RDJeff

My Feedback: (11)

The plans this is cut from and that I'm using are the Duellist MKII plans available on Outerzone, and blown up by 24 or 25%. Pay close attention to the rib profiles, there are errors there that get worse at the bigger scale.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Cool, thank you.

GhostofAuger

What's the size of the spinners, and what retracts did you go with?

Thanks.

hckyguy1970

My Feedback: (-1)

Everything is looking great!! Any updates on your progress? I had planned to already be working on mine, but I’m still mired in the finishing process of my Top Flite Cessna Skylane. I’ve got the engines and pipes now too (NovaRossi 61 speeds rear exhaust). I also would like to know about which retracts you’re using? I was thinking of Spring Air’s, but I’m not sure if they’re even selling them anymore. I definitely like your ideas on saving weight. I’m going to glass and paint mine, but I’m going to lighten up the formers and ribs as much as possible...looking good!!!

RDJeff

My Feedback: (11)

Wow, has it really been that long since I posted? This plane got set aside for a while, holidays, kitchen project, out of town visitors, and a Proctor Jenny, all put a stop to it. I'll get back on it in the next couple of weeks.

To answer your questions, I'm using 2 1/2" 3-blade spinners,and the retracts are Spring-Air 102HD units that I had in my stash. I hope they hold up!

mgp1970

Hi everyone!!

Not sure if anyone is still here but I have started to build the 240 Mk 2 and after reading through the forums here it has given me a bit more confidence.
I have not build a lot but my father has and I was seriously concerned with the way the fuselage is constructed with the duelist but no longer.

So far both halves of the wing have progressed well and the formers and tabs for the fuselage are glued and waiting for something to be joined to them!
I plan to put x2 OS 55AX motors or x2 OS 46's. (This is not the 260 Duelist remember!)
Also would like a servo for each aileron as well as elevator and servoless retracts.............

Hope I am not talking to myself here ha ha!

do335a

Do yourself a BIG favor before you start your plane. Re-read post #590, especially the part about the wing rib profiles.

That's not all that's wrong with the plan, Everything is!

Years ago I purchased a copy of the plan from MAN - not a cheap, distorted copy of a copy from some copyright violator - with the intention of building the plane.

Critical items like the overhead drawing of the fuselage are wrong - it's wider on one side than the other. It also curves like a banana. The bulkheads don't match the views for width and height. The ribs are totally incorrect. Wings are not of equal span. It's a total mess.

In fact, it was so bad that I rejected the project and moved on to a different, similar machine. And only one former was off - by 1/8" in width. Everything else was spot on. What a relief.

I also prefer that choice as it has a tapered leading edge wing with a straight trailing edge. It's also less complicated to build. Also takes only 2 balsa blocks in the nose as opposed to the balsa block factory required for the Duellist and looks very fast and mean when converted to a taildragger on carbon fiber swept back main gear.

You will also need a landing gear mod if you use the OS 55 engines. As it is designed, there is insufficient ground clearance for the required props on those engines.

It's a big project with all the considerations which will develop along the way. My advice is to carefully "build" it in your mind several steps ahead of the actual construction to anticipate the problems which will arise so that you can make the necessary changes that will prevent you from building yourself into a corner.

mgp1970

Hi and thanks for the reply.

At the moment both wing halves are done but not yet sheeted.
There is 1mm difference between the two and having had the major parts laser cut by a good local modeller I think that side of things is fine.
Am also nearly ready to sheet the fuselage and have also noticed that it is quite straight without any of the banana tendencies you state.

When building I always have a good look at what I need to do well before I do it.

Regarding the 55's I have no problem playing with the gear length to suit but more than likely will use 3 bladed props at the expense of a little bit of performance.

Cheers.

Twin_Flyer

My Feedback: (4)

For some reason RCU stopped notifying me of forum updates and just now (!!) saw your post, looks great.

I think I agree that DLE wouldn't be a good fit for this plane and the lines it has.

Bill S.

mgp1970

No way in hell would this model be nice with a gasser or electric.....grrrrrr bloody battery boys!
OK OK OK This model COULD be nice Electric.

Some things that really annoy me so far with the build -
Making the fuse different to the tried and trusted formers and sides meeting in one.
FFS this thing will be super quick, no need to glue the formers to a board and build around them to be more streamlined!?!?
No main spar for the wing?!?
REALLY!?!?! When the wing also has x2 nacelles and motors upon it!?!?
Leading edge - OMFG argh! I today MADE MY OWN leading edge tool to make same. No balsa company makes that size anymore. How about a tooth on the front of the ribs mating a square balsa piece and then the wing sheeting meets on that and can be sanded EASILY to shape?!
Oh no.....you would rather a tapered rib from centre to tip that of course has to fit the profile of the nacelle that is built separately to the wing and or model lol....um, yeah ok........








YA THINK!?!?!?!?!

CAN I PLEASE TALK TO RECENT BUILDERS OF THIS MODEL!?!?!? YOU ARE ALLOWED TO PM OR EMAIL FIRST WITHOUT MY PRIOR CONSENT YES!!!

mgp1970

Grrrrr..............

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

I still have my Super Duelist kit.. the one that was put together by the
guys here at RCU years ago... I would sell it if anyone's interested..

