[8D]Tx very much Oberst, now I see exactly what I must to do. Hopefully I arrived some moments ago from a airshow in Seville,
http://www.acro3d.com/public/phpbb3/...11834&start=30 , and all things came OK, so after a good cleaning of my yak 55M gasser, I plan to tear the monokote over the white bottom strips to change the Pattese cross to the balken kreuz to match the versión of the last Ritchtoffen´s airplane and do your reinforcement mods.
I just received a german pilot 1/5 scale bust of Ace of Iron to use on the DR-1, its very detailed but it must be painted, even that´s is no problem and also there is some fun on that; ( at least for us, I supose ). I love these pilots cause they´re very well detailed and light too. I used some mix of a WWII american bust pilot and another parts to do a full body on my last scale P-47 proyect e-conversion.
http://www.acro3d.com/public/phpbb3/...8920&start=330
Tx again for your inestimable support and share your experience my friend ¡¡¡

Manolo.

You're doing a great job on your P-47. Looks like you search around for different scraps around the house to make scale parts for your airplanes. Job well done Sir! I have to replace my airbrush with a better system. The last airbrush I had was terrible and the seals leaked. I'll try to replace it all before my next project. It looks as if you did plastic models once, or you still build them, because I noticed the techniques that you are using for your P-47 is about the same way I did my models when I used to compete.

The only thing I question that you did to your Fokker Dr1 is, you used canopy glue for some scale detail for your trim tape. How does it hold up when you have to re-hit it with the iron? Most stock covered ARF aircraft like to wrinkle because they never seem to put on the covering right at the factory. It's like they don't pull or stretch it enough before applying the heat. I have to hit all my airplanes once a year to tighten up everything just before the new flying season starts up again. If I ever had to copy your method would it hold up?

I think they sell scale trim tape in 1/3 and 1/4 scale. I saw it somewhere on the internet, but now I can't remember where I saw it.


Pete

Hi Pete, good evening; ( at least here on Southern Spain ).
Tx very much for your nice words about my P-47 e-conversion. As the model is electric and I have no problem with engine residues I had a wider offer at the finishing time than I have to seal it to hold well the exaust residues caused by internal combustion engines, and you´re absolutly righ about using many of plastic modelling techs for detailing and finishing on this flying wood monokote model, all time thinking in lightness and scale.
For the Dr-1 at the beginning I wished to peel off the monokote and use a fabric covering and paint, cause it is a lot more scale that iron films on a WWI warbird, but I don´t like the extra weigh that the model could gained compared with monokote or oracover. Also I love your job of ribs reinforcement on the model with theses strips of covering over the plain landscape, so excuse me, but I copied your neat idea; ( as plan to do on others of your own, cause I liked very much your aproach to the representation of the fine details on this model ).
As said my idea is to use the strips lines for the rib streching and also show the sewing of the covering to the airframe. Usually this is very common on fabric covered models of that time on the early days, but I never saw or know how ribs streching and their caracteristic bulges of the sewing could be represented on the plastic covering. So I used a tech that I had done on others models and is to show them with little rectangulars dots of RC-56 glue. On others models I used the dots of RC-56 over the monokote mixed or painted once dried with silver paint for example to show rivets or little ex screws.
The idea is to go before on all the covered areas of the model with a good iron time with both the irons, the trim iron and the regular one, and also use some cloth to push down the film when the heat is still high and just be sure that the covering is ironed to all the inside wood on these ARF models.
Clean the model very well with rubbing alcohol and then I does the rivets or so with the canopy glue. Once dried i paint them and use a finish coat of brigh or matte barnish to protect them. After that you can clean the airplane as usual with no problems. I´m using this tech over glow and gasoline engines during years and no problem.
As you said, you must be very carefully for the wrinkles or repairs. You know that it doesn matter that you don´t like but you must live from time to time with wrinkles, so I always try to keep my models on the shade on summer time and not too much time on a closed car during that kind of hot weather. If the wrinkles happens, and that is inevitable many times, I just have a iron sesion with the irons, no heat gun at all, and reseal again very carefully the wrinkle area, using the little one on the rivets area and trying no to touch the simulated rivets, just keeping the point of the trim iron around and the own heat of the iron will tensile also the little area of the covering below the rivet, that is all.
On our DR-1 my idea is to use this tech of the rc-56 glue on a different aproach to show the sewing of the rib streching, instead of rounded dots of glue, it is aplicated with a paint brush on a rectangular pattern and use some tack tape that after the aplication are removed to keep the glue rectangular.... When all the ribs sewing bulges will be done, my idea is to paint with the same colour of the background or a little lighter and seal them with sintetic barnish...
Here is some links how I used this tech on my Yak55 M gasser with a DLE 55 and others models like the Extra 300 of Carl Goldberg
.
http://www.acro3d.com/public/phpbb3/...6640&start=360
http://www.acro3d.com/public/phpbb3/...6640&start=390
Sorry for these blogs is in spanish, but if you want to deep more on these finish tech and others like show pannels an so over film, you can use the google translator tool, and also ask me whatever you wish.

