an upside to my disaster after all,l am hoping to be down for the whole weekend,but l will most certainly be there on the sunday, ....jack

Jack

Sorry to hear of your troubles, I did wonder where you had got to.
I will be at the next MW !!!? so still happy to help out.

AEB

Have fun cliff,john,very much appreciate your offer of assistance,my flying skills are mediocre at best,add to that first flight nerves and disaster looms large ,l shall be at MW bright and early,so will see you then...jack.

We never did get a flight report or photos of the completed B4. Time to update the thread, please?
D.

Still waiting to be flown. One has been flown down under as far as I am aware.