RagwingFan

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Bear with me, I am loading a several updates to a build I am currently working on.

Here's the short story

Long time hobbyist and RCU member. I went into hiding for 10-12 years with family,3 kids, traveling job, life etc after being in the hobby for 10 yrs during the 90's. Started in .40 size to large gassers in 1/4 and 1/3 sc planes. Love to build and create. My youngest/13yr old son expressed an interest in learning how to fly RC. I had been toying with thoughts of getting back in the hobby. Just needed a push and excuse for the Mrs. Excellent way of getting back and collecting goodies again.

Things sure changed. Mainly the ARF world and lack of kits and builders. Yes, I was a builder and diving back in where I left off.

First inline, I needed a work bench and work area. I did some clearing and rearranging in the garage. Snagged an isolated corner. I had a couple used base cabinet units from a demo job, add a 2' x 6'8" flush birch HC door with a 1/4 drywall surface and back in business. I can now build and leave project on a dedicated table again.

On with the project.

Nosen 1/4 sc Citabria. Yes, the lumber yard box with die crunching. Glutten for punishment but these were the early intro of giant scale. That's what makes it fun.

build won't be crazy fast as still have kids in the home, work, shores etc.

oh yea, vision

Mild bashing a Citabria into a Denali Scout with tundra tires. She will have flaps, enlarged vertical redesigned fin/rudder, squared off elevators, redesigned wing tips, added flaps, longer extended carbon fiber landing gear (bush plane look) vs the squatty aluminum Nosen kit and lastly a set of PR Bush authentic scaled bush tires. Power plant will be a Brison 2.4 gas. I had one before and scored one NIB. Great engine designed for aircraft with 22#'s of thrust.

couple warm up pics. will be semi-boring till some real structure starts to appear.

photos compliments of iPhone. all I have. sorry

RagwingFan

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Flashing 25+ yr old packaging. Nothing like the world of ARFs today. I spent a couple hours a couple weeks back punching and cutting out die cut parts as well as basic inventory of kit. I had purchased several months back online. Just been waiting for chance to break her open.

couple pics for grins

RagwingFan

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OK, last night finally started some actual construction

the fuse sides are 1/4" stick material. There are additional laminations to build out cabin area as well as dowel stringers down length of fuse. fun truss construction. a lot of angles to cut. The basic side construction is done to the point I will be adding the main plywood cabin cross former.

For those not familiar with Nosen kits from the past and are spoiled wth modern arms, check out the 2 page construction manual for a 1/4 sc aircraft

RagwingFan

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laminated fuse cabin main secondary former as well as firewall. Marked firewall centerline and thrust line. Always easier to it before things are glued in place. I glued in ply laminations around cabin windows. Lastly, glued in cabin main former. Tonight, I should be able to pull tail together and start installing cross bracing etc.

RagwingFan

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OK, How about so teaser pics of what's to come.

Comparison pictures of original Nosen aluminum gear vs carbon fiber longer extended leg gear (from 1/4 scale Hemphill Extreme Decathlon).

Carbon fiber gear little wider at top mount but should work out perfect where exits lower fuse. Nosen gear was kind of "sucked" into lower fuse area.

RagwingFan

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some more catch up posts:


May not be your style and may think its crazy

but here's the shoes for the project

nice comparison shot of 1/4 sc Cub tires.

scale Alaska Bush tires by PR Bush in Alaska.

Huge, scaled 36" tundra tires which are 8 3/4" at 1/4 scale..

RagwingFan

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couple pics of actual aircraft and real set of tundra tires...massive

still not decided on paint scheme. plenty of time for that.

RagwingFan

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some progress from other night

started by drawing a perpendicular center line on building surface.

added 1/4 sq cross stock after carefully aligning the tail and gluing it together. you can see the various squares etc used to keep fuse straight. also opted to make new cabin cross former with 1/4 aircraft plywood vs the soft balsa die crunched part.

still plenty on fuse to do.

RagwingFan

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more fuse construction. replaced cabin windshield former with 1/4 aircraft ply vs soft 1/4 balsa. added some length down windshield posts for strengthening area. this will give good mounting surface for screwing down windshield. added bottom formers and stringers. left landing gear mounting area stringers out. I want access to this area for future. I will make hatch that resembles fuse bottom.

