The Fieseler Storch

HOMEBUILT
BY ROB CASO
The Fieseler
Storch
AN ELECTRIC-POWERED VERSION OF THE
LUFTWAFFE’S FAMOUS WW II “STOL” WORKHORSE
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For some unknown reason, the
Fieseler Storch is my favorite
aircraft. Perhaps this goes back
to when I built a 1 ⁄6-scale model
some years ago and became a
student of the prototype. The plane has
somewhat of a “cult” following and,
although many argue about its
aesthetics, the Storch was quite an
advanced design in the mid-1930s. It was
“the helicopter before they had the
helicopter” and many still fly today,
including replicas. The Luftwaffe
employed the aircraft in all theaters of
WW II and it was quite effective in its role
of spotter, transport, rescue and liaison
aircraft. As a model, it is surprisingly
involved to build in any scale. It is these
complexities, however, that make the
aircraft unique.
My design goals were to keep power
and radio equipment out of the massive
cockpit, employ a functional landing
gear, have easy battery and equipment
access and to add lightness. I also
searched far and wide for a cheap, but
gutsy motor.
Backyard Flyer has graciously
included my excruciatingly detailed
construction notes and photos on their
website, modelairplanenews.com and I
recommend that you visit there for help
with the trickier parts. For now, I’ll focus
on some of the model’s idiosyncrasies
along with finishing and setup. I
recommend that the Storch be tackled
by more experienced builders, but a
determined newbie should not have too
much trouble if he or she stays focused.
A laser-cut short kit, a vacu-formed
windscreen and upper canopy along
with a fiberglass cowl are all available
from me.
CONSTRUCTION
The wing has a standard D-box design
and is conventionally built on a flat
board. Each wing includes flap and
aileron micro servos and four mounting
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SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL: Fieseler Storch
SCALE: 1 ⁄12
TYPE: electric scale monoplane
WINGSPAN: 46 in.
WING AREA: 276 sq. in.
WEIGHT: 27 oz.
WING LOADING: 14.1 oz./sq. ft.
LENGTH: 31.5 in.
RADIO REQ’D: 5-channels (elevator,
rudder, aileron, throttle, flaps) optional
lights
POWER REQ’D: 18-20A brushless
motor
GEAR USED
RADIO: Spektrum DX7 2.4GHz,
AR6100e receiver, (spektrumrc.com)
Hitec HS-55 servos (hitecrcd.com)
POWER SYSTEM: BP Hobbies A2217-
9 brushless motor (bphobbies.com),
Castle Creations 18A ESC (castlecre
ations.com)
BATTERY: FMA 950mAh 3S 11.1V LiPo
PROP: APC 9x6 or 10x5
(apcprop.com)
points for the functional struts. Build the
ailerons and flaps with the wing. The tail
surfaces are also very easy to build. The
fixed surfaces are sheeted “stick”
frameworks and the movable sections
are built up over balsa core outlines.
The Storch’s fuselage is comprised of
Cleared for takeoff, the Storch is a natural for small field operations. The long landing gear and all the glass around the cockpit and cabin give the
plane its character.

ITALIAN STORCH?
Why did you pick an Italian paint scheme for your Storch?
Rob Caso: I already had built four or five Storchs, both RC and
plastic models. Having painted them all in Luftwaffe camouflage, I
was looking for something a bit different. My good friend, Vince
Nigrelli, has been nagging me to design “something Italian” and I
got to thinking that maybe I could paint my Storch in a Regia
The author shows
off his pride and joy.
Aeronautica scheme. Like most of what the Italians do, their WW
II schemes were almost artistic and I really wanted to do a lighter
scheme since they show up better at the field. I plinked around on
the Internet and discovered a Storch in an Italian museum that has
a scheme very close to the one I did here. With the almost yellow
base coat and the white wingtips, the model really shows up well
in the air and is quite photogenic.
MAY 2010 49

