billberry189

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Hey guys,

One word comes to mind. WOW!!!! Using my little jig, all of the alignment holes and the cardboard sleeve and my fuselage seems to have come out right on the money. Also, building over the plans, the front and rear of the fuselage came out right on the center line. Lazer levels are pretty neat tools, but careful building practices will produce an accurate airframe and save you the investment.I really don't know what to tell you at this point.

Bill

PS- I just remembered something. When I placed the sides in my jig I made sure that the locating marks on the inside of the fuselage sidesfor F2 and F3 were directly over the corresponding marks on the plans. You kind of have to look hard to find them, but they are there.

Until later
Bill

billberry189

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Hello out there,

It's been awhile since there has been any activity here. How is everyone? As for me I have joined the ranks of the unemployed again. It seems the couple that hired me were wanna be's who were incapable of running a business. Anyway, to make a long story short, after just three weeks they ran out of money to pay me with so I became history in a New York heart beat as they say.

Well now I have the time to get back to the Simla. That's the good news. The bad news at the moment is there isn't any money to invest. That is a condition that will be temporary I'm hoping.

As soon as I am able to, I will order the glass for the wing, the urethane clear to apply it with, and some more primer to get it readyfor paint. The fuselage on the other hand, is pretty much ready for paint,so as soon as I can get some red, black and white paint I will begin that process. I guess what I'm saying is that I am getting fairly close to completing my build. At least at this point I am closer to the end of the build than the beginning.

Bill

kingaltair

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Bill...Good to hear from you...I knew it would just be a matter of time until somebody would update.

Well, I'm putting the finishing touches on the new King Altair wing I built with Jeff's kit ribs, spars and other parts, plus contest balsa in order to shave as much weight as possible from the overall weight of that plane...first flown in 2008 for that years SPA season. I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier as a good way to reduce the plane's weight...duh I have the wing Monokoted...just have to work on the servo installations, landing gear etc.

Based on first estimates arrived at by piling components on top of the unfinished wing, the finished wing should come in at 2 POUNDS, or slightly more, which meets my greatest hopes for weight savings. It should cut close to 12 OUNCES off the previous foam wing weight, and bring the plane down to a very respectable 7-1/2 pounds, even with the extra weight I had to add to balance. Yeaaa!!!

BTW...Talked to Jeff the other day, and just FYI, he is getting ready to produce another run of Simlas, so that should be good news to those who missed out on the initial run of 50. I hope they all will post in this thread as they build their own.

Duane

billberry189

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Duane,

I have been anxiously awaiting news of a second Simla run.I have been planning a special build for some time now. As I hinted in earlier posts, I'm hoping to build as light a clipped wing Simla as I possibly can with the anticipation of bringing both Simlas and one Taurus to the first Simla fly in.BTW have there beenany more thoughts or comments or discussionson the get together?

I was able to attend the Monster Planes gathering in Lakeland, Florida weekend before last. It was really a good time and except for the only rule that the aircraft must weigh at least 35 lbs. to be considered for a trophy, the Simla would have fit right in as far as size is concerned. Everything from about 80" to 14 ' was there; WW I bipeplanes to modern jets, slow walkers to speed demons. Even though there wasn't any thing in the SPA genre it was very cool and very interesting as well as entertaining. Lots of fun!

Later
Bill

billberry189

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Hey Richard,

Are you still out there?

Bill

billberry189

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Weighed my wing today. It came to 3 lbs and 9 ozs with all hardware mountedincluding ailerons, hinges, control rods and horns,servos, and landing gear,but no covering or finishing. It looks like at this point I am going to be around 10 lbs when completed. That's not exactly what I was shooting for but I guess it will have to do. Then again, that's not a lot for the 120 AX to pull around.

Michaelj2k

I was leafing through the February/March 1966 issue of Flying Models and found a page on devices used at the 1965 NATS. Enjoy.

neilrether

Noticing that Curt Dimberg flew a Simla??

billberry189

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Duane,

What do you think about this one? And if it is true, what might be the significance if Curt Dimberg is still alive, or maybe still have an original Simla? Maybe some dimensions, who knows?

