THE ELIMINATOR
The Eliminator is a 45.25" wingspan, 1.5cc powered free-flight, pylon duration model.
Designed and flown by Barry Wheeler in the 1952 World Championships, Barry and the Eliminator won first prize. The model was kitted that year by Chuck Doughty and Aeromodeller Plan Service published the design in 1953.
Here's what they had to say:
Barry Wheeler's "Eliminator" is the Birmingham club's development of the very successful "San de Hogan" American design. In plan form it closely follows Bill Winter's "All-american" and it incorporates a Denny Davis drag tab for glide trim. Add to these features, a sheeted box section fuselage, tip-up tail d/t, skid undercarriage, offset underfin, side mounted 1.49 motor on side and downthrust pre-set bearers, flat bottomed sections, 52% tail and you have a potent model. The APS plan will be found perfectly self-explanatory, needing no further comment.
We have added detail for detaching the wing halves as an aid for transport, this is used in our test model (built from Chuck Doughty's kit) and the whole model can now be carried in a box measuring only 8 x 8 x 33 inches. As with the "Komet", the "Eliminator" can use a little wash-out on each wing tip panel. Barry Wheeler recommends that the C.G. should be between 85% and 95% of the root chord and that glide tests should be made with tail packing to trim for a long and fast glide. Then set the clockwork timer for 6 seconds, add an extra 1/32" trailing edge packing under the tail and launch with the engine at low revs. Best trim is for a 100ft right hand spiral climb, followed by 100ft left hand circles in the glide, the offset underfin taking care of this and also helping to stabilise the spiral climb. To increase forward speed, that extra piece of 1/32" tail packing can now be removed. To tighten the glide turn, add plasticine ballast weight to the drag tab and for best climbing performance, fit an 8d x 6p wooden prop.
AT A GLANCE
- Wingspan: 45.25" (114.9 cm)
- Power system: Powered free-flight
- Manufacturer: Aeromodeller Plan Service
- Designed by: Barry Wheeler
- Difficulty: Intermediate
YOUR KIT
This kit is a laser-cut replica of the original APS Eliminator. Construction of the model from this kit uses the traditional method of "stick and tissue", that consists of a built up balsa wood skeleton (framework), covered with a tissue skin. In this case the model is "skinned" with balsa sheet. The balsa frameworks are built over a copy of the original plan that is printed on high quality paper at full size. Free flight means just that - once the model is launched, it is on its own. It must follow a predetermined flight path established when the model is initially adjusted for flight or "trimmed". This type of traditional building technique and flying requires a degree of patience and skill, but is extremely rewarding.
KIT CONTENTS
- Balsa wood sheets with precise laser cut parts
- Ply cut parts
- All strip wood.
- Acetate
- Full size printed plan with annotations
NOT INCLUDED
CHRISTMAS 2024 DELIVERY INFORMATION
The workshop will be closed from 12pm Friday 20th December 2024 until 9am Monday 6th January 2025.
Any orders placed while the workshop is closed will be despatched in the week starting Monday 6th January 2025.
We will monitor emails during the period we are closed, but replies may take longer than usual.
Thank you for your custom over the past year - we look forward to serving you again next year.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The VMC Team
UK SHIPPING
Most orders are shipped via Royal Mail’s Tracked 48 service.
We are in a very rural location and so our Royal Mail collection is at around 1pm.
Example:
An order placed before 12pm on Monday should be with you on Wednesday.
An order placed after 12pm on Monday should be with you on Thursday.
For larger or heavier orders, we use APC to deliver your package on a Next Working Day service.
Example:
An order placed before 10am on Monday should be with you on Tuesday.
An order placed after 10am on Monday should be with you on Wednesday.
Shipping is free to UK Mainland addresses for orders over £30.00, otherwise we charge £6.00 for Royal Mail Tracked 48 parcels and £12.00 for APC Next Working Day.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Unfortunately, for the purposes of the new EU GPSR regulations introduced on 13th December 2024, Northern Ireland falls under EU jurisdiction.
Until we have worked out how to comply with the new rules, we will not send items to Northern Ireland.
We are really sorry about this and hope to have a solution in place sometime in 2025.
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK ISLANDS
Royal Mail considers the Scottish Highlands and UK Islands as part of the UK and so does not charge a premium for deliveries.
Pretty much all other UK couriers have surcharges for deliveries to the following postcodes: IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH17-26, PH30-44, PH49-50, ZE, IM, TR21-25
If you live in one of these postcodes and the parcel size of your order is outside Royal Mail's dimensions, you will have to pay a surcharge.
Our system is not clever enough to work this out and so if your order attracts a surcharge, we will contact you before despatch to see if you would like to pay the surcharge and proceed with the order or cancel and receive a full refund.
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING
EU COUNTRIES
On 13th December 2024, the EU introduced new regulations with respect to product safety called GPSR.
There was very little publicity or notice given to small UK businesses about the new regulations, but needless to say, to comply will be time-consuming, onerous and probably expensive.
Unfortunately, until we have worked out how to comply with the new rules, we will not send items to EU countries.
We are really sorry about this and hope to have a solution in place sometime in 2025.
Smaller items
Items that fit within Royal Mail International Tracked Medium Parcel parameters (59cm x 17cm x 15cm weighing less than 2kg) can be sent to most countries outside the UK.
For example up to 3 of our smaller 18” wingspan kits can fit into one of these parcels.
A parcel like this currently costs around £18 to send to the USA and will take up to 3 weeks to arrive. This is because Royal Mail hands over the parcel to the local Post Office service for your country who have to clear it through customs and then deliver it to you.
The Royal Mail tracking code also transfers over to the tracking for your country’s postal service.
Larger items
For items that do not fit within Royal Mail International Tracked Medium Parcel parameters, we use standard international couriers such as DHL, FedEx and UPS.
These companies use something called volumetric weights to calculate the cost of shipping.
For example, a Balsa Basics RC bundle kit that measures 102cm x 34cm x 16cm and weighs 2.5 kg is actually calculated at 14kg!
This makes these very expensive to send outside the UK - a large kit can cost nearly £60 to send to the USA.
