Capt Paul Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi everyone, im paul im new to the forum and newish to the hobby. i love rc planes and modelling planes and now its time for the hobbies to combine! Ive flown a 2ch trainer and now flying a 4ch foam corsair so my flying is improving well..all be it at a slow pace! i also like modelling and found a site with plans for RC planes, i think its a great chance to build a model that eventually i might get to fly (after more improvement!!) also i think it will be a good way to learn more about the RC planes, ive been flying on a flight sim when i cant get outside and its like learning on a computer game and you dont get to learn all the mechanics inside a plane which i would like to as i think its very important. im going to TRY and build a Aichi D3a but would like to run it on electric rather than petrol. The model will prob be made from balsa and i was wondering wether or not this would work due to weight issues etc. What sort of size would be good to make it? my current plane is approx 1000mm wingspan so i would like it similar or slightly smaller. Would this be too heavy in balsa for an electric set up? The plans are in CAD (which i use for my job) so changing the scale will be no probs. this is where i got the plans from: im just gathering information at the moment so any help on the build process or the plane would be great. Thanks for any help you can give. Paul Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 23/03/2012 14:28:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hargreaves - Moderator Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi Paul & welcome to the forum..... There are many people on here who work wonders in balsa...Tim Hooper & Ton Van Munsteren to name but two.....I'm sure they & others will be along to comment soon. My own skills are limited to building from plans etc so I can't offer you any practical advise here. Maybe take a look around the build blogs to get an idea for construction techniques.....what is under the skin is very important after all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Generally speaking, the smaller you go, the more critical will be the design and material selection to achieve a good flying weight. As far as I can tell, the link just refers to a 3 view so doesn't detail the construction at all so you'd need to design that yourself. While not impossible, I'd recommend building from a few kits or plans before attempting to design an airframe so that you get an appreciation of what works and how to build a strong but light structure. Another factor important with wooden airframes is material selection - balsa density varies enormously (there's a very informative article in the current BMFA news) and you need to consider the relative merits of balsa, litr-ply and birch ply. Personally, for the first own design, I'd go for somewhere in the 48 -60 inch range and base it on something a bit more benign than a warbird. Don't forget that simply scaling down the full size aerofoil isn't a good idea so you'll need some research in this area as well. Edited By Martin Harris on 23/03/2012 12:04:01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi Paul As a warbird the Aichi D3a (Val) does have some things going for it, as it was a very 'conventional' layout with a pretty generous wing area although an elliptical wing is not the easiest thing to make. I note the full size had to have washout added to the wing before its tendency to snap roll was cured. Interestingly the other classic elliptical wing (Spitfire) also had washout. This does not mean it will be essential in a model but it does suggest the wing plan form may not have the nicest characteristics at the stall. As a design it may also be a bit short on fin area as only when the dorsal fin was added was its directional stability considered adequate. Success with such a plane is really going to depend on your design and building skills. Electric can be plenty powerful enough but batteries are still heavy so care is needed to get the strength where it is needed but without an overall weight penalty. Do let us know what you end up doing. Post a build blog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eck Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 There's a plan HERE Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 23/03/2012 14:28:52 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi, Thanks for all the help! and so quick! im going to have a look around for more of a kit version i think after looking at the plans i have in CAD theres not much infor in regards to the tail of the plane, plus i think maybe some more "instructions" would make it easier for a attempt at something this size and indepth. However i think i may use this plan as a kind of practice and try modelling all the different componants on the plan. Ill let you know if i manage to make anything other than sawdust! if you spot anything online please post a link and if i find something better ill post it too. i really like these planes i think they are overshadowed by the zero and german planes of the time, it would be great to make one even if it just gets hung up somewhere and not flown! thanks again for the speedy replies Paul P.S. If anyone has CAD plans but no CAD let me know we have a tool at work to convert CAD files to pdf, dont take long so ill gladly convert them if you need! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 OK, down to business: 1. Paul welcome to the forum, nice to have you with us. Nice friendly forum this one so feel free to ask for advice. 2. Wanting to design your own models is great - but I agree with (I think it was Martin) who said it would be a good idea to build a few models to other people's designs first so you have a better idea of how things are done. Eck's link is of course both worlds as its someone elses design of the plane you want to design! - definitely worth an in-depth study. 3. Now the moan! I have had to edit two posts here becuase of incorrect linking to external sites. Paul - you are new you have an excuse - but please see the link below. Eck - you've not new and hence you don't have an excuse! Please read the tutorials here before entering anymore links. Thanks BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eck Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Oops! Sorry! It's changed since I last put in a link....(excuses excuses......) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Sorry about that!! Ive been doing some more digging... i really should be working! ive found this web site VAL BUILD (hope the link is ok!) there is lots of plans photos and construction help but its all in french and the files i downloaded are .tcw which i have no idea what they are so i looked for kits. There is one avaliable from skyshark and apparently its the only one appart from willis warbirds (appologies if thats wrong) posted that there is one in the pipe line. so fingers crossed. Has anyone had any skyshark kits? are they good? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Nice one on the link Paul Eck - you're forgiven, as long as yoiu read the tutorials for the new ones! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eck Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Done and tested, o wise one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 TCW is TurboCAD should have known that! Anyway i have found out that you can get a free trial version and that alows you to convert to DWG so i will do this at home over the weekend and let you guys know what was from that website on monday when im back at work. Thanks again for all your help it is really awesome here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Cantwell Posted March 24, 2012 Share Posted March 24, 2012 The skyshark kits have all but dissapeared, they just got too expensive, it may be worth an add on the BMFA classifieds, someone, somewhere, will have one hidden away, they where an american kit, and only had one distributer over here, he has sadly gone the way of the dodo, might be worth asking on RCU, in warplanes?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 ok thanks for the heads up, ill post later and see if anyone has a kit. Thanks again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclicscooby Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Hi Paul... Welcome... Making your own plane then seeing it fly is ACE... A huge sense of achievement... I wish you the best... Luv Chrisie.. xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Just a quick update, I emailed willis warbirds for some information on val kits and he got back to me really quick and told me about a kit made by Dumas which is about the size i am after but its rubber powered so you have to convert it, ive found a step by step build guide of someone converting one too so i think this is where im going to start. I checked out the Dumas kits and theres not many places to get them here in the UK but there is a supplier here called Dave Diel who sells kits but typically the Val is out of stock but once its not i can order one! Get ready for the endless "how do i" posts! Once its in stock and i order one ill try and start a build blog so i can limit my endless questions to one place.... oh and you can see how it goes!! Thanks everyone for you help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Sig kits are great if you want a go with build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 Sounds a good plan. And don't worry about the questions - its why we're all here! As a community we support each other - everyone has questions sometimes! A build blog is a really good idea, looking forward to it. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Lea Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hi Paul I've just joined the forum and read your post. This is probably too late but I have an ABS cowl for the Aichi which I could let you have. It is 115mm dia at the rear face and the front opening is 58mm, length is75mm. Regards Bryan Lea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Hi again, Sorry i have A) resurrected an old post and B) been away for a long time, ive had a very strange 12 months both good and bad, i have got married and had my first child as well as dealing with some not so happy things which all have put my build and flying on the back foot. Thanks to you all for replying and to Bryan for the offer of the cowl. I have now started to get some time again to start looking at my project and its changed alot! i put together a couple guillows kits to help try to understand how a balsa kit would go together and i realised that they went together quite...difficult! i have also been flying my parkzone corsair alot and thought how great it would be to make the Val foam (maybe a first i dont know) at around that scale so i looked into depron plans and found some plans for a mustang which were really good so ive spent the last few weeks on CAD when i should be working converting some Balsa plans of a val into the much more simplified plans for depron as the mustang plans are, im going to put the "shapes" together made from card at a smaller size over the weekend to see if they go together ok and with abit (ok prob alot) of tweeking i may have a set of plans which i will post if anyones interested still. im aiming to build pretty much the same as the mustangs construction 6mm depron and 3mm to skin it. fingers crossed its been nearly a year coming. if the card goes together nice ill take some pics and post them when im done to show you all the "skeleton" of the val. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Capt Paul Building in Depron can be really interesting but needs some careful consideration (just as you do for balsa) to get the best out of the material. Do post pictures (lots!) of how you proceed.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Hi Paul - welcome back. Don't worry we all get the ups and downs of life! Congrats and getting married and the little one! Hope the "nasty things" have all gone away for you! The importnat thing is you're back, still keen, and coming up with ideas! As Simon says we'd love to see how you get on - both the triumphs,...and the little set backs too! Remember, you only really learn something from the set backs! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Hi Paul. Missed your post first time round. I have an old plan for a 28ins span Val and build article which you can have with pleasure. PM me with your email address and I will send it to you. It was i/c free flight, but will convert very easily to electric and RC. If you like them small and fast it should be a good one ! kevinb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 I got quite excited last night and printed the plans im working on off at a3 to just have a play with some of the parts in card, the card decided to suck up all the glue and was very hard to work with BUT first things ticked off and first problem solved, the fuse fits together brilliant and all lines up where it should and the ribs (i only did a couple) fit too however they needed trim down in the middle due to the thickness of the card so im going to incorperate that on my plans to allow the 6mm depron so i will get them more acurate as i can measure them on CAD solving my first minor prob. ill do that today hopefully. THANKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Paul Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 After my card trial disaster ive ordered my depron so hopefully get started this weekend and have some photos next week if i manage to get anything significant done. I have also been on CAD and shrunk the fuse ribs down 3mm each so that when the covering goes on it will fit flush as i noticed that if i covered it as it was the tail detail where it joins the fusalarge will be 3mm deep in foam so another little problem avoided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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