The Triplane/s build thread

[ASHLEY YOUNG]

KEEP IT UP CYRIL. THESE LITTLE TRIPES ARE SOOOO COOOOOL. CAN YOU LET ME KNOW THE BRAND OF DRINKS BOTTLE SINCE OUR TESCOS ONLY SEEM TO STOCK BOTTLES WITH A FUNNY MOULDED BOTTOM.

WISH LIST -VICKERS GUNBUS.DH2, 1 1/2 STUTTER, FOKKER DVII, NEUPORT 11/17 

[Ced]

Only bottle I could find in Tesco was "Cranberry & Raspberry" juice drink made by Ocean Spray. Not perfect, but will do. Took along a piece of stiff card with 80mm hole in it.

[donnie eskew]

The Fokker going to be a great plane. I have never seen a C&K motor, what size or wattage would this motor be.

I am waiting for the Sopwith to show up hopefully soon.

[Ced]

Be careful Donnie. There's a whole load of unanswered questions in there. Apart from the C&K motor,which isn't made anymore, Cyril doesn't explain how to curve the aerofoil on the wing panels, how to obtain 4mm thick Depron for the wings when it is only produced in 3mm and 6mm sheets, doesn't tell you to use ONLY Odourless cyano, how the wheels are made, how to gain access to the battery, how to connect the servos to the RX within a sealed compartment, and a ton more. Perhaps he answered all these in his article and had them edited out for lack of space. Just be careful; be very careful !

[Ced]

If anyone is building this model, note that the mid wing is mounted on the fuselage, in this photograph, BEFORE the top decking is added; not slotted through it as in the article. Some of these photos would have been more useful than a great tome on how to make a dummy rotary engine ( which anyway, is fully explained on the plan.) Note also that the wing is not as drawn on the plan. The centre section is not cut away as per the real Triplane.

[donnie eskew]

Ced

 I use cellfoam 88 you can get from ( midwestprodects.com

It comes in 3mm,6mm,10mm, this is great stuff.

Now for the wings. I will use 6mm a tad bit heaver but worth it.

 I f you look real close the mid. wing goes into a slot cut in the fus. Read close.

As fare as wing camber, the best way to do this is to cut wings to size( the blank.) Now from the LE go 5/8" score the wing with a hack saw blade 3/4 through, the full lenth now go 1" from the first cut , use a razor saw and score3/4 through.

This is the best part ! After the wing is scored.Then we can go to step two.

Whin you have scored use a small rubber band to put the curve in the wing. peace of cake, Now all you have to do is spread the scored part and  aply C/A glue to the scored slotes.

[Kit Carson]

HELP! what EMAX motor should one use for the sopwith model, While about it what speed controller and batteries should one use? i HAVE NEVER BUILT THIS TYPE OF MODEL BEFORE

[Tim Mackey]

try one of these....

[Terence Lynock]

I think i have this wing curvature thing sorted but its a long process, works well though and could be used on other Depron wings.

Start with a flat piece of ply for the baseboard, cut a load of pieces of scrap ply about 1/2'' wide and 3'' long and curve one side the same as the upper side of the aerofoil section plus a bit extra then glue these down onto the baseboard side by side and 2'' apart curve upwards.

Glue thin ply over the top of the ribs to provide a surface like the upper surface of a wing, glue a strip of wood where the leading edge will be as thick as the thickness of the Depron you will be using which in my case is two sheets bonded together 3+2 =5mm.

On top of the 5mm thick strip of wood glue a wider piece to form a protruding ledge under which the edge of the Depron is pushed.

Now - cut the Depron to size and score it along its length every 1/2'' across the width, score the upper sheet on the underside and the lower sheet on the top side, coat with Depbond on scored sides and when ready place the two forward edges to go under the  ledge together first and push in under the ledge rolling the sheets together by holding down the bottom sheet and rolling the top sheet onto it over the curve of the aerofoil section jig and press down well.

This gave me perfect wing panels 5mm thick which looks better than the skinny 3mm thick in the plans (cant get 4mm) and by bonding two sheets together it holds the aerofoil shape better,

                          regards,             Terry

[Terence Lynock]

I will chuck in an Emax CF2805 which you can pick up on eBay for about seven quid, it may refuse to fly or it may rip the wings off it but I got plenty of Depron - found out where I can get big sheets of 3mm for £2.50 and 6mm for £4.55p - sheets are about 700 x 1000 or thereabouts,

                      regards,        Terry

[Terence Lynock]

Just experimenting with what may be a good alternative for glueing Depron and foam, it is Evo-Stick 'Impact' which can also be used as a contact adhesive.

It is water based and solvent free but make sure you get the one with a green bar on the front of the can saying 'solvent free', in initial testing it spreads nice and thinly and can be diluted with water, it can be left for up to eight hours before actually bonding the two surfaces so if you forget it for an hour or two no problem.

Clean-up is dead easy just wash your brushes in warm soapy water and the stuff will wipe off with a damp rag if it gets where you dont want it, at about a fiver for a 250ml can that can be diluted 33% it is far more economical than DepBond or simular, 'Impact' is a milky white out of the can and goes clear on drying with no appreacable odour or fumes whatsoever, two pieces of Depron bonded together broke up when I tried  pulling them apart,

                    regards,           Terry

[Ced]

With regard to the curvature of the wing; try bending the sheet of Depron, and see in which direction there is a natural tendency to bend. Cut out the wings and roll them over a curved surface - like a kitchen worktop (if it happens to have a radiused edge.) Some curvature will stay. UHU POR is excellent glue for Depron, as is Collall. Both available from Flitehook, Southampton.

