A unique selection of World War I and By and For Golden Age laser cut Electric Flight short kits and plans The AerodromeRC News Enthusiasts VOL 1 - NO 9 September 2005 www.AerodromeRC.com D.III with standard fuselage, tailplane E�������� I����� ���� I���� and undercarriage, but a new set of wings that, however, followed the one- By Kurt Bengtson 1 • E�������� piece laminated wood construction 1 • P���� T������� P�������� of the D.III. Only a single photograph Many things have been happening 3 • B������� T��: W��� T���, seems to have survived which was my at AerodromeRC this past month. R������ ��� E�������� main source of information. Apart from We have introduced new models and 4 • T���� �� ��� T���� P��� that, I am grateful to Don Ralston who released a few from our workshop T��: C������� ��� T���� supplied me with pictures of his plastic into full release. Work has progressed ��� C������� model (you can find it in his gallery on on many designs and new ones were www.wwi-models.org). It seems the added. I’ll be re-designing a Sparrow conversion consisted of the following: monoplane for Free Flight, hopefully to enter that 1. Ailerons added to the lower wing. market in the fall. The old design has been upgraded for a more scale look with double the number of ribs, a new airfoil improved construction. It will continue to be offered for electric R/C. The new 24” Albatros DII for GWS power is our first entry into the indoor or backyard flying genre. Work is underway for a ~24” wingspan, Fokker Dr.1 of the same class. Our venerable 36” SPAD VII has been redesigned for a much more scale look with 110 ribs and scale like airfoils. It also has a lighter built-up box construction. The current beginner’s version will continue to be offered. A new feature that will be added to new kit designs is the inclusion of laser cut strip wood for many kits. This addition will make it much easier to build one of our kits without hunting down an odd size or non-metric size piece of strip wood. Costs 2. Upper wing shorted by one rib (ailerons w/o will be slightly higher but we hope the convenience balance) and set higher. will out weigh it. Also, for many double spar 3. Middle wing (w/o ailerons) of very short chord designs, I’ll be using balsa for spars instead of bass added. or spruce. The weight savings easily overcomes the The ailerons of the two wings were connected by pushrods; loss of strength. This also allows me to include spar the new, higher cabane and wing struts looked like the D.III material as part of the kit. Laminated balsa will ones. be included for leading edges in some kits too. For some kits, carbon fiber tubes and rod just have no substitute and will be used. P���� T������� P�������� By Eduard Werner After the appearance of the Sopwith Triplane in late 1916, the German aircraft industry was invited to develop triplanes themselves. The single successful type of these triplanes was the Fokker Dr.1; the only other produced triplane fighter was the Pfalz Dr.1. But apart from these, almost every German aircraft designer tried to develop a triplane, mostly by adapting an existing biplane, simply fitting it with another wing. One of these projects was the Pfalz Triplane that never received a factory designation. It was a converted Pfalz Since you can use almost all the parts of a D.III or DIIIa, The AerodromeRC News VOL 1 - NO 9 Page 2 www.AerodromeRC.com Kurt’s kit lends itself to this conversion. Starting with a for the biplane Pfalz) with four HiTec servos, a Graupner well-designed kit is a good idea anyway, so you really know R700 (with over 20g not a lightweight), a 1200mA LiPoly who is to blame pack and a Yellow-BL motor which had been pushed with when it won’t D�� ��� ����� neodyne magnets by Ralph Okon. The covering has been fly. I decided to The Sopwith Baby, a derivative of the done with Polyspan and clear dope. The CG looked right, sheet the tailplane 1913 Sopwith Tabloid, was the longest with 1 mm balsa Sopwith design in military use. It served and planked the until 1930 with the Norwegian service. fuselage. Adding ailerons to the lower wing was trivial, and I shortened the upper wing scale-like, thus being able to use the kit’s trailing edge (the balance bit went away). The middle wing is a simple construction with stock LE and TE and two 3 x 2 mm spruce longerons and came out at 25g, covered. The angle of incidence of middle and lower wing are identical, too, but keep in mind that I am one of those builders who simply balance the model on two fingers while glancing at the plan and decide everything is all right when the fuselage stays halfway horizontal. After all, I have paid money for that elevator servo, haven’t I? Before the maiden flight, I was much less nervous than I used to be. She gained speed slowly but was airborne after about 10m. As she was so very slow I was afraid of stalling her until I understood that this is her D�� ��� ����� and I kept the angle of incidence of the upper wing and cruising speed. Wing warping in early biplanes simply set it higher. That way I wouldn’t have to worry She feels like a was accomplished by control cables about the CG. The nasty bit was the new cabane struts, but slow flyer and connected to the lower wing rear spar. after a lot of swearing and piercing the covered upper wing looks breathtaking Pulling on one side and subsequent release of tension on the opposite once it came out all right. I also beefed up the undercarriage in the air. The side caused the necessary warp. As a a bit connecting the front legs with a piece of steel rod, good handling consequence, wing warping biplanes c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s did not have inter plane strut cross have survived the bracing. conversion, she is just reacting a little sensitive to the elevator. Power is not abundant, a loop from level flight is just too much, and she has to be flown at full throttle almost all the time, resulting in about 8 minutes of flight on a 1200mA LiPoly. Meanwhile, I have also succeeded in taking off of grass. All in all, I am extremely pleased with the result of this experiment. She’s just the thing for a nice chill-out on a calm evening, looking great in the air and actually having no vices, a slow and stable flyer. D�� ��� ����� The Sopwith LCT also known as the 1 ½ strutter was an very innovative design for it’s day. It introduced the characteristic cowling of all later Sopwith rotary engine aircraft. The ½ struts anticipating that it might be capable of coping with more were considered advanced at the time replacing the full inter weight than it had been designed for. The longerons of the plane variety with cabane style approach. There was no top middle wing go through holes in the fuselage. wing center section. The top wing attachment was via inverted Interestingly, she came out much lighter than expected and V cabane struts to a central box rib. The LCT went into service in February of 1916. weighs only 690g (that’s 100g less than the instructions give The AerodromeRC News VOL 1 - NO 9 Page 3 www.AerodromeRC.com paint tray that was big enough to hold the length of dowel I B������� T��: needed. I am ready to do some wing tip forming. W��� T���, R������ ��� E�������� By Bert Ayers Recently I saw a couple of discussions (one on E-Zone) on how to do laminations for wing tips, rudders and elevators or other areas where curved edges are needed. CA glue and White water based resins have made laminating really easy. I allowed the dowels to soak in the ammonia for about two hours. Then I carefully taped them to the pattern and let them dry overnight. I wanted to share another way of making wing tips, rudders and elevators. Something I learned many years ago, before CA and White glue. This process also allows one to make a three dimensional shape---that is, not only wing tip shape I made four beautiful wing tips that also have an under cambered shape. Not shown are the rudder and horizontal stab/elevator I made in the same manner. This is not a difficult process. I hope you will try it instead of laminating---on one of your models. but also with and under cambered airfoil shape included. I’m building a 1/6 scale Bristol Scout with under cambered wings. I made a template of the wing tip shape (both tips on one template) out of 1/8-inch pressboard. I bent to the D�� ��� ����� The progenitor of the Sopwith Pup was the undercamber shape I desired. I added two ribs to hold the Sopwith SLTBP also called the Sopwith Sparrow. shape. A Harry Hawker design, the Sparrow was powered D�� ��� ����� I choose some very by a 50 Hp Gnome rotary engine. Hawker Other than the USA, the only demonstrated its aerobatic abilities in November other nations to operate Camels straight grained 1/8 inch dowels. I bought a bottle 1915.