Nergall

I've been collecting interesting plans trying to decide future projects. I obtained this one from RC Magazine.

It looks like a nice project, but the wing seems small for my taste. (Shouldn't a WWI plane be a little on the slow side?)

Has anyone built one that might comment here?

TFF

I built the same size plane from MAN plans by Walt Musciano. I will say it wants to fly fast for a WW1 plane and does not like to fly slow. Now on the one I built it has a "sharp" leading edge which made the stall killer. Mine did not like high angles of attack. I still have it but I grounded it and plan to build another with a wing with a more standard flat bottom section. It also likes wheel landings but once they touch get the tail down to stop it as the narrow track will make it wobble. Now I will say it is a neat plane and worth it but it was different plane than a sport plane.

Nergall

This one does have a fairly fat airfoil. (10 3/4 inch chord at the center and 2 inches thick) It's also Flat-bottom-ish.

TFF

The airfoil on mine was 2" in the center section too, but the leading edge was sharp at the nose and the next one I build will have it more like the front of a trainer wing. Yours might be like that. The scale airfoil is fairly flat with only a slight camber. I had already bought my plans when I saw the RCM ones but they are the same scale. I had an OS 40 on mine and it weighed about 4 pounds. It is a cool plane. I had plans for the plane to be easier to fly so I could have a friend fly it and I would fly my SE5a in mock dogfight but it was too squarlly. Most D8 flight descriptions seem to be high performance not Cub like.

Nergall

4 lbs. sounds great on the weight. This one suggests 4 1/4 to 6 lbs on weight. With 500 sq inches of wing area gives it a wing loading (according to the article) of 20-27 oz / sq. ft.

20 oz wing loading would be fine, but 27 oz sounded scary.

It doesn't look like a particularly heavy design, so I was guessing it would end up on the lighter side. I was guessing the weight range would have to do with scale details, covering and paint options.

TFF

My fuselage was covered with Koverall and painted lozenge by hand and the wing was covered with silkspan and painted. I would try to not have any equipment past the CG if possible. I would say it flew like a draggy Kaos under power but had the drag of a biplane with the power off. I like the plane and will build another one; I could try to fix all the things wrong with the one I have but I think it will be easer to do it over. I am intrested in yours and how it comes out. HH designs some good planes but so did my designer so both are not fly by night guys. Another note too is pay attention to the wing incidence as I think it is more important than a sport plane being off a degree.

Nergall

Just thinking about future projects right now. Might start over the summer if I decide on this one though. I have a good stack of choices right now.

TFF

You build yours and I can build mine and we can compare. What else do you have plans for?

Nergall

I'm covering a 4*60 right now.

After that, I have a short kit for an Ugly Stick, and I bought some extra wood to do a small electric from "Live Wire Kitten" plans (Flying Models, June 1996).

After that I wanted to do some sport scale stuff. Top of my list is a Cessna O-1E / L-19. Lazar works already has a short kit for it. The D-VIII looks less complicated though, so it's a toss up right now.

Also in the stack is:

Aeronca Model L
Fletcher FU 24-950
Curtis Robin
Storch (40 sized)
P-63
Sopwith Camel
TravelAir

I like to have something ready to build once I finish the last one, but I prefer not to get too far ahead. I know my tastes change over time. So, I probably won't decide until I have the Stick ready to cover.