[Tim Mackey]

For anyone still struggling to find the right drinks bottle - here's an a alternative. Pop down to your local motor body shop / sprayshop and beg a paint mixing cup. The curvature of the bottom may not be quite as rounded as I would like, but otherwise the dimensions are spot on. It also weighs nothing.

Cutting out the centre disc is also made easier because there is a distinct ridge line just about in the right place for the scalpel to follow

Click for bigger pictures.

[Tim Mackey]

What ideas have folks come up with to sort out the areas not covered in the plan / article? ( Sopwith )

For starters...

Is the top wing joiner overlapping butt joined panels - or do they just "hang off the joiner with the cocktail sticks ? If so the top wing is much longer than the other 2. Seems a cruddy way of doing it to me. Also once wing is bent to aerofoil section, is adding dihedral not then difficult to achieve?

Access to the receiver and more importantly the battery.

Why do the front formers show 2 holes marked - one is presumably for the motor tube , but the other ? - is it for cables?

Does the tailplane just sit flush on the innner top deck, with the outer curved top decking cut to butt up against its leading edge?

There are loads of uncovered items in this little build, as Ced has said, and so much has been assumed for the builder to know that it really should be flagged up as NOT suitable for a beginner. Even explaining how to transfer the cutting lines to Depron is not explained. Incidentally, I used wifeys baking paper to transfer the lines, and then taped the paper to the depron sheet and cut right through. I know this sort of thing is relatively easy for experienced folks, but overall the construction details are sadly lacking.

Shame really, 'cos it could be good little project for many

[Ced]

I've finished the DR1 except for painting, and here are some observations. I cut out a battery hatch on the underside between the undercarriage legs. The cockpit opening on the real aircraft was much larger than shown, and circular. By removing the pilot, there is access to the receiver. I put the two servos inside the fuselage. My CD Rom motor was mounted on an aluminium alloy tube araldited to the backplate, and this passes through the "centre' holes on the bulkheads( the second hole giving side and down thrust). The first former F1 does not cover the square section of the fuselage, so I raised it up until it did. This brings the thrust line nearer to the centre line of the fuselage. With regard to marking the depron sheet:- I carefully trace the various shapes ( making any changes I feel necessary in comparison to the scale drawings. * This is just me. ) using pencil and thin tracing paper from any art store. This is laid on thinnish card and transferred by going over the lines with a biro. The card id then cut out, laid on the depron, and drawn around using a fine black CD marker. One last point; you do need to make some sort of jig to hold the wings square and parallel when gluing then in position. * Items changed :- Aileron end shape, wing trailing edges reduced scollops, elevator tips, rudder outline, fuselage side panels, wheel diameter and thickness, Spandaus enlarged. DR1 - 2.jpg

[Ced]

Wanted to show some pics, including pic of jig, but don't know how to do it.

[Kit Carson]

Terry where do you get depron at that price?

[Tim Mackey]

theres a tutorial on here somewhere about posting pics.

[Ced]

[Ced]

[Ced]

[Ced]

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[Ced]

Sorry, everyone. Me being stupid. Tried to upload photos with no success and can't even delete my failures.

Failed again. Give up. Too old for this lark.

[Tim Mackey]

I am doing the Sopwith, and have taken pictures of what I have done so far ( 2 days to complete - you must be joking Cyril ! )

As mentioned earlier by folks, there are quite a few building instructuions missing, so we have to figure things out as we go, and I am still not clear about fitting the wings for starters, so I have just done what I think I do understand so far! I have cut out ALL the pieces, and elected to use 3mm top and middle wings with a 6mm bottom wing.  I have not yet fitted the top outer curved decking, as it is obviously necessary to fit the motor tube mounting, and ESC etc first. Battery access is not really covered in the mag, but obviously we have to form some sort of battery bay and hatch, so I fitted a "false floor" on little depron strip ledges - first picture - (or roof actually as these pictures are all from the bottom up as it were) and will form a hatch in the lower sheeting, retained probably..... by peg and tiny magnets.The floor allows me to velcro the battery in place. I have used an old Tsunami 10A ESC and a home wound CK brushless outrunner. I wound it for mid range between power and duration, with a "Y" wind of 28 turns @ 28 swg wire...this is good for a maximum of 50watts at 5 amps on a 3s pack. With a GWS slowfly prop of 8 X 4.3 I am getting around 4A static at WOT and that gives me 42Watts. In the air I reckon it will be around 3.5A...so 37 Watts. I have weighed everything, alowing a few ounces for glue and wheels etc, and AUW is a projected 7oz with a 460 m/a battery, so this gives me about 85 -90 Watts per pound static. Anyone else doing the Sopwith, or have you you all defected to the red barons mount?

[Rafa L]

I think I’m also going for the SOPWITH (floater than DR1) The bottle of NESTEA seems to be perfect for the cowl.C&K motors no available in Spain. Do you think the AXI 22004/54 could be OK? Thanks for your help.