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Avro Vulcan Bomber
By Ian Benson
Built as a slope glider and adapted by
Terry Antell
Plan by Ian Benson --- cost £17.45
Adapt shed and purchase plywood for shed £16.00 (incl hinges)
Three photo copies of original plan £7.50 (build on one and read from the other). One was a mirror print for left wing.
Balsa wood for construction from Inwood Model Supplies £36 (incl postage).
Channel 4 Model for wood, servos and new Rx battery £56.
Hodgkinson’s in New Milton can photocopy plans, I mean large prints for £2.50 each. These were really clear reproductions.
Firstly, ensure the building board in a flat, level base (this’ll help prevent a twisted airframe).
Measure all the wood required. When building from a plan instructions are nil as are wood requirements. For those with internet access, look at model shops online. For those without, buy a magazine and ring places as noticeable saving can be made.
I choose Inwood Model Supplies as they were almost 50% cheaper than our local model shop for balsa wood, including next day delivery. (www.inwoodmodels.co.uk— and a superbly organised website, making it very easy to buy the wood you need—Ed)
After taping a copy of the plan on the board cover it with thin polythene, few glues stick to this material. DON’T try cling film as EVERYTHING sticks to this.
Ensure a good supply of SHARP scalpel blades are to hand, you’ll need them. Also buy a bottle of Aliphatic Resin. This is the yellow glue that becomes waterproof when dry and can be sandpapered just like balsa.
Measure EVERY item twice and cut once (beware of too many pen marks on the wood being measured!!) Yeah, yeah, I cut the wrong one and made one rib 3/32” short. Keep balsa dust as this can be mixed with aliphatic resin and used as a good strong filler that sands back well. (No, I did cut another rib).
When positioning any parts do pin them securely and squarely. Use a small section of scrap wood to clean any glue residue off, remember, weight is our enemy.
Don’t get carried away and start attaching ribs etc. BEFORE working out your electrical layout, by this I mean servos, receiver and Rx battery. It is far easier to cut holes in ribs when flat on the bench rather than when fixed in place. How we all moan about inaccessible servo arms on ARTF models.
This is the time to plan servo fixings. For wings I recommend making a ply servo plate and adhering the servo to it. Cut a slot in the plate for the servo arm. If top mounted glue a piece of soft balsa wood to the top of the plywood. Now the wing section can be maintained.
It took me 22 hours to cut out the fuselage parts and glue them together over a 2 week period. In the mean time I visited Channel 4 Models and bought the required servos, battery and covering materials.
The fuz has only 4 formers, these all being from plywood. I used ¼ inch 5 ply for these parts, mainly for strength.
The overall construction is straight forward and doesn’t need explaining.
I covered the bottom of the wing with GlossTex (cos’ I had enough) and the top in Easycoat, a lightweight plastic material that also has a fine material within its structure.
Having built the same model over 20 years since, I remembered the front of the fuselage needed strengthening so I covered the front using glass fibre and finishing epoxy resin. This doesn’t show through the Easycoat covering at all.
The design weight on the plan was 2lbs. My model finished at 1lb 15 ½ oz. No lead required and the 4 cell 2700mah Rx battery needed pulling back from the nose too! (7.9oz per sq. Ft. Wing loading)
The total project took 80 hours to complete and she flew on Sunday 11th January -- SUPERBLY.
I’ve included a few photos from commencement to completion.
Flying. Yes, she is a dream to slope soar. Very smooth in every situation and really stands out from all the Zaggi’s, X-it’s and Wild Thing’s that are commonly seen. I have flown her in 9mph winds up to 24mph.
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