Topic: aerotech lancaster

hi all
a gentleman at our flying club has went and bought an aerotech Lancaster
and i think he's going to need some help(we all told him to burn it)
first what size of engines the plans say 25s but i think by the time the models finished and the weight of the thing it'll take at least 40s
what do you cover it with
whats the over all weight going to be
does it need lead in the nose
does he make new parts and bin the originals trying to save some weight
 and does it fly

many thanks for any help
Andrew wallace

Hi Andrew

A former club mate has had 3 of these and they all flew. Until they didn't! 

The build is no fun as nothing seems to fit and the instructions are abysmal.

If he can find a bulk supplier of epoxy and filler it would be a good start.

He used 4 x OS .40 LA's and they certainly weren't overpowered.

I would do as much as possible to lighten the back end up, remove foam etc.

For covering he used brown paper and PVA but again, watch the weight.

I know he needed loads of lead in the nose but don't know final all-up weight.

The most important thing is TOTAL reliability of engines. My mate was an inveterate needle twiddler and I believe this led to the demise of at least two of them. At the finished weight they needed all 4 running all the time.

I don't think there's room for retracts with the tanks and throttle servos in the nacelles either.

The rudders were ineffective at take off, even with maximum travel, so a steerable tailwheel is essential.

Personally I think your advise to burn it was sound.  Trouble is, they don't even burn well! 

You must think I'm slightly biased. lol

My mate has also had 2 x B17's with .40 Surpasses which flew well.

HTH

Paul

My mate has also had 2 x B17's with .40 Surpasses which flew well.

one on Ebay right now, yes i got bored yesterday.

   Having never owned( thank god) any of the now defunct Aerotech stuff , but seen many meet their demise. I would do your utmost to put this fellow modeller off building the Lanc
  Look on it as your good deed well done !

WELL  I WILL LOOK AT IT ANOTHER WAY    where can you get a lanc kit?   lighten the ass end, replace some of the extensive thick ply, remove a lot of the foam, check, and re-check the incidence angles, and go for it!!  guy in our club has one (he even paid for the retracts, but never got them thieving GITS!)  Its going together ok, but i have not seen him for a few months,

    one thing i will say, have the throttles for the inners, in a differant place than the outers,  have the inners on the stick, and the outers on a slider  then, if an outer, or an inner cuts, you can throttle back the other, and get it round and down   

tell him to build it     if it was a single, or the suckhoi that was talked about on here, my advice would be sell it,  but as i said--WHERE CAN YOU GET A LANC KIT?  of this size, of coarse     one thing,  i wonder if it was ripped from the chris golds one?  the aerotech mob where not exactly designers, where they?

  Its going together ok, but i have not seen him for a few months,

      the aerotech mob where not exactly designers, where they?

Alan

He's probably exhausted mixing filler!

Did you see their "Pacer"?

Very similar to the Mahler one. VERY similar. 

I personally think that, just because there's no alternative, it's good enough a reason to build one.

It will cost a lot of money before it's finished and the outcome is in the lap of the Gods.

What about the Tony Nihuis plan and the Balsacraft/SLEC laser cut kit for same ?

  A guy at our club flies the Priory models electric Lanc and although I'm no electric fan it does fly very well.

              Colin

ah  but he already HAS the lanc kit,   if its complete, and he does not fancy the challenge, ebay it, if the panels are true, and the airfoils equal, then all there is to do is modernise the thing    sounds like a plan to me       i have seen the B17 fly, and that was ok,   can the lanc be as good?

Sorry Alan but I've seen too many Aerotech models meet their end to be convinced about this one

Hi guys

A few years back I acquired their Mosquito kit from a fellow club member, as part of a deal I'd done at the time. I was aware of the questionable reputation of the Aerotech range of models, so I quickly sold it on. The various components looked ok in the box, but of course you can't really tell until you put it together.

I have yet to see the Mossie appear at our field. Perhaps it's new owner sold it on without building it? 

WELL  I WILL LOOK AT IT ANOTHER WAY    where can you get a lanc kit?     but as i said--WHERE CAN YOU GET A LANC KIT?  of this size, of coarse     one thing,  i wonder if it was ripped from the chris golds one?  the aerotech mob where not exactly designers, where they?

