Seeplaner

This may sound strange, as I have built a 30% oversize Aquabird already( Enya 120 F/S. I am now building 2 of these, ( Saito 56 F/S) 10% oversize. Looking critically at the wing incidence to the fuselage as a reference, I feel the way the wing mounts has it with a slight negative incidence, but I can't recall doing that when I made the big one. Has anyone any comments about flattening the slight V in the Stab, it certainly would make it easier to put upside down on the ground for assembly, and maginally easier to transport

Tram

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You ever get this bird up and flying? I'd love to see some pics..

I am thinking about trying to whip up a 36" or so version for electric..

LS171Malibu

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I've been looking into building an Aquabird. Do you have any pics of yours and how do you like them?

Seeplaner

Hi,
In a nutshell, Aquabirds are incredible fun. probably the best Floatplane ever designed. Looks really weird doing circuits inverted
A friend dallies in electric & CNC foam cutting, has made a small electric one.
I'll get some pics of my 2 sizes & put on show.
The Enya 120 FS powered one would gently pitter patter around the lake at a fast idle, just riding on the wing sponsons, a click of throttle more and you were airbourne. It's only problem, a ***** of a thing to transport with the huge 1 piece wing, anhedral, tip floats & wingtips. 10% oversize & Saito .56 is a much easier transport. ( OK, I suspect it would fly with a old Enya .32 FS)
Having said that, I was considering a 3W 75 Monster, but have probably seen the light & won't build it.
So, have an eagle's breakfast & go build one, you will be wrapped.

LS171Malibu

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Thank you, I'll order the plans!

Seeplaner

Only found the 10% oversize pics. As you see, I take a bit of license about the actual Fuz shape, made a small mould for the Cowl
Note: Taiplane is FLAT, caused no problems. For ease of assembly, put fuselage upside down on a level surface and than join the 2 stabiliser halves at the angle that keeps the stab in contact with the surface, you will end up with some dihedral on the stab, but a nice easy to assemble model
I needed to put in about 4-5 deg R thrust, anythink less and it screwed to the left makedly

g_boxwood

Wow, the AB is sleek and sexy and it sure looks different!

I have the plans but still haven't spent any time working on it!

Good work!

Strykaas

Nice [8D]

LADDIE

Your AQUABIRD looks good. When I was designing the original, I decided on “Y� tail for looks only. Good luck with yours.
Laddie.

Strykaas

Hello Laddie,

What do you think of the needed right thrust ( 4 to 5 degrees) ? Did you experience the same problem ?
Thank you.

LADDIE

The model definitely does not need any right thrust. Everything on the model is at zero degrees.

Strykaas

Thanks

Seeplaner

I suppose it's possible I hadn't built everything perfectly straight, but on both the Aquabirds I have built, some R thrust was beneficial.
I'm not doing anything unusual with props, in terms of Pitch & diameter.
These planes are an absoulute ball of fun at lower speeds, so if you are setting it up from scratch, slightly less pitch & bigger diameter would be better.
As I mentioned earlier, inverted circuits really present it with an alien look

LS171Malibu

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Thank you for posting the pics... I have been flying for 22 years, and attended many float fly's, and never seen anything so unique. I love this bird!!!

maxiemac

Hi there - here is one pic of the subject 30 percent oversize Aquabird, Seaplaner was talking about. It's original color was a sort of dark bronze and was repainted the scheme you now see when I bought it from Seaplaner. I just loved its slow lazy flight characteristics and its 'presence' in the air and yes it does look bit 'alien' when inverted.

It's a bit difficult to gauge its size but its next to a kids bike so hopefully that will give an idea of size. It measures 76 1/2" wingspan and 76 1/2" fuz length from prop tip to elevator tip.

This plane has flown regularly at our seaplane events at Albury NSW in Oz as well as at a magical lake retreat near some of our skiing alps at Mt Beauty in Victoria Oz. My latest fancy trick is to land very short on the lake, tip the nose forward with a bit of down elevator and skim across the glass like surface of the lake for 2-300 metres at full power - quite a buz, especially when the guys say "go faster", "go faster" but it can only go as fast as the lil ole 120FS Enya will pull it.

It doesn't suffer rapid full deflection aileron/rudder/elevator inputs close to the water - if you want to do the fancy stuff you need to be a bit higher than 100ft for recovery, although I have seen Seaplaner do rolling circles with it about 40ft above the water - must try that myself one day - best I start at 100ft though.

This year (century?) I will take the canopy off, add the cowl cheeks to per the original design and paint it similar to the 'bird' paint scheme the original designer used that was shown on the front cover of MAN (or was it RCM?) some time back.

I do have other pics I took but can't find then right now, so when I have done the re-firb. I'll post pics of that - I'd like to think I could have it done before our next Mt Beauty event in May 08 - but we will see.

Happy float planingto you all - from us 'downunder'

LADDIE

You did nice job. I encourage you to paint the feathers. It will compliment model’s unique outline. On my model I painted the feathers freehand on white background. With soft pencil, I drew the outlines of the feathers and painted individual colors with the brush. I will not take that much time to paint the Aquabird not like my KALININ K-5.
Laddie.

Strykaas

Thanks for sharing Maxiemac
By any chance, will you be able to tape her ?

maxiemac

Our next float plane event was moved from the beginning of May to the end of May and unfortunately I can't go - so any video that might be made will be further along the track - if I can borrow a video camera I am happy to have someone film the Aquabird (maybe in its full colors) and post it, but it won't be for a while yet

smile - it don't cost

maxiemac

Boy doesn't time fly - here I am thinking my last post was only - well a few months ago - yeah right, try years!

Well here is an update (if anyone is looking) I have been receiving a bit of 'stick' from the original builder of this plane plus a few others as I had managed to 'miss' a few deadlines I had imposed on myself to get this Aquabird repainted and looking more presentable like Laddies original version.

The attached pics show (a) building a foam plug for the cowl (b) paint stripping (c) primer before paint.

I'll try and have this big bird in full color for our next float plane event in 2 weeks but I don't like my chances - I hope to at least have yellow leading edges and white trailing edges and if time is on my side (and my productivity rate improves) maybe some feathers in color - we'll see

For the moment I've given up on getting the cowl ready - too much to do in the time available - so for the moment it'll have the small cowl fitted.

If by chance I find someone with a video camera or if I can get a reasonable film with my stills digital camera I'll try and post a video.

that's it for the moment -I'll try not to take so long next time - there are only so many more saturdays of life left!

cheers - maxiemac

JimCasey

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The Iranian military liked the Aquabird, too. 

maxiemac

Thanks Jim - where on earth did you find that pic? - maybe the Iranians saw Laddies creation and copied it? - luv it

cheers - maxiemac

JimCasey

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>>Thanks Jim - where on earth did you find that pic?<<

The Iranian military just commissioned several squadrons. THey are supposed to be radar evasive, to carry a machine gun, and to carry tracking electronics. I figure the first time a Rotax and a radiator appears over the horizon it will be looking down the barrel(s) of a phalanx system.

http://www.payvand.com/news/10/sep/1273.html

Still: would be a good subject for a model.

scale only 4 me

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Ok, "Caption" this pic

maxiemac

Hi Scale Only for me - the best I can come up with is - "See General, this craft will fix those high powered yankee military planes " - yeah right!

Update - my aquabird has been primer/surfacer painted and is now in base color - next step 'put feathers on it'

cheers - maxiemac

smile - it don't hurt

JimCasey

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We used the same craftsmanship building those planes as when we put up the guardrail here at the observation deck.