TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

I recently "inherited" a partially built 1:6 scale, VK Nieuport 17 kit. The work already done is very nice, so I have decided to finish it up, and electrify it. Cant find a whole lot on converting this one so I will just wing it. Has worked so for on all my other conversions. Thinking about powering it with an Exceed Monster Power 60 400Kv on 5s. Want to swing a 16" scale looking prop.
I plan to do this with a "reasonable" amount of scale detail, but not as a competition model. Looking for a source, for some turnbuckles, and also some lightweight "fabric" covering. Prefer pre-painted in silver, but neutral or white will work as well. Lightweight is more important. Not sure what size turnbuckles I need, so if anyone has built one of these, chime in.
Here's a few pics of what I received.

TFF

looks like you inherited some nice wheels too.

allanflowers

The work already done on that plane looks really good. You must be excited about the project.
If you haven't done so already, check some of the build threads over on RC Scalebuilder. There is one by "bookmaker" on his VK Nieuport. http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...p?TID=474&PN=1 There are some others there also, all on the Proctor part of the website. Von Hammer did some nice builds, including this model.
On turnbuckles, I have used the Proctor ones on several projects. They are a bit expensive but pretty good.
I am looking forward to following your progress.

geezeraviation

My Feedback: (3)

Everything Alan just said, and also looking foreward to seeing this finished up.
Doc

buzzard bait

That's a great looking start...the fuselage has an interesting cross section and it's nice to have built.

I inherited mine too, but it was built about 1970 and looked like it had been in someone's barn since the Great War. I cleaned out the mouse nest, fixed a few breaks and rips, and installed a modern radio and engine. Covering is silk, and it is still in excellent shape. I attribute that to the silver dope which I believe has prevented UV damage.

Silk would not be a bad choice if you're up for it. It's quite light. The other choice for a light finish would be Polyspan and dope.

I never realized what a beautiful design it was until I had a complete model of it...I just love looking at it. It's flown too. Wonderful in the air, tricky on the ground. I abort a LOT of takeoffs to get one that works. But once I had it in the air I thought, "why do I do anything else?" It inspired me to build a VK Dr.I which I'm working on now.

My problem with the Nieuport has been the rigging which I made with Berkeley Firewire, 50 lb test. It breaks on every landing. I was afraid of cable because my Thomas Morse Scout had terrible interference problems. I'm still looking for a good rigging method.

Enjoy your wonderful model!
Jim

Trev

I'll be watching this with interest, the VK strikes me a very clean lightweight design. To echo above comments, the previous builder did a very nice job on the frame.

Jim, thanks for the closeup of your nieuports firewall and R/C setup, I like how the servos are positioned right up against the firewall, wish I could've placed mine that far forward. Is that a battery box next to the engine?

buzzard bait

Trev, the weight is not bad...5 lbs 6 oz RTF. Yes, that's a battery box on the firewall. The servos are a bit of a story...there was a complicated linkage to the ailerons left in the plane that I was able to link to the servos with some pretty bizarre wire bending. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic before I put the hatch on. And of course the push rods just go right through the cockpit, so you need a pilot who won't mind.

The engine is a PAW 40 swinging a 13x6 prop at about 7500 rpm. Plenty of power. It needed no nose weight.

Jim

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Been puttering around with the Nieuport. Did some work on the fuse, and mounted the lower wings. Need to scrounge up some brass strip to make few of the fittings, and none of the local places have any in stock. Guess I will need to place an online order.
I have considered going the silk and dope route, but man, it's been 30 years since I have covered with silk & dope. Don't know if I could relearn it.[]

Mein Duff

Why not try Solartex?...as far as I know it's about the same weight as all the other heat shrink films out there..very easy to work with, comes in silver I'm pretty sure.
Your fuse looks solid and straight...you're off to a good start..looking forward to your progress reports.

Nieuport nut

My Feedback: (10)

Silver Solartex is pretty heavy - (3 - 4oz./sq. yd?). I'd vote you do it in silk - but I admit I'd probably use Polyspan myself!. It is soooo easy to use.

Martin

geezeraviation

My Feedback: (3)

I love Solartex but the silver is an entirely different animal. I did a restoration of a Sig 1/4 scale clip wing Cub a couple of years ago using silver and red and the silver was a real surprise. Its not at all like any other color, and it's easy to mar the finish. I'll never use it again.
Doc

abufletcher

I don't like the silver solartex either (which I used on my Legionnaire/N17). It's got a rubbery texture, mars VERY easily (as Doc says), and is 100% opaque - and I do mean 100% as NO light, no matter how strong will pass through. On the plus side, the color looks really good. Also the marring wouldn't matter if you plan to give the model a clearcoat (for example over the markings) anyway.

I've pretty much decided that, personally, I'm never going to use any other color of solartex than the Natural and then color that myself. Here I might be tempted to use the Natural, spray with silver paint (of some sort) and then clearcoat.

geezeraviation

My Feedback: (3)

Don I clear coated the Cub with Satin PolyU and the marring didnt change or "go away" when coated.
Doc

squeakalong

My Feedback: (8)

Nice to see another WWI VK model rise from the "dust". You have a great start there. I'd highly urge you to read over "bookmaker's" RCSB thread on the VK Nieuport 17 build as it is very good with lots of photos. Flew a couple of these VK birds in the late '70's - early '80's and have four of the kits in the stash today. Think I'll go electric on them, too, so it will be interesting to follow along and see how you do on yours. Good luck on a great model project.

