I forgot to mention in the last blog post that to celebrate the strong finish at the NATS, we're having a sale on the Beaver kit! For a limited time, save $40 (that's a savings over 10%), taking the price back to the original price of $329.99.

https://www.moustachemodelworks.com/...e/dhc-2-beaver

I've been flying R/C since jr. high, which is back when you might still have heard an occasional disco song on the radio. In all that time I've never entered a contest of any kind. I have organized several events - some of them quite large - but I've never actually competed. I've always wanted to get into scale competition, but have never taken the plunge. I guess hanging out with people like Ron Gilman in the early 90s and David Ribbe & Peter Goldsmith in the 2000s and seeing how well they fly was kind of a de-motivator. They're such awesome pilots, how could I ever compete with the likes of them? All three have won Top Gun!

I recently took stock and realized that I'm not getting any younger. If I am to get into scale competition, I need to start soon so I can start building experience. Learn how to present the aircraft in the sky. Be smooth on the sticks. Learn from other competitors and have some fun. So, in a moment of weakness and with zero fear, I signed up for the 2021 AM RC Fixed Wing Scale NATS, with the intent of flying Beaver prototype #1, my trusty electric-powered bird.

I practiced every weekend for about a month before the event. I tried three different versions of the maneuvers. I worked on smooth inputs, especially on aileron, and I flew at three different flying sites trying to find one that was similar to AMA Site #4 at the National Flying Site. One of those days I tried to fly at site 4 itself, but unfortunately there was a large...Continue Reading

This weekend we'll be at the Dayton Modelrama on Friday and Saturday. Stop by and see us, check out the new floats, and pick up a Beaver kit with no shipping charges!

Also heads-up, we're participating in the RC Groups Online Trade Show again this week. Make sure to click over and check us out. A link should be prominently displayed in a banner on the RC Groups home page.

The inbound batch of Beaver kits has arrived in Chicago, which means they will be available for shipping some time between December 18th and 22nd. We have opened up the product page to allow for ordering the Beaver in advance of their arrival to reduce the turnaround time from arrival to shipping to customers. At this point there's still a chance to maybe receive a kit before Christmas, depending upon when they arrive. If that timing is important to you, get your order placed now!

https://www.moustachemodelworks.com/...e/dhc-2-beaver

And now for a little more "bloggy" information. Getting this batch in-house has been a bit more challenging than the first one, mostly because of COVID. There was one delay due to the Chinese National Holiday, COVID manufacturing delays in the supplier base, and delays every step of the way in the shipping process including a huge backup at the port of Los Angeles. On top of that, shipping costs doubled and the price of balsa doubled. Oh well, I guess if it was easy, everybody would be doing it, right?

The latest batch of 20cc Beaver kits has cleared customs and is on its way across the country via rail. Timing on this is going to be tight for Christmas, arriving at our office around the 18th-21st of December, so we're going to open up the product page for ordering around the 15th or 16th, when the kits get to Chicago. If you want to snag a kit before Christmas, be sure to place your order around then so we can reduce the turnaround time between our receiving the kits and sending them back out again.

Happy holidays!

While I'm on RCGroups, you might want to see some photos from customers who have completed their Beavers. Got some really nice looking airplanes out there!...Continue Reading

Just got word today that the latest batch of Beaver kits have left the factory. We don't have an arrival date yet, but it should be in about 6 weeks. Seems like China is working in slow motion these days, but at least they're on the way. I wish our website would allow backorders, but alas, the Wix platform does not. I'll let everybody know when they've arrived and are shipping again.

In other news, we moved to a different house about 4 weeks ago, so we're just getting settled in. We'd been renting for a year to decide what part of Indianapolis we wanted to live in, and decided that Greenwood was the place. In the new house my office is in the basement, so that means no windows. But on the plus side, my office shares a large room with my workshop, so I spend all day at my day job getting inspired by looking at the Beaver and my other airplanes. I suspect once I have the shop fully functional that development of future kits will actually move forward.

Writing this on Easter day, 2020, while the world is on lockdown.

You may have seen this already, but thanks to participating in the RCGroups Online Trade show that Jim pulled together after the cancellation of Toledo, and combined with some direct emails and strategic social media posts, we have completely sold out of Beaver kits. So grateful!

