RE: Mystery Project - Will it fly
Very interesting points. I've gone back and fourth on the side vanes issue. The MAN design had them, the FlyingThingz version does not. The latter flies pretty well without them so I figured I could get away with not having them on my version. No? As to the roof, I would think that one lower wing would provide enough lift so it might be possible to have the roof one piece but without a lifting profile. It would just be to provide stable airflow across the ruddervators (ruddevons? eleruddevons?)
Posted on: 9/18/2012 12:14 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232614

RE: Mystery Project - Will it fly
These might help as well. Flying the dog house with one or more WWI planes is a big hit at our events. We have/had two versions of the dog house, each with their plusses and minuses. The original MAN design was OK. Decent form but pretty squirrelly because of the huge moment caused by all that drag way above the thrust line and much less below. The FlyingThings version flies nice because the engine is more on the midline of the front profile drag. The problem with that design is because the wing is more in the middle, the nose gear is very long. Landing on grass is very problematic. Any deflection of the nose gear just caused the whole thing to tumble. The look of the FlyingThing version isn't all that great either. This design attempts to solve the negatives of both designs yet be a reasonable flier with reasonable looks. This is a video of our original MAN version. (This video has been hijacked by lots of others so you may have seen other versions.) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Mkf1fUTAk[/youtube]
Posted on: 9/18/2012 8:40 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232374

RE: Mystery Project - Will it fly
Ok. Ok. This is what we are dealing with.
Posted on: 9/18/2012 8:20 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232349

RE: Mystery Project - Will it fly
hehe. You are quite right. There is plenty of stuff missing from the illustrations. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Assume that all the surfaces and other bits are secured where they are shown. If that were the case, would the thing fly?
Posted on: 9/18/2012 7:52 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232326

Mystery Project - Will it fly
I'm working on a fun project with a couple of club members. I know it looks very odd but there are reasons. (I'll show you in later posts.) Aside from the missing support structure for the lower wing and other such details, do you think this will fly? A couple of things to know: Because of the stuff not shown, the balance point is actually right where it needs to be and the engine is at a proper place in relation to the two wings. The wings are a Clark Y profile. Total weight will be 5 to 5-1/2 pounds. There is quite a bit of TLAR (That Looks About Right) in this design. I'd like to know your thoughts on the size of the rudder, elevons, and wing cord. It is pretty short coupled but will it fly reasonably by an average experienced pilot? Thanks.
Posted on: 9/18/2012 6:14 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11232225

RE: Let's show our Scale Planes off
Very nice. Neat looking plane too. I assume we'll see more from APLANEGUY Studios.
Posted on: 9/5/2012 4:14 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11218052

RE: CAD motors, servos etc
[quote]ORIGINAL: DwightMann Is there any source for CAD drawings of servos or motors? The last thing that I want is to spend several hours designing and building aplane only to find out that I need to hack the cowl or that the servos don't fit. It would also allow me to make my servo and motor mounts before they are in the plane [/quote] I just re-read your post. What I missed the first time was, "to spend several hours designing and building..." I don't think I can help you. For simple projects, I take months doing just the CAD work and then a year or more to build the project. Complex projects can take more than a year in just the design work. On the Hudson Flier project, it took two years to do the full scale CAD work and then two years to build the full scale plane. It took another six months to do the design again at 1/4 scale and a year to build that. OK. That's certainly not typical. I don't look at the CAD work as something to be used to get things close and then build. The CAD model is the first build. The construction is the second. For the Hudson Flier, both the full scale and 1/4 scale model came in right on the button as far as weight and CG. There were no "aw crap, this part doesn't fit." It was new for the restoration shop. They starting building the undercarriage and I started to get calls that the parts didn't fit. They assured me that they were made to the print. After spending some time with them, I showed them that the parts did indeed all line up and you could practically drop the bolt into the perfectly aligned holes in all the mating parts. I'd much rather scape the electrons on the screen than the parts in the real thing. Use the Force. It is addicting once you see what you can do with it. I haven't used TurboCAD is a long time but I understand that it has a 3D component. I recommend that you get on the band wagon. Best of luck.
Posted on: 9/4/2012 3:13 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11217480

