MILES M.20
By Stan Alexander | onawing4602@att.net
THE MILES M.20 WAS a British design that was intended as a stop-gap fighter in case the factories that produced the Spitfire and Hurricane were bombed (that never happened). The all-wood design carried eight machine guns and had fixed gear with wheel pants. Although only two were ever built, it was a great design and makes a fantastic model.
The model was featured in the July 2015 Model Aviation magazine as a construction article by Paul Kohlmann. Tom Poole ordered a short kit from Manzano Laser Works and took the plans and started his model. The airplane features a 45-inch wingspan and is electric powered with a Cheetah 2814-08 motor and a 30-amp ESC. It uses a 2,200 mAh LiPo battery that is way overpowered and also has a laser-printed spinner.
The Miles M.20 is covered with Polyspan and painted with Glidden Gripper primer and Behr latex colors. I’m guessing that the full-scale prototypes were painted in a highly visible color scheme much like the trainers of the day, with a bright yellow underside. Tom stated that the model flies much larger than it really is.
Top Notch Product Company
Gee Bees have always been popular with aviation fanatics, as well as Scale modelers. There have been a variety of color schemes (some that are incorrect) for Gee Bee aircraft on the market. The little Gee Bee Model D Sportster from Top Notch Product Company is smaller with a 44-inch wingspan and only operates on electric power.
The full-scale Model D was fully aerobatic and regularly flew in aerobatic
None of these kits are ARFs. They are all built-up kit models, so you have to build the airframe, cover it, and install the motor or engine.
Jerry Bates Plans
Jerry has kept busy during the pandemic, drawing new airplanes for modelers around the world. In talking to him, he said he’s now drawing Golden Age Scale models. His latest is the Aeronca LC. This is another classic 1/4-scale design, with a wingspan of 108 inches. There are several full-scale Aeronca LC aircraft still around today, and one is located at the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland, Florida.
The model was designed from Paul Matt three-views and factory documentation. The plans include a building manual, as well as three-views and a history of the aircraft. One of the things I really like about Jerry’s plans is that they show radio gear locations, battery, engine, hinges, and nearly all of the details. Many plans sets don’t show this information.
Sources:
National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA)
www.nasascale.org
Manzano Laser Works
tomjl@manzanolaser.com
www.manzanolaser.com
Top Notch Product Company
(615) 866-4327
www.topnotchkits.com
Carolina Custom Kits
(828) 785-5869
www.carolinacustomkits.com
Brodak Manufacturing & Distributing Company
(724) 966-2726
www.brodak.com
Jerry Bates Plans
www.jbplans.com
Florida Air Museum
(863) 904-6833
www.floridaairmuseum.org
AMA Plans Service
(765) 287-1256, ext. 507
https://plans.modelaircraft.org
