SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

I'm scratch building an SE5a, 1/6 scale. The fuse and tail are almost finished. I still have a few cockpit details to do and the engine compartment. I'm useing an RCV .91 for power and Clancy Arnold's U-Tronics system for throtle and bomb release. If you have any coments, suggestions,tips, or pictures, please post them here.
Here are a few pics of my cockpit area.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Sorry about that. It's Early and I'm not quite awake yet. The last pic is of the full size aircraft, not my model.[&o] Here's the pic I ment to post.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Well all I can say is "Jeez, that's incredible"

All power to you my friend - my you must have some patience and skills :)

I would be too terrified to fly it :eek:

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

ghost took the words out of my mouth and your model took my breath away

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Thank's, Ghost. I really didn't start out to get so detailed. But I would look at a picture and say "I'll bet I can make one of these". The next thing I knew, I was Hooked! As for flying it, I built a Top Flite Kit the same size to work out the bugs and learn to fly it. Good thing too, because it has a bad habit of noseing over on landing. Hopfully, I'll have it down by the time I get this bird in the air.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Does anyone know what this is? It is'nt in all of the SE5a cockpits.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

I trust you are planning to compete in the F4B class.
Chuck

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Educated (somewhat) guess: an air pump to pressurize the fuel tank. I'm quite certain the Sopwith Camel has a similar pump to help the fuel to flow, especially upon starting.

BTW, awesome job on the detailing! I'd love to do that, someday, but I always wind up saying "That's close enough," and moving along just to get the plane in the air.

Phil

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Grant, Thank you for the compliment. Praise from fellow modelers means a lot to me.
Chuck, I'd like to compete this summer,but I don't know if I'll be finished by then. My wife and I just moved, and I haven't set up shop yet.[&o]The good news is I'll have twice the room here:D
Phil, I think the air pump for the fuel system is on the instrument panel in most SE5as, just above the altimeter on the right. This gadget is only on some of the planes. Maybe it has to do with the Cooper bomb rack,since it ends right above it?

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Well, I started setting up my shop today. hopefully I'll be back to building next week;) In the meantime, here are a few pics of the landing gear. They get alot more bungee cord after they'er painted.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Yup, I guess you're right. Now that I look closely, the pump is at the back end of your arrow on the right picture, and you've done a fine job of recreating it, already, on your model. Have you posted anything on the scale or warbirds forum?

Looking forward to your covering job! That oughtta be something!

Phil

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Phil, I wasn't sure if it's ok to post outside C/L. This is the first time I've been involved with a forum,and I don't want to be out of line.
I did get some work done on my shop, today. I set up the main bench and some shelves. I can't wait to get back to making saw dust!
What are you working on?
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Right now I have a Guillows Spitfire conversion to nitro R/C on the board. It's slow going as I'm easily distracted :eek:

I have a TopFlite Gold Edition F4U Corsair begun by my friend (Bassman on RCU) that I hope to be well along on after the New Year.

I bought plans for a 1/6 Spad XIII from RCM about a year ago, but it may take me several years to get to that! Bassman bought the same plans, but he's having the same hesitation as I. The scale wing construction has something like 84 ribs [&:]

I think if you post your question about the unknown item ... you're probably right about it being a bomb drop ... on the scale forum you'll get more response. It's a pretty small group that monitors the C/L forum here. I do, just because I still build and fly a little C/L from time to time, but I'm no expert on scale or WWI, for that matter. (I do love going to Old Rinebeck Aerodrome, and my older brother is a HUGE WWI fan ... that's how I knew about the existence of the air pump). I think that if you disclose that you're building a C/L plane you may get a bit of ribbing or disbelief, possibly people will try to convince you to make it R/C, but you will likely get the answer your looking for.

Phil

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Phil, Is the Spitfire going to be U/C or R/C? I've done a couple conversions to electric R/C. The SE5a and the P40. The SE5a flys great. It's a lot of fun. I haven't flown the P40 yet. I'm just begining to Learn to fly R/C, and I think the P40 is going to be harder to fly. If you have any pics, I'd like to see them.
I will post my cockpit question on the scale forum. It's not really that important, but it's the only thing in the cockpit I haven't been able to identify.Let me know when you start on the Corsair.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3713170]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=3713170[/link]

Above is a link to my build thread for the R/C Spitfire.

Somewhere else I've also posted pics of Guillows Zero, Mustang and FW-190 that I've built for C/L, and a P-40 I built for display ... I think you can find them in my gallery.

Nice looking planes, Steve! There have been a few threads in the 1/2A forum about doing Guillows conversions to R/C. I think you'd enjoy finding them and perhaps reviving one with a post of your pictures.

Phil

edit: Ooops, the photos of the Guillows models are not in my gallery. When I have a few minutes I'll add them.

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Yeah, it's ok. As long as the subject of the thread is pertinent to the forum you post it in, it'll be good to go. A question like the one on the bomb release (or whatever it turns out to be) really would get best coverage on the scale forum. And the warbird forum might have some guys who might know.

But please don't go away. That's awesome work you're doing and us CL guys wouldn't want to see you quit posting here!

