RU4JESUS2 FALCONGTS

camp and fly? anyway nice plane

mclina

I really wanted to bring along a plane, but I don't have a float plane right now, and the old CR-V was pretty much maxed out...

draftman1

man you are loaded to the gills, a gnat wouldnt fit anywere would it, it looks like the suburban we took to combat on saturday, picts are on spadworld

I hope you and the fam had a great time, I love camping also

RU4JESUS2 FALCONGTS

wow camping trip your like me well prepaired hope you had fun

mclina

It was great. We are going again this weekend. I took one daughter to the field tonight and flew the trainer, but I haven't had the chance to maiden the new biplane yet. I did break in the engine, so it's ready to go.

RU4JESUS2 FALCONGTS

have fun camping

look to see the bipe fly


I have a boy and a girl cant get them to fly they like cars

draftman1

have a great trip!

mclina

Well, it's been a busy summer with two camping trips and a trip to Vegas with my wife, but I am all ready to maiden this beast tomorrow.

I added some wire bracing to the wing to help hold it together and stiffen it up. It seems pretty solid now. The plastic cabanes are held to the wings by three skewers each, with about 1/2" of each end embedded in the wing, and a bunch of gorilla glue.

I am excited to see how (or if) this thing will fly. I have fairly low expectations.

I'll post a flight report tomorrow....

draftman1

I wish you a great maiden! the plane looks awesome

mclina

Well, it flies.

My first takeoff attempt ended in about a half a cartwheel. I think I tried to pull it off the ground before I got enough speed.

My second takeoff got it into the air and flew a couple of circuits, but it was porpoising really badly. Tail heavy. So I wrestled it back to the runway and got it down safely.

I moved the battery forward about 12", as far as I could, and took it back up.

I was able to fly it level on the third flight, but it may still be tail heavy. I also think it is underpowered, but maybe I just don't have the new engine dialed in just yet.

Overall, I am happy with the results so far. It stayed out of the cornfield, which is now about 12 feet tall, so that was a plus.

huck1199

Very nice looking bipe. Can you pop the rubber bands nd pull the fuse out from the wing structure without dis-assembly?

RU4JESUS2 FALCONGTS

glad you got her flying ,

mclina

I was just barely able to squeak this thing into my car without taking the wings off. Both wings are held on to the fuse with about 12 rubber bands, so it's not too hard taking off the wings. The problem is that you can't slide the fuse through the wings without removing the landing gear. I was really hoping it would fit in my car, and was very glad that it did. I may even shorten the wingspan a little bit to make it fit even easier.

jeebo

My Feedback: (42)

... Hi Mclina, Could you give me all the dementions for your bi-plane. how far back you have the cg from the firewall,the vertical and horizontal stabs, etc. Would really appreciate it. Thanks Jim

mclina

No problem. It make take me a day or two...

mclina

Sorry it took me so long, but here are a few dimensions:

The leading edge of the lower wing is 10" back from the firewall. There is about 8" of vertical between the lower wing and upper wing, and there is only 1 1/2 or 2" of stagger between the wings. I should have had a little more.

I'm pretty sure the tail is straight from the SPAD Debonair plans, and the fuselage is 42" long.

The CG is pretty much halfway between the upper and lower wing spars, but it should probably move forward a bit.

And it could definitely use more power.

Good luck.

Villa

Hi mclina
What condition causes you to believe it needs more stagger in the wings?

mclina

Nothing other than most biplanes seem to have more. I can't point to any flight characteristic or anything. I just know that my other bipe, and most that I see, seem to have a few inches of stagger.

I need to fly this thing a couple more times to really get a feel for how it flies and what adjustments it may need.

jeebo

My Feedback: (42)

Thanks Mclina,I appreciate this.

mclina

If anybody has read many of my posts, it's pretty clear that I have a short attention span for this sort of thing:


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7089029/tm.htm

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7197372/tm.htm

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6713760/tm.htm

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7255371/tm.htm


I think I enjoy building SPADs more than flying them, and this biplane is no exception. I have tomorrow off, so I am going to take it up for a few more flights, but I don't think I'm going to keep it around the hangar for a few reasons:

1 - I just won a ModelTech Magic V2.0 in a raffle last night, so I need the engine and radio gear. I think it will be more fun to fly.

2 - The bipe takes up too much room in my basement.

3 - The bipe takes up the whole car. If I want to bring it to the field, it is the only plane I can bring.

4 - I mainly built it to see if I could. I have several better flying planes.

So, thanks for all of the encouraging words, and I hope you all enjoyed following this build as much as I enjoyed building this thing. If anyone wants this plane, minus the engine and radio gear, I'll gladly send it to you for the cost of postage. That also goes for the SPA3DT, the Delta, a QHOR, or what's left of "Twister". Of course, they all come with no guarantee of airworthiness.

I'm going to keep flying my Gnat, Derelict, and the two trainers, but I think I can part with the rest. Especially for someone who will put them to use.

Matt

draftman1

wow Mclina, thats a great offer for someone wanting to get into spads. I hope your not getting discouraged. I also know that vehical space is limited. Since I got into combat, I have been enjoying the smaller planes 25 size. Have you tried the corostang? man it sure is fun with a OS25fx and a combat can muffler. it screems down the runway at 6" above the deck. another good one is the wundra, a spad version of the sig wonder, it also is a great 25 size, its like a flying wing. Keep up the good work, your a grat spadder!!!

mclina

I'm not discouraged at all. I still have enough downspout and coro to build several more SPADs. I would just like to clear out some space and get rid of some of the stuff that I know I won't ever fly.

I'm sure that by next spring I will have two or three new SPAD's to maiden.

draftman1

cool, thats good!

mclina

I flew the Bipe again today, and it flew fairly well. I moved the battery pack as far forward as I could, and then I stuck a spare D-cell in there to boot. It flew very well at very low speeds. I could fly it at just about a walking pace down the runway, but when I hit the throttle, it got a bit pitchy. At low speed it flies straight and level, but under power it porpoises. I was able to get a couple of loops out of it, but it would not roll.

The consensus at the field is that the top wing incidence is off by a few degrees. I may also have some up-thrust in the firewall mounting.

Since I would have to remove the top wing and reset it to fix the incidence problem, I think I am going to try it next as a low wing monoplane.

As for my offer to give this away to somebody, I really don't think it would be worth the shipping cost. Not to mention the fact that it just doesn't fly all that well. When I get the time, I am going to remove the top wing and see how it flies without it.

Villa

Hi mclina
I was wondering how you managed getting the wing incidences correct. As I mentioned earlier, I too am building a Coro Biplane. I made a 5 degree error in the angle of the wing struts and while working on that correction I decided that what I was doing did not allow for fine adjustment of the two wing incidences. Now my struts will still be made of 4MM coro, but will include .157 diameter carbon fiber rods with 4-40 threaded heavy duty clevices for adjusting the incidences with each carbon rod. I expected things to be complicated and I am still looking for ways to assemble it easier and get all of the angles correct. I'm not there yet.