SSWD1 Construction

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Construction of Mike Bealmear's 1/4 scale Siemens Schuckert D1 Page 1 , Page 2

As I said before, this is the first time I've ever tried to build something from essentially plans. While I don't really consider this as a pure "scratch built" project, because many pieces (ribs, formers, etc.) were laser cut for us, there is a lot to be done. Plus, the modifications I'll be doing to make a Nieuport 17 into an SSW D1 will create some additional challenges as well.

I completed the frame-up of the top and bottom wing the last week of October 2004. Their construction was fairly easy and straight forward (see below). Then my "airplane building" switched to" kitchen remodeling" (at home) for the next 5 weeks. Then Christmas kicked in. As a result, little time was available for airplane building until the new year.



	(Click on images to enlarge)


October 2004 Construction Begins "The Cave" (what my wife Kathy has christened my basement work shop). I'm very lucky to have a great place to "do my thing" and even luckier that it's a straight shot up the stairs and out the back door. These pics show construction of the left half of the upper wing. It's built flat, with no dihedral by the way.

January 1, 2005 Fuse Construction and Engine Mounting Fuselage construction shots. Again, pretty simple and straight forward. Laser cut parts fit well. My only problem was not looking at the plans closely, and gluing the completed fuse sides to the firewall at a right angle. The slight taper of the fuse begins at the firewall. Actually, it worked out okay, as with the SSW D1, the forward fuse has a more rounded cross-section anyway. It did make it tougher to get the formers in properly, but it all came together just fine. You can see in the frontal shots the modifications to the cowl ring, making the sides straight rather than rounded on the Nieuport. Test mounting of the Ryobi 31cc converted weed-eater engine (later replaced with a G38) came next.
(Click on images to enlarge)

January 2005 Forward Fuse Modifications Next came the modifications to the forward fuse. With the more rounded cross section, I used cardboard at first to cut patterns for the balsa formers. Once I had these, I traced them onto balsa a cut them out. These were the CA'd in the proper locations. Next the notches were cut for the 1/8 x 1/8 balsa stringers. There's a sharp enough bend from the last new former to the fuse side, that I needed to wet the stingers first (with just water) so they wouldn't break. If you look at the lager version of the second pic, I put in a while line to give you kind of an idea where the standard Nie 17 forward fuse side would be. Rudder Modifications The last pic shows the modifications done to the shape of the Nie 17 rudder for the more rounded SSWD1 rudder.
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Tail Feathers Tails feathers pinned in place. Robart type hinges temp. fitted in the elev. halves. Getting ready to start looking at the runs for the pull-pull and servo placement next. The last pic shows wooden pins in the fuse. I decided that the structure wasn't strong enough here. Drilled small holes and CA'd in short pieces of bamboo skewers (tooth pics would work too.)

Cabanes The cabanes were made from strips cut from aluminum sheet stock inserted into streamlined aluminum tubing. JB Weld was used to keep the tubing in place. When mounting, much care and test fitting was done to get the top wing incidence correct. Holes were pre-drilled in the cabanes, and once the proper location was determined, the holes were then drilled into the sides of the plywood fuse side. Hardwood strips and blind nuts were then used on the out-side (later the forward fuse sheeting would cover this). I used #8 cap screws and blind nuts here (probably over-kill) and further secured things by blocking in the cabane mounts with some light ply. This also helps line up the holes to re-mount the cabanes later after the top deck is sheeted. The center and left pics were taken after the top deck was sheeted.

February 19, 2005 Club Mall Show The Public Debut (of sorts) for the SSWD1. Our clubs annual Mall Show. As you can see, the cabanes are now mounted as are the top and bottom wings. Landing gear is duck taped together. Cowl is rough cut to fit. Looking a bit more like an airplane!

March 2005 Final Construction Forward fuse is sheeted and over anxious pilot figure checks out his ride. Covering was next. The last pic here shows the louvers. I neglected to take pics of their construction, but the louvers themselves are shaped basswood, glued to 1/16" lite ply. This was then glued to an area carved out of the already covered fuse (which was an error, should have done that before covering). Because the cross section of the fuse is not quite flat hear (it probably should have been) it was a challenge to get them to fit well. The air scoop is a 1/48 scale P-51 spinner from the parts box, shortened and cut in half and attached with CA.




Early April 2005 Tail Skid I did the tail skid first by enlarging a photo of the real tail skid to the size I needed then cutting pieces of music wire to size and soldering it together with brass sheet stock, with the "U" bracket for the skid also made from brass sheet stock. The skid itself is hardwood cut and shaped to size. It's a shock absorbing skid just like the prototype, with a heavy rubber band acting as a bungee on the front part of the skid. My original tail skid looked good, but didn't hold up past the first flight. The side braces broke loose where they joined the assembly just above the skid. The re-design (pic on right) retained the scale shape, but used a small shaped hardwood block as a origin for the for/aft and side braces and skid mount. Kind of crude, but I need a fix fast. The side brace piece was simply wrapped around the bolt through the "U" channel the skid it self was mounted too, then bent up to attach to the fuse bottom fuse stringers (if I paint it, it might even look a little better). Perhaps if my solder skills improve, I can make a better metal one down the road. Nylon inserts (from inner nyrod) were expoxied into holes drilled for them for the attachment screws to mount too on the side braces. The main for and aft legs are bent to simply fit into holes drilled in the ply mounting plate and are held in place with nylon landing gear straps. So far, this skid has held up to a lot of abuse.

Main Gear The main gear was done as per plans (I didn't attempt to do sprung gear like Greg Emerick did on his). The only modification I did was to add successive diameters of brass tubing to the axel until to same diameter of the hole in the wheel was met. This was them solder in place, and drilled for a small cotter pin . A bit more work, but far more dependable than wheel collars. To the music wire legs I added streamlined hardwood (from Balsa USA). A grove routed on one side for the gear leg to recess into. This was glued in with a liberal amount of JB Weld. When dried it was sanded, primed and painted. They're held up pretty well. I've had to squirt some CA into a few cracks (after a particularly hard landing) and clamp until set-up.
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SSWD1 construction (page 2) continued here