Build thread Bird Dog Rubber FF

[tail spin]

looking good!

[davidchoate]

Thanks. I am using very cheap tissue to save weight;its the only green close to OD I could find, and therefore there are a few wrinkles, but I want it to fly; not win model of the month. Also it was very hard due to the Te angle to cover the tp wing in one piece.

[davidchoate]

I could'nt help it; I had to put a coat of Luftwaffe green over the tissue. The weight is nominal as one coat was good due to the green underlayment. The green tissue just wasnt the rigt color, but its all ready to assemble. I applied the decals , and will fly it tomorrow weather permitting. I'm in hope the fai rubber will make a difference. I havent weighed it yet, but its very light. I have done some tests between the grey and FAI Tan, and I bilieve that this is going to make My FF endeavors much more successful. We'll know tomorrow.

[WIDDOG]

David great work with the Build/Thread. Looking forward to reading about how great she flies.

[davidchoate]

it weihs30g with glue wet. i thinkit will fly

[tail spin]

Like the green tint on the glass. Look'n good

[davidchoate]

The decals came out horrible. I have never had an issue with them until now. I dont know why, but on drying they shrivelled up, and just look bad. I removed the U.S. ARMY one, and did what I could with the insignia. I was super busy at work, and havent had time to work on it. I'm gluing it together, and installed the rubber from the Dumas kit. I wound it 50 times, and can notice a remarkable difference to the better side than the Grey kit stuff. It weighs 32grams now, and is close to balanced. Its the lightest scale plane i've done yet, but not good enough. I think it will fly, but not very long.

[Mitch]

David,

Looks Good. That "US ARMY" decal is very big. My guess is the decal did not like the painted finish. You could cut out that from black tissue and apply it. Or even print it and cut it out from bond paper. I have used some printed insignias on some of my models. Another option, for a decal that large, would be to cut out the decal into the individual letters and apply each one separately. Again more work but I am finding I can build the basic structure fairly quickly, but all the details take time. I always make sure the paper is sealed well with dope then apply decals. I have had some failures with large decals also.

Mitch

PS I would have taken 3 pieces of paper to cover that top wing (on each side, 6 total). I work from center out. First piece to cover the rectangle, then trim. Second piece to cover the next section that looks like a trapezoid, out to the last rib, then trim. Third piece from the last rib to cover the wing tip and then make slits on excess, pull taught, and trim. I cover dry. Then when glue is dry spray lightly with water. Then 3 coats of 'Top Flite' Crystal Clear spray. LustreKote TOPR7501... That is what I would do... Good Luck, Mitch

[davidchoate]

Ok , I'm going to take it for a maiden right now. I added 6g's to get balance. This gives me38g AUW. I'll be back shortly to post flight results.

[davidchoate]

It didnt fly so well, but the weight on the nose fell off so it was tail heavy. It would climb almost straight up and do a loop then hit the ground. Luckily no damage. I'm thinkin its the perfect weight for a little 8mm brushed motor.

[Bill Gaylord]

It didnt fly so well, but the weight on the nose fell off so it was tail heavy. It would climb almost straight up and do a loop then hit the ground. Luckily no damage. I'm thinkin its the perfect weight for a little 8mm brushed motor.

That's not surprising, and part of the reason I believe these models are actually better suited to electric FF or R/C, unless really lightened, especially aft of the CG. The little Robin I built has Microlite covering, which isn't much heavier than lightly doped colored tissue. The servos are all centered on the CG, so they are a non issue in affecting the CG. With a 10gm electric motor, 2s-200 lipo, and ESC all reasonably forward of the CG, I still needed 2gms of lead to properly set the CG. With the CG just 1mm rearward of that, before adding the 2gms of lead, it still wasn't quite right. It probably would have done the same thing your model did, if I didn't have remote control of the elevator. Built for rubber I could have put all the ballast in the forward most point inside the cowl for maximum efficiency, but I still would have probably needed something like a whopping 25gms of lead, to have the same effect as the R/C gear mounted forward of the CG. That's a lot of lead!

[davidchoate]

A duble loop rubber motor does not weigh much less than some micro rc stuff, and the ballast needed is sometimes alot yes, but surprisingly, the Bird Dog (after prop, and rubber) , only needed a 5g weight on the nose. Oh, and I could not find a balance point on the Plan! has anyone else had that?