DB Sport and Scale Corben Baby Ace build

[Tangental]

Superb! Awaiting your maiden with bated breath Major Tom!

[Dale Gibson]

Great stuff Tom, looking very nice indeed. Be sure to take some pics of that maiden

Dale.

[Major]

Thanks gents.

Closer I am, more nervous I get. I will make sure that flight is recorded.

However, e-mail I received from JE clouded all chances for maiden this weekend...

"The following order has been received thank you. There is a slight delay in dispatch because some of the parts are on order or have been ordered in for you. delivery will be usually within a week. As soon as they come in we will ship your order, we will email you to let you know when your order is dispatched."

I am not happy with it, but from other side - sometimes better than not at all. I wouldn't get is faster from US anyway.

Cheers

Tom

[NewBuilderFlyer]

Tom,

thanks for posting - I'm half way through building the same model and your pictures have spurred me on!

I have the wings made but not covered, and nearly all the fuselage complete - I'm stuck on the curved section that fits around the pilot.

So this afternoon I'll cover the tail sections.

I'd love to know what engine you've selected (I can't decide upon electric or four-stroke) and how your first flight went.

All the best - David

[Major]

Hello David!

I didn't see Your posts before so welcome to the forum from me.

I'm glad my pics could be of use. I would suggest that You start own thread, so You can get help easily from members of the forum and DB staff - Eddie is present sometimes. We could also see Your progress.

 

The engine choice was quite simple - OS .40FS. Mine is a little old, but (including new carb for 35GPB posted which I broke) still half the price of new Surpass. I'm sure it will have more than enough power even with 11x5 Master Airscrew prop, but I intend t use 12x6 wooden one. If You ask me - do not use electric setup, models like this one have to be IC powered. EP is just not right. If You do not have the engine, recently I have seen some on eBay, so You might want to have a look.

 

Before You install any powertrain, check nose formers for any cracks. These are made of soft balsa, so You could use some 0.4mm ply on the front of each one. I also applied thin coat of glue (superphatic, as far as I remember, but aliphatic will do too).

 

The cockpit decking is made of 0.4mm ply. It is good of DB, that piece of ply included is exactly what You need to make it width- and lenghtwise. So what I did

* First of all, copy the whole piece onto the paper, as per manual. It will save a lot of frustration when something goes ugly. I used heavy weight tissue, so I could easily copy what I needed from the plan.

*Then look at the plan- fuselage side. Place Your paper template on it. Just make sure, that it matches with the former just behind cockpit (107) and does not go any further, and with longerons (or fairings) underneath (142, so it was probably fairing). This way You will have some (just few mm) excess of ply at the front, but it is very easy to get rid of.

*Then just copy side of the cockpit from 107 to the curve on the decking and do exactly same thing on the other side of template. After that, just draw the line to connect sides and cut out wood inside Your drawing. You can make it round or a little more straight, it's up to You.

*After Your template gives what You want, just copy it onto the ply. Line in the middle might be helpful when comes to positioning. During this stage, before glue was applied, I used 5" elastic bands to hold decking in place. Set is as You want, check if it's good and glue. The glueing itself might require some patience, I didn't soak wood in the water and it was coming off a little. To solve this, I used (as J. Clarkson would say - "millions of" steel pins.

 

Just make sure You apply glue on both inside and outside. Do not take the bands off, use some clamps as well. After one day everything was nice and strong.

Here's a coupple of additional photos (don't remember them here)

.

 

I hope I was clear and You can understan what I have in mind. If not - just post here or PM me, I'll scan the plan and mark everything there for You.

 

I am sorry for quality of the pics - but what can I expect from digital sanding block??

 

Hope this helps. Good luck with Your build

 

Regards.

Tom

 

Edit:

I forgot one thing. You might want to make holes for cabane struts before fitting decking in place. I found it easier to do afterwards, but think about it.

 

Cheers

Edited By Major on 23/02/2013 15:26:16

[NewBuilderFlyer]

Tom,

thanks for your prompt reply.

The Corben Baby Ace is my second serious build - I started with just a plan for the RCM&E Harlequin and have a couple of build threads on the forum. This first build was subject to lots of extra 'engineering' and 'strengthening' on my part and I'm not sure the little 0.32 engine I used will cope! It has been run-in with help from my local flying club but not flown as the weather defeated me last season. In the meantime I fly a beaten up Super Cub from the bottom of my garden.

I bought the Corben from Eddie last year at the LMA show in Rougham and the build has been slow. But due to finding your post I've dug out the bits and the enthusiasm level has risen again! Biggest problem is that I have to work in the garage and this time of year the temperature struggles to reach above 5 degrees. Yesterday I covered the tail and rudder with white Oracover and the result is not too bad - unless you look closely at the corners. I'll start a build thread and post a picture.

