rowarrior

Hi guys, made a little video,

i hope you like it, it has all my WWI planes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZLVyk8LZlk

abufletcher

Neat video! Your enthusiasm for WWI models is clear. Next step: Build a kit...check out Aerodrome RC for smaller electrics. There's nothing quite as satisfying as flying a model that you built yourself.

rowarrior

Thanks! I agree, the only issue is that i have no room for building, the table I work on planes is 6 sq feet!!! one day for sure.
PS: I am old generation,I love my Nitros, so I try to keep them on the 1/6 scale size

abufletcher

Nothing wrong at all with 1/6 scale WWI. They are easy to transport, use economical engines, a don't need much building space. Here are my WWI birds, all 4-strokes, all built from kits or scratch and all 1/6 scale.

rowarrior

super nice!!!!!! I love them.

hey, would you mind telling me a little bit about your Niueport 17? i am currently finishing a VK Nieuport 17, 55in wing span , it is almost ready to fly, i am following the plan's incidences of +2 horizontal stab., + 2 lower wing and +3 top wing using datum as reference . i am getting a hard time getting those incidences..but i am getting close. Do you know your incidences? does she fly nice? I have a down thrust of 3 degrees, but the plans call for none... any feedback would be great, and thank you for the pictures. your planes are so detailed , they look amazing.

abufletcher

The N17 is the semi-scale Flair "Legionnaire" kit. Not nearly as nice as the VK kit. I just built is stock so I don't know anything about the incidences. I will say though that is WAS the worst flying model I have ever flown. It was extremely squirrely on take-offs and difficult to fly in the air. I'm sure the VK model will be much better. If I were you, I'd just follow the plans exactly. The "Pup" is also from the Flair kit ('Puppeteer") and was slapped together in 5 weeks!

rowarrior

thank you abufletcher,

Well, i have been working with the VK kit for over a year now. i made a building video, check it out if you can, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUoYqUHhzSI

nonetheless, i think my N17 will be like yours, tough on take off. There is a fellow in the local club that has another VK with an elongated nose, and still is hard for him to Take Off and land properly lets see what happens. I believe I will have my VK ready in 2 weeks or so, but i will be honest, i am a little nervous to fly it. I put a s stroke 60 OS FX . Yours looks great too, maybe it does not fly so good because of the incidences?

abufletcher

Nicely done video and your VK Nieuport looks great! It's definitely a more scale kit than the Legionnaire. One build video deserves another so here's mine for the Flair Puppeteer which I built and maidened in about 6 weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db4SEClA9-s

abufletcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13VnOLWZ9sg

abufletcher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34tt_SixScY

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

Very Nice Videos, beautiful work. Thanks for posting them.

Rich

TFF

I like 1/6. Big enough to be a real project; not so big that it drags. Secret is the lighter the better. I have a VK Dr1 and it flies great; way better than I thought it would. I have The Camel in a box for a while, but I am doing a Reeves Camel. Hoping it will be a better contest plane. I built a Top Flite SE5a and it is a good flier, but I made two mistakes. One is I let the wings warp too much so there is a bunch of wires not perfect. More of the problem is the aileron rigging is soft. Too much flex in the system. The ailerons dont return to neutral, so you have to work them to center them. Takes a lot of attention to fly it, and most of the time its rudder turns; it would be so much better if they were working right. Did a 1/6 Fokker DVIII; major handful. I fly my Dr1 on a 52 four stroke so your 60 FX will rip the wings off if you try to fly it at full throttle. Not kidding. The old .60s on the VK plans make about as much power as a.40-45 today, except the bigger prop and the needed nose weight which helped.

Telemaster Sales UK

My 1/6 scale offering. BE2e by Roy Scott. Working exhaust. Plan available to download from Outerzone, plan and short-kit available from Flying Scale Models.



https://vimeo.com/123989510

abufletcher

Well, I just typed out several paragraphs of "inspired wisdom" on the topic of 1/6 scale WWI models, hit "reply" and it all disappeared.

rowarrior

Dear Abufletcher, thanks for the videos, i love them. So you really live in Japan.

Dear TFF, thats for the advise, yes, i plan to be really careful with that OS 60 FX. I need the weight at the front, and sometimes you need that extra power on take off. I actually finished a Fokker DVIII recently, and I put a Ross 45 on the nose because of the weight needed. But you have to keep that Rossi on a short leash!! if you care to see that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1bgcgB8f74 . it is the Ben Buckle kit.



Dear Telemaster Sales. Thank you. I love your BE2. I think I will look for the plan, and maybe build when i have a bigger vehicle. As you know, its a pain to rig and de-rig at the field, and i have a small SUV . My Nieuport 17 actually just has a hatch to access the battery without taking anything off. its a real pain as you probably know.

hey Abufletcher, can you get that inspiration back and type it again?

