Bostonian Porter

[Dan Snow]

During the recent forum transfer I was wandering through the plans gallery and came across the plans for the Bostonian Porter. It looked simple enough and interesting so I printed it out gathered some wood and started in. I quickly discovered that the plans are actually more of a suggestion than actual plans!    The wing is built like a tank while the fuselage is almost ethereal. The placement of uprights and cross members were not the same from side view to top view, and somethings just weren't there. I added a bit here and there on the fuselage, cheated by making it 3/8" wider/

Almost done with the covering.

[DavidJP]

I hope you enjoy this one Dan - I have built two Bostonians so far - the Citabria and Rearwin Speedster - quite flyable but the Rearwin for some reason insists flying in a straight line........ I have tried side thrust rudder and Gurney flaps.  But outside it flys perfectly. in right hand circuits.  Caught a bit of lift on one occasion and I had a bit of a walk!

[Dan Snow]

It was an interesting build to say the least.

I have the decorating done, just need to add the gear and wing struts.

[Balsa Ace]

Very nice,Dan.

Scott

[rgroener]

Dan, great to see that you build the Bostonian Porter and sorry, that the plan is not good enough...
But it seems that you made the best of it, your finished Bostonian Porter looks great! I like the orange color scheme
Good to see that your prop seems to be light. I remember, that with the long snout, you can have easily to much weight in the front...
I started with the following rubber combo: 2 loops 3/32" a 70cm. But changed after some time to 1 loop 1/16" 85cm with 2500 turns.

I am looking forward to hear and see how your porter is flying.

Roman

[Dan Snow]

Roman, plans had all the information needed to build, I would just say that it would be an intermediate and above skill level. The one thing that I would suggest checking on is that the uprights and cross pieces between the side view and top view don't seem to line up.

One question, where did you put the CG on yours? No CG indicated on plan.  I was thinking of starting at the second spar.If the wind stays calm plan to attempt test glides this afternoon.

[rgroener]

Dan, I do not have any notes about the CG on my prototype.
Embarrassing to confess, but I seldom compare the precise CG with the plan... I check it roughly... one-third from the wing chord. Then start with the trimming.
I cant measure the CG on the prototype anymore since it had a short but violent encounter with a telephone mast two years ago.

I will check the uprights and cross pieces on the plan. Thanks for your suggestions. If you found the CG, I can also add it to the plan.

Good luck with the trimming    Roman

[DavidJP]

Dan, great to see that you build the Bostonian Porter and sorry, that the plan is not good enough...
But it seems that you made the best of it, your finished Bostonian Porter looks great! I like the orange color scheme
Good to see that your prop seems to be light. I remember, that with the long snout, you can have easily to much weight in the front...
I started with the following rubber combo: 2 loops 3/32" a 70cm. But changed after some time to 1 loop 1/16" 85cm with 2500 turns.

I am looking forward to hear and see how your porter is flying.

Roman

That seems a remarkable downsize??

[Dan Snow]

Roman I started with the CG on the rearward spar, but it acted a little nose heavy. Moving the CG forward to 1" back from the leading edge resulted in a much flatter glide. I checked the field I plan to fly at and it is still covered in tissue shredding stubble. So it may be a bit until we start getting some rain to get the grass growing.

[rgroener]

David, you are right it is 3/16".... I dont get used to the fraction-kind of writing.... I dont have the feeling how much it is.... I am jused to the metric system Thanks for pointing out

Dan, good idea to wait for some protecting grass. Let us know when you have the chance to fly it.

Roman

[DavidJP]

Thank you Roman - being naive on the size of rubber motors and also squeamish - I felt very nervous!!!

Dan, on a whim I built "One Knight In Boston" downloaded from the plans gallery.  Took it to the indoor meet yesterday and it performed quite well with not a lot of effort trimming on my part after I accepted that a left turn was what it wanted to do.  The motor by the way is four strands of 3/32nd - (2.4mm??) roughly twice 'ook to peg long!

I am gradually accepting that our models are much tougher the we think and can resist quite "strong" rubber motors.  Thus if I think one loop of 1/16th is right it probably will fly much better on a loop of 1/8th.   

[rgroener]

David, good to hear that your "One Knight In Boston" flies nicely. I like the plane, looked at the plan quite some time. But resisted since I already had too much on the plate...

[Dan Snow]

OOPS! wrong thread!! Sorry

[Dan Snow]

It Has Flown!!!

Does this officially close the build??

It was only 3 short flights in the 8-10 second range with 50-60 winds. The breeze was starting to pick up to 6-7 mph so I didn't try more as down wind was a somewhat busy road.

In all three released at eye level the Porter climbed to about 15' or so and made a 40-450' diameter circle to the left, just about coming back to me. Showed no tendency to stall, no twitchy habits shown, just a nice steady stable circle.  I like this plane!!

Okay, I screwed up the release on one flight as you can see in the last pic, but it recovered nicely and flew well.

[vtdiy]

Congratulations, Dan! Looks good in the photos. Also the lack of snow and ice this time of year. Much envy!

[rgroener]

Dan, congratulation to your finished build
I am happy that the Porter does behave well. Mine was a reliable flyer once he was trimmed out.

What about the CG? Was it a problem to keep the long snout light enough?
I hope you have many more nice flights with it. Try to Rog it, it takes off nicely from the ground.


Roman

[Dan Snow]

Thank you for the plan, this is a great flyer!

I guess I lucked out with the CG. It came out right on the rear spar without any added nose or tail weight. It flies very well, and recovery is amazing. I was sure my fumble fingered launch was going to end in a cartwheel, but it leveled itself out and flew normally.

Not much chance of trying an ROG unless I build a runway around here. All of the places I have access to are either dirt, grass or weeds.

[rgroener]

Great! And no mater whether you do hand starts or rogs, I hope you will have many more nice flight with it:)
Good to hear that you had the CG just right.

Roman