I have already introduced you to Thierry Saunier on another page. Thierry is one of those creative minds who never seem to run out of new and exciting ideas. He has sent me some pictures of his latest creation. Not only did these photos cause my highest amazement about the technical solutions in this design - I was just overwhelmed by the excellent workmanship of this craft. Whichever photo I scrupulously “inspected” for even the most tiny detail - this is one great airplane.

Thierry’s airplane is modelled after a fighter airplane. Around 1936 the French designer Emile Dewoitine ( try to pronounce it like “ dewoateen” ) offered his design for an “ avion de chasseur” ( = fighter ) to the French Air Force. The Dewoitine 520 saw service since 1939. While its performance was not quite up to that of the Messerschmitt 109, it definitely had some advantages in manoeuvrability and in the dive.

Judging from the photos Thierry’s airplane is very close to scale. To achieve the desired shape Thierry has used some unconventional construction methods in using foam blocks for the front end and stringer construction for the rear fuselage.

Being an original thinker Thierry found another way of improving in flight appearance of his Dewoitine. Without any doubt a sleek fighter airplane’s impression will surely benefit from retract gears. That’s exactly what Thierry did. With his kind of drive system there was no big problem to actuate the gears. Which brings us to the last and - probably - most exciting feature.

Thierry’s airplane is driven by an electric motor. Now this is no longer breathtaking news. Others have done it , too, and quite successfully, at that. Maybe you’ve already heard about the French JMP timer; a device produced for us electric control line flyers. This tiny little gadget tells the controller how to control the motor, but it can do more. In this case it can actuate a servo which in turn can move the undercarriage - Up and Down !

I’ve included two photos of the JMP timer. In one photo you can judge the size; it’s shown together with a controller ( not Thierry’s ) which will give an indication of it’s size. This timer can be programmed for several functions by pressing that tiny button once or twice or …( you get the idea), according to your requirements. Detailed operating instructions can be downloaded from www.bsdmicrorc.com .

As if this wasn’t enough - have a look at the airplane’s gear recess, the intake screen, and the sliding canopy ! This just leaves us mere mortals with utter admiration of what is possible. I feel most privileged to have Thierry’s permission to offer his performances to the public on my website.

For more technical information see the table below. Thank you so much, Thierry !

airplane Dewoitine 520 dimensions span 156, length 126 cm weight 1900 gramm design dimensions close to Serge Delabarde's YAK 55 stunter construction balsa and dtyro fuselage, D-tube wing, Modelspan covering 2 x 12 gr/sq dm finish acrylic waterbased paint, light polyurethan varnish, self made waterslide decals help from Claude Dannau, scale modeller motor AXI 2826/10 controller Jeti timer JMP retracts Robart 600, modified for smoothness servo Hitec 5 kg propeller   Graupner CamProp 12,5 x 6  battery  Polyquest 4s1p 3700  lines  19,65 m, lap time 5,3 sec