SteveD-RCU

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Got to get this thread rolling again.Things have been slow building wise lately because of things like "work".I have been working on the outer panels again and have one with the lower sheeting done .It also has the aileron servo and landing light mount installed.At this time I'm planning the flap servo installation.I think I'll go with 2 hi torque servos in the mid section driving the center flap with the center flap driving the outer flaps via rods and tubes.Whats everbody else doing?
The landing light is a single LED bulb that is mounted in a magnifier lens and it is intense ,Its powered by 3 watch batteries .Its sold through Radio Shack.

cmsrp

SteveD-RCU , Is the magnifier lens from Radio Shack??? I have been playing with heaps of ideas to get LED's to disperse the light properly, with not too much luck...

SteveD-RCU

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Yes its part of a mini flashlight from radioshack

WhoDaMan

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Hi Guy's:
Just wanted to post a pic of my DC-3. Now my buddy owns it. Hope you like it

Dave R

SteveD-RCU

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Very nice Dave;Can you tell us any particulars like power,type of 3 bladers etc?..very nice..

WhoDaMan

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Hi Steve:
Thank you for your kind words. I am running G-38's with likes line electric retracts at 12 volts. With Futaba system. I do not remember which props at this time.

BR, Dave

JimRM

Lots of questions so hope I can help someone. I have build 3 DC3's and working on my 4th. The last one was 1/8th scale (Ziroli size). Here is how it ended up.

weight: 43 pounds
engines: 1.20 OS surpass III with pumps - 2 x 16 oz tanks in fuse.
prop: 2 blade 16x6 turning 9000RPM - more than enought power - the new one will have sato 1.82 twins turning 3 blade 16x8's (look and sound better)
linkage: pull-pull cables to elevators and rudder - servos as far forward as possible - try to get rid of balast in nose.
fuse: no ply except for tail wheel mound aft of the wing, 6 3/16" spruce stringers and full length strip planking, balsa formers except for wing hold down areas.
servos: all hitec 605's (70-90 oz) except 1/4 scale 700 on tail wheel (6 pounds sitting on the tail wheel) . Note I hinged everything to scale (semi balanced so bigger servo's are not needed - like the real one - all pilot muscle on cables)
wing: after losing 2 to snap rolls - 3 degrees of wash out makes it a nice plane to land - mushes if you stall it. (the key to a nice DC3)
wing tip: if you keep the top flat and curve the bottom up like the real one you add a lot of tip washout helping prevent tip stalls from starting.
balance: 7.5" from the leading edge at the root. Flies level at half throttle with neutral elevator trim.
flaps: 4 flap panels 45 degrees.

Flying: Very easy to fly but is a rudder machine - turns are wide and tail sags without lots of rudder. It flies fast but slows down nice with flaps. Scale flying is done with about half flap and half throttle. Don't try and land without flaps - you will use up about 400 feet of runway.

After 4 years of flying it is retired and I am building a new one (10 pounds lighter - optimistic maybe). There is about 80 square feet of surface on it so you can add a lot of weight with the finish if you are not careful.

SteveD-RCU

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Thanks for the input Jim.interesting.I'll be getting back to mine soon.The 3 degress washout.I'snt that what is built in when you build it as per Nicks drawing?..Steve

SteveD-RCU

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Just installed the fuel lines,air lines, throttle pushrods.And am now working on the flap servo/pushrod install.Just wondering,it looks like one could use internal control horns for the flaps.Any thoughts?

SteveD-RCU

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Also the outer sections are basically done and sheeted up.Lots to do yet however...

mulligan

Steve,

Thanks for the continued posting on your progress.

I'm curious about the elevator and rudder. Are they to be sheeted or covered in fabric? I understand you are sheeting the ailerons per the Ziroli plans, but wasn't sure what Ziroli called for (or what you might do anyway) on the elevator/rudder.

F86_SABRE

Hi Steve,

How many servos will you be using for the flaps? 2 or 4? At the moment I am at the stage of installing the four servos and am using the MCA-10 Futaba unit for co-ordination. How are you tackling the flap actuation? in order to have direct access to the servos I will be making access hatches from the top of the wing for the centre sectiona and bottom end for the wings. This means that the wing servos will have to be inverted as opposed to the centre section ones. This means that the direction travel would be inverted. MCA-10 is helping me out to solve the travel direction of the servos. How did you do yours?

Regards

Reuben

SteveD-RCU

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I'll be using coverall and dope on the tailfeathers George.I'm trying to keep things as light as possible.
I'm planning on going with two high torque servos for the flaps Ruben.And I'll use rods/tubes to the outboard sections.I'll show some pics when I get them installed..Steve

flying2bill

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My Ziroli P38 uses internal flap horns, they are made of ply, glue to the flap blocks (flaps are carved from balsa blocks) the horn are realitivly short so if you have room...

