CLUB TRAINER

(This page updated 23rd April 2004)

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The club have bought a Chris Foss "UnoWot" aircraft kit, complete with engine and dual control radio, to serve as a club trainer.   Here's a picture of the gear bought from Martin's Models in Leominster in January 2004. John Warner elected to build the model and here's his, mainly photographic, account of the exercise.

The fuselage is quickly assembled from a few parts. The picture shows John using his trusty flat-iron and other items to weigh things down, clamp things together and check for squareness.

The messiest job was to shape the fuel-tank hatch to the shape of the bulkhead. Access to the fuel tank is through this hatch, rather than in from the cabin under the wing.

You can see from this picture that the tailplane is made up from a few pieces of ¼" balsa sheet.   John's using his weights again to make sure that everything is flat; no warps.

The wings are nicely made veneered foam. Here John is using his weights (again!) to hold down the balsa strip leading edge.

The UnoWot uses full-length strip ailerons.   This picture shows the trorque rods fitted in place with one balsa trailing edge already fitted

Hollowing out the balsa trailing edge to accomodate the torque tubes required some fiddly carving.   John used a Dremel router tool and a simple jig to ensure an accurate groove.

Here's the model finished ready for covering and trimming. The engine is an OS25LA driving a 10" x 6" APC propeller.   Note the short length of silicone tube to carry the engine oil away from the model. It also contributes significantly to the engine silencing.

The model was covered in white solarfilm and decorated with the kit's standard orange trim.   I've added other trim to clearly identify the model as the club trainer as shown in these two last pictures.
The lettering was drawn using the computer and cut by hand from black "Fablon" sheet.