Well Mainly Models (www.mainlymodels.com) have a 100" version, and a lot of people have seen Barry throw it around at some of the fly-ins   and some of this years events, Very, Very stable, and very simple to build (Blue-Foam/Balsa). Watch out for his new offering in Spring  8)

AHEM,   just say it again,  IF THE WINGS OK, AND THE SHAPES ARE OK,  THEN ALL IT NEEDS IS WORK TO LIGHTEN IT, AND GET THE INCIDENCES RIGHT,  HE ALREADY HAS THE KIT,  WHY BUY AGAIN?   I have seen one, and given my ideas to the builder,  last seen, you know, it actually LOOKED like a lancaster,   funny that    

I've got one (yet to Fly, saving up for four Engines - was thinking about four 52 Fourstrokes). Built and covered in Glass cloth and Poly-C. Even painted it.  All went together without too many snags (cowls are a spot small). But as Alan, says it certainly looks the part. .

Any photo's of the 100" model?

AHEM,   just say it again,  IF THE WINGS OK, AND THE SHAPES ARE OK,  THEN ALL IT NEEDS IS WORK TO LIGHTEN IT, AND GET THE INCIDENCES RIGHT,  HE ALREADY HAS THE KIT,  WHY BUY AGAIN?   I have seen one, and given my ideas to the builder,  last seen, you know, it actually LOOKED like a lancaster,   funny that    

If it were me - I'd take this on as a challenge to build one right and prove it could be done.....

But maybe that's just me...... 

Thats exactly how i feel about the Aerotech Lanc, If it's an aircraft i feel passionately enough about I'd be prepared to give it a go. If i could find one I'd start it tomorrow.
I've seen one up close, and it does make a very good representation of a Lancaster. I've heard they fly o.k. too, just don't lose a motor

Walts

 hi all, aerotec lanc kit has fitted together quite nicely just some minor adjustments,os40la engines fitted
cg at the moment without covering lanc sits dead level,very little epoxy used,mostly pva glue, will keep you all posted as i progress, merry christmas.

Thats great to hear Robert. Any chance of some photo's of your progress.
All the best,
Walts

There used to be one hung up in the ceiling at the Model Shack before they went to the wall. They made a reasonable job of finishing it off, lots of weathering. Theirs had only 2 active engines, the outer pair were dummy spinners. As far as I know it never flew whilst I was a patron of the shop, and that was about 2-3 years (Must be 5 years ago when I first started going to their shop). I think they had it just cos it was a Lancaster owned by the Lancaster's (Simon and Barry).
I wonder what happened to it as last I heard the shop premises owner locked them out for rent arrears, and then they went bankrupt.

The one i saw was also hanging in a model shop, My hobbies at Leytonstone, not sure if it's still there i moved away over a year ago. But as i say it made a very nice representation of a Lanc, nicely finished too.

Walts

update on lancaster, now at the priming stage,weight at the moment is 12.7lbs, cg still ok.
Robert. (happy new year to all).

Hi Robert & a happy new year to you.
 We need some pic's mate, any chance you can upload some

Walts

aerotech moved to scunny some years ago. what a bunch of crooks cowboys. the local club members soon got wise to them and just did nt buy their kits. had a couple of their kits myself and did nt complete any of them .to heavy nothing fits etc. the lanc does fly pretty well but needs alot of work. they re now washing cars for a living and hopefully for modellings sake will never come back to the hobby. the club they were involved with just outside scunny has also finally got rid of them and is a far happier place

Still want to see some pic's though Robert

aerotech moved to scunny some years ago. what a bunch of crooks cowboys. the local club members soon got wise to them and just did nt buy their kits. had a couple of their kits myself and did nt complete any of them .to heavy nothing fits etc. the lanc does fly pretty well but needs alot of work. they re now washing cars for a living and hopefully for modellings sake will never come back to the hobby. the club they were involved with just outside scunny has also finally got rid of them and is a far happier place

But I've never met anyone with such a vast amount of knowledge of the hobby.

Or so they told me. 

But I've never met anyone with such a vast amount of knowledge of the hobby.

