Bigtilla

[Barrie King]

Just thought I would share with you my winter build project, not a monster like some. I wanted a plane that looked and flew like a Magnatilla but powered by a 30cc petrol, so I got a large sheet of paper and drew my own design. I made sure all the wood lengths were 36in or less to use standard size balsa etc. so the wings came out at 40inch including tips with the profile copied from my Taxi 2400. The fuselage construction is similar to the Magnatilla except the whole of the upper front section is removable for ease of access. The 2 piece wing is joined with a joiner from Falcon Aviation. After drawing all the sections everything was cut out on my bandsaw. First part of the build shown below.

[Barrie King]

A couple more shots

[Denis Brown]

Looks pretty good. If you lost your glasses they are on the bench

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

looks good, good idea about a 2 piece wing, i feel flair would have sold a shedload more hannibals, if they had thought it out better, with a 2 piece, and a detachable tail

[Ken Bones]

That looks likes nice, should be a whole load of fun.

Bonzey

[Barrie King]

Yes Alan, I looked at the Hanibal but the wing put me off. A couple more pics now covered.

[Mike Booth]

A thing of beauty, must send Dudley Paterson the link.

[Barrie King]

Here is a picture of the suspension, you won't find this in a Flair kit!

[Mike Booth]

A true aeronautical carriage, ideal camera ship.

[Barrie King]

Also made a choke that is easily operated from outside the cowl. The gun by the way was made from 1 1/2 in waste pipe and balsa block with a TV aerial plug for the muzzle inside which is a high brightness LED driven by a flasher unit from Maplin. ( I was bored one evening! )

[stuart knowles 1611]

and modelled on a 6" naval gun I see, should be effective
stu k

[stewart clifford]

You'll have someones eye out with that gun

[Barrie King]

All ready to go looking for frigates and destroyers!

[Ken Bones]

Have you really built this in four days?

Bonzey

[Mike Booth]

Surely this needs to be an RTF kit.

[Barrie King]

No Ken took me about 3 weeks to build, from drawing to completion, but only just got round to posting it up. I am now busy finishing off an 11ft lanc for a clubmate.

[Barrie King]

I never thought a 30cc 2 stoke suited this plane so I bought a brand new boxed Honda 31cc 4 stroke for £140. When it arrived it weighed in at 9 1/2 lbs so I set about it with a vengence to remove all unnecessary bits. I got it to about 5 lbs with its original flywheel mag ignition and it flew the Bigtilla quite well for a year. i then decided to change over to electronic ignition and found it would loose another 1 1/2 lbs it has now had 1 test flight on the new system with no problems. Next i may dispose of the sump and oil system and run it on a 2 stroke mix, has anyone ever tried this?

[Barrie King]

Decided on another engine change for the Bigtilla, just taken delivery of one of the new NGH 38 four stokes, this should give a bit more grunt than the Honda. Has anyone else tried one of these?

[Michael Boulton]

Hi I read in one of the wanted posts that this may be for sale if it is could you please let me know how much you want for it Mick

[williamjrmacleod]

Sent you a pm barrie. Bill