GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Trying to decide to use a y harness to the aileron servos or to use flapperons. The instructions show y harness only. Thought if I use a Y harness I could use a tranmitter that I am not presently using. Could this model use aileron differantial?

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I don't see what the point of using flaperons on a non-aerobatic triplane would be. It already has a very light wing loading, and the drag of 3 wings to slow it down.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

U'mm. Aileron differantial, and ease of trimming. GP says it doesn't needdifferantial which seems a bit suprising, why did they set it up with two servos then?

Please don't reply if you haven't set one up and flown it!

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

U'mm. Maybe they didn't want to install torque tubes....

Differential can be easily set up mechanically (it's what we did before computer radios). Simply choose a servo hole off center.

But maybe I shouldn't reply I didn't 'set up' a GP ARF, I just built mine. :D

http://www.execulink.com/~ctssmith/2mcintyre.jpg

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Using a Y-Harness would be the easiest way to go. I do not own a GP DR1, but I do have and fly a scratch built 1/4 scale DR1. I am using a Y-Harness on mine to channel 1, and she flies great. :)

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I think that qualifies. I guess the real question is, does it need any differential? I am familiar with setting them up mechanically especially by raking back the control horn, thought we went to computer radios to get away from that. Much easier, but if differential is not needed, why bother?

Hey! I have been considering adding authentic wing skids! I have been looking at old photos and noticed that they were wood, but AXE HANDLE's!? Do you know where to get some 1/4.5 scale Axe handles? Figure is the Baron needed them I will. Opps looks like the one on the left wing is missing. Maybe I will just make a profile axe handle with ply and glue it to the inside of the wing tip rib.

BTW is the airfoil on yours scale? Thought the original was somewhat convex.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

The airfoil on my is scale, undercambered, gutenberg. I did not put wing tip skids on mine, as of yet, have not needed them. Have you flown yours yet?

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

David,
What kit is that? How does the undercambered compare with a flatbottem wing that GP has? I have not started building the ARF, doing some research and making choices before starting. Not really into scale, like building but do not have enough time, and have always liked the Fokker trike.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Sport_Pilot

My DR1 was scratch built from my own planes. I am kinda new to this fourm stuff. But I have just uploaded a right side view of it to my photo gallery. Not sure yet as how to insert a pic into one of these replies.

As for the difference between to Clark-Y and the Under-Cambered airfoil. I would have to say that the Clark-Y is probably more stable than the later. But it does generate a great deal of lift.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Cool! Looks like many of the replicas made today. Where did you get the metal cowl? What plans did you use. I notice you did not use the wooden wing skid. Doing some research they were at least originally not installed by the manufacture and varied depending on which mechanic installed them. I may just put some plastic skids I have on mine. I don't plan to enter scale competition, and I could see the wooden ones damaging the outside rib, which is not designed for that stress. I guess I'll go with the Y harness.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I drew up my own plans, on Grafix Quick CAD. The cowling came from Arizona Models.

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

It's a freaking ARF! Just slap it together and FLY!!! Later, if you want to emulate Tony Fokker's Dr-1 dri deker built with three wings only because the German air ministry thought the Sopwith tri-plane was the ultimate fighter design, then you can build a true scale one. Trust me, most people you fly with probably won't know about the axe handles as wing skids. Nor will they realize that the shiny finish on your GP Dr-1, never happened in 1917. As to your query about flaperons, why would you want this thing to float anymore then it already does? You will wish you added an anchor to bring it down! By the way, the Rittmeister, von Richthoffen, enjoyed the Dr-1 because it suited his particular brand of dogfighting, close in and corkscrewing and the vast majority of his eighty kills were achieved in Albatross designs. The Dr-1 was a dog when it came to any type of pursuit with a top speed of about 90mph. Did have a great rate of climb. Prone to many wing structural failures at the outset. Bummer to have your top plane buckle. The newer design D-VII was a far superior fighter often outclassing the SE-5s, spads and camels. Enough BS lecturing for now, I gotta go work on another ARF!

