DESERT RATT

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Pica Duellist 2/40　

I saw an add in my local Craigslist for a Duellist airframe. Only $40.00, I thought heck the wood alone would be more that.

I traveled to the Modelers house and met a very nice gent named Robert. Robert gave me a tour of his collection of R/C goodies and a couple of planes which included the Duellist that were for sale.

I not only bought this Duellist but an older model (but new) Pattern plane fiberglass fuselage and fiber glassed 2-pieced wings along with retracts. I bought the Duellist at that time and a few days later went back for the Pattern ship.

The bottom of the wing was in great shape until I removed the landing gear. The previous owner didn’t want the gear to fall out apparently and glued that metal arms in very well. I broke the Plywood retaining blocks out removing the landing gear, I want to add retracts. . The top of the wing has some sheeting that needs to be replaced it looks like maybe in storage it was hit with something that had did damage to the sheeting. It doesn’t appear to have been crashed, just bad Hanger rash.

These photo’s are what I’m starting with.

　

Before anything is repaired I did a measurement of the complete airframe to insure everything was in it’s place and the surfaces were straight and true. As it came out, they were off, I took the tail feathers off and will replace them with open frame design to save some weight.

　

Starting with the fuselage, To begin I will repair the side hole where the builder left to get to the front gear? Along with filling the hole where the front landing gear shaft went through. In doing the measurements to be sure the tail feathers were straight and in place properly.

As it came out, the measurements were off, I took the tail feathers off and will replace them with open frame design to save some weight. The Rudder is crookedly put on so it also will be rebuilt. I am contemplating making the rudder and stabilizer removable, I’ll see when I get to the point of putting them back on. As far as my thought of a lot of work wasn’t going the way I had hoped. The front of the airframe from the front of the canopy forward was warped real bad and I removed the sheeting and forward fuselage formers. Being careful in removing everything and using a Covering blower on high heat The glue came loose and I was able to get everything apart without too much trouble. I measured and rebuilt the forward formers then glued everything back together. I was out of Balsa sheeting so I made an order and while I was at it I stocked up on some extra. Balsa has really went up in price since I left the hobby for a 9 year absence. I bought 44 pieces, most were 3" wide and 36" long with thicknesses varied. Total cost was $117.00 $125.00 shipped. I’ll do more cleaning of the airframe while I wait for the wood. I'm waiting for that wood order to come in.

I turned to the engine Nacelles. They were in relatively good condition, The floor were fuel rotted and warped, I removed them and all the other sheeting,


The Engine mount former was Glued in crooked, I removed it, cleaned it up and sanded it smooth before re-glueing it in place. Everything with the basic frame work of the nacelles looks good and is awaiting the sheeting to finish them up. I’m quite sure the motor mount holes for the 2 strokes won’t line up with my 4-stroke mounts so I’ll drill the holes out that are there and squeeze in some 1/4" dowel, glue it and sand it smooth. I’m not going to put the new mounts in place until I get the Nacelles back in place. When I looked the airframe over after bolting the wings on and seeing the sheeting all in place where the nacelles will attach I took a second look, This airframe would be really sharp looking as a single engine. Lol But I won’t go there.

DESERT RATT

My Feedback: (7)

As far as my thought of a lot of work, wasn’t going the way I had hoped. The front of the airframe from the front of the canopy forward was warped real bad and I removed the sheeting and forward fuselage formers. Being careful in removing everything and using a Covering blower on high heat to loosen up the glue, The glue came loose and I was able to get everything apart without too much trouble.













I measured and rebuilt the forward former’s then glued everything back together. I was out of Balsa sheeting so I made an order and while I was at it I stocked up on some extra. Balsa has really went up in price since I left the hobby for a 9 year absence. I bought 44 pieces, most were 3" wide and 36" long with thicknesses varied. Total cost was $117.00 $125.00 shipped. I’ll do more cleaning of the airframe while I wait for the wood.

I turned to the engine Nacelles. They were in relatively good condition, The floor were fuel rotted and warped, I removed them and all the other sheeting, The Engine mount former was Glued in crooked,( I don’t mean incidence wise) I removed it, cleaned it up and sanded it smooth before re-glueing it in place. Everything with the basic frame work of the nacelles looks good and is awaiting the sheeting to finish them up. I’m quite sure the motor mount holes for the 2 strokes won’t line up with my 4-stroke mounts so I’ll drill the holes out that are there and squeeze in some 1/4" dowel, glue it and sand it smooth. I’m not going to put the new mounts in place until I get the Nacelles back in place.