RE: CAD motors, servos etc
Ok, then try this. HiTec, like most servo companies, provides outline dimensions online. I usually get all my HiTec servos from ServoCity and they provide the whole line online. That helps me work out what my dimensions will be. Good enough for approximations. Now that I have several servos modeled, I usually pick from those and so I usually don't need to model another servo for the next project. Motors are a different story. (Are we talking motors or engines.) Our club is very supportive of it members. Whenever I think I might want to use a particular engine, I send out an email and if a club member has that engine, they usually lend it to me for an evening so I can model it. I'm in good standing with the LHS and for very special cases, they have even lent me a new engine to model.
Posted on: 9/3/2012 12:46 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11215911

RE: CAD motors, servos etc
I have SolidWorks models for several HiTec servos and a few nitro engines. What CAD format do you need and what specifically are you looking for?
Posted on: 9/3/2012 4:14 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Scratch Building, Aircraft Design, 3D/CAD"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11215384

RE: Let's show our Scale Planes off
Thanks very much. Actually, it runs in the family. We are three generations of TV people. My father worked for NBC for 38 years starting in the very early days. I worked there for a short time in the 70s. My daughter works for the CBS affiliate here in Rochester. That being said, it doesn't take all that training to do decent R/C videos. For my other videos, you can go to: www.youtube.com/user/RDJunc
Posted on: 8/25/2012 11:43 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11205643

RE: Subversive RC clubs
"You keep thinkin' there Butch. That's what you're good at."
Posted on: 8/25/2012 3:45 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "The Clubhouse"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11205268

RE: Which Balsa USA 1/4 plane?
I have built both their 1/4 scale Pup and DR1. I highly recommend the Pup as a first WWI kit although BUSA is an excellent kit company so I am sure you will have no problem with any of the ones you are considering. There a several build threads on just about ever BUSA kit here on RCU. (Including both of mine.) The point is, you won't be building alone. Maybe this will tip your decision towards the Pup... [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzFXFZa0UyY[/youtube] Good luck with your build, no matter what it is.
Posted on: 8/24/2012 3:12 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11204798

RE: Let's show our Scale Planes off
Thanks all. Yes, it is from "The Natural". YouTube changed their policy awhile back. They will let it stand with possibly some restrictions. It may not be available in all countries or the owner may insist that it be withdrawn or advertisements may be added. We'll see.
Posted on: 8/23/2012 3:56 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11203843

RE: Let's show our Scale Planes off
Here's my video entry... [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzFXFZa0UyY[/youtube]
Posted on: 8/22/2012 9:46 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11202171

RE: Pre-Maiden Jitters
Jitters? What jitters. Just kidding. We all have them, always with new planes. Everyone is different but for me, it isn't about flying skill. Not that I'm an expert or first class pilot. Quite the contrary but my style has little pucker factor. I comfortably stay within my capabilities. For me, the jitters come from the "what did I forget" category. It is the fear that during the build process, I made some horrible mistake that unbeknownst to me, there is a fatal flaw in the plane that has rendered it completely unflyable. Of course the only way to know that is to fly it. I'll have this vision that as soon as the wheels lift off, the plane with flip over on its back and splatter into a zillion pieces. The good news is that has never happened. Checking, rechecking, re-rechecking has helped keep my maidens pretty uneventful. I guess the point is that if you are like most of us, the jitters come with the territory. Just work through them and quell them as best as you can.
Posted on: 8/20/2012 6:04 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Beginners"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11199507

