Thrashaero

Hi
I have not a lot of experience or inside knowledge of RC...lately all I've accomplished is putting the bare frames together....along with flying a skysurfer (which is too easy to be real airplane rc)
I just put together a Guillow's Fokker DR1 Triplane and have come to a critical decision.....I decided to not leave it as simple, cheesy rubber power. I want to put some functionality into this thing and now I'm after trying to find a happy medium of radio gear, engine, and covering for it.
It's wingspan is only 20 inches, area about 137 sq. inches, and 15 1/2 inches in length. I was originally intending on a .015 gas engine but decided that might cost too much and be too heavy. What I'm looking for is the latest and lightest in rc technology without making me go bankrupt. I guess my main concern is the weight. I would also like to go away from the transparent tissue covering. I can't stand the sight of a plane I can almost see through. I don't care what it's made out of, as long as it is completely opaque, red and super lightweight.
I've went to microrc.com and towerhobbies and I'm mostly confused on matching all the electronics.
I want to know how all the guts go together as I have no idea how they are compatible. like what motor goes with what speed control which goes with what receiver which goes with what servos which goes with what batteries and transmitters....and where I can get such items at decent prices and serious weight savings.
Right now I have a JR Max 4 radio....hopefully i can use this with some micro rc flying.
Also I attached an image of the frame....I'm wondering how will I ever mount anything on the inside??
Thanks for anyone's help
Nick

clively

Hi Nick,
I'm in a similar situation with a Guillow's P-40. 28" wingspan. I decided to first do a rudder / elevator setup. Later, I may mod the wings to have airelons. Either way, I cruised the TowerHobbies site and compiled an excel file with a break down of their available servos. It's not entirely complete, but close.

If you want it, it's at:
http://www.chrislively.com/Random/ServoBreakdown-a.xls

One kind of servo that isn't listed in that file yet is from the GWS Pico Flight pack. This has a speed control, 2 tiny servos, a very small receiver, and a 270mAh batter for about $90 (HobbyTown.com). I've heard that this receiver has a range of about 500'.

For an engine, I've been looking at the Great Planes T-280GD system (towerhobbies.com) at $47 w/speed control $20 without. I don't have weight specs for it yet, so I'm not entirely sure if it's the right thing. GWS has a small direct drive motor for about $20 that might fit the bill. I'm not sold on any of this yet, so the search continues...

For the skin I've heard a couple of different things. I've started sheeting mine with 1/32" balsa. Although I may just airbrush the balsa directly to get some color on it.

One thing for certain, figure out your plane weight and wing loading numbers, then start plugging in values from the electronics, motor, and expected covering.

I have no idea on mounting yet. It is definately a problem, but one I'll be happy to solve soon. These things are fun!

SpitCrazy

I'm working on the guillows spitfire 27 5/8". Geared speed 280. go to this link for info http://rcmicroflight.com/library/convert.asp:
His set up for mounting the motor is sweet. Although i was not satisfied with styrene nose cone so I used it as a mould, poured in some plaster of paris, put a stick in it to hold onto. Then get a plastic pop bottle (stronger plastic) jam your plaster in there and shrink with a heat gun. I found that Evian water bottles have very light plastic and are very flexible. This setup should reduce damage in a crash. I used the supplied plywood firewall glued to nose cone, hole cut for motor, made a shelf where motor stick thru and strapped her on. I'm thinking sheeting the entire plane would be too heavy. speed 280 geared would allow a weight up to about 14 oz my research would say. My spit is coming in at about 9 - 10 oz. Ithink you might be able to go more power because of strenghth of sheeting, but will it fly? let us know how it's going.

As for matching speed controllers surf.... lots of godd info out there. ESC's are rated in amps. 5 A is good to speed 280 but direct drive you might burn it. learn the formula ; watts (work done)= volts(potential pressure) x amps( current or how fast the electricity is flowin). so if you have 5 amps limit at 7.2 volts you get 25.2 watts of work. thats direct drive. change prop sizes and you will increase and decrease amps. change volts and the other variables change.

Now add gears. since a motor is max efficient running full out, a gear box allows this but slows down the final shaft speed. ththen you can put lareger props with more pitch on, get more work done(watts) and reduce amperage (current = heat= burn)for the same volts. used this fornula and play with it plugging in variuos values until you get it. Then look for other people combos and values. I read in the article mentioned above that his 3.5:1 geared 280 with a 7x6 prop got (his math seems wrong cause 8 cells is 9.6 volts I think) 3.25 amps and 26 watts. 26 / 3.25 = 8 volts? any way, increse volts with same prop and amps go up. same volts smaller prop amps go down. play and learn

japan

I am a DR-I Junkie from long before. For engine and battery, I would reccomend a GWS IPS or LPS, and a e-tec LiPO battery. The 750 ml are lighter than one NiMH cell and put out triple the voltage. Thus the battery weight is one third. I buy mine from www.aircraft-world.com. Intelligent service and good prices.

The guy who runs it is named Dave. The batteries are discussed in another forum. GWS is talked about quite a bit.

Keith

SaMx

i know this sounds stupid, but its really fun to say fokker.

The real reason im posting is because I was also looking at the guillows kit to turn into r/c someday. triplanes are cool. especially fokker ones.

Morb

You may even want to think of a CD Rom Brushless motor as a powerplant. Very inexpensive, and will last forever.

You may even want to check out [link=http://www.microrc.com/]Sky Hooks and Riggings[/link]. They have ALOT of micro rc stuff.

Geof.
www.smoothair.ca

MrCRPoole

Hi,

Well, this thread finally forced me to register! I have a Guillows Fokker Dr1 converted to R/C, and here are my experiences:

My Dr1 used a GWS A motor linked to a GWS 5 amp esc. It had a Hitech Electron 6 reciever, and two Hitech HS-55 servos. The battery was a 2 cell 250 maH Lithium. This gear was probably heavier-duty than it needed to be, but the plane did fly. I built the wings with dihedral, so I could use elevator and rudder setup. The covering was SolarLite (red), and was not really transparent, so it looked pretty scale.

Flying was quite tricky! The small wing area and extreme amounts of drag made the plane go into a rocking tip stall if speed dropped much at all. Climb was slow, but landings simply required a reduction of throttle!. I recommend using some sort of shock absorbtion for the landing gear.
Now, keep in mind that my plane had rather heavy gear, and I also live at 6000 ft. (THIN air). The little aircraft looked great airborn and was very satisfying to fly, and I was able to fly it indoors too.
I hope this helps, I have also included a picture.... Good luck!

-Chris

Deltageek2

Wow, Mr Poole! Tony shoulda used an inline engine on it!

I saw a DR-1 at the Fighter Museum in Mesa AZ and wanted to roll it outside and strap it on. The problem with using this era of plane for super small models is that short nose that was designed to house a very heavy motor. That short nose moment means you end up adding dead lead. Lithium packs aren't the greatest for balancing with their low density for size.

Make mine a D-VII. It was the only weapon mentioned in the Treaty of Versailles- which said basically-

"OK, Lets stop shooting- and give us all your D-VIIs."

Morb

Chris,

That is the nicest thing I've ever seen.

Switching to Carbon Fiber landing gear may make the plane alot lighter, and help with those landings.

Geof.
www.smoothair.ca