Slingsby T.21 Sedburgh training glider

[Balsabasher]

There must be a few former members of the Air Training Corps here ? and if so they will no doubt have had a flight in this lovely old vintage glider the Slingsby T.21 Sedburgh,known with affection as 'The Sled' or 'The Barge' this glider served the air experience flight for many years sending thousands of cadets aloft for their first taste of gliding.
So a model of one is long overdue and today I drew up the plan,cut the templates and cut the wing blank as a start.
Barry

[Balsabasher]

Today the fuselage blank,tail parts and tiny skid etc were cut for the Slingsby T.21B Sedburgh,the wing has had another lamination of wood to enable the undercamber to be incorporated into it.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

I love this stage. A project full of promise. It looks great Barry.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

The T.21 is progressing with the unique shape to the nose replicated and the inverted 'V' upper deck of the fuselage suitably carved,the typical skid and wheel assembly really adds a lot of the character to this lovely vintage glider,looking through my log book today I see that I flew an home build T.21 from the Northumbria gliding club site at Consett, County Durham back in 1963,the thing that sticks out most in my mind was the creaking as you operated the ailerons,there is a certain hollow sound that goes through a glider airframe that you do not get with a powered aeroplane.
I had forgotton that Slingsby's produced a limited number of kits that were sold to the less wealthy gliding clubs to put together themselves,this must have been one of them,the design is sound and rugged and some excellent long distance flights could be had if there were thermals around.

Back to the model,the cockpit area was first chain drilled and finished off with a woodworking file,then the base was filled and sanded flush,the undercamber of the wing will be done with a special tool that I have made up,basically a concave block to the shape of the aforementioned undercamber to which a heavy gade of abrasive has been glued overnight,then it is lots of elbow grease fore and aft down the wing to produce the concaved lower surface.

Barry.

[Balsabasher]

I could not live with anything else but the correct extensive undercamber on the wing of the T.21,so a small sanding jig was made up with the concave shape made from a block of wood surfaced with coarse grade abrasive paper,by drawing the block from tip to tip the shape started to appear nicely gradually finishing with medium grit and right down to crocus paper,two hours later I had what I wanted,the wing mounts neatly upon the pylon with the respective wing incidence,another distinctive feature of this particular glider,get the details right and the model will look right from the start,the wing struts were fashioned from motorway coffee stirers ( kind people present me with all sorts of useful items such as these ! ) were added next,then a tail skid beaten from brass fitted, and the whole thing put aside to dry before major handling.
Barry.

[Ken Pugh]

Must be real tempting not to check the c.g. and toss that baby!

Ken Pugh

[Balsabasher]

I did do Ken,today into some very long grass and it flew !! remember we used to make catapult solids,a craze started in the fifties.
The c of g was a tad nose heavy but yes it was airborne at least once to see if it would fly.
Barry.

[Ken Pugh]

I love these primary gliders.  It's fascinating that people used to build these at home then fly them at neighborhood slopes.

Ken Pugh

[Balsabasher]

In between the showers today I managed to get the sanding sealer on and a coat of primer as well,it may not have any engine but it sure has a lot of character despite its age,Slingsby did a fine job on this excellent design that has taken many aloft for their first aerial excursion.
Barry.