Bill

kingaltair

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Michaelj2k

Thanks for including that little "gem". Even more interesting to me was the description of Tom Brett's TBX-1; a plane with even less documentation of any kind than the Simla. The original TBX resides with wife Helen in Michigan as reported in the "Tom Brett
Designs-Update" thread. It is in near-perfect condition just as it was when Tom last flew it 45 years ago.

This is special one-of-a-kind project I'd like to take up sometime in the future. I particularly liked the description of its flight characteristics, (see Chuck Winter's video for very brief actual footage of it in the air). It DID look "majestic"...the footage shows Tom pulling it up into a Victory Roll.

Duane

kingaltair

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Curt Dimberg flew his own version of the Simla, (see attached). It could very well be that the author "lumped" them together in his caption...but they DO look somewhat different. There is a front-view picture of Curts plane in mthe EKT thread that shows it looks different than the Simla. You could do a "search" of that thread for the name "Curt Dimberg."

I suppose it is POSSIBLE that Curt built and flew an actual Simla in addition to his own Simla-like plane, but I doubt there would have been time.

I believe the Ed Kazmirski's Taurus thread says somewhere that Mr Dimberg passed away.

Duane

Rendegade

Pah, none of that will ever catch on.

billberry189

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Duane,

I should have suspected that you already knew of Curt Dimberg. My bad.

Bill

billberry189

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billberry189

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Hello-Hello,

Well I finally purchased the materials to continue with my Simla. So, between moving to a new home, a new job, and all my other projects I hope to have some paint on her in the next week or two. Wish me luck!

BTW I have made some progress on my Taurus. With any luck, the fuselage and tail feathers will be ready for covering by the end of the day today. I must admit that I am not remaining stiictly true to the original building techniques(Dave Brown motor mount, bolt on wing, etc.), butit will be the correct shape and have the correctpaint scheme. At least to the best of my ability.

Duane, you might be interested in this little tid bit. Don Lowe of the Phoenix pattern plane design is a member of the local club that I am considering for membership, and the weekend immediately after Thanksgiving they are hosting a pattern fun fly in his honor. RCACF (Radio Control Association of Central Florida) will be hosting the event at Tangerine Field in Apopka, Florida on November 25-27.

Bill

thom25

I am about to start my Simla build. I've read that many of you replaced the stock wing tubes with carbon tubes. How much weight savings does this materials change yield? What torque level of servos are being used at each control surface? Which is the better engine choice the OS .95 or the OS 120?

billberry189

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thom25,

The carbon fiber wing tube combination weighs less than half as much as the aluminum and cardboard tube and sleeve.

The servos I am using are Futaba S3152 digitals rated at 87 oz-in @ 6 volts and .18 sec/60 degrees @ 6 volts

Finally, the engine I am using is the OS 120 AX, however I think that will be a bit of over kill since my Simla will come in at about 10 lbs.

Anyway, welcome to the Simla "family"!! Good luck and happy building. There are a lot of good guys and builders on this thread who are more than willing to help with ideas and techniques.

Bill

kingaltair

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Yes, welcome thom25, (I figured we'd eventually pick up a few more builders since I understand Jeff is mentioning this thread on his web site). I think you'll love building your Simla, and the building hints already out there will make it a little easier, (hopefully). I'm sure you'll bring new insights and techniques as you share your ideas with us.

I also hope you'll join the planned "Simla Fly-In" scheduled for sometime next year...it will be great to get together in person, compare notes, and see the diversity in "looks" and techniques that a group will bring.

Agree with everything Bill has said. As for power, it depends what you want to do...the Simla will fly adequately on the .91 OS 2-stroke that I used. I don't think I have more than a dozen flights on the original prototype, and because of that, I haven't tested the limits of what the plane will do on that powerplant.

As I said earlier, some day I'll probably get the nerve to substitude the O.S. .60 size engine Ed originally used. It ought to lift her off OK, but will probably limit the aerobatic verticals of the plane to be close to those of a Boeing 767. If you want to do aerobatics with no thought given to power management, the 120 is probably the best choice, otherwise the .91, (or an electric or 4-stroke equivalent).

