Bird-e-Dog
04-24-2002 | 06:05 AM
#2
Thread Starter
Bird-e-Dog
Hi Monroe...
I did hear from Ed Lokken about a month ago. He sent me the address of a web site where he's posted some good construction photos.
I really like the plane. I've been spending more time out of town on business than I have at home lately and the Bird-e-Dog is a good airplane for building on the road... so I have a few fuselages and a couple wings. I haven't really discovered anything earth shattering about the construction, but it does go really quick now.
The hood area reminded me that c-grain wood is great for flat areas but not good at all for curves (I was on the road and only had the c-grain stock I brought for wing ribs and fuselage side pieces... it was unusable for the hood even after soaking, so those hood pieces got recut into wing ribs.)
I also found that if I leave some extra length on the turtledeck stringer material, I can install the flat piece that they but up against first, then slide the material in place and adjust the angle of the end til the butt-joint fits really well. (The first time around I installed all stringers, marked them for the former and cut and sanded the protruding stringer ends -- not nearly as easy to be precise that way... the construction pictures on the web show the stringers going through that former -- porbably stronger where I don't thnk it does any good, but not quite as neat, although that's probably hidden under covering.)
I did make a little change to the fuse side frames... at the bottom of the cheeks (in the very front), I combined the sheet part and the strip part, cutting the overall shape out of one piece of sheet with a notch where the verticle piece joins it. (I didn't see any need to fit two pieces there with the grain running the same way and with the other piece notched in, I think it's a tiny bit stronger.)
Another thing I'm planning to do is add a pair of 1/8" dowels or balsa sticks to simulate the fuselage stiffeners on the full size plane at both the windshield and rear window.
I haven't yet decided on which servos to use (and I don't know what the weight of the airframe(s) is yet. Are you going to use micro servos?
I did hear from Ed Lokken about a month ago. He sent me the address of a web site where he's posted some good construction photos.
I really like the plane. I've been spending more time out of town on business than I have at home lately and the Bird-e-Dog is a good airplane for building on the road... so I have a few fuselages and a couple wings. I haven't really discovered anything earth shattering about the construction, but it does go really quick now.
The hood area reminded me that c-grain wood is great for flat areas but not good at all for curves (I was on the road and only had the c-grain stock I brought for wing ribs and fuselage side pieces... it was unusable for the hood even after soaking, so those hood pieces got recut into wing ribs.)
I also found that if I leave some extra length on the turtledeck stringer material, I can install the flat piece that they but up against first, then slide the material in place and adjust the angle of the end til the butt-joint fits really well. (The first time around I installed all stringers, marked them for the former and cut and sanded the protruding stringer ends -- not nearly as easy to be precise that way... the construction pictures on the web show the stringers going through that former -- porbably stronger where I don't thnk it does any good, but not quite as neat, although that's probably hidden under covering.)
I did make a little change to the fuse side frames... at the bottom of the cheeks (in the very front), I combined the sheet part and the strip part, cutting the overall shape out of one piece of sheet with a notch where the verticle piece joins it. (I didn't see any need to fit two pieces there with the grain running the same way and with the other piece notched in, I think it's a tiny bit stronger.)
Another thing I'm planning to do is add a pair of 1/8" dowels or balsa sticks to simulate the fuselage stiffeners on the full size plane at both the windshield and rear window.
I haven't yet decided on which servos to use (and I don't know what the weight of the airframe(s) is yet. Are you going to use micro servos?
04-26-2002 | 11:13 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Bird-e-Dog
I'm affraid I don't know the source of the floats, though I did just send Ed Lokken a query about them.
If I find out, I'll let you know and otherwise I know I have some float plans around that I could share with you, including an article on cutting scale EDO round-top floats from foam from the Jul '87 Scale R/C Modeler... scale floats are nice for a scale plane. I can help ya out if you don't have that issue at your fingertips
)
If I find out, I'll let you know and otherwise I know I have some float plans around that I could share with you, including an article on cutting scale EDO round-top floats from foam from the Jul '87 Scale R/C Modeler... scale floats are nice for a scale plane. I can help ya out if you don't have that issue at your fingertips
)
04-26-2002 | 02:10 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Bird-e-Dog
Nope, no servos in mine yet, though I was planning to see how the weight was with everything else in place and deciding what to use then. I think the HS-81s will be a real good choice.
I did get email back from Ed -- he says that the float plans are available through him ([email protected]) or Ernie at $7.00, so people may be able to get plans for both floats and planes direct from them. (I do like to get plans direct from the designer when I can in hopes that they get all of the proceeds).
I did get email back from Ed -- he says that the float plans are available through him ([email protected]) or Ernie at $7.00, so people may be able to get plans for both floats and planes direct from them. (I do like to get plans direct from the designer when I can in hopes that they get all of the proceeds).