Flaperons?
 

No, it does NOT need them. I've got a little differential (it's built in if you follow the directions) but the plane lands at a literal walk, or less. People stand and gawk and it on the ground and in the air. They don't care it's an ARF. Mine weighs 9 lbs. with a Super Tigre .75, and it floats around like a kite. Wonderful plane! I'm not a huge fan of ARF's, but I've thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Here's a pic of it along with my kit built Cap 232.

Phil in Austin...

GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Looks good! Had a problem with one of the dowels. I thought I had it fitting well in the hole but when I was gluing it in it resisted going in, put more pressure on it and it slid all the way in. I couldn't get it out before the glue set, so I drilled it out and cut a 1/4" dowel and put that in. But I didn't get it perfectly centered so I made some adjustments by sanding on side of the dowel. Now I have checked that the wings are parallel and that seems close enough about 3/32 at the wing tip. But I notice I have just over 1 1/2 positive incidence on the bottom wing, compared to the middle wing. Great Planes doesn't list what it should be, but the profile drawing appears to have some positive incidence on the bottom wing. I think positive incidence on the bottom wing may be a good thing, that way it will stall before the mid and top wing.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

This is an update on an old post. I went with a Y harness. It doesn't need much differantial, just a bit of rudder added with ailerons. I used an old radio that doesn't have flapperon capability. Still I wish I had used flapperons, that way i could get rid of that bit of tail wobble during rolls.

Jim_McIntyre,
Can you be more helpfull. Any source for axe handles? Or tips on how to make them?

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Sport Pilot, Actually the original Dr1 did not have the wing tip skids. They came a little later in the design, and they were not "axe handles" and did not even look like and axe handles at all. If you want to have a look at them check out the windsock datafile on the Dr1.

Dave

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

true. Not axe handles, but a skid made for it. Most full size Repo kits just use axe handles to save time. And there was a shiny triplane. It was tested with a silk covering to see if the speed would be better. It was, but not by much. Top speed was 105, not 90. And as to the point of the DRI being a copy of the Sopwith tripe... that is still a debated subject. I will agree with one thing. It's an ARF. fly it and enjoy it.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Not -- flapperons will increase the effective AOA at the wingtips & increase the liklihood of a tip-stall. The DR-1 will land slowly enough that there will be no usefull gain, but there will be an increase in risk. Part of the landing probs with the DR-1 is rudder blanking by the wings -- flapperons can't help there & may make things worse.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I just got my GP DR-1 in the air this spring and Love the thing... I've taken it to 5 air shows this yr (Local Fun Flys) My self and a friend with a Snoopy Dog house fly together and we have a blast. If you search Fokker DR-1 Set up, a thread will come up with tons of info and one guy on there built wing tip skids that were nice. I fly off grass and find I don't need them. Every show I've been at mine is a hit with all. I placed a Red Baron pilot in mine made by Dragon toys... Looks great! I'm thinking of building either a 1/4 or 1/3 scale one...

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I like the way the grass looks under the plane. Is that your flying field? Wish I had grass to fly off here in las vegas. It looks great in the sunset. (sunrise?) The one with the most wings and the fewest planes wins! Jeff

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

Sunset in upstate NY. Wish I could say it was always like this, but this summer has been wet and cold! Our club has 2 fields. Summer for flying - Winter for building and repairs. We do fly off snow with skis or floats.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I know it's a Fokker page but hey love my Gee Bee too!

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

The axe handles were added at the field by the ground crews. The factory version was removed (when they started adding them) and the axe handles added. They were strapped on, contacted the ground earlier and had less drag.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

I don't use them as flaps, they are used to adjust aileron differantial.

RE: GP DR1 Triplane flapperons or not.
 

PIc of Pilot mounted in GP Dr-1