The Triplane Tribuild! (Catchy, huh?)

[buzzbomb]

I've got the servos installed. I thought about the placement a lot. I like them on the outside where I can fix stuff. It's just two drops of glue to hold them in. I wanted them farther forward, but that bend in the fuse made that complicated. So I put them where they are at. Then I tested them. It struck me as pretty darn cool.

It's just servos moving rods and adjusting surfaces, but man, it's just so cool! I'm such a kid. I know. That's OK.

Edit: Yep. She's got a name. Sweetness.

 

[bracesport]

@buzzbomb - I bet with that swishy tail it could swim like a fish!

 

[degriz]

Thanks guys, I just copied a paint scheme from pics on the net. yes it still flys although not as pristine as it once was. Actually this and my Se5 are 2 of my best flying minis I have. They balanced out great with a 800mah battery and a blue wonder motor.

 

[mayan]

Some progress done this morning considering we ended up staying at home instead of going to fly. I added the servos using linkage stoppers, some don’t like them but I get along with them just fine. They allow me to adjust later instead of having to make sure everything is leveled while trying to make sure that servos glue are strongly glued in place, just my personal preference. I also finished building the 3 wings but still haven’t glued them onto the fuselage.

 

[mayan]

People where you all at!? I am making progress, what about you? Yesterday afternoon the kids went with my mother in law to visit family so I had some quite time and decided I’d give my DR-1 a decoration. Not a paint job because I didn’t like colors I have and don’t think it will make this plane look like it needs to look. I have also attached wings and the braces between them. I am not going to use landing gear on this plane so I closed up the bottom as well. Missing only the motor and cover for it. Check out the progress and decorations .

 

[Jimun]

People where you all at!? I am making progress, what about you? Yesterday afternoon the kids went with my mother in law to visit family so I had some quite time and decided I’d give my DR-1 a decoration. Not a paint job because I didn’t like colors I have and don’t think it will make this plane look like it needs to look. I have also attached wings and the braces between them. I am not going to use landing gear on this plane so I closed up the bottom as well. Missing only the motor and cover for it. Check out the progress and decorations .

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Looking good - waiting for the maiden video

 

[kilroy07]

Looking GOOD!!
Love the artwork, mine will be in more traditional colors...

I'm headed to the workbench now... update tonight.

 

[buzzbomb]

People where you all at!? I am making progress, what about you? Yesterday afternoon the kids went with my mother in law to visit family so I had some quite time and decided I’d give my DR-1 a decoration. Not a paint job because I didn’t like colors I have and don’t think it will make this plane look like it needs to look. I have also attached wings and the braces between them. I am not going to use landing gear on this plane so I closed up the bottom as well. Missing only the motor and cover for it. Check out the progress and decorations .

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Mayan, you glorious son-of-a-gun, you! You NAILED it with that one! Well done!

I haven't been up to building for a couple days. I'm hoping better for tonight, but I've got to go out and that usually does me in. I'm hoping to get something done, but it probably won't be much. Tomorrow should be better.

 

[kilroy07]

Okay, She's finished... (At least to 5' standards...)




Maiden will probably have to wait until next weekend... Weather here is not cooperating.

Here's what I ended up doing to reinforce the wing struts;
Used a Permanent marker to color a bamboo skewer which was cut to length.
Then threaded it through the foamboard and glued it in place.
Came back with the iron and smoothed everything out.


All up weight is 5g UNDER the 340 listed on the plans!

I did make a MAJOR mistake... I glued the mid wing on before I had the servos in...
So, they got installed in the cockpit...

So, it's late and I'm headed to bed my friends...

 

[degriz]

Looks good, looking forward to the maidens. Weather here looks lousy for 10 days at least!

 

[sundown57]

I second that, very nice looking job. I like the skewer idea over everything I went through. I'm still waiting to maiden mine but it just won't stop raining.

 

[mayan]

@kilroy07 amazing paint job .

 

[Wildthing]

Great job, that looks awesome.

 

[kilroy07]

@kilroy07 amazing paint job .

Thanks, but no paint (well a little daub on the underside iron cross.)

The tail is either white foamboard or I removed the paper... (we shall see if it's strong enough...)
Top and tail Iron crosses as well as the white K7 were cut on my Cricut. With the top cross going on some white colored packing tape.
Bottom lozenge was printed out on my designjet (large format printer) I removed the paper and used rubber cement to fix the new paper on.
(too wet/cold to spray 3m 77 outside... and no way in HEck I'll try and spray that nasty stuff inside!)

I am really sold on the whole ironing thing... With that and the bracing to the struts, the wings are rock solid.
I even decided to just brace the trailing arm of the landing gear brace (I was going to cut thin ply or laminate...) it seems plenty strong...

Winds are 15mph here and gusting to 25.... and I am on the road again next week... So I'll have to wait till next weekend to see if all this work is worth it...

 

[buzzbomb]

Beautiful build @kilroy07! Just Wow. I love that you ironed everything out. It's just plain beautiful. (No pun intended. ) Especially the extra long bevel on the airfoil trailing edges. That just WORKS! It adds so much strength, I was wondering if the struts would need anymore, but I might borrow your skewer idea. That's easily done. I don't have it in me to iron the rest of this build. At this point, I just want to put something in the air.

For me the biggest chance your taking would not be removing the paper from the tail, though I think that's a big one. The biggest chance for me would be the Ground to Air camouflage you've got on the underside of your RC plane! Sure the anti aircraft installations will have a hard time spotting it... but I'd be asking my son "Dude, Where's My Plane??!!"

I love the build! Well done.

 

[bracesport]

@kilroy07 - I must try the ironing - the Adams paper just about falls off on its own, I wonder if that would improve with the edge ironing?

awesome build by the way!

 

[buzzbomb]

Lo and Behold! Progress!!

I finally felt able to get some work on the DR1 done, today. It's not a lot, but it didn't exist yesterday!

I'm having a hard time squeezing the handle of the glue gun, and I ended up melting the foam pretty bad at the wing joints, trying to get glue into the crevice. I'm not really worried about them folding down, so much as up. Do ya'll think some tape on the underside might help, is too much weight, or won't make a difference?

In the meantime, I've got to stop for the night. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

 

[bracesport]

If I had more hours to throw at the RC plane world I’d be into this too - so much to do and so little time!

@buzzbomb - I’ve been using a mini glue gun for a while and I think it measures up for our builds - smaller glue sticks yes, but easy as to squeeze it through and quick to heat.

 

[buzzbomb]

If I had more hours to throw at the RC plane world I’d be into this too - so much to do and so little time!

@buzzbomb - I’ve been using a mini glue gun for a while and I think it measures up for our builds - smaller glue sticks yes, but easy as to squeeze it through and quick to heat.

I had problems last time I used my small one. I've bitten the bullet and asked my son to pick me up some mini Gorilla Glue sticks, and I'm going to find out if it was the gun or the glue.

 

[bracesport]

I find hot glue challenging as I’m always in hurry - if you have time gorilla glue is awesome - I used it on my DL(TT)G wing and also the 1.2 DLG wing - dries in 3 hrs!

I am planning to try it also on a fuse build, but alas, always in a hurrrrrry!