TFF

My DVIII needed more power; they are not floaters. Twitchy and sluggish at the same time. Mine was decommissioned when it snapped into a spin while doing a roll. Did not hurt it all that much, but I had enough of it. Mine was scratch built from MAN plans.

rowarrior

Very interesting TFF, my Fokker DVIII ended up heavy. I dont know if you saw the video, but my wing loading ended up at 30 oz/sq ft, which i would say is at least 30-40 % heavier than it should have been. I found it to be not a floater as you say, and twitchy and sluggish too... i thought it was just because my high wing loading...so it is a natural characteristic of the DVIII in your opinion? i never rolled it, because when i flew it, it felt like it would snap, although it never did (mind you i always kept a very low angle of attach on my turns )

Can you please tell me more about yours and your thoughts on that? (according to an online incidence-stall calculator) given the wing loading, and other factors, it is estimated my Fokker DVIII would stall at 30mph on straight flight, so i always flew it 'fast' . i have only flown it 3 times total.

abufletcher

Yep. Been here 18 years. And before that it was 2 years in Mexico and before that 7 years in Oman and before that 3 years in Kuwait and before that 1 year in Saudi Arabia and before that 1 year in Germany. And no I'm not in the military. Just a plain old English teacher.

The main point that I wanted to make is that a 1/6 scale WWI model is very respectable and imminently practical. Most of the 1/6 scale fighters have a wingspan in the 50 to 60 inch range and can be powered with an economical 50-class 4-stroke. The DrI is a bit small at 47" and a truly scale EIII would be about 66" inches. And as you say, you can often load them fully rigged into a car. Besides if you want a larger model, just model a larger aircraft! I think we would all agree that a 1/6 scale Gotha is a BIG model. With 1/4 scale (not to mention the 1/3 and 1/2 scale behemoths) now dominating the "dawn patrol" scene, it's easy to think of 1/6 scale as "tiny." Again that depends on the aircraft being modeled. I'd say that 95% or more of the WWI models you'll ever see are of fighters (and only about a half-dozen types at that). I'm working (slowly) on a 1/6 scale Albatros CI and it's got a wingspan of over 2 meters. That's larger than some 1/4 scale fighters.

Jaybird

Abu,

An impossible question to answer, but how do add all that intricate detail without adding too much weight? The landing gear on the EIII is a work of art and I assume fully articulated. Beautiful models and amazing detail.

I'm currently building a BUSA 1/6 scale Nieuport 28C. Nowhere near the detail of yours, but there is a lot packed into that small airframe. Group build photos here. It will have a Saito 50 4-stroke. Hope to have it flight tested in the next month or so. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2267961

I have the BUSA Eindecker EIII 90 (not scale at all, really) 80" span with a Saito 91 4-stroke and a Hangar 9 Fokker DVII with OS 60 2-stroke. Both fly very well but ground handling can be a challenge as we all know.

Jaybird

rowarrior

nice Jaybird! I love your N28 !! if you ever get bored with it, let me know lol

abufletcher

I'll also add that I'd rather see a fully scale 1/6 scale model than a semi-scale 1/4 scale model. My philosophy on "scale weight" is that it's fine up front but be careful with any weight in the tail. Also I work a lot with lithoplate (and aluminum more generally). If done properly a lithoplate panel can actually weigh less than a balsa panel.

TFF

The DVIII has a small fast wing. Under 500 square inches compared to 750 sq in of my SE5a. Mine was at 5 lbs. Painted lozenge on Koverall and the wing had silkspan on it. Fiberglass cowl; OS 40 FP. It needed more prop and speed. I got rid of the Williams Brothers wheels, and made some out of 1/4" lite-ply with balsa tires, then covered in Koverall. It was all an experiment, but getting rid of all that weight down low really helped. My wing was pretty flat incidence wise but I never checked it; I did jack up the back some. I did see your video and it reminded me of mine, but yours looked a little better. Same Jasta 6. I was ready for my Dr1 to be a pig, in the air it is just shy of a regular sport plane. Biggest problem is making sure the tail is flying, because all those wings are flying before it does, and lifting off early made a mess once.

rowarrior

thanks Abu and TFF.

Very true, building light makes all the difference in the world. In the specific case of my Fokker DVIII, I bought it from North Carolina, it was 'finished' but it was never flown. It was a Ben Buckle kit. I had to recover the plane, fix here and there, some reinforcements, but nothing too crazy. Nonetheless, it was super tail heavy. I really wonder why...because the tail is just some sticks and monokote. I added a whole whack of lead -glued to the engine mount- and that Rossi engine to make it as heavy on the nose as possible and save on ballast...still, it ended up being 7.2 lbs which is ubber heavy compared to most 5 pounders out there..

As TFF mentioned (and thanks for the compliment) , it flies good, but i am scared those wings will destroy themselves on a higher G maneuver. Its re-assuring to hear there are not nice gliders, because i thought mine did not glide because of the heavy loading lol .

Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

BUSA 1/4 scale D-VIII is a great flyer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrPfhaiqIIY


https://youtu.be/mpW5W4MOYgY

TFF

I had dreams of it flying easy, and I would have a buddy fly it, and dogfight with the SE5. Everyone at my field would have said" how do you fly this thing?" Mine was tough. It spun in from about 50 ft and it messed up the landing gear more than anything. I fixed most of it and then said, no. Took the gear out; It could have been flying again, but I would rather build another down the road. It would be great in a video getting straiffed and blown up. Free to anyone who will take it as is. Come get it.