Mini Jazz Gallery

Mini Jazz

This wee beastie was the first plane I built from a published plan. The Mini Jazz was published as a free plan in RCM&E about 3 years ago and from my first look, I knew I had to build it. Designed by Malcolm Corbin of Street Machine and Easy Street fame, this 10-15 sized fun fly has superb lines, and was a reasonably straightforward build.

The plan was published over two issues, and unfortunately I missed the second one. When I came to order the back copy, it had sold out - testament to the appeal of the model. The best I could do was a photocopy of the article, which included half the plan, which wasn't usable. Therefore, I ordered the full plan from Nexus, along with the cowl and canopy. I also ordered a wood pack from Balsacraft (now sadly gone; thanks Ripmax).

The plane was built on the dining room table in the old house, and covered sitting in the lounge watching the telly, so it became almost part of the furniture.

I found building from a plan a bit more challenging than a kit, not because I had to cut out all of the parts from sheet, but because I had to work out a lot more things such as control runs and linkages. There were also problems with the cowl - it was too small to fit the front of the fuselage, meaning I had to make a plug, mould and finally a new epoxy-glass cowl. After three weeks of hard work, I ended up with a new cowl which fitted like a glove.

I used Topaz mini servos all round, with a Futaba 116 receiver, and a 250mAh NiMH battery pack from Overlander. With a bit of careful working out, I was able to get the model to balance without any additional weight.

I used lightweight snakes for the elevator and rudder linkage, whereas the magazine model used a closed loop and split elevator pushrods. With the benefit of experience, I'd probably now use a closed loop for the rudder, but still use a joined elevator and a single linkage.

The engine is an OS15FP, bought before they got LA'd, and I managed to squeeze a 4oz tank into the fuse. There was just enough room to get the throttle cable alongside, and that was all.

This plane flies extremely well! For a small plane, it isn't particularly twitchy, and will do pretty much anything you ask. I used the recommended control throws and put in plenty of exponential on the elevator and ailerons. The only real problem is the inverted engine position. This makes starting difficult and leads to more dead sticks than I'd like. The plane is now semi-retired, and has a place of honour in the workshop.

This shows the main components of the model. This isn't mine, but one I built for a web friend in America who had sent me a Great Planes Super Sportster 20. This time around, it went together pretty quickly; I can now build one of these wings in an evening.

My plane was covered in Solarfilm and Solartrim, following the scheme in the published article. I had contacted the Malcolm Corbin by e-mail earlier in the build, asking for some help with setting the right thrust on the engine, and also whether my control linkage setup would work. He was very patient with me, and replied to my enquiries promptly. I subsequently sent some photos to him, and he was very complimentary. I suppose it must be nice to see a plane that you have designed being built and enjoyed by others.

This page was last updated on 21/02/04