When I started on this journey, there were some who had declared that kit building was dead. Now I realize the lockdown has encouraged some people to pick up the X-Acto knife and the glue bottle again, but I firmly believe that there's an undercurrent running through the hobby of people wanting to create again, to see the fruit of their labor take flight. The sales results of this Beaver kit speak for themselves.

So now I'm excited to move on to the next subject, a 60cc warbird that shall remain nameless. I actually started on it last year, but with moving, starting a new job last June (much needed, a huge blessing) and needing to get a new computer that's better for running CAD, I haven't touched it since then. But I have a new computer now, and the Beaver sales have really motivated me to get going. And hopefully I'll be able to establish a rhythm of drawing - building - releasing new kits so there won't be so big of a gap between kit releases.

The factory is working on CNC strut ends for the Beaver float prototypes, so those are starting to move forward. Looking forward to getting these done and out there for all the Beaver folks. And there will be a new run of Beaver kits with the identified issues fixed; I just need to drum up a few wholesale kit orders for Europe and then I'll get the factory working on that new batch.

So Happy Easter, everybody! New birth for humans, new birth for kit building!

David

Model Aviation is reviewing the 20cc DHC-2 Beaver kit in the February 2020 issue! Fitz Walker did a great job, and he built it in record time.

Here's a link to the video the AMA just published on YouTube today:

Moustache Model Works 20cc DCH-2 Beaver - Model Aviation magazine (6 min 40 sec)

For Black Friday we're offering free shipping on the DHC-2 Beaver kit:

https://www.moustachemodelworks.com/...e/dhc-2-beaver

Offer good through December 2nd in the US only. International orders will receive $40 credit toward shipping.

Use coupon code FREESHIP at checkout.

Thanks to Andy Gideon, here’s the first video footage of the Army Beaver! Just some relaxed flying around the pattern with a touch & go and a landing at the end.

This is with a DLE-20 that’s still not quite tuned to peak yet. I never went over 60% throttle during the flight, and spent most of it at 40%-50% throttle.

Beaver footage begins at 56:55.

Indiana Warbird Campaign 2019 Part 1 of 2 (1 hr 4 min 24 sec)

At long last, the Beaver kits are shipping! We received them on Tuesday, got the pre-orders shipped out on Wednesday, and headed up to Fond du Lac on Thursday for Warbirds and Classics Over the Midwest. Great event!

Chris Kramer from Iowa got some stick time on each airplane. I would say that sold him on buying a kit, but he actually liked it so much before he got to fly it that he purchased the kit first!

If you've been waiting for them to arrive, now is the time to order. www.moustachemodelworks.com

The Beaver kits have arrived at the port in LA and are awaiting submission to customs, so they're still on-track.

At long last, the Beaver kits are on the water, arriving early August!

The website is now live at: https://www.moustachemodelworks.com/

We have turned on ordering for the kit itself so that folks can backorder now that we have a definite delivery time frame. There are no special deals for backordering, just that we'll send out your kit as soon as the stock arrives.

Thanks for hanging with us through this looooooong process!

David

We're down to the last day of pre-orders for the 20cc Beaver kit. Pre-orders will wrap-up about noon CDT tomorrow, so we have just over 25 hours left. If you've been waiting for the last moment to order, now is the time to jump in!

Pre-order gets free shipping, plus a nice ceramic Beaver coffee mug. During this campaign, we've also received word that the factory made an error in pricing the kit, so there's a possibility the final price will be higher than $319 (impact not yet certain). 😯 We will honor the $319 price for all pre-orders placed during this campaign, so ordering now will also lock in that price.

https://www.fundable.com/moustache-model-works-llc

This is an exciting day. Today we start accepting pre-orders for the Beaver kit! Check out the funding campaign on fundable.com:

https://www.fundable.com/moustache-model-works-llc

There are two bonuses for pre-ordering. First, shipping is free! Second, each kit will come with a DHC-2 Beaver ceramic mug from Labusch Skywear. I have 3 of their mugs and they're great.

