Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

6 ounce Dubro I think?? Go start reading Ricks Tower Up-Roar 40 thread here in building. Lot of pages and lots of Roars. On the last page or two Rick posted up most of the roars and dazzler photos people posted.
I used the roar exclusively during my fun fly days then moved on. Then Rick and Cliff, {daddyoh57} came out for a visit and brought a bunch of roars with them. Rick also brought me a set of plans for the plane and a roll of the Hobby King covering to try out. The covering is great and after all the roar flying I went ahead and built another one. I think it is number 9?? It puts the fun back into flying!!

Tom Nied

OK, thanks Gray Beard, will check the thread. I apologize to ETpilot, didn't mean to hijack the thread.

stevegauth30

ET, you have a good attitude towards the crashing part of the hobby. my first kit build never made it off the ground and got blown into a million pieces. ( too small of an engine, not enough speed and ran into the curb at the edge of the parking lot.) i was pretty discouraged to say the least. But like you, i went home and rebuilt it, and flew it for many years. lost it to a bad NIMH battery. leads me to ask, what are you using for a RX pack. I prefer LIFE packs. if you havent already, read about em, there great. and trust worthy.Good luck and soft landings.

ETpilot

stevegauth30, I read a lot about batteries and went with the Life also. When I had the plane finished, I set it up in my living room and went thru the motions of flying for an hour. Just checking things and the battery power. I do like the battery.

Just an an update on the plane. I made good progress on the fuselage. I just have to install the engine and tank and do the throttle setup. It was a good RC work day. I still need to see about the wing, reuse or build new. I should be flying soon. Or at least make another attempt.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Of all the SPAD crashes I've had, I've never had to replace a wing. (Knock on wood) I did punch a hole in one that I just covered with duct tape that pretty well matched and I've ripped an aileron hinge pretty good on one. That one I think I'm just going to cut the ailerons off and put them back on with pin hinges gorilla glued in. Looking forward to Deb #2.

ETpilot

The old wing could not be reused. The 2 spars broke in 2 and the Coro ripped top and bottom down one of the flutes. I have a new wing just about finished. I've been busy building my storage building and welding a log splitter table. The storage building is taking priority right now.

When I examined the engine, I found that the screw holding the throttle arm was lose. I don't know if this was impact damage or vibration in flight. I found a couple of YouTube videos where this type plane crashed just as mine did. Both stalled and augered in. Both on maiden flights; one experienced and one newbie pilot. This airplane appears to have a bad stall to it. Hope to fly #2 in a week or so. Got more rain today and more to come.

jester_s1

The screw wasn't impact damage. If it's a screw going into metal, you must use loctite on it. Don't get loctite on anything plastic though as it will weaken it.

And yes, if your Debonair was built according to the original plan it does have bad stall characteristics. The leading edge is too sharp and the top of the airfoil isn't rounded so you are going to get a snappy plane. Switching to the "RNAF" wing design will help some, but the sharp leading edge will still keep it from flying as gently as a standard balsa trainer.

ETpilot

This is or was a new engine. Never thought I'd have to locktite the screw. The screw holds the throttle arm to the carburetor barrel. That may explain why I stalled. I was doing a nice flight until then. Now I know better. I've started using locktite on a few things.

The top of my wing has a nice rounded airfoil shape to it. I did not do the bend that I have seen others do. Bottom is flat with front end slightly raised. I thought it was a good airfoil shape. Any way, I have the wing done. Decided it needs contrast paint then mate it to the fuselage. I'm going to give the Deb one more try. Next I will build a Sig Kadet. That may be better for me.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Hope you do a build for us on the Kadet or at least a pic thread. I've got a Kadet myself in my pile of kits. I'll probably always have a Debonair or a Spadet in my hangar though just to bash around. I've been working on a low-wing Spadet for about 3 years now.... well, you know how that goes. I've probably got 4 or 5 hours in it over the last 3 years. No matter what I progress to flying, I'll always have a couple trainers to bash around and slow-fly with on Sunday.

