A quick question: Both Flair and Balsa USA offer a Fokker Dr 1 kit in 1/4 scale. Do any of you have input you would care to share on either of these kits? Neither is 100% scale and that is not important to me. Rather, I'm looking for a good flyer with reasonable ground handling to accomodate a gasoline engine...........a Ryobi 26cc 4-stroke to be exact.

Thanks in advance.

Al

Al, I have seen several of the B-USA kits fly and a friend of mine has one and they all say its a very good kit.I don't know about the Flair kit.Tom

I have built 2 of the Flair kits. The first one was stock. I modified the second one extensively to achieve more scale outlines.

I retired the first one after 4 years of successful flying. The second one has been flying almost 2 years now. Both planes flew/fly very well.

You must remember 2 things: Although this plane is only 72", it still weighs around 13 pounds. It takes room and altitude to recover from aerobatics and/or oopses. Also, this plane has a LOT of drag. When you chop throttle, it stops RIGHT NOW. Keep some power up on final and don't try to 3-point it. Fly it in on the mains. Keep a quick left thumb on the rudder when taking off or landing. It's a little hard to hold straight until the rudder is flying. All that being said, it is a good flying airplane with no real bad habits, and not at all squirrely in the air.

The kit builds easily although you will need a metric ruler. I changed the method of wing attachment, so all 3 wings separate from the fuselage and each other. I made the following changes to the 2nd plane:

shortened the nose
rounded the fuse belly more
made the landing gear more narrow
modified the wingtips to a more scale outline
various minor modifications for a more scale appearance

I live in Spartanburg and fly with the Spartanburg Sky Knights and York Co. Flyers. I can send you some pics of both planes (there are some in my RCU Gallery). We could meet sometime, talk about the Flair kit, and discuss some of the details of the construction.

Dr.1

i have the flair tripe, have tried it with a converted weedeater engine, that didnt work out, not enough power. i now have a super tigre 3000 in it and it flys well. a trick i learned on taking off is keep full up elev until you have some speed then release and tail will come up. then a touch of up and it will fly. if you dont plant the tail it WILL be squirlly on the take off run. on landing keep some power on and land on mains dont try to 3 point her. if you are wanting one for gas i suggest the busa or ziroli. myself i like the look of the longer and narrower gear legs that the flair has.

Both of my Flair kits handled very well on takeoff. I used a Zenoah G-38 on the first and it was drastically overpowered. I switched to a G-23 on the current one, and it has plenty of power to fly in a scale-like manner.

Dr.1

Ditto everything DR1 Driver says.My flair DR1 was basically stock,with a Zenoah23.Just remember it's not a trainer,but doesn't have any real vices either,apart from maybe the built-in headwind!Wish I'd kept it.
Doug.

eagledancer,

I use a different method on takeoff. I increase the throttle until the plane is just rolling, then quickly come up to 3/4 power. This brings the tail up and gets air blowing over the rudder. This gives me enough control over steering to keep it straight. I got my left thumb on the rudder at all times, and my eyes are watching for any hint of a swerve. When it gains speed, I GENTLY pull up elevator and it lifts off in a very level attitude, a proper scale-type takeoff. I let it gain airspeed in ground effect before climbing out. Works every time, and looks fantastic!

Dr.1

Have flown 6 Flair Triplanes over the last 15 years - they are wonderful to fly when correctly set up - mixing ailerons and rudder certainly makes smooth flying easier. A wonderful dogfighter and can out turn any SE5's or Sopwith Pups I have ever come across.

The cardinal rule is to always land and take-off directly into wind - once out of wind there is little way back.

Certainly some scope for scale improvement - my current one ( with gold stripe in the picture) has some minor improvements but is basically as per the kit.

My mates DR1 ( the red one in the photo) is lovely and is much modified from the Flair kit.

No experience of Balsa USA version I'm afraid.

VBR

Jason

Very nice models, Jason. Was that a regular club day or a special WWI event? My next Dr.1 will probably be the GTM version. The Flair and BUSA kits both need too much modification for scale appearance and outlines. Thanks for again for the picture.

Dr.1

DR1 Driver,

It was the Catton Hall Garden Party Fly-in.

Catton Hall is the the home UK WW1 Flying Circus Display team - we have been flying at various model displays all over the country for many years - all with 1/4 scale WW1 aircraft.

At one show we managed to get 15 WW1 a/c in the sky together (rather busy) and it often descends into a mass dogfight (which is as much fun as you can have with your trousers on!).

Attached is an evocative photo of my father's & mine Triplanes.

Dad's is in the forground - mine is behind and on top.

VBR

Jason

Cant speak for the balsa USA one, but the flair one flies GREAT! one mod i did, was to have the axle ROTATING with both wheels fixed to the axle, this stops the errant swing on take off, i soldered tube to the axle, (made it at work, i am a lather turner) give it a drop of oil now and again, and it works a TREAT, model is superb and capable of some interesting stunts, how about flying in a heavy wind, doing touch and goes? nothing special there, right? well, it touched, went BACKWARDS open the throttle, went FORWARDS, and touched again, after 10 of these, back to normality, this was on a beach, with acres of room, the rudder is powerful, and i ripped out my sternpost once got it down ok though ( i like flying in wind) ailerons are set up with a lot of differential, power in my first one was a zenoah 22, just enough, power in the second will be the MVVS 160, i love the thing, wont be without one

Here is my Balsa USA DR-1 with a Honda 31cc four stroke. Straight forward build, great flier, not hard to take off or land. I just love it specailly the sound of the four stroke. I've changed, repainted the cowl sence these pictures. I just didn't like the white. What ever you decide the triplane will make a great add to your hanger.

Thank you all so very much for your input. I must admit to being surprised by the number of you who own the Flair kit. I hadn't realized that they were so popular. Quite a loyal following, indeed. Who markets the Flair kits in the United States?

Al