Well Pete, I tried to explain the best that I can done, and excuse for my english. Please feel free to ask all that you wish as I do with you. It is a truly pleasure to share our experience with you and all the kindly readers. Always I try to learn things that I doesn´t known and also show and explain to others my aproach to these things and share bettwen all to do of our hobby a more enjoyment experience.Please, feel free to call me just Manolo, cause I´m just feel like your flying buddy....

Tx. again for all.
Manolo.

[8D] Hi Pete, good evening.
I just posted the reinforcement work of the lower wing according with yours instructions.
http://www.acro3d.com/public/phpbb3/...11865&start=15
Tx again for your help and support on this project.
Manolo.

Looks fantastic Manolo! You did it right. Now you don't have to worry about snapping off the bottom wing incase your wing tip catches on the grass or pavement. My wife and I put what you wrote in a web translator and I thank you for the kind words.

I used to cut my strips or trim tape by hand like you are doing. It works well but then a friend of mine suggested that I purchase a SmartStripe by GreatPlanes:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...P?I=LXHZ33&P=8

I bought one and gave it a try and I was highly impressed how it worked! The only draw back is you have to keep replacing your #11 X-acto blades in it. It's good for cutting 4-6 strips of trim tape before you need to replace the blade with a new one. What happens is the blade starts to become dull, then the strips become jagged edged. Not good, so I'll cut about 5 strips of Mono, Ultra or Solartex then I'll replace the blade with a new one just to be safe.

I used the SmartStripe for cutting the Solartex strips and it cut (pardon the pun) my time in half. Also it cut my strips in perfect width measurements every time. Just thought I'd give you a tip that might make your work a little easier, give it a try one day and let me know what you think. Again I'll keep peeking at your GreatPlanes Fokker DR1 build and if you have any more question feel free to ask.

Keep an eye on the stock landing gear when you fly your plane. It has been reported to be a little weak and the solder tends to break making the landing gear wing swing freely in the breeze. (Not Good) Mine was broken when I bought mine and instead of repairing and using the same old stock landing gear, I bought this:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=HAN4685

I had to modify a few things to make it fit, but it's longer than the stock gear and all I had to do is widen the landing gear grooves in the fuse, and drill the holes so the Hanger 9 gear would fit in place. I had to bend the wire a little in a vice, but it worked out OK. On my maiden flight the landing was a little rough and it held up even though I snapped a few rubber O-rings, but that saved my axle from becoming bent which is a good thing IMO.

The stock landing gear doesn't have a very good shock system, that's why I think GreatPlanes had redesigned the landing gear after the complaints started to pour in, but even after they upgraded the landing gear, it wasn't enough in my opinion. What I like about the Hanger 9 legs are they have a bungee style shock absorber system that is very helpfull for those bad landings. You can either use the rubber o-rings (That can be purchased at Horizon Hobby)or use cloth hair ties like the ones that women use for their hair.