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

I don't know if you've got experience flying an SE5a on control lines, but be prepared for a pitch sensitive sucker. I built a Sterling SE5a many, many years ago. Flying it straight and level was almost impossible at first. It wasn't really a balance problem. I wound up detuning the elevator throws again and again until the throw was very limited. And adding noseweight didn't really do much at all. The airplane presents sort of a big flat "front". And the tail volume appears to be marginal for straight line tracking with that flat front.

It was actually advertised as being able to stunt. It did have symmetrical airfoils. And it would loop and could do square corners. To get a good square corner took all the touch I was ever able to give. With those wings being so far from the centerline, when the airplane got much pitch either way, the inside wing would hit with a bunch of drag and hook the airplane around the corner. It would start into the turn like a normal airplane and then HOOK. And when it did, the drag would almost stop the sucker.

I almost built a new bellcrank. I wound up putting a new hole in the original bellcrank as close to the pivot bolt as I could drill. I had already put a new longer elevator horn on it. The new rigging almost tamed the beast. (Actually it wasn't a beast. I love SE5s and it was beautiful out on the end of the lines.)

Once I got the elevator slowed down and limited it's throw, it wasn't a bad flying airplane. But it was still sensitive to big pitch changes. Sort of like flying low aspect ratio wing CL planes.

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Amazing detail on the model, and yes I hope you end up in F4B. I also fly with electronic controls. I use the DSC JR radios, single channel systems and the Bill Young handles.

comment on the pitch control. A friend built a Grumman Wildcat with positive incidence in the stablizer (fixed portion) and the plane flew horrible until he removed the positive incidence from the stablizer (zero degrees incidence). Regardless of where we put the CG the plane did not fly right at all. Ever since then I put all of the my stabs at Zero degree incidence and also limit the control throw. Remember a CL scale model is not intended to fly like an aerobatic model, we not trying to get a 5 foot radius turn.

Keep bulding!

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

OK, now I really do have my Guillows warbirds in my gallery!

Phil

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Phil, Thanks for the links. Very nice fleet of war birds! I haven't tried to convert one to C/L yet. looks like a lot of fun. Man, there are so many areas of interest in this hobby, it's hard to sample them all.
Darock and Fred. Thanks for the compliments and flying tips. I knew there were a lot of unanswered questions about this airplane. What size Engine & Tank, Stab Incidence.Line Rake,Etc. So I took some time out and built the Top Flite kit designed by Dave Platt. I built it straight up as per plans with no frills. I'm using it for a test bed and to learn to fly. As a Stunt pilot, I always thought that flying scale would be boring. Boy, was I wrong! I'm using a RCV .91 for power with an 8 oz. tank. The stab is set at +5deg, same as the wings.(on the scratch built it's adjustable from +6 to -1, same as the full scale) The plane handles very smoothly. It cruises at about 1/2 throttle, and sounds great. there's plenty of power for high flight, and I'm betting it will loop. And with the weight of the engine, the plane balanced perfect with no added weights. The only problem I'm having is landing it in windy conditions. If it's still rolling when it gets up wind, it wants to flip over on it's back. So timing the touchdown is critical. Any way, I won't fly the scratch built until I'm comfortable with the Top Flite.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

If you guys have any pics you want to post here, feel free to do so. I think Pics keep things interesting!
Here are a couple of shots of the business end.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

This post is to answer a question from one of our R/C friends about setting up a C/L scale plane. Since this is my first, I'll limit my answer to C/L planes in general. I'll leave the fine tuning to more experienced scale pilots.
First of all, the balance point is critical on any airplane, whether it's free flight, control line, or RC.
Next,t he plane has to pull on the lines to keep them tight. If they go slack, you have no control.There are several ways to accomplish this. Most planes use a combination of the following. First is tip weight. You have to add weight to the outboard wing to compensate for the weight and drag of the control lines. Next is engine out thrust. By giving the engine a few degrees of out thrust , it pulls the plane away from you. You can also give the plane a little right rudder,and or some right aileron. Different Planes use different combinations, and different pilots have their own preferred ways of maintaining line tension.
I hope this answers your question.
Steve

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Well, I made a lot of progress setting up shop this weekend. A few more days and I'll be back to making balsa dust.
Here are a few more shots .

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Well, I guess since I’m starting this thread with the plane half built, I should briefly cover what’s gone before. Since I wanted a full cockpit, I started there and pretty much framed the plane around it. I used pictures from the Memorial Flight Association web site for most of the detail work. I compared them to pictures of other cockpits, and used what was common to all. I used Model Cad to draw the instruments, based on the pictures, and printed them with a high definition printer. The bezels are made from various pieces of tubing, ink pens, etc. The metal edge around the cockpit stiffener is a soft aluminum strip, with the “rivets” pressed in with an awl. The control yoke is brass rod with an aluminum top and ring, wrapped with rigging twine. The compass is shaped and hollowed out dowel rod. The inner ring is printed on photo paper, cut out and shaped. It’s held in place with a thin wire through the center. The ammo bin is made of aluminum. I added it because it can be seen through the window above the instrument panel. The bullet belt is from a GI Joe action figure.

RE: SE5a 1/6 Scale
 

Nice! Thanks for the info. I love hearing the details about what you find to look like what you're trying to model. (Wow, that's a cumbersome sentence, but I'll bet you know what I mean).

Have you made any of the controls; yoke, pedals; operable? Youve certainly put a lot of work into rigging them. What have you used for turnbuckles?

Phil