This pre-order campaign is to raise funds needed for placing the first order. The faster we raise these funds, the faster we can get this puppy on the market. US orders only at this time. Once we've met the goal for this campaign, pre-orders will close for a while, until I can get my website established. We will open up pre-orders again once the shipping date gets closer, but the free shipping and mug incentives will not be available then.

Got 7 flights in today, including a flight by Ali Machinchy to gather his comments (he liked it!).

On three consecutive flights, I removed an ounce of lead from the nose and carefully repeated the stall testing. Great news - I don't need to put any weight back! She has a wide cg envelope while still maintaining reasonable stall characteristics. At the current cg, which is about 34% MAC, it still has a gentle stall. Compared to 30%-31%, where I could almost never get a wing to drop, at 34% you will see a wing drop about 30% of the time. Usually it's when holding full up to induce a stall, then continuing to hold as it tries to recover, thus forcing another stall. It's at this second stall where the wing drops, but then it's still benign. She changes heading about 90°, dips gently and recovers back to level in 20' of altitude or so.

I did have a gust tip her up on a wingtip during a rollout toward the end of the day. The stab made contact with the ground, and appears to have suffered a little damage. I'm going to add a little reinforcement there in the form of either a couple small stringers or a second spar. My philosophy is to design to fly, not crash, but she still needs to be able to withstand this level of knocking about to handle real life.

Michael Selig came out again and captured a bunch of video in 4K, so you can look for that soon. I'll post it in a comment below this thread when he has it processed, a process which takes a lot longer to do in 4K when compared to 1080p.

Here's another video, this time shot by Michael Selig, who showed up at the field just after my first flight of the day.

The video shows most of flight number 6, and includes some nice slow flight as well as a good touch-and-go between 2:30 and 2:40.

David Eichstedt DHC-2 Beaver Flight No 6 (5 min 39 sec)

First 4 flights are in the books. In short, an amazing success! She flies even better than I had hoped!

Thrust line and decalage are spot on, which means no changes required. And the stall performance - what stall? I actually had trouble inducing a stall! When it did stall, it just mushed forward even while holding full up elevator, and the wings were rock-stable. No hint of dropping a wing at all. This is flaps up or down. Video of first flight shows this around 4:50-4:57.

I did the first flight with assumptions for Flap-Elev Mix and a bunch of aileron differential. Over the next two flights I increased the Flap-Elev Mix a bunch, and added a significant amount of Ail-Rudd Mix. Now she's flying great. Very confidence-inspiring.

Power level was perfect. I was initially planning on using the 470 Kv Power 60, but only the 400 Kv was available. I needn't have worried, as the standard Power 60 with a 16 x 8 flew it really well. Loops from level flight were no problem.

I can't wait to get these kits on the market, as I think many of you are going to enjoy the way this thing flies.

20cc DHC-2 Beaver First Flight, First Prototype (8 min 24 sec)

Eli Field, David Eichstedth's Beaver, Flight 2 (3 min 17 sec)

...Continue Reading

As of 9:30pm this evening, my first prototype is complete! I need to add about 4 oz. of nose weight, which is pretty good for an electric version. I also need to install one non-functional scale detail, an oil cooler, but it's not crucial. I'm hoping to make the first flight on Monday.

With this milestone, I think I'm far enough along to clue you in to what I'm working on. So here goes.

For my first project, I wanted something that was proven as a good subject matter, but not a Cub or a Mustang. For sizing, I wanted it to be large enough to have presence, but still be economical. 20cc seems like a good sweet spot as the lowest common gas (petrol) engine size, but also appropriate for using a Power 60 electric motor on 6S. I wanted something not too complex, as I was just learning a new CAD system. If you've read my other blog posts, you'll know this was probably a good idea, as I spent about 9 months struggling to get the design done, and this one was relatively simple.

So, for this first project, I ended up with something that's not a warbird. Some of you may be disappointed, but so be it. I'm pretty confident many of you will be excited for this release. Also note, this is not a release announcement. I don't know at this point when kits will be available. Of course I have a target price in mind, but I don't yet know what my final costs will be. This is more of a personal blog, giving you a glimpse into the struggles and issues involved in getting a...Continue Reading