I don't mean to keep tooting my own horn by love this plane!

I'm still looking to hear from anyone else building or flying this model. I can't be the only one.

Five flights have been made now. The first two were not that pleasant as I was fighting a torque problem described in an earlier thread. The last three however have been a great fun.

Here is what I can say about its performance so far:

Twin potensky 02a motors turning sig 003 (rubber power) props

270mah NiCad 8 cell pack

Weight ready to fly - 12.5 ounces

The c.g. is exactly at the leading edge of the wing as spec.ed

The plans call for the wing tips to be blocked up 1/2" at each tip to give some dihedral in the form of gentle arc, mine are set at 3/4" at each tip.

I am getting 3 minutes and 10 seconds of good flying time in air temperatures from 10 - 25 degrees followed by a rapid decrease in power that lets me know that it is time to land (now). This is at about half throttle which is sufficient to maintain altitute and putter about. When I want to climb, it does so much more agressivly than my stock Tiger Moth.

The model seems to settle into a nice coordinated turn after a little fussing around as turns are initiated. Being less agressive with the rudder tends to smooth things out. I like to keep the turns shallow although it has handled some pretty steep bank angles. Even with the adjustments I made to the thrust line, the model still favors left turns a little more than right turns. It seems to be begging for counter rotating propellers.

The pitch sensativity is not unmanagable and gives the plane an authentic feel. I am using a Focus 3FM that is not programmable or limitable, yet I have no problem managing the pitch. I have been lucky enough to make all of my lanings so far in fresh dry (cold) powdery snow. I can set it down pretty softly. On the advice of Pat Tritle, the designer, I cary a little power all the way in, bring the nose way up and plop it down with little or no forward motion, cutting the power at the last second before the stall.

The cruising speed is simillar to my Tiger Moth. The flyer seems to be able to handle breeze better than the TM. It feels much less jumpy in variable conditions. I've flown it in gusts of up to 6 mph or so (enough to just about zero out its ground speed).

Hi Sky,

I love your reports. If I keep reading them I might have to buy the kit even though I have enough unbuilt ones to last me 'till this time next year. Maybe I'd better get one now before they run out...yeah, that's the ticket.

I've been following your quest for counter rotating props. I saved the instructions for carving. I don't think I'd be up to that. Maybe you are. I have an idea though. Chris Hansen at http://www.anythingrc.com/ makes CF props like the one shown below.
prop

It seems to me that if parts are available this would be the easiest way to go. Unfortunately his site has been down for weeks. You could email him.

I know it's not scale for the WF, but it does have kind of an old, funky look. Actually it's close to scale for my future Antoinette. They had paddles on sticks.

Chris sells the parts; paddles, hubs, CF sticks and a building fixture that holds the blades at the angle you choose. I don't know if he sells reverse thrust paddles, but it seems it should be easy for him to mold the blade "upside down" so that the curve was proper. I'm also not sure if the building machine will handle reverse thrust. I have one but haven't used it yet.

PS, I included my latest Bleriot CF wheel struts in the prop picture. They're much more scale than the aluminum ones that are mounted on the wheel.

PPS, I re-read the instructions for assembling the prop building/repair fixture and they mention parts not to be permanently glued if you are going to build props of different pitches or right or left hand props. He must also supply paddles for reverse pitch props. Also, the pre-built prop I showed is black. The spare blades I got from him are an off white. Your choice as to which goes better with your plane.

RB

Red Baron,

Thanks for the tip. I e-mailed chris with some questions. In the mean time, I have purchased some balsa and basswood blocks at my LHS and I'm going to just see how hard this might be.

Your landing gear look great. Did you build or buy the spoked wheel? If bought, who makes it?

Where do you get your carbon fiber rods?

This place has the cheapest prices I've found on CF rods and tubing.

http://www.citystar.com/hang-em-high/ushop/

Hi Sky guy,

I got the wheels at Hobby lobby, second ones down the page.
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/wheels.htm

I'm very impressed, the spokes look like monofiliment and are wound through the rims and hubs just like real ones. They seem very strong. The rims seem to be of plastic and have rivets and bolts moulded in. A minor problem is that my 2 3/4" ones weigh 10.4g each. The good part is that the rim and spokes weigh 3g and the solid rubber tire weighs 7.4g. They're Czech made.

Here's a better picture:
wheels

I've ordered some fishing lure foam cord and it's weight will probably be 4g/foot which will be around 3g for the wheel. Better than that Chris has some "super light" which is 1.4g/foot. I wish he would get his new site up because I'm sure I can get up an order large enough to warrant the shipping charges.

I've gotten my CF at various places. I believe some was at at hang-em.

PS, I read what the guy said about balsa props not being strong enough for electric. Sounds reasonable to me. I hear basswood is easy to carve. I read about carving props in a book and the guy said it was easier than it sounds. Just knowing me though I don't think I could do it properly. Even if you can't get them balanced and pulling equally, you could use the scale wood ones for display and your shows and use the CF ones for flying.

RB

I didn't know any better, I just laminated 1/8" balsa with ca to the thickness I wanted, then grabbed my knife and carved.
They break when hitting the ground,but have not had any problems while flying them.
I check amps before using them and recarve or replace if current is not in usable range.
Mostly used on e free flight and less than 6" diameter.

I just finished carving two counter rotating bass wood props. I installed them to check if the thrust was similar to what I was getting with the plastic props. It feels pretty similar (very scientific I know). It was strange feeling the pure thrust with no torque at all. Tomorrow I need to put the finishing touches on the props and re-align the motors since I no longer need to compensate for the torque.

I am surprised at how easy carving was. The props are acceptably identical and look very much more authentic than the previous props. It was so fun making them that I will probably build a few more to experiment with pitch, blade width etc.

drinksgin
I have a digital multi tester. How do I determine if my current is in usable range? I'm running 8 cells with 2 potensky 02a motors. I supose I could compare it to what it was with the kit specified prop. Do I measure current in series?

Thanks to all those who sent me advice on carving props. I'll post pictures when I get a chance.