Your covering job looks excellent. I hear ya on the aluminum. Still working a Pup and decided to use aluminum and dull it down with some 400 then 600 grit sandpaper. I think between that and some natural weathering, it will look fine in no time flat.

Looking good Ted!

I'm a little bummed today. My brass idea won't work on complex curves like the cowl and the cowl cheeks, so I'm back to the drawing board as far as I want to do on the front end. I think I have 2 options left. Cut down an aluminum pot for the cowl and use the SR Batteries aluminum tape for the rest, or just use paint.

From what I have read this plane will end up tail heavy but what I haven't planned for at this point was a heavy cowl. By the time I add the additional weight of the aluminum pot and whatever tri-stock needed for reinforcement, the weight is gonna start adding up.

Hey is this the 80in version? What color is the covering and is it a material look to it? I have one on hold and will be back at it soon. I have to put in a couple bell cranks and a pull pull set up with servos before I start covering. Thanks Dave

Dave. Yes, it's the 80" BUSA and the color is antique. And yes, it has the material look to it. Trust me, try Solartex!

Here's some inspiration for you.

Cool Thanks Gary. Subscribed to your build.

Gary is it heat activated or do you have to use a brshon adhesive. Also how many meters did it take to cover your model 5 or 10. Thanks dave

Its heat activated just like the plastic suff and also has the adhesive on the back. I bought the 10 meter roll and will probably end using it all.

Hope mine comes out half as good. Is that the SR Battery kit?

Thanks Gary I thuogh I might need the whole roll.

Before I started this build, I already knew this was not a true to scale kit and was not sure where I wanted to go with it. After awhile I thought of building it not as a WWW1 plane, but as a civilian after war restoration. For that I may fore-go the usual Maltese Cross and I have no idea where to go from here. lol


All I really knew was that the usual front end in aluminum wasn't working for me. For 10 months I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate brass and copper into this build. This is what I have so far and I need to trim some weeds, but have added a little "Weathering" effect.

At first I wasn't going to add the wings flying wires but have since changed my mind. I think the color contrast will compliment the black 4-40 button head screws which I hope looks like rivets.

I like it. Its nice to go your own direction instead of being a follower. Mine I got from a buddie who come up with the idea of wraping ths cockpit with mahogany. he had some old brittle thin stuff so I not only wrapped the cockpit. I come up with the idea of having him cut a piece on the bandsaw to put a thin wrap around the top. I think it will look good when its cleared with satin or maybe gloss. I also made my own pins for the wing wires out of brass screws. heated the tops and peened them down then drilled holes.I added blocks and tapped them for the screws/pins I think instead of wire the black stuff I might use heavy maxima fishing line its brown

Looks good.  I don't think anyone will mistake it for an ARF.  It's going to be a one-of-a-kind and everyone will be asking you about it!  Good Stuff!

You have a pic of that?

The instructions mentioned something about the cockpit coping but I didn't receive it. I still need to address that. Stained mahogany around the cockpit would be sweet!

Thanks.

Yes, that is the SR. Not mine though. A friend from the field owns it.

Oh and my dash is mohogany. I think my buddie gave me a gauge or two to ad to it. I don't have it finished but I will post a pic tonight or tomorrow. Mine was partially put together when I traded my buddie for it. I soldered up the landing gear and the tower for the top for the cables. I have to wash up before I mess with it I been running some cox engines. messy lttle devils.

Here are some pics of my cockpit but they aint the best took with camcorder. Haad to do it in manual mode and turn the gain way up. also a couple of the landing gear wire soldered and painted. I think its proctor that sells a lot of stuff for the Eindecker. I might just by there stuff. They have the pulley's to do the wing warping, turnbuckles for the wires,little brass pins for the wings'gauges i believe it only had one gauge back in those days. Here is the link. If you havenot been on this site check out the museum scale eindecker it's mind blowing.
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[/ul][link]http://www.proctor-enterprises.com/[/link]

That gives me some ideas instead of the usual rubber or leather coping. And yes, I have been to the Proctor site, many, many times!

Well cockpit coping didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to, but it did come out looking "rough" as these planes weren't designed and built to be pretty. I just used balsa and used a combination of a walnut stain and flat black paint.

Next is figuring how to build the wing wire tri-mast and so far I haven't the slightest idea how do that.

Keep going Biff!

Are you talking about the mast infront of the cockpit. I just did mine to the plan.Bent the wire to blueprint then I strip some 12g 0r 14 g copper strand wire and use it to bind the pieces together then silver solder then wipe down with denatured alchol so it cleans it.

Yea but there isn't anything in the plan besides a couple of sticks and gluing thread to it. I plane on using fishing leader.

Mine had it in the plans. If I can find them I could trace you a copy of it and send it to you. Let me Know. Dave

I have been thinking for the last few days about how I want to do the wing wires and even about not using any at all and have decided that I will be using black nylon coated fishing leader and think I have the mast figured out. At least as material wise. Since I started this build I wanted it to be different from other builds and use as much brass and copper as I could.

(At work I recently restored what is called a Bell Prover that is used to test gas meters and it is 70 years old and made of all hand hammered, rolled and brazed brass and copper and I think it is a work or art!)

I happened upon some hexagonal brass tubing laying around and the following picture is somewhat representative of where I'm heading. At least at this point I'm thinking of bolting down the handmade mounting plates with the same screws as I did the brass front end. But since the wood beneath is too thin Ill most likely epoxy those little plates on the forward deck brass and then use solder around the edges for added strength and looks.

The way I see it is with the brass and the black screws, black wing wires will compliment the color contrast in a positive way if I use a brass mast compared to a wood or steel one.