The Triplane/s build thread

[Tim Mackey]

Ok, litlle bit more done today, wings all painted, single thin coat underneath, 2x on top surface. Roundels on, numeric ID markings applied and finally, ailerons marked on with ball point pen -

WARNING, acrylic varnish dissolves ballpoint ink, ask me how I know or zoom in a bit

Rudder painted, and very thin topcoat sponged on tailplane. Prop painted.

Its not that I am putting off wing attachment or anything...honest . Sticky bun and Tea now

  

[Ced]

Hi Guys. My DR1 is done and latest picture if in my gallery, as I don't seem to be able to put them here. Weight 135 gms without battery.

[Tim Mackey]

And excellent job you have done there Ced - very impressed....look forward to the flying report

[Ced]

Timbo. Who's talking about flying ? If I can't put a photo on a forum, what makes you think I can fly ? Just kidding. Ced

[Tim Mackey]

Hee Hee.... I like it

Seriously , you have done a masterful job there, and it just proves how a little bit of foam and some cotton thread can turn into a very nice and respectable looking scale model. I know the purists will be scoffing, but frankly I don't care less, it LOOKS like a Sopwith triplane, it is "pretty" and proportioned well, and has the added bonus of costing hardly anything, except of course skill and patience. By all accounts they fly very well too !!

Well done, I am sure Cyril will be well pleased

[wess]

hi Ced.....absolutely cracking piece of work on your DR 1   lets hope it gets a bit less windy and you can give us a flight report.

whilst on would u guys offer any comments onto the walrus build? as it looks like this is going to be the next Cyril classic and there are a lot of hazy points not covered on the plan or mag. article.

I am baffled by the wing fixings. seems to me that there is next to nothing stopping the wings folding upwards. and the wire elevator control does not seem quite right.

your comments would be appreciated

wess

[Rafa L]

Hi pals,

I finished the tail end and now I’m going for the wings and the paint work.

 

In December mag Cyril said he’d used ceiling emulsion with poster paint… it sounds a bit strange (for me, at least).

 

What kind of paint did you use in yours? Thanks for your help.

  

[Ced]

Sorry wess. I loaned the Walrus article to a pal, and was at an all-day indoor FF meeting yesterday. I can only assume that the flying and landing wires hold the wing , just as on a real biplane. I seem to recall Cyril writing that the threads were fed through holes in the struts and tensioned. I don't remember how he attached the wings to the fus and centre section. There will be a lot of jigs to make to get everything aligned, just as on the full size, but his looks so great in the air that it must be worth the effort. Rafa L ; Most of the suppliers of household emulsion have small sample size pots, for people to tryout. The range of colours is quite extensive. I used a Dulux "First Dawn" blue for the underside of the DR1, and you can change any colour by adding poster paint, or start out with Brilliant White and mix. On the DR1, I did use Humbrol matt green thinned with white spirit for the streaks.

[wess]

hi ced. thanks for that.       as u say its how the wings are attached to the fuz thats got me beat at the moment. ... i can accept that the bracing of the wings is necessary to keep each wing in shape but i can not see how the bracing can attach to the centre section as cyril designed the wings to fold back.

i would not like to trust the 4 screws and 4 pins to hold the wings in place onto the short stub ply extensions. i am used to dihedral braces to take the fuz weight and thereby stop the wings folding.upwards.

when i get to wing fixing if u guys have not cracked it i think i will make tongue extensions for the wing attachments and then they can plug in like the old KK kits used.

ur help has been most appreciated

wess

[Jono]

Rafa,

I used humbrol acrylic (mixed dark green and kakhi if I remember correctly) for the green bits and magnolia emulsion for the fabric/linen colour on the wings.

I haven't uploaded photos here yet, but will do so tomorrow.

 Jon

[Tim Mackey]

emulsion fuz and wings, acrylic tail.

[Ced]

Hi Wess, Having got my RCM&E back and looked closely at the plan and Cyril's article, I have to agree with you that there only seems to be those little ply brackets, screws and pins that hold the dihedral ~ doesn't seem possible. I think, much as I love the Walrus, I'll give this a miss and go lay down in a darkened room till the desire to build it passes. Cyril builds great looking models but only gets 4 out of 10 for building instructions. Good luck with your effort.

