Ya Abu.

My motivation to seal the aileron gaps is to possibly improve (even if only slightly) the performance of the ailerons. It's something that was instilled in my mind from a fellow club member years ago that all hinge gaps should be sealed on one side.

Nick - I think it's a good idea to seal the ailerons for the reasons I mentioned above. Obviously this isn't meant to be a very aerobatic plane, but the one I built was a little sluggish in roll for my liking. I think I did seal the gap by adding clear tape under the aileron but I can't remember now. I'll ask Mike to tell me next time I talk to him.

I copied mine from the eindecker in the san diego museum.

Boy I sure enjoyed that.. Thanks so much..Brian Smith

Brian,
You building one?

I just sold my "sorta Scale Eindecker" that was a modified Big Stick.. It got a lot of attention where ever I took it. I have a passion for WWI models, and am considering a D8 at the present time.. Brian

Never figured out how to load them here, but give me an e-mail address and I'll send you a couple pictures.. Brian [email protected]

Brian, go ahead and let that WWI passion run UNBRIDLED! Get yourself a model with TWO wings!

Hey Nickbee I was in the Tips and Techniques thread and noticed you asking about side mounting servos. Have you seen the servo trays SR provides for their wings? As it turns out I was looking for a way to side mount my servos on my D7 and I had left over servo trays from a wing I bought from SR. They worked like a charm .I'm sure you could produce your own version using their tray as a model.
Have you done a pull/pull system before?

Ya Feep,

I’ve done pull pull before and I know it’s mostly about geometry. That being said I’m not crazy about how SR has the servo tray and bell cranks set up, but I understand why it was designed that way (simplicity). My ideal solution would be to get rid on the bell cranks all together and side mount the elevator servos centered on the elevator hinge line. But it looks like that will not be practical since there is a wing support tube in the way. Now my thought is to lower the main servo tray in order to mount the elevator bell cranks in line with the elevator hinge line and then elevate the rudder servo for the correct position. And also eliminate the rudder bell crank. But I have some time before I start the fuse so right now I’m just kicking around ideas. I like SR’s side mount trays but also got a few of these to check out:

http://www.servocity.com/html/g402_servo_mount.html

The nice thing about these mounts is the servo can be elevated high enough off the tray where a notch does not have to be made to allow the servo arm to clear.

One of the those geometry things is that for maximum efficiency the length of the bellcrank (or servo arms) should be the same as the length of the control horn. That's why bellcranks are commonly used. That being said though, if the they are at least approximately the same you can probably slide by.

Then of course there is the whole "Ackerman" problem which may or may not actually be a problem for smaller scale models.

Yup Abu I am planning for that. I still have plenty of time until I figure out what kind of control horns I'm going to use. I might use "Hard-Points" on the tail. Then I can adjust the geometry perfectly. I also like the idea of mounting the control horn with one single hole. I can stack the 2 elevators on top of each other and drill the hole together ensuring perfect symmetry. We'll see!

I it sounds like you know what you're doing, so that begs the question. Why? I remember what you said at the beginning about using the servos but I'm wondering if it's because your putting in a cockpit interior. I'm interested because I will be facing some of these questions on my future scratch build of the E111. I liked the set up mysef but it certainly gets in the way of a cockpit but once I got over the fact that I was not doing a cockpit I loved the fact that I could get into it up to my elbows!

A question. I guess you could technically call them bellcranks but I thought they were refered to as tillers or tiller arms in relation to pull/pull systems. Am I off the mark?

I am not sure of the correct terms… but…. I know the best geometry possible is to have the pull pull cables centered with the center of the hinge line. On the “per plan” E1 the elevator “bell cranks” are elevated above that center line. The design of this is ok since it allows all of the servos (elevator and rudder) to be mounted on the same tray, but I don’t think it’s the best geometry possible. My ideal system would be to do away with the “bell cranks” and side mount the elevator servos so that the center of the servo horn is lined up with the center of the elevator hinge line. But I think the wing tubes will get in the way on this model. So the next best thing in my mind is to lower the bell cranks and servos to put them in-line with the elevators. Then raise the rudder servo (a box off the servo tray) to line up the rudder servo. Still need to kick the ideas around a bit.

