cocobear

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Finally back to work. Things got to busy and I had to take a few days off on this. Today I got the tail surfaces faired in and put in the hard points for rigging and completed the frightening task of cutting out the cockpit. I am hoping to complete roughing out the cowl prior to the Patriots game! Go Pats!! I will try and post more pix tomorrow.

DJ

jlovitt

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I'm really enjoying seeing this build. Keep it coming!

Also liked the pics of your prior project with the homebuilt engine. Great stuff.

Seeing this WW1 stuff makes me think of the N28 kit I have hidden out in the shop!

Thanks for showing us your process.

Jeff Lovitt

cocobear

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Hi Jeff! Did they ever find anything?? New pictures show the horizontal fairing in sanding. Tape off everything which is not to be sanded away. Next shots are the cowl in process. It's now ready to glass.

DJ

jlovitt

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Hi Dave- I'm afraid not, but thanks for your suggestion about appraisals. I was able to get one a hobby professional out here on the west coast and we were able to come up with a fair valuation. Now I'm back to building...

The Albatros looks great. I'll be watching...

Jeff

semeraro

I finally finished the blasted ailerons. Aligning 5 hinges is not easy. I used a brass tube through the hinges to align them. Then I attached them to their blocks. I then
glued the blocks into the trailing edges. The hinges then get glued to the aileron. You would think that would do the trick but I still had to adjust the hinges quite a bit to free up the ailerons.
Well at least it is done. I have attached a couple of pictures of the aileron hinge build up and a mock up of the parts I have done so far. The hinge picture shows the hinges alighed on the
brass tube. I think a carbon arrow shaft might have been better. The brass tube was easy to bend and not perfectly straight. I attached the stab so I can work on the elevator. I
could not resist putting the gear legs on and putting on the upper wing. The second picture shows the result. Starting to look like an airplane.

Dave

abufletcher

Can you post a photo showing how the strap hinges are attached/built into the ailerons?

My understanding of how these work is that the hinges are slipped onto a dowel that will become the ailerons (or elevator of rudder) leading edge. The hinge collar rotates freely around the dowel with the strap parts extending forward. The when it's time to mount the aileron's (after everything is covered), it's a simple matter of bolting the straps onto the wooden block supports in the main wing. It doesn't seem like alignment would be an issue since the hinges are aligned by virtue of being built onto/into the flight surface leading edge.

But this may be a different technique than I'm familiar with. BTW, I love the idea of strap hinges and I'll certainly use them on any German model.

semeraro

There is an aluminum tube that rotates inside the strap hinge. That tube is glued into the leading edge of the aileron. One can also build the leading edge of the
surface from a dowel and slide the hinges on the dowel. I am going to use the dowel technique for my rudder and elevator. The dowel should provide automatic
alignment provided the dowel is straight. What I found with the ailerons is that the straps are free to rotate on the axis of the screw through the block. This can
cause a slight alignment problem. The problem is more pronounced in the case of the double strap near the ailreon control. I have attached a picture of that installation
on Dave Johnson's airplane.

semeraro

More progress to report. Dave J and I got together last weekend and did some metal work on the landing gear and the cabane struts. I have also framed up my
rudder and elevator. Pictures below show some new stuff. First off the fuzzy picture of the end of the landing gear strut and the brazed on bits and pieces. Next
is one of the soldered on detail pieces for the wing struts. I put in a picture of Dave J's dummy engine as it is so far. Dave formed cylinder halves from plastic.
The rest is bits of ply, tube and dowel. The next picture is one of my framed up tail. I still have to sheet the fin. Last shot is one of Dave J's cowl. Things are
moving along nicely. I try to do something on the plane every chance I get. This morning I put some cap strips on the wing before going off to work. Dave J got the
Glenn Torrance lozenge fabric the other day. That is the next real challenge. I think it should come out great in the end. I am thinking of covering the rudder first.

Regards,
Dave S.

cocobear

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Took a few days off the Albi to make a plane for EFest. It is a 60" span Gotha GIII and weighs 15.5 oz. IMAA legal for indoors.

DJ

OldScaleGuy

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It only you took you a few days to build this beauty? I would just be getting started....
Is it from your own plans?

cocobear

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Istarted designing it last Friday evening. I will test fly it in a hour and a half. Fingers very very crossed. i also built another cute DH2 pusher this week:-)

jtisch

You make me sick!Sick with envy that is.It takes me weeks just to make a park flier.Keep up the good work!

J

OldScaleGuy

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OK, your hour and a half is up, with fingers crossed all this time. How did it go?
If I could build them that fast i would be having a new career job.

caribefoto

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I'll come back in an hour or two and have a look at the next SEVERAL first class models you build. Is the Gotha a foamie? What's the power system? What did you do for plans, and are they included in your 1-1/2 hour?........John

cocobear

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Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It flew quite well after the CG got set right. WAyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to much power. I used a pair of Rimfire 28-22 1350's with Electrifly SS8 speed controls turning 8-3.8 APC props( It is mostly depron). The first flight was scary as I wasn't ready for all that power and I punched it to get in the air and boy did it ever. Landed after one circuit of the U I Armoury to catch my breath. After that all went well and I tweaked the CG. Still a tad nose heavy so tomorrow I will try a slightly smaller battery. The 1-1/2 hour reference was how long I had to wait till I could cut out of work and go fly. Hopefully Dave S will get some in flight shots tomorrow

DJ

OldScaleGuy

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CONGRATULATIONS!!!

semeraro

I got to see the Gotha fly at E-fest. It was very cool. The model is a beauty and flew very gracefully. I took several stills of the ship. Unfortunately the flight stills did not
come out very well. They were blurry. I did take some video that came out better. I will see if I can rip some stills from that and also post the quicktime. All this will
have to wait until I download it off of my camera. We also got a little water in the basement from some heavy rains last week. Guess where my shop is. I have to finish
cleaning that up. In addition my wife has decided she wants to strip the wall paper down there and paint. I dont think she has ever seen me work so hard on a home
remodeling project. Of course she knows my motivation is to get back to work on the Albatros. I hate it when life gets in the way of my model building...

Dave S.

cocobear

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I am finally all foamed out. back to the REAL model. I now have the dummy motor mounted and am fitting the cowl. Pictures soon!

DJ

cocobear

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Attached are the dummy engine finally bolted down and the front cowl installed. finally moving forward!

DJ

OldScaleGuy

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That's looks great. How do you keep the motor from overheating?

cocobear

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When finished, as on the real aircraft, There is a small gap around the spinner which creates quite a bit of area if you do the calculation. All of this air is forced through the fins and i do try and set the engine just a little rich. so far, so good.

Dave

cocobear

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Dummy is primed and exhaust manifold made. Getting real-l-l-l- close!

FokkerAce

Beautiful Planes, Dave[s]......but RE: aileron hinge, WHY NOT ONE CONTINUOUS BAR< rather than five little pieces??

FA[8D]

cocobear

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I just find it easier to sand and get the tip to blend on a Albatros. i do it both ways depending on the design and geometry.

DJ

FokkerAce

OK. was sort of asking because I'm going to have the same problem on my Pfalz.

{why did the last post have the lines thru it?}

FA[8D]