abufletcher

The resin is just like any plastic model part, for example, the WB parts.

hammerd

I've been watching your build and thought I'd chime in with some images of the dummy engine mounting I'm using in a 1/6 scale Albatros DVa. Pretty much along the lines of what John Cole described.
Great build, BTW.

dcflyer001

your work is getting so good don, like fine wine, every plane is better than the last as it should be. beautiful job on the albatros. i noticed a lot of people are doing the CD SCALE DESIGNS models now, thats awesome for chris. he puts alot of time and effort to get them right as you do and it's about time he developes a following. i don't know chris personally but he seems like an honerable guy just buy the amount of integrity that go into his kits and if i wasn't a born again scratch builder he's who i would purchase from. my hat's off to chris and the work you do don is very awe inspireing. i'm going to be casting a clerget in the next week or two for my strutter, it's my first time casting cyclinders so wish me luck.
Rob

abufletcher

Thanks, Rob. Your own modeling skills have also grown in leaps and bounds and your 1 1/2 Strutter project is in a class all its own!

Well, it's been a couple of months since I worked on the C1 so I guess it's about time to get back to it. RCU seems to have dealt with its photo upload problems (for the most part) and I've recharged my "detailing batteries." My crew (Emil and Franz) have been waiting patiently. In the parlance of WWI German fliers, the pilot was nicknamed "Emil" and the observer was "Franz."

http://www.flieger-album.de/geschich...gersprache.php

geezeraviation

My Feedback: (3)

That was very interesting, those are very realistic moldings, a fine looking pair to be flying about in an Albatros, probably representative of the correct age group.
Doc

abufletcher

BTW, Hammerd, that's a really nice looking DVa and a nice looking Mercedes! Is this model a kit? Is the dummy a kit? I must admit that I decided to do the Benz just to be different.

While in the US I picked up these metal forming tools at Harbor Freight. I don't know if I have any immediate need for them but they might come in handy when I get around to the cowlings.

abufletcher

Mike Watters has the honor of being to first to get one of the CDScaleDesigns Albatros C1 kits into the air! I am both thrilled and ashamed! [sm=red_smile.gif] I'll let Mike tell (and show) the rest!

SCRATCH THAT. This is from a DB kit. Still outstanding job and a great motivation for Tom and I to get moving again!

Well done, Mike!

Union Models

Thanks Don... You need not feel ashamed, these scale models take time to finish, no matter how long that is ~ It's done when it's done.

The Albatros here was built from an old DB Sport & scale kit from the 1970's. A friend of mine, Jeff Killburn did the inital building of the model, my part was painting and the fiddly scale bits.

It's powered with a OS91 Surpass, covered with Solartex wings , tail & fin, nylon & dope on the fuselage. Paints used are Flair Spectrum enamels which cover well, then fuel proofed with a 2K matt clearcote.

The rear gunner moves via a servo, also there is a machine gun 'clacker' to simulate the gun firing.

Total weight ready to fly is 12 lbs. The balance point is 80mm from the top wing leading edge. With the C1 having a short nose, I had to add the deaded lead to the nose to achive the balance.

I have it set up with coupled aileron / rudder. Also differential on the ailerons ( more up than down )

It's a viceless flyer, with no hidden supprises. Take off is slow and graceful, but it doesn't leap into the air, a long run is needed, looks more scale too. Most of the flying is at 1/2 throttle, 3/4 for tight turns. Landing is surprisingly short, it comes in so slow you could almost name the spot where you want it to land.

I think you and Tom will love it.

Mike

abufletcher

Great looking model. I am somewhat comforted, however, that this was from a DB kit. I was thinking you had built one of the CDScaleDesign kits. So there's still a chance for either Tom or I to be "first."

Great work on detailing and the weathering!

Union Models

The DB kit is 1/6th scale (86" span) a thicker wing section, than the CD design.

Lookforward to seeing yours when it done.

Mike.

Teus

Than you have to hurry Don, Tom promished last year that he will bring a flying CI to the 2011 Dutch Dawn Patrol 2nd juli [X(]

Mein Duff

Great job Mike, she's a real beauty...love the subtle blue and gray coloring...nice attention to details.....did you replicate and existing aircraft?

Looks wonderful in the air also......too bad David isn't here to enjoy it as well.[]

hammerd

Sorry for the late reply, I lost track of this thread somehow.
The DVa is a 1/6 electric designed by Peter Rake. I'm building the prototype for him. She actually flew a few weeks ago. I vacuum formed the cylinders and lifter covers. Other parts are made from carved foam, tubing, and parts from the junk bin.

