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Back to page one of construction
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Construction of Mike's 1/4 scale Siemens
Schuckert D1 - Page 2
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1916 photo of early SSWD1s in the Nuremberg factory.
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June 2005
Covering and Ribstiching
I took a break from construction to get myself pre-pared to comp in the
May 20, 21,22nd Mint Julep Scale Meet with my .90 Balsa USA Eindecker.
A combination of Worldtex and Solartex was used Both worked extremely
well and were a treat to use compared to plastic coverings like MonoKote.
The fuse was covered with transparent Worldtex ('cause that's what I had),
and I ordered the 5 meter rolls of Worldtex in white from Balsa
USA.
I'd never done ribstiching before, and there are many different
ways to do this. I chose to use a new product from Scale
Rib Stitch. Basically this is a simulated scale rib stitch tape that
comes in various scales (dictating the spacing of the stitch). This
stuff comes in 2" x 36" wide strips that you cut to the
width that you need. The "stitching" strips were measured and
marked with a straight edge (center pic), then cut out with scissors (at
least this was the method I used). You then peel off the backing tape, and
apply to the top of the rib. The rib tapes were cut out of Solartex using a Top
Flite SmartStripe Cutting Tool. You then peel off the backing tape on
the top side and apply the rib tape. This proved to be a bit of a challenge,
as it was difficult to keep the rib tape centered on the stitch tape. The
solution that I came up with (shown in the right pic) was to make a
cardboard template with a cut-out the width of the rib tape. I centered the
template over the applied stitch tape, and make small marks with a pencil
every so often. This made it immensely easier to do. The application of the
rib tape was done with a fairly hot iron. The rib tapes are tacked down to
the top of the stitch tape, then I came back over the rib tapes with the
iron (using the heat with little pressure) followed right behind with a damp
rag to press the tape to the covering and down around the stitches.
Come back and hit any spots where the tape looks loose, and you're done
(with that part).
Next were the sub-rib tapes (with no stitching per my
documentation), and adding the leading and trailing edge tapes to finish off
the covering. This was all applied to the tail feathers as well. This
was probably the most time consuming part of the construction, but the final
look is great!
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(Click on images to enlarge)
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Head Rest
The headrest was made from 3/16 balsa cut very roughly to shape. I was
unsure of how to get the underside radius to match the turtle deck after of
the cockpit. What I tried seemed to work pretty well. Once I had the pieces
cut, i put a piece of backing from the covering over the rear deck to keep
the pieces form being glued to it. I started with gluing the two in the
center together and pining these to the top-deck. I worked my way out side
until I had the desired width at the front of the headrest. The whole
assembly came off, and was sanded close to the correct final shape. A piece
of balsa was then glued to the front. There were quite a few gaps (I
shouldn't have worried about making the outside pieces progressively
smaller), these were filled with Micro-Balloons and epoxy. After this dried,
finally sanding was done and the headrest wasglued into place with epoxy.
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July 2005
Cowl and Spinner
The SSWD1 cowl is different from the Nieuport 11 or 17. The slope towards
the front is more pronounced, and it's flat on the sides. I was fortunate
enough to trade the 17 cowl I had for one that cold be made to more
closely match. I don't have any idea where the cowl I used came from. The
pic on the left shows the cowl after I'd opened up the bottom to fit it on
the plane for the mall show earlier in the year. It was still too long at
this point. After the engine was mounted and I was positive where the prop
hub would be, It was cut much shorter and opened up considerably. The
finished spinner and cowl are shown in the center pic. The spinner is a
"Zinger" 5" aluminum. It's about as close as I could find to the
outline and size of the one on the prototype. The pic
on the right is from John Fitzmaurice, he's also working on a 1/4 scale
SSWD1. His pic shows the fiberglass "spider framework" that was
the front support for the engine on the real SSWD1.I have yet to duplicate
this detail, but plan too.
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July 2005
Painting
Painting was done with exterior latex enamel house paint applied with an automotive
detail gun and help from fellow Dawn Patroller and Nieuport Project
participant Russ Kuhn. The "feathered" edges were accomplished.
with tearing newspaper "templates" and shooting the gun at an
angle that wouldn't shoot under the paper. The loose fit of the template
did the job nicely. It took three very light coats to cover (i was
surprised that how easily the "pencil marks from the rib stitching
and where I drew the outline of the camo pattern showed thru, otherwise
two coats probably would have sufficed. Top sides were pea green and rust
brown, with the undersides pale blue (the top sides were masked for a
harder edge).
After drying for a few days, the Maltese crosses were masked
and painted with hobby enamel. The pattern I used for the crosses were
decals left over from my Slow Stick. They were enlarged to the sizes I
needed on a copier, then templates were cut. The outlines were transferred
to the various locations in pencil. I used blue painters masking tape cut
into narrow strips to out-line the crosses, masked off the rest with tape
and newspaper (except for the rudder which was all tape). The white was
applied and allowed to dry for a couple of days. Then the white out-lines
were masked and the black was sprayed on. A little touch -up here and
there was all that was needed to make all ready for a couple of light
coats of polyurethane to finish it off.
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Pull-Pull
I used Dubro's 4-40 Pull-Pull system for controlling the elevators and
rudder. Dual servos were used on the elevator (one for each half). I like
the added safety factor here. Much of this was set up temporary lines run
before covering.
