i built the same one you have for a guy at the club i used to belong to. never did hear if he flew it or not.

What did you think of the build. I am enjoying it. This is my first large scale plane, I have built about 6 others (well two are almost done) and am about 80% through the build of this one. I am getting more concerned about how I will finish it, learning how to fiberglass and paint - this is all new to me, but I think I will like it better than monokote.

Any idea what kind of engine went into the one you built?

It was fun because i had never built something that big. I never got to cover it. Fiberglass is what a lot of guys do them in. if you can glass and keep the weight down below 12 pounds i would personally go with a zenoah or a homelite 25 conversion. his was to have a Webra 120. this would be a perfect first gasser.

This is my first big one as well, I am really enjoying it, there are some challenges with the big planes, especially the one piece wing. My biggest problem is the size of my work shop, which is getting pretty crowded right now with 4 planes at various stages of building / finishing.

- 1/4 Chipmunk (principle build about 80% done)
- House of Balsa .25 Sized Texan (Build finished, also glassed, ready to cover the wing and paint)
- GP PT-40 (Build finished, need to finish covering the wing, decorate for my 6 year old son and put the electronic in.)
- Unionville Hobbies 81" Norseman (principle build about 65% done - still need to do one half of the wing, and the tail)

Then I have the rest of my fleet hanging around waiting to be charged up and flown:

-SIG MK II
-GP PT-40 (my original trainer that is pretty beat up and needs some love)
-No Name Trainer (purchased as part of a big lot of stuff I got from a guy getting out of the hobby)
-GP .40 Cub (currently hung up in my Son's room waiting for electronics and motor to be put in.)
-GP .40 F4AU Corsair (also hung up in my Son's room waiting for electronics, motor and me to be shake off the fear of doing a maiden flight of my favorite build)
-Screwdriver Electric - (waiting to be repaired and flight ready)

Man that is a lot of aircraft I own, how will I ever get my wife to let me buy the 4* .60 I want to build next?

my wife griped the other day about a plane i bought the eflite cap bp. i just buy them and not say anything about it.

Hi Manks

I have build and flowen a Dynaflite Chipmunk for the last 4 sesons. It a very nice and predictable plane to fly. You have, in my opinion, chosen the right
model for a start with big birds. My Chipmunk is powered with a OS160FX with a incowl Aviation alloyed pitts muffler, whith gives more than enough power. Don't spare the oleo legs from Robart. They are not cheap, but will help you to make the nicest landing! My model ended at 8 kg. with fiberglass, 2k paint on the fuse and folie on the wings.

Peter,

What a nice looking plane you have!

I can only hope mine turns out as good. So far I have just about finished the wing, that will get done tonight, when I finish up the centre section and do a good rough sanding job.

I got very lucky with this plane, I purchased from a very nice lady who's husband passed away, I paid $100 CDN (about $80 US) for a whole bunch of stuff:

- Chipmunk Kit
- .61 OS Motor
- Small Electric Plane
- a host of small accessories
- building tools

Generally all kinds of stuff, I think the lady liked me because I told her how much I like to build, and fly with my 6 year old son. Everyone who has one of these planes tells me how great they are to fly so I am pretty excited about it. I am still a long way from being able to fly this plane, but it will soon be built and that means I have to get moving on my flying skills.

I am thinking about going with a gas engine because of the cost of glow fuel, what are your thoughts, does the 1.6 really burn that much fuel?

Manks,

That a cheap buy! I don't understand why Dynaflight stopped producing this kit when every buddy is talking so nice about it. The reason is probably that the mainstream is to buy ARF instead of building kits - Unfortunately in my opinion!

I have build my wings in two half, which is not acording to the plans but much easyer for transportation. The two half is aligned with a 20 mm carbonfiber tupe. Because of the V-shape of the wings I could not make it with larger diameter if I wanted the make it through the first 3 ribs from the center.

I do understand why you want to build it with a gasoline engine instead - The OS160FX is a very reliable engine, but it uses almost half a liter of fuel in a 10-12 minuts flight. Most of the lubricating oil in the fuel must be wiped away from the plane after flying. After the Chipmunk projekt I have build a 2m Funtana with a ZDZ40, 33% Ultimate with a DA50 and this winthers (and next winther to!) projekt is a 47% Pitts S1S with a 3W 150B2 boxer - My conclusion is, that if the plane is belowe 2 m - No doubt, go for the gasoline engine. A clubmember in my flyingclub is building the Dynaflite Chipmunk at the moment and he had bought a ZG26 gasoline engine for it. The problem could be to get enough pace to a gasoline muffler inside the cowling. The cowling is very narrow and it is not possible to make any room for a mufller inside the fuselage.

