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SLECPOST JUNE 2026

WELCOME TO SUNSHINE

At last I can turn the central heating off, or at least down, and no need for heating my garden workshop, in fact I have had my windows open in there to keep it cool. Not just the sunshine but longer days and more model flying and sailing. On that note I am planning a trip to Sheringham, where there is an excellent Edwardian model boat pond, I have sailed there with my model boats all of my life. If you find yourself near the Norfolk coast, go and find this wonderful place, it is rare to find no one sailing their model boats there.

FROM THE CAPTAINS' WORKSHOP

Leading on from last month’s SLECPOST, I refer back to Gerald Priddle's statement: “In praise of the SLEC fuselage Transfer Linkages:” This got me thinking about my SLEC fuselage jig, which I have featured many times in my articles for various modelling magazines, including the Aeromodeller. I have used my fuselage jig to aid me to make hundreds of fuselages straight and twist free, but mainly for radio-controlled aircraft, some over 1200mm long. In recent years, I have returned to my roots, building and flying free-flight models as well as my larger radio-controlled ones.

The jig as supplied is a kit of parts, as can be seen in the image below.

I decided to make a new jig using the original parts and modifying them, so this will form the Captains Workshop project for this month.

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As described earlier, I have been keen to attempt to make a smaller fuselage jig for small free-flight and small radio-controlled model aircraft. The original and still available jig is continually being sold directly from SLEC or at shows. The original plastic mouldings must be the best part of forty years old in design, a great testament to a great concept. The upshot of all of this is best described as me stating to Leo (the MD of SLECUK), that I thought I could modify the existing parts to produce a jig which would suit my purposes and that of other modellers who wish to produce smaller model aircraft, without having to have more master moulds commissioned.

This is an image of my own personal SLEC fuselage jig which has given me loads of service, it is approximately 5 foot long or 1500mm and shows an extra set of angles brackets, which I bought later, hence the two colours. The jig has allowed me to produce model aircraft of larger sizes with a fully square fuselage as a result. I probably bought and extra set of bolts, as every hole has a captive nut in place on the underside.

I have had this box as a transportable building board and tool box 770mm x 370mm. I decided it could also house a smaller fuselage jig.

I drilled every location and fitted a captive nut underneath and secured with Epoxy resin, to avoid them dropping out over time.

I have had this box as a transportable building board and tool box 770mm x 370mm. I decided it could also house a smaller fuselage jig.

Captive nuts being fitted, later smeared with Expoxy resin.

A set of angle brackets with one modified in the foreground. The angle bracket was cut using a saw and a mitre block to fit the lite-ply pieces, which are available from SLEC as a set.

I later cut some more angle brackets to allow for really small models by cutting the newly available supplied lite-ply pieces in half. You will see a string of images, showing all stages and finally the jig being used with the smallest angle brackets.

Angle bracket cut to accommodate the lite-ply pieces as shown. The larger part of the bracket, which is in contact with the board, is kept to original size.

I used both Foam 2 Foam and Superphatic, both from Deluxe Materials; they both worked perfectly well.

I rubbed the surface with my sanding block from Permagrit Tools to give a key before using the adhesive.

Here is my new jig being used to produced a square fuselage of a small rubber powered aircraft.

My box is now being used to store all the jig parts when not in use, brackets, bolts and all.

All three sizes of angle brackets are so easy to make, and all the parts are available from SLEC.

Finally, the smallest of my angle brackets being used to make my new P20 design, “Captain 20”, this model will be available as a laser cut kit, very shortly. The plan has been offered as a free plan in the Aeromodeller and is featured in May 2026.

THIS MONTHS OFFER

As I have been working on making the best use of the SLEC Fuselage Jig and now available with those extra lite-ply pieces, the company has decided to offer the Standard jig with a discount of 10 % for all jigs ordered and purchased in June 2026.

If you are a builder of model aircraft and haven't yet purchased one of these amazing jig sets, treat yourself. Please use the discount code: JIG 10

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READERS MODELS

This month, I have two contributions for you. SLECUK not only produce model aircraft kits, but also all the materials you need to scratch build your own model boat and a large selection of kits if you prefer this way of building. First of all have a look at this beautiful Tug by Keith Searle.

T.I.D. TUGS. L.O.A. 74 ft, B.O.A. 17 ft, draught 7.3ft. Designed for the Ministry of War Transport in 1942, with the first one being delivered in February 1943. Eventually, 182 were built, numbers 1-12 and 14-183. These tugs were thought to be the first all-welded ships built in the United Kingdom, following the systems employed in the U.S.A. The request from the ministry was “Design, organise and start work immediately towards achieving, in the shortest possible time, the delivery of one tug per week, using in the process, little or no shipyard labour”. To achieve this, the tugs were built in 8 sections and taken to a number of shipyards for final assembly. Much of the welding was completed by female welders as many of their male counterparts had signed up for the armed forces. When in full production, one was completed every 5 days. These tugs were designed for shallow and coastal waters, with the Normandy landings in mind. Although they were shipped around the world, they were never located in Falmouth. This being said, for the model, the livery of the Falmouth Towage Company has been used. This typically was a green hull with black bulwarks and a white stripe, white or cream upper works and a black funnel with a broad white band. Following the tradition of this company to name its tugs after Cornish saints, the model has been named St Blazey after Saint Blaise, with a registered home port of Falmouth. Each year, over the last weekend of July, Fareham & District Society of Model Engineers hold their public open days. At the event, they have a display tent for model boats. To help fill the space I took along the tug. What I didn’t realise was that the boats were judged and a cup was awarded to the best on display. Much to my amazement I got a phone call on Saturday evening to say the tug had won the cup. The model was scratch built over a couple of years to a scale of 1/22. The final dimensions being 40 inches by 11 inches. It’s radio-controlled and runs a lipo powered electric motor. It goes to show that there’s hope for all us modellers. Regards, Keith.

Boat Kits - Shop the range

ANOTHER HAPPY CUSTOMER

Sky 40 & Sky 120 models

I picked up a Sky 40 kit at one of the shows as I was looking for a sports trainer model for general club use. Being an experienced builder for some 36 years, I found the model extremely simple to build, and it was completed in just two weeks! The accompanying instruction booklets in the kit would make it straightforward for a total novice with no building experience. I was impressed with the accuracy of the laser-cut parts of the fuselage and wings, which locked together tightly. I did a ‘dry run’ with the fuselage before glueing joints and checked it in SLEC’s fuselage jig; it was spot on.

I powered the model with an Irvine 46 I had spare, and it has more than enough power. With gentle throws it’s ideal for a novice, and with increased throws the model is aerobatic in the hands of an experienced pilot. So my verdict is a ‘five-star’ rating.

Another bonus with this model is that should a mishap occur, you can get spares from SLEC within a week or so. So no waiting months for spares as you find with ARTF’s from the far East!

At a following show I purchased the large Sky120 kit as I had a Zenoah 38 looking for a home. A much bigger version of the Sky40, again the build was straightforward with the same qualities as the Sky 40 and was completed in a month. As I transport models in a large van, I did deviate on the design and chose to make a ‘one piece’ wing for the Sky 120. The Zenoah 38 swinging a 18 x 10 prop powers the Sky120 easily. So another ‘five star’ rating. Dereck Russell.

Sky 40		Sky 120

SHOWTIME

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