jtisch

Prop Nut, good to hear from you again. I was beginning to worry. I like the trailer (especially the graphics) and am thinking of going that route myself. You'll be the first to know when I fly the DVII with the Briggs, should be sometime next month.

Glad to hear that your wife's treatment is going well. Cancer sucks.

J

eagledancer

hey propnut, good to see you thinking of that tripe again. you might concider the prop drive mick reeves has, it fits a zenoah g-62 and allows you to swing a 28" prop
hope everything continues to go well for your wife

hamishrock

Hi Prop Nut

Not much has been added recently, so I thought I would add a couple of pics of my 1/4 scale tripe which is just being covered in the hope that it will inspire you to post some more pics of yours.

Prop Nut

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After seeing your tripehound I have decided to not bother with my own poor build. Yours looks great! Actually, I have been working on it, one day in the last 4 months. I have all the electronics, engine, fuel, etc systems mounted. I still just need to finish up the wings, they are built but not finalized. I also added a working tail skid. I will get some pictures this week. Thanks for posting your pictures, if you have more of the build I would appreceate your adding them also. What are you powering it with?

hamishrock

Yes my build looks great. [sm=wink_smile.gif] It is good how all the errors disappear when the whole lot is put together and photographed.

I have of course only posted the pics which flatter the build, I haven't posted the pics which show that some work in the undercarriage is still required as it looks to be leaning when assembled.

I liked the way you have mounted the wing cabane mounts. Unfortunately you posted them about a week after I had committed to the method I have used, which is not as nice as yours.

I have built it to hopefully fly on an OS 120 FS, but having fitted the engine with the biggest prop a 120 should have (16x6) it does look a bit small. I am coming over to Florida (St Petersburg) for my sons wedding in October and was wondering if I could sneak off to a model shop and buy an os 160 twin, but I haven't found a shop close enough yet.

The servos and battery are fitted but I am hoping to get a 2.4 gig Futaba receiver for it, but Futaba still haven't got a replacement for a FF9, so I may have to buy another obsolete pcm receiver yet.

A few problems I still have to solve are:

The bottom fuselage stringer still requires fitting and then some way to attach the solartex so that the bottom wing panels, (all wings are split into 2) attach without stretching the tex each time

The tail skid requires mounting. I haven't opted for a steerable fitting but I do want it to be sprung.

Prop Nut

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Not sure how far Orlando is to St. Petersburg but Graves Hobbies in Orlando can set you up with just about anything your heart desires. You might find a Hobby shop in St. Petersburg and pre order the engine.

JR has a 9 channel 2.4 radio out now. You can still use the batteries and servos that you have with the new reciever and transmitter. I think I will go that way myself and get away from Futaba (the industry leader in price).

Your build sure looks good to me, I was working on the flying wires on mine today, they are working wires.

ravensgait

Prop Nut, really glad to hear that,,,,, now get back to work and posting on your build I'll likely never build one but am very interested in following yours and hamishrocks builds..

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

Well, how about an update? I have no pictures although I wish I had my camera handy as my wife and I hung the assembled plane from a fish scale attached to the ceiling [:'(]
The total weight minus the tail feathers (Engine, radio gear, gas tank, cowl, landing gear, etc etc) is 21lbs. I am hoping to complete the plane under 30 so this is very good news. I don't know how much the solartex will add to the weight but the tail feathers and hardware should only add 8-12 ozs. Paint, details, pilot, etc will add a bit more so I really think I can make the 30lb limit.

Added the flying wires on both sides, and am now working on getting the wings to be at the correct incidence when I bolt them on to the fuse. Gave myself a heart attack earlier when I found the center of the top wing was at -10 degrees while the wingtips were at +2!!! Then I noticed that I had forgetten to drill the lower bolt on the cabane mounts and it had pivoted, whew!

I have yet to complete the lower wing, it needs sheer webs, and the ailerons cut out and fitted along with the wingtips. The top wing also needs ailerons cut and fitted. I also need to mount the servos in the lower wing but am waiting thier arrival from Hobby People.net. I picked up several 108oz (@6v) metal geared servos. This (IMHO) is overkill but better safe than crying over a bag of balsa chips (Known in my household as kindling on a cold winter night) These will add a bit to the weight also but hopefully not more than 12-16oz total.

My wife and daughter have both made me promise that they could be there when I do the maiden (a week, maybe two as I like to fly them before spending ALOT of time doing details), I am pretty sure that they will be handy helping me to pick up the pieces.

Thats all for now, tune in next time to the same Bat Time same Bat Channel. (KaH-POW)

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

I will have some pictures tonight.

