ORIGINAL: abufletcher

The BUSA eindeckers are hugely popular and probably account for 90% of all the "eindeckers" you're ever likely to see at the flying field. And not a one of them is scale...and no one seems to care. The reason? It's fun to fly (about the same as an Ugly Stik) and easy-peasy to build with just one wing. You could probably frame the entire stock kit in two days. For a lot of guys it'll be the only "WWI" model they ever build.

Let's take those one at a time. 1) The rudder: Do you want it to be a scale size and shape? Have you thought about how you will attach a full-flying rudder? 2) The full-flying elevator: Be aware that having a full-flying elevator where the LE goes down when the TE goes up, makes the model "twitchier" on the elevator. Also do you want the elevator to be a scale size? The BUSA stab/elevator is at least 10% if not 20% larger. 3) Scale tailskid (and support): Bear in mind that the bottom of the full-flying rudder is attached to the skid support. You'll probably have to do some custom silver soldering here. 4) The dummy engine: The BUSA cowl is completely out of scale. It's too long and too narrow. So if you're going to use a scale dummy you're going to have to find a more scale cowl. The long, narrow ABS cowl is a big part of what gives the BUSA eindecker its unscale "torpedo" appearance that's so immediately recognizable. And if you do decide to go with a scale-depth cowl, you'll need to built a recess into the firewall to allow proper engine placement. Anyway, look around for aluminum pots you can cut down. Also remember that, as I mentioned above, the BUSA eindecker is really closer to 1/7 scale, so keep that in mind as you're making a dummy.