　

I ordered a new canopy off of Ebay, I wanted it before I started finishing the fuselage so I could get the outline of where it mounts around the Balsa to make sure the airframe matches the lines of the canopy.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

I see you really have your work cut out, but a good handle on how to do it right.
Never owned one but have friends who did, a real classic twin that really hauls, keep us posted.
Thanks

Vampire

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I'm a big fan of the Duellist 2/40 design. I had one 15 or so years back and loved it. HOWEVER it was a DAVE PLATT Duellist Mk.II. There is a significant change in the incidences of the motors, wing and stab. that make it SO MUCH better than the PICA offering. Dave Platt is a very good friend of mine and advised me that the changes made to the Mk. II were to be done by PICA but they never did, thus the reason Dave did the Mk. II. All other aspects of the PICA and the Mk. II are the same.

Since your at the position where you can make the changes to bring it up to the "official" Mk. II version, they are as follows: Motor Thurstline, Wing Centerline AND the Stab Centerline are ALL set to ZERO degrees incidence ! The PICA has (+) incidence on the Wing, (-) incidence on the Engine Nacelles and I believe (+) incidence on the Stab. This produces a "noticeable" pitch change with different throttle settings. I'm leaning on my 15 old memeory but I think these PICA spec's are correct. You can confirm this on your plans.

I only mention this becuase it is worth the change.

Best of luck.

Kerry S.

DESERT RATT

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Thanks guys,

I don't have the plans, it didnt come with any.

Thanks much Kerry!

I Usually do put everything at Zero Incidence on everything I build or repair, It just seams to me if you have one going one way and the other going the other then the engine still at another, everything is fighting each other.

Ijust ordered a set of MK ll plans from Air Age. I'm waiting for those to arrive just for information.


My balsa order arrived today so I can get going on the fuselage again.

Sponda

Just to let RCU know, this site is reall NOT very user friendly! Anyway on to the Dualist 2/40 I am on my third one. The first was a true Dave Platt Kit and had Super Tigre 40s in it good, fast airplane with early Robart retracts, Glow engines lost one, drilled into a gravel road, not much left! Second one is a Pica Kit, fitted with YS 53FZ 4 strokes, really good choise for sound and performance, Ran Master Airscrew 10/7 3 blade props. Only works on paved runway with stock landing gear. Am now building my third Dualist 2/40, except it is a BJMR Dualist a/40 1/5! 30 in. wing span and E power! This is such a good idea I have taken the pair of YS 53s out of the Pica kit, listed them on Ebay and am doing an electric conversion to that one!

Questions,coments? Johnny du Pont AMA 610219 AKA spondoncbx @aol.com

DESERT RATT

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During the Holidays I didn’t do much to the Duellist, I spent more time with the family.

Hope Y’all had a great Christmas and a great New Years eve...

A couple of days ago I went at it again.

　

I started putting the sheeting on the area in front of the Cockpit.

After that I decided it was time to set the incidence on all surfaces.

The wing had a 4 degree negative, the tail had 2 degree positive. I wanted them at Zero Zero.

Here’s the airframe at zero with the Horizontal wanting to climb.

That’s taken care of for now. I want to make the tail feathers removable for transportation, I will work on that later.

While waiting for the glue to dry, I decided to go ahead and start looking at the wing and decided I would go ahead replacing some sheeting.

I hit something on my camera and screwed up a couple of pics. Please bear with me..

　

Here’s the wing mounted on the fuselage. Top is finished.

　

　

I wanted to make the cockpit area a little smaller, It seems to me the pilot bust kind of gets lost in the space.

That’s about it for now, I’ll keep at it slow as I go.

Ratt

DESERT RATT

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I got the screw up with my pictures taken care of, it was in my media software.



I've been putting a couple of hours a day in, But I'm taking my time and using Elmers wood glue as you know it dries slow.

The top of the fuselage from a ladder.



From the right front.




screwing tailwheel to a hardwood piece I installed.




I made an open stick Horizontal and Elevator. Here I have a bunch of weight hold the sheeting in place until it dries keeping the horizontal flat without warping.




Enough for now, I'm still working on it tonight. Hope to get more done.

Ratt

Gizmo-RCU

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Noticed you TV in the background, I am a trained observer![:@]

91zulu

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LOL that`s the laptop...ha ha good eye. I think that will be the nose art.

DESERT RATT

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That's my beautiful Marilyn (Monroe) I've been in love with her since I was a young teen. a love that still exists today, and the Wife doesn't mind. lol

DESERT RATT

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Question for Y'all.

I have bought 4 futaba 3251"s and 4 3152s servo's Now Iwant to put a Micro digital bb for the engines.