SteveD-RCU

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Thanks for your input Bill ;I did see a couple of Ziroli DC-3's with no exposed flap horns.There seems to be lots of room so I'll keep mine internal.

mulligan

Ok, Steve, we're all anxiously awaiting your next update- hope your project is going well. I'm especially interested in seeing your choices for servo/linkage location for the tail feathers.

Regards,

SteveD-RCU

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Sorry guys my computor crashed recently and its backup now finally.Just finished my flap pushrod installation.It will be internal and should work fine.I'll finish the other side now ,then start sheeting the centre section.I have got my other airplanes ready for this flying season so I hope to spend a lot more time on this project now.

SteveD-RCU

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Ready for sheeting the center section.

SteveD-RCU

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I'll be working on those tail feather linkages and hookups soon George.I would like to keep it light so I may go with a standard heavyduty nyrod 4-40 setup.

mulligan

Have you looked at CF? Depending on where you locate your servos, this might be ideal. I don't know if I mentioned it in this thread, but I'm scratch-building a 1:7 scale C-47 with a scale interior (still in the design phase). I have maybe a little more room for servos in the tail than a Ziroli, but not much. I'll be positioning my tail servos a bit ahead of the tail wheel (where the aft luggage bay door on a civilian DC-3 would be located), and I think I'll be using pull-pull for the rudder and a CF rod for elevators.

- George

F86_SABRE

Hi,

I have the same dilemna as to whether have the elevator servos closer to the CG rather rearward. If I had to choose makin them rearward I might as well place the servos inside the elevator stab and thereby avoid any slop tendency in the system. After all I dont know how much less weight one would be saving placing the servos a foot or so away from the stab location.
Steve: had to change engines and bought a pair of G38 instead of my pair of 3W 42cc. Problem was that the rear carb was going to be very close to the wheel since I also had the velocity stack. Throttle attachment was also going to be problematic so I took the "easier" way out with less problems.
I hope to cover the wings with the Mick Reeves PROSKIN covering which should speed up things sice once covered (with thin sheet of fiberglass) the plane would be almost ready for spraying and save a bit of elbow!
Since I have just received the navigation and landing lights from Electrodynamics I hope to start installing these sometime this week. At least prepare the ducting.

Keep this thread up

Regards

Reuben

SteveD-RCU

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Alsez had some pics of servos located in the tail area(4 servos) on page 3.Looks ok I guess.I just want to keep it simple on mine.Good engine choice Rueben .They have the spring starters?Pretty reliable engines that are easy to install and easy to start is what we need alright.Does Electrodynamics have a website Rueben?I'd like to check those lights out.

mulligan

Reuben,

Theoretically, assuming you're able to get enough weight far forward into the nose, a nominal servo weight of 2 oz., and a nose weight centroid-to-aircraft CG length of 32", for every inch you can move the servo forward, you will save about 0.063 oz. of nose weight PER SERVO. This will be greater if you use large scale servos.

So, moving two elevator servos a foot forward would save you about 1.5 oz. of nose weight. Of course, the same would apply to the rudder servo, but the effect might be larger assuming you use a larger (heavier) servo (a large scale servo is about 4-5 oz.).

For me, I am saving about 2.5 oz. of nose weight by shifting all my servos about a foot forward from the stab 1/4 chord area (My savings are a little smaller because I'm building a 1:7 scale). I'd move them forward more, but I need to stay behind the cargo interior that I'll be modeling.

By the way, using CF rods and a high quality connector should avert slop.

F86_SABRE

Hi,
Mulligan:
Well, 1.5lbs is a lot of weight for just a servo at the other end. I have to see about this before committing myself and have to weight the pros and cons of having the servos closer to the control surface as opposed to having them a few inches away with all the attachments in between. Thanks....much appreciated!

Steve:
G38 was actually never my choice. I had already opted for the 3W as I wanted electronic spark ignition system. However, the 3W were going to provide a lot of hassle so opted out. Yes they say the G38 is, infact, a good engine. Moreover the plans seem to be showing the G38 so much so the firewall seems to be design for it. Should have gone for it in the first place but alas such is life! With regards to the lighting system I had quite positive feedback on these lights as they seem to be very luminicant even during the day. Well I had to add a few items because there is only one landing light included in the set but my in-law phoned them up and they gave him the additional items in order to have twin landing lights. The name you should contact if you are interested is Andy. I received them today and havent started doing them as I was at the flying field this afternoon .
Here is the link:
http://www.electrodynam.com/cgi-loca...fc8+1104292307

Later

Reuben

mulligan

LOL, I just realized what a dumb mistake I made...

That should be 1.5 oz., not 1.5 lbs.!!! [sm=rolleyes.gif]

Not as big a savings, huh??