RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Greg, your homework assignment is to go back and take a closer look at the series of pictures which generated the question in the first place. ok?

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hi Rich,

Good hearing from you. Glad to have you aboard. Merry Christmas right back at ya!

I don't know about the Eurika Springs trip - the Mint Julep date has been changed to that same weekend.

Tell Dallas hey for us.

Art

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

I hear ya, and what you say pretty much makes sense. BUT, (and there's always a but) - But, if you look closer at the last 3 photos you might notice that I tried to glue a T-pin in between the two pieces of wood I was supposed to be glueing together.

OK, Moving on!

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Good looking stuff there, Larry........does a pilot's chair come with the kit? (I see it in the fuselage shots)

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Wonderful work so far Sir Art. Hope you and Mrs Art have a Merry Christmas

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Merry Christmas Art and Rhonda!

Cheers,
Paul & Michelle

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Paul & Michelle

Thanks and Merry Christmas to you two, too. (I've always wanted to use all those 2's really close together in a sentence)

Art & Rhonda



I have made a little progress this Christmas Day.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Very precise-looking construction! One thing I'm wondering about though is the idea of having lightening hole on the sheer webs. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of them? But then maybe not. Maybe what's still there does the job.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hey Art,

I'm signed on here, I've been enjoying your progress from the comfort of my couch. Only reason I didn't chime in earlier was because it hinders my build that patiently awaits me in my shop. (The couch...that is... hinders me the most :) Larry surely has an outstanding design there, reminds me of building a plastic snap-tite model when I was a kid. Are you sure your actually gluing it?? Parts look likey the fit nice and tight. Looking forward to more progress.. albeit slow..like me :)

Merry Christmas to you and Rhonda.

Mike & Cindy

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hi Mike

Welcome aboard. Hope this Christmas Season has been good to you.

Glueing? Yeah, I think so.......let me check[:-] Yep, lots of quicky sticky!

Art

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

It would interesting to test this and find out if there is a difference. I've always used shear webs, but have never put lightening holes in them.

Interesting thread and fun to watch the construction of this model. I love the precision fit of the parts.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hi Art,

Nice work on the eindecker. Looks like great design work. And Merry Christmas to you and Rhonda.

So when is the Mint this year? Ihad a look at the sircm site and couldnt find the date. Sorry for the off topic post.

Dave Semeraro

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

To answer the question about the shear webs.

The material that I have used is 1/8" Baltic Birch Ply.
To save weight I have added the lightning holes. If I was using balsa and needing to depend on the grain in the wood I would not use lighting holes.

The front webs are between the spars and in essence creates a beam structure. This is not unlike a beam used in building construction. The half ribs are actually notched into the webs.
The rear webs are on both sides if the spars and creates a box beam. Most of the hole area is in the open space between the spars and there is still quite a bit of surface gluing area.

The use of this material is also substantially less expensive than using balsa and I believe stronger in the end.

Larry

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Since the webs are made of ply there's really no doubt about the strength. Thanks for clearing that up. (Is ply really cheaper than balsa?)

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Since I am looking at this as a kit to sell I have been looking hard at all material costs.
My laser has a 12"x24" bed size so I am limited to the 24" length.

I get the 1/8" Baltic Birch from a local woodworker supply store in a 5'x5' sheet.
They cut it down to 12"x24" at no charge so a 12"x24" piece costs me $1.60 total. :)

A 4"x24" of 1/8" balsa sheet costs $1.57 plus shipping from National Balsa
$1.57 x 3 = $4.71 plus shipping for that same 12"x24" area. [:o]

The wings and tail group alone take 20 12"x24" pieces.

I think that this material really only works in aircraft kits of 1/3 scale and larger due to the weight but I am reducing that weight gain by
being able to have so many lightning holes, due to the stronger material.

And it is easy to cut lightning holes with the laser. Think of all of the dies it would take to do the same.

Larry

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hi Dave

Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and yours. The Mint Julep is the second weekend in June. As I understand it, this will be date for the forseeable future.

Cheers.
Art

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

What is your hoped for or target price for the kit and what will that include?<div>
</div><div>Whit</div>

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Whit, refer to post #14.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Thought that I would post an update.

While Art has been building the production prototype I have been trying to stay one step ahead of him building the developmental prototype.

I got the parts cut for the fuselage and have been able to frame up both sides. Still need to put in the cross pieces and some other parts but you can see
how things are starting to shape up. The length is about 84" and the out to out is 9". The firewall is 14" in diameter.
I will be sending Art all of these parts by the end of the week since I am sure everything is going together as intended.

I also made a decision on the cowl front to back dimension of 7 1/2".
This is about 2" bigger than scale but you can see in the photo below the G62 engine and muffler setup I am going to use on mine will fit in the 7 1/2".
It will be easy enough to cut the back side of the cowl off for other engine setups that are not as deep.

