My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
05-20-2007, 04:58 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (4)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Evans,
GA
Posts: 1,053
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
My Duellist flies!
This is the one that the wife bought for me at Perry a couple of years ago. I added new gear, a pair of rear exhaust Jett 50's and tuned pipes. And did a whole bunch of creative work to get all the new stuff in the old plane and re-finish it without messing up the cool graphics. I finally got it in the air today.
The link will take you to my warbird page. Scroll down to see video of the Duellist. The video is a real hoot, there's not much showing the plane actually flying, it disappears from camera view a fraction of a second after the takeoffs. But some of the comments are priceless.
[link=http://flytrca.org/video1.html]Video Page[/link]
No problem with reliability of the Jett's, but they are still breaking in and tuning them is tricky. Ground peak is now right at 18,000 RPM on the 9.5x7 props and I had them richened up to around 17,400. The good news is that once in the air the lack of synch makes very little difference. And once fully on the pipes they synch up just fine.
Take off is another matter. Now that I know how the plane handles I think it would be easiest to go to full throttle with someone holding the tail and pointing it down the runway!
The plane actually flies great, rock stable and very nimble. And no retract problems or any other mechanical problems at all. It trimmed out with all the control surfaces visually neutral, and the elevator is not at all speed sensitive.
High-speed passes are going to be fun. I slowly eased it up onto the pipes down the runway a few times and it felt great- like flying a bullet. The last pass I finally opened it up all the way and got a little bit of flutter by the time it reached me. I landed it with no problem and we took a look. One of the aileron torque rods is loosened up a bit. The old-style linkage is probably not up to 100+ MPH speeds. So I will relocate the servos in the wings like I would have done if I had built the plane myself.
Successful maiden flights, you gotta love em!!!
Walt
This is the one that the wife bought for me at Perry a couple of years ago. I added new gear, a pair of rear exhaust Jett 50's and tuned pipes. And did a whole bunch of creative work to get all the new stuff in the old plane and re-finish it without messing up the cool graphics. I finally got it in the air today.
The link will take you to my warbird page. Scroll down to see video of the Duellist. The video is a real hoot, there's not much showing the plane actually flying, it disappears from camera view a fraction of a second after the takeoffs. But some of the comments are priceless.
[link=http://flytrca.org/video1.html]Video Page[/link]
No problem with reliability of the Jett's, but they are still breaking in and tuning them is tricky. Ground peak is now right at 18,000 RPM on the 9.5x7 props and I had them richened up to around 17,400. The good news is that once in the air the lack of synch makes very little difference. And once fully on the pipes they synch up just fine.
Take off is another matter. Now that I know how the plane handles I think it would be easiest to go to full throttle with someone holding the tail and pointing it down the runway!
The plane actually flies great, rock stable and very nimble. And no retract problems or any other mechanical problems at all. It trimmed out with all the control surfaces visually neutral, and the elevator is not at all speed sensitive.
High-speed passes are going to be fun. I slowly eased it up onto the pipes down the runway a few times and it felt great- like flying a bullet. The last pass I finally opened it up all the way and got a little bit of flutter by the time it reached me. I landed it with no problem and we took a look. One of the aileron torque rods is loosened up a bit. The old-style linkage is probably not up to 100+ MPH speeds. So I will relocate the servos in the wings like I would have done if I had built the plane myself.
Successful maiden flights, you gotta love em!!!
Walt
05-20-2007, 05:27 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: ames, IA,
Posts: 557
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
Awesome, dude!
Congratulations.
Funny how trying to follow a plane with a video camera induces some spontaneous curse words from lady-like S.O.'s. I have several such clips.
What kind of servo do you have in the ailerons? A good digital might have better holding power if that's the problem. My Duellist's servos are driven via bellcranks from a center servo, so there is some slop there. I hope the absence of Jett 50's will be my out.
mt
Congratulations.
Funny how trying to follow a plane with a video camera induces some spontaneous curse words from lady-like S.O.'s. I have several such clips.
What kind of servo do you have in the ailerons? A good digital might have better holding power if that's the problem. My Duellist's servos are driven via bellcranks from a center servo, so there is some slop there. I hope the absence of Jett 50's will be my out.
mt
05-20-2007, 06:03 PM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (4)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Evans,
GA
Posts: 1,053
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
Even though the setup uses torque rods there are two servos and I used a pair of digitals. There was no flutter until I nailed the throttles and let the engines really unload. With anything close to normal power/speed there was no problem.
Yeah the wife usually does a pretty good job with the camera. But a silver plane against a bright sky, "maiden" altitudes, and high speeds make for quite a challenge!
Walt
Yeah the wife usually does a pretty good job with the camera. But a silver plane against a bright sky, "maiden" altitudes, and high speeds make for quite a challenge!
Walt
05-20-2007, 08:25 PM
#5
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (4)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Evans,
GA
Posts: 1,053
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
Ed, MOM is still on my calendar and it looks like the Duellist will make it. The P-61 has been grounded until I get through the Mid-Atlantic museum airshow so I will be eager to fly it at MOM. And the Twin-Air is still going strong.
Walt
Walt
05-21-2007, 07:25 AM
#6
Senior Member
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
Walt, it looks great, thanks for the pics. I love the graphics, and the rear tuned pipes are neat. Congrats on a successful maiden.
06-23-2007, 11:12 PM
#7
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
I finally ran out of excuses and put my renovated 15 year-old Duellist in the air.
Not nearly as fast (or as hard to fly) as I had imagined or remembered from it's first maiden in 1992.
A good deal of down elevator differential with high throttle. I'll have to think up a radio mix for that. Props do a lot of grass-cutting on the ground. My new (left) standard O.S. 46 turns a 9-7 prop 2K faster than my old (right) reverse O.S. 46, so I had to rich it up considerably, but it comes off idle OK.
mt
Not nearly as fast (or as hard to fly) as I had imagined or remembered from it's first maiden in 1992.
A good deal of down elevator differential with high throttle. I'll have to think up a radio mix for that. Props do a lot of grass-cutting on the ground. My new (left) standard O.S. 46 turns a 9-7 prop 2K faster than my old (right) reverse O.S. 46, so I had to rich it up considerably, but it comes off idle OK.
mt
06-24-2007, 02:09 PM
#8
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (4)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Evans,
GA
Posts: 1,053
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: My Duellist flies! - maiden video link attached
Glad to hear she's flying again. I didn't think you would have any problems with the speed or landing characteristics, especially after flying mine.
My Duellist was originally built with a ton of downthrust, but I took all but 2 degrees of it out when installing the Jetts because I was concerned that it would make the plane want to climb too much at high speeds. It seemed to work because my elevator was not at all speed sensitive. We'll see if I can get it all back together that way.
Walt
My Duellist was originally built with a ton of downthrust, but I took all but 2 degrees of it out when installing the Jetts because I was concerned that it would make the plane want to climb too much at high speeds. It seemed to work because my elevator was not at all speed sensitive. We'll see if I can get it all back together that way.
Walt
