Re: Chambers R-1 build

Oldenginerod on Sun Oct 16, 2016 12:48 am

I get dizzy just watching it Crazy Eyes

JPvelo on Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:21 pm

Well this thing is finally done! Right down to the gear doors, tail skid, and brace wires. The contest is tomorrow. I'll be flying this and the Bellanca tri-motor in 1/2a scale, the thunderbird in Musciano speed and stunt, and my bearcat in carrier. Of course I'll be wearing my lucky Cox Engine Forum t-shirt!

OVERLORD on Fri Oct 21, 2016 6:09 pm

Good luck Jim, I love the details on the plane. Where is the CG located?

crankbndr on Fri Oct 21, 2016 6:42 pm

Very nice build and quite innovative! Good luck in your contest!! Beer Cheers

JPvelo on Fri Oct 21, 2016 7:17 pm

OVERLORD wrote:Good luck Jim, I love the details on the plane. Where is the CG located?

The CG is right on the leading edge at the wing tips.

pkrankow on Fri Oct 21, 2016 7:43 pm

Very nice looking. I hope it flies as well as it looks.

Phil

**RknRusty** on Fri Oct 21, 2016 8:25 pm

That thing looks cool from every direction. You're an aviation artist, Jim.
For finishing touches, I recommend these:

JPvelo on Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:11 pm

Long story short, 2nd place multi engine limited, 2nd place single engine limited, I brought the plank award home again, and I was the only Musciano participant.

**RknRusty** on Sat Oct 22, 2016 7:52 pm

That's quite a nice trophy. Did it have to fly to qualify for an award?

JPvelo on Sat Oct 22, 2016 9:33 pm

Thank you Rusty! You have to fly at least one lap to make it an official flight and qualify. It is a perpetual award, I brought it home last year as well. There was only one other "plank", Keith Trostles Farman with 3 Pee Wee .020s'. He couldn't get all three to cooperate for an official flight.

Keith assured me I won't be taking the plank award home next year. I love a challenge!

Jim

dckrsn on Sat Oct 22, 2016 10:01 pm

Hats off Jim. I've been following this thread from the get-go, and
have enjoyed every post. Beautiful work!
Bob

getback on Sun Oct 23, 2016 8:50 am

Good Fun JIM !!!! you are truly a inspiration !

roddie on Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:10 pm

Congrats Jim!! The finish-photos look beautiful man! I loved the flight-vid! (ear to ear grin).. The L/G design was something I marveled at when you built it. Your flight-landing appeared to be a smooth touch-down.
In that vid post, you mentioned needing a bigger tank. How did that work out? The tank in the recent photos looks great! Judging from the copper vent-tube, I assume that you re-plumbed it. Nice work. I'd like to try that with one of my small wedges. Do you have any tank-mod photos from this build?

JPvelo on Mon Oct 24, 2016 6:30 pm

Roddie,

Sorry I took so long to reply. The tank worked great, got about a three minute flight. Much longer than needed for 1/2a scale. I've done a uniflow mod on a few wedge tanks. I pull both vent tubes, solder over the bottom vent tube hole and put the uniflow vent through the top hole. To fuel you undo the feed line, tip it on its nose, and fuel through the uniflow.

Unfortunately I had a minor landing gear failure and nosed over on the landing, nothing like the video. Probably cost me first place.

Jim

roddie on Mon Oct 24, 2016 7:06 pm

JPvelo wrote:Roddie,

Sorry I took so long to reply. The tank worked great, got about a three minute flight. Much longer than needed for 1/2a scale. I've done a uniflow mod on a few wedge tanks. I pull both vent tubes, solder over the bottom vent tube hole and put the uniflow vent through the top hole. To fuel you undo the feed line, tip it on its nose, and fuel through the uniflow.

Unfortunately I had a minor landing gear failure and nosed over on the landing, nothing like the video. Probably cost me first place.

Jim

No worries Jim. I was curious if you'd pulled the rear-cap to solder the uniflow in place on the inside.. A bit more work.. and easier when building a tank from scratch. How far back does your vent-tube go? I positioned my uniflows' between 1/8" to 3/16" forward of the fuel pick-up to allow clearance for bubbles.. but my tanks were also rectangular.

I imagine that un-soldering a wedge-cap could be tedious. Have you ever done it? I had some thoughts on how it could be made easier.. but they're just thoughts. Drill a small hole in the cap to accept a piece of music-wire having a short "L-bend" into the hole. Lock the wires' straight-end in a bench-vise. It allows for turning the tank while heating the joints.. and gradually pulling on the cap at the same time. Solder-up the little hole before you put the cap back on. I'd imagine that it's probably been done that way before.

**RknRusty** on Mon Oct 24, 2016 10:42 pm

I didn't know there was a video. I just went to Jm's channel and watched it. It really scoots, much faster than I expected. I'd hate flying something like that over pavement.

roddie on Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:53 pm

RknRusty wrote:I didn't know there was a video. I just went to Jm's channel and watched it. It really scoots, much faster than I expected. I'd hate flying something like that over pavement.

Yea.. the vids' wicked.. especially if you'd been following the build. I am curious if the tarmac was different in Tucson. Were there paved circles for the scale-event? Curious about what happened with the L/G.

ian1954 on Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:53 am

dckrsn wrote:Hats off Jim. I've been following this thread from the get-go, and
have enjoyed every post. Beautiful work!
Bob

My sentiment too! A very smooth and dedicated build.

JPvelo on Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:36 am

Thanks guys!

Rusty,
I'm actually going to try and speed it up a bit and go with longer lines, at least 42' as opposed to the 35' it's on now. That flight was with 15% nitro and a cut down master airscrew 6x3. I'm going to bump up to 25% and an APC 5x3 and really get it moving.

Roddie,
The top solder joint in this photo loosened and let the gear swing back about 3/4". I'm going to redo the gear mount for a more scale appearance and hopefully save at least 1/2oz of weight.

Jim

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