The Great Patriotic War

[Mitch]

With my new factory and repair shop... I believe I can produce more planes and revitalize my Luftwaffe once again!

I had learned to cut my teeth in the Battle of Britain, and improved my skill in North Africa... but took my losses:

My Yellow nose 109 flew over Kent, but has recieved much battle damage, and my White nosed 109 flew well at Perris, only to be shot done in Denver...

Now it is up to my Workhorse... the red tailed FW 190:

She got a new wing but suffered damage in flight tests... But will be repaired soon!

And my Observation plan... the Storch... she flew so well but had some bad weather... she will be up again...


And my Stuka... only memories... outclassed in Britain:


But the leaders have a plan... Make the Focke-Wulf into a fighter AND a ground attack bomber...add a 550 bomb to the FW!

The Plan... Attack Mother Russia...

But unknown to the German Intelligence, Russia will be receiving planes soon from the USA under Lend Lease...

Meet the Airacobra!

There were some production delays... but the assembly line is back on track!


To Be Continued! Mitch

[Mitch]

German Repair Factory:

If you fly your models, you will need to repair your models...

When I make a splice, I try to always make a "dovetail" joint rather than a "butt" joint:

I removed the skin. Make sure the paper is attached on all 4 edges. Remember, when we built this model the paper was only attached to the outer edges. Now I have to glue the paper down to the rib where I made a fresh cut. Now I have to remove the damaged section and prepare a replacement. I will let the paper dry...

...meanwhile over at the Storch. I decide to add a doubler plate to re-enfore the broken rib:

I clamp with plastic clamps. I am gluing with White glue. The glue may stick a little to the clamps, but you can carefully wiggle them and get them free from the glue.

The front of the Storch is now all filled in with Balsa (AS PER GUILLOW PLANS FOR GAS POWER) This is not per Dumas Plans.

NOTE: From now on... ALL of my flying models will have the forward section between F1 and F2 (or F0 to F1) filled in!

That's all for today... Good Night... Mitch

[davidchoate]

on yor tails of planes, is that gussets, or scalloping.? because I copied from you on my Edge, and I adeed gussets, or fillets, whatever you call them , on mine,because i've had breakage problems before.

[davidchoate]

Mitch, I forgot to add. You and the FF guys inspired me to give it another try. I ordered the Javelin kit to build a ff plane. I will use all the things i've seen on here like braiding & C. I always just put the stuff as the kits supplied and suggested, and maybe thats why I never had good results. I plan on "tricking out" the Javelin to the max, trimming it properly, and all.

[Mitch]

That's great! That's why I make my posts here and My Edge model inspired some people at the show to give it a try also!

The tails: On pictures you see here I used kit parts. Guillow C and D parts are overly large. After building the tail. I take my Dremel tool, and remove as much wood as I dare. So I create a Gusset, but it is scalloped out of the one piece of wood.

On my NEW Mustang, I made a few tails and I made them both ways. In the picture above of the Airacobra, I used the kit wood and scalloped them also.

On the NEW Edge, Those Parts are thinner and I left them alone. I did add 2 gussets to the rudder where I thought it would help.

I am glad you are trying FF again. I have not built the Lancer but have built the Arrow. It will ROG (Rise off Ground) The problem I have with that kit now is I need to remake the front end as I want to stretch wind the motor. I need to have the front end come off, so I will make changes to that later. I plan to fly her in an FAC event called P30. I have to check the rules again on that, but I know she fit into the category!

Mitch

PS: And another note. On my Edge build, I used ALL kit wood as per challenge, BUT removed as much as I dared with lightening holes and scalloping. They did not say you had to use the parts as cut. I scallop the TE of the wing. I removed a lot with sanding also!

[davidchoate]

i have been poking around on youtube and have seen all kinds of cool ideas. like the removable fronts.i saw what you described on a B-25. A guy had all 4 motors wound up, and held in place with some contraption that when removed released all 4 props. i plan to do upgrades as far as motor, prop, lightening holes, and the like. And then go a bit more sophisticated on each build.i am amazed at how much more there is to it than i originally thought. In many ways it makes the problems to overcome in rc builds look easy. i mean u can make a cinder block fly with enough power ( I think I saw that somewhere even),but to be given "limits" like in FF takes some enginuity .
And the feeling of accomplishment, and then always wanting to do better is one of the main reasons I love this hobby.

