1923 B3 'Charlotte II' in 1:3 Scale

[blake]

Michael,

How about using a take off dolly for the first couple of flights?
Keep the wingtips up off the ground.....

Just a thought, as I wouldn't want all that hard work to get damaged.

Blake

[ARUP]

Blake, that is a good idea! My friend, Dion, asked the wing loading which is ~14 oz/sq.ft so it should come up on tow pretty quick. However, a dolly would help in case the controls are sluggish.

I made some different forms in which to pour lead. Hopefully some pics will get posted tomorrow.

[BStaley]

Very nice! My electric tow plane will pull it and I have a dolly-bring it to Fla. and we can fly it here! Or maybe we could meet half-way-where would that be? Just kidding, but all else aside it really is a great looking plane! Bill

[ARUP]

Bill, thanks for the compliment! I really do appreciate y'all checking in here! I really need to plan making weight boxes in the early phase of the builds. It sure would save time in future. Paper patterns were made of the inside of the nose area in order to build boxes to pour lead. One largish floor lead slug was made and a few rectangular slugs were made for the nose. The nose weights were drilled to fit the mount. The nose weights vary in mass. They can be changed to adjust the c.g. A bracket was made that attaches behind nose weights, goes over floor weight and keys into an aft former the floor weight abuts. That floor weight is a tight fit but it would be sheer disaster if it got loose! I couldn't get pics of the installed weight. You can see the tin container used to melt lead. There is a balsa paddle used to skim crud off the surface of the molten lead. A 'blue wrench' torch was used to heat the lead.

[ARUP]

On Charlotte a barometer was used as a sort of altimeter. This was mounted on the decking forward of the cockpit. I have no idea why there is a venturi. Maybe the 'barometer' really is an altimeter and there was 'something lost in translation'. I have no dimensions of the instrument and winged it. It doesn't quite look like the photos but I'm happy with it! Any way, I printed a barometer face and used it in my little gauge. The gauge was made from rolled lithoplate. Balsa scrap was epoxied into the lithoplate tube which also had epoxy smeared inside to hold it together in a round shape. A hole was cut and sanded into sheet lithoplate then this was cut to fit the tube. Scrap plastic cut to fit as a lens behind the cover. The bottom was cut from sheet lithoplate and epoxied. This was then filed to shape. The filed edges almost look like welds or soldering! A mild steel sheet bracket was formed and epoxied in place. The assembly was then epoxied to the fuselage.

[ARUP]

The wings have two hatches(?) on their undersurface. 1/64" ply used to represent them. They were affixed with epoxy. The masking tape was used for alignment.



The venturi, coaming, headrest(?) and rudder bar fuselage blisters are all that is left to do.

[blake]

Michael,

Wonderful stuff!
I'm enjoying going back over your build thread.....


Blake

[Mosquito]

Have her ready to fly Michael at Sled!

[lenb]

Nope!!!!!
Indiana

[ARUP]

Winamac! Worked on the fuselage blisters this morning.

[Tango Juliet]

Wow! What a beautifully different bird! Your skills and craftsmanship are amazing! I hope your maiden flight is nothing but pleasure! (And I hope someone gets video to share with us who can't be there to witness it in person)

I've taken almost a 2 year break from any R/C building and very little actual flying in that time, but my 97 year old "adopted" Grandpa keeps fussing at me to get back in the game... He's not as impressed with my model rocket fetish lately. I admit, your amazing builds, and a few others I follow on various R/C websites, really make me want to get back to building.

[ARUP]

Thanks TJ! Charlotte is pretty much ready to fly even though a few details need to be added. I hope you can get time to build a scale sailplane for aerotow. Man... it is really fun!

[Tango Juliet]

I couldn't sit out any longer... I've ordered a kit from Marc's Laser Shop for the Chris Williams designed 1:3.5 Slingsby Sedbergh T21b. I've had the plans for a few years now.

[lenb]

NICE !!!!!

The pressure got to you. lol

Looking forward to seeing more

[ARUP]

+1
I hope you can do a build thread. It's fun to see others' stuff and it motivates the builder... at least in my case it does! lol Having plans for a few years is laudable but can you beat my 'record'? Go to post #22 in my Franklin Eaglet build. It is currently on page 3 of the 'scale sailplanes' forum. I'll bring it to Huntsville so you can fly it. It is a big pussycat in the air and flies great!

[Tango Juliet]

Build thread? Maybe. I have a very bad habit of starting and not finishing. I started a build thread over on RCU for an US60 about 6-7 years ago... Never finished it, and I was at about 90% complete. I started a Skybench Skybird about 4 years ago... Not finished. 76" Lazy Ace... Not finished. 1/6 Fairey Firefly (on RCSB)... Not finished.

I'm gonna really try to focus and keep in mind that I've probably got more days behind me than I do in front of me now (46) and there are far more aircraft that I'd like to build. Dreaming about them doesn't get them built. I CAN build to completion though. I built a Skybench Oly II in about two weeks total build time, and a Vance Mosher designed Fun Fly Wildcat in about half that time, and other models over the last 30 years.