HOMEBUILT
Since the model is not built with flat side-to-side
construction methods, a fuselage jig is need to
assemble and keep the cabin section in proper
alignment.
forward and aft assemblies attached to a
ventral spine. A combination battery box,
servo and motor mount is attached to the
nose. This assembly is equipment
specific—there is not much room and if
you deviate too much, you may have fit
problems with the slender cowl. If I had
to do it again, I’d seriously consider
putting the receiver behind bulkhead no.
8 and then make the starboard access
hatch functional. This would reduce the
number of visible wires in the cockpit. A
common misperception with the Storch
is that the fuselage wing root area has to
be built excessively strong to handle
flight and landing loads. There is very
little stress on the model at the root
because due to the cantilever location of
wing struts, there is actually a net
downward force on the root when the
model is in flight. Thus, the struts (and
f
To order the full-size plan, visit RCStore.com.
Here, the nose and tail sections have been
attached to the cabin structure.
mounts) do all the work and these must
be the strong components in the chain.
The toughest structure to make in
scale modeling is a leading edge slat\ or
spoiler, and the Storch has two of them. I
devised a “buck” system, which is
nothing more than a copy of the wing’s
leading edge over which two sheets of
soft 1 ⁄32-inch balsa are laminated together
to form a curve. Yes, it’s more work, but
it will yield a much more accurate part.
Apply packaging tape to prevent the slat
from adhering to the form. Wet the slat
laminates with ammonia-based window
cleaner until soggy, apply epoxy to each
and stack the pieces. Evenly position this
over the buck, bend it around the leading
edge and wrap the entire lamination with
tape. Allow the assembly to dry
overnight. Apply two soft strips of balsa
to the leading edge and sand to an airfoil
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The strut mounts were later changed to a single
hole for the mounting 4-40 screw; a blind nut is
used to secure the screw.
cross section. The buck is quite sturdy
and may be used to support the slat
during sanding and finishing. I applied
multiple coats of thinned nitrate dope to
the slats; between this and the epoxy, the
balsa became very resilient.
LANDING GEAR
The stalky landing gear is a trademark of
the Storch and they really soak up
forward motion on touch down, thus
facilitating short landings. The sprung
“oleo” is made from sections of tubes,
springs and music wire, while the Vstruts
are carbon-fiber tubing. The pivot
points that hold everything together are
flattened brass tube “lugs,” drilled to
accept 2-56 screws. The only real tricky
part is getting the upper struts to line up
side to side and making identical parts
for each side. Make a “kit” of cut tube,

take a deep breath and dive in while
being stingy with the solder. It’s actually
a very simple assembly.
COVERING, DETAILS AND
FINISHING
There are two canopies: an upper and a
windscreen. Installing the upper one is
easy. The windscreen requires a number
of incremental cuts to coax it in between
bulkheads no. 3 and 5 and around the
landing gear struts.
The upper and lower cowls are affixed
to the model with locating pins and
magnets. The upper cowl is fitted using
lite-ply mounts shown in the plans. Glue
in the mounts to the upper with the cowl
positioned on the model.
To fit the lower cowl, glue in crosswise
pieces to each cowl at the nose. There is
also an aft mounting point for lower cowl
on the fuselage. Glue up the aft mount to
the fuselage with its mating piece
attached and flush with the bulkhead.
Install the cowl and glue the aft mating
piece to the cowl. Once lower cowl
mounts are in place, its forward mounts
Here the wing structure is complete with the flap
and aileron surfaces ready to be closed up. All
the hard points and hinge support blocks should
be in place before applying the sheeting.
Here the basic airframe takes shape with the
fiberglass engine cowl slipped into place.
With its leading edge
slats, the Storch has
excellent slow speed
flight performance.
are cut to clear the motor.
I used Sig Mfg. Koverall to cover the
open framework, and I primed the
covering with Minwax Polycrylic. Paint the
model before attaching the clear glazing. I
applied 0.75 ounce fiberglass cloth to the
skinned areas with Polycrylic and then
used a lot of auto body filler and primer
on the cowl, slats, ailerons and flaps prior
to painting. Go for a good surface prep
and don’t worry about the weight.
The Storch displayed a number of
interesting paint schemes and I used
plastic model paint and single- and dualaction
airbrushes to apply the Italian air
force scheme and markings. I generally
choose lightly colored schemes for small
models as darker schemes tend to make
small models look even smaller. Aside
from the standard RLM black
green/green, there were also a number of
tropical and winter schemes. The Storch
The leading edge slat “buck” is used to form
slats. Note that 3 ⁄16x 1 ⁄8-inch strips are applied to
the slat’s leading edge after the sheeting is laminated
together.
also wore various national insignia other
than German including Swedish, French,
Italian, Spanish and even British and U.S.
Eisenhower’s personal transportation in
Europe after the war included a Morainebuilt
Storch (“Criquet”).
FINAL DETAILS
The forward bulkheads incorporate holes
to run servo wiring beneath the cockpit
floor in the event a full cockpit is to be
installed. In this case, you must pre-wire
the model as it’s being built and make
your own connectors. With respect to the
wings, either run the servo wires during
construction or make provisions to fish
them through before the wings are
skinned and covered. I ran long servo
leads between each aileron and flap
servo. Where these crossed the cabin, I
separated sections of insulation without
breaking the wires and soldered in the
The moveable control surfaces are built with a
simple sandwich of 1 ⁄16-inch balsa core outline
and supporting frameworks on either side.
MAY 2010 51