RE: First Advanced kit build, recommendations on tool purchases recommended
I have a scroll saw that was given to me and I have never used it. I do have a belt sander and when I am building, I use it constantly. Just about every stick I cut gets a finished edge with the sander. Take the time to set it up where the table is perpendicular to the belt. The way I build, for sticks as an example, is to mark one end lightly with a pencil at the same angle that the end needs to be. Then I touch it to the belt sander so that end is now set. Then I lay the stick on the plans, mark the other end close to the right length but at the correct angle. I cut that end at the right angle but just slightly oversized.. Then it's back to the belt sander until the stick is the right length. With practice, it takes one, maybe two trips. (I slide from building table to the sander on a chair with wheels.) You would be surprised how quick it goes. Builders all have their own favorite techniques but the belt sander is the most important power tool for me next to the Dremel. I guess the next most often used power tool for me is the band saw. That's for cutting harder woods than I would rather do with the razor saw but then everything ends up being touched by the belt sander. I guess if it were me and I had a concern about those fuselage parts, I'd still go with the belt sander first. With the parts marked, I cut them out with the Exacto (you said they were balsa) outside of the markings and then lay them on the belt sander table and sand them to size. Like I said, if your table is set up right, then edges should be very true. Hope that helps. On the off chance that you catch me there, you can check out the webcam in my shop at:www.vintageaerocraft.com
Posted on: 8/19/2012 7:02 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11199116

RE: First Advanced kit build, recommendations on tool purchases recommended
Oh geeze. Some help I am. I've edited the post. So much for multitasking. Thanks.
Posted on: 8/19/2012 6:53 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11199176

RE: Balsa USA 1/4 Sopwith Pup build
How about some more inspiration for the projects underway... [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzFXFZa0UyY[/youtube]
Posted on: 8/19/2012 7:08 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11198566

Sopwith Pup in Flight
My latest video project. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzFXFZa0UyY[/youtube]
Posted on: 8/19/2012 7:07 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Aerial Photography and Video"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11198564

RE: Minnflyer (AKA Mike Buzzeo) has unexpectedly passed away
Allow me to share some memories of Mike. Mike and I are the same age and we grew up together in Old Tappan, NJ. There was a group of about 5 or 6 of us that hung out together but there was a central "troica" made up of Mike ("Pope"), me ("Junc"), and Tom ("Art"). As you can see by his nickname, Mike was the ring leader. Let's just say that he had a lot more guts than some other attributes so there were lots of adventures far to numerous to describe here. Besides, I'm not sure about that whole statute of limitations thing. I will tell you that my childhood would have been far less colorful if I had never known Mike. I fondly recall spending countless hours at the high school turning in circles with Tom and Mike as we burned gallons of flew in our .049 powered control-line planes. The three of us would ride our bikes to the hobby shop whenever there were a few more dimes and quarters in our pockets. It was like we were entering a sacred temple whenever we when over to Mike's house and down into his basement. There, like in a cave of stalagtites, hung plane after plane after plane. It was the ol' man's (uh, Mr. Buzzeo's) collection. To this day, those were the only times in my life when I ever held a Kraft radio. Tom and I would ride up to to the flying field after stopping off for a quick Sabret hotdog and a soda from the truck and would watch Mr. B and the rest of the club fly. Mr. B was (still is?) a very highly rated competition pattern flier. Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed watching the master at work. On one delightful sunny New Jersey day, the tree of us met again at the high school. This time, the control-line routine wasn't getting the job done for Mike. He decided to invent something right there on the spot. He took the .049 motor off a plane and tied strings to each of the four mounting holes. The other end of the strings he tied to a hankerchief. He then proceeded to twist the whole affair up as he explained the theory. Mike figured that if the string and hankerchief were twisted the right way, when the engine was started and let go, the torque of the motor would keep the whole thing twisted as it rose straight up. Once the fuel ran out, the hankerchief would untwist and form a parachute. Everything would float gracefully back to earth. Now of course, the first thing that had to happen is that we had to start this thing. Trust me. I do not recommend that anyone attempt to start any engine, even an .049, by holding it in your bare hands. Luckily, no digits well lost and we did manage to get this thing started. We then flung it into the air expecting this thing to follow a straight up trajectory that NASA would be proud of. It was not to be. That damned thing went everywhere except two places; straight up or into the ground. It literally chased us all over that high school field. I ran behind the baseball backstop as it chased me. I figured it would just slam into the fencing. Nope. It got within a few feet and then veered up and headed in another direction. It was amazing, terrifying, exhilerating, and exhausting. Needless to say, we did it over and over again until it was too dark to see. The Pope aptly named his invention "The Killer Copter." That is just one of many many adventures we had as kids, and not the most risky. After college, Tom and I drove out to California. He to go to law school, me to start my engineering career at Hughes Aircraft. That is when I finally had enough income to get into R/C (1977). As it turned out, Mike was in San Diego. (I can't recall if he was still in or had just gotten out of the Navy.) We got together from time to time. I'll plead the fifth commandment here and just say that our get togethers had nothing to do with flying. We drifted apart after that and lost touch. I settled down and got married. The kids started showing up soon after and so the R/C stuff went idle. (So did the motorcycle, scuba stuff, ... ) Twenty five years later, the kids were (mostly) out of college and it was time for me to get back into R/C. (I did not get back into the motorcycle but I'll give you one guess as to what other hobby is that I have.) The hobby had changed dramatically in my absence. There was no Internet then and certainly no RCU. Image my jubilation when I finally realized that Minnflyer was "The Pope". (That post is somewhere back in the past on here.) Sorry if I rambled on but I hope you can see that Mike touched a lot of lives in a lot of different ways. Farewell my friend.
Posted on: 8/18/2012 4:35 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "The Clubhouse"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11197179