I've been mulling over engine types and am now watching a second hand OS 0.4FS on ebay, or there is a RCV58 - but this could prove expensive. The alternative is the suggested electric setup but I agree a scale model deserves an IC engine.

I'm going to try the cockpit today and make the template - your pictures are invaluable.

Mnay thanks for your help - I'm waiting to see pictures of your first flight.

[Major]

Hi again Dave.

I am happy that my pics could help and Your enthisiasm came back. My build took me about 4 months, much longer than I wanted but I have one room addapted as my workshop - I couldn't work in place without heating.

Now, after she is finished, I can tell You one thing - You'll love her. In white (with a lot of dirty marks from iron, so do not come to close) this aircraft looks (to me) kinda elegant, just beautiful, but I guess it migh well be "father's syndrome" - no matter what, your kids are the best/sweetest/whatever.

If there will be any other thing I might be able to help with, just let me know and I'll do my best.

Looking forward to see Your build.

All the best

Tom

[ian ludwell]

Hello one and all,

Just come across the corben Baby ace build.

Purchased my kit from Eddie at Elvington a couple of weeks ago.

Have most of the fuz built and tail feathers joined together.

will take some pics and get them on here.

Nice to see the build,looks very good.

Have the J1 Auster build and the Autogyro both ongoing.

Regards..Ian

[ian ludwell]

Hello All,

Just the one pic for starters.

Cheers Ian

[Matt Theron]

Hi Guys,

This is a very stupid question:-

Is the wing removable on this plane or is it a permanet fix?

[ian ludwell]

Hello Matt,

The wing is removable for transport.

Ian

[ian ludwell]

Hello Everyone,

Nights starting to draw in,has Summer gone?

Little bits to finish on the Fuz.

started on the wings one nearly completed.

One question regarding the wing,it mentions on the plan to lift the wing tip up by 10mm, has anyone done that.

Major your wing looks flat or is it because the dihedral is so slight?

More later.

Bye for now.

[mike allen 2]

Hello chaps,

I have also bought a Corben baby ace from a very persuasive (in a very nice way) Eddie at Cosford. I have taken some photos but as yet cant master the complexities of transfering then from my phone to the site. Will keep trying!

Cheers

Mike

[ian ludwell]

Morning All,

Nearly completed both wings.

Thinking of going down the elastictrickary root,have a motor in mind from GS.

Being colour blind not sure of colour for finished model.(can see colours but can't mix colours together).

Any suggestions.(Will use covering from GS)

Bye for now...Ian

[mike allen 2]

Its taken me almost as long to work out how to post photos than to build this!

Mike

[Major]

Hi again guys!

Did anyone of you manage to finish and maiden their Corben?

More than a year after purchase, mine still isn't ready. I needed to leave it in my lady's work for one month, and what I found after that period was just terrible. Tail completely damaged - broken into pieces, damaged fuselage, pulled off wing struts, punctured covering, demolished cockpit, stolen pilot and damaged headrest, cracked cowl. This has seriously put me off, I also picked up full size aviation, so until few days ago she was just gathering dust. I couldn't resist any longer and decided to get back into hobby, share full size and model flying and most of all - finish all my projects . So here I am again.


Today I started to work on the tail. Most of it is now glued back, but I will have a lot of gap filling and sanding.

I also sanded cowl a little and put it to soapy water, so I can prepare it for painting later on. Did some more various things on her, ordered new covering (now my Baby will be white-yellow with black cowl), prepared templates for wheel pants etc.

Some photos to follow soon.

Cheers
Tom

[Concorde Speedbird]

I wondered what happened to this, shame about the damage but still, a good excuse for some more building! I had my first full size experience recently- a trial lesson in an Ikarus microlight and a light aircraft flight, great fun. I want to get a microlight license (due to one eye blindness a PPL may not be possible) when I am a bit older and working. I found the model flying helped enormously!

CS

[Major]

You are right CSB - nothing that can't be repaired, and I also got an excuse to apply some colours onto her and at last fire up engine with new carb.


I got quite a bit of medical history, so my PPL is going very slooow. HAd coupple of flights, but trouble started with medical examination - i have to translate a lot of documents, which is quite expensive and even that will not guarantee that I will pass checks. But "press on regardless"!!


Edit:

Few pics



Here is the tail. I only got to fix horizontal stab, recover it and add some fairings.



Cracked longeron on starboard. Other side looks worse, but it will be an easy fix.





