fwman1

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Just thought I'd update the thread with some 'experience' I've gained in the last couple of weeks.

Do not fly unless any wind is very mild or you can take off and land directly into the wind. I wouldn't attempt cross wind operations at over 5-7 mph winds. It tracks fine, and is responsive to the rudder quickly. It is MORE responsive to weather vaneing and a cross wind can tip over to the wingtips very easily. I added shear webs all the way out on my lower wing, just because this sometimes happens.

Keep the tail light. I thought I was, but I wasn't keeping it light enough. My plane weighs 25.5 pounds. This is with full pull-pull on the rear controls. There is a PILE of lead shot in the cowling, as well as a lead bar under the engine.

I think my plane is nose heavy as set up now, and will begin to remove small portions for the next few trips down to the field. I am having a problem with nose overs. I made up my own "more scale" L/G, with shock absorbing. If you three point it, you are fine. When wheel landing, as the speed slows, the tail wants to keep going fast, and slowly pushes over the nose. If you are ready with full UP, you can stop it, as long as you are not going too slow. This is probably specific to my setup, not the BUSA design. I have not read of anyone who built the gear stock having any nose over problems.

The G-38 will pull it fine with the right prop, and if running well. I have tried three props, and like the Pro Zinger 20-6 best for good climb and slower airspeed (just over 1/2 throttle). It climbs (levitates) when flown fast, so extra downthrust was added (it didn't help that much). I also mixed in some down elevator with high throttle. I added extra positive incidence to the horizontal stab during construction, but am still carrying a noticable amount of down elevator for level flight. See note on wing incidence below.

I set mine up with aileron differential (the amount shown in the instructions) and it is agile in roll, which is surprising for a biplane with only two ailerons. I also mix in 10% rudder with aileron. I would say the control throws recommended in the manual are spot on.

I am removing some upper wing positive incidence (this is what Dick Pettit did to remove some of the ballooning on his BUSA D7 he reviewed for R/C Report Magazine). Once that is done the interplane struts will be completed. I'm doing the step and handholds today.

The kit was fun to build, and has a great presence in the air. I'll try to post some flight shots when the last mods are done. Good, fun kit and plane.

p51f4f

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fwman1

Great looking plane, they do look good in the air.

Les

Prop Nut

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Yours really looks good Roger, I am jealous that you can go fly yours. I just get to sit and look at mine on the bench, lol. I know you have seen these pictures but this will be a first for this thread. Here is a my "Almost" complete BalsaUSA Fokker DVII. I didnt have as many problems with wind as Roger mentioned, take offs and landings were a breeze, again I didnt have any trouble with the ballooning that Petit mentions. I was very lucky that everything worked out great for me. The plane (other than the cowling) was a breeze to build and alot of fun. I would like to thank you again Roger for the gun mounts, they really make the finished model look good. I did the maiden without paint but did fly it several times with paint so that didnt throw anything off. This plane has a 34cc Briggs and Stratton four stroke gasoline engine, sounds like the real deal.

69chevelle

My Feedback: (19)

I have this kit and plan on starting it soon (winter project). I will power mine with a Brisson 2.4 It mounts perfect setting in on the plans. I looked over the plans and do not like how the uper wing mounts to cabane. Did anyone modify this mount? It looks like the upper wing could come of rather easy. Any other areas need more strength? Nice looking planes!

p51f4f

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They seem to hold well and show no signs of stress, but did use a lot of gussets in the fuse as they seemed a little light to me in strength.

Les

p51f4f

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Just a few from my fleet

Les

Prop Nut

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Balsa USA's system to attach the three center cabanes together is really weak. I had the same thing on my DVIII and it came loose after about a year. I had a few people check it and they all agreed that my solder job was fine but there was to much stress on the joint in several directions. A buddy of mine who is a retired machinist made me these fittings, took him a few minutes and they worked out great. I put them on my DVII also. These are made of brass. The holes on the side are just big enough for the rod to fit in and then the top holes are so that the silver solder can get down and around the rods. I should offer to sell these to Balsa USA for thier kits, lol.

p51f4f

My Feedback: (81)

Prop Nut

Yea, the color scheme is a little different, there seems to be some discussion on wether it was blue or red. According to some sources the color of Jasta 12 whom Raben was assigned before transfering to Jasat 18 in the mass tranfer. Where the color of Jasta 18 was red. So it is documented either way which by all accounts makes it fair game. At least it makes for a cool site in the air. The next D VII I am working on will be in Lothar's yellow & red scheme. So many projects and so little time. Winter is here and already x-mas. New kits on order and trying to finish garage to be able to work with a steady hand instead of shivering.

Les

Prop Nut

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I saw the blue and white on a replica and as far as I know, there never was this scheme on any real Fokker DVII
I dont care though, I wanted to do something unique, and I think I did, lol.

p51f4f

My Feedback: (81)

Prop nut

I like your color scheme, when refering to blue or red I was refering to my dr 1 and d VII. I like the looks of yours as it is very colorful and personal.
which makes it more appealing. As with most WWI pilots you chose one close to the heart and your style. That makes it one of a kind. My imagination
is limited due to kids. They have enough for us all.

les

Prop Nut

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I was not at all belittling your paint schemes, they look great, as I have said before on RCScalebuilder before I quit that site. Your planes look awesome.

jeffEE

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I know we try to build as scale as we can. (Some of do anyway.) But I like to answer the people that point out that "There wasn't any real plane that was painted like that!" with this. I say, Perhaps, but that's how I would have done it if I were flying it. That ends the debate. I like the way I paint, or cover them. If you do, great. If not. thats OK too. Most of mine are done in colors that I saw on a picture or painting, and got as close as I could. I can live with that. And no. I never saw a "real" Tri-plane on skis either.

