Dick mathis piper cherokee
10-31-2020, 08:05 PM
#1
Dick mathis piper cherokee
In 1975 Dick Mathis wrote a 47 page pamphlet called "How To Fly U-Control".
In 1985 I used this book as a guide for how to move up from Goldberg .049 powered kits.
Inside is a plan [not drawn to any scale] of a Piper Cherokee with a profile fuselage. This was my first "inside look" at how a BIG MODEL is supposed to be built. I was pretty excited. Mathis wrote that "coupled wing flaps" were worth the extra effort, instead of just using elevator only..so that was part of the plan. I found a used McCoy Red Head .35 complete with floppy white nylon 10 x 6 prop for $10. I also picked up a set of 70 foot long lines.
What a thrill this plane was to fly. Those 70 foot lines seemed a mile long compared to flying 1/2A with 26 feet of string. I crashed this plane so many times, but the relatively slow McCoy / 10 x 6 combo kept the speed low enough to limit the damage. Finally the model got too fuel soaked to repair.
.
Recently the Nostalgia Bug bit and I decided to build this plane again. This time the power is a 1/2A Forum Friendly
OS CVA .15 and either a 8 x 4 or 7 x 5 prop.
I'm also using landing gear. I have some carbon cloth and decided to make the landing gear legs out of it. It took 6 layers of this cloth embedded in West System laminating epoxy to get a .060" thickness. I used wax paper to contain the epoxy and heavy metal weights to squish the "lay up" flat until it dried. The wheels are for a RC car.
What's left to do is hook up the controls and make a venturi to feed the engine with.
The model weighs 20 ozs, so the OS .15 should be plenty.
In 1985 I used this book as a guide for how to move up from Goldberg .049 powered kits.
Inside is a plan [not drawn to any scale] of a Piper Cherokee with a profile fuselage. This was my first "inside look" at how a BIG MODEL is supposed to be built. I was pretty excited. Mathis wrote that "coupled wing flaps" were worth the extra effort, instead of just using elevator only..so that was part of the plan. I found a used McCoy Red Head .35 complete with floppy white nylon 10 x 6 prop for $10. I also picked up a set of 70 foot long lines.
What a thrill this plane was to fly. Those 70 foot lines seemed a mile long compared to flying 1/2A with 26 feet of string. I crashed this plane so many times, but the relatively slow McCoy / 10 x 6 combo kept the speed low enough to limit the damage. Finally the model got too fuel soaked to repair.
.
Recently the Nostalgia Bug bit and I decided to build this plane again. This time the power is a 1/2A Forum Friendly
OS CVA .15 and either a 8 x 4 or 7 x 5 prop.
I'm also using landing gear. I have some carbon cloth and decided to make the landing gear legs out of it. It took 6 layers of this cloth embedded in West System laminating epoxy to get a .060" thickness. I used wax paper to contain the epoxy and heavy metal weights to squish the "lay up" flat until it dried. The wheels are for a RC car.
What's left to do is hook up the controls and make a venturi to feed the engine with.
The model weighs 20 ozs, so the OS .15 should be plenty.
Last edited by combatpigg; 10-31-2020 at 08:11 PM.
11-03-2020, 06:50 PM
#6
This is only the 4th flight I have on this plane so I'm still feeling it out and getting used to having coupled flaps.
The OS .15 CVA likes the 8 x 3 prop. The fuel tank needs to be mounted lower, notice how the motor leans out when it's inverted or doing outside loops.
