electric flight uk - British Electric Flight Association - Jan Bassett's

Perkins ARTF Tiger Moth
by John Thompson
This kit is by Green R/C Model Airplane Co Ltd made for J. Perkins, spans 50”
(128cm), and is designed for a .30 cu. in. (5cc) 4-stroke glow motor. Mine was
bought part assembled from my local model shop, where it had been in this state
for some months. The assembly appears straight forward as all the main parts
are supplied covered, even the decals fixed in place.
The tail unit is attached with two bolts from below, and here was one of the changes
I made. The kit includes a tail wheel, and I have never seen a Tiggy with one of
those, so a steerable skid was made, much better for our grass runways.
The rudder servo is coupled to an idler that protrudes through the fuselage sides to
take the closed loop wires in scale fashion. This idler is supplied made from CNC
cut plywood that did not seem very good to me, so a replacement was made out of
fibreglass circuit board (see below).
Beside the rudder servo is the elevator one and this also has closed loop connections.
I was concerned that these actually twist through 90° so a simple addition to the
tray turned the servo to be in the same plane as the elevator hinges. Both these
controls now worked in a smooth fashion and gave accurate neutrals.
The ailerons use separate servos with short rods, so were no problems here. Perkins
had included some of their own items in the contents of the kit, with an addendum
to the instructions.
E.F.-U.K. 57