[Steve Blanchard]

Well David, welcome to the dark side! There are so many amazing things to see and accomplish in free flight and eventually you will expand into bigger and better. If you truly get bitten by the free flight bug you would be best served by really looking around the web for any flying clubs in your area that you could attend meets with. Just to look and see what happens. There's no better way to get help and advice than first hand with these guys. That's how I started out doing this about 13 years ago and I have never looked back. Mitch I'm sure can attest to the wonders of seeing the craftsmanship of some of the flyers at these meets. It's a wonder to behold and even more amazing when you actually start doing it yourself. Good luck in your free flight endeavors!

Steve

[Mitch]

Looks like the Storch will make a full recovery of her broken wing:

I will cover tomorrow. I am still not totally happy with the front end of the Storch as Thrust adjustment is difficult. But with the high wing she flies well!

And the FW's wing is coming along also: The FW's wing was broken from handling, not flying. I think I reached the limits on how light and delicate I can make a wing. Her wing has half the ribs and they are 1/32. The next generation I will go back to 1/16 thickness and drill lightening holes.

As with the Storch, I make the repair parts larger, then when dry, trim and sand them to shape.
My plans for the FW are to use the plane as a test platform for special features... I plan to experiment with adding a bomb rack and have the plane drop that after flying in the air... Need to check on my old Comet Plans on how they did that...I have some ideas of my own on that.
I also plan to make her canopy slide open on tracks, so I have to make those also.

I expect to build a fresh new FW during this winter's build season and have a new improved version ready for the "Spring Offensive" i.e. FAC contests.

Mitch

UPDATE: It was Sterling not Comet... IN FLIGHT ACTION FEATURES!

Does anyone know of anyone ever having there flying model do something MORE then fly?

Now that my model actually fly, I will try...

Plan... mount this Stuka 550 lb bomb to the FW and have the plane release the bomb in flight!

Stay tuned...

[Mitch]

Here is the little piece that is suppose to make this "ACTION FEATURE" work...

and it's a good thing they were in the kits as I think I am past the 90 day guarantee for free replacement parts!

I found another kit in my attic, so I have 3 of these. I am curious to see if I can make it work. My plan is to use Guillow rubber and a 7 inch prop. I want the plane to have that extra torque on the prop to get flying with this bomb load! I have had these 400 series fly weighing 100g. My FW has reduced her weight to 80g. The bomb weighs 8g now... When finished, maybe 10g. So I think I am within the realm of possibillity!

Does anyone know how old these Sterling kits are I can not find any dates... My guess is 1950's.

Mitch

UPDATE: I just realized I have a couple of SPAD's from Sterling... and they have this ACTION FEATURE also... so I have more release springs!

[davidchoate]

Mitch, if they don't give you extra points for the dropping bombs; you definitely deserve them for your imagination !

[kittyfritters]

...UPDATE: It was Sterling not Comet... IN FLIGHT ACTION FEATURES!

Does anyone know of anyone ever having there flying model do something MORE then fly?...

Stay tuned...

Mitch,

Just to remind you, there is noting in the AMA safety rules that forbid a model to drop bombs, as long as they are not real explosives, but projecting anything forward of the model, i.e. firing guns, or rockets as in the Sterling example, is prohibited. There have been many models that used the motor tension to trigger other actions. The first model I built with my father, in 1948, was a Joe Ott Avenger. It used a similar system to the Sterling kits to drop a torpedo when the rubber wound down.

I have toyed with several non-electronic mechanisms for retractable landing gear. The idea is to raise the gear up after an R.O.G. take off and lower the gear when the motor tension gets low, (Yes, it can be done!) but with the micro electronics available now that may be too much effort even for a rubber powered model.

Howard

[Mitch]

Thanks for the update on that... So I can drop bombs and torpedoes as long as the are duds, but my rocket firing "Balloon Busing" Nieport 11 is scratched!

Update at the German armament department... So here is how this little device works:

The releasing mechanism will slip over the rear peg. I will need to add a "shelf" behind the peg so that straight part of this device will stop. The rubber motor will loop on the hook, and when wound tight will straighten out. When the motor winds down, the hook will have about a 1/2 inch pull. Connected to a string and releasing pin, and away goes the load!

Now I have to make the bomb rack! Mitch