http://www.densmodelsupplies.co.uk/

Dens Model Supplies, 3 Victoria and Albert Cottages Beatrice Avenue, East Cowes (2026)

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3 Victoria And Albert Cottages Beatrice Avenue

23/03/2026

I’m not a light builder (yet) so the Cloud Hopper turned a bit on the heavy side and was a horror to fly…it was also obvious that the control surfaces were too big. The Minimum RC Andromeda system does not have exponential etc (what do you expect for £28!). So, we are back to basics where movement has to be adjusted by mechanical means and control surfaces need to be appropriate.

The result was the revamp you can see in the pics …. a bigger wing to carry the weight and bigger tailplane to suit, control surfaces reduced significantly, control throws reduced. I’ve built two wings of the same size…. both can be built without using a plan. The all-sheet wing (a la Ken Willard) was a delight to build as the rib positions were laser engraved on the bottom sheet. The traditional wing is built round a full depth spar with interlocking ribs, LE & TE have locating slots for the ribs and the wing can be dry assembled (one wing at time). After truing on the building board, super aliphatic can be used on all the joints …again a pleasant and quick build. Ready to fly weights are 85 grams with the all-sheet wing and 77 grams with the traditional wing.

The traditional wing was less than 10 grams bare and the covering added 6 grams which surprised me. That was using standard Oracover because I was too mean to pay out for Oracover light which would be about half the weight. And there is always Doculam which would be even lighter but does really need tissue covering as well…that’s a bit much for me!

The Cloud Hopper has been flown in less-than-ideal positions but it was immediately apparent that the modifications were successful. The geared motor is impressive requiring only about half throttle to climb and less in cruise…I also tried on the on-board gyro settings and could see them working for the first time, there are three settings. 1 is automatic recovery to level flight after letting go of the sticks, 2 is control corrections for turbulence 3 is gyro off. I will have to wait for perfect conditions to really test the gyro out so I’ll let you know the outcome in due course

10/02/2026

The recent weight reduction from 250 to 100 grams of non-registered ‘drones’ by the CAA set me thinking, there are loads of RTF foamies that will qualify, but what if you prefer balsa?

I already have a couple of sub 100 gram balsa models, the Scrap Box Special and a Frog TomTit, both using various bits and pieces from crashed RTF models for motors and RC. They both use Spectrum DSMX protocol and work well with an old Orange Tx.

For some time, I have been watching developments at Minimum RC who specialise in lightweight RC and offer a range of supporting products to suit. Their ‘Andromeda’ RC System Tx has a 200-meter range, 5 Channels, supports Delta and V tail configuration as well as normal The Rx has an on-board gyro, 5A brushed ESC and a telemetry link to indicate low battery on the Tx, the combo costs less than £30. Specifications and cost seemed ideal for Sub 100-gram balsa models, so I decided to try it out and ordered a set plus some 1.9-gram servos (£5) and a motor and gearbox (£8.50)

I wanted a suitable all sheet model that I could cut on my home laser and would be simple to build. As inspiration I took the shape of a 1930’s Wakefield called Clod Hopper and used that for my new design which naturally is called the Cloud Hopper 😊, the result weighs 62 grams. No chance of flying it yet because of the weather, but the SBS at 72 grams and TT at 58 grams are good flyers so I’m hopeful

The undercarriage is just for display and is removed for flight, on these small models I find the U/C causes more trouble than it is worth…the Motor/Gearbox comes with a prop saver and GWS 5 x 3 prop…. very neat
Minimum RC www.minimumrc.com

29/10/2025

Chris Caruana sent me this picture of his CL models...liked it a lot...hope you do too. Chris had a bit of trouble with his Cox engine, but it seems OK now...he had this to say :-

Following the items you sent earlier, I can confirm that the 049 in the stagger wing flew very well and for quite a bit longer than I expected with the small tank.

Thank you for your help and advice on this one.

