Congratulations, AbuFletcher! It sure is sweet when that final moment arrives and your bird lifts off for the first flight.......man oh man, what a feeling. A fitting end to a very well done project!
Just remember for your next project.......you can't get'em too big!
Art

Art, coming from you that's a real complement. And, yes, I was greatly inspired (as many have been) by your 1/3 scale EIII. I'm not set up for anything that big at the moment but I can imagine that my next project will have at least a 72" wing span. Since it's highly likely that that next plane will be one of the WWI two-seaters 1/6 scale might still be OK. Here are just a few of the planes that spring to mind:

Albatros CI or CIII
Rumpler CIII
Bristol FE2b
RAF BE2e
Whitworth FK-10 (now THAT would be a REAL project)
Hansa Brandenburg CI

And of possible single seaters:

1/4 scale Sopwith Camel (or possibly are REALLY SCALE Pup)
1/4 scale Albatros DV or DIII

But I'm definitely leaning towards the two-seaters.

BTW, here's a few of the niceities of the model that don't come across in the photos above.

1. The joy stick moves with the elevator (in the hand of the pilot).

2. The pilot's torso moves slightly with elevator and rudder.

3. Both rudder and elevator cables exit at the same location as per the original.

4. The landing gear is fully functioning independent suspension like the original.

5. The Rx battery is hidden inside the torso of the pilot and the cable exits through his sleeve.

6. The lower end of the joystick exits through the bottom on the plane then the cabling reenters.

7. I have simulated the stitching along the bottom on the fuse (white painted staples)

8. The fuel fill line is at the scale location for the forward fuel tank.

Maybe I can get a few photos of these too.

Here are a few detail shots. I have to say though that my construction skills are not up to really fine scrutiny! I'm one of those glue all over guys.

And more...

BTW, you might like to see my only other attempt at (non-flying) scale. This was about 20 years ago and had a 36" wing span, which I thought was huge. It was entirely scratch-built and had a little switch in the cockpit that turned on a little electric motor that (sort of) spun the wooden propeller. I was so proud. Now I think it looks pretty primative (the photo makes it look better than it was).

The photo is the only thing left.

Abu - how did you paint your EIII? With a brush or spray gun, or is it just coloured film with decals?
photoniq

Photoniq, I used a combination of methods. The white fields on the wings and stripes on the fuse were masked then sprayed using a detail gun. The crosses were drawn on in soft pencil (using a template) then hand-painted. Finally the smaller markings (including the main aircraft designation) was printed on clear decal paper. I'm not happy with the shiny outline on the decals. Perhaps Micro Mark's decal finishing system would eliminate these.

Here's an update on its second day of flying. Sorry no new pix yet. Once again I had the local ace Carl Lindou do the flying while I shot pictures. Later, however, we did hook up a buddy box and I got to experience the feel of sitting in the pilot's seat of my EIII. I just wanted to report on how it flew this time out.

First of all, Carl reports that it seemed to have a little more power this time even though I hadn't changed anything. It's a new engine with relatively little break-in time on a stand so maybe just running it helped out. Also we (Carl) tweeked the throttle a bit. It's still a bit of a handful but Carl was able to put it through a more extensive set of paces today including a loop (starting with a bit of a dive as you suggested, John) and a simple roll. Landings have been picture perfect each and every time. The take-offs today seemed particularly scale -- long and slow.

As it turns out having the tank above the servos and therefore way above the carb turned out to be no problem at all. I don't even need the clamp I was using. No fuel runs out. And it starts as easily as my trainer. In fact the biggest pain in the a** is that damn green bare prop plug that you stuff into the electric starter. It comes out just about every time we start no matter how hard we push it in. Seems really dangerous!

Now on to my experience flying it. Carl took it up high (which takes awhile -- no "going vertical" with this plane) and we spend a few minutes getting the trims on the buddy box right. This turned out to be a little difficult. We never quite got the throttles sync'd. Anyway, I was able to wallow around the sky in lazy circles. It definitely needs rudder on the turns and is a little sensitive. But I'd still say it's pretty stable. Being small it is also quite susceptible to turbulance and occasionally bobbles around. It wasn't squirrly though and I think if I had a few more days with it, I'd be ready to solo (again).

All in all, it flies like the original. It sure isn't fast but then that's just right. It can do a loop and a roll -- and probably an (real) Immelmann though we didn't give that a shot today. It takes off and lands with the grace of all scale taildraggers -- particularly in the hands of an expert.

Oh how I wish there were just someone around with a 1/6 scale FE2 or Nieuport 11. I'd even be willing to go toe-to-toe with an S.E.5a!

Oh and here's me, AbuFletcher (AKA Don Carroll).

water that grass runway a little. seriously, where do you fly? barry

Barry, this is what Southern California REALLY looks like without all that Colorado River water we buy each year! I'm always envious of the "green grass" boys.

Here are a couple new flying pix from the second day "on patrol."