seric

I decided to try out Chris O'Riley's micro Pitts plans. I think it is a fabulous looking plane for it size, but it is a little bit difficult to build because of its size. My first try on the fuselage I ended up splitting the wood and had to go for a second round. This is the plane so far, I think it should be finished by the end of this week. The last pic is the fuselage next to the fuselage of the Jr. Falcon.

flyierjon

WOW! looks really good! would like to put that little guy up next to my 1/2 scale pitts to see the size difference!! where did you get the plans for that plane? Lets see the finish product!! what radio equipment and electric motor are you using??

Keep up the good work!
Jon

seric

Thanks flyierjon, I found a copy of the plans on another rc forum, but you can download them directly from Chris' site at http://www.chris3d.com/files/.
I plan on using the Microbatics RX-101 receiver/esc with 3 actuators for servos (www.slowfly.com). I built this one with ailerons, but I think I’m going to attempt another without and see how it flies.

I finished the bottom wings and the back end last night; tonight I will tackle the top wings and hopefully have time to finish cutting and creating the cowl. Here is some pics of the progress.

flyierjon

Hey Thanks for posting that link!!! I know what im building next!!! Thats a sweet plane!! Yours looks really good so far, please keep up with the up dates! How easy was it to bend and warp the fuse balsa sheeting? That looks to be the only problem part of the build.

Thanks for the great pictures!
Jon

seric

This first time it split on me, and this is 1mm fairly bendable wood. The second time I took a damp cloth and dampened the wood before I wrapping it. That did the trick really well, I had no splitting problems and the wood became very flexible. Just remember to wipe on the opposite side of the way your going to be wrapping, wetting wood makes it bend naturally and you want it to bend the way your planning on wrapping. After I finish this one, I'm going to make another with a little more precise cutting and glueing. This one was mostly for build and flight testing.

bdavison

My Feedback: (1)

Do you know if the pitts would fly with a setup like the aeroace? I plan on building one of these, and Id like to use aeroace stuff to make it fly.

seric

You might be able to get it fly; of course you would have to make some changes so that you could set your rudder, and elevator like you do on the aeroace. I haven't weighed my plane yet, but I think without radio gear it will come in around 13-16 grams, a very light plane. One thing that is nice about the Pitts it’s cheap to build so you would only be out your time if it didn't work. It only cost me about $4 for wood and glue, and I live near Tokyo so I pay about 3 times the price you would in the U.S.

OK, here are the latest updates, I mounted the top wings and the inter-wing struts. I also finished the cowl as per plan, but for some odd reason it turned out to be a little too small. I'm going to try and make a bigger one and remount it. I didn't have time to place the rods that should go between the top wing and just before the cockpit. So I need to finish that and landing gear, and them I’m on hold until the radio gear gets here.

seric

I Finally got a chance to maiden her, but as luck would have it I crashed on the first flight [X(]. I guess it's back to the drawing board. Here are some pics of the bird in a semi-repaired state.

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

sorry to hear the maiden wasnt so kind, what caused it to crash?

the repairs look like they're coming along, hope you get a 2nd go-round with the bird, she'll look good in the air.

nick

clovus

Any progress on this one? What happened on your maiden?

I have the plans, just wating on the bench space to start.

clovus

radiofreak88

heres my pitts im working on. useing a umx as3x electronics to run it. going to scale up to 125% giving it around a 15 inch wingspan but figured i would at least see what i could do with a scale cockpit and canopy

radiofreak88

i modified the plan to include a "slide in" wing strut design and full wings with servo cut-outs. full t/a/r/e control for a 4 channel feel. the as3x gyro stabilized receiver should make for a predictable model. working on drawing up my modifications if anybody is interested in them. have pictures of the fully bodied wing design and willing to explain how I did then if you want to give it a go.

Saburo Sakai

Nice, Radiofreak. Good to see a micro build. What's her weight gonna be? 180 Brushless?
Anyway was looking at the original poster's, Seric's, wood construction from 2006.Beautiful stuff.

radiofreak88

not sure don't have a scale sensitive enough to weigh it. hoping to keep it as close to similar models of that size but haven't done too much in the way of research.  it's really just a build it and see kind of thing and make changes from there. yeah its the 180. it fits with a little modification to former two. at the moment im in need of some balsa but the local hobby shop cant keep[ in stock. but its Toledo so it dont surprise me any. but the lack of supplies has halted any progress.

Saburo Sakai

A plan: acquire one of the AS3X birds from Horizon Hobby; fly it hard and enjoy it,and after its demise, transplant the AS3X digi gyro into your Pitts Special build and it'll fly straight and level in those Toledo winds like a fine blade from Toledo Spain. I'm waiting on HH's new baby Spitfire, with the AS3X gyro for $99 (delivery in.....?)and if I crash her so hard she is beyond human repair, I'll save you the digi gyro.

radiofreak88

i have all the electronic. i had the beast but the receiver went bad and horizon sent me the new as3x receiver. i have the original brushless motor, battery and servos still. so i have everything i need to fly i just need to finish the fuselage and im good to go. except for my dx6i needs an anntenna before i can do anything.

radiofreak88

so basically im building around the flight gear and thats why i decided to scale it up from 12 inch ws to 15 inch wingspan to match the wingspan of the beast it was originally in. thought it would ,in theroy ,work well since the beast is a modern pitts anyways. expect for slightly different shape they are the same size though i expect the balsa pitts speactial to be a little heavier but the beast climbed vertically and i dont really need the pitts to do that just want a nice easy flyer but it just might have the power to do some light aerobatics. but we'll see. thinking of having the old lady take the prototype up to work and have her weight it on a letter scale then make predictions for the scaled up version using those numbers.

radiofreak88

well according to HH the as3x is tuned to their planes only but i could get the ar6400 rx and test fly it with that and when i feel its flying to my approval ill swap it out for the as3x to see if it has any adverse effects.fingers crossed. but it means i need to get a replacement ar6400lbl due to the burn out on mine

Saburo Sakai

AS3X "only adapted for our planes" Horizon says? Well, after I inevitably crash an AS3X bird (I have one and another coming soon) I will sure as heck try and adapt it to a new or old bird or, really, I'll mail the guts to you and YOUcan find out. From one native Texan to a man who had to leave Texas, God bless you (I feel your pain). But I bet Ohio's got really good flying: did you know, in Japanese, "Ohio" means "hello"? That sounds like good flying to me. It may be a while before I destroy an AS3X bird, but I surely will, guaranteed.

radiofreak88

sounds like a plan bud. did you get the pm about possible places i know of to fly your micros and park flyers?

radiofreak88

and great news today as well. I took a trip to the Hooby shop and found some decent balsa. currently cutting out the peices. I also picked up some aerogloss sanding sealer so i can have a smoth glossy finish and added strenth. The gentleman at the shop said it has a very miniscule weight gain so thats a plus. was going to go the ultracote route but would have to get the iron and two or three colors and it would have cost me close to 70 bucks i didnt really want to spend since im cheap hobbiest. be sure to take pictures of the build as i go along. this should be the final model so im going to be sure to take it slow and do it right. well the tiled pdf plans just finished printing so i have much to do. looks like another all nighter for this guy lol.

bps

My Feedback: (3)

I built one of these 3 years ago. Great flyer using MCX heli electronics. Motor from the heli and a gear box from a rubber powered model, 1c 150mah lipo. Finish is Ritt dye, magic marker and testors silver paint. The BD5 next to it will get the same gear exept it will be direct drive with a pusher prop. Material is 3mm dupron, magic marker for decoration. I have already tested this plane free flight with power and no power. Should be a nice gentle flyer. Need to find another set of electronics.