Debonair finished
 

Finally got around to making a Debonair. Have not done the maiden flight yet. If the weather holds out for tomorrow, I might be able to do that tomorrow.

Power is an MDS .48 (let the jokes begin:D:D).
CG is just in front of the forward spar.
Since I don't have a scale I have no idea on the weight.

Will give a report after the first flight.

This is my second SPAD. I have built and flown a QHOR and flew it until the wing was deformed from learning to hover.

Later.

Doug

RE: Debonair finished
 

Looks good--Like your control rods--Have some on my Ultra Stick but to pricey for a spad--Ha Ha

RE: Debonair finished
 

Just stuff that has been lying around in the basement for 10 years. Used to fly quickee 500 and they were left over from that. :) The pushrods probably cost as much as the rest of the plane. What I did not put in the list are the two JR 4001 coreless servos for elevator and rudder. Some day I will replace them with some cheaper Futaba servos.

RE: Debonair finished
 

That is a nice airplane! No MDS jokes from me! I have a newer .40 with the C-2 carb on a PBF. One of my good engines. Very good runner on 0% nitro, only dead stick was from fuel starvation once. I now check the level every once in a while.

RE: Debonair flight report
 

:(All did not go as well as I hoped. Able to get out yesterday afternoon, overcast sky, about 60° and 15 mph winds down the centerline of the runway. Got the ol' MDS .48 up and running. adjusted the idle and was getting good idle and transitions. Left it rich since it is not fully broken in yet. Checked out the radio, and then taxied onto the runway. It was the most scale takeoff I think I have ever done; scale as in a low powered 152. The plane slowly increased speed and I finally gave it some up elevator and it lumbered into the air. It climbed out fairly well and I made the turn to downwind. It was mostly trimmed out, but it needed some right aileron trim so I gave it some. That is when all he!! broke loose. The plane started to roll to the right and left aileron did nothing. The plane quickly inverted so I gave up elevator to complete the unintended split-s. But again it rolled inverted and I was not high enough to recover a secod time. The plane hit mostly vertical and buried the engine about 8 inches into the ground. Looked over the plane and this is the damage.

1. The metal engine mount snapped in half. Guess I need a new one of those.
2. Wing popped off of the fuse, no damage to the wing.
3. Aileron pushrods, one bent, and one lost in the grass, servo horn busted. Servo gears seem ok.
4. Elevator servo tie-wrap busted and servo came loose, servo horn busted. Servo gears seem ok.
5. Not sure about the fuel tank yet.
6. Engine caked with mud.
7. Fuse not damaged at all, just a little dirty.

The plane will fly again once I get a new engine mount for it.

Thoughts on the plane.
1. For the short period of time that it was airborne, it flew nice and stable.
2. Way too underpowered. Maybe it will fly better with a piped YS .60 RE. :D
3. Cannot blame crash on plane. Not sure what the cause was, but I do intend to rebuild it. There are someone that I want to teach to fly with it.

That is all for now. Will let you know how maiden flight #2 comes out.

Doug

RE: Debonair finished
 

That engine should have more than enough power to fly that plane. My Deb has a Tower .46 on it and never lacked for power. What prop are you using. I used a MA 10X7

You might want to check the weight that Engine should be enough up to about 6 pounds.

RE: Debonair finished
 

I was running it rich since it is not fully broken in yet, not sure about the RPM. Using a MAS 10X6. Don't want a lot of speed since I will be training a new pilot with it.

RE: Debonair finished
 

I flew a deb on Sunday for the first time. A new member brought it out and I maidened/ trimmed it for him. Very nice flying plane. This one had a OS 46 la and it seemed to be powered pretty well. We were spinning a Master airscrew 10x6 at 13,100. It was on skis and I could not get enough ground speed, so we had to hand launch it. This was in deep snow (hard packed) with the temp in the upper 30's. Hopefully the weather will stay in the upper 30's this week and we will melt the snow off. Still have about 7 inches to go.

RE: Debonair finished
 

I would tend to agree that your MDS should have had ample power for the Debonair. I've built a couple and also powered one with the OS 46 LA which had enough power for take office and other basic manuevers. It isn't a powerhouse but compared to your MDS, you will have more power.

RE: Debonair finished
 

flightTestDummy......I hope you can find out what went wrong. Could the servo movement have been backward? If not could the servo be bad? It seemed to move only in one direction. Were the COROPLAS aileron hinges exceptionally stiff? I have had to cut slots in my hinges.

RE: Debonair finished
 

Villa,

I know the servo direction was correct, I checked during preflight about four times; comes from taking off a quickee 500 racer with them backward. Up and then down, and the day of racing finished. I have not had a chance to plug the servo in and see if it was still working. It was an old servo so it is possible that it did fail (it was an old Futaba S38 from way back in 87.)

I did not think that the ailerons were especially stiff, though it is possible that the servo did not have enough ummph to drive the ailerons under load.

