do335a

You must have missed that part where a while ago I mentioned that my Dynaflite Super Dud came in at 17 pounds - way under your projected weight of 20lbs. and more than 10% less than the weight of orthobird's plane.

There was no extra weight for balancing in mine.

Being that porky, to me, it flew lousy. 20lbs is a lot of weight for that airframe. The control surfaces are also a bit small to toss around such a blimp with much authority. It sort of wallowed and plowed through the air unresponsively. My ST3000 was not enough to save it. However, you may like the way it flys.

If we personally like the way they fly, we proclaim them to be great flyers. If we don't like the way they fly, we call them dogs. It's a matter of personal taste.

Don't forget that there is no way in all creation that the weak stock landing legs gear will carry that much load. The flimsy as designed lite ply base for the gear legs will also be hard pressed to not fail with anything but a gentle landing with that weight.

You may also run into a snag with required prop size and available ground clearance with a 40cc gas engine. I solved that problem by using 5" diameter tundra tires.

orthobird

My Feedback: (1)

The ZDZ 40 weighs in at 2 lbs 11.5 ounces with ignition.  hp is 4.25

the fg 36 weighed in at 3 lbs 12 ounces with ignition.  hp is 3.0

sounds like you have a lighter engine that is much stronger.  you will probably be fine.

i just ordered the RC Guys super decathlon.  i am excited.  i am going to put in a da 60 cc gas engine in that bird. 

the FG 36 i had in my dynaflite, has just been installed in a p51.  total weight will be 11.5 pounds.  65" wingspan.  should be fun, with keleo muffler.

orthobird

My Feedback: (1)

i agree with DO335A

this plane, although beautiful to look at, and fun to build, is not an easy bird to fly, much less enjoy the flight of it.  maybe it is just me, but when it finally passed away, i was happy and relieved. 
they will probably kick me off this thread for saying this.  i hope i do not offend anyone.  where i work, they always say, don't blame the tool but blame the operator.

WILDCRASHWILLY

Orthobird and do335a,

Thanks guys for the info. It seems like I remember something about do335a's plane weight now. I have been on and off this build so much I sometimes forget what I've read in the past year concerning it. I'll be very happy if I can come in around 17 lbs. do335a, I'm running a 18 X 10 three blade Biela composite propeller which shold help me on clearance.

Waco

My Feedback: (265)

One thing you have to remember this is a kit and it will fly only as good as it is built, I have seen this plane fly in person 3 times and they fly alot like a big cub only a little more aerobatic, but you have to remember these are not edges, 300S, or Yaks and they don't like them. Back when kits were the norm I seen planes of the same kit built by 2 different modelers, one flew great and the other flew terrible, the only variable was the builder.

WILDCRASHWILLY

Waco,

I know what you mean. I like to build from plans. For some reason, I really like that little Hot Hots plan by Dan Santich. I have a set of plans I purchased from RCM plans and have built this plane three times in the last twelve years or so. The first time I built per plans and it flew perfect for years until I got a little carried away with it while flying low and fast. The second I experimented a little with some counter balances on the tail and rudder plus a little more rearward CG. It too, flew extremely well. This has been a little plane that I have practiced diff manuvers with when trying to learn something new due to it's ease of building. The last Hots I built Iexperimented a little more, this time with incidence. This plane flew okay, but, not nearly as good as the first two. I actually lost it flying in a normal manner due to a tx module failure. I'll probably build another 40 size because they are so handy to have around. I have purchased more Hots plans since I like them so much and will build them simular to version 2 of 48 WS. I bought Hots Biped plans. 81"WS Ultra Hots for a 50 size gas. And a Giant Hots for a ZDZ Super 80, I think it's 92 or 94" WS.
Sorry to ramble, I was just agreeing with and adding that the same builder can build the same plane whether plans build or kit build three times and they all behave differently, sometimes on purpose, but, many times by accident. I got those plans RCMPLANS.COM if anyone has an interest.

Kolbboer

Hi,

Here is some update from my project:
Covered with Solartex , then Cellulose dope and paint.
I used thestandard paint scheme "Sun star"(I couldn't imagine mee mask and paint 18 stars....)

I try to do some work every day now, and hopefully i amready to fly in the end of June this summer.


Borresen

orthobird

My Feedback: (1)

she is a beauty,

WILDCRASHWILLY

Kolbboer,

Your plane looks great. I may have to leave the stars off also. I'm useing Monocoat and Ultracoat so I may attempt cutting out some stars.

mikem99

Hi Borresen,

Your Super Decathlon looks beautiful. Congratulations!!

