timfarrar

Looks great Steve !!
I've never built anything that size eather but it sounds light to me...

Thats not even 1 1/2 pounds yet for that half wing and that is 1/3rd scale.

I think it is fine...


Seeya, Tim

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

Beautiful work thus far! Are you shooting for FAI weight?? If so, you may be cutting it close. My Albatros has to sets of 1/4sq. spars front and rear and I came out at 32.5 lbs. You may be OK? Four panels at 2lbs each with caps plus center sections has used up 10 lbs without paint. Flyabillity wise it doesn't matter a bit but watch the grams if shooting for 33 lbs.

Dave

Lucky Dog

My Feedback: (1)

Steve,
Looking very nice, I will enjoy following along as you go.

Just curious if you're going to do the same thing Shuttleworth did on their recent SE5a restoration? I was there in September last year and had a tour of the shop with the Se5a in progress. They had put scotch tape over the cap strips. This was done apparently to aid in the removal of the fabric in future restorations. I'm not really being serious about you doing this of course (but I guess one could), but thought it was an interestting detail.

Cheers

Lucky Dog

My Feedback: (1)

Good to hear from you Dave. Are you still in China? We were worried about you over here.

alfredbmor

Thanks Steve for your invitation, I am checking in and planning to stay for as long as this thread will run.

Alfredo

smcouch77

Hi Lucky. I'm sure the people at Shuttleworth know what they're doing, but with fabric, the trick is making sure that it doesn't separate from the ribs. I use Sig Stix It on all the cap strips plus full stitching. Check out the way the fabric is ballooning between the ribs in this photo, especially on the bottom wings.
Steve

MaineBear

Hi Steve!

Great work! Much thanks for sharing your insights and progress w/us all.

Interesting comment about the ballooning. Looks like the lower wing has more alright. I would guess the ballooning is attributed to airflow over the wings, pressure differentials, incidence, etc. Anyway, good info. Sure envy you with all that good stuff from Shuttleworth.

I'm still working on my BUSA SE5 (not too recognizeable as a kit plane now), making progress (slowly). I've done full stitching on my surfaces, and other than taking more time to do, I think it looks more authentic and adds to it overall. Well worth the time.

Look forward to all your posts.
Regards,

Dick

EF

Steve, having followed your previous fantastic build thread, I know this is going to be one excellent and informative thread/tutorial.

I just wanted to say a very big Thank You for sharing your talents and skills with us.

smcouch77

Thanks guys. I appreciate your support. I wouldn't want to tackle this without the "RCU Team"!
Dick. If you would like to post a couple of pics, we'd love to see how its coming along.
I was cleaning up the shop today and putting all the 1/6 scale stuff in a box for storing.(I never throw anything away) I came across an extra rib.I'm still not used to the size difference.
Steve

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Steve in this case bigger is gooder..

Ralf strutter

Hello Steve, love your build!
Your 1/6 scale was already stunning, this will be a blast!

The weight of the wings is Ok I guess,
Having build and just succesfully test flown the Mick Reeves 1/3 Camel,
My 4 wing panels came out at 167 oz (5kg), that's app. 42 oz a piece including solartex, paint and rigging wires

The whole plane came out at 17.4 kg (including 1.3 kg nose lead) driven by a ZG62 with Reeves Torquemaster reduction
Perfect flyer!









Sorry, couldn't resist

Greetings, Ralf

smcouch77

Thanks for the info, Ralf. Beautiful Plane! What wheels did you use?
Steve

Ralf strutter

The 10" wheels come from Mick Reeves as supplied with the kit
These are light and strong, plastic spoke wheels with ABS vacuum moulded sidecovers
Easy to make, perhaps also good for your SE5A?

Mick also supplies the 1/3 scale Vickers gun as a kit
Also easy and fast to make with good result
I think the Lewis gun on the top wing of your SE5A is best to make yourselve

http://www.mickreevesmodels.co.uk/

(Look at Sopwiths for other good WW1-stuff)

Ralf

rmarnold

Was wondering if you are still active on this thread. Haven't seen a new post lately.

smcouch77

I'm still here This is my busy season for work. Between working and flying, there's not a lot of time for building in the spring. I have made some changes to the wing design and redrawn them. I should have a new, lighter, panel going this week. Thanks for checking in on me. You know how us "old" folks are
Steve

timfarrar

Steve, does that mean you will be starting over on your wings again ?

Seeya, Tim

smcouch77

Yep! I just built the one panel to see how it worked out. It's OK, but it can be a lot lighter without loosing strength. The plan now is to make the spars out of a balsa/carbon fiber sandwich. The ribs will be 3/32" instead of 1/8". The false ribs will be 1/16" with balsa caps. The aileron will be all balsa. I'm hoping to cut about 25% off the total weight.
Steve

timfarrar

Steve, just an ideal here for you...

Sense you are good at making jigs anyway you could make your jig for the shape of your rib's and stick build the ribs inside the jig just like the real rib's...

That would be as light as you could get for the rib's anyway....

It would be like museum scale too when you were through..

Although your planes turn out like that anyway.....

Just a thought
Seeya, Tim

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

That sounds great! I think that will put you right in the ball park. I also went to 3/32" ribs on my secong 1/3rd scale. You really can get away with a very light structure with all those wires. i have lost a couple in flight and still not had a failure. I can't wait to see the finished result.

dave

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

Attqached is the cross section of the top wing of the 1/3rd scale SPAD XIII I have started cutting parts for. The airfoil is from the Kieger drawings. All the spars are 1/4 sq. spruce and the LE is balsa. The cap stips will be 3/16" x 3/32" balsa.

Dave

smcouch77

Hi guys. Sorry I took so long to reply to your posts. We've had some flood damage to deal with and our cable was down.
Tim. Actually, I had planned on doing just that. However, with all those tiny parts and glue joints I was afraid they wouldn't hold together under stress. And I'm not sure they would save enough weight to justify the huge amount of work it would take to make them.
Dave. Thanks for the drawing. As usual, I tend to over build. It's a habit I carry over from framing houses, I guess. Congratulations on your new family addition. We are all thankful that you returned safely from your trip. Glad to have you back.
Steve

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Steve you can have your ribs laser cut if you want. Then all you need to do is cap strip them.. pretty simple and would save you time.

JohnF

Hey guy's, in case you don't know GTM is working on a 1/3 SE5a kit. [sm=teeth_smile.gif]

shar-pei1943

Do you have the web site for GTM. I'm interested in the 1/3 scale SE-5.

JohnF

Go to rcscalebuilder.com and click on forums and then go to the Glenn Torrance models thread to see what he has started. You can go to www.flygtm.com and get the build thread from there also.