Hi, Philip. I used music wire and brass tubing for the turnbuckles.I cut a small peice of tubing and turned the ends down by rolling them on a dremel wheel. Then I put the music wire through, and bent the ends round with round nosed pliers. I ran a little thin CA glue down the ends of the tubes to hold them in place.
As for the controls, I decided not to make them operational. At this small of a scale, I was afraid they might bind or interfeer with the real controls. When I finish this project, I want to build a 1/4 or 1/3 scale. Then I can make a whole bunch of stuff work. Maybe
Steve

P.S. The rigging for the rudder goes through some small holes in a peice of balsa, mounted behind the pilots seat. I pulled them tight, and held them in place with toothpicks and medium CA. The elevator rigging is attached to springs under the seat. The wires holding the springs rotate with the stick.

Here's a shot of what I have finished so far. the landing gear and tail section are ready to cover and paint.
I made the stab adjustable, like the full scale. The tail post has an outer tube and an inner rod. The inner rod ,on the full scale, is threaded with a sprocket and chain. The ends of the chain are connected to cables which wrap around a wheel just to the lower left side of the pilots seat. By turning the wheel, the sprocket would move the inner rod up or down as needed, so the pilot could adjust the trim for chainging weight.(useing fuel, dropping bombs, etc) The stab pivoted at the spar, with the trailimg edge moving up or down. The rigging attatched to the trailing edge is also attached to the inner rod, so it moves up and down with the trailing edge. Since I couldn't make a chain that small, I cheated. I put a 4-40 socket head bolt in the bottom of the post,held in place with small rings soldered above and below the head. Teh bolt is threaded into the inner rod. Turning the bolt moves the inner rod from 0 deg to + 5 deg.

Here's the rest of the tial feathers. The front spar will pivot with a music wire through a carbon fiber bushing in the fuse. The trailing edge will be joined with music wire and will fit through the adjusting bracket on the tail post. Control for the elevators will be done with double control horns conected to a split push rod. The pictures are of the bottom, to show the scale conection points. Hinges are scale and are made of brass strips.

The landing gear is built the same way as the full scale. I used clear hickory, wrapped with aluminum, and riveted with brass tubing. The cross bars have 2-56 threaded rod epoxied into the ends, and bolt through the legs. The bottom fairing is solid and is attached to the front and rear cross bars. the top fairing is hinged along the leading edge, and is not attached to the rear bar. As the axle moves up, stretching the bungee cords, the top fairing moves up with it. Gravity and wind hold it in place when airborne. I made the top fairing/hinge by bending the aluminum around the wire hinge pin. I then marked both pieces and cut out alternate spaces with a dremel cutoff wheel. The bungee cord in the pictures will be replaced with a larger diameter cord, after painting.

Here's a couple of shots of the tank. I used the same method to find the shape for decking as Abufletcher does. I make a pattern out of card stock and cut and adjust it until I have a good fit. Then I import it into model Cad, and add the details. I print that drawing out as a mirror image, tape it to the back of my aluminum sheet, and punched the rivets with a piece of music wire, rounded on the end. Then I bend the parts and epoxy them to the sheeting.

The radiator is made with a plywood back plate. On that i made two balsa boxes the shape of the cores. I put a slightly smaller piece of 1/64 ply on the sides to match th shape of the full size. I got some brass mesh foil at a craft store.and inset it into the boxes to complete the effect of leaded cores. The bottom and top are made of balsa. The center top cover is hinged aluminum,as on the full scale. It is held closed by the toe engine cowling. After shaping the cover, I cut out the center of the top balsa block and added the brass cap. The shutters are made of aluminum strips. I cut a notch in each end of each strip. then I made brass caps for the ends by cutting a slot in pieces of 1/16 tubing, and sliding them over the slots in the shutters. This forms a small cavity to recieve the brass pin which holds them in the aluminum frame.I put the shutter in place, fill the cavity with epoxy in a small syringe, and insert the brass pins.
The bracket on the sides are 1/64 Ply and the !QUOT!rivets!QUOT! are small pins. The velocity stack for the carb air intake is carved balsa. Total Pieces? 721!

Well, folks, that brings the project up to date. I've just about finished setting up my new shop, and I'm ready to get started on the engine compartment. I'm using a RCV .91 on a Dubro isolation mount. It worked out great in the test plane.
BTW if anyone wants a copy of the rad drawings, let me know and I'll e-mail you a copy.
Steve

I finished the tail section this morning. I think I found a way to use pull pull cables for the elevators. I'll let you know.
Steve

I'm getting ready for our club meeting, so I put everything together for show and tell.We have several scale guys, and it's always good to get feedback up close. I forgot to mention that I made an operational Cooper Bomb Rack. Four 20 pounders. Bombs away!
Steve