Last but not least most important thing I must add, don't use CA hinges for your rudder! GreatPlanes failed to do a reprint of the directions or do a Tech Notice! Many people have followed the directions and used CA hinges only to find that they had a major flutter problem in the rudder. It became worse when they flew the Fokker at high speed! Reports came in that people started losing their rudders resulting in a crash! Matter in fact Sport_Pilot wrote about it in my build thread:


So please, the best tip I can give anyone building this aircraft- I ask that everyone uses 3 Standard Dubro Nylon Hinges instead of CA hinges for the rudder.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD941

Take care Manolo, I hope you can have someone film your maiden. I'll be silently cheering you on- but since I am superstitious, I don't dare wish you anything even though I want to. I hope that made sense?


Pete

[8D]Hi Peter, good evenings, ( at least here in Southern Spain ).
I must again give you my thanks for your experienced help and support on this model. I just did a order to TowerHobbies for the TopFlite SmartStripe and the Dubro Hinges for the rudder. Maybe when the order will be at home perhaps almost the triming I hope that will be done, but it doesn´t matter cause for sure it will be used on others future projects. I went to my local hobby shop and find only the woodpeccker and I used to prepare the lower wing surface to iron the Balcan Kreuzs. As you said it helps a lot in less time to do all these pinholes, but anyway I continued also using the pin near the perimeter cause I feel yet more precision on these areas near the edges.
The only and real problem to follow your recomendations is find here in Spain the replacement Hangar 9 landing gear. In Madrid there is some hobbyshops that sell Hangar 9 models and I called them asking for the DVII landing gear but they do not have and said they doesn´t know when they will have. I just tried order myself to Horizon models by their website but it is not possible order outside U.S., or at least I don´t know how..[]
Anyway I just cheked my DR1 landing gear and it was an addendum sheet on the instructions explained that my gear it was the last one improved version, so, on this I got some lucky.
I just finished by now the lower wing. It needs yet some work and more detailing like the skids, painting the ribs stich on the uppersurfase and barnishing, but I preffer do all these things when all the three wing will be detailed.
Well Pete, that is all by now. God bless you and your family, my friend and TX very much again for all your help and share with us that artwork that you did with your DR1.
Manolo.

Manolo, I thank you for the kind words and I wish you and your family best wishes as well.

You can get the Hanger 9 Fokker DVII landing gear here: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...vii-60-HAN4685 If you type in Hanger 9 Fokker DVII 60 Landing Gear Legs HAN4685 in your browser, I'm sure it will pop up in Spain. I know it can be a pain to order from accross the pond, usually the wait can be long. It's one of my defects of character, I hate waiting if I don't have to! LOL!

I'd use your stock landing gear until- or when it breaks. I had the upgraded landing gear originally on mine and it still broke after a few bad landings, so keep an eye on it. If it doesn't break than I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you later on want to rebuild this fine aircraft and your stock landing gear legs are broken, then with a little modification the Hanger 9 legs will work, and the plane will sit a little higher improving the scale.

It's too bad that Greatplanes doesn't make parts for this airplane. I still pester them to come back with this plane with a new improved version- but I feel they don't like to listen to us unless it becomes a majority request. I had Polls here at RCU and not many want to see this plane come back, I guess it's because it's not a easy plane to land and the ground handling is terrible on the grass. But that was the case even for the full scale, and I think Greatplanes did a fantastic job in it's creation dispite the landing gear and the directions stating to use CA hinges for the rudder.

Yes at times I do use a needle by hand in tight areas, but I use the Woodpecker in wider areas. Be careful using the Woodpecker, it's so sharp I've stabbed myself a few times. I try to keep the plastic bubble wrap around the sharp roller, and I keep it in the box for storage. I think you'll love the Smartstripe, I was so impressed I took mine to the field and did a couple of sample stripes in front of the club and they thought it was very interesting. Every strip came out perfect! Just remember to change the blade out after making 4-6 stripes, the X-acto blades don't hold up very long. No big deal, the blades are cheap in America, I'm sure they are in Spain and many stores do sell them.

