Tim Wolff

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Thanks for the info and pics John. I pulled the trigger on one last night when they went back on special. Mine will be electric and w/o smoke with any luck Please continue to add anything that might be of help.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Sounds great Tim. I think you'll like it quite a bit. Really make sure you've sealed the covering up well on the bottom to protect it from the smoke fluid. That oil gets everywhere. I painted the underside of the magnetic hatch (on the underside of the fuselage just in front of the forward landing gear mount). Wouldn't be a bad idea to pull the gear out of the slots in the underside of the fuselage and paint those areas of exposed plywood. I use acrylic paint and that seems to hold up well. I also numbered and labelled all of my landing/flying wires on the wings. I can get you some close-up pictures of how I did those. the bearing swivels they give you are pretty good quality, but I also added some piano-wire connectors to help make the connections a little stronger. Keep me posted on your build.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

OK, not yet time to let the thread die.

Over the winter, have gone over the big TM very carefully. Removed the fuel tank and lines and installed a Roto-flow 20 oz. tank. Great fit in the box behind the engine. Should be plenty for the DA-50.

Speaking of the DA, had a few flame-outs on the TM last Fall, possibly owing to the two-line system incorporating a "T" connector and tubing tot he fuel-dot. made the tank a full-fledged three-line system. Hoping that works better this time around.

replaced a slightly damaged rudder from one of the dead-stick landings last fall, after engine failure shortly aftertakeoff and inability to bring her completely around the field into the wind for a landing. Caught some weeds on the edge of the field and flipped her on her back. Nothing more than a damaged rudder, which I repaired, but wanted the structure to be completeley sound.

Need to get a few more trimming flights and really dial in the smoke pump this flying season.

Tim Wolff

My Feedback: (4)

Hi John,

My Tiger Moth is finally "on the bench".

I also replaced the tail wheel with an Ohio Superstar that looks like it will work out great. I'm not sure how I'll tie it to the rudder. The wheel is in the stock location and I'm not sure the springs will have the leverage to turn the tail wheel when tied in almost directly above the horn on the tail wheel. Can you post a pic of your setup and how it is working?

Were the 1/16" washers you added to the bottom motor mounts enough to correct the thrust line? The mount for my electric motor barley fits on the firewall and could easily stand to be moved down with the removal of some of the down trust.

Thanks in advance.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Tim,

Good to hear you're geting your ship ready. Sorry I'm getting to your post, but I haven't hit this forum in a while. It's great to have it a little active again.

I'm using relatively long springs from the bottom of the rudder to the arms on the tail-wheel. They look somewhat long and are at a relatively steep angle (probably 75 degrees or so), but seem to work fine. There's so much rudder area on this airplane, you almost get more steering authority when you have prop-wash blowing over the rudder, as opposed to the actual tail-wheel steering, but it all works out just fine.

I'll shoot you a couple photos tonight and post them.

I actually ended up with a little too much "down" thrust in the motor-mount, so I removed a couple of the washers from the two top mounts on the DA-50. Once removed, there was much less "down" effect when power was applied. To get the prop in the right location, I added a secondary firewall to the engine box. I'll attach a photo.

I have a trialer to carry my aircraft around. It'll fit 6-7 large-scale airplanes. But I haven't had the Moth out yet this year. I have to remove at least two airplanes from the trailer to be able to tuck the Moth in, but I'm hoping to get it flying later this summer or early in the fall. Going to do a little more work on the cowl cooling exit-area before flying again. I also changed over all of my gassers to a three-line system, to avoid any problems with "T's" and uneven fuel-draw issues.

Lifer

My Feedback: (1)

Can you let me know if there are any retailers in the U.S. for Green Models products?

Thanks in advance!

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

maxfordusa.com has the airplane...it's where I purchased mine from.

Here's a photo of the tail-wheel. Much more sturdy and will not be a load on the servo like the OEM tailwheel will.

Tim Wolff

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks for the pic. I was also considering running pull-pull lines from the rudder tiller to the tail wheel.

