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Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
I thought I would share my Skylark build as I take so much inspiration from those of you who do post your builds on here.
Not long after I started throwing models off hills a friend and I went to watch some scale comps, one we went to was at Crooke Peak and I remember seeing some of Mike Trew's designs, all to 1/5 scale. Shortly after that I ordered the plan for his Skylark 4 from Trewest Designs with the intention of building it but I decided to build the Swallow as my first scale model. The first flight of the Swallow was a disaster, not enough lift and a rearward CofG, it spun in. I rebuilt it but was scared to fly it until some years later when I was gliding at the Mynd, I took the Swallow with me and with it balancing almost at the LE it flew and flew well.
Since then I have built a few scale gliders but all of glass ships and every now and then the Skylark plan would come out.......
Finally some 30 odd years later I have started cutting wood, but not at 1/5 scale as I am enlarging this to 1/4 scale.......scale alert!!......and fitting a hidden electric motor in the nose because it is such a great way to launch when flying solo.
So far I have cut the wing ribs the old fashioned way, the sandwich method from 1/32" balsa. The main spar on the 1/5 model is 1/4"x1/8" spruce and the centre panel utilises a secondary spar, I have increased the spruce of the main spar to 3/8"x1/8", added 1/16" webs with the grain vertical between the spruce, ply dihedral braces at the centre, carbon tows bonded to the spars and finally capped with 1/16" ply each side.
Not long after I started throwing models off hills a friend and I went to watch some scale comps, one we went to was at Crooke Peak and I remember seeing some of Mike Trew's designs, all to 1/5 scale. Shortly after that I ordered the plan for his Skylark 4 from Trewest Designs with the intention of building it but I decided to build the Swallow as my first scale model. The first flight of the Swallow was a disaster, not enough lift and a rearward CofG, it spun in. I rebuilt it but was scared to fly it until some years later when I was gliding at the Mynd, I took the Swallow with me and with it balancing almost at the LE it flew and flew well.
Since then I have built a few scale gliders but all of glass ships and every now and then the Skylark plan would come out.......
Finally some 30 odd years later I have started cutting wood, but not at 1/5 scale as I am enlarging this to 1/4 scale.......scale alert!!......and fitting a hidden electric motor in the nose because it is such a great way to launch when flying solo.
So far I have cut the wing ribs the old fashioned way, the sandwich method from 1/32" balsa. The main spar on the 1/5 model is 1/4"x1/8" spruce and the centre panel utilises a secondary spar, I have increased the spruce of the main spar to 3/8"x1/8", added 1/16" webs with the grain vertical between the spruce, ply dihedral braces at the centre, carbon tows bonded to the spars and finally capped with 1/16" ply each side.
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Hi Cliff, good question. I have always wanted to build from this plan and had considered building it at 1/5 but I wanted a 1/4 scale one so by doing it this way it scratches 2 itches in one go so to speak.
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- Posts: 557
- Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 20:12
- Location: Northamptonshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Hi Ray the skylark 4 is one I would like to build my self sometime so will be following your build so hope it all go well. what happen to mike trew and is he still flying??????????
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Hi Roo, I don't know currently but I do remember his name popping up in the mags some years ago, at that time he had turned his hand to power scale models, that could have been 15 years ago now (or even more). I have an image of an unusual large twin engined model but nothing comes up on search engines.
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Since starting construction in April this year not much has been achieved despite my best intentions and since then I have lost my workshop but hopefully that will be sorted before the end of the year.
After building the main spar I tackled the airbrakes, choosing to make them as per plan operated by a single servo and building them directly onto the spar before building the rest of the wing. Careful measurement and cutting of the wing ribs resulted in a fairly straightforward job. Since the picture was taken I have added the secondary spar and constructed one of the wing tips.
The trailing edge is 1/16 ply with a carbon fibre tow and 1/8 balsa, the idea is that the ply sits under the ribs, the balsa can be sanded away to blend with the ribs and the carbon will help to keep it straight.
After building the main spar I tackled the airbrakes, choosing to make them as per plan operated by a single servo and building them directly onto the spar before building the rest of the wing. Careful measurement and cutting of the wing ribs resulted in a fairly straightforward job. Since the picture was taken I have added the secondary spar and constructed one of the wing tips.
The trailing edge is 1/16 ply with a carbon fibre tow and 1/8 balsa, the idea is that the ply sits under the ribs, the balsa can be sanded away to blend with the ribs and the carbon will help to keep it straight.
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
To lose a glider is understandable, but to lose a workshop is just plain careless...
BC
BC
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Cracking on with this now I have built myself a new workshop.
I found that the formers were not exactly symmetrical, I guess a number of factors including errors tracing the shapes onto tracing paper and then cutting out by hand however I actually found it strangely satisfying. Once the formers were cut I was not looking forward to creating a jig and I took a leaf or two out of the Chris Williams style of building and cut the formers in half to build one half flat on the building board just like I used to with the old KK rubber models. I then planked the forward fuselage with 1/16 ply rather than doing the whole fuselage in balsa as the original 1/5 scale design calls for.
The glass fuselage is my Pat Teakle ASW17 having an electric motor fitted in the nose.
I found that the formers were not exactly symmetrical, I guess a number of factors including errors tracing the shapes onto tracing paper and then cutting out by hand however I actually found it strangely satisfying. Once the formers were cut I was not looking forward to creating a jig and I took a leaf or two out of the Chris Williams style of building and cut the formers in half to build one half flat on the building board just like I used to with the old KK rubber models. I then planked the forward fuselage with 1/16 ply rather than doing the whole fuselage in balsa as the original 1/5 scale design calls for.
The glass fuselage is my Pat Teakle ASW17 having an electric motor fitted in the nose.
- Max Wright
- Posts: 198
- Joined: 10 Mar 2020, 19:57
- Location: Clayton Bay South Australia
- Andrew Ray
- Posts: 88
- Joined: 19 Mar 2015, 19:15
- Location: Staffordshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Thanks Max, it will be a bit of a slow build though.
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- Posts: 45
- Joined: 26 Dec 2020, 19:02
- Location: Cambridgeshire
Re: Trewest Designs Slingsby Skylark 4
Watching. Very interesting build.