I had some fun yesterday. I went down to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. They have two Chipmunks there, and I wanted to take a few photos, and get a close look for scale details.

Well I will tell you that the museum is amaizing, you don't get close the the plane, you get right up next to them, close enough to see th sitching on the fabric covering! I had my son standing on the wing of a T-6 Texan (Canadian version known as the Harvard). One of the Chipmunks had the cowl off of the motor, so you could see everything, up close. Most of these planes are flyers and during the winter people are working on them. The big Lancaster bomber had one engine off and the other three stripped down for work, it was really amaizing to get so close to so many planes.

Included in the colection are: Spitfire, Sea Fury, Lancaster, B-25 Mitchell, Tiger Moth, DC-3, Vampire, Voo-Doo, CF 104 Starfighter and tons of other stuff. If you are ever in the area, it is more than worth the $10 admission! If you look at the picture of my son on the wing of the Harvard / Texan, you can see the Lancaster in the background. That is one very big, very impressive bird. It is one of only 2 Lancs that still fly. You can buy a ride in it for $2,000. It is one big beautiful bird.

Cheers!

manks

Well I am now working on the flaps and Ailerons. The left side is done, on to the right side tonight, once that is done all that is left in the construction phase is finishing sheeting the fuse, while complicated to a degree, it should not take that much time.

In going over what is left it has become clear that I am missing a few parts, most importantly, I am missing the tail wheel bracket and assembly, I have had to special order that from the LHS.

I also am thinking through ordering scale landing gear from Robart, I am not sure how I will need to retrofit the wing to accomodate the Robart gear, any suggestions?

Looks great! I changed over from CYA to titebond too... and haven't looked back.

ha ha thought the airplane photo was a photoshopped when i saw the engine almost looks like OS's Inline 4 cylinder engine. post some more pictures of your progress.

No photoshop there, that is a flying DCH-1 Chipmunk with the Cowl off. I am guessing that they were working on it earlier in the day. There were a bunch of planes there with the engines exposed, including the Lancaster (that you can see in the background). They were also working on the PBY (also in the background).

I will try to take a couple of shots today, the wing is done now - working on the control surfaces for the right side, then on to finish sheeting the fuse! Getting close now!!!

Here are some photos I just took today.

I have put all of the pieces together as a rough fit, tacking them with pins when needed. I think you can see that it is almost a plane now.

AS you can see from the photos there is still lots of work to be done, sanding will take some time. The red on the fuse and wing is automotive glazing putty (Bondo) that will be sanded down. I am using it as a spot filler.

What do you think, is it a real plane yet???

manks

looks good man isnt that a big wing or what. it still wowed me when i was building it.

The biggest problem with this build is the size of the wing, not so much building it, but moving it around, what a pain!

Other than that it has not been as difficult a build as I figured it would be, there is a lot of sanding and shaping, and the sheeting on the rear of the fuse will not be fun, but overall the build is great, and I am really proud of how it looks. I can't wait to sheet the fuse and get it glassed, then it will really look good!

My only problem right now is the tail wheel, there was not one in the kit and I had to special order it from my LHS, not sure how long that will take. If I have to wait too long I guess I can move on to my next project (an 83" Norseman) in the interim.

manks

I was back to building board last night, just getting the right side control surfaces done for the wing. I will get that finished today, then get on to finishing sheeting the fuse.

I am still waiting on getting the tail wheel assembly from my LHS. I think I can get the build finished with about 10 more building hours once I get the part I need.

I don't know what I will do with myself once this is done, I guess that I can start to get my fleet "flight ready" for the spring, that wil take a bit more time, getting all of my engines cleaned up fixing all of the set ups for my three flyers.

Building this weekend has been very good. All control surfaces are done, the wing is now fitted into the fuse and has been mounted, it took a bit of sanding to make it fit right, but so far so good.

I have just put the fiberglass on the middle of the wing, and epoxied it, that should be dry to tomorrow, but I may just let it sit for a few days to fully cure. The only things to do to the wing now are:

Mount the control surfaces - 1 hour
Install the servos and wiring - this is not a problem as the wings are all open bay, I will have to fish a bit of wiring through the wing, but it is not a big deal to do at all. - 1 hour
Build the bulkhead so it fits flush with the fuse at the front - 1 hour
Mount the main gear. 30 min.
Final Sanding - ! hour.