Making stars is not difficult. I was at first very intimidated until I figured out how to do it the easy way.
My SD is covered with Super Coverite fabric, spray painted with yellow latex, The black stripes were sprayed on with black acrylic.
The stars were printed with a laser printer on to a sheet of clear labels from Avery No. 15665. The stars were first formatted in MS Word,
Insert, Shapes, Stars and Banners. Pick a star, adjust the size, copy and paste a whole page of the various sizes that you need, then print it on the Avery sheet in the color that you want. Cut out the stars with a sharp blade, peel off the back and stick them on.
I sprayed clear coat over everything when I finished.
I hope that this helps,

Kolbboer

Hi, Wildchrashwilly,Orthobird and mikem99

Thank for the comments of my dyecathlon paint sheeme,

It's havebeen 2 days off the project now. had some nice weather that i spentspent flying with my Sig Rascale 40, (covered with solartex) a very good flyer.

now i am back,and struts isready. Rudder and elevator iscovered and ready for paint.

Tomrrow ican addsome more pictures of the progress.

RGS
Jan Børresen

Kolbboer

Hi,

Uppdate: struts covered and painted. Next is to install rudder and elevator, and then start the radio innstallation.

Jan Borresen

WILDCRASHWILLY

Guys,

Worked on the decath some more this week. Started covering today. I have a few more pictures but I'm on a kindel fire tonight and can't upload pictures through it. I'll be back on a computer tomorrow where I can update the pics. I know a lot of you purists wanted me to cover with cloth. Sorry, I took the easy way out and have been using film. Mainly because I've never used cloth and don't feel comfortable with it. I have a Topflight SR9 kit that I may start in the fall. Maybe that one would be a good one to learn cloth covering on. I'll do a build thread on that one and get you guys to coach me on the cloth covering if that's okay.

Have a good evening.

WILDCRASHWILLY

Edited out a double post. Not sure what happened.

mikem99

Guys
Using cloth covering is very easy. When ready to cover, the surfaces to be covered are prepped with Balsarite or Sig StixIt. The heat from the iron or gun will activate the Balsarite and stick the cloth to the wood. I have always found that cloth coverings shrink better than film, are more heat tolerant, and can be pulled around corners and wing tips using high heat and without tearing or wrinkling.
I have seen many beautiful film covered planes, but they certainly didn’t belong to me. I don’t have whatever it takes to cover nicely with film, but I’m OK with cloth.
Having said all this, Cloth covered planes are heavier because they have to be primed or doped and painted and maybe even clear coated.
Remember, this is just My Opinion, Monocoat is .2 oz./ft² and Coverite 21st. Century Fabric is .34 oz/ft². Sig Koverall is 1¼ oz./yd² (.14 oz/ft²)
Don’t’ be afraid to use cloth covering, It is a bit of extra work and painting, but really easy to use.

All the best


Mike

WILDCRASHWILLY

Mike,

Is a prepainted or dyed color selection available? Or do you have to paint and seal everytime?
I know this is a dumb question, but, it just shows my lack of understanding with this type of covering system.


Thanks,

mikem99

Bill.


There are no Dumb Questions, except the questions that don't get asked.
Here is a link to coverite pre-painted fabric. I have not ever used this, but some of my friends use it and it looks great.
I prefer to use Koverall from Sig because I'm cheep (Just careful really) and I have finally exhausted my stock of Coverite super-shrink fabric.

Anyhow, Thats enough about me, here is the link

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...SM&C=QAB&V=COV
I hope that this helps


All the best

Mike

WILDCRASHWILLY

Mike,
Thanks for the link. I'm ashamed to say, I've seen this on their website for years but since I have been a Ultracoat junkie I've ignored it. In fact, I thought it was another film covering. This definitely shows promise for me and I plan to try it out in the future. I looked over the color selection and feel this is what I'll try on the SR-9 next winter. I will probably try a few pieces on a 2 X 4 to get the feel for the way it works.

Again thanks,

WILDCRASHWILLY

Here are a few more pics as I work on the Decath. The first one if I have the order correct, is the dual radio switches, the second one is where the ig. switch and fuel dot will be located. the third one is the bottom covering and the last one is the side covering.

TheSparkster

That looks really nice, Bill. I'll get over to your place soon to take a look-see at it.

Steve

WILDCRASHWILLY

Thanks Steve.

Did you fly the Cherokee this morning?

TheSparkster

No, I did not because it was sprinkling rain and the wind was up some. I am going to try again tomorrow morning, but there arestorm possibilities. We got 7/10 last night here. Not too bad considering the lack of here lately.

mikem99

Your covering job looks really nice Bill. I only wih I could cover with film instead of cloth, but I usually mess up the curves whenever I use film.

Keep up the nice work.

Here are a couple of pics taken at our Canada Day Fun FLy July 1st. 2012

Mike

Nothrottle

Dogfight is on, nice post !

WILDCRASHWILLY

I have a few more pics of the Decath progress.