jrCessna O-1 Bird Dog (Intermediate Build Trainer)
- Thread starter JohnRambozo
- Start date
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Whenever you have time to post the images again, that would be great. I couldn't figure out too much without them.
I appreciate your help Garret.
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Alright, well, I'm getting started on building from my plans. I want to first, apologize for the sloppy tiling job I did. I will be separating these onto individual pages instead of relying on the poster printing. Lining some of these up this way was very frustrating.
I certainly don't want people to start off struggling just to put the plans together.
More updates coming as I work through the build.
I certainly don't want people to start off struggling just to put the plans together.
More updates coming as I work through the build.
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
That stinks. I have mine almost built and there are a few adjustments I will be making to the plans. The rear top fuse piece wasn't wide enough near the cockpit for me. The top piece for the nose was pretty close. It could stand to be a hair wider, too. I'll post build pics with instructions as soon as I have everything worked out.
I hope the weather breaks for you soon, Pax.
Paxbot
Junior Member
That sounds pretty cool, yeah I wanna see that. I did move the rudder and elevator servos in the cabin for better access and made the cabin roof under the wings a removable hatch. Yep, it's been a typical wet spring here in Colorado, it snows... then rains, and if the sun comes out the winds blowing at 25 knots... LOL I have taxied the plane around the garage a little.. she really wants fly! I've shown a few of the guys at the hospital (i'm a nurse) the plane and they really liked it!
Paxbot
Junior Member
By the way here are the finished photos and pics of the struts I made, it's just wire sandwiched with some glue and poster board. They just slip into some cut tie wrap ends. They aren't load bearing or anything and they are only held in with friction. I also added those big grass wheels after I found that it couldn't taxi across the lawn without getting stuck. I think they look like crap.. but hey (shrugs) LOL Can't wait to fly this thing!! John... you're a genius!
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Thanks for the compliment. You've done a great job, Paxbot! I hope it flies as good as it looks. I just need to put the rear servos in mine and hook up all the control rods. I did some reinforcing around the wing elastics and on the elevator. I'll be sharing pics shortly and eventually fully rewriting the build log in the first post.
I love the struts. Nice design.
I just noticed something in your pics... Which direction is your prop spinning? It looks to be on backwards if you're spinning counterclockwise.
I love the struts. Nice design.
I just noticed something in your pics... Which direction is your prop spinning? It looks to be on backwards if you're spinning counterclockwise.
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Paxbot
Junior Member
LOL oh yeah I just noticed that, I had the prop off and slipped it on real quick to take the pics, I guess i must have put it on backwards. LOL good catch!
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
LOL oh yeah I just noticed that, I had the prop off and slipped it on real quick to take the pics, I guess i must have put it on backwards. LOL good catch!
LOL. Whew. I was worried you were taxiing around like that.
Here's mine. I pecked away at it in between chores. The only thing left to do is hook up the control rods. As you can see I decided to just throw the servos on top at the back. It balances just fine like that with a 3S 2200 battery. I also doubled up the inside of the fuse to help secure the power pod if you want to keep it swappable. Like I said, I'll go over everything and update plans with adjustments, soon.
I'm starting to wonder if I can get a moderator to remove "Easy-Build" from the title of the thread.
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Sry I never got back with those pics guys, I have been so busy. Paxbot, your build looks very nice! I hope to have some time in the next week to get those pics posted. Again I am very sorry
No problem, Garret. As you can see, I went ahead and built it myself. I'm glad I did. I am still interested in the problems you had so I can make the design as solid as possible.
Paxbot
Junior Member
LOL. Whew. I was worried you were taxiing around like that.
Here's mine. I pecked away at it in between chores. The only thing left to do is hook up the control rods. As you can see I decided to just throw the servos on top at the back. It balances just fine like that with a 3S 2200 battery. I also doubled up the inside of the fuse to help secure the power pod if you want to keep it swappable. Like I said, I'll go over everything and update plans with adjustments, soon.