RagwingFan

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ended the other night with getting the firewall mounted and stringers. it still needs to be sheeted along with front half of fuse and bottom of fuse. may leave open a while as I have not a gotten into motor mounting. original kit had box built off firewall. years back, those made perfect mounting for G-38's and Quadras. should be similar for Brison. stand-offs or engine boxes, long as they are mounted solid.

stood her on landing gear for grins (just temp) also did one photo on original Nosen gear. really shows what appears to be a squatty Citabria.

RagwingFan

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last night's progress...making hay while Mrs out shopping

made several 1/16' ply gussets to reinforce stick framework. got those installed. installed bottom sheeting on fuse, some more to do once finish sheeting on fuse cabin sides. started cut and fitment of fuse sheeting. with sides being 1/4" balsa, I decided to go ahead and soak, temp install and let dry over night. This will keep from splitting balsa sheeting.

done for night

RagwingFan

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some more time at the table. hitting it hard as once xmas eve hits, I have other obligations till the first of the year.

cabin side sheeting is still temp. I did get sheeting on top of nose. I also got main long side pieces on bottom of fuse. they were a pretty good challenge. double tapers in all directions. I was able to to get each lower side done in one piece with some patience.

picks of progress

2walla

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I built a nosen citabria back in 1994. It had over 1000 logged flights before it met its demise. Mcculloch 28 cc weedeater with some hop ups. It flew very well. I added a bit of reinforcement to the gear plate- some aircraft ply triangle between the gear plate and the back of the fuse former. Never a gear problem. I didnt see you install it in your pics. You need it or the gear will pull out. (Its hard to see on the plans but it is indicated and i upgraded it just a bit.) I also put tubes in the wing for assembly 5/8 inner going into 3/4 in the center section. I ran them out 3-4 bays as i recall. The stubs stuck out of each wing and went into the center section and long 6/32 bolts went thru into the fuse.

I changed the stock gear(originally added nelson wire reinforcement as the stock gear was very flimsy.) after about 800 flights to the aluminum gear off a sig morrisey bravo i rescued from the dumpster. Fit perfect and gave it that scout look. HOWEVER it did change the landing charisterics much to the worse. With the stock gear it was a run the length of the runway dragging one wheel show off plane. With the taller gear it was a Dirty SOB to wheel land. I have the hempel xtreme and it is about 1/4 of the difficulty level the nosen with the high gear to grease a wheel landing and people complain a bit about it. The hempel gear isnt the most durable but you have it. I would be concened its"springy ness"will add to the problem. I flew my nosen with the cg well aft and 45 degree throws on everything and it would flatspin and tailslide exceptionally well. I was doing touch and goes with hammerhead turns on each end one after another and a drop of sunscreen ladden sweat dripped in my eye. I yelled to my buddy to take it and ran to the hose bib to rinse my eye. It wasnt 30 seconds and it was a smoking hole as he stalled trying to duplicat my hammerhead turns it and it did three turn spin two turns high... Still havent let him live it down and its been 15 years LOL. I have another one in the bones and when the hemple finally falls apart due to lack of glue i will finish it. Have fun!

RICKSTUBBZ

I'm a fan of:
Citabria
Bush Planes
STOL planes

So, I am subscribbed.


With that tall landing gear and tires you should be able to get a nice big prop with low Pitch for accurate flying speed and lots of torque.
Have you considered breaks just to be able to stand it up before takeoff- just like the STOL big brothers do...


Oh - almost forgot.....Where did you get those tires? Never heard of "PR". They look cool --- for a STOL bird...

4570jackjack

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Subscribed!!

RagwingFan

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Thanks for all the replies and great info.

couple quick responses

2Walla - you are correct, I am missing the LG reinforcements. The kit as you remember came with couple 1/8 ply triangles. I was looking at going 1/4 aircraft. I then started to debate do I add a plywood brace along bottom of cabin wall tying together the fuse side truss construction thus dispersing the load generated from the landing gear mounting plate. still need to decide. I went with Hemphill CF gear as really needed/wanted the taller LG just like the real bird. Hopefully she will treat me well. Sounds like you really rung yours out. I am little tamer in my flying style. Hoping to develop some STOL take off and landing skills. Thanks for info on wing tubes as well. I have not gotten quite that far in thinking process other than adding flaps and changing wing tips.

