Well, I finally, after a tremendous battle, finally finished the basic structure of the EIII undercarriage which represents a major stumbling block for any true scale model. It has fully functional independent suspension sprung gear. The basis materials are aluminum filled with music wire (as Brian did on his). Anyway here are the pix.

Basic views:

And some details...

And some detail on the suspension...

I wanna tell ya, for a first ever (scale or otherwise) RC construction project, I feel pretty darn proud! And we all know what that goeth before...

Oh, and it's still missing the scale wooden fairings on the sides and bottom triangles. And of course a paint job.

Incredible! [sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

Beautiful workmanship!!!!

Les

Here's a few more to show "where I am" though these pix probably will give the impression that I'm almost ready to fly! There are so many more details to do...

Is this kit or scratch built? Did you make the Solder lugs on the ends? Brass or copper? Have you considered the chance of interferance from the loose connecters vibrating during flight? I have a Balsa USA EIII that I'm modifing and was considering building a scale gear for it is the reason I'm interested. Bill

Bill, believe it or not, this project started out as a BUSA Eindecker 40. But almost immediately I found I wasn't willing to accept BUSA's definition of "scale." It only took one look at the plan to know that I would be using a full-flying rudder and stab. The kit's versions just looked like an Ugly Stik. Then I saw a couple people (for example Tall Paul on the Aerodynamics forum) who had replaced the fully sheeted fuse with a stick-built one. And since I had the Joseph Nieto scale drawings from the National Aeronautics and Space Museum I decided to build the fuse according to those rather than the BUSA profile.

And once I had gone down THAT slippery slope, I pretty much abandoned the BUSA kit entirely. In fact, the only part of the kit I ended up using was the wing which I cut in half and slightly reshaped to allow for a full cockpit. Basically, I guess you'd say this is a scratch-built project.

The gear caused me all kinds of grief. My initial thinking though was heavily influenced by the following thread:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_14.../anchor/tm.htm

Most of the brainstorming for the gear took place in a local hardware store. The lugs (copper covered with brazing) are those things that they put on the ends of cable. I just cut them down. The other key bit was the basic A frame that supports the gear. I tried something along the lines of the music wire gear the BUSA kits suggests but ended up using two inverted V's instead. Each V consists of a heavier and one thinner music wires tightly fitted into a piece of aerodynamic alum tubing. The advantage of the two wires is that they create a small opening at the apex that can hole the main supporting brace which is a fully threaded 4-40 rod encased in thickwalled 3/16 alum tubing. This structure definitely needs the lateral strength provided by fully functional wire bracing.

After I got this basic concept working I just started mocking up the gear and brainstorming the geometry of the movement. I realized that if I was going to include functional suspension the angle of the main gear as it meets the fuse would change and this meant I'd need a hinged joint. I tried a couple of things none of which worked when I happend to notice the small desk lamp on my workbench has a head that could be adjusted. Closer inspection revealed it had pivoting ends on 3/16 aluminum tubing (like radio antenna)! Perfect! So I immediately tore the lamp apart for parts! This was the last piece of the puzzle. If you're interested in more detail, I suppose I could knock out a little drawing and post it.

As far as interfereence, well, yes, I did worry a bit about that and about the (thin) aluminum siding that surrounds the front of the plane. I haven't done any extensive range check but at least over short distances the sheeting isn't a problem. I'm not very experienced in thses things so all I can say is "we'll see." Good luck with you EIII. It's a far more complicated A/C that most people thing.

You might ask yourself what you really want out of the project. If you just want a stand WAY off semi-scale entry into the world of WWI A/C then just build the BUSA kit as is, be done with it in three weeks, and go flying. In some ways, I wish I had gone this route (or rather had ALSO build a fast one to be learning on).

Here are a couple of early construction pix:

One more thing. I ended up opting for thin-walled tubing with 1/8 music wire rather than the thickwalled tubing with thinner wire because I concerned with strengh. I don't think the gear ends up being too heavy and the plane does balance nicely (actually almost perfectly at this point). In the mock up I was using 1/4 inch thinkwalled alum tubing but decided this didn't look scale so opted for 3/16 tubing instead. The main leg LOOKS thicker in photos because of the wooden fair that was attached.

A laminated WW1 style prop sure would look a lot better on your magnificent flying machine than that 'modern' Zinger.

Thanks for all the info, Actually, My EIII is finished but the gear is something I'm not happy with and was going to rebuild it. I also modified my fuselage and went with stick construction and full flying rudder. (I left the stab as is). Good luck with your bird, It sure looks good!