Soft landings,

Joe

dennis48

Good luck with the project, Terry. I'll be watching with great interest as I'm about to start a VK Nieuport 17 that I received as a retirement gift 3 years ago but have been too busy with other builds. I've read the Nieuport 17 forums at RCSB but until now hadn't found a discussion about an electric conversion. I plan on using an AXI 4120-14 (surplus from a previous project) and have ordered a couple Thunder Power 5300-5SPL2 LiPo's which I chose because they are very compact and one should fit on a shelf next to the motor fwd of the firewall. I've also ordered the Williams Bros 1/6 scale LeRhone. I want to have these items in hand prior to starting fuselage construction so I know where the heavy bits will be located and how critical the weight distribution has to be for the rest of the construction. I understand the need to keep everything well forward on this bird.

Dennis

jim takacs

I recently built a v.k. nieuport 17, it was an old 60s kit, I was impressed with the amount of bits that came in the kit, It was fairly easy to build and didnt have any surprises. I powered it with a saito 56 moved the firewall back to behind the front wing support and on the advice of a friend kept the weight as far forward as possible re servos and battery, battery is also mounted on the firewall as others had done, I covered it in ultra coat and used fishing tackle swivel snaps for turnbuckles, the kit came with stranded cable for the rigging and worked very well . I know this is not scale like but the weight came out to 5 1-2 pounds and the c.g. was right on as per plan. The plane flys very nice, but I came in a little too fast on landing and the model flipped over with damge to the rudder, its been fixed since and ready to go. Good luck on your model. Jim.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Bad news,
Looks like I am going to put this build on hold. There just does not seem to be any practical way to access batteries, and not really enough room for batteries, Esc, servos and all the other needed bits up front to make it balance without ballast. I was hoping the hatch would solve my problems, but looks like the top wing needs to be removed to access the hatch. Maybe later, but for now, I giving in. If someone is interested in purchasing this model, shoot me a PM and maybe we can make some sort of deal.

Trev

"There just does not seem to be any practical way to access batteries, and not really enough room for batteries, Esc, servos and all the other needed bits up front to make it balance without ballast."


It would be a shame to throw in the towel after such a promising start!
For access to the battery, what about a removable firewall setup as per Jim's VK above?
Also, have you considered building the top hatch and cabanes as a single removable unit? It might require a little re-engineering but would really improve access.

abufletcher

After you eliminate the "practical" you move on to the impractical. That's scale modeling. As long as you can get the batteries ahead of the firewall and the servos right behind it, you should be ok. There are thousands of other modelers who have built and flown the VK Nieuport 17 before you.

TFF

Cut that bottom tray out; leave the edges and cut the center out. The bottom is really a hatch anyway. You should have it easer; nothing is worse than trying to get a fuel tank to fit and be the correct hight. On my Dr1 the elevator servo is where the stick would go and the rudder is just forward so I had servos slightly rearward. What about custom cell setup under the cowl; 2 cell on one side and 3 cell on the other. Lots of options.

dennis48

Terry, I agree with the previous posts. I've started fuselage construction on my electric N17 conversion and I think it's very do-able. I plan on building a lite-ply box forward of the firewall to mount the motor so the prop will be at the location shown on the drawing. My LiPo battery (1.62" x 2.68" x 4.10") will go through a lower fuselage hatch and bulkhead B1 and sit on edge, across the lower shelf of my motor mount box. The aft edge of the battery will be above the aft edge of the forward landing gear support block. This will keep the weight well forward and leave lots of room in the fuselage compartment for servos. Wishing you the best, whatever you decide.

Dennis

abufletcher

I just meant that "further marring" would be prevented by clearcoating. But just ironing on the silver solertex resulted in several marred spots, which definitely are not "diminished" by a clearcoat.

dennis48

Here's my solution to converting to electric. The battery will fit through a hatch in the lower fuselage easily accessed with the aircraft tipped on it's nose (where it will probably end up after landing anyway). Other than the aileron servos (Hitec HS81MG) which are inset in the fuselage sides and will be enclosed by the cheek bulges, all electronics are mounted forward of the firewall (another advantage to flying electric). The elevator and rudder servos are HS85MG and when powered by a 6 volt BEC produce almost as much torque as standard servos on 4.8 volts. I've used them with no problems on models twice as fast and heavy. They connect to a pull/pull system consisting of kevlar cables with adjustments at the control surfaces and a tiller bar assembly of concentric carbon fibre tubes. There's lots of room for battery access or to mount the battery further aft if necessary. I had origanally intended to use an AXI 4120-14 but eventually installed a lower KV AXI 4120-20 to swing a scale 16 inch prop. I had considered a 400 KV E-flite Power 60 but it's heavier and much longer from mount to prop. The AXI allowed me to install the motor mount / battery box further forward. The remainder of the construction will be basically per the plans.

Dennis

StephenSP98

My Feedback: (8)

Dennis,

Looks great! I'm working on converting a partially built VK N-17 to electric. A couple of questions:

- Are you connecting the aileron torque rods directly to the servos? Mine came with the rods connected to a 90 degree bellcrank, but with your cheek arrangement they could probably be elliminated.

- Is the radial engine scratch built or did you use a kit such as the Williams Bros.? Either way well done... 

Steve

buzzard bait

Dennis, how did you secure the Kevlar thread to the metal threaded rod bits that the clevises are screwed on to? If you can make sense of my question.

You probably know that Kevlar is extremely strong in tension, but it frays. It looks like you've got a good way of avoiding that at the hook up.

Really nice work!

Jim