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Everything posted by Simon Chaddock
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ErnieThe only cockpit detail I can find is from a flight sim. I don't know how accurate it really is but it looks about right for one of the later models with an altimeter and rev counter. I understand the Oberursel (like most rotaries) had both air valve (throttle) and fuel (mixture) levers. It was up to the pilot to set a working mixture strength for any given throttle setting. Blipping the ingnition was not popular with rotaries as the fuel would continue to flow risking a fire in the cowling as soon as the engine fired again although some had a rotary ignition switch that cut out 3,5 or 7 cylinders. This meant there would always some working cylinders to ignite the unburnt fuel before it collected in any quantity! The Eindecker was the first aircraft to use a stick mounted firing button. I hope this helps.
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Ernie Sorry but I can't find any pictures/drawings of the cockpit of an Eindecker (unlike almost every other WW1 type!) - but I dont think it had very much in it - compass, ignition switch(s), fuel tap etc. Of course you could go down to the London Science Museum as they have the ONLY known original example!
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Tony, yes rudder in the same direction as turn but only as you APPLY the ailerons. The rudder has two duties 1. to counter any adverse yaw from the ailerons 2. to actually get the plane turning i.e. speed up the outer wing and slow down the inner. Not a problem on say a fast jet but to get a slow tight turn in a high performance glider started requires a boot full of rudder. And yes differential ailerons do help (like the tiger) and you can programme in rudder as well but the correct amount will vary depending on what you actually want the plane to do, so good pilot thumbs are hard to beat! Of course one day we will have full on board sensors & computer control and then you will be able to push the sticks about any way you like safe in the knowledge the plane wont do anything it shouldn't and it will be as boring as flying an airliner!
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Mike Having done a bit of my gliding instructor training in a Tiger (not ACDC) I can confirm that given half a chance they do spin well and of course ACDC does not have the anti spin strakes either! Remember the Tiger was considered one of the best trainers in the world not because it was docile and forgiving but because it could and would do "exactly what it said on the tin". Cross the controls at slow speed and it spins, correct recovery and it stops, but keep awake or you'll start spinning the other way! Well done - a beautiful model
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It does not surprise me that an examiner expects rudder to be used with ailerons. The reason is that uncorrected adverse yaw from the ailerons can result in a spin if you are near stalling speed, particularly if you use full control movement. So you when you are on test, you need to demonstrate you know what you are doing! However as Eric says full size power jockeys tend to only use the rudder when they have to, but then they normally don't use full control movement and try keep away from the stalling speed. Full size gliders with their very high aspect ratio wings will always use the rudder on anything more than the gentlest of turns. So it comes down to what you are doing. If you are whizzing along at 3 times the stall speed the rudder is not really required but if you are turning onto "finals" and are flying a bit slow, unless you make a nice coordinated turn you might not even get to the runway!
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Hi Fathead As Nobby says the first thing is to establish whether the glitches are there even when the engine is not running. Easy enough to check. May be nothing but how much of your aircraft is covered in litho plate and where is it relative to the RX aerial? Large areas of aluminium sheet can block/reflect/distort radio waves quite easily. Simon
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Hi Hamish 3D refers to 3 dimensional aerobatics. These are extreme aerobatics for which you will need a rather extreme (and powerful) plane and have the flying skills to match! A good trainer (with ailerons) will however be able to perform quite a range of aerobatic manouvers and learning how to do them well will improve your flying skill considerably but always take it a small step at a time. When flying trying to run before you can walk nearly always leads to disaster.
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A few basic questions from a beginner
Simon Chaddock replied to William Halgarth's topic in Beginners
Hi Remember its not just the speed of the wind that impacts on your plane but its turbulence as well. When air flows round or over things like buildings and trees it gets disturbed and no longer flows in a nice straight lines and that disturbance can continue for hundreds of meters down wind of the object before it slowly smooths out again. Flying through such disturbed air can throw your plane about without any input from you, so whilst learning, big open spaces and less wind = less turbulence and a better chance of keeping everything in one piece. -
Hi Andy Yes, you put the smooth end of the extension against the engine driver. When done up tight it will bite in a bit to ensure it does not slip. Do NOT use a rubber washer between tham as it will almost certainly fail when the engiine is running. Hand starting should be possible (use a chicken stick rather than your finger) but electric is much safer and quicker. With care it is possible to use a starter directly on a flat prop face but an appropriate spinner makes it much easier as it will ensure the starter is directly in line with the prop shaft.