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Tail Braces
Tail braces are streamlined aluminum tubing
with brass sheet cut to fit snugly inside that tubing and secured in place
with JB Weld. A few of the guys tried just flattening the ends of
the tubing and bending that tab at an angle, then drilling that for the
attachment. This is unadvisable, as the aluminum will
quickly fracture at the point where it is bent. There are four braces on
the SSWD1 per the prototype. I never got around to painting them, but will
this winter.
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Rigging
Flying and landing wires were done using Dubro 4-40 pull-pull cable and
4-40 clevis. These were attached to tabs made from sheet brass and
attached to reinforced area in the wings. Prior to covering the balsa ribs
where the wires would attach were sheeted on both sides with 1/16"
lite ply. That actual attachment points were short pieces of inner nyrod
expoxied in place. The wires are semi-functional. I believe that the plane
would fly fine with-out them, but they do add a bit of strength to the structure.
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What? Me nervous?
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Airborne!
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Climbing out in the haze.
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Bill rolls it. Colors sure look good!
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Final approach.
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Post flight thumbs up!
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Thanks go out
to Rhonda Shelton for the great maiden flight photos, and to my much
needed and appreciated "support crew" .
(L to R in lower right pic). Steve Percifield, me, Art Shelton, and Billy
Thompson. |
Saturday, 08-27-05 Maiden
Flight
It was pretty dang hot out that day, but it was time. I choose to fly at
Phil Waltz's field near Shelbyville. More open, and fewer people around. I
spent a few hours at the field tweaking and adjusting the pull-pull cables.
I actually replaced (with Art Shelton h guidance) all four elevator cables because I didn't have the geometry
right). Then started running up the engine to be sure it was dialed in
right. That proved to be troublesome, as I wasn't getting the RPMs I had
on the engine just the day before and it seemed to take for ever to get it
dialed in to a point that the maiden flight could be attempted.
To make matters worse, I was topping off the Tx battery
(with all the added set-up time, it had run down) with my field charger
before the maiden flight.
My Hobbico Field Charger MKII fried my Tx battery, cooked it. It was so
ho, that the plastic shrink wrap was peeled off, and the battery itself
was to hot to touch. I immediately removed it from the Tx. After it cooled
down, it was topped off with a different charger, and deemed adequate
enough for a test hop.
I asked Billy Thompson to do the honors. I was pretty nervous
about it, and seeing that Billy is a very good pilot, and already had
quite a few flights on his Nieuport 17 (which mine is based), I thought
that if there was a serious problem, he would have a better change at
recovery than me. I also wanted his assessment on how mine flew compared
to his.
The take-off was perfect, but Billy did comment that it
seemed a bit underpowered with the 31cc Ryobi. Bill took it around the
patch a few times and commented that it flew great which was a huge relief
to me! He performed a few gentle aerobatics and then brought it in for a
perfect landing. Wow! It sure looked good up there. Upon post flight
inspection, we found that the rudder hinges were loose. As I didn't have
what I needed to properly repair it at the field, my first flight would
have to wait for the following weekend.
09-03-05
After fixing a loose rudder (and replacing the Tx battery), my first
attempted flights with the SSWD1 were Saturday the 3rd at my club field
(Johnson Co. R/C Flyers). The grass part of the field was so rough
however, that it was beyond my skills to keep it tracking straight enough
for a take-off. I decided to call it a day, before I had more than just a
few flying wires to fix, and try aging the next day back up at Phil's.
09-04-05
After more engine tweaking (the forbearer of future issues), it was time
for me to give it a go. After a few fast taxi's to get the feel of it, It
was off the ground with me at the sticks. Yup, seemed a bit underpowered,
and had to be flown on the wing. I was up for about 4-5 minutes when the
engine died. I was able to just make it to the field (which is surrounded
by beans and corn beyond that). Made two more flights that day, with both
resulting in dead sticks. I unfortunately put those both in the beans with
no apparent damage other than a broken flying wire or two (later I
discovered a stripped servo gear for one of the ailerons. Needless to say,
I was not at all happy with the Ryobi, and even with lots of knowledgeable
help around, we could not figure out the problem, as it ran okay on the
ground for the most part, but top end was never very consistent. Not good,
as the Hoosier Dawn Patrol Fly-In
was two weeks away, and the big event at Dayton, the 2005
Dawn Patrol Rendezvous, was the weekend after that.
One week (and $400.00 lighter in the wallet) saw a new Zenoah G38
mounted. That solved the engine problems. I could tell when I fist
taxied it out with the G38 that this was going to be more fun. It
flew great! After
a few test flights with the G38, I mounted the spinner in time for the Hoosier
Dawn Patrol.
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Hoosier Dawn Patrol 09-24-05
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My son Ted (my spotter) and me at the 2005 Dawn Patrol
Rendezvous at Dayton.
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| There are still a number of
things I intend to finish this winter on the SSWD1. Paint the pilot,
finish the spider frame work for the cowl and perhaps build a dummy
Siemens Halske engine for it. I may weather it some, but I'm not sure, as
the SSDW1 never made it into active service, and probably didn't last too long
as trainers. I might change some things in the cockpit and add more detail
there as well. As the saying goes:
"A scale project is never done, you just quit
working on it". Thanks for taking the
time viewing this! Please feel free to Email
me if you have any questions or comments. |
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