Regards

Chris

L - R Thats a KK Firefly-Brodak 049. Goldberg Stagger Wing - Cox 049...KK Champ - DC Wasp

25/10/2025

I’ve been playing about with some semi scale jet type catapult gliders. The star of the show is the Super Sabre…. its CoG is so far back it hardly needs any nose weight, it is very light…stable with an excellent glide. The Phantom is similar but needs more trimming as I haven’t found the ideal CoG location yet…I think being a delta I need to find a nose up trim for good gliding…. the Thunderjet is tricky to trim and heavy as its CoG is much further forward so more nose weight…. but after adding some gurney strips, I have got it doing a big S from a right-hand catapult launch transitioning in to a left-hand glide, for a catapult I am using a 2” rubber band which gives a reasonable flight without going too far. I particularly like the Thunderjet as the plan was published in 1949…the year I was born !!

27/07/2025

Doug Johnson has become interested in American half A CL designs….here are three he has just built

Ambush…. A sport/combat all sheet model designed by Bill Netzeband…powered by a Cox Black widow

Super Cinch….A all sheet combat model ….was originally a kit for 020/049…Doug has increased the span a bit and beefed up the construction as he is powering it with a Cox TD 049

Samurai….This is a scaled down version of the original Samurai that was designed to FAI specs (2.5cc) back in the seventies when America started to compete internationally in combat. ….This Half A version won the 1977 Champs…power will be a Norvel 049 with pressurised bladder fuel feed

15/01/2025

Hilmar Lange is a prolific German designer whose work has been published in various continental magazines. I really like his style and the way he embraces modern technology and materials.

Particularly interesting is the way his designs are made available through his site, no plans just software downloads. An interactive 3D view of the construction, loads of pictures plus the magazine article in some cases make a plan unnecessary. All cutting files both router and laser plus graphics and 3D printing files are available as well. Payment is not mandatory but a donation may be made to Hilmar or the relevant magazine if the plan has been published.

What is striking is the difference between Continental and UK aeromodelling, it would seem that modern technology is more readily accepted on the Continent. I know from experience that this approach would be unlikely to work in the UK where we are more nostalgia based.

The strange thing is that if you took any of the great designers from the golden age of aeromodelling, I suspect that each and every one would have been quick to use modern technology and materials if it had been available to them 😊
Here is a link to Hilmar’s site https://www.lange-flugzeit.de/

13/01/2025

Here’s some pictures of an AeroNaut Matador and a Hobbins Stablemate both built by Andrew Robertson…. I’ll let him tell you about them:-

Hi Den,

I don’t think I sent you pictures of this which I built just before the Matador, a Tim Hobbins Stablemate kit. 40” wingspan, chord is 9.5”, ribs 1.5” deep. Fitted a brand-new Enya SS25 – just bench run it in with 10 x 6-minute runs, running rich on 30% castor oil.

The intention is the fly the Matador in the vintage stunt competition but use the Stablemate to practice the schedule. It’s had 5 flights so far and fly’s superb doing 3 or 4 consecutive figure eights easily.

Only problem being it’s a bit fast, 4.5 second laps on 60ft lines. I could richen the mixture to slow it but it’s only lasting 4 mins on the tank leaned out. I’m using one of your combat tanks so I’ll ask you to make me up a bigger version soon but I may need a bigger version of the tank you made me up for that hornet engine so I’ll wait until I’ve tested that.

All the best,
Andrew

11/01/2025

Here’s an update on my 12” wingspan, scrap box catapult glider project…. but first a re-cap: -

There have been four protypes so far

1 Original design…weight 20gm
2 Wing area increased…centre section wing TE flaps introduced…weight 22gm
3 Fuselage thickness reduced from 3/16” to 1/8” …. wing thickness reduced from 1/8” to 3/32” …. TE flaps fitted…. weight 14gm
4 Under cambered composite aerofoil wing section introduced…. tailplane made 10% bigger…. weight 17gm

In still air 1 and 2 were good for 20 seconds and 3 made 30 seconds easily…. doesn’t sound like much but it is for a 12” glider. The improvement in flight times shows progress is being made to establish the max flight time I can get out of such a small simple design.

