Balse USA Fokker D.VIII/E.V

Bookmaker · 25 July 2009, 04:47 AM

Thanks Alan, haven't heard from you in quite a while. Yes I remember your Camel well The things we do for fun!

Jan, will add that to the considerations.

Lucky Dog · 25 July 2009, 05:12 AM

A little photoshop work here. Kind of looks like it could have been taken from above of a DVIII cruising over a German forest in 1919 (a little).

Bookmaker · 25 July 2009, 05:24 AM

Cool work, Mike. What is interesting is how the green and brown on the wing lose their distinction, not unlike the difficulty seeing the demarcation in the full scale photos.

I would still like full size photos if you can e-mail them to me.

Thanks

Dale

Bookmaker · 6 August 2009, 08:44 PM

My Dad and I were messing around in the shop this evening and started discussing options for the E.V. Just for grins, I took the wing down and was easily able to "close up" the split in the top of one panel. I have access to the inside there through the servo hatch to glue what needs glued. The wing had been sitting in the hot shop and I noticed I was able to loosen up a corner of the ply covering with my finger nail. Bottom, line is that I think I can repair and strip the wing of the ply without a whole lot of effort.

Looking at the fuselage, nothing is damaged at the tail other than the rudder needs stripped and a kink fixed. The firewall setback basically popped out and is easily repaired. The significant damage is that the landing gear mounts broke out and some of the light ply bracing in the front is split. The fuselage lozenge covering damage is either on the bottom, or right at the firewall edge and is repairable and should not stand out.

The landing gear and wing struts are bent up like pretzels, but are easily replaced or straightened. Just need new fairings. The subwing is nearly untouched, but I will probably build a lighter one.

I think by recovering the tail feathers with colored Solartex, removing the ply from the wing, building a lighter subwing and getting rid of the lead in the nose to balance this stuff, I can substantially reduce the weight.

As hard as it hit the ground, I never believed it would be in as good of shape as it is in.

It WILL be rebuilt, maybe by Southern Dawn Patrol

Dale