BlackPhantomDragon

Built a new Front and rear dash for the plane this weekend. Seemed to take forever to minaturise the gauges to just the right size and get printed so could still read most of the info.

Will take some photos later of them in the plane but make it look so much better then the red dashes from the factory. Tried to match as close to the real plane as I could but not exact.


Front




Rear

MercerAUST

Looks like your will be a beauty Dragon.

I've mostly finished mine. The fuselage server holes need about 3mm shaved off the rear for server fitment. The tail push rods will only fit with the server horns in the one position, so make sure you line them up to save having to turn them around. The rudder server goes in the slot closest to the elevator servers.

The tail goes together fairly well. The tail wheel looks like a nice job of engineering. The fitting isn't well explained in the manual, but it is pretty simple. Hooking up all the control rods is fairly straightforard except for some rust on mine which meant the lock nuts were tight until oiled.

I'm using an ASP 120 4-stroke and the cowling is ample size. I cut a smallish rectangle (about 2cm X 8cm) to accomodate the rocker head and for the glo-stick, a 1cm diameter hole for the high needle and a 3cm diameter hole for the exhaust. The cowl fits right back on the nose and I'm not sure whether the underneath vent is big enough for engine cooling. I'll try the prop without a spinner which might help in forcing air through the cowling holes at the front. I had to enlargen the prop hole a little to avoid rubbing.

The detailing, gluing all the bitsand pieces on, is relatively straight forward. The finished plane looks good, much nicer than the single photo on the Seagull web page, apart from the pilots. The stock pilots aremuch too large, coarse featured, and give the plane a cartoonish appearance, what with the bright colours and all. Were did you get your replacement pilots?

Maiden next weekend, weather permitting.

All in all, I'm impressed by the general quality of the kit. The hardware, in particular, is good quality. It has been one of the simplest planes I have put together recently and, apart from the fuselage server holes, everything has fitted together well. The finish is good, even beautiful in some of the details (for example, the seperate fuselage cover covering the wings). I found the fitting design to be very similar to the BH Stuka, which was my previous build.

BlackPhantomDragon

Hi Mercer good luck with the maiden flight. Hope all goes well. Would love to see some pics of it all finished.

I have not purchased the pilots yet but have found 2places to buy them.
http://www.austars-model.com/display...ESM%20Warbirds
and
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/330559973...84.m1423.l2649

The real plane did not have a spinner. Still undecided what to do, Thought about trying to design a type of cover that goes over the prop nut if using a DLE20.
If I went the DLE30 route then would have a perfect prop hub for it but I think would be to much work to get the 30 on. Only time will tell.

Happy Landings.

MercerAUST

Did some more finishing on mine (installing Rx, switch and checking adjusting control surfaces). The wings fitted perfectly without any sandpapering or other adjustments needed. I have to say that I am impressed with the finish of this kit, everything has fitted perfectly together (with the very minor exception of the fuselage servers) and all the hardware has been high class. This is one big plane when assembled.

I checked my CoG, but it is was tailward as I expected. I'll relocate the battery to the motor mount, but I suspect I will still have to add 50-100gm. I learned my lesson about being careless with the CoG with my previous BH 120 size Stuka. My attitude of she'll be right with a full tank and I won't fly it around much didn't turn out too well. I enjoyed it so much I kept the plane up in the air, but it really did make a difference once the tank got about half empty! 

MercerAUST

Didn't get a chance to maiden on the weekend - too windy. I took it down to the field to tune the engine. Engine cooling in the cowl seems fine. The plane rolls very easily on our synthetic turf strip and a super low idle is needed to keep it still. While the stock location of the fuel tank in relation to the upside down engine is not too bad, there is still gravity flow and my ASP 120 tends to load up on idle and eventually quits after about a minute. Anything above half throttle is fine. I can add more fuel line, use narrower gauge or put in an inline filter to try and increase the fuel line resistance and slow up the flow a bit, but I might try it first - from experience, the only real difficulty will be taxiing it to the runway and keeping ir running. Once I can gun it, and get it in the air, it should be fine.

BlackPhantomDragon

Certainly was windy on the weekend.
I decided to build another set of dashes for the plane and was happier with the final product, Also mixed up some yellow and orange to match the colour of the flap hinges and painted the white landing gear straps so they won't stand out as much. may also paint the control horns as well but not sure just yet,
Ordered my 2 pilots. 1 US & 1 British 1/5 scale so hope they will be here before the weekend. I will take some pics of the new dash and pilot installed. Hope they are the right size.

Would like to see some pics of your plane as well Mercer. Hope this weekend is good for your maiden. I have to work all day saturday so hope sunday is nice.

Regards Greg

BlackPhantomDragon

Did a new Front and Rear dash and also got my Pilots. Still think the Front Pilot still needs to be raise a fraction. I will be making a a box for the pilots to sit on to get the right hiegt as I just had a piece of wood on the floor for the shots. I think I may lower the Rollover bar a fraction as well.