Number fours wing section is interesting, it’s a bit like a bird’s wing section and is made using TE section glued to the rear of a thick LE and then a thin sheet extension at the rear. This aerofoil design is used on many of Rudolph Hiesbök models and I already knew it was pretty efficient.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed as on its second flight number four outflew my field. Conditions were not perfect with a 5mph intermittent breeze. I’m hoping that it will do over 30 seconds in still air to break my present record.

And why am I doing this? Because it’s cheap, simple and a challenge…. but most of all its FUN 😊

06/11/2024

I’m back…covid and motorcycles have kept me busy elsewhere, but all over now 😊

Now I like aeronautical oddities and one them must be the Flying Flea tandem wing home-built design from the 1930’s. Many were constructed by amateurs as it promised safer flight with only two axis control, and you could fly it without a pilot’s licence! Unfortunately, there followed a series of crashes that led to the design being effectively banned Subsequently the handling problems were solved and there is an active group building and flying these designs today. Check out their website here that covers the flying flea in depth and is well worth a look. https://www.a-e-g.org.uk/the-flying-flea.html

Another very interesting example of the type is the Rutan Quickie homebuilt from the mid 70’s, which still has a loyal following today. Bert Rutan’s design is very different from the Flying Flea, the wings are fixed and reverse stagger. The front wing is a canard and the rear has ailerons, so aeromodeller Bert must have been thinking elevator and aileron control only. The X dihedral arrangement allows wheels on the lower wing tips and looks amazing, but the aeronautical implications escape me!

I came across the Whatsit glider plan recently, it’s by Frank Ehling a prolific American designer from the 30’s to the 60’s. Frank’s article from Model Aeroplane News Jan 1942 explains the purpose of the Whatsit design is to show how longitudinal dihedral works. The angle of attack of the wings is different, top at 0 deg and bottom -2 deg. At high angles of attack the top wing will stall before the lower, this aids stability. The extreme stagger reduces interference to a point where each wing is acting independently of the other, and they are both lifting. Frank claims that design will fly smoothly, handle wind and ‘amaze the expert fliers’…. Got to make one!

I tried copying the plan to my computer but there was so much cleaning up that I drew my own version in CAD. Zap that through the laser cutter and I soon had something to test on the lawn, sure enough, it flies well and it doesn’t mind a bit of breeze….so more food for thought!

The recent high pressure has produced some days with still dead air…. just right for trimming experiments! The subject this time was my latest 12” catapult glider, same as previous but lighter by 8 grams. First flights showed sloppy transition and a stable fast glide with a nose down attitude, this was rather confusing as the previous design was much better at both. Disappointing as the point of decreasing the weight was to increase duration and it wasn’t happening.... retired home to think about it. Because I had been reading about longitudinal dihedral it occurred to me that as the model was lighter the wing could operate at a lower angle because it had less weight to lift. The previous heavier models had the wing incidence at 3 deg and the tailplane at 0 deg and I had not changed that on the latest lighter design. The nose down attitude was because it reduced the wings angle of attack to decrease the lift and match the lighter weight. I added a gurney strip to the top of tailplane to introduce a bit of ‘up elevator’ then added nose weight until it stopped stalling from a hand glide. Time for a catapult launch…. glide perfect, transition much improved…I’m still cogitating on this!!

18/07/2024

I’m still playing about with catapult gliders…12” span inspired by the Bill Dean Hawk and Frog Wasp which are fine but which I found difficult to trim for the right-hand climb and left-hand glide I prefer.

So, I’ve started my own design that uses polyhedral and tail tilt for the left-hand turn….it took a few mods to establish the correct fin area that balanced the left-hand tailplane tilt to crab the glider and let the right-hand wing dihedral roll the model to the left. I have found it necessary to add some gurney strips the underside of the left-hand wing to prevent an uncontrolled roll and spiral dive. Finally, I have incorporated a Frank Zaic idea and made flaps on the inboard wing panels which are drooped about 1/32”.