Take care my friend, my wife and I look forward to seeing it fly! I got my Fokker Dr1 back together and it's sitting on my table. Every time I walk to the kitchen in my house I have to walk by it and I don't ever get tired of looking at it. It is a sight for sore eyes- especially when I see snow outside in the window behind it.

I just took these pictures at the time I wrote this:
Pete

FYI guys, there is a nib Great Planes Fokker DR1 on RCG for $275 if anyone is looking for a nice build/flyer! Discontinued, rare fine nib. Not mine, someone in CA.

It's amazing but yes they do pop up here and there on the internet new in the box or for sale used. Parts are impossible to find now so it seems, I'd love to have the plastic dummy engine that came with the ARF- I can't find it anywhere and I sure could use it so I can say for sure that I'm finally finished with this plane.


Pete

Wow, I was just at ebay and won the bid on a O.S. 91FS II Surpass for $130.00 for my future funaero Albatros when I came accross this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARF-FOKKER-D...98876146388805


Someone better get it before I do! It's missing some parts but it can be saved and made into a nice project. JMHO


Pete

I just bought one of these last week. It's all built and came with everything except the transmitter and crystal for the receiver. It has an OS .70 surpass/ 4 stroke which was all gummed up from sitting, which I have since freed up and have had it running. I have a concern about the landing gear wing. The axel it is attached to rides through the ends of the gear legs and is free turning, which allows the landing gear wing to go up/down/ wherever. I guess I should wrap the attachement point with copper wire and solder the thing solid. My question is what incedience should the landing gear wing be set and for that matter what about the other flying surfaces and the engine incedience and off sets.

Thanks,
Bill

Hello Bill,

What I did because my landing gear was all busted up originally was to replace the stock landing gear with a Hanger 9 60 Fokker DVII gear. I had to do a little bending to get it to fit right and had to modify the bottom of the fuselage a little to make it work, but with a tug here and a push there with a little digging and drilling I made it work. Plus, it was a little longer in length giving it a better scale apperance.

When I modified the landing gear wing to fit with the new landing gear, I got it the same angle the other 3 wings had. I used the bottom wing as a guide and did it by line of site. Another way you could do it is flip the plane on its back with the bottom wing attached, get a small level with a float bubble and put it on the flat part of the bottom wing. Once you have it perfectly level, move the level and put the landing gear wing on, or just adjust the wing and put the level on the bottom landing gear wing. Mark it, and re-check until the bottom wing and landing gear wing are both level.

Because I did it by line of site I was very close. I more went by drawings sitting on the ground to get that near perfect angle. Even though I might have been a tad off, she flies well for a Fokker Dr1. Touchy, climbs like a monkey and wants to bite its own arse when I kick the rudder with my thumb to the right- doing a flat turn. In my maiden video you can see me doing that manouver.

Another thing you could do is after making your marks, is remove the wing and gear, clean all the paint around the wire and re-wire and solder where it broke. The only problem with that is it could break again. GreatPlanes re-made or re-designed the landing gear when the second addition came out. Sure it was a little better, but they didn't use a thicker gauged wire resulting in a still flimsy landing gear.

Just a note:

Take a peak at the rudder where it joins in the fuselage. In the directions they say to use CA hinges for the rudder. DON'T! Make sure you have the Dubro Nylon Hinges and use epoxy to attach them in the rudder and fuselage, I used 3 vertically one on top of the other. The reason is because the CA hinges can't take the stress after a while, resulting in rudder flutter. When that starts to happen it's been known to have the rudder completely tear out the hinges causing the plane to crash.

GreatPlanes never did make that design correction in the manual. They should have, I've had more than one tell me that it happened to them. I'm one of those who gets real angry with a company when any of my planes crash because of a stupid design flaw. I think that's one of the reasons why they pulled the plug on this ARF. Too many complaints on top of production costs, but- that is only my opinion and not fact.