Rickstubbz - I have thought about brakes. did a little searching. I still have not located what would be an easy to install. If you have ideas, please share. Tires, grab your wallet. They are pricey. Yes, ridiculously but I wanted the look. I like unique and different planes. I think I have only ever built 1 maybe 2 just like the kit box art. The tires are made by a company in Alaska, PR Bush. They are easy to find if google.

more to come, appreciate insight and support

RagwingFan

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2walla, quick question

did you add any additional reinforcement between firewall (F1) and cabin former (F2)?

the kit as you know has 1/4 stringers, 1/4 balsa side sheeting with 1/8 balsa top and bottom sheeting tying nose of plane all together. I have seen some comments of adding additional due to gas engine. I was thinking possibly couple ply braces between the 2.

thoughts?

RagwingFan

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shut down work early today. got some time to build.

on the Denali Scout version I am doing, the elevators have been enlarged/squared off vs typical rounded Citabria. I redrew the outline of the elevators and stab. I also added additional filler stock for Robart hingepoints which I will be using. just need to add corner stock/ply laminations for control horns on the elevators.

will need to redraw the vertical and rudder. These are both enlarged/taller than Citabria. That's next.

RICKSTUBBZ

Your build is coming right along

I see what you mean on the PR Wheels....Not for the faint at heart. But, they sure look the part....

As to brakes, I have only done a small amount of research. As to commercially available stuff, the electric brakes sound like a good idea but most I have seen require their wheels.. Dubro has a inexpensive mechanical unit. Not sure that it would be enough for your plane though. I would probably try to fabricate something of my own.

Of all the Citabria pictures I have, I only found 1 with Tundra tires. And they are not the "BIG" ones...

RagwingFan

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I have looked at Kavan and Dubro set ups. you are correct, would have to see how to adapt their wheels/hubs. Good thing, I have time to ponder.amazing with stock gear and small bush tires, quite squatty look IMO. I won't be exact scale as no 3-views or photo packs available for a Denali Scout. I will modify wing tips/wings and tail feathers using internet photos. In the end, I think I can get the look I am after as well as fun flying.

here's some photos from web

RICKSTUBBZ

The extended landing gear makes a huge difference....

RagwingFan

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Back from out of state basketball tournament with my highschool senior and family Christmas trip. ordered some goodies while away.

Not a new idea, stole it from another site.

Ordered a set of wing struts for Hangar 9 1/4 scale Cub. Yes, little pricey if consider almost 1/2 price kit cost me. I have built plenty of struts in the past. some wood, some with aluminum streamline tubing. That all takes time to gather parts, design, fabricate brackets, file, cut, glue, assemble, etc. The strut pack comes with ALL the mounting hardware needed. This will save hours of time and trips to hobby shop or hardware store. Not 100% scale but will certainly work for what I am looking for on this project. The struts are nicely built and hardware pack appears nice quality.

couple pics below.

one quick note if this is something that works for you: The Supercub strut kit DOES NOT include all the mounting hardware or jury struts. Yes, I learned the hard way. Waiting on refund now.

RagwingFan

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I did a quick temporary install of main gear and tail wheel mounting plate as well as large Ohio tail wheel assembly. went with their largest tail wheel assembly to "resemble" a bush tail wheel set up.

RagwingFan

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ahhh

back on the building board after being distracted by other family projects.

There are no scale 3 views out there that I could locate to help redesign the vertical and rudder. I studied a lot of photos as well as a basic 3 view pictures. I compared a Scout vs Citabria. I laid them over each other to get an idea of the enlarged vertical. pencil outline redrawn on plans. Then took my best stab at it.

side note sign of the times, technology on the building board.

Here's some pics from last night.

funnotcrazy

I am doing the same thing with a 1/4 scale Dynaflite Super Decathlon. Modified tail feathers, same with oversize carbon fiber landing gear (w/ beefed up mount area in fuse also), & tundra tires. Added second landing gear mount aft for float set up.
Mods to strengthen and lighten frame. Built in (concealed) parachute drop, full set of scale nav lights. Saito 1.80 up front. Have been working off & on for a year. Even built (kit) a smaller everyday flier in between...

I have a large pasture (fairly smooth) next to my house. Looking forward to flying this big right at home. There is also a LARGE lake 10 mins from my house.