vibi08

other pictures

vibi08

other pictures

vibi08

other pictures

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

So call me subscribed. I'm starting a build on this airplane as well. I thought this was going to be a fuse rebuild but after looking at the airplane I've decided to just bite the bullet and build the whole thing. I have a ZDZ80 for an engine, I guess it'll probablly drag it around adequately, especially as I plan on sheeting the whole wing. I've debated sheeting it with plywood,then staining it and per original, but I Think I"ll just go with balsa and solartex for covering. This will be my first large scale build, and my first real build in a long time, so we'll see how it goes. So far I've got the tail feathers built, Camden Custom Cutters is making me a short kit, I should have fuselage parts on hand early next week with wing parts to follow when he gets spruce sticks back in stock for the spars. I picked up a GTM cowl at our dawn patrol event, and that will be a bit of a build in itself.

Oh, and I discovered the plans for the stabs are off center a little bit, I built the first elevator over the r/h side of the plans, laid it over the left side and it didn't match. So I just built both the elevators on the r/h side, and they seem to work find.

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

So thanks to a little UPTO from work I've gotten quite a bit done on the airplane. I wound up investing in a belt sander, makes things go a whole lot quicker and easier, and has the side benefit of covering everything in the garage with dust. Ron's plans require a little interpretation, at least from me, but it's mostly making sense and I seem to have a fairly square fuselage.
I built the fuse frameworks over the plans, of course when I laidn them over each other they were off quite a bit. A little fudging and some minor rework and they were, well, closer. I fugred the critical areas are the stab saddle and the firewall mounts, as long as they're square and have the same alignment I should be good.
The fuselage components of the short kit showed up and they're nice. There really aren't many pieces! He sent along pieces for a motor box as well, sized to fit my engine exactally. Might be a little too close, I don't know how the muffler is going to fit but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Who needs a muffler anyway? I"m trying to keep the cowl length stock, so worst case scenario I make some rings for the firewall and extend the cowl a little bit.
The fuse side pieces confirmed that my frames were mostly correct. I was trying to figure out what to use for weights while I glued the frames to the side pieces. Something compact, fairly heavy, that I had around the house... guess the doomsday prepping is paying off now, at least a little.
I'm trying to decide if I want to build the motor box before I mount the firewall. If I build it first then I can get the engine mounted and the holes drilled while it's easy to manipulate. Also it'll be easier to cut cowl extension rings, if I need too. I'd be lying if I said I wasnt a little intimidated by the GTM cowl kit but I'll manage it.

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

Looking good there guy's, I just love this plane. I'll be checking in and out with your build. Keep posting the pics and tips and any other useful information used in your build....I wish I would have bought a GTM kit, I know I have enough in mine to have bought one.... I have mine built but the finishing stages seems to take me forever. Thanks Rebel Flyr
You can look at what I have done on this link.... I may have stated this build thread in the wrong place.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_11...m.htm#11007720

vibi08

hi guys,

i almost completed my Fokker DVIII but too late to fly it before cold catch up! here are some pictures. The color schème is not a scale schem but it will look good in the air. My biggest problem is ti wait until next spring to try it!

I put a 3W 75 engine in it and i had to put an extra 7 pounds of lead in front of it so build the tail as light as possible.

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

looking good Vincent; 7 pounds of dead wieght, WoW. how much did your plane weigh RTF?

vibi08

The final weight is 40 pounds but since i redesign the wing, i put too much of 1/4 liteply for the ribs that support the wing tube on both the center piece of the wing and the outer wing panel. But 40 pounds minus 7 is a build weight of 33 pounds.

The weight does not bother me too much since the wing should generate a lot of lift and the 3W 75 engine is very powerfull as all 3W engines. I have 3 of those engines and they outperform any other brands for the same displacement. The cost of then also outperform pther engine...

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

Nuts! I was going to do mine in a black and white scheme as well... that's what was on it before the crash, so I had just planned on going back to it. It will be done differently from your, though, Vincent, so no chance of us getting confused at an event!

So I notice your cowl seems to be fairly close to stock length? In other words, you didn't extend the nose at all, or did you? I'm running into an issue with my engine being recessed enough that I think I will run out of clearance for the muffler. I'm assembling the cowl now, and will do some dry fitting with the firewall before I attach it to the airplane. I see you split your fwd gear wire, I may have to do the same thing to allow clearance for the cylinder head, I'm also leaning towards using GTM alumimum struts instead of wires, one of the WWI guys in the club has a 1/3 scale D7 set up that way and it's held together for more years than I can remember. It's a little pricey, sturdy and should be fairly scale as well.