Back to the subject- it's not good that your landing gear wing is swinging in the breeze. I've seen people fly the DR1 having it do that, but if it gets hung up at a funky angle, it will affect flight preformance and will make the plane a little more unstable and could cause it to crash.

From experience I hate a plane that flies good one minute, then changes the next throwing me off. I had a cheap servo reverser in my Extra 260 for the elevator and the vibration threw the servo off a few times resulting instability causing me to kiss the dirt eventually.

I hope I helped, and gave you a few ideas. Congrats on your nice find! You have a very good engine there, I was lucky to get a good engine with mine. All I needed to do is get a new carb and new allen tappets on the rocker arms so I could adjust the valves. The old ones were stripped and I couldn't get the allen key to work anymore. After making those changes my 1983 O.S. 120FS ( Before Surpass) The one that looks like a Saito, ran like it was new again! But I had a different engine for this bird and I took the old 120 out for the newer O.S. 91FX-Ringed.

Pete

Hey Pete,

Thanks for taking the time to give me all of those great suggestions. Funny you should mention the Hanger 9 D-VII as I'm am working on one of those as well. I can pop the gear off of that one and check it out, right now I'm installing an OS .90 4 stroke in the D-VII and all I can say is H9 should be shot for not having quality controll catch the ill fitting glass cowl! I sure wish I had a Saito .82 to power it with, that's what was in it. The DR1 I got only had 1 flight on it and was then a hanger queen, the D-VII had about 15 flights on it.

Thanks,
Bill

LOL! I can't tell you how many people suggested that I make my Dr1 a hanger queen, Bill. A friend of mine is begging me to do so, but I can't. It's such a hit at the club and at shows if it's a very very good day then I'll fly it. In the State of NY where I live, having no winds is very rare. So in other words I only fly her only on special occasions.

My Hanger 9 Fokker DVII I had for 4 years and she looks the same when I just finished building her. I too had a problem with the cowl fitting, but with a little heat from a hair dryer and by not giving up I finally won the battle.

When I first completed the DVII I had installed a Evolution .61NX in it, but after 2 years of having cooling issues- then loosing a prop in flight, I killed my engine. I'll not ever buy a Evolution 2 stroke glow ever again. I did hear that the new Evolution Radial Engines are fantastic. They are made from a different company under the same Evolution banner.

So after that happened to me I switched the engine over to a O.S. 61FX and I haven't had any problems of any kind. It flies scale but the only problem I now face is when I pick a mock dogfight against a 1/4 or 1/5 scale Allied WWI plane, most of them have a more powerful engine installed. Here I am flying scale, and they out run and out climb me every time. [:@] Dem B@st@rds!

But that's OK, Hanger 9 based their model on a early D7, not the later DVIIF. If I were to re-model the plane then I'd have a 91FX or equivalent in it after first modifying the cowl. Now if I were to take the Dr1 out into a fight, look out! That O.S. 91FX is powerful and I could go toe to toe with any 120FS that's out on the market. In my maiden video you can see how she leapt in the air even at 5lbs over weight!

Don't forget if you choose to buy another Hanger 9 DVII legs, your going to have to do a little bending so the GP landing gear wing will sit tight on the inside. If you don't then you might have to add spacers and use longer screws to go in the landing gear wing. I also had to hollow out the GP landing gear wing with a very long industrial drill bit, so the steel axle rod would fit through (without any resistance) when I moved the axle up and down once the wing was screwed in place. You might have to strip the Mono covering of the landing gear leg, assemble everything then re-cover to make sure you line up everything to make it work. That way if you make a mistake, you can fix it, make sure your screw holes line up etc.

That's what I did, if you know of a easier route go for it. Let me know how you made out no matter what you decide to do and send me a picture if you have the time. If you run into a problem don't be afraid to chime in, I'll be here for you. One thing I learned is that Fokker Dr1 comradery is second to none no matter if it's a kit, scratch built or ARF. Not everyone can handle a semi-scale Fokker DR1 IMHO. The only plane I can think of that would be harder to fly is the GeeBee R1. I would have to say a few "Hail Marys" before I flew one of those.

