Bird of Time fuse

[Up&Away]

Somewhere on the net, I once saw an outfit selling a fiberglass BoT fuselage. I seem to remember they also had BoT lasercut wing ribs. Anyone out there know who it was (is)?

Thanks

[solo6796]

http://www.soaringspecialties.com/birdoftimeglassfuselage.shtml

I built one with this fuse and CF modified wing.... Nice.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269207

AJ

[Up&Away]

Thanks AJ! (for both links)

I have the ARF BoT. As I electrified her, I have none of the spar problems. But the fuse is weak just behind the wing. I made a bad landing and I found hairline fractures and one good crack. I fixed it with some CF and FG, but would like to get a new bare fuse and lay some cf inside the fuse. And maybe later build a new wing...

[O.L. Adcock]

Up&Away, the ARF fuses aren't laid up well. I'm not familure with after market ones available but if done correctly you shouldn't need to reenforce them at all. Ask how many layers they use and where/how those layers end. If they end a layer behind the wing and taper it toward the tail, you shouldn't have any trouble. If they use the same number of layers full length, that's trouble. If they end a reenforcing layer square behind the wing, that too is trouble...O.L.

[StevenatorLTFO]

I tried to email that guy with the fiberglass BoT fuses a while back, but got no reply. Is he still in business?

Steve

[Up&Away]

Up&Away, the ARF fuses aren't laid up well.
I know. As long as you don't dork her too bad, there's no problem. But I think I got hit by another clever person flying in the vicinity without checking frequencies. Luckily it happened when I was landing and about a meter high. When we saw the pretty cartwheel I thought she'd be a total loss. However, there's no wing damage, and only the cracks behind the wing saddle in the fuse.
I'm not familure with after market ones available but if done correctly you shouldn't need to reenforce them at all. Ask how many layers they use and where/how those layers end.
I doubt if they know at Dynaflite. The kits are made in the far East... 'nough said. ;)

[O.L. Adcock]

Yep, I bought one for my wife. For the money it's a great plane but you can "feel" with the mash test the fuselage is lacking. The glass inside looks like it was wet out with flour paste! :) If she ever breaks it I may use it as a plug to make a mold from....O.L.

[ejett]

The ARF fuse is soft behind the wing, about where you would hold it. I put one straight in and it crumpled there and I had to repair it. Which I have done and it is much stiffer now. It needs to be repainted.

It could definitely use some reinforcement in that area. Hard to reach through the wing saddle, but if you could get some in there it would be a plus. However, the plane is on the heavy side due to the weight of the tail parts. If you built new ones, it would save you some weight in the nose.

O.L., you might check around on RCSE, maybe someone knows what George Voss' status is now. I bought one of his FG fuses and wing rib kits. Wish I had bought two of the fuses now.

EJ

[Up&Away]

I dremelled the gelcoat away, CA'd some strands of cf tow lengthwise, and then laid some fiberglass. A few passes of white spray paint, and from 3 meters away you can't see a thing...

[Polkastudio]

Well I have only my experiance and the experiance of one other to go from but I think the Bird of Time ARF is really a poor excuse of a sailplane considering the original was such a great plane. I had not flown in 25 years when I got mine but I can tell you unless a tornado sized thermal comes along I would only have 5-6 minute flights with it. Its too heavy by about a pound or more and the fuse is really weak considering the weight of the thing. I had a dork landing and it cracked behind the trailing edge about two inches. I have had some hard landings with my Mirage and never hurt a thing. The Mirage is a much lighter built ship but is stronger than this thing. I have two sets of wings because I put her in a tree trying to launch on a really windy day with a slight cross wind. You have to have so much pull to get it to go up without stalling that if you make one mistake it'll pop off. Yes I moved the CG and the tow hook location, doesn't make any difference except the launch gets lower. They might be cheap but you get what you pay for. I just bought a Skybird from Ray as I love the wing shape and have heard good things about this plane. Maybe once I build this I will build a new fuse and tailfeathers for it and try it again. I think the wings are ok but did notice the joiners don't line up the tips with the main panel witout major modification. Wings seem heavy to me as well. Still might work OK if you build a good wood fuse and some light tailfeathers. I think I would move the servo from the rear of the plane to the front like the original. I don't care for the elevator action on this one. OK I'm done crying about it now.

Polkaboy

[ejett]

Well, got a reply on RCSE from Pat McCleave and he says that he heard George took a job in Japan. So, that doesn't look good in the short term for the FG fuse and rib sets he was selling.

But, the BOT kit is still available from Tower for $65. I have a rib set if you need templates. If you get a plan set from RCM Plans, you can buy the wood and build one from the plans.

EJ

[JINKSd]

I also bought a B.O.T. ARF
once I started assembling it I discovered the fuse had a crack in the top starting 2” back from wing saddle for about 8” decided rather than send it back and maybe get another in the same shape I’d just repair/strengthen this one.
I can see there’s no way to do any repairs on the inside. Decided I’d fill the inside with dowel great stuff insulating foam. (I’ve used it before to add strength inside fuselages. They no longer feel spongy.) I drilled 2 9/64”holes on the bottom of the fuse. First one 1”ahead of where the rud push rod exits the fuse. The other centered between the wing saddle rear and the first hole.

I first sprayed foam in the rear hole till I could see it looking thru the stab servo hole. (This stuff does expand.) It expanded till it was about an inch ahead of the servo hole. (The nozzle on the spray can with out using the straw fits onto 9/64” holes perfectly.) The stuff sets up in about 15 minutes. Cures in 8 hours. Next I squirted it into the front hole for 3 seconds. Left this set up for 30 minutes. Now the last part can be messy. I installed the plastic straw (that came with the great stuff) on the nozzle inserting the straw into the fuse thru the wing saddle hole back to the curing foam already in there started spraying foam and slowly pulling the straw out. As soon as I could see the foam I stopped. It expanded more than I expected covered the former behind the saddle hole. Next day the extra foam was cut easily. This more than doubles the wall strength in my opinion.
Now I can take care of making the repairs on the outside.

I did weigh the fuse before and after. My scales only weighs in oz. there was no difference. So the weight was less than an oz.

Dowel great stuff insulating foam. Comes in a spray can 12 oz. costs less than 4 bucks at any lumber/hardware store.

JINKS D

[Up&Away]

Dowel great stuff insulating foam. Comes in a spray can 12 oz. costs less than 4 bucks at any lumber/hardware store.

Sounds like a plan! Do you have a picture of the can, so I know what I'm looking for. They might call it different here.

[JINKSd]

Heres a picture.

It’s best to do a little practice spraying the stuff in a cardboard tube. (Something you can throw away afterwards) I practiced spraying in a tube from monokote covering skin. You could use a toilet paper tube or better yet a paper towel tube.

Good luck JINKS D

[JINKSd]

UP & AWAY

I went to your other web site and checked your bot build. Looks to me your are more than ready to do a complete build
I do plane on putting spoilers in my arf some day
I also moved the stab servo up front.
My arf bot I’m leaving as a glider
The bot I built from a kit I did electrified
My second electric bot is an arf wing & tail set installed on a extended spectra fuse.
I’m now drawing/designing another bot wing 115”, sd7037 airfoil, with ailerons, flaps & spoilers. It will be a 4-piece wing.

JINKS D

[Up&Away]

Looks to me your are more than ready to do a complete build
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I want to do some more little scratch builds (got the plan for a Twinger from FLY RC magazine waiting). My main concern at the moment is building space. We will be moving into a new appartment soon, and it has a large-ish store room. A corner has been reserved... ;) Then I may seriously think about a BoT kit.