Some models are built in weeks or months; others take a year or two. But it has taken no less than 20 years to complete this impressive Scheibe SF-33 motor glider. When it comes to giant scale, 2/3-scale (66%) is definitely at the top of the size scale. We caught up with the builder Ian Turney-White to get the inside scoop on this monstrous-scale aircraft too big to be referred to as simply a “model.” You don’t get a real feel for how big this motor glider is until you see it at the field with its designer/builder.
Model Airplane News: Ian, wow! This is an amazing scale project. Tell us how your story started.
Ian Turney-White: The story began with a couple of magazines in 1995, which featured articles on scale motor gliders by English glider expert Cliff Charlesworth. One of Cliff’s small drawings was of the Scheibe, and with me living in a very flat part of England, the idea of a motor glider really appealed to me. Via a German friend, Wolfgang Haas of King model engines, I was able to get some factory three-views and printed matter, and the seed was sown.
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