Flying Aces (Keil Kraft) Elf

It's time for another new one!

I've been doing what I call high-pressure modelling for the past few months in the form of designing for magazine deadlines and building for National competitions and it was time for some light relief. What better model to relieve the pressure than the classic Keil Kraft Elf....and as an added plus, I can use it at the Peterborough Model Flying Club's Flying Aces event on 3rd September. Yes, I know, it's yet another competition...but it is a low key one and it comes highly recommended as a family day out.

The Vintage Model Co have made up a number of Elf Kits with the Flying Aces Competition in mind. As well as the name of the laser cut kit reflecting the competition, the wood has been chosen to make a light model, VMC have sponsored the event with cash prizes and there's even a PMFC sticker on the box.

So, without more ado, here is where we are at the moment:




(pictures to be added when the function again becomes available)



Building should commence tomorrow

Sounds like fun. Look forward to seeing progress

A very, very long time ago (1957/ the KK Elf was my first 'stick and tissue' kit.
Did not fly particularly well due almost certainly to a lack of building skill.
I think I still have the original plan but I suspect it will be pretty yellow by now.

The Elf is a super little model, they fly brilliantly.

Here is James with ours at an indoor meeting at Nottingham last year...



Andrew

Brilliant! Clearly possessing a highly sophisticated wall and ceiling avoidance system!
Mike

Image test follows:

With the kind help from Tony B, I've set up a photo bucket account and am transferring pictures from there onto the Forum. So, as a second test, here's the pictures missing from the first post:

....and here's the build sequence for this week:

Fuselage sides and tailplane laid down:



Fuselage lifted and fin laid down:



Two wings made in separate sessions:



..and the parts removed from the board and 'tidied':

Very nice but I thought you frowned on sticking the pins through the (final) wood!

Quorneng wrote: Very nice but I thought you frowned on sticking the pins through the (final) wood!

Thanks Q. In respect of the pins, if you look closely, you'll see that most of them are either stuck through what will be waste wood, or positioned either side of the component. There are one or two that go through the major components, but they are minimal and only used on the thicker wood sections.

Today's work has included splitting the sides, joining them using the previously made formers, and removing from the board







and while the fuselage was sitting there, I couldn't resist a quick mock up...

Andy Sephton wrote:
Two wings made in separate sessions:

Am I seeing optical delusions (again)? The dihedral here looks enormous but the pic with the wing on the fuse looks less so, albeit still larger than the box art. Is this normal for this style of model? (Outside my experience range)
Thnx
Nigel

Nigel wrote: ....The dihedral here looks enormous but the pic with the wing on the fuse looks less so, albeit still larger than the box art. Is this normal for this style of model?

Very good question Nigel. The model is a vintage design, most of which had excessive dihedral. Mind you, the smaller the model, the more dihedral it needs for stable flight outdoors, so this one probably has enough. On the other hand, I'd probably use less if I was designing it from scratch.

The model itself has 3" total dihedral, as per plan. The apparent dihedral angle in the pictures depends on the orientation of the model and distance of the camera from the subject. SO in the above quoted examples, all of the views have the correct dihedral.

Here's a front view of the wing showing the true dihedral amount:



The basic construction of the fuselage is now complete:



There's only one part left on the laser cut wood sheet, the underfin. I'll remove it from the sheet after the tailplane has been covered and doped.



...and finally, a big thank you to VMC for including too many stringers in the kit - I now have a good set for future models!

Andy
I think you mean 1.5" under each tip.

Quorneng wrote: Andy
I think you mean 1.5" under each tip.

Thanks Q, good spot!! Original amended as appropriate.

We will regard it as a senior moment Andy LOL