The cowl will also have a cowl ring that will actually set on the fuselage sides that protrude thru the firewall.
It is the red shape in the photo.

The elevator servos will be mounted on the sidewall behind the pilot's seat. The center-line of the servo is the center-line of the
stab so the pull-pull will be a straight shot. The rudder servo on rails in the middle.
The drawings show only a one-sided servo arm but they will be full size.

Larry

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

.....and while I'm waiting on my fuselage parts I have been putzing around with the capstrips.

I am using a combination of carpenters glue and thick CA. On the straight runs wood glue and various clamps are used and then at the front of the rib, CA and kicker to hold the curve. And a soaking in a glass of water for the cap strips to help them bend.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

or is that vodka to go along with the pretzels ? ha ha

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

After working on this project off and on the past several months I couldn't resist dry fitting all
of the major components together.
Makes all of the design and engineering time worth it.

Larry

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Naw.......... every one knows it's beer that goes with pretzels!



Hey Larry - I like that!

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Gosh...,,, She's so Beautiful

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

you're right guamflyer......there is a certain beauty in the framework - its almost a shame to hide it with covering....but I will!

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Still putzing around with capstrips.......also still waiting on fuselage parts.

While I'm waiting, I thought I would cut in the aileron hinges. The ailerons are top hinged and Dubro hinges were chosen for this project by the designer. The biggest reason is that the hinge pin is removeable. When installing pull all the pins out and slide in a piece of music wire the entire span of the aileron. This not only insures that the pivot points of the hinges are all exactly aligned, but also allows for the removal of the control surface for painting or (heaven forbid) repair.

In this case the hinge is inset into the top of the rear spar. It is an easy process.

First mark where the hinges go.

Make relif cuts with a Zona saw (or equivalent) into the top of the spar equal to the thickness of the hinge.

Carefully chisel out the wood with a small wood chisel or exacto blade.

REMEMBER ! Like the woodright from the old PBS show says, "Let the blade do the work, don't force it." The last picture confirms that he was indeed correct[:o]

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Pretty clever of you Art to be installing hinges and this is what is being advertised at the top of the page. http://aerobroach.com/

Keep up the good work this is interesting to watch. By the way, Bailey thinks you are building a bigger Hergt!

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

He's correct, Tim........this is what the Hergt was supposed to be (sort of).

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

I finished all the capstripping. Sanded the capstrips even with the front of the wing.
Also sanded the trailing edge of the wing and then the cap on the aileron cut out.

Next up is to glue on the leading edge and then sand to the proper shape. I think Larry has a specially shaped sanding block coming for this task.:)

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Both wings are at a stopping point - trailing edges are sanded and the leading edges are glued on.

I am going to wait on the special leading edge sanding block that I hope Larry has designed and will send with the fuselage parts.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Update:

I received a big box today containing most of the fuselage parts. After I get familiar with them and the plans, I will decide on an avenue of approach - Larry gave me a general guideline today on the phone, so maybe tomorrow I can get to gluing.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Ok, I have looked over all the parts and pieces and plans...........

First, as with most other kits, lay out the fuselage plans and protect them with plastic or wax paper or whatever you might have on hand. In this case I am using the backing from the solartex covering that I used on my last plane. I think Top Flite used to sell this product on a roll and called it Plans Protector.....or something. It works great.

The fuselage front sections must be joined together (remember, the laser bed is only 24 inches long). Gorilla wood glue is being used. The pieces are being wieghted down
while the glues dries.

The next step is to glue on the upper and lower longerons.

Notice all the bundles wrapped in blue tape.......there are four layers which must be laminated. These are used to flesh out the forward fuselage side.
The layers consist of Baltic ply, a tough paper composite (used to bring the up depth of the fill to match the 3/8" Aspen longerons), Baltic ply and balsa.
What you see are for the left side - the other side has the same amount.....so I will be laminating for a while and then adding lots of sticks to build out the fuse.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Hello Art. Good to see you back at the boards. I think the plan protector product is still available. But covering backing works too as does the old standby wax paper. Your progress spurs me to work on my latest creation. Oh Jen and I hope you and Rhonda had a good holiday

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Remember I was telling you about the special sanding block......well, here it is!

It should provide the means to make a consistently shaped leading edge.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Guess what this is?

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Correct! A tank tray. And there are two of them, just in case you want to install a smoke system.

Made to fit a Dubro 32 oz tank.......

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Thanks, Allen. We did enjoy the Holiday season. I presume you guys did, too. Glad you're getting enthused again - get to cracking!

Yes, there was a slight delay while the designer and kit cutter were, well, designing and cutting.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Art,
Can you tell us the inside dia of that tray.........

HPA

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

Yes.

RE: Eindecker EIII
 

It occurred to me that you actually want those dimensions.......ok then.......4" x 8".