1923 B3 'Charlotte II' in 1:3 Scale

[ARUP]

Eric, Congratulations! Your Charlotte is lovely! Yaw control was a problem with the full scale version and, as I'm sure you know, flights without the fin/rudder were successful. I was sure on the edge of my seat when your Charlotte rolled over and went in! Damage appears to have been minimal as evidenced by the tape 'patch' on the wing underside.

Len... there is your double! Hope he isn't wanted by the long arm of the law! They might grab you by mistake!

[lenb]

Congrats Eric.

And before anyone asks, yes, you'll see me at the 7-second mark. I went over to Europe to maiden the plane, as I do with Michaels.

Just kidding, but it really does look like me, same coat, hat, and glasses. What a good looking guy!!!

Cheers,

Len

[eric spore]

I completed my Charlotte II B3 (1/3,5) few weeks ago and maiden her successfully, even if controlling her was not as easy as expected (yaw control)
See this short video

[stihac]

That's a cool idea

[ARUP]

I haven't quit. Just catching up on some other stuff. Did find time to make a small chuck glider to investigate C.G. It looks to be at about 20-25% MAC. Will build a bigger one with foam to double check things.

[ARUP]

Stephane, thanks for checking in! I wish Charlotte was going to be ready for Winamac but I just can't get those model airplane building elves to get to work!
Jeremy, that's a thought. If we kick all of the stuff out of your trailer I could build back there!
Eric, your Charlotte is coming along wonderfully! Yes, our fuselage constructions deviate from each other a little. I am going to glue a block of balsa on the nose so it can get sanded to a curved form to accept the 1/64" ply. I'll use contact cement to stick the ply onto the frame work except near the nose. That will get carbon fiber tow underneath the ply so epoxy will have to be used. I see you have a pointed nose(?) on yours. Are you going to fill it in and sand to shape? I sure would like to get to the Retroplane Event some day. I am very smitten with vintage airplanes of all types. Anything from the 1930s or older is what I really admire.

[eric spore]

Your building thread is very inspiring. I spend some time every week reading your building thread. Great job Mike
Some news about my Charlotte : http://www.retroplane.net/forum/view...r=asc&start=45
The way I choose for building the fuselage is a bit different from yours.
Still a lot of work to do before she flies.

Eric - Britanny - France

[Swiss1]

Mike,

great job again, like your style !

So it will be ready for maiden in a week and a half for winamac, right? ;-)

Stéphane

No excuses Jelly, I will have plenty of room when I pick you up next week, otherwise you can finish it on the ride up

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[French1]

Mike,

great job again, like your style !

So it will be ready for maiden in a week and a half for winamac, right? ;-)

Stéphane

[ARUP]

Mosquito, you wouldn't like flying these clunkers. You like those slippery birds! Slappy, I'm glad you like the wings 'cause that's about all there is! Here is a pic of the six upright pylon members. The wing root portion of the pylons are laminated from two outer 1/16" marine ply pieces and one lite ply center part. Some CF was put in for good measure! Straight pins surround the parts to guide sequential pieces in place. The slots for the uprights cut into pylon wing root ends. Shown test fitted. Bell cranks were built. I test fitted the bell cranks so holes could be drilled for pushrod egress. The same holes on wing root ends were used to drill same in the pylon sides. All these parts were stacked and then put on drill press so wing rods holes could be drilled. The wing rods will fit between the spars fore and aft. Next, the pylon sides were epoxied to the six uprights and the bell cranks were epoxied on the inside end of the wing roots. More later!

[Slappy]

Very nice build. Love the wings!

[Mosquito]

I can't wait to fly it................................

Tim

[Mosquito]

I dare you......

[ARUP]

DennisB, Fred China's models are pretty awesome. Mine don't quite compare but thank you for the very kind words. I really appreciate them! Len, I'm ready for Indiana. It's wide open there, just like Clover Creek. Bob, thanks! I can't wait to fly with y'all again. It's always so much fun and so cool watching your glass birds soar!

More work done. It doesn't look like much but getting the six vertical pylons in place is huge! The vertical pylons struts are 1/2" spruce. More structure will tie them to the fuselage bones later. They set the fore and aft, width, height and inclination for the wing roots. They also have to be 'square and fair' for they set the fuselage alignment to the wings. It's kind of like when I had to set a newel post after the wood flooring had been put down. I spent two hours measuring and two minutes drilling. The pic just shows some 3/8" balsa sticks lying across their top surfaces. I had another pic but my crummy computer corrupted it. I'll try to get a better one later.

[BobM]

Michael....beautiful work as always !

Looking forward to the next time we get to fly together and seeing it in person.

Bob