The OS .90fs is a fantastic engine and will work fine for your D7. Is it a before surpass if I remember right? Geez they date back to the 70's through the 80's! It's equivalent to a 60ts. I think the Saito 82 would be a good choice as well. Not sure it would have the same power as your older but goodie O.S. engine, but it will work. I love O.S. and Saito, and I really like the older classic engines. I also enjoy rebuilding them when the time comes. It's like another hobby all by itself!

Pete

Hey Pete,

Thanks once again for taking the time to help. I have an Evolution .61 NX and thought about using it, a so called friend of mine traded it to me for a K&B .61, said he needed a lighter engine for his plane. I haven't used the engine yet, but I have read about people having issues with this engine. The other reason for not using it is the need for the special muffler they sell to fit inside of the cowl on the D-VII, I'm sure it cost a few bucks. Since you are using the OS .61 FX what are you using for a muffler, I have a couple of those engines in stock, good runners. Your right about the age of the OS .90, I just checked on the one I have N.I.B. that I bought in 1984 from Indy R/C. I couldn't find the paper work on the .90, but I was buying one of each size 4 stroke OS made back then. I have the sales slip for the OS .120 dated Sept. 15,1984, price $165.00 + $6.50 shipping, $2.50 handling, $1.65 COD, for a total of $175.65 and the sales slip for the OS 61 dated Dec.11, 1984 was $119.95 + $2.50 handling, $1.65 COD for a total of $124.10, this one didn't have shipping because it was back ordered. I also bought an OS .40 4 stroke from them, but that's the only one out of the 4 that I ever used, I built a Nick Ziroli Eindecker and used the OS .40 in it. The 1.20, .90, and .61 are still in there boxes. The Eindecker is waiting to fly again, last flown about 25 years ago!

Bill

Yes Bill, the in-cowl bolt pattern is the the same for both Evolution .61NX-NT, O.S. 61FX and O.S. 91FX. However, they discontinued the Evolution In-Cowl Muffler at the same time they discontinued the Fokker DVII. You might find one at E-bay or RCU Market place once in a while and might find one at a swap meet. I think Bisson also makes a 60-90 in-cowl upright? That might work.

So your better off not using any of your .60-.61 2-strokes in my opinion unless you use another muffler, you might have to do a little modification to make it work if you use any other muffler of that type that isn't stock made for the 60 Hanger 9 Fokker DVII. (ie Evolution In Cowl Muffler)

Most people used the 4-strokes for theirs anyway. Just a handful including myself stuck to the recommended Evolution.61NX engine. Some switched to O.S. after I did and noticed a big difference. The O.S. is a little heavier, more powerful and runs cooler in any in cowl situation, plus their life expectancy is longer.

Evolutions are built cheap and don't last very long. Me personally I don't like the needle design or set up. I guess I'm spoiled by O.S. and Saito. I've had nothing but problems with Evolution and I had 3 of them, so I feel I'm entitled to express my opinion about them. I owned a 46NT, a .46NX and the 61NT. I made key chains out of the pistons and chucked the rest of the engines in the trash. I had nothing but fuel leaks, the low end needle wouldn't stay put and I had gasket air leaks. One over heated and all didn't have the kind of power O.S. does of the same size. It's true in my opinion, that we get what we pay for. Besides, I don't believe in putting a cheap engine in a expensive plane anymore- to me it's just plain common sense.

If you want to do some light reading on the 60 Hanger 9 Fokker DVII I linked you the build thread. The thread is very insightful, and we not only talk about the problems we had with this ARF, but what we did to correct it. We also show how to do a few details to enhance the model for flight and appearance.

