#25 Balsa build clinic - Aerodrome RC Albatross D Va short kit

[BradT]

Well, hopefully, better late than never! I have finally got a project to start for this build challenge. After hemming and hawing about which of my many plans to choose, yesterday I spotted a post on my old club's forum about an AerodromeRC short kit for the Albatross D Va being offered at a great price, so I called the poster and arranged to pick it up today. The plans and parts are now in my shop, and I'll get my bench sorted out and the plans taped down this weekend, and a few pieces glued up, with pics, of course, to post by Sunday night.

Brad.

[road king 97]

Glad to see you starting one Brad . Iam sighned up . joe

[BradT]

Well, here we go - I got the bench cleared, all my building tools out of storage (boxed up and put away for last year's move), and had a good look at what I got for my $50 snap purchase. This should be a nice build, with a lot of parts, but beautifully cut, so they should fit well. After nearly a decade since my last scratch build, this will be fun. I'm aiming for at least an hour a day in the shop, though I know "real life" will ocasionally trip me up.
Brad.

[BradT]

I finally got some glue on my fingers today, as it's a drizzly Sunday afternoon, so no flying or hiking for me. I taped the plans to the cieling tiles, then covered them with waxed paper, to keep the glue off the plans. The following pics show the vertical keel pinned to the plans, then the F2 to F7 formers glued on, followed by the left side horizontal keel to tie the formers together. The left fus. half is then removed from the plan, and the internal balsa riser sheet is added, which will locate the lower wing and the cowl ring later. Once that dries, I'll add the right side formers, horizontal keel strip, and riser sheet.

[road king 97]

Originally Posted by BradT

I finally got some glue on my fingers today, as it's a drizzly Sunday afternoon, so no flying or hiking for me. I taped the plans to the cieling tiles, then covered them with waxed paper, to keep the glue off the plans. The following pics show the vertical keel pinned to the plans, then the F2 to F7 formers glued on, followed by the left side horizontal keel to tie the formers together. The left fus. half is then removed from the plan, and the internal balsa riser sheet is added, which will locate the lower wing and the cowl ring later. Once that dries, I'll add the right side formers, horizontal keel strip, and riser sheet.

Nice start Brad i like a round fuse and round fendered cars/trucks too. joe

[BradT]

Thanks, Joe, I agree on the round fus., and the round fendered cars and trucks, too, having owned quite a few of the older vehicles over the years.

I got a little more time to work on the D Va this afternoon. The pics show the F1 firewall installed; you can see how the 4 keels and the 2 vertical riser sheets locate F1, including the down and right thrust angle, as the keels and risers are slightly different lengths. This assumes that the parts are installed as marked on the plans, of course, or you could end up with left thrust, if you ignore the markings on the parts!

The second and third photos show the complete fus. structure, after adding the right side pieces, so it's now ready to add the 1/8" stringers.

The last pic shows the outline frame of the hor. and vert. tail surfaces pinned down and glued. These are made up of many curved pieces, very precisely cut, so that the fit matches the plan perfectly. As I said in my initial comment about this kit, the laser cutting is superb, and makes fitting this jig saw puzzle together a joy.

[baz49exe]

Looking forward to this build Brad.
+1 for round fuselages as well, that's one of the style points of the Albatross IMHO.

Barry

[BradT]

A little more progress today, I added all the 1/8" sq. strips to the tail parts. It took an hour to cut, fit, and glue those few pieces! I'm at that stage where all the servos, control rods, motor mount, and battery tray have to be planned out and fitted, before I add the fus. stringers and sheeting, so I gathered all those parts together, to ponder how and where it will all fit. This sort of detail is very sketchy on the plans. as the designer assumes that you've done a few builds, if you're building from a short kit to start with. There is also no detail on where or how to provide a battery hatch, but I'm thinking that making the upper fus., forward of the cockpit area removable, will give access to enough of the innards to fit a suitable platform for a 3S pack of 1200 to 1800 mah, and also give access to the motor and esc after the model is done, in case servicing or replacement is needed.

The motor will be an AXI 2212/34, with a Castle Thunderbird 18 esc, with 4 GWS Naro servos for the 3 axis controls.

[road king 97]

Originally Posted by BradT

A little more progress today, I added all the 1/8" sq. strips to the tail parts. It took an hour to cut, fit, and glue those few pieces! I'm at that stage where all the servos, control rods, motor mount, and battery tray have to be planned out and fitted, before I add the fus. stringers and sheeting, so I gathered all those parts together, to ponder how and where it will all fit. This sort of detail is very sketchy on the plans. as the designer assumes that you've done a few builds, if you're building from a short kit to start with. There is also no detail on where or how to provide a battery hatch, but I'm thinking that making the upper fus., forward of the cockpit area removable, will give access to enough of the innards to fit a suitable platform for a 3S pack of 1200 to 1800 mah, and also give access to the motor and esc after the model is done, in case servicing or replacement is needed.

