DC 3 10 foot winspan from kit

[Alan King]

Here are some pics of my DC3 project built from a kit, fus is f/g wing centre section and tail surfaces are built up and outer panels are foam core, I have made outer panels removeable as the original called for a one piece wing, at 10' I felt this was not a great idea.

Retracts are mechanical and work OK busy with scale tail wheel yoke and need to get some more detailing done, the plane should come in at about 22lbs.

side view with normal size servo on wing next to cowl to give idea of size.

dak 10.jpg (19.6 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

side view

dak 2.jpg (28.14 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

tail detail

dak 3.jpg (32.72 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

cowl detail

dak 4.jpg (22.59 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

front view

dak 6.jpg (30.42 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

gear detail

dak 7.jpg (36.4 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

tail plane detail

dak 8.jpg (28.52 KiB) Viewed 8586 times

plane has been sprayed with aluminium colour mag wheel paint to create base coat and once sprayed all over in green will be weathered and then finished with 2K Matt

[rob ellis]

wow thats stunning,,.,.being a painter for a living a good tip is before you hit it over with the green is to mix up some table salt with pva glue,.,.put that over all the panel lines & joints & let it dry,.,.after you apply the green simply rub the salt off with your finger & the finish is amazing,.,.real paint chips,.,.,.after many many hours weathering my models this is by far the most scale looking affect ive found,.,.,.,.
hope this helps,.,.,.sorry if you already knew this tip!,.,.,.,.
rob,

[Alan King]

Hi Rob

i do a similar application but in this case am using an emusion, mixed with white pva to give good adhesion hence bit od sheen on finish, i then use a brillo pad and rub over the finish where i am looking at faded areas and chip it with my small glass etch shot blaster run oil drops, exhaust smoke etc with airbrush and then cover the whole lot with matt clear, this model though will represent a rather pristine example so i have to be carefull to weather appropriately.

The silver is actually able to take an overcoat very well with just a light sand with 600 water paper or by spraying it with a layer of good quality thinned waterproof wood glue as this allows excellent adhesion, interestingly in the building trade in South Africa they use a product called plasterkey which is almost exactly the same and after applying this product to a surface anything sticks to it, I have seen it applied to glass and then rendered to show how well it works.

the salt trick is great but liberal doses cause liberal chipping so needs to be used carefully.

[rob ellis]

sounds like a good method you have.,,,.look forward to seeing the results,.,.,.

[Alan King]

I have been doing quite a bit of work on the retracts for this model, the system was designed to use a std servo to retract the gear, this was unreliable so i built a mechanism and have converted a tower pro metal gear servo to drive it, the pot was removed from servo and a linear potentiometer has been substituted , the linear pot is a 10k unit but should be a 5k one, so this will be changed.

The screw is a std woodscrew see video on Youtube by following this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufVQTbLAEko

[Dave Parry]

Hi Alan, I would love it if you would consider doing a step by step article on how you converted your retracts for the LMA Journal. They look fantastic and very realistic, we could also put it on the website as well.

[Alan King]

Hi Dave

I am busy making the components for the second unit, i will take pics of all and will be happy to share this, please advise of how you would like it structured.

I trust you would like a step by step photo layout, I am also converting a std small lightweight retract to work in the same way and will send some pics of this. I must say that I have spent some time thinking of how to get this done cheaply but effectively, my first attempt used a 4mm threaded rod with phosphur bronze nut but this was way too slow over 45 secs in cycle, I then substituted the screw for the rod, I did look at some options of using a very small lead screw but trying to find anything that small is a nightmare.

I am sure that this rather simple process could be used to drive flaps, gear doors and the like, the system is so powerfull that the wheel can be retracted and then lift the airframe off the floor, ie from retracted to open position lifting the aircraft, of course this is not very scale at all.

[Dave Parry]

Alan brilliant, yes, step by step pictures would be great.

The structure would be up to you, I would like a story board so I know where the pictures fit, as it might be clear to you but not necessary clear to me.

I try and match the pictures with the text but sometimes I do get it wrong, so the more you can provide the better the article will look.

Pictures must be jpeg or tiff format, text can be in Microsoft Word or Apple Mac Pages. You can send it to by post on a disk or by email. There is no mad rush, I will look forward to hearing from you.

[Alan King]

Hi Dave

no issue the system will be done this weekend for the other side and then finished, I have also been threatening to do a build thread on an onboard starter for model aircraft such as the one I built for my Christen Eagle see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIfNCg2o1E , if you feel there will be interest in this system which is built using off the shelf items let me know as then I can photograph the one I am building now for an article too.

[Dave Parry]

Yes Please Alan, I put out an appeal for this type of article a few months back, this is just what I am looking for.

[richard armstrong]

Hi Dave

no issue the system will be done this weekend for the other side and then finished, I have also been threatening to do a build thread on an onboard starter for model aircraft such as the one I built for my Christen Eagle see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIfNCg2o1E , if you feel there will be interest in this system which is built using off the shelf items let me know as then I can photograph the one I am building now for an article too.

bring it on ideal, for hands free starting