rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

I finally got the chance to fly my scaled down 37.5" Dirty Birdy this week.

Part 1:

I have to admit I did something very foolish on its first flight. I've never done this before and I'll never do it again. To make a long story short I got to the field without my tx (earth to rainedave). Determined to maiden the plane I borrowed an rx out of a friends model and used his tx. Now, everyone here knows you should never do that with a brand new model (or any model). I guess I knew it too, but I was angry at myself for forgetting my own tx and wasn't thinking too clearly.

It hand launched fine and seemed to be flying ok except that his tx was set up with way too much elevator throw. It was a real handful! Right when I thought I had it under control and flying straight and level it suddenly went into a left spin. I had no control of the plane at all. The throttle was wide open and there was nothing I could do but watch it do a remarkably flat spin all the way down.

Now, the good news is that damage was minimal and limited to the firewall and the wing bolt block popping off. It only took a couple of hours to get it fixed and ready to fly. I was very lucky in spite of my total lapse of judgment.

Part 2:

The second flight was exactly what I was hoping for. Using my tx with dual rates and expo it flew great. It is a fast, responsive model. With the correct control throws it is not twitchy at all; very solid and stable. But, it is a plane you have to stay in front of. Because it's small you can't take your eyes off it for even a second. It's by no means difficult to fly, it's just one of those planes that goes exactly where your thumbs tell it to go. It sounds like a contradiction, but it feels stable and neutral at the same time. That's the best way I can describe it.

I would never do the rx switch-out thing with a large model. Believe it or not I'm actually a very safety conscious pilot. But I did learn a lesson out of this. You have to treat the small, 1/2A stuff with the same care and respect as you do with larger planes. So, seriously, no one here should be afraid to fly with me!

alcarafa

HEY DAVE, THIS LI'L BIRD LOOKS VERY NICE, DO YOU HAVE FULL PICTURES OF IT?

REGARDS.

RAFA

turbo.gst

My Feedback: (8)

Glad to hear that it flies well. It looks Great!

turbo

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, y'all. I'm still mad at myself for being impatient and trying to fly it with someone else's rx and tx. It was just dumb.

I had a little trouble keeping the orientation straight so I added some white stripes to the wing. It really is a lot of fun to fly.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Here are two pics before and after adding the white dope. I have no idea why they aren't loading as thumbnails.

roncoleman

My Feedback: (14)

Looks good! How about getting a couple fly-by shots the
next you take it flying? Would be nice to see it doing it's
thing.

WMB

My Feedback: (1)

That looks great! What is the weight and does the 74 pull it around good?
I have done a few of those 'reinforcements of a bad idea, but will do it anyway, and then NEVER do it again'. Sometimes I just gotta learn the hard way.
MikeB

WEDJ

"Experience is what you have right after you need it"

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, Mike! It weights 23ozs, 234 Sq." = 14oz wl. The Norvel .074 is a little monster. It has more power than probably any .10 on the market today and weighs less. Remember, 15 years ago people were flying GLH's and Ace Pacers that weighed 1 1/2lbs with Cox TDs. On the second flight I stayed at around 2/3 or less throttle and it still had more than enough power. At WOT it streaks across the sky.

Ron, I will definitely get some in-flight shots the next time I fly it.

Nic, truer words were never spoken!

dbacque

My Feedback: (3)

Wow, that looks awesome! I just got home from flying my Dirty Birdy .60 and was talking at the field about my planning on building a 1/2A pattern plane. I've already got a Sykosis cut but it sure would be cool to have a mini DB to go with the big one!

I'm one of those that was flying the Pacer on a TD 15 years ago. It was loads of fun but I can't wait to see what modern light weight radio equipment and my new Norvel .061 can do in a good airframe.

Dave

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Dave, with a Norvel .061, a Berg Microstamp Rx, HS-55 servos and a 1oz 370mah NiMH pack (from Radical RC) A Pacer or Mach None would be a 12 - 14oz bullet!

Here are the plans for the GLH, Pacer and Mach None. And, the Super Pacer if you have a hot .25:

http://my.pclink.com/~dfritzke/

somiss1

My Feedback: (5)

Dave,
Really nice airplane and great finish. Silkspan and dope? You wouldn't have any plans, would you?
Thanks,
Frank

buzzard bait

Beautiful job, Dave--a real inspiration. Please tell us how you got such a great finish without building up the weight.

Jim

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, everyone.

The plane was built almost exactly to the sixty-size plans. I simply scaled them down to 37.5" span. The stab is built up and sheeted just like the plans. About the only changes I made were to leave off the landing gear and make a hollow balsa shell canopy. I did try to pick the lightest balsa I had sitting around.

I used microballoons for the wing fillets and the fairings around the fin, stab and canopy.

The open areas of the wing were covered with Koverall. The whole thing was then sealed with nitrate dope and sanded. Then with Brodak Primer. I can't say enough about this primer. It fills and sands better than any other primer I've used. (I actually made the mistake of trying automotive primer first, but ended up sanding it all off. It was heavy and didn't fill very well). Any dings were filled with red glazing compound and sanded down.

