TOPIC:

A long, long time ago I saw a huge (well, by the standards of the 1:10 RC cars & 1:32 aeroplane kits I was used to) single IC engined, RC plane of overwing design hanging up high in a local model shop. 

That shop has long gone, suffering the usual fate of a closed business in a middle (ish) class area, being replaced by yet another (Real) Estate Agent. However, the memory of that yellow plane has stayed with me. I’ve never been interested in RC flying, I just appreciated it as an object. IIRC it was an expensive kit, complicated by needing at least 4 channel radio gear & an engine. 


I still have an Acoms search set up in eBay, so I got an email when this Acoms kit popped up. There’s no information on the web about Acoms selling plane kits – though it does make a certain amount of sense. The only information I really had was from reading the text visible in the photos: the “101” model number suggested it was first in the line, the wingspan was 1100mm – so 1:10 scale, and was a Cessna 172 – an overwing design & the VW Beetle of the aero world.

I still felt I was taking a bit of a punt on it, but it cost about the same as very cheap Tamiya RC kit. It arrived today & I was a little disappointed to see it’s made from expanded foam. I don’t know what I thought it was going to be, if it was tissue/film over balsa frame it wouldn’t have any structure in the box, injection moulding would be far too heavy, and vacform parts were unlikely given the likely performance of that 380 motor & 600mAH Nicd  

It will make painting it yellow more problematic though. I will probably scan the decals & cut a set in a different colour – I’d like it to be red, but that makes comparisons to DHLs livery very hard to avoid. It’s also got a bit break on one side of the fuselage, and marks/dents all over, especially on one side of one wing. Other than that, for a (I’m guessing) 45 year old kit, only the elastic bands – which hold the wheels, motor and wings on – have failed. 


Controls are very basic – the motor is one speed, set going by a switch before you throw it into the air. Runtime is estimated at 4 minutes “in ideal conditions”. The required battery is 7.2v, 6N 600mAH Nicd – I seem to remember cells that were a little wider around than an AA cell, and just under 2/3rds the length – two 18650 cells for a nominal 7.4v (and much higher capacity) I think would be a good modern alternative. 

It’s also meant for 2 channel radio – the servos controlling only the elevators (up down horizontal flappy bits on the tail) and rudder (tailing edge of the upright bit of the tail). That’s probably a weight thing, 4/5 smaller modern servos would weigh the same as the two Acoms AS-1 servos it’s built for. 


I’ve also bought a mk.2 Acoms radio set – and paid the same for a tidy “put back in the box set” with some unused original accessories as I have for NIB sets in the past

I hadn’t bought it for this plane, but I believe it’s the period correct set for it. It also has a yellow pennant, “lanyard”, crystals & sticker on the box – must be the universe telling me something, rather than, say, a 1 in 6 coincidence  Photos are all from the eBay listings & I don’t have a battery, that’s just an example.

I have not been intrested in planes either over the years.
But I appreciate the look of some of them.

Have actually looked through my LHS site for their plane selection after the RCKick plane video he posted recently.
I have a glaced snow field right outside my door, so certainly have the space to fly a small to medium one.
Don't think I gonna buy one, but we never know..

Great purchase you did.
Found any production year yet?
 

caprinut wrote:

...
Found any production year yet?

 

Nope, absolutely nothing on the box, parts, or the documentation.

The Acoms manual shows an Acoms mk.ii radio set & mentions the Acoms AS-1 servos, that would date it from 1981 to 1983 at the latest. 

The RiKO flying guide shows a mk.i TX (1978 to 1982), so if I had to pick a year it would be 1981... or 1982. So "only" 40 years old