Stevens AeroModel DH-53

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Anyone seen this one?

http://www.stevensaero.com/StevensAe...0-p-20568.html

It is on sale for more than 50% off. I had to buy one!

Any experience with the build.

[Dereck]

I designed and built a 60" span scale model of the DH53 way back in England. Flying was fine, though I would imagine Stevens have gone more for flyability than scale. The model's snag was the very narrow wheel track with the main gear being back under the wing. Made take-off and landing matters of considerable concentration...

There is an airworth example still flying at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden, England. It is an original, the last survivor of the few that were built. Good info sources are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Humming_Bird

http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/havilland_dh-53.php

de Havilland DH53 Hummingbird Flight at Old Warden

Note the length of the take off run in the video! The 53 is not highly powered. It would have been flown that day only if virtually flat calm - note that it takes off and lands in opposite directions.

There's not been many models around of the DH53, though it is do-able. Good marks to Stevens for kitting this model!

I about drove myself crazy drawing up the wing ribs for mine - CAD was well in the future, I used a pencil, ruler etc. Every rib is a different depth on the top surface, though the bottoms are identical RAF 15 section.

Hope that helps. I admit to a liking for the 53 - nearly found myself fancying one of these kits, and that's saying something!

Hope that helps.

Dereck

[road king 97]

Dereck what gets me about the flying fields in the UK is every one i have seen is like a rough field with a little better grass . They all seem so bumpy and with small hills. We have some of thos here but not as bad. joe

[Dereck]

Hi Joe
Old Warden is home to the Shuttleworth Collection and though they still have model meets on it, it's a full sized aircraft grass field with two runways. The one in the video is the longer and most usually used.

The collection was started by the only son of a pretty wealthy family before WW2. The son started collecting cars in the 1930s, then aircraft - they still have a DH bipe there that he bought new in the mid 1930s. He was killed flying in action in the early days of WW2 and with no other heir, and in memorial, his parents set up the Shuttleworth Trust which now uses the old family home as an agricultural school and 'Old Warden', the airfield come aircraft museum.

Last time I went, their youngest aircraft was a clipwing Spitfire Mk9, the oldest is the oldest airworthy aircraft in the world, a 1912 Blackburn monoplane that makes you wonder how anything can fly at that low a speed.

Back when I lived about an hour away, they had a model aircraft meet every month from Easter to September. Each meet had a different theme, though never that closely adhered to. Apart from the large model lot, who eventually were shown the door, every meet had a huge area covered in free flight modellers and a multi-circle control line area.

Yes, it was mostly a roughly mown field, with closer mown runway strips - the field shape dictated runways rather than just pointing aircraft into the wind.

Once went to a model meeting at OW that was held up starting for a couple of hours - while about every flyable De Havilland biplane in Europe took off on the round Britain "Tiger Moth Rally". What a terrible thing to happen to one

Yes, some of the grass fields are a little bumpy. But sometimes you can live with it

D

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Just got my Stevens AeroModel DH-53 today. Fast shipping...ordered Friday got it Monday. Wow. Looks like a great build. Mostly everything included in kit. Here is an interesting You Tube video I came across re the build...time lapse!

DH.53 Hummingbird - Laser Cut Kit - Time Lapse Build

Anyway...have to finish my Mountain Models EVA kit first before tackling this one!

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Well...finished my first build (the Mountain Models EVA)...while working out the power issues to get that bird airborne I decided to start on the DH-53 from Stevens AeroModel. I must say the instruction sheet and the plans are superior. The quality of the kit is superb! I just spent a few hours building up the fuse...here are a few pics!

[Dereck]

Well, they've got the wheels about in the right place, so watch taking off from rough grass... The back end of the fuselage under the tailplane is pretty 'scale' looking too.

Go on - fit ailerons and get rid of that three channel dihedral for the correct scale angle. If you wire in enough differential so you get close to no down-going and all up-going, it'll be scale and handle great.

D

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Next step involved completing the fuselage. Added the motor block, and the stringers. Motor Block went together well...but a little sanding was involved as it was a tight fit. The kit provides a few extra strings just in case you break one...and that is exactly what I did after reading about the extra stringers...

Here are the completion photos so far...

Next step involves sanding the fuse...then on to the wings!

[Dereck]

Interesting way of making the cowling and top decking...

Now, about making the dihedral 'scale' and waggling the ailerons with a pair of micro servos? Go on - I double dare you

D

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Dereck

Interesting way of making the cowling and top decking...

Now, about making the dihedral 'scale' and waggling the ailerons with a pair of micro servos? Go on - I double dare you

D

Hmmmm...an interesting thought! Not sure my building skills are u to snuff! However I do have an extra micro aileron micro servo from my gutted UM T-28!

[Nieuport Fly Guy]

Finished the build but it is tail heavy! Could this be converted to a 180 motor and 2 cell with servo's?

[buzzltyr]

Originally Posted by Nieuport Fly Guy

Finished the build but it is tail heavy! Could this be converted to a 180 motor and 2 cell with servo's?

NFG, I'd write Bill Stevens at SA and ask his opinion. I think, if you've got a regular AR6400, you need an ESC as well as the 180 motor. There is an AR6400LBL that has a brushless ESC built into it.

Mark