Mick Reeves
Fournier RF4-D Build
Five Year labour of Love
By Phil Westwater
Info:
Span: 110”
Weight 4.6kg
Motor: Overlander Tornado Thumper v3, 3548, 900KV
Batteries: 4S 5000mah (motor),
2S 2400mah (radio gear)
Prop: 12x6
Servos: 7
Finish: Fuselage, fin and tailplane: glass cloth
and hand painted/polished.
Wings: heat shrink film.
This build is the result of a trip down memory land I had during Covid lockdown, when I decided to fulfil a long-term ambition to build this rather handsome looking motor-glider. My interest stemmed from my late teens when I bought the kit but never finished it. To be honest it was probably beyond my abilities at the time so, 40 years on I decided to have another go. In those days it was a fairly comprehensive boxed kit but now a little less so, being more of a plan-pack/short-kit, albeit with various hardware and mouldings available. I decided to build the electric powered version, an option now available that would have been inconceivable in the 80s for a model of this size.
build photos
Left Wing
Left wing, all 55” of it, with another deviation from the plan to install glider-style airbrakes to make the mechanics much simpler than the rather crude design offered. These are operated from micro servos adjacent to the brake, rather than the recommended shenanigans involving lengthy torque rods from serve(s) in the fuselage. The ribs were laser cut as purchased, however, they were all cut to the wrong profile bar none, which was frustrating as every single rib had to be carefully and painstakingly re-shaped to fit. Washout built in by design, an essential requirement for this long thin tapered wing
Wing Joiner
The wing joiner. Of all the modifications I did during the build, this is one that I didn’t change and wish I had. What you see is the joiner in its entirety and its only about 6”x 3” ply glued to spars and spar-webbing and other reinforcements. Whether this is up to the job only time will tell. I wish it extended further into the wings or that I had use a glider “blade and brass box” arrangement. Yes, I am concerned about this, but its too late now!
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme. Stupidly ambitious but it is scale. Yes it took me ages, with lots of swearing etc, but in fact, very little re-work and no major disasters. Solartrim used for the sunbursts and most of the red areas of the model, with a few exceptions which are colour matched paint from a local car paint specialist.
Other Bits & Pieces
Mick Reeves also supply an optional and excellent nosewheel mechanical retract unit for the main wheel. Tail wheel was scratch built from aluminium by a friend who is a pretty handy metalworker. Outrigger wheels are permanently attached to the wings at the inboard aileron rib.
In Summary
This kit has been a labour of love but has given me immense satisfaction in building my first proper scale model. It’s generally not been an easy build and has been quite testing at times (in fact most of the time!). I cannot say that the quality of the design is particularly good and I have made many sensible alterations to improve some areas as it is generally under-engineered. For example, the design calls for no hardwood in the wings at all (except the wing joiner) and no spar webbing beyond the joiner, so I added hardwood spars in place of the recommended balsa and webbing for the whole span. Bearing in mind that the wings only weigh 1kg of the 4.6kg total weight, this seemed appropriate.
The kit reflects both the techniques of the 1970’s and, I believe, the relative inexperience of a young designer. That said, it has stood the test of time and did win Mick Reeves the Scale World Championship title in 1974. Whether mine is any good, or flies at all, we’ll find out one flat calm day at the strip.
Next inline on my workbench will be finishing my 75% complete Brian Taylor Mk.XIV Spitfire, after a hiatus of nearly 30 years. Wish me luck!