Don, you're right. A few words about the rack are in order. I had read that some SE5as were equipped with four 20# Cooper bombs. So I thought, Great. I'll add bombs. Not so fast! I found pics of bomb release handles. I found pics of the mounting tabs under the fuse. I found pics of bombs. But no bomb racks. Then Mark Miller posted his CAD models. Beautiful work, Mark! Then the fun began. How to make one four inches across The Bombs are made of balsa, turned down on a mini lathe. The fins are 1/64 ply. The arming vanes are 1/64 ply on a 1/16 dowel rod. The hanger is aluminum.
The rack itself is mostly brass, with 00-90 brass bolts and solder to hold it together.
The bombs hang from a wire which is held in place by a hinged trigger block. Each time the pilot pulls back on the release lever, the ratchet moves the trip bar one space, knocking over one trigger block and dropping one bomb.
Steve

I finally figured out a way to do a pull pull rigging to my elevators! I tried doing it !QUOT!scale!QUOT! using pulleys, but the Pulleys were so small and the two 90 deg turns so tight that it just didn't work. ( Do I see a 1/4 scale in my future?) then I tried using small nylon tubing to guide the cable to the scale opening. Way to much drag. So, I rigged the Kevlar around a capstan, mounted on a brass rod which extends into the stab. on both sides.When the servo (or bell crank) moves, the tubing turns. In the stab there's a carbon fiber rod running out to the scale opening with a small capstan mounted on the end. The cable runs from the top horn, around the capstan,and out to the bottom horn. turn the capstan, and Shazam! pull pull!
Steve

Very nice work, Steve. I like it! Just wanted to provide some feedback to let you know we're still watching.

Phil

Thanks ,Philip. I was getting a little lonesome How's the Spitfire coming along?
Steve

OK. So now it's time to take a deep breath and start on the engine compartment. I'm, going to use the same setup I used in the Top Flite. The problem is, where to put the servos for throttle and bomb drop. The Top Flite didn't have a full cockpit, so there was a ton of room for everything. I'm using an isolation mount so it wont !QUOT!rain!QUOT! small pieces from vibration, but this uses up the space I was going to use for the servos. I guess my only two choices are in the cockpit area to the front and above the line of sight, or in the engine compartment. Has anyone put a servo in the engine compartment? I'm thinking that would be way too much heat. If I put it in the cockpit I'll have to make the Stitching functional to have access . Any suggestions ?
Steve
PS The engine pics are of my Top Flite

Steve, regarding the throttle servo--what size is the tank? The C/L FAI flight is a maximum of 8 minutes IIRC, and the vast majority is at less than full throttle. My twin takes less than 5 minutes which includes a flap demo that takes about 7 or 8 laps. It is hard to tell but you might be able to get by with a smaller tank and mount the servo(s) beside it.
Chuck

Hi Chuck. That's a great idea. I need to run the engine up this weekend , and see how much fuel it needs for 8 min. I've never timed it.
Thanks,
Steve

I decided to start with the engine, and see how much room I have left to work with.I made the bulkhead for the isolation mount out of 1/4" ply, and have it fitted it in place. Positioning is critical, because of the small amount of clearance around the thrust washer. I already had to hog out the opening some, just to get it in.
Steve
PS My test pilot, George, says Hi.

Steve,
I did not recall correctly; the FAI routine is nine minutes max from starting to crank the engine.

That's alright, Chuck. I made a mistake ounce myself. Watching them fly at the nats this year,it seemed that the flights lasted around 5 or 6 min. There's only so much you can do with a WWI bird.
No flaps, retracts, bomb bay doors, etc. I did add the bomb rack, and if this plane flies as well as the test plane, then I'll give them a loop. I didn't get a chance to time the engine yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.
Steve

You know what? I just hate it when work gets in the way modeling I've been working on the electronics. I'm using Clancy Arnolds U-Tronics system. I used it in the test plane, and it works great. There's an encoder to go in your handle, and a decoder in the plane( only 7.8 g). Nylon coated control lines carry the signal. Pretty simple, actually. The servos plug into the decoder, just like an RC reciever, and it uses a standard 4.8VDC battery. Clancy dosen't offer a handle, but making one to fit your needs and style shouldn't be a problem for most modelers.
Anyway, here's some pics of the setup The switch, charge jack, and glow plug jack are in the radio compartment, behind the cockpit. I'm going to try to put the servos between the tank and the engine baffle.
Steve

Steve,
FAI rules specify that the safety thong pass around the hand grip portion of the handle.

That brings up a good point. how do I get a copy of the rules? It might help.
Steve

To get the FAI rules go to www.nasascale.org and they have a link to the FAI website. The rules are about 80 pages long so you may want to only print the relevant pages. I think the AMA website also has a link under the competition header.
Chuck

Thanks for the links. I downloaded the CL & RC scale rules. Pretty straight foward.
Steve
PS Thanks for the tip on the safety thong on the handle.