My avitar when I joined the build thread was "Luftwaffe Oberst" then later on I changed it to "Oberst." We wrote about the issue with the Evolution Engine and what we did to modify a few things here and there.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_70..._1/key_/tm.htm

Wow, your engine is as old as my 1983 O.S. FS120- Before Surpass! (looks like a Saito) I took my 120 to my club meeting to show that I rebuilt the engine. Only a few "Ol-timers" knew what the engine was. One guy (A Korea War Vet) came up to me and he said he had 4 of them!

I told him to keep them because they go for up to $250.00 used on E-bay. I looked up my O.S. FS91 Surpass II, usually they go up to $350.00-$400.00 new in the box. ( If you can find one)

Used like new $200.00-$250.00. I bought mine for $150.00 from a E-bay Quikdrop from Florida. I noticed that the high end needle was taken out and the spring bent, the owner didn't say why- but he did however tell the store that it runs. I'll go through everything and make sure she has good compression, I'll check the valves, rocker arms and check for carb barrel play etc. All parts except for the casing is still on the market at Tower Hobbies, so I'm figuring it's still a very popular engine. Not sure what year it was introduced, and when it was discontinued, I'll have to look that up.

The questions I have is when do we stop using the classic engines? When we can no longer get any stock or cross reference parts? Or when a carb or parts becomes $100 or over to replace? Those question has not been answered yet, and probably won't.

I've rebuilt glow engines before, but kind of new to collecting them. There's a nostalgia about the hobby when we hold a classic or antique engine in our hands. I start thinking about its rich history, and how many owners had the engine before me etc. I caught the bug!

I know, I'm a little weird- I can't help it.

Pete

Hey Pete,

I intsalled the OS. FS-90 in the D-VII last night. I was able to use the port side mounting holes for the mount when viewed from sitting in the cockpit. Then I knocked out the 2 remaining blind nuts and filled the holes with dowel stubs. I mounted the engine on the
H-9 supplied mount set the engine and mount on the bench top and measured 4 7/8" to the thrust washer and secured the engine to the mount. I then bolted the whole thing to the port side blind nuts and was then able to mark the hole centers for the right side mount. I had to remove the fuel tank,(17 oz. ounce......whew that's a big tank!!!), and will have to recess it futher back from the firewall. With the OS. F-90 the valve train is to the rear of the engine, which pushes the carb futher back and this caused clearance problems for the tank set-up, the lower gear case was right up against the fuel lines and copper tubeing from the tank. I have some clear blue hi-temp (I hope...) tubeing that fits the FS- 90's exhaust elbo that I was able to run inside the fuse between the engine mount and the fuse side down and out the botton and snake it through the landing gear legs. I hope the tubeing is hi-temp because this solves the exhaust problem and it doesn't look half bad. I also installed the radio gear, still have to check the servo end points to set the proper amount of deflection on the flying serfaces, the throttle is all set. Computer radios are great........... When I think back to the standard radio systems and having to mess with the linkages for the servo travel end points and moving the servo arms from side to side to get the serface moving in the right direction................ and on and on......... My 1st. radio was a 5 channel Heath Kit which I built back in the 70's, I think I paid over $200.00 and I still had to build it!!! If all goes well I hope to get the tank installed today and set everything up and weather permitting may try running the engine. Sorry if I got off the DR-1 subject, but what the heck, D-VII, D-R1........IT'S
ALL GOOD!!!!

Bill
P.S. Pete thanks again for all the info and I will check the thread on the D-VII.

Right on Brother, that's how I look at it. I wasn't always tight on the subject either so don't worry about it, I'm here to help and learn a few things myself.

Keep the wings level!

Pete

The FS 70 may pull the DR1 scale since it has gobs of lift, but I elected to go with a Saito 91 (plenty of extra power). One of our members has one also with a Saito 82 installed and it flys it well also. You can never have too much power . I angled my landing gear wing more than the bottom wing after the intial flight because the DR1 tended to baloon on me a bit. It settled down after making that change. Good luck, and post some photos of your DR1 and DVII when you get a chance. They are both sweet birds!

I agree. Your not kidding when you metioned that our GP Dr1 has "gobs of lift " and let me add, gobs of drag.

