jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

As many of you know, it has been very cold in my part of the world. Some of the lowest temperatures in years in more than a three week period in NW Oklahoma. Then you add in the winds and it is miserable. I have worked on the SPAD when I can heat up the garage warm enough the accomplish something.

I sanded the ailerons to shape and installed hinges, to be glued in place later. My BUSA WW I planes, I had the aileron servos exposed under the wing. I didn't like this much and wish I had hidden the servos. So on the SPAD I mounted the servos in the wing with a hatch cover. The wings had numerous nicks & dings that had to be filled, then I sanded them to almost the finished state.

Next was mounting the landing gear. The provided wire for the gear is 3/16" , the front leg is bent to mount the wheel. I have built three of the BUSA WW I aircraft and each of them I had to install a 1/4" music wire axle. I don't make hard landing but I do fly them often and after a time the small wire will begin to bend. Also in the other three I made a shock absorbing systems that work very well. The SPAD 13 does have a spreader bar between the gear legs so I thought a 1/4 music wire axle would be stronger. I did not make it shock absorbing, maybe it was too cold in the garage, later I may wish I had. Here are pictures of the work.

Mustang Fever

My Feedback: (2)

Nice work, Rich. When I did my 1/4 scale DR-1, I followed the advice of many in these forums and used 1/4" rod for the axle.

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

I have a little progress to report. I have done the landing gear fairings and the cabane & interplane strut fairings. I use 20 minute finish epoxy & micro balloons to fill in around the wire on the landing gear fairings. Also, I have made copies of the parts of the gear fairings just in case repairs are needed. The cabane & interplane strut are stained and will sealed with clear coat. I am not sure if I will paint the gear fairings of stain them. Your ideas and comments will be welcomed. The axle will be clad with balsa as well. I think landing gear will be a lot stronger than the manual instructions. As designed the instructions states that the spreader & bungee cord will control the spring or spread of the landing gear by provided by the spring action of the wire. I agree with this statement, but I don't think the 3/16" main gear wire would strong enough to prevent bending at the wheel area. As I pointed out, over time with normal landings and sometimes rough landings the 3/16" wire will bend. I have replaced the 3/16 axles with 1/4" wire on my 1/4 scale Fokker D VII & Sopwith Pup. I don't have hanger queens, I fly planes regularly and have yet to damage the gear with a really hard landing. In my opinion, the 3/16 wire proved be weak area of design. Here are picture of the work.

jwrich

My Feedback: (17)

As I stated in my last post, the upper fuselage construction is next. In studying the manual and plans, if do a detailed cockpit, it must be done first. But once the upper decking and stringers are complete there is only a small area for access into the inside of the fuselage to mount radio components and fuel tank. Access to the cockpit from below in the lower wing opening is almost impossible. I down loaded several great pictures of the cockpit and instruments. It would be a crime not to do a detailed cockpit on this airplane. What have others done for a detailed cockpit? I really would like to add this detail work. This would consist of the instruments, yoke, seat & pilot. Help I need ideas how to do this but have access once the fuselage is complete. I'll post some of pictures of the cockpit & instruments. This is the web site I copied them from http://storage.mfa.free.fr/SpadXIIIuk. html

All ideas or suggestions are welcomed

Thanks
Rich