Dumas L-19: Walnut scale!

[TexMechsRobot]

I still have no idea how to do the rest of the fuse. It's going to take at least multiple sections of covering and probably some patching.

I'm glad the video series helped. I really should finish it....

It looks like the sides of your model can be done with one sheet of tissue each since they are flat. For the top, just do it like the bottom. Start at the back and do it in halves if you have to. It might take 4-6 pieces to do the back and 2-3 pieces to do the nose depending on how complex the curves are.

 

[DarkFire]

Update #5

The fuselage has been mostly covered and the only thing left is final assembly!! The fuselage is NOT a good first attempt at tissue covering, but I got it pretty decent. After breaking part of the structure and going trough a couple pieces of covering of course :black_eyed:.





With the exception of a little covering, the fuselage is finished!



I used the stock wire for the landing gear, but threw in UMX Spacewalker wheels and bushings.



And of course, to test out the tailwheel and have a little fun, I did some preliminary taxi tests.

 

[roversgonemad]

Looks good to me! Plus, via the Internet, we'll never know any better!! As long as you like it, that's all that matters.

 

[DarkFire]

Thanks! I think I'll be able to finish the L-19 tonight. The only things I have to do is put the last covering on the fuse and put the little windshield on.

 

[DarkFire]

TIS DONE!!





I'll be doing high speed taxi tests and/or test hops at school on Tuesday, and I'll post videos as soon as I can.

 

[Joker 53150]

That turned out very nice, good luck with the maiden!

 

[rockyboy]

Looks great! Now let's see her fly! :applause:

 

[roversgonemad]

Nice work!!

 

[DarkFire]

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the compliments, I think it turned out pretty good myself. I haven't been able to do any major test flights or a maiden due to winds every day and the school gym not allowing me to fly indoors . I did ,however, perform a few test hops along the floor of one of my school's buildings. It flies, which I suppose is good , but from the short, straight-line flights I couldn't really tell how it flew. Here is what I do know: It is very sensitive to changes in power, which I kind of suspected, as this plane was designed for constant speed rubber flight. Also, from the little wallowing I did manage in the tight space, it feels like a Hobbyzone Champ. If any of you out there have flown one of those, you'll know what I mean. For those that haven't, it flies kind of unstable, almost like it doesn't have quite enough dihedral. I suspected this also, considering for FF operations there isn't a lot of turning going on

I will be busy for the next few days, what with a cross country meet 3 hours away and a spot landing competition at my local glider club (hope I win ), and the weather predictions don't look good wind-wise. Sadly these Texas winters are on the windier side, so this thing might not get properly flown until spring , we'll just have to see.

Thanks,
Dark

 

[DarkFire]

It Flies!!

As the title suggests, the L-19 flies !! It flies really well actually, just a few things that need to be addressed. The pitch moment is sensitive to throttle, which means good ol down thrust needs to be added. Also, even with the tiny amount of breeze there was during the flight, the plane was tossed around pretty good. This thing might just be confined to early mornings and indoor flying

On to the video!

 

[Joker 53150]

Congrats! It looks fairly quick for the small size, but great for the space you were flying it in.

 

[DarkFire]

I was keeping it on the fast side to get a feel for the plane before getting to the point where I'm comfortable stalling a few feet off the ground

 

[roversgonemad]

Great work! Free flight conversions can be tricky, and you did a great job.

You might try a little more forward CG to get rid of some of the sensitivity. It could certainly need down thrust, but fiddling with the CG might help some.

 

[Joker 53150]

You could also scale it up about 700%.

 

[DarkFire]

That actually sounds really cool

 

[DarkFire]

I'm in the process of buying the plans to a full scale replica of the sg38 primary glider though, so organizing a club at school may take priority over RC for a little while