balsabrain

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Does anyone have instructions for a R/N Leveque flying boat kit....PLEASE

dicknadine

sorry, none of my reference books list the actual plane peroid. do you have a photo of it? dick

PeterC

Well BB, I just happen to have a set of plans for the R/N Leveque flying boat. It always interested me but for various reasons I never got around to it. Instructions??? What instructions?
Pictures of the Donnet-Leveque flying boat can be found on pages 164 & 165 of AVIATION, The Pioneer Years. Researched and Edited by Ben Mackworth-Praed. The ISBN number is 1-85170-349-7.
This book is probably hard to find and if you do is probably quite expensive. I've been building my own library for quite some time now and have some really great references which provide hours of interesting reading when I'm not building or flying.
Good Luck.
Peter

dicknadine

What size wing span on your plan? how about posting a photo of it? am interested in building one. dick

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

Here is a site with photos of the original and one bought by Denmark and modified with new wings.
[link=http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Fre/DonnetLeveque/]Donnet-Leveque[/link]

PeterC

As I said, I have the plans. They are for a 020 freeflight kit which was produced by R/N Models. It has approx a 36" wingspan. You would have to enlarge the plans to make it R/C. A buddy of mine still has a kit he may be willing to part with but that's another story. If you want to contact me via e-mail I could send you a copy of the plans for a few dollars to cover postage etc. I haven't yet learned the art of posting pictures on this forum so that will have to wait. I could take a picture and e-mail you an image but I don't know if that will reproduce well. One of the features of the Leveque F/B is that the wing is a double bay design and that kinda turns me off. Too much rigging etc.
Peter

John_H

There is quite a bit of information here:

http://www.hydroretro.net/etudegh/donnetl.pdf

Also, a kit is available from Penn Valley, at this link:

http://www.pennvalleyhobbycenter.com...413leveque.htm

I recently purchased one. It is very nicely done, a recent reproduction of the original R/N kit.

dicknadine

Hi peter. sorry to say that my Levique seaplane along all my other planes are things of the Past. Hurricane Katrina did a complete wipe out of our house and all 3 of my shops. no trace of any of my planes, some 25 hanging from the ceilings of all the rooms. the constructon and covering was complete, just radio and motor installation to go. will have photos, if and when my son can recover my flooded computor, hard drive. am now living with our daughter in Greensburg, La. nice 3 bedroom house on their property. have 1 bedroom reserved for modeling and new drafting tools purchased.have to build a drafting/modelimg table, son-in-law has 2x4's and a hollow core door, will be back in business soon. will send fotos when I learn how to use my new digital camera. dick

PeterC

HI Dick,
Nice to see your mind is back modelling. Let me know when you are ready and I'll fire off another set of plans for the Leveque. Some of the other posts have been very informative on this thread too. By the way, I have been playing with out runner brushless motors and the one I'm using is very impressive. I thnk it would fly a 45"+/- Leveque quite well, even off water. It's a BP 21 and can be bought quite cheaply.
Keep in touch.
Peter

John_H

Here is a source for the R/N plan for the Donnet Leveque. $4.

http://www.freeflightmodels.com/page...misc_scale.htm

It is such a long list of plans you might want to use the "find in page" feature of your browser, if you are in a hurry. If not, it is a fascinating list to browse in its own right.

I admit I am a little stumped by the problem of how to install the interplane struts on the Donnet Leveque. I was thinking about substituting carbon fiber rods. I guess the thing is to come up with mounting sockets or pockets of some kind for the struts, plus a jig to hold the wings in alightment, and keep it aligned while you do the wire braces.

A little daunting, the whole thing. But is there a book somewhere or an article in a magazine that talks about rigging biplanes?

Surely there must be a lot of lore on it, maybe even on the net. Appreciate any tips.

Regards, John

dicknadine

John. on my 30"ws Levique seaplane, i made small pockets in the wing for the struts to fit in. never will know if it worked or not, it and all the rest of my 30 models were lost in the recent Hurricane Katrina. have just rec'vd my new copy of World Encyclopedia of Cival Aircraft and am hot to trot on plans of a new model, which one ? who knows? have to set up my drwing/building table first. have located the local flying field and will visit it soon. dick stamm

John_H

Thank you for this information, Dick. What a huge displacement you are going through. I have relatives in Baton Rouge, but they were lucky to be pretty much on the "dry side" of Katrina.

