Airsail - Dehavilland Chipmunk Kit

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Just mumbled “ey oop” and “aye lad” a couple of times and with the aid of a casually displayed picture of a whippet lying on the passenger seat, I blagged my way over the border.

 

[paul dear 1]

3 hours ago, kevin b said:

Pm me with your email address Paul and I will send you a digital copy.

 

Martin. 

I do hope you had a pleasant journey up and didn't fall foul of the customs officials when you entered Yorkshire.

They are generally a friendly bunch unless you try to smuggle in contraband like flat beer and jellied eels.   ?

Thanks Kevin, pm sent.

Martin, thanks for the pointer.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

There’s a few of us on here that have built the Chippy so feel free to ask about anything that may make you scratch your head. 
 

My first piece of advice is to make either a fixed or steerable (not very straightforward) tail wheel rather than follow the full size and plan detailed castering version - you’ll find it’s almost impossible to taxi cross wind…unless of course you have differential wheel braking like the real thing!

[paul dear 1]

Thanks Martin, will do. Hoping to post some pics in due course.

[Dale Bradly]

Built mine about a year ago, now one of my favourite models. 5S 4000, pretty sure it runs a 15x7, sorry can't recall the kVA, but it sips power and 10 min flights are no problem at 1/2-3/4 throttle.  Flies what i would consider scale, where a little energy conservation is required, e.g. to loop, start from a shallow dive etc. I don't consider it a 3D machine, so don't expect it to perform like one. My advice would be, should you consider glow, a lethargic .52 4st would fly it fine, a healthy one would be magic, don't even consider anything bigger than .70. 

Agree re castoring tailwheel, I did this but replacing the rudder horn with one that exends from the rudder, right though the bottom of the fuse, and becomes the tailwheel strut (i think this meant moving the tailwheel location fwd), connected to a single servo via a snake, which connects to this rudder/tailwheel strut just under the rudder, above the stab, inside the vac formed platic tail fairings. A bit of fiddling during build, but a doddle to taxi now.

Also angled the main gear a bit further fwd, which was simply by drilling new holes in the wooden blocks at a different angle to take the portion of the leg that pokes into the wing. (The groove the length of the block remains the same).

I put the optional flaps on mine, but knowing what i do now (i.e. it really doesn't need them) i would save the weight. I would also consider remaking some of the wing ribs in balsa vs the ply they come in, as there is a small tree in the wing, especially in the centre section, she's a bit too solid!

I used the supplied cowl as a plug to make fibreglass copies, not for any reason other than to learn a bit more about the process, and to "future proof" replacements if needed.

I 'glassed the fuse, and the wing and all control surfaces are ceconite+dope, and finished with hardware store water based house paint.

Feel free to ask any questions.