I'm starting to wonder if I can get a moderator to remove "Easy-Build" from the title of the thread.
I don't know.. it might make a good canard! LOL
Dude, it looks great! I thought about putting the servos on the tail like that too, then I saw what Garret was doing and went for it. I don't know, go with "intermediate build"
Paxbot
Junior Member
Sry I never got back with those pics guys, I have been so busy. Paxbot, your build looks very nice! I hope to have some time in the next week to get those pics posted. Again I am very sorry
Thanks Garret! Can't wait to see yours.
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Hahah, a canard!
Thanks, man. I agree, Garret's rear servo treatment is a much cleaner look. I decided to just use the piano wire I had laying around to get the job done.
Intermediate is more accurate. I originally intended it to be a very simple build, but as soon as people showed interest, I couldn't sacrifice the details as much as I wanted. If it wasn't based on the Bird Dog, I could have gotten away with making a much simpler design.
But the people want what they want and I'm happy with how it looks. As soon as it dries up around here I'll be able to maiden!
JohnRambozo
Posted a thousand or more times
Thanks to Flying Monkey for updating the title of the thread.
Paxbot
Junior Member
OMG! What a sweetheart to fly!! ok, here's the scoop, it flies awesome! Very gentle, very forgiving and well behaved, it acts just like you'd expect a high wing trainer to act. It was off the ground in about 10 feet and just lept into the air! At about 50% throttle it was really predictable and had good self correcting tendencies. After 3 batteries or so, I was right at home in this plane! It had no strange characteristics whatsoever. I will say, it's does skid in the banks, so it likes to fly coordinated with the rudder. Tip stalls were noticeable only in higher banks but they were pretty minor, and only required a little up elevator, and if you let go of the stick it leveled off and settled right down. At full throttle, it was a whole nother animal and was able to do some pretty aggressive stuff! I was pretty impressed! Just for the love of the game, on my fourth and last battery I disconnected the ailerons from the receiver and plugged the rudder into the aileron slot and flew it as a 3 channel. No problems, and flew as advertised!
What did I learn today: Shimming the the power pod to keep the thrustline centered is a must!!! after my first landing and battery swap the plane had a lot of trouble taking off because the out of whack thrustline was pulling it hard to the right, and put the wing tip in the ground, I did have to keep adjusting it. 2nd, this plane is a blast to fly, sweet and gentle at medium throttle settings and a fly's like a war bird at higher speeds! very cool indeed! 3rd, If I would have added flaps I could have landed this plane in the palm of my hand! LOL
Very Sweet plane! Awesome for beginners and agile enough for a pro! Sorry no video, it was just me out there today, I did manged to score a couple before and after shots though.
What did I learn today: Shimming the the power pod to keep the thrustline centered is a must!!! after my first landing and battery swap the plane had a lot of trouble taking off because the out of whack thrustline was pulling it hard to the right, and put the wing tip in the ground, I did have to keep adjusting it. 2nd, this plane is a blast to fly, sweet and gentle at medium throttle settings and a fly's like a war bird at higher speeds! very cool indeed! 3rd, If I would have added flaps I could have landed this plane in the palm of my hand! LOL
Very Sweet plane! Awesome for beginners and agile enough for a pro! Sorry no video, it was just me out there today, I did manged to score a couple before and after shots though.
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Garret234
Member
I too got to fly the birddog this weekend it was awesome! it did every thing Paxbot's did. Unfortunately all of my pics I had for the BD where not saved when I transferred them to my computer!!!! I gave mine to my friend as I said I was going to and never got a picture of the finished product. With all of my minor problems it sounds like there is no need to change v2 and that it flies great! When I flew it we had a good 15-20 mph wind and no bad tendencies. I did end up flying mine with a 1800mah 3s if it makes any difference.
Thank you very much JohnRambozo for all of your time and thought that you put into this little guy!
Thank you very much JohnRambozo for all of your time and thought that you put into this little guy!