And some more damage. In addition, she is dirty as hell, so will have to bath her too

Edited By Major on 02/01/2014 23:37:31

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Hi Tom,

sorry to hear about the damage to the model - hard luck. But pleased to hear you've bounced back! I'm sure you'll turn it out excellently!

BEB

[Major]

Thanks Dave! It's good to be back here!

Some more progress.



The fuselage longerons are now fixed. I wanted to do it in possible shortest and not invasive way, so fixed longerons themselves and added one strip of medium balsa to each side. This helped to keep things shaped as per plan, also should add some strenght (I hope..).



While I played with tail bits, my son wanted to help a little, so I asked him to wash the cowl for me. I love to share intrests with my children and mostly I am proud of their job, so I will leave the cowl as it is now, without additional washing. Mind you, my son is 3 years old and he did it very good!



I shaved some of the nose former due to difficulties caused by exhaust. To put the cowl on, I have to take pipe and needle valve extension off, and this was just to close to fuel proofed wood - didn't want to damage surface and expose model to nitro. Now it will do the trick.



Tail is finished now, last bits are drying. I did try to make some gap filler out of aliphatic glue and balsa dust (to make it, I used rotary tool and soft 1/2 inch balsa sheet - it was the first time ever when I found some use for it ). I also made mix with superphatic, but this one seems to be worse than the first.



And this was my boy's cute idea - a "pilot" has taken photo of us from the cockpit .


Now I just have to fill all gaps, sand everything, cover, glue back in place, fix wing struts and cockpit, make wheel pants, connect electrics and fire up. I hope to do most of it before covering and fuel proofer arrive from Blackburn Models. More progress and pics to follow soon.

Thanks
Tom

[Major]

Last night I did some more. I fixed damaged cockpit decking and filled some gaps. Now 'pit is ready to be painted in black and fuel proofed.

 

I also did wheel pants. The "two hours job" took most of the night. I realize that set you can get from DB is much better, but I am happy with the effect.



Both pieces are to be sanded once more and fuel proofed inside, then covered with cub-yellow 'tex, which by the way didn't arrive today as I expected.

Edited By Major on 04/01/2014 12:38:51

[Eddie Stocker - Formerly, DB Sport and Scale]

Nice one Tom, what a pity that your Ace got so damaged when in "Trusted storage" !!! You must have been GUTTED.

It's nice to see your demonstration of how to make wheel spats from wood, just how it always used to be done, it'll be a nice touch when they are sanded up to profile, lovely job.

It's nice that you can try to put such setbacks behind you and encourage your son also in the process, Keep it up Tom,

Eddie.

[AWflyer]

Hello

Just thought I would add these images of my DB Corben Baby Ace almost complete, I will be fitting a 40size 4 stroke to the model and have covered it in Solartex with self adhesive vinyl stickers. The build of the kit is superb all numbered parts and high quality wood selected with great care and consideration for the builder, all the strutts and wire fitted together perfectly first time.

Andrew.

[Major]

Eddie:
yeah, it was very discouraging and has put me off for a long time. I never planned to scrap her, but wasn't so keen to do anything - she just gathered dust and attracted my son to brake her even more .

Funny you should say "when they are sanded up to profile". I didn't plan to sand them to any other shape, but this input somehow "forced me" to do so - I spent another two nights and attempted to make them at least simillar, but they came out quite good. Thanks.


AWflyer:
your Ace looks fantastic! I like covering very much, when I look at my model - it isn't the case. Lots of wrinkles, some bubbles and most joints terribly done. I think I will either re-cover white parts of a plane - entire fuselage, or try to save it by applying some stiching here, screws and rivets there, and of course spray those areas, that got very dirty during storage.

Where did you get stickers from? Are they fuel-proof? Do you have any links?


Yesterday I received parcel from Blackburn, so progressed a little. Now she starts to look better, but only when I look from a distance . Wheel pants were pain in the back for me to cover them.

I thought it will be an easy job, but the more time I spend with her, the more things to do I find. Left UC fairing was covered, but I forgot to shrink 'tex before this photo was taken. Cowl was sprayed with plastikote enamel from wilko, currently awaits coat of fuel-proofer - as same as spats and engine bay.

Cheers
Tom

[Gerry Holland]

Tom Hi.

Came across your Forum entry during a Google search.

Not sure if you are interested but I have a full scale Corben baby Ace here in England based on my strip SW of Bath. It's probably the last one flying in Europe.

Great fun and flies beautifully. I'm sure you'll have the same results.

I've attached a photo. If you are in SW come and see.

Regards

Gerry

Edited By Steve Hargreaves - Moderator on 15/09/2014 19:11:01