RE: LHS Rant!
I see it from both sides. Any good merchant can and should focus on the merchandise that moves well and has a reasonable margin. Even as a builder, I respect that decision. On the other hand, as a builder, I would like to be able to support my LHS with the purchase of kits. I think what was really the case that started this post is the frustration of a builder that the complexion of the LHS has changed. I believe that we all lament that. But for me, I'm glad that some LHSs have been able to weather the storm and have found a way to stay in business. Look at my building/buying process. My decision to build a kit is not an impulse buy. I don't wake up some mornings and decide to purchase a kit. I doubt I would spontaneously purchase a kit while strolling down the isle of my LHS. For me, online buying makes the most sense. The few days wait to receive the kit is not a problem. But for me, there is indeed a need for the LHS. When I'm out of CA, fuel, need a prop, some aircraft ply, wheels, hardware, covering, etc., I want it NOW. I rely on the two LHSs in my area for that stuff. At least so far, those things are still available in the store.
Posted on: 8/17/2012 8:03 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11196795

RE: Ignorant question about cutting framing pieces....
Great question and as you now know, builders have their own techniques. For me, after laying the longerons down, I use my belt sander to sand one end of the next stick to be laid to get the angle right. Then I lay that down on the plans and mark the other end with a pencil line that matches the needed angle and very close to where the cut needs to be. Then I use my hobby saw to make a cut matching the angle but leaving the stick about 1/6-1/8 too long. Then it's back to the belt sander to sand the end down to where it needs to be. One, maybe two trips is usually all that are needed. With just a little practice, you'd be surprised how fast it goes and the fits are near perfect. On the extremely rare occasion where I do take too much off :) I just use that stick somewhere else that needs a shorter length. Good luck!
Posted on: 8/17/2012 5:06 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11196633

RE: Balsa USA 1/4 Sopwith Pup build
I'd set the thrust offsets as called for in the manual. 1 deg down, 2 deg to the right (as viewed from in the cockpit.) Knowing that these planes can be tail heavy, I did everything I could to move weight to the front. I went with the Zenoah G26. Heavier than similar engines but additional weight would have been needed with a lighter motor. For a receiver battery, I used NiCads instead of LiPos and mounted them right against the firewall. I used rigging wire to secure the tail instead of the recommended pushrod. It's lighter and more scale like. I have "faux pull-pull" in that the control surfaces are moved with pushrods but in my case, I used carbon fiber rods (lighter) for the parts that were visible outside of the fuselage or wings. I built more a more scale like undercarriage which is probably a little heavier than the kit's design but it is weight that moved the CG forward. All of that resulted in a plane that balanced right on the money and needed no trimming. Good luck with your build! Here are some picture of my Pup.
Posted on: 8/17/2012 4:49 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11196621

RE: Golden Age Air Museum Flying Circus August 18 2012
I think you're the only one that would appreciate this.
Posted on: 8/14/2012 3:03 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11193508

RE: Hoosier Dawn Patrol
[quote]ORIGINAL: cocobear Sure, there was a free flight that landed down in one of the California cement runoff culverts and they went down to get it and...... [/quote] I think you are thinking of "Them", the giant ants movie. The ants are holed up in the drainage tunnels under LA. Giant though they may be, they're no match for James Arnes and James Whitmore.
Posted on: 8/12/2012 11:04 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11190494