The motor will be an AXI 2212/34, with a Castle Pheonix 18 esc, with 4 GWS Naro servos for the 3 axis controls.

She is comming along great Brad ,i keep telling myself to buy a formost sanding tool and a formost miter cutter but i still just hold my sticks on a angle ,cut by eye and then sand to fit. A friend has the sanding one and he says it saves him alot of time. I will build my own out of hand rail with a slot already there to slide on a track or i will bite the bullet and spend 42 bucks for both. joe http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/for/for154.htm

[BradT]

Joe, I have both the miter sander and saw, but for the pieces in the tail, almost all of the ends of the sticks are square, as there are notches laser cut into the surrounding frame for them; a very thoughtful part of the design. I cut each piece slightly too long, then just lightly pass the sanding bar over the end, until the stick is a snug press fit, then touch a drop of ca to it.

On a side note, I have a new Spectrum 6115 parkflyer rx available to use for this model, but have no experience with this type, so I don't know if its suitable for a model that I might fly as much as 500 ft away. What experience do other pilots have with this unit?

Brad

[Stevephoon]

Originally Posted by BradT

...
On a side note, I have a new Spectrum 6115 parkflyer rx available to use for this model, but have no experience with this type, so I don't know if its suitable for a model that I might fly as much as 500 ft away. What experience do other pilots have with this unit?

Brad

Brad,

My MM EVA, MM P-51, and Pocket Rocket all have AR6110s. (the predecessor to the 6115) Smaller planes, but I have had my EVA very high and very far away... No issues. My receivers are basically under the battey, in the the middle of the plane. I can fly the pattern at the club field with others and I've never had an issue. I think as long as you keep the reciever away from the ESC and not blocked by the battery you should be fine.

Just my experience...

Also, nice work so far. I keep looking at the Aerodrome kits... It nice to see a build of one.

Steve

[BradT]

Thanks for the quick reply, Steve. First hand experience is what i like to hear, and the rx seems to have served you well. My mode of flying for this type of model is low, slow, and in close, so I shouldn't be pushing the limits of the rx in my normal flights. My GWS TM 400, Eflite Jenny, and SE 5a are all flown this way; it's just so satisfying to cruise past at eye level on a nice calm day.

[road king 97]

Originally Posted by BradT

Joe, I have both the miter sander and saw, but for the pieces in the tail, almost all of the ends of the sticks are square, as there are notches laser cut into the surrounding frame for them; a very thoughtful part of the design. I cut each piece slightly too long, then just lightly pass the sanding bar over the end, until the stick is a snug press fit, then touch a drop of ca to it.

On a side note, I have a new Spectrum 6115 parkflyer rx available to use for this model, but have no experience with this type, so I don't know if its suitable for a model that I might fly as much as 500 ft away. What experience do other pilots have with this unit?

Brad

I have seen laser cut kits with those slots for sticks but i have always scratch built my own planes and have never bought one. I have all the stuff i need to start Ivans twin otter and should buy the cutter and sander soon. The slots for sticks look like they have a better glue joint with more surface to glue to and i have been looking at pat trittles tri pacer for a future build. I have a park flyer radio also but i have never used it beacuse i have 2 dx7's . joe

[rreid7]

Originally Posted by BradT

On a side note, I have a new Spectrum 6115 parkflyer rx available to use for this model, but have no experience with this type, so I don't know if its suitable for a model that I might fly as much as 500 ft away. What experience do other pilots have with this unit?

Brad

I've been using the 6115e in the Aerodrome RC Jenny I built last winter, as well as most of my other planes. No worries about range with any of them, including the Formosa and Corsair, which I tend to fly farther away than the Jenny.

I really enjoyed building the Jenny, and look forward to doing more of their kits in the future.

[BradT]

rreid, your confirmation of steve's experience has eased my concerns about using the 6115, I'll install it and fly worry-free.

Joe, you'll like the Twin Otter, it flies just like all of Ivan's designs, light, smooth, and predictable. Since Ivan is a clubmate of mine, I've had the opportunity over the last 12 years to fly almost all of his models, as he is very generous in offering the sticks to those around him, and every one was a delight to fly. Since he has limited space to store all the planes he's built, he sells 1 or 2 each year, so I've owned several of his prototypes, the Mossie, Beaufighter, Shoestring, and Partenavia, and all were great fliers.

You did a great job on the Solent, and I look forward to your Otter build.

Brad.

[CHELLIE]

Nice Build Brad keep up the great Work, Chellie