Who wants to share a new Flair Baronette build?

[Simon Knight]

Evening all!

My planned guests have left this evening and I now have access to my “workshop’ again without planned interruption of at least 4 weeks and I’m itching to build my Flair Baronette. The least few threads never had a final conclusion and maiden pics/video and I love trying to do that too, so who wants to join me and get the DR1 back in the limelight? If you are one of those guys from the early threads, what happened, how did your kits look and fly once freed?

If you have a Baronette in the cupboard or shed, let’s get them out and give them the freedom they deserve rather than just gathering dust. I would hate to move off this earth and leave my kits sitting for someone who doesn’t appreciate what they are and could be to sell them on that auction website for pennies.

Come on, who’s with me?!

Electric or IC doesn’t matter, I’m thinking electric to go with my other WW1 aircraft this year and I have a very simple scheme in mind too (not Red!). Let’s have a mass vintage build thread!

If you think I should shut up and just get on with it then I will, but I love kits now, what this forum offers and for some reason I’m in a great mood

[Jon H]

awww rats. I have one of these to build but just don't have room for another plane

[David Davis]

This was mine in the colours of Hans Weiss, one of MvR's flight leaders, OS 40 Surpass FS up.

It was a fine-looking model in the air with the OS chuffing away nicely, but on the ground it was terrible. I lost count of the number of times I flipped it over on take-off fracturing the lower wing. I used to get the club's expert to take off and land the model for me. I sold it on.

I am a more experienced pilot now so maybe those problems would not arise today but if I were to build another I'd fit a gyro. I'm told that the 1/4 scale triplanes are easier to fly.

Edited By David Davis on 23/07/2018 05:37:28

[Richard Wood]

The Baronette was fun & interesting to build but the initial 'flight' was just a big ground loop.
It's been on the shelf since which is a bit of a shame.
Must try it out again one day...

[Jon H]

My nieuport is similarly wayward with its ground handling but i have helped tame the beast with a sprung u/c. It made a big difference as it helped stop the model bouncing.

I also found that often the problem was in part caused by my overcorrection as the rudder is very powerful. It took a little while, but i just got used to it and now it rarely causes me any concern

[Simon Knight]

Evening again. Well we’re off and running, well jogging. Th edit has been in its box for many years so no point rushing, plus his will be the last kit I can make for a while as here is definitely no space once this is ready.

This is obviously not the first thread on this build and I am referring to a 2009 one by Danny Fenton as I go for any tips, but hope to avoid the detailed chat on batteries as that is beyond my knowledge.

Flair Baronette, old kit box is shabby but inside all seems very good. Only one strip of balsa seems to have warped and as its a leading edge it may straighten or I’ll get a new piece when required. Started by laying out all the bits so i could try and understand what is what.

Another well resourced kit. Now my progress is slow as it is taking me forever to work out what bits of wood are referred to in the instructions and with no pictures like my earlier kit builds it is testing my powers of recognition and deduction. Started with the top wing and it seems to be coming together ok. As I am doing a more modern build I will have servos in the wing so not using the pushrods provided. I have learned what a scarf joint is and that trying to drill a large hole through balsa is harder than a small one and enlarged with a file which I did for the second group of ribs. Left and right respectively. Oh, and now I appreciate laser cut kits as opposed to this one which is stamped/pressed and not the cleanest.

Using my new metal sheet and magnetic held wooden block (Magnefix) for this build and holding parts and it seems to be working very nicely. Purchased at Cosford LMA day. I wont put all my pictures in the thread, but you can see them in the DR1 album of mine. But for now this evening I have stopped with the top wing looking pretty good I think. Hope to finish it before going away this weekend.

[Simon Knight]

Oh and this is my planned scheme. Not sure f it will painted or covered in black yet.

[Richard Wood]

I found that the Baronette was quite quick to build - especially the wings which
could be put together very quickly.
The cockpit sheeting area took a little time to get as neat as possible and glueing
the wing struts into top & mid wings is simple enough with a template and slow
setting epoxy.
One good thing about the Baronette kit is that it has no lite ply!
The nose looks too long & would look much more scale a little shorter.
Interesting black colour scheme.

Edited By Richard Wood on 25/07/2018 08:16:07

[Jon H]

Posted by Richard Wood on 25/07/2018 08:15:13:

glueing
the wing struts into top & mid wings is simple enough with a template and slow
setting epoxy.

Edited By Richard Wood on 25/07/2018 08:16:07

This reminded me of something

My Dad used to have one of these years ago. He got it 2nd hand and it was not the straightest set of wings we ever saw and it was a bit of a handful to fly.

In any case, the lower wing tips took a whack from time to time and on two occasions the bottom wing and lower half of the interplane struts got broken and it was almost impossible to repair the struts as they were glued in. They also got damaged in transit a few times as they stuck out of the wing.

When i eventually build mine i will make the struts removable for repair simplicity

[Richard Wood]

Good idea to make the struts removable Jon if it can be done securely.
The lower wing is nylon bolted to the fuselage & the struts are fixed to the lower
wing with small metal nuts & bolts but replacing these with small nylon types might be
worth investigating to help against damage.

Piano wire skids fixed to the lower wing tips are included in the kit & might help protect
the tips.

Hopefully Flair Scout kits will become available again - especially the Attila
which is a great model to fly.