There is still lots to be done on the fuse, mostly sheeting and some slight framing for the rear fuse sheeting, then mounting all of the electronics, motor, gas tank ect. I am still a long way from that. My plan is to have the construction done by the end of March and have the fuse glassed, ready for paint. I am holding off on the electronics and motor because of cost right now. I want to use good stuff and shelling out $800 for a plane I am not yet ready (from a skill standpoint) to fly does not make sense. I will buy the wing servos and wiring shortly, but that is only because I want to cover and paint the plane in the mid-spring.

It has been almost a month since I last posted on this thread, and there has been very little done to the build since then. I hit a snag in late February, the tail wheel assembly was not in the kit, as it should have been, this is a danger when you buy a previously opened kit - not that I am upset about it the widow of the original owner was a very nice lady who would not have known what really was to be included and what was not.

I ordered the part from my LHS about three weeks ago, it was a "special order" of a non stock part, so it takes a bit longer, but 3 weeks is a long time! Went to the shop today and talked to the owner, he will be checking with Great Planes this week on the order and trying to get it rushed to me.

There is not much left for me to da at this point, all that is left is sheeting the back half of the fuse, but cant do that until I have the tail week mounted, it is a bit frustrating, but what can you do.

The past month has allowed me to finally finish two of my other projects, a PT 40 and a nice little .20 Texan. The Texan is now hung up in my daughter's room and the PT 40 is now fully flight ready, waiting to be maidened.

I have also bench run a couple of motors, still having trouble getting a Magnum 40 going for some reason, not sure why.

As soon as I get back to building the Chipmunk I will post again.

Manks

Six weeks now and counting for a small part from GP - this is driving me crazy! The LHS promised me they would get it in this week. I need to get building again, over the last few weeks I have got three planes into flying conditions for the season, and fixed four engines that are now ready to run, but I need to get working with glue again!

There is not much left for me to build right now, only sheeting the rear of the fuse, but I am waiting on the tail wheel, because I need to get that in place before I sheet it in.

UGHHHHH!

My building has been suspended for the summer flying season, but the plane is in very good shape right now. All major parts have been built and sanded down. The sheeting on the tail of the fuse turned out very well. I spent some time building the skins, then softened them with water and placed them on the fuse with elastics to mold, it turned out really well. The skins molded very well and then glueing them on was pretty easy. Filling in the gaps was a bit more of a problem, I used microballoons and epoxy, then sanded again, then I used bondo to smooth it out. There are still a few high and low spots but it is generally pretty good, only a bit more work until I am ready to start fiberglassing.

I have also bought my engine for the plane, a Ryobi 31cc Gas Conversion (already done). I am a bit concerned that it may not be enough for the 18 lb plane, I would like peoples thoughts on that topic. I understand that a G-26 is a very good engine for the plane, and did read a review that a Ryobi 31 was used and it flew fine, so I think it was worth the risk of buying the motor.

I have determined that the Chipmunk will be glassed, covered and painted in time for my Clubs Srping Beauty contest, maybe even by the end of the Christmas Holiday so I can start building a 4* .60 fitted with a 91 4 stroke!

Happy Flying everyone, thanks for reading my update!

Manks,

I have the same plane, I have a Saito 120 in mine. Normally, I fly around at 1/2 throttle, I can normally do most aerobatic maneuvers at that throttle setting. Great flying plane, you'll love it.

Btw, I'll send you a PM for an alternative to CA and plain old yellow glue.

Chris

Got your message, thanks. I am going to put a 31cc Ryobi Conversion engine in the plane, do you think that will be enough??? I was thinking about going with a glow engine, but the fuel is so expensive and the gasser will cost much less to operate. My concern is that it will not have enough power to fly the 16 lb airplane.

manks

I think it will be plenty.

I had a Brian Taylor Typhoon, it was 4 lbs over weight (17 lbs) with a GCBM 25cc converted Homelite, on it's last flight it was flying beautifully at about 65-70 mph.

I think, like me, you'll be throttling back. I went with the Saito because, even though the fuel is more expensive its not as stinky as gasoline.

Chris

I dug up an old product review where the guy used the Ryobi 31cc motor and it had more than enough power, so I am feeling better!

The only problem may be the size of the engine mount, it is a bit too big for the firewall that comes with the plane, so I will have to do a bit of a modification.

Pics will be added when I get the motor (early next week!)