1/16th Bristol Bulldog

[Ex Member]

Good news Dan. 

Any pictures?

Andrew

[danmellor]

Back to the drawing board! My scale type structure distorted horribly when subjected to the terrifying shrinkage of Esaki... Version no.2 coming up...

Cheers,

Dan.

[danmellor]

Slightly revised the structure to try and prevent the distortion that occurred. I'd forgotten just how much Esaki shrinks! At this rate, I may well be dead before this gets built.. Oh well!!

Cheers,

Dan.

[billdennis747]

Dan
Very surprised to hear the structure has warped. It looked the business and the covering went well. Can you give us pictures?
In my experience, most shrinkage occurs at the water/steam stage, and non shrinking dope has little effect. Has it twisted, or pulled in?

[danmellor]

It all shrunk up nicely, but distorted where the tailplane/elevators fit together. I can either build the same and pre-shrink everything or redo the structure to cope with the shrinkage. I did say this would be a long drawn out one...

Cheers,

Dan.

[DHnut]

Dan,
        I know I am being wise after the event, but I do not seperate the elevators from the stabiliser until after the doping stage when the structure has stabilsed about a week after the final doping. That has worked for me especially for peanut models. I flew the Comper 2 weekends ago with a new GM120 and it performed well. The old motor had a very slack little end fit on the piston. Is there a means of refitting or closing the ball up as you do on a Cox engine? Also is there a source of spares?
Ricky

[danmellor]

I don't know Ricky. The Gasparin Website is still up and running, so that may be your best bet for spares. The trouble I had is all my own fault. I should have remembered that Esaki shrinks like a very shrinky thing if left to it's own devices. I said this would be a long running build!

Cheers,

Dan.

[danmellor]

I have been seduced by a couple of RC builds. Still stick and tissue and none of the foam/glass/ARTF stuff. This is, therefore, on hold for a bit. I WILL get back to it once I have psyched myself up to it again...

Cheers,

Dan.

[DHnut]

Hi Dan,
           I have managed to order parts from a chap called Jiri who has a website and appears to deal in Gasparin spares. I am waiting for the parcel to arrive and will confirm my experience. I have put a new GM120 motor in the Comper and had good results. The improved dummy Pobjoy engines have resulted in having to apply some tail weight in one case. I also flew a small WACO ARE two weeks ago that is now starting to fly well on a GM63. One flight was timed at 35 seconds and more to come. I may try it at an upcoming indoor meeting. The modelis based on a Micro X kit.
  Ricky   

[Pit]

Ricky,
what is the AUW of your Comper with the GM120?  That's the motor I put in my Citabria that I hope to finish in time for the IIFI in the Netherlands (detail in the outdoor scale Forum).

Pete

[DHnut]

Pete,
         The Compers ( I have two )  weigh 100 and 105 gms respectively using a GM120 and GM160 respectively and are build from the Aerographics kit but with corrected tail outlines. They both fly flat and quite fast and safe but realistic for a racing aircraft, and will ROG with ease. With the dummy Pobjoy radial tail weight is needed. Is the Citabria a Hacker kit? I have a Piper Cub from the Hacker kit powered by a GM120 that is a suberb flier. Good luck with the build for the IIFI event.
Ricky     

[Pit]

Thanks, Ricky!
I'm in the ballpark weight-wise.  The kit is from Turbinia (predecessor to Hacker).  Hacker took over the models, changing the Citabria designation to the Decathalon.  I haven't seen the Hacker version yet (I wonder if they changed the airfoil to the semi-symmetrical one?).

This Bristol build has gotten me a bit sidetracked as to what I will be building next...

[danmellor]

Nice to hear that others are getting on with stuff! I will be back to this when I've got some electric R/C out of my system...

Dan.