The Minimoa in the air at the County Model Flying Club (CMFC).

Marvellous Minimoa Redux

Part II: Variations on a Theme

Along with the Type 13 Petrel, the iconic Minimoa has always had a space in my heart and in my hangar. The proof of this lies in the fact that the latest version is the tenth in the line.

The Minimoa’s bare bones.

There aren’t many full-size Minimoas left, and the majority are of the main production version, so the Swiss registered HB-282 is the only remaining earlier version of this glider. The main differences are a slightly lowered dihedral and a differently shaped rudder, along with which she has gained a modern canopy and Schempp-Hirth brakes rather than the original top-mounted spoilers.

Close up details.

So pleased was I with the previous ¼-scale version, due to its ability to fly in slightest lift and its OAP-friendly proportions, it seemed a no-brainer to build this my third version of that particular machine. Once again, the fuselage is Solartexed and painted with 2K paint, whilst the flying surfaces are covered with a mixture of HK matt clear and red film.

On the ground at County Model Flying Club (CMFC).

Due to the combination of the all moving rudder, the exaggerated gull dihedral and the large ailerons, trimming takes a good bit longer than usual, with just the right amount of co-ordinated aileron and rudder (CAR) and aileron differential needed to get pleasingly coordinated turns.

In the air at CMFC via Mobius 4K camera.

At the time of writing the trimming bugs have just about been ironed out and with a bit of luck and a following, sorry, I mean a wind blowing directly on a hill, we might be able to film the Petrel & Minimoa in action.

Left: Getting a tow from Smallpiece’s faithful Greenley tug. | Centre: In the air at CMFC. | Right: The HB-282’s quarter scale predecessor.

Plans for both the Petrel and Minimoa are available from me on PDF form and there are build logs for both on the Scale Soaring UK (SSUK) forum, and I have linked these in the Resources section following the Variations on a Theme video.

Thanks for reading and good luck with your own Minimoa project!

©2022 Chris Williams

Resources

• Minimoa Build Log — From the SSUK website: “My personal history with the Minimoa goes back a long way. The b/w pic shows my 2nd version in the early 1980’s, scaled up from the Bob Banks plan, which was my 1st…”
• Minimoa Plans — These can be downloaded from the SSUK website. This only requires being a ‘Gold Member’, which simply means going to the donations page and making a small donation for the upkeep of their website.
• The Williams Anthology — The collected works of Chris Williams as published in the New RC Soaring Digest.

All images, video and soundtrack by the author. Read the next article in this issue, return to the previous article in this issue or go to the table of contents. A PDF version of this article, or the entire issue, is available upon request.