Edited By Richard Wood on 25/07/2018 09:46:20

[Bob Cotsford]

I found the one big weak spot is where the TE meets the centre section sheeted area, mine's gone there a couple of times when I've caught a wingtip or flipped it on landing. It lands very nicely but is a pig for somersaulting on slowing down. I cheated with the ground handling by using a gyro on rudder set to heading hold for take-off and landing. It helped with the ground loop tendencies but caused interesting handling if I forgot to switch it out after taking off.

I really must recover it one of these days, that or pass it on to some unsuspecting clubmate to have a go with it.

[Simon Knight]

Gentlemen thank you for the above points, I will certainly be referring to them again when I get to those stages.

However, I have finished the upper wing, subject to building the servo mounts once I decide which ones to use and this evening I made good progress with the middle wing, or so I thought.

Picture below is the semi built middle wing and just on the table for the photo above the plan for the lower wing.

Now I followed the written instructions and assumed all would be straight forward as they suggested and indeed I got more done in a shorter time frame too:

However, when I removed the wing from the plan I noted that there were some parts shown on the plan that were not mentioned in the instructions at this point and when I look through there are no clear references to them. The next picture shows my wing with both plan views to explain, I hope. My challenge is I do not understand how to where these parts,the ply spreader for the bolt etc are supposed to fit/go with the wing as it is. Do any of you experienced gents that have made this kit have pictures of the finished product that may help or can put it into simple terms based on what you can see and read. Part of me now thinks I should build the fuselage and then when the wings are made up I can see and dry fit where and how they are supposed to fit.

Any clarification or guidance on how to proceed will be gratefully received. I am now unfortunately away for a long weekend and this will be in my mind so any answers when I return as always thank you, in advance.

Edited By Simon Knight on 26/07/2018 22:23:29

[edgar]

My Flar Legionaire lower wing was similar. Based on this, I think there should be a piece of trailing edge section between the trailing edge sheets in the centre. I can't tell if this is in place in your photos. The provided TE section in my kit was a terrible fit and needed a lot of sanding. 

I assume that the small rectangles on the plan represent a small patch ply glued under the trailing trading edge to spread the load from the wing bolt.

I hope this helps.

Edited By edgar on 26/07/2018 23:25:39

Edited By edgar on 26/07/2018 23:39:08

Edited By edgar on 26/07/2018 23:49:54

[edgar]

After a night's sleep and looking at the plan again, I realise my comments above might not be that helpful because they refer to a lower wing. I now realise that this question refers to a centre wing.

[Simon Knight]

Thanks Edgar, that does make sense and I have found a piece of balsa that fits the description on the plan now, so hopefully when back next week I can look at retro fitting it into the Center section. I have read your whole original post and that made sense too. That is certainly a good starting point so thank you.

Edited By Simon Knight on 27/07/2018 08:12:06

[Andrew Mawman]

I fly this one regularly, OS52FS, short take offs a must but flies very well.

[Bob Cotsford]

I would still advise adding some gussets between the trailing edge strips and the centre section sheeting before you get to the covering stage.

[Richard Wood]

Edgar is right - a piece of TE section balsa fits between the upper & lower TE strips.
Another piece of TE balsa is glued onto this to create a level surface to glue on the
ply reinforcement for the wing bolt.
All this is hidden by the cockpit assembly - from memory you probably need the
fuselage built to complete this stage.

[Simon Knight]

She looks nice Andrew. Thanks Bob, Richard, that does make a lot more sense now and having had a quick check of the TE piece I found there is enough to do as you say. I’ll work this in soon and leave the rest till the fuselage is finished. I’ll also look more carefully at the lower wing before I get carried away.

[Simon Knight]

Ok, thanks for your help it all does make more sense now and I have added the TE piece(s) and prepped the wedge with ply board for addition later when the dowels are fitted and the centre section covered with lite ply. The extra balsa you can see under the wedge is to zero the gap between the TE piece and centre sheeting to make it a more rigid affair when the wedge is added.

Now to sort the LE and then on to the lower wing over this week.

[Graham Ashby (Editor)]

Hi Simon,

I was just passing so I thought I'd pop in to say that it's lovely to see a Baronette build going on. I have a 30 year old example which I've been flying for about 15 years now and I still love it to bits. It gets a a bit of TLC every now and again and just keeps going. Flies beautifully on its O.S. 40FP. With a dustbin silencer you can barely hear it over the noise of the electric models.

I'll keep an eye on your build.

Graham

[Paul Marsh]

I built one a few years ago. Has a OS 40FS in it.

[Tomtom39]

I have two spare kits. Happy to sell one if any one wants to build one . May also be able to lay my hands on a used OS 48/52 four stroke to go with it.  Please PM.

Edited By Tomtom39 on 02/08/2018 10:29:56

[Simon Knight]

It's nice to hear about your DR1 and how well they have served you over the years, I just hope mine does the same.

progress has been made and lessons hopefully learned. Before gluing the lower wing I this time made sure i had all of the parts cut and identified, to the best of my knowledge and laid out on the plan as a double check. I think I have now got a better understanding of using the side and plan views together and t his time, the centre wing section pieces are a little more obvious. The TE piece glues upright to the back balsa and the wooden block is provided but needs shaping. I won't sheet the top section until ready to start the fuselage fitting.

Not quite yet sure how the fillet fits to the wing and plywood that is cut into the LE edge but I'm sure it will become clearer when up against the fuse.

There will now be a short intermission in build progress while we go away for the week, but at least the 3 wings are now 90% there. Thank for the help so far, I'm sure I'll be calling again soon. But is there anyone else building this model now?

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]