Prop Nut

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I aplaud you Jeff!! I love it. I painted mine in that way that I would have wanted my personal DVII to look if I had been a pilot in WWI. After all, isnt that what it is all about? Flying the planes and dreaming that you are at the controls?

Here is my entry into definataly NOT scale

jwrich

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Hi Guys, I guess I am about a year later getting into this thread. I just got my Balsa USA Fokker D-VII kit for a winter project. I have a zenoha 38 I would like to power this plane. What do you all think, too much power or weight? Is there any modification reqiured during the building process? Also is there a link to view several different color schemes?

Thanks for your help and advice
Rich

fwman1

My Feedback: (22)

This is the best choice of engine if you keep the tail light. My BUSA D7 weighs over 25 pounds, and the old style G-38 does the job in a scale like fashion. It flies very nice. Enjoy.

Roger

jwrich

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Roger, did you modify the kit during construction? How setting up the top wing incidense, the instruction seemed confusing to me. Did you have to modify the cowl to fit in the G-38? These just a few questions that come to mind after reading the construction manual & studying the plans. Thanks for your quick response. Merry Christmas!

Rich

fwman1

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I did some mods to the kit, mainly using a more scale L/G setup. If you look at post #101, you'll see my comments about the design. Here is a flight shot and some engine mounting shots.

vertical grimmace

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JWRICH, I am just getting to the final stages of costruction on mine. First be careful and take your time identifying the ribs for the wing. This is the weakest area of the kit. It is as if they just threw a bunch of parts in the box and assume they are all there. Actually in my kit they were!, but I do not know how the packager knew! It seems though if you follow the instuctions step by step you move rather quickly, which is nice because this is a very large project.
I am also using the G38 and it fits perectly. I also am installing a Proctor dummy engine and I seem to have it fitting well after carving some away from it. (to clear the G38)
As for colors and detailing, you must know about Glenn Torrence models. www.flygtm.com
I have installes his full cockpit kit and am using 5 color losenge fabric. Everything I have from him has worked wonderfully. I am hoping to be covering this next week as I do not have to work. Try to get the book "Fokker DVII aces of WW I. Also Try locating the Windsock Datafile books on the DVII. I am Doing mine in the Rudolph Stark scheme with the lilac trim. Proctor will make custom decal sets for your model i.e. work numbers, instruments, all of the little ones you need. They will make these to your specific model. All of this is somewhat expensive but so far I am glad I purchased all of these items. The Proctor engine is very tricky to build and if I wer doing it agian I would still buy the kit but only use some of it. I did not like the blow molded plastic parts.
I also created a sprung landing gear and this has proven itself with my BUSA triplane. I recommend coming up with something here as this plane will be pretty heavy when it is done. Any non-perfect landing will really rattle things otherwise.
Good luck.

fwman1

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Vertical Grimance, that sounds like it is going to be a beauty. How about a couple of pictures? My LG is modeled after the Gary Allen design, and definitely does help with my higher all up weight, and dumb thumbs.
Roger

Prop Nut

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Rich, you can see Rogers build on RCScalebuilders.com. His details are well worth looking at. They are excellent.

vertical grimmace

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I will try to get some pictures up soon. I kind of have everything apart as I am going after the N struts right now. I did have to modify the front of the cockpit area as it is not scale. I used the GTM ammo box and positioning it properly took a lot of planning. I started this plane 1 year ago and it has taken a lot longer than it has to. I fly many differant types of planes and during the flying season I have been focused on pylon racing. Now that the weather does not really make flying much fun, I like to focus on my scale projects.

jwrich

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Roger, thanks again for your quick reply. Your work is excellent! That is a great idea for the exhaust system, how about the noise. Is it very loud? Your photos show a very clean installation. The dumby engine looks great! I would like to pick your brain on how you did this when I get to that stage of construction. I realize the landing gear needs a little spring action, but I am not sure how to accomplish the task. Maybe photos of the design and a little instructions will help. I do have a lot of building experience over the years but it nice to see other ideas. I am looking forward to building this airplane, WW I airplanes have always been my favorite airplanes. Thanks again for your help and the response form others who enjoyed building this kit.
Merry Christmas to ALL
Rich

jwrich

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Thanks for your response, I went to RCScalebuilders.com, but I didn't find photos of Roger's airplane. Maybe I didn't click the right area.

Thanks again, Merry Christmas
Rich

fwman1

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The link to the thread. http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...?TID=4156&PN=3 It's on the 3rd page of the BUSA forum. The title is Leisurely paced BUSA 1/4 Fokker DVII .

vertical grimmace

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Here are a couple of pics. This is my BUSA DR1 with the GTM 2 piece cowling. The cowl just blows me away how good it looks. If you look close I have the sprung gear on this plane with the axel wing removed. The other pic is a closeup of my gear for my DVII. I actually used most of the parts from the kit but added several as well. The brass triangular piece I cut out by hand with a hack saw and prettied it up with a cut off wheel in the dremel. This gear is really pretty scale and functions just like the full scale. Really very simple. One note: the axel wing will have to be highly modified. I actually scratch built a whole new one as the stock wing is not thick enough to allow axel travel. The slot in the brass is about 1" tall.

RP