Or so they told me. 

and unfortunately to many in the local clubs they were involved in beleived until things stopped ringing true.
BS can only baffle brains for so long

... but a bit longer than anyone would have believed. 

hi all, update on lancaster, to see photo visit our web site at www.sdmfc.com
any advice on colour scheme would be most helpfull.
many thanks Robert.

looks good,   is that grey primer?  cos it all oer the glazing!!   dont forget when its weathering time, that on the outer engines, the exhaust stain went over the top of the wing on the inboard side of the engine only, tuther one went underneath, and missed the wing entirely inboard engines, of coarse, both went over the top of the wing     this was because of the angle of the outer wing

thanks alan for the comment,glazing has been painstakeingly masked only the frame will be painted,note the top canopy is not yet sprayed but masked, can anyone suggest a colour scheme ie. camouflage

hi walts, see your on line did you check my last posts, robert (lanc)

Hi Robert,
          Just had a look at your Lanc, Looking mighty fine there! I had a nose around your club and noticed Cliff is one of your members, another great scale modeller
As for schemes, there's plenty to choose from. I done my smaller Lanc in the 'S' for sugar scheme, the bomb tally stencil took some cutting out though! I gave up at 99 symbols she actually went on to complete well over 100 sorties. But by stopping at 99 meant i could leave off the yellow edging to the lettering which was added towards the end of the war

Cheers Walts

all RAF aircraft share a common camouflage pattern, tho i think theres a couple of them, plus any painters wanderings during the job.

all RAF aircraft share a common camouflage pattern, tho i think theres a couple of them, plus any painters wanderings during the job.

There were also different schemes depending on the role of the aircraft, i.e. fighter, bomber, utility etc. about 12 different in total


Mark.

Hi Robert,
Good on you for having a go at this kit.
I'm sure it will turn out to be a nice model
if your photos are anything to go by -it looks great.
Andy Wallace might even be tempted to get
one himself -he seems to be a big fan of Aerotech!!
If you go tohttp://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraftsearch=Avro%20Lancaster&distinct_entry=true
 you will get some nice photos of the real thing.
Look foward to seeing more pics of your model when finished.
By the way liked your website - one of the best.
Really liked the humorous photos

2 colours used on the lancaster brown/green can anyone tell me the name of the colours,
please post on this site or email me at robbymcm@hotmail.com
thanks Robert.

ERR dont forget black underneath, 3/4 way up the fuzz/cowls,     if you can find them, humbrol did the correct colours,  there was also some red outline squares on the top of the wing, for some reason,   

 Hi Robert,
      The lanc"s looking very well... dark earth and dark green should be ok....if you can still get them, Flair spectrum should be fine, with a coat of polyurathene varnish [satin] to fuel proof...OR...have a look at the warbird range by Phil Clark...[[fighter aces] on down the forum a little....has a link to his site..or drop him an PM....these are EXCAT, accurate colours, thinned with water...but are also fuel-proof [ an additive etc].
  How you getting on with the throttle set ups?

  Good to see you here George!.....yer name gives you away big fella! 

  Cliff 

about the throttles,   mini servo in each is my want,   with the inners on the throtttle stick, and the outers--er somewhere else, on a switchable mix,   if an outer goes, you will want to throttle back the other outer, trust me!! 

If you don't have a TX with free mixers, to set up your own mix for inner / outer throttles, then a very successful arrangement can be adapted using a Helicopter TX. (or the heli side of a dual purpose TX like a FF8/9 or equivalent.)

Use the 'pitch' channel for the inner throttles and the 'throttle' channel for the outers.  Normaly, all four motors are ganged together, but in the event of a cut on the outer motor, hit the 'throttle hold' switch and the outers will move to a pre set (by you) position, I set mine to a fast tickover.  Instant restoration of symetric power.

Using the throttle curves, I set mine so that the inners opened to full by the time that the stick was just past half throttle, and set the outers on a curve that opened only slowly over the first half of the stick movement, and then came in strongly over the second half.  This may be gilding the lily too much, but if an outer stops, simply bringing the stick back to the mid point is like whipping back the revs on the opposite outer motor.  Its worked for me anyway.

I have found that my Lanc, which is the Chris Golds version on four  x OS 25/20's, remains flyable with an outer stopped, but great care has to be taken not to allow the speed to drop, (trying to climb on three for example) maintaining hight is not a problem, nor turns in either direction. Chopping the other motor to a tickover removes all the potential drama and leaves a pretty underpowered twin.

If the inner stops, only gentle rudder application is required to trim.

Overall, flying a four motor model has been much less dramatic than flying a twin, - which is as it should be.

Yours is looking great.  keep on with the updates and pics.
regards,
Stu k

THINKS?  would it be better to have 2 bigger engines on the inboards?   this is something i was going to do with my chris golds lanc,  before some slly boy made a more than generous offer on it!!  and no, for the benefit of one forum member, i didnt build it,  but i defo owned it!!