Batteries finally arrived and I'll be running them through a few cycles and fabricating a retention method. Two 5s 8000 mAH packs will be going inside the motor box.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Sounds good Tim. Keep us posted. It will be interesting to see how yours goes together and flies on electrons.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Opened up more exit-air area in the bottom of the cowl over the weekend. Had a few flame-outs of my DA-50 last summer and I think the engine was over-heating a little. Also went to all three-line tanks on all of my gassers. No more "T's" in my fuel systems. Haven't had her out yet this year, but hoping to get it up and flying later this summer, along with my nearly completed 1/4 scale Fleet Biplane.

nine o nine

My Feedback: (1)

A suggestion John. Make the smoke oil volume adjustable via a needle valve, smaller tubing,
or a wheel collar with a screw to clamp/pinch the line. I think you'll find that much of your oil smear on the bottom of the plane will be reduced along with a thicker smoke trail. Oiliness on the plane is caused by unburned oil. In most cases less is more. Good luck, Mitch

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Great idea Mitch. Was having a hard time adjusting the output of the smoke pump, which becomes more critical with the voltage reduced via reduced output from the transmitter settings. As long as too much pressure isn't built up by the pump and there's no danger of blowing one of the lines, I like this idea!

Thanks.

nine o nine

My Feedback: (1)

I didn't know that you can vary your oil pump output from the xmtr. The pump input voltage won't matter as the xmtr will vary the speed of it's motor. You then should mix the pump to the throttle so that at low throttle the pump is off and at full throtle the smoke volume is adjusted for the most smoke with the least mess. If you CAN'T vary the pump output from the xmtrbe sure to safety tie the lines on the pressure side so they can't blow off. No matter how you look at it though, the stuff is messy. Doesn't really matter though on a clear blue sky day. Mitch

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Yes, trying to adjust the "throw" on a variable channel doesn't work well, as the pump requires a minimum voltage and there seems to be very little "volume" adjustment through the radio. I do have all of my joints zip-tied, so that should help to prevent any pressure-born failures. I don't have a great deal of experience with smoke systems, so this is a learn-as-you-go experience for me.

Thanks again.

nine o nine

My Feedback: (1)

OK John, now I see that your pump output cannot be adjusted from or mixed at the xmtr. Your only option really is to adjust the flow off the pressure side of the pump with a needle valve or clamping device on the tube. Also a tip is to be sure and use a one way valve near the muffler and from there use neoprene tubing to the muffler input. Mitch

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

I installed the one-way valve when I added the smoke system, but agree the only way to meter the amount of oil going in will be to restrict the smoke fluid line, either by clamping pressure or an old needle-valve assembly.

I'll let you know when I get a chance to try it.

Tim Wolff

My Feedback: (4)

The instructions mention pre-drilled holes in the wing joiners and using a screw to retain the wings to the joiners. No holes in either of the joiners and I don't see any "hardpoints" in the wings to place a retaining screw.?? What holds the wing halves on the center sections?

Edit:
D'OH! Found the pilot holes on the bottom of the lower wing.

The main joiners for both wings are a very tight fit. Spend a couple hours fitting the joiner in the lower wings last night. Both joiners are going to need a very precise fit if I expect to be able to slide each pair of wings off for transport.

Planejaw

My Feedback: (53)

Tim,

Those hard-points are hard to find...spend quite a while myself and the instructions really said nothign about these.

I set mine up to remove all four wing panels, individually. It is more of a pain to have to re-attach all of the struts and flying wires, but that's how I did it.

I also did something a little different with the wing tubes. Instead of just adding a setscrew through the wing through the hardwood hard-points on the wing panels, I drilled through the hardwood and up through the aluminum wing-tube. I then tapped it for an 8/32 bolt and then inserted the tube and bolt with a little Lock-Tite. I then, slid the wing/tube into position on the fuselage and drilled/tapped the other wing panel for the 8/32 bolt. Repeated this for the upper wing panels.

I leave the wing-tube inserted and bolted into one of the lower and one of the upper wing panels and do not remove it. In this way, I never have to worry about lining up the right side of the tube with the correct wing panel/screw hole. I just have to screw in one 8/32 bolt for the top wings, one for the bottom, and the wings are attached. Everything stays lined up and there's no problem. A little Lock-tite every once in a while on the removable bolt helps keep her tight...not to mention using a lock-washer and standard washer under that. So far, nothing's ever vibrated loose.

After the wings are attached on with the aluminum wing-tubes and arrow-shafts, it's on to the wing wires. I use the provided threaded barrels, some extra piano-wire loops and heavy-duty ball-bearing swivels to help get everything on and snugged up.