Bill, you do want to go with a bigger engine and I agree a .91 FS would be very good. My O.S. 91FX which is a 2-stroke is very powerful. But that's OK because not only I can swing a scale prop, (Camel Prop was 1" shorter than the Axial Propeller, and Jacobs liked the Clerget engine for its power) I get the wanted nose weight that I would get for having a bigger engine.

I just have to remember to cut the throttle back to 1/4-1/2 or she'll want to fly out of scale. It's just my opinion- the last owner of my Dr1 had the 1983 O.S.120FS (Before Surpass) in it (the engine I mention so often) and the engine was way too heavy for the stock landing gear. So far from what I read and from what others have told me that a 120 is way too big and heavy for the stock landing gear. I tend to agree. The stock landing gear that was on mine was bent and busted at the solder in 3 areas. I think I posted the picture on post #5?

F4U Corsair is very correct on engine size choices. With the GP Dr1 it's good to have power if we get in a jam, or botch a landing and need to get back in the air fast.

Pete

[8D]Hi Pete, good evening...., Things go very slowwwwwww[], not too much time for the hobby now, ( call of duty... ) but life is so. Now I can spend only a couple of hours three or four days weekly only, but hopefully continues, ....
Tx for all again ...
Manolo.

Hey, long time no see my friend!

You are slowly getting there. Don't forget, it took me a full year, but I worked on it almost every day. Some days it was only a few hours, and when I wasn't doing other things like on a Sunday- I worked on it all day not counting the hand full of days I did nothing waiting for the paint to completely dry, and waiting for the parts I ordered to come in to complete the project.


Take your time, it will be worth the wait and besides- less mistakes are made that way.


Pete

[8D]O.K. Pete, I must anyway to take my time. I got the smart stripe from Tower Hobbies and really it helped to save some time cutting the ribs stich tape, and so. Also got some Dubro hinges for the rudder, as you told me, but.... when I tried to order the Hangar 9 landing gear as yours, actually they send to Spain. The problem is the LG cost only 21.49 dollars, BUT shippings from US to here from H9 is 80 dollars ¡¡¡¡¡ only for that.[:@][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(]. Plus I must pay spanish taxes, ( 30 percent more...[:@]), so at least for now, that nice H9 landing gear is going to rest on the other side of the pond...
Today I did some painting detailing and adding some highlights to the rib stiching....
Please Pete, can you post some pics of your tail bracing. I think some photos were missing cause always that these page are uploaded I can´t see some of these photos...
Also, do you think that is possible to open a hatch between the landing gear braces, ( it should be scale to ), for the propulsion battery accces.. ?. My idea is to use a 6S 5.000 mah. TP battery; ( the same that now I´m using on the P-47 ).
Well Pete, TX, Tx and thousands Txs again for all your help and inspiration on that project.
Manolo.

Ok. For starters about the hatch idea, I don't think it's a good idea for glow or gas because the exhaust splash or residue will work its way into the hatch. Electric aircraft I do not do, nor am I a fan of them, (personal preference) so I can not give you a good answer. Maybe someone who converted this plane to electric can chime in to help you out with the answer because I don't know. I'm sorry, I can't help you with that.

Now on the landing gear- I'm sure there are hobby shops that deal with Hanger 9 or Horizon parts in Spain. People from Spain buy Hanger 9 or Horizon products because I see people in here from Spain building and flying them and talking about it in RCU. I suggest you keep looking around on the internet hobby shop in Europe. If all else fails, try e-bay or Amazon. Hobby shops all the time use e-bay and Amazon to unload their stock. Don't give up!

Here are some of the pictures I think RCU lost when they changed servers. ( see below)

If you need new or better photos I can take them. My last digital camera that I used during the build started to die on me and the pictures started to come out dark. I have a new camera now, so I can retake them if you need better pictures.


Pete

A shameless bump.

Help from RCU community!!!!

Has anyone made this DR1 into a electric powered aircraft? Manolo wants to know if he can make a hatch on the bottom between the landing gear legs?



Pete