RE: Let's show our Scale Planes off
1910 Curtiss Hudson Flier Step 1. Design in CAD (First two pics.) Step 2. Build Full Scale (Next two pics.) Step 3. Build 1/4 Scale
Posted on: 8/11/2012 6:49 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "RC Scale Aircraft"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11189845

RE: A Born Again Pup
Thanks. Nothing super special. It is a Balsa USA 1/4 scale kit. I went with an aluminum cowl (doesn't everyone). The metal work is just aluminum sheeting that can be had at any hardware store. The undercarriage is very scale like so it provides a bungee suspension. The motor is a Zenoah 26. (Not the electronic ignition.) The dummy engine is a single piece out of fiberglass. My wife painted it for me. The prop is an 18x6 Zinger but I have a Zoar Scimitar on the way. The covering is SolarTex. (I love that stuff.) I did a build thread on the original build. Here is the link... www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1484388/anchors_1633442/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#1633442 Here is a link to the first maiden flight... [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBqU_6IfJgM[/youtube] I will post new video when it flys again.
Posted on: 8/11/2012 5:27 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11189756

A Born Again Pup
It was a dark day in 2005... Well OK. It wasn't dark. As a matter of fact it was bright sunshine. I was making lazy circuits around the field and wasn't paying attention to the gently breeze that wanted to drift the plane off the center line away from me. Now there is this tree... Just one. It's no where near where you should be. It would be hard to hit if you tried. Too bad I wasn't trying 'cuz it was easy for me to clip. The right wingtip just nicked a branch. The plane spun around and plopped down on its tail. The repair wasn't hard and didn't take long as measured by the number of hours. But other projects just made it stretch out for seven years! I did take the opportunity to do things to the plane that I didn't originally. Well now it's ready. "Re-virginized" if you will. Looking for the next calm day to "re-maiden" her.
Posted on: 8/11/2012 4:16 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11189706

RE: BUSA 1/6th scale Sopwith Pup build.
Your thoughts on the Tightbond won't hurt anything other than add some additional weight but I'm not sure you will accomplish your goal. A good glue joint is stronger than the wood. When I have, shall we say, a mishap, lots of sticks get broken and not at the joints. :) About the torsional issue, again, probably not an issue. When assembled with the cabanes and outer struts, it will be rock solid. I did a project of the 1910 Curtiss Hudson Flier. (There are threads here on RCU.) I did the CAD work from old photographs and textual descriptions of the plane. I did the design in full scale and worked with the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport to build and fly the full scale replica. I then built a 1/4 version. As I was building the model, I was very concerned about the flexing of the wing(s). This was particularly a concern because the wings were not one piece. They were panels attached together with brackets. So there was no spar, leading or trailing edge that went from one end of the wing to the other. They were also very thin (1/4") and under cambered. I was delighted and very impressed at how rigid the end result came out. It was absolutely rock solid. The 8 foot wingspan plane could be lifted from each wing tip and the wings remained straight as a board. Now there was a lot of wire bracing but it was amazingly strong and stiff. My point is that even though you wont have to do a lot of rigging with the 1/6 scale version of the Pup, it will be very solid and not twist. I'm sure that it will fly like a dream. But again, the Tight Bond won't hurt anything so carry on if that gives you piece of mind. Best of luck.
Posted on: 8/11/2012 9:33 AM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11189341

RE: Getting Sick of this!
I don't mean to get into the ARF vs Kit debate but I am pretty comfortable determining the difference. If I open the box and covering isn't anywhere in the box much less on any portion of the airframe, that's the first sign that it's a kit. The second sign is if I open the box and there is nothing in it that that looks like an airplane or any substantial part there of. That pretty much does it for me. One last point, in my opinion, one builds kits and assembles ARFs. And just to be clear, I have no problem with either. The point of this hobby is to have fun and how you get there is unimportant to me. I hope you are all having fun!
Posted on: 8/10/2012 2:39 PM by Author "Chevelle" in the forum "Kit Building"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11188595