[wess]

hi Ced....good that you seem to hold same opinion on the wing attachments.... however having seen the pics of your fokker i dont think you would be stymied by just the wing fix... come now .....come out of that darkened room as all is not lost as David has managed to get Cyril to spill the beans on how to bend Depron......didnt think that would happen so anything is possible..

[Jono]

Finally got her airborne.  Way too much power though.  Used the robotbirds 1500kv pole & stator motor with 3 cells lipo and an 8x4 GWS prop.  Next time it's a smaller prop I think!

[Tim Mackey]

Just finished gluing the two lower wings on, with the interplane struts...not sure from the plan whether these were meant to be one single strut passing through the middle wing, and having now made 4 x pieces I am thinking they would be better passing through, then you could adjust the spaces between each wing panel individually before glue was applied.  Rigging next

Then top wing fixed and final rigging.

[wess]

hi Jono......wonderful model.. i guess it looks just like the real thing in the air...

take a look at the following website as it provides freeware for model design and the prop selection bit is very useful.

http://www.hoppenbrouwer-home.nl/ikarus/software/software.htm

[Tim Mackey]

Ok good  progress this afternoon ( well for me anyway ) Middle and bottom wing permanently attached, and  double landing wires attached and glued. New interplane struts made and shaped, and cabanes evened out. Decided axle was not sitting level to airframe, so removed wheel "nuts" reduced diameter of one wheel, and upon refixing it, managed to superglue the B****y wheel tight to the axle end. It stuck so well, that the carbon fibre axle broke and splintered as I tried to remove the wheel, leaving a solid section in the wheel hub where the hole should be, so had to re-drill it out, and fit a new axle and retainers he -ho

Finally got around to fixing top wings and interplane struts, eyed it all up, and it looks pretty reasonable to me, the middle wing has a slight "gullwing" shape - probably due to the rigging wires not being dead staright from top to bottom....not too bothered, and actually it looks quite nice and shouldnt affect flying. Flying wires to fit tomorrow morning, and she's ready for a maiden - hopefully id weather stays good, tomorrow PM.

Weighed it tonight, and she comes out at 140grams dry, and 185grams with 3s Lipo. Initial measurements with the 8 X4.3 GWS prop show too much power ( approx 140Watts per pound !! ) so may have to prop right down, or even go down to a 2s Lipo. Here's the latest pictures. Pilot and dummy radial will only be done after successful maiden.

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Smashing job Tim

[Tim Mackey]

TY...was hoping for a maiden today ( well it is valentines day ) but wind has picked up  - m ight have to go sloping instead

[wess]

hi Timbo.....super looking sopwith....Cyril should get a medal for attracting so many modellers to build his designs...must be a lot of triplanes on the flying patches and it all helps to get electric models the image they deserve.

looking forward to flight characteristics.

wess

[Tim Mackey]

Thanks wess, maiden is off Im afraid due to poor weather - loooks like summer 2008 has been and gone over the last 4 days

[Tim Mackey]

OK, Mrs Timbo has done great job I think on the pilot...and here he is all installed with his waterproof pants on waiting for the maiden flight....which hopefully will be over the weekend. Thanks to Cyril Carr for this little beauty.

Yep, still cold here !

Mind those trees there biggles !

Another great spot landing.

[Tim Mackey]

Did the maiden flight today...not a total failure

Got three flights, but the first was real handful ! Hand launched at half throttle, ( grass was too long and frozen )  she leapt up like a kicked cat - saturn rocket style

COG is pretty much where it is meant to be, and I suspect wing incidence. Not an easy fix at the field

So added a couple of .5oz lead weights to the nose, and she was a lot tamer, but still difficult. .5oz more, and it then flew reasonably well. However, I suspect too much positive incidence, and all the added weights just helped to nullify the effect, so I am afarid it is off with the wings and all rigging of course, and either new ones to be attached, or if salvaged OK after the surgery, old ones re-jigged.

I think that having a bit more curve in the aerofoil wing section is also adding to just too much lift !

Top wing in particular is looking a little too angled dy'a think ??

[David Ashby - Moderator]

Maybe Tim, bit difficult to tell from the photo - would more/downthrust help?

[Tim Mackey]

Changed the downthrust a few days ago, after a run of the motor whilst holding the mode on COG showed a distinct tendancty to climb. It has LOADS of down and side thrust - more than shown on the plan.