101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

I started my first ever scratch build project about two months ago. It's of an amphibian Lake Renegade 250. The plans are from Germany. The wingspan is 101 inches, length 75 inches. The plans have provisions for putting in removable fixed landing gear, but I am going to keep it strictly as a water bird. I guess I chose kind of a difficult plane and plans for my first scratch build. But then again, I did go from a trainer plane to a twin engine right away! I am sure I will make a few mistakes and learn a lot.

Here a few pics of some of the parts that I have cut and made so far. Because of very limited time to work on this project, progress will be slow. I am lucky if I can get one evening every two weeks to work on it. But as I make progress, I intend to take pics along the way.

The first pic shows all the main fuselage formers. Some are ply, some are balsa. I put a 12 inch ruler in the picture to give some sort of reference as to the size of the parts. The parts are arranged in order from front of plane to back, in columns (start at upper left, go down, go to top of middle column, go down, go to top of right columns, go down). Pics 3 & 4 are of the engine pod above the fuse. It will be a pusher type setup. The last pic shows some of the tail pieces loosely dry fit. More pics to come later as build progresses.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Here are some pics of full size Renegades for reference.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Where did you get the plans? It's a great looking plane but the full scale isn't that great a performer.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Hi, as my old friend Chip Mull stated the full size Renegade isn't that great a performer. When Lake upgraded they made the plane too heavy and weight distribution got screwed up. I have owned two full scale Buccanneers and they were lots of fun to fly. The four-banger 200 hp Lycoming was just right for power and if you kept the gross down it performed very well even in the hot high temperatures of the High Desert where I had them based. I have also built two medium size Lake models and they both flew very well. I highly suggest that one stick to the Lake Bucanneer and not the Renegade. Just before the latest Lake company went belly up..again..in Florida I flew the Renegade and wasn't the least bit impressed. I much preferred my Bucs. Norm

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

smpshot

Are you still building the Lake 250, I have got the plans from germany and i have a couple of questions youmight be able to answer.

Really appreciate the help.

JRW

[email protected]

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Jeff,

Yes, I am still building the Lake. Progress has been SLOW! Kids, wife, family, and other things seem to take up most of my time. But, I do have some pics that I just took tonight of the progress I have made. I will try my best to answer any questions you may have, and would also like to hear any comments or ideas you may have as well.

Fred

[email protected]

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Nice pictures, keep us posted :D

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

The pictures look great. Please email me directly, I have the plans and some questions.

Thanks

Jeff [email protected]

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Jeff,

I got your email with questions. I tried to e-mail you back two nights ago but I got a return message with a delivery delay/problem. I also sent you a PM with the same info here at RCU.

I had to go back about 7 or 8 months ago in my head to remember just what the hell my thought processes were, whew! The plans obviously called out for wood sizes that must be readily available in Germany. After I studied these plans for a good couple of weeks, I went to a blue print shop and had a working copy of the plans made. I decided to draw in on these working plans the english sizes of wood that are readily available here in the states. For instance, the fuse longerons (13/32) you asked about, I decided to used 3/8 balsa square sticks. So I redrew those lines and cutouts on each former to fit 3/8 stock. I did a bit of "drawing in" on all the views in my working plans.

As far as what to use for items where the material wasn't specified, I am going to balsa, keep it as light as possible. If I feel that a particular item may have a bit of stress on it or should be a little stronger, I will use ply. Also, I have not yet made any of my parts for the wings or stab yet.

Wing ribs & rudder ribs, 1/8 balsa. I would make wing ribs 42 & 43 ply, especially if you plan on having the landing gear. I am not using landing gear (keeping it light), but I will still make them ply because they hold the ends of the wing tubes. Elevator/stab ribs, 3/32 balsa. Again, I might make the tube-end rib ply.

Part 24: 1/8 ply, especially if using the elevator linkage/setup shown. Although I am not going to use the linkage shown for the elevator, I still feel this part should be ply for a little bit more strength in the tail section. I plan on using two low profile servos, one each side, in the stab for the elevator.

Part 25: 3/16 balsa. I bought a 1" x 2" x 36" balsa plank and ripped down a piece to 3/16 on a little Dremel table saw that I have.
Part 26: 3/8 balsa. I bought a 1-1/2" x 3" x 36" balsa plank and ripped down a piece to 3/8 on the Dremel table saw.

Part 8: 1/8 balsa.

Parts 9 & 12: don't know. 9 seems to be the same as 10?? 12 looks like it might be a cross support for the cowl, but it doesn't measure out quite right from the pod top view.

Also, parts 10, 11, & 13 call out 5/16 ply. I could not find 5/16 or 3/8 ply. So I bought two sheets of 3/16 ply from my local hobby shop and laminated them together to get 3/8 ply.