I will follow your example and use pockets. I found these carbon tubes on the net which I will probably use for the four central struts.

http://www.airdyn.com/superior/carbon-tubes.htm

My thought was to use the drill press to drill four holes in a solid base of hardwood, one hole at each corner of a rectangle, and then stand the tubes vertically in this solid base. Then add wings. This way, I think I can build, align, and rig the whole biplane wing structure as a project separate and distinct from the fuselage. Easier access. We'll see.

I have a Nippy Black brushless motor, Castle ESC and a LiPo battery I will try, along the lines of Peter's suggestion. Somehow, however, I think the fuselage/hull is going to have to lose weight.

Thank you for you insights.

John

PeterC

John, I can't see how the fuselage of the Leveque needs to be heavy. Just choose your wood carefully. As always the radio and drive system are the major culprits with electrics. The Nippy Black, if it's the one I'm familiar with, is fairly powerful for the weight and LiPo's will help keep the weight under control. Micro radio equipment is hardly a consideration and you could use a scale like pull-pull system to operate the control surfaces. The motor I'm taking about (BP21) is about 200 watts at max output. It flies my converted Ace Mach None with real authority, much better than any 049 version ever did and it's AUW is around one pound. I use a APC 8X4 electric prop. That's why I figured about 45" wingspan.
What do you think?
Peter

John_H

I am just trying to feel my way into this project, so I don’t have much basis for an informed opinion, but at 45 inches with your powerplant it seems like the Donnet Levesque it would be a really impressive and beautiful model. The Mach None is about 40 inches?

The motor I have is here:

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/brushless-uberall.htm

It is the 0508/73, with a Phoenix 10 ESC and a 730 maH LiPo. I put together this powerplant for an old timer replica, a 31" span version of Henry Struck's "New Ruler". I thought I would try this motor on the Donnet Levesque because the wingspan is similar, because both models were designed originally for an .020 and -- the main reason -- because I happen to have the motor on the bench.

Also, I share your enthusiam for outrunners. It may not be enough oomph, however. The 31” New Ruler is a clean monoplane. The Donnet Leveque has more wing area and a lot more drag.

I am building from the kit, the 2004 reproduction from Penn Valley. It is the beauty of this kit design that the biplane wing assembly and the fuselage are two separate and distinct structures. So if the fuselage/hull does turn out a little heavy, I can experiment with a different type of hull, without losing all that work on the wings. Regards, John

PeterC

With your motor-speed control combo the kit may workout quite well. Although the Leveque has lots of drag it also has probably more wing area than the O/Timer so the flying speed would probably be slower. Remember, drag goes up by the square of the speed. ie:, double the speed means 4X the power needed but 1/2 the speed means 1/4 the power required. I think your combo will work fine as long as the weight is reasonable.
Keep us posted.
Peter

John_H

Thank you for this counsel. I will try to take some photos of the project as I go along. Best, John

dicknadine

Peter. all is well. completely washed out by Hurricane Katrina,No house , No shops, No models, NOTHING except insurance. now living outside of Greensburg,La. at our daughters, furnished 3 bedroom house on their 30 acre property. no physical damage to us, just bad memories of our wet ride on a part of a roof after the building we were in collapsed. needed fotos of all my planes and found that all of my posts on RCU are available. have 3rd bedoom setup as model room. now to decide what kind want build and fly, may be small electrics as we have large pastures available out my back door. have found the local RC field, 7 miles from here. adddress is Dick Stamm, PO box 177, Greensburg, La.70441. will send photos when I learn how to use the new camera, its complicated compared to my old one, it diappeared with my Lincoln floating up the road. anyhow we are safe and starting new lives at 81 + years young. will keep plugging along. dick stamm

PeterC

Hi Dick,
Thanks for the update on your situation. I'm sure the rest of the people on this thread are glad to see; you are getting your life back in order. I know it must be devastating loosing everything you have worked for all your life but at least you still have your life and that is what is important.
I'm not sure if I still have your old files on my computer but if I do I will resend tham back along with the attachments. Maybe you can salvage some of the images for your files.
You can use the e-mail option on this thread to send me a personal message if you desire.
Best of health to you and Nadine,
Peter