All suggestions will be Appreciated.

Ratt

kram

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My strategy on twin throttles has always been to put high-quality, strong servos on them:

1) Servo failure on a twin throttle is more likely to result in disaster than a single engine plane

2) Although throttle servos don't have to oppose brute forces of a control surface, they can be abused by a lot of vibration, esp if one of the mounts gets loose

3) Throttle servos should accurately make and hold small incremental movements to give you a nice range and adjustability of throttle settings

If you have a micro that can do all that, then I have no problem with it.


mt

DESERT RATT

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Thanks Kram. I've put them in single engines just wanted input on Twins.. I appreciate your response. I'll look for either Futaba's or Hitec's

DESERT RATT

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Greetings, It’s been a little while since my last update. My Grandson was in the Hospital for a week and a half running a fever into the 105 and higher range, they never found anything wrong! Nothing. They even did a spinal tap, nothing. He woke up one morning and felt like it never happened.. Doc. Said he was the healthiest sick kid he’s ever saw. Weird!

Then I was down for a week, so no plane work. Here’s where I’m at now. I did a build up of the tail feathers and enlarged them about ½" all the way around and did the elevators double the size they were then covered with 1/8th inch sheeting. I also tapered them from front to back along withsplitting the elevators leaving room for a 4" total rudder movement. 2" one way and 2" the other.

I’m not sure of I’ll run two separate servos or just one in the fuselage with split wire running together. Another 2 pictures I had didn’t upload to Photobucket..


I’ll try again later then add them. I’m working at ideas on Making the tail section removable. Just figuring how I want to attach them. I glued in two 1/8" hardwood pieces, one top of fuselage and one bottom running from fuselage side to side, this will strengthen the tail section for the increased area and if I decide to make them removable I will drill through them from Bottom to top then add some dowel material to run the bolts through. I don’t have a drill press to keep everything straight and true but I seen a small one at "Harbor Freight" that would work well for this and other small jobs.

I have already drilled and test fitted two 1/8th hardwood dowels to keep the rudder and horizontal stabilizer all tied together.


Thanks for following what I’m attempting. Good luck on your builds.

Gizmo-RCU

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Glad your Grandson is ok, first things first! Looking good, nothing like good fresh Balsa to set the tone.

DESERT RATT

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Thanks Gizmo.

Athol Idaho,

Are they still letting you guys use the little landing strip to fly off of or is it turned too big by now?

Is the private little wild animal park still there?

DESERT RATT

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here's the other two Icouldn't get to load last night.

Gizmo-RCU

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I have flown off Hackney Field but it's not open to the public. The runway has trees on both sides so it's a heads-up as a full scale might show up anytime, we stay out of the pattern and use the taxi ways for takeoff and landing. We have Silverwood Park south of us, with lots of rides etc., they closed the runway years ago to all aircraft, bet thats the one you are thinking about? There is a field at Farragut State Park that is still in use as well as my clubs field, CAMS south of here.
A good friend as a full kit of your plane, says he is going to build it someday, would love to have it but doubt he will part with it after 25 years of bonding?

DESERT RATT

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It was a small little airport on the west hand side of the road, There used to be about 6 to 8 small aircraft tied up most of the time. This was 30 or so years ago. I left Spokane and headed South in 88.


That kit would be a score.

Warm Regards

Ratt

Gizmo-RCU

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It must be what is now Silverwood theme park, the owner was/is a big airplane nut and had several around when I moved here in 98, it's about 5 miles east of my place. From what I know some of the old timers flew RC there until the mid 90's.
They did an airshow every day during that time frame using a Pitts (full scale),

DESERT RATT

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That may have been the name. Do/did they have any exotic animals?

Gizmo-RCU

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I think they may have? I will check with my brother-in-law, he is their chief machinist and has worked there from day one! He used to announce the airshow for them when they were still doing that.

Gizmo-RCU

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It was Silverwood, they had pony rides, etc., they are now hi-tech with waterslides, rollercoasters, drops, etc. A big place that I can hear screams (from people on the rides) on otherwise quiet summer nights. Thankfully they close at 10pm or so.
we are at least 5 miles away....

DESERT RATT

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I used to live up that way, I logged up north of Nordman in Squaw Valley, and in the winter ran the press to make Ceder shingles at a small local Sawmill. When Louisiana Pacific built their big mill, it ran us small guys out.. I loved the summer's living in a small travel trailer alongside a creek.

If it just wouldn't get so cold I'd still be there. That's true God's Country... Ienvy you Gizmo.


ps: The Tamarack Inn put out the Best milkshakes I have yet to find one as good..