Also, I highly suggest laminating thinner strips of wood together to make the center line fuse longerons. So instead of using stock 3/8 square sticks, use 3/16 x 3/8 sticks and laminate. The thinner strips bend much easier without breaking, and the lamination gives better strength.

I bought most of my wood online from LoneStar Models in Texas (lonestar-models.com). Good luck, this one isn't easy!!

One side note, I did get a hold of the Bill Effinger plans for this plane (91 inch wingspan) last month. Much better detail, much better plan in my opinion. Problem is, I'm too far into this German one already to even think about stopping and starting over on a different one!

I hope all this helps!

Fred

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Vertical stab with ribs in place.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

I finally have found some time to get back to this project, so here is an update. I started working on sheeting the hull with balsa. I plan on putting on another layer of thin plywood running opposite grain direction. After seeing an article in a magazine about building a balsa cowl, I decided to try to do at least the front part of my cowl in balsa. So I jumped from the hull to doing the cowl. After doing some tedious strip planking and eating a lot of balsa dust, this is the result. I am very happy with how it is turning out. I plan on using this as a plug as well to make a fiberglass cowl (something I have never done, but I'm gonna learn!). A few of my club members are giving me some advice on how to do it.

I hope to make more progress soon. More to come......

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Nice work jmpshot
I had a look at Jeff's build the other day and he is ready to start sheeting too. Jeff keeps insisting I'll be the one to maiden it so my interest in how these things are built is genuine. It really is a big, beautiful bird.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Thanks Gary. As you saw, Jeff is a bit further along than I am. I am anxiously waiting for him to send me a few recent pics. I would like to be there when you guys do the maiden! It sure is a heck of a project to take on, especially as a first full build from just plans, and plans without much detail or hints! Have you done much scratch building?

Fred

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Fred
I like building models with coroplast, mostly WWI and WWII warbirds around 40" span. My biggest project to date is this 1/4 scale cub. Jeff wants to see a coroplast version of your Renegade and gave me a copy of his plans. I said I'd consider making one after I see how it flys. Does a flight report exist for the 101" Lake Renegade?

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Have a look at what I just picked up tonight! A partially built Renegade! Whoever built this appeared to be quite a builder. It is about the same size as the one I am currently building. My build is just a tad bigger than this one. They sure did a heck of a job on the glass cowls and hatches. No wings or stab, but it did come with hand drawn rib sections. It looks like I may be able to use the wings from my current build on it. It will be a great reference source for me.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

If you are looking for the Bill Effinger lake Renegade plans you can get them at Flite metal. The address is http://www.flitemetal.com/


Good flying and, thank you jmpshot for inspirational lake thread.
Dale

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Hear is the direct address to the effinger renegade.

http://004edc4.netsolhost.com/BAWET/...l_Effinger.htm

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Kudos on your build.

I actually owned an LA4-200T. N# 8001J, Put 400 hours in it!

Great airplane with real STOL capabilities.

Did you know that the Factory makes the "Airwolf." A military version with hard spots and secrets?

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

The Lake aircraft are now history. Several years ago their molds and type certificate were auctioned off at Oshkosh and I don't believe anyone bought them. The last owner built one or two in Florida from partially finished aircraft but there was no market at the price he needed to sell them for so he shut it all down. Norm

I went to factory and did an article for Private Pilot and that was at least 3 or 4 years ago. Great airplane but not for this time.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

The military version of the Lake Renegade was called the "SeaWolf". There is still a webpage that shows some pics of it (www.seawolfamphib.com) It was/is used primarily by special operations and border patrol.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

When I was as the factory the Sea Wolf (they only made a demonstrator) was in the corner of the hangar. I believe that none were ever purchased by anyone. If anyone has more info I would like to update my records. Norm

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

Yes, "Seawolf", I was close. Airwolf was that TV show.

Hard to believe Lake went bust. They had a Factory in Maine and a Sales Office/shop in Florida.

Charles

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

D.R.:

Thanks for redirect to the Renegade. Its actually the BuyAero.com web site and the Giant Scale Plans section within it. Here is a mini view of a portion of the plans:
http://004edc4.netsolhost.com/BAWET/...LakeRen900.jpg

Back when you made your original post the site had just begun to function due to the limited time available to work on it prior to the Christmas & New Year holidays. At this time we are in the process of completing the site and filling in the options for each design.

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

That actually looks like a Bill Effinger designed Lake Renegade with a ton of scratch added components.

Ed Clayman
Houston, TX

RE: 101" Lake Renegade 250 build
 

JMPShot, are you still building the Lake Renegade?