PZL P.24C - Peanut Scale The PZL P.24 was the ultimate version of PZLs gull-winged fighter, and was designed for the export market - it was not used by the Poles themselves, but exported to Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. Ive always fancied building a model of one of the gull-winged PZLs, and when I found the peanut scale Pres Bruning plan for this one I knew I had to do it. Structure is generally 1/20 square and 1/32 sheet balsa - the trickiest bit is the wings, for which you have to make a special balsa building board. The shape of the wing is quite subtle, not just two panels stuck together at an angle. Press interpretation of the wings looks just right to me, and I think the extra building effort is worth putting in to obtain the elegant final result. The only modifications I made to the plan were to make the elevators and fin separate items, hinged with soft wire (to help with the trimming) and add wheel spats, because I like them. Not all P.24s had them, but the Turkish example I chose did. The finish is Japanese tissue lightly airbrushed with Xtracolor RLM 01 Silber enamel thinned with cellulose thinners. All markings , except the small fin lettering, are airbrushed. The prop is a heavily cut down Tern 6 item, and total weight, with noseweight, but no rubber, is 12 grams. Despite a heavy prop, a little noseweight was needed to avoid stalling, and stable left hand circuits in the Alumwell sports hall were soon obtained. The model showed a distinct tendency to drop the left wing while turning, especially at the start of the power run (no doubt due to the torque of the motor) - the angle of bank was very steep, though it kept circulating. The solution was to add a small acetate trim tab on the left wing, and bend it down to keep the wing up. More sidethrust was also added. Eventually nice smooth flights were obtained. My next problem was to choose the correct rubber size - with two loops of .045 the model was landing with plenty of turns left, and not climbing high enough, but with two loops of .050 it was up in the roof structure, bouncing off the ceiling trusses. The solution must be to use use two separate loops - one of .050 and one of .045. I didnt get to try this first time out though, as the model got stuck in the top of the rolled up cricket nets in the sports hall, and when getting it down, it smashed into a table and broke a wing off. All is now repaired and resprayed, but it will never quite look as pristine as it does in these pictures. Since the above was written, the model has been flown with a motor made up of equal lengths of .045 and .050 rubber, folded into two loops, and the power seems just right - the model lands just as the motor stops turning. Best flight to date is 39 seconds from a take-off.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 20:00:35 +0000
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