13 inch Se5a rffs-100

[all_fly_all_day]

I decided that after builing and flying my little bi-plane (found in the microflight forum) I just had to build a scale one. After looking around that best design plane that i could find was the Se5a. It has good wing area, can be built light, and has great looks. So here is what i got so far, not much, but I wanted to post pictures from the start to finish to welcome comments and suggestions. With this model i'll be ccovering it with the tissue and inkjet method. I read over Mr. Wright and Mr. Johnson's thread since Mr. Wright was building this model. I picked up some good tips. I enlarged the tail surfaces by 10% and went for a 13in. wingspan, which should give me about 60-65 sq. in. I'm hoping to keep the weight with-in 20-25g. of course I have another pair of wings to cut out yet. And the rudder hasnt been completely cut to its final shape. And the wings need sanding. But I didnt this late last night (school night:D :rolleyes: ) I couldnt help it. Its intimidating* when you have a large sheet of AAA balsa and 3 view of a beautiful bird right in front of you.:D

[Chris]

Looks like a good start. My Pitts (12 inch span) weighed 26 to 27 grams, if I recall correctly, so you should be fine anywhere in the range you've specified. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[all_fly_all_day]

Thanks Chris, well, here's the progress so far. Slowly but surely. If you look closely you'll notice my mistake when I cut out the wings. No problem though.

[all_fly_all_day]

The rffs-100 unit will be mounted upside-down on that blasa slab. I added balsa doubles on the inside of the fusalage* where the wings will attach, for strength.

[all_fly_all_day]

More progress from last night. You'll notice the trailing edges of the wings arent parallel* to the leading edges, since I cut the wings wider than the mid-wing section. I didnt think it looked too bad though:)

[all_fly_all_day]

Under-side of wings.

[all_fly_all_day]

Moving on...The tissue went on very wrinkled and I couldnt fix it, but its not that bad. But it did add a lot of weight it seems. But it looks great! This is my new art fair project by the way.

[Chris]

Definitely one of the nicest planes I've seen being built in quite a while. Regarding the coloring/covering, I recently purchased some decal paper from www.decal-paper.com and am very happy with it so far. You could do the base color with some kind of paint/stain and the markings with the decals. The tissue looks great, but as you say, it adds a bit of weight.

Looking really great, though. Any plans to release the plans? ;)

[all_fly_all_day]

Thanks for the nice comments Chris, but I would be lucky if this plane is half as good as your micro moth or pitts when its done. But on a good note, my dad just recieved a digital scale for some pine car race at our school so I got a chance to weigh my plane. I can get the break down weight later, but right now with top wings covered, uncovered lower wings, uncovered fusalage, and covered tail surfaces with one actuator installed, I am at 6.6g. I am very happy with this. Plans? I wasnt planning on making plans.;) I've never made plans before either. Hopefully I'll have the bottom wings and fusalage covered be some time today....But it's proving difficult to make my own graphics.



P.S. Anyone know a good method of drawing ribs with a pencil? I tried on a scap piece but it didnt look very convincing:confused:

[all_fly_all_day]

Weight Breakdown


Top Wings (covered): 2.2g

Bottom wings (covered): 2.1g

Fusalage (not covered): 1.6g

Horizontal Stab. (covered) .4g

Vertical Stab.
(covered, with actuator installed) .8g

Total: 7.1g

[flyinhigh]

Hey AFAD,
You still out there?How did this plane fly?have you gotten it in the air yet?let us know whats going on Please.:D You going to fly in or outdoors ?
Thanks,
MIKE

[Bschulz]

Hello again, all_fly_all_day here. Sorry for the looong wait, but my account was deleted (yahoo address) and it took awhile to get a new one going again. Well, I finished the Se5a a while ago and it recieved an A+ in the art fair:) . still dont know the "real" weight, but RTF she is a bit under an ounce. This is my first try at building scratch scale tissue covered micro planes. So its not a "Chris" model:D . But I like it a lot and cant wait to fly it. I am entering it in a highschool art fair May 3, until then, "no flying" says my mom:rolleyes: . more pics to come...

[Bschulz]

another....

[CalmAir]

Hey Bschulz,

Good to here from you again. Congradulations on the A+. It is a work of art!

Your mom is right, just hang loose until after May 3rd. We will all be pulling for you and we will wait for the flight report after the next fair.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Dale

[Chris]

If that's your first scratch-built, pretty soon, I'll be saying "it's not a Shultz model" of my new planes... Looks great if you ask me, really nice job!!

[Bschulz]

Thanks Dale, I know I should but its so hard to wait, oh well.

lol, Thanks Chris, but my secret is the low res. pictures, they help hide the flaws:D . And I have yet to see how it will fly. One thing I havnt checked is the CG to see if my LiPoly will be able to off-set the actuators.

Brandon

[gjohnson2]

BShultz,
You've done a very nice job on our SE5a. It looks awsome.

I have a question. How did you attach your printed tissue? You say it added a lot of weight, but your final weight without the rest of the electrics and electronics seems pretty good. You can see from my Fokker D-VII (http://home.attbi.com/~gordonjohnson22/FokkerDVII.htm) page that the tissue covering added only 1.34g to the AUW. Anyway, I dusted on 3M photomount adhesive to attach my tissue.

Let us know how it flys. Great job.

Gordon

[Bschulz]

Hello Mr. Johnson, thanks for the nice comments. I used the 3M spray adhesive for attaching the tissue. It felt like a big weight gain to me, only by feel. I did not have a dig. scale to weight it, but i could tell it really added a lot. I used good balsa to begin with so that help keep the RTF weight down, but i was disappointed after applying the tissue.

As for the flying.....thats another story.

Im sure this thing could have flown after some modifications. But it didnt the first 2 times. I think it just wasn't balanced out right. Because the first two tries resolted in dissaster*. I was sick of fixing the fragel* thing that i finally decided this one wouldnt be for flying. So its in scraps now unfortunately. Its not that big of a deal to me though, i liked it better on the ground. I should be getting a big shipment of contest balsa soon. So ill shoot for some WWII warbirds on my next building project and hopefully those will fly better. For being my first scale (scratch) project i was very happy with it. Cant wait to build some more. After a lot of flights with the CM, im ready for some more slow, relaxed flying.

P.S. I still LOVE the CM;)

Brandon

[flyinhigh]

hey Brandon
Good deal on going with the contest balsa.I noticed before you posted that you used AAA which depending on what kind can range 8-12 pounds.the contest should lighten things up a bit:D being in the 4-7 pound range.Sorry to hear this one didnt fly to good but please keep us posted on these cool little planes your building.
I was hoping to get into these planes sometime ago but it seems I keep moving into bigger planes.Oh well :rolleyes:
You Take Care Brandon
MIKE,

[Bschulz]

Thanks Mike,

yes i think it was AAA balsa that i used. RIght now I still Have the wings from the plane so im trying to dream up a design that i can fly till my wood gets here.

So what different planes do you own now? and do you have the rffs-100 ? its a real fun little system. I still like the larger ones but theres nothing like buzzing a little plane around your head. Today I got my CM to fly backwards:D . we have at least 25 mph winds here;) .