My interest in Ray Malmstrom's designs continues unabated, fuelled by the sheer creativity of the designs and by the fact that his club (Impington Village College Model Aeroplane Club) continues to unearth old plans and publish them in a brilliant catalogue. You simply must send off for a copy as soon as possible.
"How many can I build", I think to myself sometimes. Well the answer is how many can I fit into my building area, and as most of Ray's designs are quite small, that is an awful lot!
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There is quite a long story attached to this delightful little model. The idea is that of Mike Parker (of Forray fame), and I think it goes something like this.
In November 2001 I went to the IVCMAC indoor meeting, taking my Father and the Forray to be part of a display of Ray's models, (the Forray that is, not my Father). We encountered torrential heavy rain during the journey, whilst at the meeting and on the way home. There were quite serious local floods, that made the main TV news that evening. Gray, in an e-mail, said he remembered the rain, and on his journey home, the rain was so heavy thought he and his friend might never be seen or heard of again!
The Forray was photographed by the national aeromodelling press whilst on display at the meeting, appeared in a feature, and was seen by Mike Parker. However, my name was not attached to the model as the builder, but Mike did wonder who had built it. Some time later I sent a picture to Mike for the Grant MIMLOCT 2002 (mass launch of Cloud Tramps), and somehow he discovered this website and that I was the builder. Great idea this world wide web.
I must have mentioned the Bambinetta in one of my e-mails to Mike because he sent me a picture of his version, plus another equiped with a large float, that Mike called the Middynetta. It was in typical Malmstrom style, and quite delightful.
I expressed an interest, and Mike very kindly sent me lots of details, plus templates for the float, and a spare plan - thanks Mike.
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| The Middy before the eyes were installed | The Middy showing off its dihedral |
Flying the Middy has proved that Mike was right: tight left-hand circuits, followed by a good glide. The float hardly seems to affect the glide at all.
The next task is to try it off water. This was Mike's intention before his copy was lifted by some light-fingered individual. The August meeting at Middle Wallop should provide a small pond, and I will be there and ready to try an ROW take-off. I can hardly wait . . . now surely there is some water locally that I could practice on beforehand?
Ray approves
In 1996 Ray Malmstrom attended a gathering of his designs at Old Warden, (I wish I had been there), and this shot was taken of Mike and Ray together with the Middynetta. Ray was delighted with the design, but who wouldn't be?
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| The Maestro with Mike Parker, and The Middynetta |
I occasionally wonder where it ended up - in a lonely tree somewhere perhaps - it is a very small model.
However, I was so pleased with the way it flew that I have constructed another copy, in time to take it to the indoor flying meeting at the Impington College Village Model Flying Club, on 19 October, 2003, two years after I first went with the Forray.
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| It has a different colour scheme, and a
wider (blue foam) float, but otherwise it's the same Middynetta. Can't wait to fly it |
Two Middynettas floating on a puddle in the AMC car park,
(well they are float-planes)! Left is Peter's copy - very colourful |
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I built this for the IVCMAC meeting mentioned above, to enter in a light-hearted duration competition.
I tested it with a Butterfly prop, a little down-thrust, and it seemed to fly well. However, at Impington I had two or three flights, recorded one of 38, then extended this to 48 seconds. Things were looking good so I wound on an extra 100 or so turns, and the Canair promptly ended up at the top of the netting used to divide the sports hall into courts.
It stayed there until two very helpful chaps managed to dislodge it at the end of the days flying. However, it was great fun anyway, and I am now an expert at dislodging models from netting using a long, very flexible fibreglass fishing pole.
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| The Canair caught in the netting | Slightly dodgy looking pilot! |
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I built this for the IVCMAC meeting on 28th March, 2004, so that I could compete in the car races that they organise. Imagine the scene, several grown men, plus a couple of junior members of IVCMAC line up at one end of the hall, whilst the catchers line up half way down the hall.
Tension is high and one chap manages to wind his motor forwards (that means backwards as they are all pusher motors).
They start and the cars zoom off. Some go straight to the catchers, some do not because they just don't go in straight lines, and bounce off walls, peoples legs, chairs, tables etc. The owners run after their cars as rewinding takes place at the end of each length. One chap overwinds his motor, the rubber breaks and his race is over.
The others complete three rather breathless lengths, and someone wins amid the chaos, and the cheering from the watching crowd. Now that is fun, and I am sure just what Ray Malmstrom had in mind when he designed his propellor driven cars.
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| Freshly painted and bespatted! | Tony Draper, me, and Gray. The winners! |
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Originally this typical Malmstrom plan was published in American Modeller magazine in 1954. Apparently the mags in the States paid more for the plans than Aeromodeller in the UK did. Whatever the situation this plan was designed by RM for the novice, or tyro flyer, and is very easy to build and flies very well indeed. It likes a tight lefthand power circuit, followed by a more gentle lefthand glide, and has a glide that makes me think that in a bit of good air it could easily fly away. I should have thought about that when following the plan and gluing the tail and fin structure permanently to the fuselage.
It is a model that I have wanted to construct for a year or two now, ever since my friend Peter built one. You can see his copy at the foot of my first (Malmstrom page). I then saw him fly it away into the distance on Salisbury Plain, and resolved to build one as soon as I could. However, although it took two years, it was well worth waiting for. I only had a couple of short flights, but it looked very promising, and I am looking forward to flying it again very soon.
It is one of the few planes that is powered at full throttle by a Cox PeeWee 020, most of the others require a rich needle valve setting to
reduce the remarkable power of the 020.
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| Typical Malmstrom design | Is this the flying boot? |
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As I understand it the Mountie was a design that Ray intended to be kitted, and so the design has been created with the beginner in mind. Unfortunately this never happened, and, apart from a few black and white pictures, all we have left is a partial plan, with Rays unique sketches scattered about the page.
Some details are missing, but there is enough to build from. However, I managed to misinterpret the plan from the outset, and sheeted the wing top and bottom,
and as you can see from this picture that appeared in Aeromodeller in the 1960's, them wing is sheeted on the top only. I think it is fairly safe to assume
that it is Ray, even though his head has been cut off in this advert for Solarbo Balsa. So at some time soon I will remake the wing with the sheeting on the
bottom omitted.
Despite this misinterpretation the Mountie flies very well, as has proved quite a reliable performer in all conditions. Perhaps this is due to the heavy wing, but I will be able to test this theory when I make the new wing.
In typical RM style the design is simple and easy to construct, and has the Malmstrom look about it from every angle.
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| Another typical Malmstrom design | Looks unusual, but flys great |
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Coming soon . . .
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