I then sprayed it with Brodak colored butyrate and a couple of coats of clear butyrate.

Here are a few pics of the construction:

Nightstalker

Hey David - It's been awhile since I responded to one of your postings. Your craftsmanship is unbelievable (as usual). How do you attach your Koverall? I have never used it on a flyable airplane (yet) but have been experimenting with the stuff on some old control line planes I covered with tissue some 25 or 30 years ago just for practice before I try it on RC's. I recently learned, through another discussion thread, to apply 3 coats of Nitrate dope, sanded between coats and then using thinner through the fabric to bond to the wood. Seems to work great. I was under the impression that K-all might be too heavy for smaller planes. Is this another urban legend?

Thanks - Todd

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks, Todd.

That's exactly how I attach covering. Thinner on top of the fabric is the way to go. Remember, what adheres the covering to the wood is the process of dissolving the underlying dope and rubbing the fabric into it. Not the application of more dope on top of the fabric.

Koverall is borderline heavy for 1 1/2lb models. It weighs 1.25oz/sq. yd., which translates to 9.45 momme (Japanese method of weighing silk. A momme is equal to 3.75 grams). The silk that is most commonly used for small models is in the 5mm to 8mm range. I think dyed Esaki is actually a bit less than 5mm. Since I only covered the open wing bays I didn't use that much Koverall.

With forty size and up models I think Koverall can actually come out lighter than Monokote (and, of course, it won't wrinkle, bubble or sag in the sun).

buzzard bait

Dave, I didn't realize Brodak had such a good primer--I've only used dope + talc myself. How does the Brodak differ?

Also, I was wondering what you used with the micro balloons? I've used Sig Epoxolite, but after I had it for a year or two it began to harden in spots, so now if I try to use it I wind up with hard particles mixed in that make a mess.

Koverall is very nice and I apply it the same way you do. Sig sells Stix-It, a heat activated coating, but it doesn't seem like much of an advantage over the traditional way. The only problem I have had is that the creases can be hard to get out. I didn't want to iron it because I didn't want to shrink it till it was on the frame work. Maybe that's where the Stix-it might come in handy.

Thanks--great to see such nice work,

Jim

smith629

My Feedback: (2)

I have a 25fx its on a shrike its a hot little engine. But i dont really like the shrike,it only goes fast and after a while that gets boring. So i would like to build a DB to fit this engine.What size do yo think the wing span mite be? I have a big DB and i love it ,it has a os 160 on it and it has all the power you could ask for.But i want a small one to play with. Also i bought a Jett 76 engine last year and was thinking of putting it in a Kaos but maybe a DB 60 would be better, are does anyone have a idea about a pattern plane for this engine? Thanks Randy W.

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Randy, I think around a 46" span DB would be right for the FX25. PM me your email address and I'll send you a scaled copy. The smaller stuff is a lot of fun. I do get snubbed from time to time at the field by that misguided "bigger is better" mentality. It goes something like, "My Ultra Stik is a real man's airplane, 1/2A planes are toys."

Nightstalker

Sun??? In Arizona? Never seen the stuff... But the more I play with this Koverall, I may never need to hone my iron on film skills - still gotta play with the Solartex though - looks great on the models I've seen you use it on. And good tip on using K-all sparingly - no need to cover the entire plane if it's a lil'n.

Thanks David,
Todd

alcarafa

Dave:

Let us see a video of this DB flying !

Is there a way you can do it?

Regards .

Rafa

rainedave

My Feedback: (1)

Rafa, that is something I want to do. I'm new to my current club, but I'll find out who owns the good camcorder and buy them a BBQ samich if they'll shoot it.

alcarafa

Dave : I sure hope you can do this soon, It's amazing how well you buid your plane, I love it , and sure it must fly better than it looks,.

I have many projects going on as you know, the kaos, mach1, a trainer to teach my daughter how to fly.... yes a girl who wants to learn how to fly RC, isnt that great she is 13 yrs, just hope she wont start... daddy lets go home ... just after she flies her round but is going to be a good time thats for sure.

Dave dont let us wait to long for that video.

Take care.
Rafa

swlarcham

My Feedback: (1)

Smith629
I built my 21 y/o Tweedy Bird a coule of years ago.
I can give you information fro it but unfortunately the plans are in really bad shape. I keep hoping to take the to Kinko's & try to resurect them but haven't just yet.
I posted a picture oif it here:
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_1118019/anchors_1118019/mpage_1/key_tweedy%252Cbird/anchor/tm.htm#1118019]tweedy bird[/link]

It is an original Joe Bridy kit. I have an Irvine 25 on it. flew it 8or 9 times then hung iot up for posterity.
Eddie

smith629

My Feedback: (2)

Thats one sweet looking bird. i received a set of prints from raindave and will start construction soon. I have the two meter big dirty birdy and have a problem with it. Maybe some of you guys can help, when i go into knife edge my db rolls on rudder . i built it to the plans. Any ideals?[:@] Randy W. smith629