I like to tinker (design) and fabricate so this modification won’t be too difficult. But it is certainly not necessary. This is the reason I like kits over ARFs.

I’m not sure if that would make more or less room for a scale cockpit, but that’s not my intention with this build.

Not much new to report. I’ve been spending most of my time getting my magnetic building board ready. I have some more prep to do on the ribs this weekend. Then I’ll start putting together the left wing (and there was much rejoicing).

I did get in some more goodies.
- Slimeline pitts smoke muffler
- Smoke pump
- Electronic relay (going to be used as a transmitter controlled kill switch)
- Mejzlik 18x6 Prop

This prop is amazing. Being into sport motorcycles I’m a huge fan of anything carbon fiber. And this is some of the best CF I’ve ever seen. And the prop was dead on balanced out of the box as promised.

I also decided I’m going to build crude test stand for my converted G26. This being my 1st gasser I would like to break in the engine and learn the operation before it goes into this airframe. I can then test out the smoke and electrical system. I’m looking forward to that!

Nice gear Nickbee. Could you do a rough check to see if the muffler will fit with the G26 hard up against the firewall as per the kit design. If so, I'm keen to do the same.

I know what you mean about carbon - I just ordered a new bike (the man-powered kind!) full of the stuff

Just finished the fuel gauge fairing, and working out how to mount the gun (to be easily removable). Think I've got it sussed - will post pics once done.

Thanks for the ammo' details guys - that gives me enough to go on with.

Happy building,

Cam

Hey Cam,

I should get my engine from Ralph in the next few weeks. I lined everything up on the plans and it looks like it will fit with plenty of clearance. The tubes might be hanging a bit low. Now this might be ok since I hear smoke oil can get messy. I wonder if the tubes coming off the pitts can be trimmed down without effecting the performance or sound. Mmmmm?

Some details on mounting the gun will be great. I know that’s something that is not covered in the manual.

The thing to keep in mind here is that the guns on the original were mounted BELOW the level of the cowling and that the cowling was mounted AROUND them. The barrel therefore should be just barely above the surface of the cowl. At your scale something like 1/8" I would imagine. To just stick it on full height looks just plain ridiculous. You might as well just duct tape a 50 calibre to the wings of a P-51. But this has somehow become an enduring modeling misconception and 99% of the Eindeckers out there (including the one on the SR website) look toy-like because of it. I recommend that you have a HARD look at photos of ANY German WWI aircrraft with Spandaus.

For modelers this means one of two things. One, you can actually cut holes in your top decking and mount the guns below the surface as per original. Or two, you'll need to cut off about 1/3 of the bottom of the rear of the gun. If you look carefully at the angled forward attachment point on the Spandau you'll see then the support piece starts to angle back. The surface should just where this angle starts.

Or you could just stick it on the top like everyone else and give up all pretentions that you're trying to be scale. In fact you could mount TWO guns like that 'cause it would look really cool.

Sorry. One of my pet peeves.

abu, I admire your passion! I'm looking forward to Cam's install pics of his gun...

FYI, Ralph from rcignitions.com confirmed that the pitts exhaust tubes can be cut to any length with no adverse effects. After I mount everything I’ll see how they look. If I trim them I’ll strike a good balance of looks and smoke deflection…

Ain't much but a little help.

More.

Bud, thanks for the pictures and for the remainder that there's scale and there's scale. I may have mounted my machine gun at the right level but I neglected to use the RIGHT machine gun: The Schwarzlose (not Spandau) as seen if your photos. So I'm as guilty (and inconsistent) as everyone else.

Most of my references show the gun mounted off center to the right side. You are limited as to how far over by how low you mount the reciever and and the pylon.

Patience my friends...[8D] Gun has been trimmed low enough to keep even "Abu" happy

I've reinforced inside with wooden blocks, and will screw on from inside cowl. BTW Feep - your pilot must have really sprayed some poor Limey with a long burst - I think he melted the cooling jacket!!

Cam