BlackPhantomDragon

Some pics of the new dash.

BlackPhantomDragon

Mercer
Have you maidened yours yet.
How did she go.
What amount of flap have U decided on.

Regards Greg

MercerAUST

Looks very good Greg. Those pilots are much better.  I couldn't maiden the previous weekend because there was a chemical fire nearby, and all access roads were closed. Last weekens was too cold and windy. I'm beginning to think that the fates are trying to tell me something. I haven't touched the plane for a fortnight. I need to get my wife to show me how to use her digital camera so I can take a few photos. As I said previously, it is a good looking plane, but I'll have to reserve my final conclusions until I can get it into the air.

BlackPhantomDragon

I did a bit more in the cockpit over the last couple of days.
Decided the pilots need to sit a bit higher still to make look right with the windshields as I think they are just a tad oversize.
Made some boxes up to sit the pilots on. Once they are installed permanently will touch up the paint work.
The original had blue wall behind the pilots so I have painted these as well and also filled up the 2 holes that were in that are. No idea what they were for? the only thing I could think of was to let air into the Fuse. If need be I may drill a hole under the pilot box and in the front of the pilot box to let air in.

Also I did not like the crappy silver with heaps of brush stokes on the pipes and antenna's. Also they were the wrong colour as they look like should be white on the real plane from some pics I have seen. The long aerial was also black. I have also cot the end out of the pipes and painted inside black. Will look at airbrush some soot on the rear pipe to match the photos as well but the weather is to cold and wet at present.

Also drilled 1.5mm holes in the handles and glue tooth picks in so can make a better attachment to the fuse than just glue on to the covering.

Also the pitot tube is not red but a metal colour with a bit of discolouration on it. I sanded the red off and painted the steel wire with metallic metal then the whole thing with a gold wash.


Pilot boxes and patched rear hole.

BlackPhantomDragon

Here are Pics of the Painted antenna and pipes.

BlackPhantomDragon

The Pitot tube.




I am not using the horns that came with the plane only due to I like the aluminum ones I am going to use. Will post pics of the set up latter when have all the bits as am also going to be using ball-links instead of the metal cleaves. I have painted the top washer area so matches the same colour as the wing. mixed yellow and orange till matched. Makes them disappear more when looking at the plane from top rather than seeing the round silver disc. Also painted the rear black to match the rudder area it goes through.

BlackPhantomDragon

Some pics of the cockpit. The roll over-bar I was not happy with as the wood looked like it had railroad tracks all over the uprights. I sanded back and rounded all the edges to make more round like and repainted. Still need a final coat of gloss black to finish off. I also painted the top of the side rails blue and the the inside of the deck. I am also going to install the switches in the cock pit floor so nothing hanging out of the fuse to ruin the lines.

BlackPhantomDragon

I bought a 10oz tank for the plane today. Only need a small tank as will be using a 20cc DLE. Reading the DLE20 forum suggest only need a 6-8cc tank for 15min flight but thought would fit a 10 as had the room.

I decided to mount the tank just behind the wing joiner so should have little effect on CofG as it empties. Also less initial weight.

I made a tank holder which I will screw to the center tray where the throttle servo would normally go. The tank can slid in from behind even when servo installed. I will be installing the CDI unit where the tank normally would go and the switches in the floor of the front cockpit. Batteries will go to balance. Servo will be mounted in the same area as the switches.

The Du-bro tank is installed upside down so when plane is put on its wheels it will be in the correct position. Also have a Sullivan aluminum tank stopper and gas bung,

BlackPhantomDragon

To windy to fly today so spent some more time with the plane

Plumbed the fuel tank, Used a Sullivan gas cap kit with alloy caps, Also used Du-Bro barbs on the lines. Checked room for vent/siphon line and will fit back around top of tank just not sure where I will vent to yet. Also decided to have twist fuel dot in cockpit as well so nothing outside on the fuse. I made a cardboard dummy of the box I will use for the fuel dot so will be easy to access and a print out of the 2 switches I will probably be using just to make sure there is enough room. .

BlackPhantomDragon

Decided to air brush some blow back on to the rear exhaust. Also couple of shots in the cowl. still need to put some detail there but that can wait, One of the areas where the exhaust stick on to the cowl cracked through so I cut out and glued a 3mm piece of balsa in there. May cut the others out and do the same to make it a bit stronger and help attach to cowl. .

