Micro-electric scale masterpiece

Model Airplane News, Oct 2001 by Atwood, Tom

Steve Davis's impressive 1910 British Valkyrie shows the exciting potential of micro-electric scale modeling. This beautiful ship won second place at the indoor fun fly and competition held on May 18 and 19 at the Southwestern Aeromodeling Conference (Arlington Convention Center, Arlington, TX).

Charmed by the look of an old 3-view of the canard design, Steve scratch-built a hand-toss glider version to do some experimentation on proper CG placement. The prototype was soon gliding well, so he drew up some plans for this electric scale miniature.

All-up weight of the 36-inch-span Valkyrie is only 6.5 ounces! It is built of single-sheet, 16 inch sheet balsa (the wings have underside ribs) and is strung with gray, carpet-thread rigging. The control rods are made of 0.050-inch-diameter carbon fiber. A WES-Technik 1524 motor turns a WES-Technik 9x5 carbon-fiber prop via a handmade 4.5:1 gearbox (this setup pulls about 1.15 amps at 7 volts). Electronics include a Hitec Feather receiver, an FMA 5 ESC and Cirrus CS-10 servos.

The model carries a 7.2V 110mAh Sanyo Ni-Cd pack (TA120) that resembles a traditional 9V transistor radio battery. This provides ample power for 4-minute flights (use of a lithium pack would raise flight times to the better part of an hour or more). The Valkyrie flies in a solid, stately manner with its full-flying, fully functional lower canard elevator-a real pleasure to behold. And it is only one of several scale micro electrics Steve has designed and flown.

For more examples of miniature scale electrics, see coverage of the Texas indoor fun fly and competition at www.rcmicroflight.com. Looking for like-minded modelers? Consider joining the National Indoor Remote-Controlled Aircraft Council (NIRAC); see http://www.nirac.org/ home.htm, or the free, Model Airplane Newssponsored slow-flight list serve: http://www .rcmicroflight.com/lists/.