Del, what did you paint your Tripe with? I ordered the wrong color Solartex so it looks like I will indeed need to paint it. (DoH!)

I am working on the lower wing panels now, just need to cut the ailerons out and mount the servos. Then it is covering time.

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

Nothing like a very very late update.

After several months of not touching the plane due to a busy work and school schedule (I made the Deans list! Yeah me!), I have a few pictures to throw out.

The wings are covered and the the servos are all installed. I just need to cover the control surfaces and the fuse. I had planned on doing the maiden before any scale details, paint etc, as is my want.

abufletcher

That is looking FINE!!! So when's the Erstflug?

PS. Good to hear from you again, and congrats on making the Dean's list (I'm not sure I ever did).

abufletcher

BTW, you say you ordered the "wrong" Solartex. Is this the "natural?" After covering the undersides of my Snipe with Solartex White, I've decided I'm never going to use that again. The harsh opaque white is unsuited to any WWI aircraft I've ever seen. I ended up painting it with PU+stain to give it some sense of atmosphere but I would have preferred the translucent "natural." I did the upper surfaces in the opaque(ish) yellowish Linen but then I had always planned on overpainting that with PC10.

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

(Don, I am not sure I should have )

Danke, Im Febraur oder Marz ich mochte zu haben die Erstflug. (I have not yet started 201, hopefully I can get those classes next semenster)

Thanks, in Febuary or March I want to do the maiden flight.

I forget the color name but it is the "harsh" opaque white. I will also be painting it.

abufletcher

It doesn't look so opaque on the wings of your Tripe. Solartex offers "natural" and "white." The "white" (which is what I used) completely hides all structure. It's really really opaque. The natural is also white but reveals structures. This is similar to the "antique" vs. "linen" comparison where the Antique is translucent and the Linen fully opaque. My own feeling is that the fully opaque solartexes are really only suitable if they are going to be painted. In fact, I'm thinking that from now on, I may ONLY use natural on ALL models and then treat the fabric to get the colors I want.

What color scheme are you thinking of?

Viel Gluck beim Erstflug!

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

Compared to the SuperCoverite I have it does seem opaque. I wanted the darker antipue so I would have no need to paint at all with this scheme:

Prop Nut

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A few more pictures of the color scheme I like:

abufletcher

The problem is that the Solartex Antique (or the more opaque Linen) are a bit too yellow in my opinion. It's almost perfect on the EIII but much darker than any of the British planes I've ever seen.

Lucky Dog

My Feedback: (1)

Congrats David! (I made the "Dean's Office" in high school a few times).

The Tripe is looking great! It will be awesome in the air. Can't wait to see it.

Mike

jtisch

Are you still going with the Quadra 50cc? I should be getting two Stihl 65cc four-strokes in a couple of days.Can't wait to check out the dimensions.Just MHO, but I think a 4-stroker would be awesome in your Tripehound.Of course,you probably know that!

Glad to see you back at "work",although I must applaud your other accomplishments.

J

Prop Nut

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Thanks Mike, J, I go like a demon on a project for a week or so and then ignore it for months at a time.

J, I purchased a G62 as I wanted to turn a larger prop for scale looks. I still think that the 50cc would fly the plane just fine though. Are you going to have a thread on the Stihl 65cc conversions? Where did you get them?

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

More updatage:

I purchased a digital kitchen scale with a 12# limit today. Weighing all parts sparately I came up with 27.5# total weight. That is with everything that will be on the maiden flight.

Teus

Hi David,

Why you don't you go to use the Mick Reeves reduction drive now you have the G62? Then you can turn a almost scale size prop! ( 28"-30" ) The G62 with the reduction drive is also a verry compact unit that fit's prob. easily in your cowl.

Your plane is looking great [sm=thumbup.gif]

Teus.

Second picture is the drive unit installed in the 1/3 Reeves Camel from Ralf strutter. First picture is from the Reeves website.

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

That is pretty cool Teus, but a 24/10 is just fine for me now. It would have been a better idea to have used a unit like that with my Quadra50, instead of purchasing the G62. Hindsight and all that.

deljon

My Feedback: (4)

Hey David,
Good to see ya back at it. Just think how good our two tripes are going to look flying together at the Hoosier DP this
year. [sm=biggrin.gif]
Will good to see you again.
You going to Toledo this year??

Del

Prop Nut

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Del,

Michelle and I were talking about that just this morning. We thought of getting a hotel and spending Friday night and all day Saturday there.

I also look forward to our planes in the air....the race for the first flight at Dawn this year should be quiet exciting

David