ETpilot

Well it took a while but I got Deb II built. I hope it flies more than 4 turns. This one allowed me to reposition a couple of things that I did not like on the first model. Now if this Texas weather would cooperate. I've had rain, yesterday sleet n ice and tonight to tomorrow maybe snow. I have to recondition the runway, let it dry off and mow it short.

Today i froze reinstalling the starter I had repaired for my tractor. I had to use a heater to thaw the ice encased tractor in order to do the work. Tomorrow is a bad weather day so I will work on my next build; a scratch build Sig Kadet LT-40. It should be fun. Patrick this is not a kit plane so not sure if there will be any interest. I will start drawing it out tomorrow. Looking at 72" WS.

A picture of the new Deb and the airfoil that will keep it aloft.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Have you checked the balance of the new ship, The nose appears to be rather long

ETpilot

John, the long nose on these airplanes appears to be a standard thing. I've seen it on other builds n has been discussed. As my plane sits it is just a bit nose heavy. I will definitely check it again before flight. Thanks for the heads up.

jester_s1

That's the typical Debonair airfoil I was talking about. The sharp leading edge is going to be your problem as it will stall very suddenly instead of gently like a Clark Y airfoil or the typical blunt leading edge airfoils used on trainers. There's a good reason why the spad guys go on and on about how much their planes can take a beating; it's because they crash so much usually due to bad aerodynamics and being overweight. It's actually quite difficult to get a proper leading edge with coroplast, but the planes can be a lot of fun anyway. Best of luck to you on the first flights.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

I have to disagree. My Deb floats like a dream and doesn't have a sharp stall. The only spad I've built that had a bad snap was the Dominator and I think it's the tail design and I probably had too much travel on my elevator. I was going to build another one and redesign the tail to look more like the Deb tail, but I haven't gotten around to that. If that's been your experience with them, that's your experience and I certainly can't disagree with that, but to me, the spads I have built have flown well and had decent flight characteristics. It's not hard to get a rounded leading edge either, but I do it more for looks than anything else. Not trying to argue because I'm sure you have a lot more flying experience than me, but I just haven't had a lot of bad luck with mine.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Awe, that'd be even better!

ETpilot

Whether this plane will fly is being limited now by the weather. I've had rain, sleet, ice and today snow. Everything is soggy as can be. It will be a long while before things dry up. Forecast is for more rain in a few days. Oh well, I can try to build instead of try to fly.

Patrick, I am just getting back into the hobby. I'm just trying to relearn the skills. I am not a builder like some of the excelent builders who post build threads. I may post some pictures in the Kadet thread. I managed to draw the stabilizer, rudder n fuselage today. I'm working from a 8 1/2x11 print but it seems to be looking pretty good. If it resembles an LT40 I'll be happy.

jester_s1

Patrick, I made my comments comparing the spad to a traditional balsa trainer like the Nextar or the Tower Trainer that I used to instruct with. Compared to them, the Debonair I started with had a harsher stall and was not as easy to land nor as smooth to fly. It worked, but the balsa planes worked better. But as RC planes go, it was not particularly snappy. I have a little park flyer Edge 540 with a way too thin wing and too sharp leading edge. It's also a little overweight. Now that's a snappy plane. If I pull a little too hard coming out of a dive I'll be inverted before I even know what's happening. And when it stalls on a landing approach, it falls straight down with no real warning. But it spins like a dream and tracks well even in the wind, so those are the compromises you make.

PatrickCurry

My Feedback: (20)

Well, I'm not the best of pilots, so I probably wouldn't even notice the difference. If I can get up and down with the occasional loop or roll without cracking one up, I'm happy. My Dominator snapped like that. The first time I took off with it, I pulled up on the elevator and it corkscrewed and hit the ground so fast I didn't even know what was happening!

I hear ya on the build thread Pilot. Some of them are labors of love as much as the build itself with the documentation!