Bird of time Help Please
 

I bought a BOD built from the kit yesterday at an estate sale.
I have flown this model once or twice before at our field with great enjoyment so I grabbed it when it came up for sale.
The builder ,probably the best in our club,built a foam carrying box to transport the model broken down into two stab halves ,two wing panels and the fuse.
The stab halfs connect together with two music wire probes through the fuse and the wing appears to be connected with a heavy wire support connecting the two panels.
What prevents the two stab halfs from working loose in the air?
The wing appears to be held on with elastic bands but do they also perform the function of holding the two panels together and preventing them from working loose in the air too?
Maybe the builder designed everything to come apart to fit in the case and I will have to figure out some way of preventing problems or is the breakdown into five parts standard?
Thanks.........Kevin

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

The breakdown is standard.

The stabs are held on in a couple of ways, all standard:
1. a slight bend in the end of one.
2. a wheel coller 'set screw' arrangement.
3. Rust, pure friction.
4. a little white glue dried on the stab rods then wiped almost all off.
5. Glue one rod in one stab, glue the other rod in the remaining stab.
I use 3 & 5, never lost a stab yet.

The main panels have a rubberband that goes through the fuse, a spring also works, make a 'T' handle with a small hook on it to reach through the fuse, grab the rubber band on the one wing, pull it through the fuse, hook it on the hook on the other wing, works fine.

You'll love your BOT.

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

kevin...iuse bow string wax available at any sporting goods store. insert the music wire or coat with the wax. this will provide the friction to hold the stabs.
like rich saidi have not lost a stab yet...ken

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Eh? My BOT's wings are top-mounted on the fuz as per the original design. Are you guys talking about an ARF version?

My wings slide onto steel joiner bar then banded on to fuz - I generally use electrical tape to ensure they don't creep apart - wrap the join before banding on the fuz.

Happy thermals,

Cam

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Another option for the wings mounted with the old standard rubber band on top deal would be to glue on some half dowel keys onto the lower surface so that they are just beside the inside edge of the fuselage at the leading and trailing edges. That way they sort of key the wing into place so it's not skewed at an angle and also will prevent the wings sliding open unless it's a serious groundloop or something of the sort.

For the stab wires done that way the simple solotion is just to bend a slight curve by finger pressure into the main wire. That'll provide enough fiction to hold it. I prefer the smooth finger bending curve over grabbing it with the pliers and putting in a kink since the kink is REALLY critical while the overall curve is a far smoother and long term consistent sort of friction. The screw or snap action is a lot nicer I must admit. I've done a snap action on a couple of mine and it's nice and positive. I've also done the friction thing without any trouble as well.

The friction pressure should be around 10 to 20 oz of push to get it to slide into place.

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

I had a BOT a number of years ago. I just bowed-out the one of the stabilizer wires so that the friction would hold the stabilizer halves on the airframe. It was very secure.

The rubber band hold-down system for the wing works very well, even without tape in the middle. If you use the proper number of bands, there's enough pressure that the wings won't separate because of the friction against the fuselage sides. There's more of a problem with the bands wanting to slip between the wing panels..this does widen the gap, but I never had the wings move more than that.

I eventually made a plywood rib with an extra-wide ply capstrip. This went between the two wing panels and provided a cover so the bands wouldn't creep between the panels. Make sure the cap is a very close fit to the top of the wing panels. Don't worry about any extra drag caused by the edges of the cap not being faired into the wing. The bands provide plenty as it is, and the model won't notice the extra rough edges made by the cap. The cross-section of the cap was a "T".

One way to add extra 'grip' to the fuselage sides is to run a bead of clear silicone caulking over the wing saddle, and then seat the wing onto it with a piece of clear plastic dropcloth between the wing and the silicone. Band the wing down tightly. When the caulk has cured, remove the wing and the plastic, and use a very sharp blade to trim the silicone flush with the fuselage. I usually use a single-edge razor blade for that. You get a good wing-fuselage joint, and the silicone keeps the wing from slipping.

I use the silicone seal on all models to seal the wing-fuselage area, as well as any hatches, removable canopies, and so on. You get good, leakproof seals that way.

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Much thanks to all who contributed..........mine is set up for the old elastic band on the o/s with dowels and the builder included a couple of "pips" on the underside which fit just indide the fuse sides .......seems to hold the wing in place and centered, but would pop loose in case of an oops I guess.
Anyone know of an article on adding spoilers? Any reason not to?

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

I now have 40+ flights on my Bird of Time.
Mine came powered with an OS .15 in the nose and this little engine hauls the model up to my sight limits with little trouble.
Landings have been a breeze and I havent missed the field yet.
There are no other glider enthusiasts in my club and none near in other clubs,so what is next in terms of learning more about duration,specifically playing the existing breezes and thermal hunting.........books,videos,anything on line anywhere?

Thanks.........Kevin

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Aurghhhhh! Sacrilege! A Bird of Time with an engine?

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Yeah well.........I didnt build it, and Im the only member flying gliders in my club,so no winch, and towing requires another willing bod.......................etc etc...........
The little OS .15 gets the bird to my limit of vision with two oz of fuel and the field equip needed is minimal.Yesterday for example I put in six flights in wild conditions of weather front moving through complete with thunder heads etc and I actually lost it for a moment in a low cloud but Im beggining to understand how to fly this beautiful model and where to look for lift and how the plane reacts and Im having fun compared to the bigger effort needed for my large gas powered stuff.Gonna build another wing too with spoilers but so far its a piece of cake to land on our standard size field but then Im not exactly new to flying.

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Finally did what I am always telling others to do ,and I ran a search for info on thermal searching and basic glider tactics in this column.
I found a really excellent treatment of the subject by Bruce Matthews a fellow Canuck who of course can be trusted totally,EH?
There is enough information in his lengthy input to keep a Newbie busy for the rest of the season trying it all and developing the necessary skills.
Thanks Bruce.

RE: Bird of time Help Please
 

Keven, I am interested in building a BOT and would like a picture of how you mounted the OS 15. Can you put one on the web.
Thank you.
Joe