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Exactly what I found myself. The only thing I would emphasise more is safety of sufficient height. You mention 100 metres, fine, but how many people know what their plane is going to look like 100 metres up? Answer get someone to hold it on its side at least 100 paces away, that's how small it should look in the sky! To most novices it will look very small indeed but even a humble Electrafun can come down from this height in a few seconds with the wrong command!
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Hi Brian As yet untested inverted but I do expect the oil consumption will go up a bit but at least with the silencers low down it should keep any oil in the exhaust away from the fuselage.
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The new stand for inverted running. Actually it is more than a stand as it is really the fuselage nose section mounted on a block of wood. Being a petrol 4 stroke there is quite a bit of gubbins to install (and to get at) so the whole nose section ahead of the wing will have removable covers, hence the bolted U channel dural braces. The wing spar will be fixed at the second frame bolts. The silencers are temporarily turned through 90 degrees. Minimum frontal area!
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Hi Terence The Clark Y is an excellent section with a good compromise between ultimate performance, stability & stall characteristics. There is a variation called the Clark YH (as used by the Hawker Hurricane) which has a slight reflex trailing edge which improves longitudinal stability but in truth very little research has been done on the REAL performance of aerofoils at the very low Reynolds numbers found on models so its all a bit academic! In my experience unless you are planning to fly on increadibly little power even an approximation to a Clark Y will be ok.
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Hi Ken Thats a big spinner! How much it will weigh is going to depend on how much you are able to "hollow it out". Machining big thin things is not easy so spinners are normally "spun" to shape from a sheet disc over a former. My concern really is if you are going to need some significant weight up front for CofG reasons then you dont really want it going round at engine speed as well. David Surely biplanes normally have lower wing loadings.
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I am probably guilty of too much experimenting but having run the engine in the Mk2 test stand it proved impossible to set the correct mixture over the full speed range almost certainly due to the very low "head" from the fuel tank. The obvious solution is to invert the engine to get the carb low down but to do this requires some longer studs on the head and a 2 mm spacer to prevent the float chamber from fouling the rear rocker cover. In addition the oil outlet has to be moved to the other side of the back plate. The 5 cc in inverted running configuration The new 10BA studs & the 2mm fibre spacer. (It will also help insulate the carb from the head) So test stand Mk3 (inverted) is now under construction!
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Gerry There was a thread "Stripped plug thread" not long back in this IC forum that discussed the options available. The general concensus seemed to be that a new head was probably the easiest option.
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Clive I hope this helps. Early war RFC markings were actually union flags on the wings but these looked like German crosses at a distance so French type "roundels" were adopted but with the colour order reversed (blue outside), however the fin flash order was the same (blue first). When the RAF was formed in 1918 the red first fin flash was adopted. So RFC period (1914 - March 1918) blue first, RAF (April 1918 on) red first, but I am sure many WW1 aircraft retained their RFC tail scheme until they were lost or scrapped.
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Hi The wing area of the full size was given as 6,296 sq ft (585 sq m) so multiply this by the square of the scale of your model and you have the wing area. i.e for a 1/10 scale model the wing area would be 6,295*1/10*1/10 = 62.95 sq ft. Conventionally wing area is taken as the "projected" surface so engine ducts are included. On any airframe the wing loading itself is not the only criteria as the wing section plays an important part. Remeber however deltas do operate a bit differently from a conventional wing in that they continue to generate lift to very high angles of attack but create a lot of drag doing it. Ok when you have the power to go supersonic but care is needed on a model unless you have sufficient of spare thrust. How is your Valkyrie to be powered?
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The October Grand Prize Draw
Simon Chaddock replied to David Ashby's topic in All Things Model Flying
WOT no glue? Yes please.