HOMEBUILT
MÉAL
XAVIER
BEFORE THERE WERE HELICOPTERS,
BY
THERE WAS THE STORCH! PHOTO
Even though I had seen many pictures of the Storch, nothing
could possibly convey its size and general ungainliness. It
stands so high off the ground that an average man can
barely see in the side windows. In fact, we doubt that
there’s a man alive who could step from the ground to the door sill,
once the huge, multi-faceted door is pulled out and up and
fastened to the bottom of the wing. This isn’t an airplane, it’s a
three-dimensional, whimsical caricature of an airplane.
Traditionally, the whole idea of aviation has centered on
efficiency—getting the most speed from the least horsepower.
This airplane, clearly, works on the opposite premise. If there is an
airplane with more drag-producing protuberances, I’ve never seen
it. Aerodynamically, the Storch makes a tumbleweed look slick.
Maneuvering in the Storch is a real physical workout. The controls
leads that run to the receiver residing
behind the instrument panel. Use “Liquid
Electrical Tape” to insulate the solder
joints. When I was done, I basically had
two giant “Y” connectors. With the
receiver so located, it’s an easy run for
the ESC, rudder and elevator leads.
Unless you use a dedicated channel for
each flap servo, these must be oriented
the same on each wing while the aileron
servos are opposite.
IN THE AIR
My power system analysis using the
MotoCalc program indicated that there
were two possible props for the Storch; a
9x6 and 10x5. Each had good wattage
figures, but the 10x5 had a significant
advantage in static thrust—28 ounces vs.
22 ounces produced by the 9x6 prop, at
the expense of some flying time and top
speed. Install the 9x6 first to get a feel for
the model and then go for the high-thrust
setup.
Balance the model leaning towards
nose heavy. The wing’s center of lift is
more forward due to the slats, at about
25% of MAC. Also, don’t forget to
balance the model laterally, wingtip to
wingtip. Aileron throws should be about
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feel the way the airplane looks—gawky and loose. The stick
forces are anything but light and to keep it completely
coordinated, your feet have to thrash in and out as if you were
working an old sewing machine.
What is it about a Fieseler Storch that appeals to something in
all of us? It certainly isn’ the Storch’s blazing cruise of 70 knots or
its 1600rpm full-throttle sound. Nor is it loved for its streamlined
gracefulness. Maybe it’s the idea of having an airplane that
converts your backyard into an airport, or maybe it’s the part the
Storch has played in history. For me, the Storch has appeal
because it doesn’t try to be pretty. It’s a good honest ugly and
doesn’t seem to care.
— Budd Davisson
VISIT BUDD ON THE WEB AT AIRBUM.COM
3 ⁄8 inch for each direction, with “all you
can get” on the rudder and elevator. Use
about 25% exponential on the ailerons
and elevator as a start and add or
decrease expo and throw depending on
your flying style.
Slow flying will require a lot of control
surface throw. Although it has trainer-like
stats, the model will go only were you
put it and will not self correct. Short
landings take a little practice, the key to
which is keeping the model pitched up
and under power as you come in. Once
the wheels touch, immediately cut the
power. A