I made two prototypes to check that the trim can be reproduced, which it was. The result is a very consistent right-hand climb and left-hand glide that gives about 30 seconds in still air. The transition from the top of the climb to glide is very good. This is the effect of the Zaic flaps as the first protype started life without them.

On fitting the flaps, a noticeable improvement was evident in the minimal height loss at the critical transition from launch to glide. The next prototype will incorporate a bit of wash in on the left-hand wingtip to see if I can eliminate the gurney strips and a longer nose to reduce ballast weight.

Why 12” catapult gliders? … they don’t go as far downwind….saves my ageing legs 😊

03/07/2024

I have mentioned that my modelling activity has been somewhat limited recently by motorcycle projects and I felt an explanation of why that is might be of interest.

Like many aeromodellers I have been a lifelong motorcyclist and I like to keep at least one bike as well as my car. For some time, this has been a 100cc SYM Symba which is a Taiwanese Honda Cub clone and it does sterling work going to the shops etc. But its not ideal for longer journeys and so I was considering something larger that would allow the odd motorcycling weekend break. I found a 2005 500cc Royal Enfield with 11000 miles on the clock that had a full-service history and an attractive price. This seemed ideal and it also had electric start which was icing on the cake as my days of kicking over 500cc singles are long gone.

In general, I was very pleased with it and particularly impressed with the torquey engine that allowed very relaxed cruising. Not fast (about 55mph is a sweet spot) but hills are a delight as gear changes are seldom necessary. However, after a couple of hundred miles unwelcome mechanical engine noise was making it clear that something was badly amiss and this resulted in a total engine strip down. The culprit was the big end which had completely failed, I couldn’t believe it! after only 11000 miles!!!Turns out that this particular 2005 model suffered from a batch of faulty crankpins and the problem was well known. So, the lesson is always do some thorough research before buying but it was too late now.

Because the big end problem was well known there was an (expensive) fix consisting of a modified conrod with an improved bearing and crankpin. The crank was split and the new assembly fitted allowing the engine to be rebuilt and eventually the bike was back on the road. But again, after a couple of hundred miles expensive noises were again present and so the second strip down took place. This time it was a failed main bearing which had cracked on the outer race allowing a sizeable portion to fall off, luckily there was no other damage. Again, this must have been known as there was an upgrade to a higher spec item available at the importers. As the failed bearing was an original Enfield part this led to some lively discussions with the UK importer and the result was that the uprated bearing and a full gasket set was supplied free of charge. So, I am now on the second rebuild and of course my original aim of having a larger bike for longer journeys had never happened. By this time nearly a couple of years had passed and with still more work to do on the Royal Enfield I decided to look for another bike to fill the gap.

I had identified that a Kawasaki Estrella was very likely to suit my needs but these were never imported in to the UK. They are very popular in Germany and Asia but being a 250cc there is a limited market in the UK since learner bikes became 125cc rather than 250cc. I had looked at imported Estrella’s but they were quite expensive and you never know what you are getting. But my brother sent me an email out of the blue as he had found an Estella for sale in the UK that he thought might be of interest. The bike had a known history and was being offered with the tank in grey primer so this was reflected in the price. The reason was that the tank had been chemically cleaned and lined because of internal rust and in the process all the original paint had been removed.

So, I am now the owner of the Estrella and very nice it is, apart from a service and fitting a new silencer no other work was required. I’ve done 600 miles on it with no problems and it looks like it will more than fill the gap until the Royal Enfield is rebuilt. What happens then I have not yet decided it will all depend on how the Enfield behaves, in the meantime I still have a the second rebuild to complete and that’s the reason my modelling activity is somewhat curtailed.

Dens Model Supplies

23/03/2026

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27/07/2025

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