LethalGTO

Anyone know the outer diameter of the wing tube sleeve and its accompanying aluminum wing tube? I am pretty sure TNT Landing Gear will have something that will work. I am trying to figure out how the Super Duellist is to have removal wing panels; common sense tells me the fuselage must have had full sides and there must be a top hatch in order to secure the wing panels to the fuselage. Anyone with insight on this?

The short kit from "AMAModels" on eBay does not have the hole in the ribs to accommodate the wing tube. I do see a faint line on the Super Duellist plans indicating where the tube is to be placed (I think that is the intent of the line just aft of the main spar). I also don't like the original leading edge as designed so I am redrawing the wing ribs in addition to tube holes, to have a sub-leading edge tab and a sub-leading edge with slots, NACA 0015 looks to be about the proper airfoil. The sub-leading will be glued to the rib tabs, wing sheeting will be glued to the ribs and the overhang sheeting sanded even with the sub-leading edge to which the leading edge will be glued to and then sanded to its final shape. Makes for a much stronger leading edge than butt-joining ribs to the leading edge and avoid finicky sanding a tapered edge and placement of the sheeting precisely at the leading edge.

Worse case is a single panel wing using the tried and true method of dowel pins and wing bolts.

Thanks.
Darryl

mgp1970

Would love to buy yours Flyboy if not for the fact that the balsa might now be a tad heavier than when you first got the kit.........That and the small issue of you being on the other side of the world lol!
I have the smaller .46 powered Duelist (going to have x2 OS55ax's in it).
The plan as far as I can tell does not have a wing tubing of any sort. I have had a Laser cutter friend design the wing a bit stronger. That and fiber glass cloth to the nacelles and no crazy flying will be ok in my opinion.
I am taking my time with this one and have overcome a lot of tedious old school issues. Would have been far better to have the leading edge ribs have notches to suit a piece of square with the sheeting top and bottom meeting and being sanded off.
I had to fabricate out of cork a leading edge shape to suit the nacelle shape and sand the leading edge with this. In the end it fits perfectly but there should not be this much stuffing around on a tried and trusted design.
Also the fuse should be formers and two sides like a conventional model. Doing a wrap around in my opinion only over complicates things and this model does not have to be streamlined to be fast!

LethalGTO

Are you referring to the 2/40 MK II as designed by Dave Platt? Correct. If referring to the Super Duellist, the subject of this thread and to which I am referring to, William Robison et al. did implement a wing tube design. Post #3 in part states:

I like the standard box fuselage idea for easier wing panel joining and perhaps partial circles adhered to the outside of the box frame to give the fuselage an oval shape using a skin. I'll have to play around with the concept in Rhino 3D.

Take care.
Darryl

bernd_57

Hello
I want to build the Duellist 260.
Which profile does the Duellist 260 have?
Can it be the NACA 0015?
Would like to construct the wing with Profili or Winghelper

Regards Bernd

mgp1970

FINALLY after over a year of slow building / inactivity and a lot of other stuff the smaller 2/40 I have scratch built has flown!!
It is quite heavy but you could not tell that from how it flies, which is really really well!
Powered by x2 O.S 55AX's with on board glow and electric retracts.
I modified the retracts from the plan to go one rib further out to make ground handling better and extended/modified the nose and cone so that a longer nose leg could be used.

Pretty happy with how it has all turned out.
I started in rc models when I was 8 years old and this is the third scratch build in the last 2 1/2 years with nothing scratch built before that for about 28 years!!
This is my second twin scratch build in two years.

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

I still have this kit for sale...3/20/2022

Dave Swanson

I am very interested. PM sent

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

..The Super Duelist kit has been SOLD.

Vincent hunin

Hello, this is my first post on this forum.
I discovered this thread and found explanation about a mysterious kit i bought.
I am in belgium and went to a modeler selling a huge amount of kits because he is stopping for ealth reason. I bought a duelist 240 kit and he also sold me a duelist kit resized for .60 engines telling me this was a limited series kit made by rcuniverse members years ago. I plan to build both of them starting with the little one and I think that this is the good place to have info about what I bought

Flyboy Dave

My Feedback: (21)

... mgp1970... congrats on your build...

Vincent hunin

Hello, I started the 240 kit two days ago with the idea of discovering the duelist general design before building the 260 kit I bought .
I have read so much different things about this airplane the last 48 hours that I am a bit confused and decided to start with the fuselage first and apply some mods that I feel just fine.
I decided to go with a stock "lenght and shape" fuselage but to extend a bit the nose gear wire by drawing and adding a extra former in front of f1 and reduce the lenght of the nose block . this allow me to place retract motor more forward in the fuse to avoid gear retraction in the wing. That's the only mod I plan to make to the fuse ( I go with stock stab incidence)

please duelist experts, let me know if I am on the right track before I start to sheet. Thanks
I am not allowed to post a picture yet ( 10 post minimum)

SALMONBUG

My Feedback: (1)

I received a mail of vincent hunin asking to post this pic on the thread, showing his progress on d240 fuselage. Looks just nice to me but I am not duelist expert.
By the way, I am the guy who sold all those vintage kits ( including duelist and super duelist to vincent). I have serious ealth issues and decided to reduce my kit and airplane collection

here is the pic

Vincent hunin

thank you

from what I can see before sheeting , it looks like once the top will be sheeted it will be impossible to insert the stock pushrods without cutting in the formers. So 'ill insert them before sheeting