Here's the build thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306884

And pic of the finished dummy:

fliegertom

Hi Mike,

congratulations for your maidenflight!

Your construction is well done! Although it's not a CD-Scaledesign :-)


Tom

BTW, what about a video?

Union Models

Hi Mein.

Thanks, the colours were based upon the original prototype models used for filming the TV series Wings. Some where there is reference to the C19/15 markings.

Mike

Union Models

Hi Tom,

Thanks, next time were out with it, I'll make sure we have some video.

You and Don are still in the lead with the CD Designs C1.

Mike

fliegertom

From time to time I built at my C1 and Don has a small "Quickbuildprojekt"

Tom

abufletcher

Well, my detour into a "quickbuild" of a CDScaleDesigns SE5a is now finished and my workshops (both of them) are now clean and ready for the winter building season (though there's not that much of a "winter" in my part of Japan). I'm wondering, however, where I should continue the build. For continuity sake, it would make sense to just continue here on RCU. But frankly, I'm still rather pissed that the RCU server move wiped out multiple pages of my build. Furthermore, I continue to have regular problems uploading photos to RCU, something around a 1 in 10 failure rate and higher than that if I'm trying to upload multiple images.

So I'm also considering migrating the build over to RC GROUPS where I documented my SE5a build.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1363887

****Note: This post was a "test" of sorts. The photo upload worked this time.

GianFrancesco

Hi Abu
this SE5A is very beautiful.
I have followed your C1 building with very interest and the same I will do on RC Groups.
I see that in a short you are beginning to build the Strutter from MR;
at present I am in the stage of covering my true 1/4 version of the same I
begun to draw and build in the.......1996!

abufletcher

Good to know you'll be looking in no matter where I decide to continue the CI build. You've been very helpful. The main reason I decided on the MR Strutter is that it seemed like the quickest and most interesting route to get my Seidel 770 into the air. One the one hand, I feel like I should just stop building kits entirely and just do the kind of scratch-building I'm drawn to. Or the other hand, it's hard to resist the appeal of a well-done WWI kit. There aren't more than a dozen kits in the entire world that I'd really want to do.

abufletcher

By the way, everyone, while I was dinking away on the SE5a, Tom in Germany successfully maidened his electric CDScaleDesigns Albatros CI. He still plans to do a lot of detailing work on it this winter, but it's great to see it in the air! [8D]

http://www.rc-network.de/forum/showt...tab-1-6/page35

abufletcher

After posting 75 pages of building, I suppose it's silly to go anywhere else. So, here's where I'm at with the build. The "kit" is essentially done with. From here on it's just me doing the considerable work that still needs doing. So what's ahead?

Fuselage:
*work out the removable dummy and engine cowlings (top and nose)
*finish and mount the hazet radiators
*paint the markings
*fuel proof everything
*run the pull-pull cables
*make the steel cup/ball connections for the flying wires
*paint all the fittings
*complete the undercarriage

Tail feathers:
*install the control horns
*cover and paint
*create the scale (faired) support bars

Wings
*figure out how I want to attach the struts
*figure out how I want to do the wing attachment
*make up the struts
*finish working on the ailerons
*cover
*hinge
*paint (to create the impression of varnished CDL)

Mechanics
*mount the engine
*install the tank
*final servo linkages
*functional rigging

And for each of the things I've mentioned here there are probably three or four, I've forgotten. In short, I may have an equal amount of work still ahead of me.

abufletcher

Putting the wings on for the first time is always a landmark moment in any build. I caved in, in terms of scale reality, and used the 3mm music wires in 4mm brass tubes method. I had thought about using (quasi-)scale pins to hold the panels on...in which case the wings would have been entirely supported (on the ground) by the landing wires and the struts. On the plus side the weight of 4 x 3mm music wires and 4 lengths of 4mm brass tube (and epoxy) could have been avoided. This is maybe the first time I've built a model large enough (and scale enough) that the need for functional rigging is immediately apparent. With the smaller fighters the model will sit nicely on the building table without the rigging. And you might, just might, be able to get through a VERY gentle couple of minutes of flight without rigging. But at this sort of wingspan, the wings would fold/break immediately without the flying wires.

abufletcher

And here's the result for a first experiment in creating the (German) CDL look. The idea would be to mix ice coffee into the Nelson's Clear. This is just a rough experiment on ratios of coffee to liquid and the effects of multiple applications. I started with a 1:3 mix of coffee/water. The paper shows the colors for 1, 2, and 3 applications (right to left). The next step, now that I have a rough idea of how much coffee to use, is to try a coffee/Clear mix and try it again on solartex.

Nieuport nut

My Feedback: (10)

That assembled picture is excellent! Very attractive.

Martin