~1/12 scale Albatros DVa

7car7 · 17 September 2008, 12:49 PM

Thought I'd share some pictures of my latest plane.
This one started out as a cheap ARF from ebay. But it has now been completely re-built over the course of about 3-4 months. Original plane was very much out of scale, and was heavy and under-propped.
I've replaced (from scratch) the entire plane, (fuse, wings, tail group, wheels, landing gear, nose) except for the small section where the cabanes attach - and even that section had extensive changes.
So, it's basically a full scratch build.
I'm using Pull-Pull for the elevator, rudder, and the ailerons, and I've even got differential on the ailerons with a single servo. Works great.
It now weighs a little over 3oz less than before, with slightly larger wings.

Got a few more details to finish up, like cockpit coaming, and a new engine and guns, but I'll wait until after I know it flys.
I've yet to fly it, waiting for a no wind day! I think my knees are shaking just thinking about the maiden.
Thanks for looking!
Chris.

Olson · 17 September 2008, 02:24 PM

Ausgeseichnet!..............John

Lucky Dog · 17 September 2008, 06:08 PM

Very nice Chris! Be sure to fill us in on the maiden flight.

VNulk · 17 September 2008, 06:34 PM

Very nice. Can't wait to see a clip of it in flight!

7car7 · 18 September 2008, 12:35 PM

Thanks so much! Should be soon for that vid.

7car7 · 19 September 2008, 10:11 AM

I had a successful maiden last night!

Had a very difficult time getting it to go through the grass without nosing over. I've never had that problem with my GP SE5a. I'm guessing the wheels on the Albatros are a bit further back than what would be best for grass fields. I like to do scale like take-offs, but it wasn't an option. Pretty much had to give full up elevator, and full throttle to get it to leap off the grass.

Flight was relatively good, cruised around at a little over 1/2 throttle. Had a very scale like presence to it. Ailerons were not giving enough authority, so I decided to land it and increase the throws in addition to the elevator throw.

Second flight was much better. One thing about this plane that I'm not used to - it is VERY slippery in the air. Point it down, and it goes FAST! My SE5 and Tigermoth are much more draggy it seems.

Overall, it was a good 2 flights. Need to work some bugs out, and at this point, not 100% what those bugs are. Maybe a different prop, and perhaps more rear weight bias. This plane is NOT a floater, (even though it's 3oz less than before I rebuilt it), it's actually quite intense for my abilities. Will take some getting used to.

Oh, both landings gave a nice roll over onto it's top. No damage whatsoever. Will need to find a field with better grass!

Hope to get a video soon, now that I've got the first flight done, I'll let someone film it!

Lucky Dog · 19 September 2008, 11:53 AM

Congrats!

zoomzoom · 22 September 2008, 06:40 AM

Excellent job Chris! What did you say you had powering that little guy? I'm curious cause I have one that looks roughly the same size as yours, only its a DIII, and its powered by a .049 1/2-a motor. I hand launch mine every time.....one reason being cause it has no throttle....and you are right, the Albitri are fast and agile due to thier aerodynamicity (okay I'm making up words now), but they are quick! Congrats, she's beautiful!

ZZ.

7car7 · 22 September 2008, 09:43 AM

She's electric.
I'm using the Atlas 2312/32
hobby-lobby(dot com)/atlas2312

Kinda thinking I should have bought the middle one, which revs a bit faster. The one I have seems to want a larger prop than the 9x6 range that I'm using. But I can't go bigger diameter, it would hit the grass worse than it already is.

Battery is a 3 cell, 1 is a 1250mah, other is a 1500mah.

I made up a simple balance device over the weekend, and found the plane to be a bit nose heavy. (I was balancing on my fingers before, not real easy to look at it and see if level). Should fly better now that it's ballanced. Was hard to climb, and not very responsive.

7car7 · 25 September 2008, 08:12 AM

Well, certainly not the greatest - video OR flying

But we're still learning - the video taker and the pilot!

I don't have enough posts for a link yet, so if you'd like to see it, hope you can find it.
Search for ...
Albatros DVa RC Plane Scratch Built 2nd flight

Kinda ran out of field at the end there!