It will be rebuilt and I will put a different servo in the wing. Unfortunately I have not had time to mess with it since the crash and it is still in the trunk of my car. Tonight will not be any different, as I have something else that I have to do.

What is the longevity of an MDS engine encased in mud? [8D]

I may have to get a scale just so I know what the weight is. When compared to a 3 1/2 pound Q-500, it is a brick.

Doug

RE: Debonair finished
 

That roll to the right thing on it's own happened with mine too [X(] I don;t know I think it was flex in the stabs so on the second i built (never flew it had to sell it) i put supports on the stabs try it!

RE: Debonair finished
 

I flew a Deb that seemed to do the same thing at slower speeds. The ailerons flexed and we weren't gitting enough throw at the wing tips. I added a servo in each wing and it flew alot better. We even use the flapperon fuction for steeper approches. This Deb also once flew with an OS 46LA and it did pretty good. The 46FX that is on it now does a lot better though.

RE: Debonair finished
 

Im sold on the OS .46 fx i have it on a Large Deb (72" ws)

CG in right at forward Spar, and is a taildragger.


sahoy

RE: Debonair finished
 

I agree about the aileron flex issue. I had bad flutter problems untill i put a servo in each wing. Since then it has been one of my most enjoyable planes.

Too Windy! Not For My DEB!

RE: Debonair finished
 

If you used the double spar in the wing and 4 ply coro you might be surprised at the weight. Might came out right at 7 pounds. It flies with a TH 46 and it is enough power but it does take some time to get airpeed and it will come in pretty hot. Should make a good trainer once you get evrything lined out. I too had to cut slots for the ailerons because it was too stiff and only the inner areas were actually moving. A fun plane - enjoy it:)

RE: Debonair finished
 

Got my deb all back together. The only things that I had to replace were the engine mount and some of the pushrods (Aileron and throttle). Luckily no damage to the basic airframe. I did replace the aileron servo with a JR 4001 servo. I will see if that makes a difference.

Took the plane into the back yard to run the engine and it is running good since being cleaned of all of that excessive mud[X(] I don't think I can trust the tach though as my MDS .48 tached about 10-11 K with a 10 X 6 MAS prop. Something is not right there.

If the weather holds for tomorrow I will try again. They are calling for strong winds, and although wind is not that big of an issue, I don't want maiden flight #2 to be in that wind.

Will let you know what has changed.

RE: Debonair finished
 

How would that setup handle a load like a palmcorder 1 1/4 pounds

RE: Debonair finished
 

What do you think is wrong? Too many RPM's? NOT! My GMS .47 with a 10x7 MAS turns over 13K

RE: Debonair finished
 

NOT is right. I know I should be turning at least 13k with that setup, if not higher.

It is an old mechanical scale tach. Time to get a new digital one. I just forget every time I visit my LHS.

RE: Debonair finished
 

I actually have a wireless video system that weights 14 ounces and it carries it just fine, landings are a bit faster but i dont have a prob with it.

sahoy

RE: Debonair finished
 

I flew my Debonair the other day with a ST-45 and 11X5 Master airknife and flew very well with lots of power. It weighed in at 5 lbs 4 oz. I did have some trouble with the wing not being per the drawing as it was pointed at the leading edge. I duct taped a piece fo Coroplast on the top at the leading edge adn this solved its handling abilitiy. I have now permanently glued a piece of Coro on the top of the wing from the leading edge back and will fly it tomorrow. This will be a super trainer as I crashed it on the first day of flight checks due to a servo stripping the gears on ailerons. I flew into a barb wire fence but no damage except for a couple of punctures in the wing and throttle arm broken off motor etc. Man this stuff is tough!!!!

RE: Debonair finished - updated report
 

Finally got a chance to take the plane up again. I probably should not have put the eagles on the wings, dogs would have been much better as this thing is truly a dog. As I hold it up, it has to be all of 7 or 8 pounds. I followed the directions on spadtothebone, used 4 mil coro, american gutter pipe (probably some of the problem) and it is still a tank.

Enough on that. Got the ol' MDS fired up, set it up so it was running good. (so far there is a fine line between too rich and too lean. Hopefully will get better) Taxied onto the runway and let 'er rip. Again there was the nice scale Cessna 152 takeoff, followed by a slow scale-like climb. Got it up and got it trimmed out and then the Mostly Dead Stick lived up to its name, and down it came. What was a good idle for a short time had become too lean. Reset the idle and took 'er up again. Same takeoff.

All in all it does fly nice and stable, landings are a breeze, with the high wingloading this thing will never float, but it does a nice flare. One the second flight, after my touch and attempt to go, it did not get up fast enough and hit the weeds at the end of the runway. Busted, one nylon landing gear bolt. I fixed it and them waited for the student flier that never arrived.

Meanwhile....got to fly my quick little ugly stick made from a converted Q500 racer. A quick way to burn 6 oz. of fuel with a ASP .40, Macs Quiet Pipe, and pylon 83/4 7 prop.

Later