only takes slightly longer than building one (the same is also true of entire planes).
If this article makes the process sound long and difficult, it is not. You can turn out a spinner in an evening, or several if you make them all together. It is not as fast or convenient as bolting on a commercial item, but it does allow you to build a much wider variety of prototypes.

mount the spinner to the backplate, and install it on your plane. You may wish to reinforce the holes in the balsa with a squirt of glue.

Mounting

There is a problem here. Because the prop adapter stands proud of the ply backplate, you will have a gap of about 1/8" between the spinner and the nose. Cut a ring of 1/8" ply and glue it in place, then sand to match the fuselage profile neatly. Astute modelers will find that they cannot get to the grubscrew in the prop adapter any more! Drill a hole, or cut a thin slot in the ply ring to allow an allen key to fit through.
Run the motor up to full speed, and sand the spinner to shape using a rigid sanding block. When you are happy with the result, give the spinner a generous coat of glue (epoxy, PVA, etc.) and spin it up to full speed again to get rid of the excess. (Point the nose into a box or jar first, the glue travels a surprisingly long way when it flies off!). When dry, sand it smooth again and you're almost done.
Unless you are very lucky, your spinner will still have a slight wobble due to varying grain density in the wood. Lightly touch a pencil to the spinner while it is turning, this will show the heavy side. Remove a small amount of wood from the inner face, and try again. Repeat until the prop is balanced, then install the prop again (you did balance the prop beforehand, didn't you?). Make a small mark on the spinner, and a matching one on the backplate, so you always install it the right way around.
Of course a balsa spinner will not survive a serious crash. As the first part of the model to hit the ground, it will usually split in two upon impact. You may be able to glue the pieces back together, but this may give balance problems. One variation I have not tried is to make up the balsa block from laminations with the grain running in different directions, this would take longer but would give more resistance to splitting. I think it would be easier to make several spinners in the first place, building several

Easy Electrics
Alan Bedingham
via EFUK, Winter 1997


The usual route into electrics is 7 cells and a Speed 600, I suspect on the assumption that if it doesn't work, you won't have wasted much money. Unfortunately, 7 cell aeroplanes (i.e. power aeroplanes, not gliders) are critical on weight and you have to get the powertrain matched very carefully to the aeroplane for them to work well - sometimes for them to work at all! Then you have to buy mini-servos and a small receiver, which most power flyers don't already have. Before you know where you are, you've spent loads of money on an aeroplane that performs disappointingly, if at all.
I would suggest that an easier and cheaper route (honest!) is to go for 14 cells and .40 size aeroplanes.
For a start, you've probably already got a .40 size aeroplane that's suitable for electrics. Almost anything that weighs around 4 1/2 lbs in glow form and has a reasonable wing area will fly with 14 cells -- and you can use standard size servos and receivers. It will end up weighing more than the glow aeroplane - typically around 6 lbs. but it will fly and do aerobatics. You want proof? Watch my Taube or Novice flying. I did as little as possible to convert them, pretty well just unscrewed the glow and all its bits and made up a battery box in the fuselage. I get 7 to 9 minute flights

depending on how much I throw them around and they both take off in a manner that can best be described as sprightly.
But what about charging 14 cells? Don't you need horribly expensive chargers? Nope. Just split the battery into two 7 cell packs and use two 7 cell chargers costing £22 each! I use Speed One chargers from the local car racing shop or from Hillcott Electronics. Your money won't be wasted 'cos you can use them to charge your transmitter and receiver packs as well. Did you know the worst way you can treat your Tx and Rx packs is to overcharge them at the slow (C/10) rate? It's far better to fast charge them with a decent peak detect charger than give them an overnight charge

(continued on the next page)