BlackPhantomDragon

Also looked at the landing gear struts and fairings. Noticed one of the struts that bolt to the wing was directly above the Axle but just a few degrees off. Removed the 3 bolts and used a bit of force to realign then refitted screws with blue thread lock. Also thread-locked other strut as well. Filled flats on the axle's after sanding all the rust off and fitted the inner wheel collar with blue thread lock and will do the others once gear is on plane. The wheel covers are yellow but will probally paint blue to match pics I have of original. next was the fairings and I trimmed up so would fit ok but the front round area was very weak and flexed to easily, also one had a small crack/rip and would have kept going eventually. I made of some clear plastic doublers that slid inside and clipped in position, then used thin ca to run around the edges and let soak between the housing and the clear sheet. Made a huge difference to the strength of the fairings and now nice and firm and feels like has a bit of substance rather than flapping in the breeze. .

MercerAUST

Finally maidened mine on the weekend. In conclusion, it's a real ***** to fly (and I mean that in a good way). It is worthwhile getting the detailing right Dragon, becasue you'll have a good looking plane that flies well to boot.

I used 45 degrees flap, with the CoG in the recommended position. I had all the control throws at maximum recommendedand used 80% expo on rudder and aerollin. My flaps still stick out a few mm when up, but I left these as is.

The plane rolls very easily and I needed a low idle to hold it still. Ground control is good and, with up elevator, there is a fair degree of control even in wind (I had 5-10km/hr winds). I rolled it out and gunned it, and it took off in about 15 m (no flaps). Once in the air I needed about 5 clicks up elevator, but everything else was perfect. I tried the flaps at about third throttle and it pointed up a bit, but no dramatic or sudden change in pitch. For landing, I set the flaps on final approach along way out (about 200m)and let it come in without elevator at about one fifth throttle. It descended nicely with just a touch of elevator to slow it before the runway. My first landing was good. It slowed easily to about 10 km/hr and I let it settle onto the runway with about 5m roll out.

I had five flights in all. I found no tendency to tip on the ground, but I had a reasonable head wind which made take-offsandlandings that little bit easier. The oleos need a one size-up spring to be really effective (about half of the travel is used up just by the weight of the plane). The undercarraige seems fairly strong. I had a few bouncy landings and they held up, but have bent back 10 degrees or so (I'll leave them as is for the time being rather than bending the wire back). You were right to strengthen the undercarraige cowl, they tend to work loose with a few bad landings. I ended up with the elevator slightly up (2 degrees) for level flight.

MercerAUST

The plane tracks well in the air. I didn't try anything fancy, just a few loops and rolls. Loops are good. Rolls are slow even with full aerollin (about 3 seconds). Thye plane is very sensitive to elevator and I will adjust mine down to lower throws (perhaps 10mm either way now that I know the baseline seting). The plane really needs aerollin input for turns, it is a bit insensitive to rudder - typical warplane, but wil fly at much lower speeds than a typical warplane. I guess the model  reasonably appoximates what it is in real life - a low wing trainer. Having said that, it is prone to instantly dropping a wing, without warning, if you push it too much a tlow speeds. You must catch it instantly or risk a spin.

In summary, a good ARF kit that goes together well and is a good flyer. It would be suitable for someone's first 120 size (assuming warbird experience at 40 or 60 size) or for someone who really likes the look of the PT-19. It would also be an excellent choice for detailing and coming up with a really good finshed product, and that you know will also fly fairly easily.

MercerAUST

How do you add photos?

BlackPhantomDragon

Hi Mercer, Great to hear you have had some good flights and that she fly's well.

Thanks for the Flap and other control throw info. Much appreciated.

To post photos I find the easiest way is to up load then to http://photobucket.com/ 1st. Photo Bucket is a free service.
It is easy to upload photos once you have signed up there is a green upload now button. Click on this and then the next screen in top left with have Upload from: Choose My Computer if that is where your photo's are. Right side is upload to usually just you that you created. Then just Click on the big green button Select Photos and Video. Choose pics from your computer and then they will upload. After they have been uploaded you can put a description under each if you wish or just click finish.
I also create different folders for my pics. I have one for PT19 one for my Harley and so on.
Once you have the photos on there and U move your mouse over the photo a menu system pops up under the photo. If you click on the bottom one IMG Code it automatically copies the code line.
All U need to do then is post that code line in to your post on its own line. I usually then enter twice to have a space before the next pic. Just go back to Photo bucket and click on your next pic then paste again in your post and your pics will appear once OK or Preview your post.

Hope this was helpful and makes sense.

Hope to see some pics of your plane.

All the best Greg

MercerAUST

Hi Greg. I'm still having trouble withphotos, but there are some attached to my gallery (click button bottom left).

BlackPhantomDragon

Hi Mercer
Your plane looks great. Hard to judge the size till you see someone holding. It looks a lot bigger when its all together than in bits.

Looks like your struts are on the wrong way as the linkage should be at the back not the front.

Regards Greg

MercerAUST

Yes, you are right. I remember puzzling about it at the time, because I might have had a clash fitting the the cowling. Anyway, after figuring that the linkage added no strength to the oleo (I had to redrill and refix the attachment point for one that was broken and they are only plastic), I went for the easy way out.