As for servos, good standard sport digital servos are what I've used in the prototype without a noticable problem.

All the best in your build, and feel free to "chime-in" anytime.

Duane

kingaltair

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My prototype came in at 10.5lbs using contest balsa wing sheeting and blocks. I'd be surprised if any covered and painted version of the Simla will come in less than that, (especially with a 120 "under the hood"), but good luck, and looking forward to seeing the final result...it should be just beautiful.

Richard...hope you're still with us...

Duane

rg1911

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For those of you who thought you'd finally gotten rid of me, I'm back.

;-)

Both jobs went a little (a lot) crazy for quite some time, but I'm again putting in at least a couple hours a day on the Simla. I now have:

- Finished the basic wing structure and contoured the leading edge. I'll use the method of overlapping the LE with the sheeting.

- The wings fitted to the fuselage. Boy was that a fiddly bit, as the Brits would say.

- The fuse sides attached and everything at right angles.

- Just finished a new horizontal stab. I used the method of overlapping the LE with the sheeting. This seems to have worked well. Contest balsa and more careful construction allowed me to make it more straight and reduce the weight a bit more than 3 ounces from my first effort. Of course, with that 1.20AX up front, I may need to add weight in the tail. And I sincerely hope the OS 1.20 behaves better than the .95AX that has never run well.

Still to do:

- Plank the bottom of the fuse. (I've been putting that off while I figure out where to mount the servos for the elevator and rudder, and how to do the hidden control for the elevator. I'll probably steal Bill's method. I'm also thinking that leaving the top blocks off until the end will allow me to add the tail surface servos where they'll help with the balance.)

- Sheet the wings. I got new contest balsa that I had trimmed before it was shipped, so the pieces don't look like the letter "C" this time.

- Mount the aileron servos to covers so they're hidden.

- Mount the engine.

Oh, and glass and paint it. After all the construction details, I'm looking forward to these last steps.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving,

Richard

billberry189

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Welcome back Richard. It is good to know that you have not slipped into the darkness. Things have obviously slowed down due this thing called "work". It seems to be one of life's cruel dilemmas that whenwe have the time to do the important things, like building and flying R/C models,we don't have the fundswe wouldlike to have; and whenwe go to work to have the funds we wouldlike to have,we don't have the time for the important things. A brilliant solution to this age old problem would set some one up for a lifetime and then some.

At any rate, it is nice to have you back. And you have a great Thanksgiving as well!

Bill

doxilia

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Bill,

I believe the solution to the age old dilemma is to win the lottery - problem is, one must buy tickets...

I'd pack up my family and move somewhere sunny but close to the mountains. Fly during the week and ski on weekends!

How's that paint job coming along?

I'm looking forward to seeing some finished Simla's.

David.

rg1911

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Hi Bill, it's good to be back at it. (I just remember to keep reminding myself that it's not rocket science and no matter what I do within reason the plane will fly.)

I think it was Eliza's father in the movie adaptation of "My Fair Lady" who observed "Work; the curse of the drinking class."

Just substitute hobby for drinking.

Cheers,
Richard

stuntflyr

That is how we do it here in Southern California!
Chris...

rg1911

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Well, barely back into the build and already a question.

When trial fitting the new stab to the fuse, I had to lengthen the seat by removing 1/8 inch or a little less from the back, as you can see in the first two images.

Looking at this, I can see no way to mount the elevator without lengthening the stab seat even more. Since I don't recall anyone else mentioning this predicament, I figure I've done something incorrectly. (I'm a little confused since the stab matches the plans.)

Then, when I stuck the vertical stab on (image 3), I can see that the TE of the stab extends past the step in the vertical stab base that, I assume, should be marking the TE of the stab.

So it seems that removing more from the back of the stab seat is not the way to go, unless the vertical stab base also is modified; and that I need to either lengthen the forward end of the seat or cut 1/4 inch or so from the LE of the stab itself (an idea that does not appeal to me).

Are there any experienced thoughts on this before I bring out the hammer and chisels?

Thank you,
Richard