NO pics of the cowl build as it's not going well, attaching the front to the rest of the cowl is giving me fits, and I already made a couple of holes where I didn't want them. Not to mention the brass pins dont work exactally like rivets, I'll get there eventually but did I mention there are a LOT of holes to drill?

vibi08

I had a cowling that was a bit larger than the firewall so i made a new firewall to fit the cowling. I use 2-56 button head bolt instead of rivets for the front cowling plate. Lot of drilling and bolting but the result is great. My engine mounting is almost flush with the firewall and i did not change anything to the cowling location. The cowling is secure with 3 4-40 cap screws. Adding weight to the front is mandatory unless you can put a big radial engine in it. So better figure out where you put this extra weight. I put both batteries near the firewall as well and even though, i added 7 pounds.

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

Well, minimal effort on the plane the last couple of days. Flying one day, thanksgivign the next, recovering on Saturday, etc etc. But I did manage to get the turtleback on aft of the cockpit, and construct the motor box. I'm still fighting with a few things that I didn't build qutie square, but that's life... hopefuly the next one will be better. I'm working out the mounting for the front cabanes, plus some issues with triangulating the firewall to the fuselage.\

*apparently there will be no pictures tonight......

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

So... I hate that I'm being a hijacker, but.....

Firewall is on,and I'm working on cabane mounts in the fuselage. I deviated some from the plans, as I want to incorporate a large hatch in the foward lower fuselage, and a smaller hatch in the aft fuse for access. The top and rear cabane mounts are, right now, plywood plates, but I may have to stack some plates behind them to get depth. I went with plates rather than blocks all the way across the fuse as the plans show so I can put either wheel collars or nuts on the backside to secure the cabanes in teh fuselage. I forgot to groove the landing gear plates before installing them. I started on the subwing, but need to work out mounting points before sheeting. I haven't tried yet, but can you silver solder steel to steel? I don't think so, and may have to learn how to braze to attach the mounting brackets. I'm considering using GTM formed al. struts for everything, pricey but fairly scale and in a couple of ways a little easier.
I now need to start constructing a bellcrank assembly for the elevator pull pull, and figure out servo mounting. Also, Hans showed up... and is impatiently waiting for his mount to be ready...

vibi08

Where did you hire Hans?

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

Hans comes to me via AH pilots... and a few months training time....

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

My wing looks different... but I built as per plans. Prob gonna stay a two piece. And I'm planning on balsa blocks for wingtips....

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

Just wondering what size holes you have in the ribs for a wing socket & tube? They look a little small in the picture; I ended up with a 1&1/4in socket in mine. When all put together that big wing has some weight on it. Not to sure I would want anything smaller but that’s just my opinion. Looking good though, keep us posted & updated. I probably won’t get back on mine till after Deer season. One hobby at a time, not enough money to go around for both hobbies, I think it’s costing me more to hunt. A lot of expense with all big boy hobbies.. Im just glad I don’t play Golf LOL

a65l

My Feedback: (17)

Those holes are for the servo wires. No wing tube... as per the plans there are two plywood joiners for the front and rear spars.

I gave up golf to fly, turns out I'm marginally better as a pilot than a golfer....

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

OK, it’s been a while since I looked @ the plans. I forgot that they had that option. My wing has been built for several months and the plans are put up. I decided to use the wing tube instead and drilled the main ribs for it. I have a hatch on the bottom of the left wing, this will let me bolt the wing together and also install a RX, battery and switch for the aileron servos. No wires hanging out or trying to run them through the wood wrapped around the cabane... I figure it won’t take that big of a battery just for two servos

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

BTW,,, just a tip that I use. I don’t like pulling servo wires though the ribs. What I do is roll out a piece of freezer paper per length I need, cut it about 4 inches wide roll it up on a wood dowel that is smaller than the holes in the ribs. Slide it in the ribs and remove the dowel. The paper can reverse roll and tighten up to the ribs then tack glue it to the ribs... wax side in makes for easy wire access. I have never bought a servo wire tube. I do the same thing for servo that are mounted in the tail of other planes but tape the paper roll together.

vibi08

Hello,
Imuse 1 1/4" diameter tube for the main tube and a 3/8" diameter tube for the rear alignment tube but this can be replace by a dowel of the same size.

vibi08

In fact i use three different cardboard tube. The big one near the spar is the 1 1/4" dia tube. The one just behind it is a .700 dia paper tube use for servo extension wiring. The third tube ia a smaller 3/8 iID tube for alignment.

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

I only used one tube, I had a blind nut up toward the front and one towards the rear of the center rib on the right wing, slide the single tube in and run the two socket head bolts in from the left wing and that baby is tight as it can be. You don’t need two tubes. The bolts will keep everything true.

vibi08

The reason why i use an alignment tube is because the fit is much more accurate in order to have a constant alignment of wing pieces. Since i build the wing in three sections, accuracy of alignment is important to me. I also have bilnd nuts and bolts to secure wing outer panel to the center wing that is fixed permanently to the fuselage. The outer wing panel are shorter this way.

Rebel Flyr

My Feedback: (30)

I really wanted to build a 3 piece wing I thought about it for a while and that’s all it was just a though... Looking at your building pics the wing looks like a 2 piece wing.