Kmot, do you know if anyone sells laminated props in this size (13/4-5)? I've seen an article on how to make one from scratch but that seems a little beyond me at the moment. I'm could probably knock out a display prop but since I'm not competing it would only be for the photos ops. Also with all the nose-overs I expect on this model, I mind even have to do with a plastic prop!

Still...hmm...now you've got me thinking!

My word Don, that looks simply stunning! What a difference it makes finally seeing this bird assembled. You're probably getting tired of hearing this but it continues to amaze me how a first time builder can do such a marvelous job! Simply has to be acknowledged.
Also I find your undercarriage solution so elegant that I'll try and use it for my project.
For the first time in weeks I've had the chance to work on my E.III project (over the weekend actually). Progress is very moderate though. I've installed a false firewall in the fuse after removing a portion of the 'real' one.
What a decidedly nasty task when an airplane is attached to it, takes ages and literally had to hack away at it.
And to make things worse, it only had to be set back 11mm for proper engine clearance, what a flaw in my planning.
Anyway, didn't turn out too bad in the end and while I was at it i decided to make cut outs in the cheek areas.
Makes for a slightly more scale appearance and will hopefully improve engine cooling by allowing air passage through the cowl cheeks.
here are some pics of my small modification:
the wheels propped up against it are the ones I'll be using. 2nd hand taken off an old magnatilla that's now out of commission, rims were full of all sorts of grime and had to be thoroughly cleaned. Rubber gaskets for tires.

Trev, the pristine quality of your building always knock my socks off! My fuse looks like it was roughly hacked out of balsa by comparison. I think your EIII has a greater potential for scale excellence than mine ever did. The gear is about the only part of the construction that I'm basically satisfied with. My wing sucks. The fuse sucks. The rudder and stab are both too heavily constructed to be scale. My EIII will look pretty good on the outside but I'll know what lurks beneath the skin (and the solartex will show it).

If my construction can be in any way helpful to your project, I'm a happy man.

Proctor sells a 14x6 laminated birch/cherry prop.

EAT Props makes laminated props to order:

http://www.props2000.freeserve.co.uk/

Flair Products Co in the UK also has laminated props in your size asn smaller too.

http://www.ss16.dial.pipex.com/flair...tion_38_42.pdf

Kmot, thanks for the suggestions on where to find a laminated prop. The laminated vintage one in the Flair cataloque looked good. Unfortunately, the people at Flair tell me it's no longer available. One scale problem with this prop, however, is the obvious color differences between the laminated layers. Looks wonderful but I don't think I've every seen a photo of a WWI German plane that actually looked like that.

I'm thinking I might have to make one myself -- just to see if I can. But I'd really like it to be a flight balanced prop.

Here's one more photo to show where I've gotten to. I just finished the installation of the custom brass tank and IN THEORY I suppose I could fire her up and maybe even FLY. But there seem to be a host of issues to deal with first. For one I still have to finish the top pylon so I can do all the rigging. And then there are so many scale details yet to do.

...little scale details like permanently mounting the dummy, bolting on the cowl, varnishing and balancing the prop, you know, unimportant things like that! [:@] Sometimes I feel like I need another 3 months to finish. But I leave for Japan in three weeks! And the EIII is NOT going with me.

Looking good!

Hey, Abufletcher.....Art here......your bird is looking pretty good, Man you have got the color and finish perfectly! Good Luck when you go to fly her. Here is a picture taken at the 2004 Scale Nationals of my 1/3 scale Fokker EI. I flew in sportscale, sportsman class. The static score was 93. WOW was I pleasantly surprized! This is my first attempt at a competition scale model. I flew well enough to capture first place.
Ben Lanternman, from St. Charles, MO took the photo. Maybe this will give you some inspiration for your first flight with your bird.

Art, congratulations on your result at the Nats! I had already downloaded a few other pix of your plane in flight. Beautiful, just beautiful! Mine has all sorts of minor imperfections in the construction and finish so it's not really competition level but it does look good from about two meters away. Here's a detail shot of the underside stitching I added and the gear in their final state.

I'd like to know more about sport scale competition. How is this different from precision scale? If I were going to be staying here in the US I'd probably look into competing at some local level but July 31 I fly back to Japan (where my job is). I really appreciate all the support I've gotten on RCU from much more experience builders and pilots -- like yourself!

Don't forget: you can still reach us from Japan.