Bidule 170

[lenb]

Scott,
Don't even try.
Those plastic covers will fail in no time. The plastic is very brittle. I was putting one together as you did and it fell off the bench onto my 3/4 PADDED floor and shattered.
The solution is to make a Plywood mount, using the same technique and then glue the cover to the top of the ply. It will hold up forever that way. I ended up getting some larger ones from Somewhere because the ones I had were too brittle.

LEN

[MarnochS]

Hi Dean,
I have done two orders with KS in Germany recently ,ordering thru their website ( exhaust stubs ,tubes and solder). Only issue I had was that one of my orders went to Canada instead of California ( two extra weeks)

Scott

[Helijet]

So, having a good friend that works in metal is a help. We got the new steering arm and retaining disc machined. As for the header / can saga...well I am afraid that will kill sales for this bird unless you go with no cowl and the standard muffler route. Despite NUMEROUS emails to KS and other European suppliers I have discovered that they do not want to deal with North American customers. I get it, shipping and credit card stuff. Anyway, I ended up getting the DLE 170 header / can set from Tower Hobbies and the Comfort mounts from Desert ( who were great btw ). Chris and I are going to cut off the exhaust flanges and manufacturer our own 125mm drop headers. In the end the Bidule will be a great workhorse and it will have been worth it!

Dean W.​

[Helijet]

Hahahahhhaaa...agreed I have always been in love with gliders. One of my first builds was an original Gentle Lady...had that glider for 20 some years. Interests changed and somehow ended up doing the turbine thing. This last year I rediscovered gliding and have some great ones in the hangar ( LET Minimoa, DG1000, H9 ASW20 ) Looking forward to just sitting back and enjoying silent flight again...but had to sneak a lil turbine in there somewhere....:^)

Cheers
Dean​

[lenb]

Nothing better than a beautiful sailplane silently slipping through the air, oh wait, no..... That's a screaming stinkpot flashing by😳 lol

We had a guy in this area with a turbine mounted on a sailplane, it's for sale if anyone's interested, along with the turbine Porter he has too.

It's kinda like a boat, the two happiest days are the day you get it and the day you sell it.

Just poking fun, sounds interesting , I'd love to fly one, but not sure I'd want to deal with it all.

I spoke with Carf a couple days ago, they have some ready to ship!!
You could not get a better plane for a turbine, it will be awesome.

Keep us posted on the build

[Helijet]

On the Carf DG 800S it will be a Kingtech 100 running on diesel.

Dean​

[Swiss1]

Hi Len...Just got the kit a few we​eks back.I will be putting a......wait for it.....turbine on it sorry....lol
Its OK though as I have lots of real gliders....:^)

Thx Bob ...I'll continue to hunt for the parts needed.

dean

I love my Turbine Porter no matter what other people think
It just delivers smooth continuous power with no vibrations. What make of turbine are you installing Dean?

Jeremy and Ben
SCCAAA TT TN

[Helijet]

Hi Len...Just got the kit a few we​eks back.I will be putting a......wait for it.....turbine on it sorry....lol
Its OK though as I have lots of real gliders....:^)

Thx Bob ...I'll continue to hunt for the parts needed.

dean

[BobM]

Sorry...I have been out of the loop lately with my new work this year.

To give some information on the headers: I talked with DA directly about the drop needed for the Bidule 170. I think I measured a 120mm drop based on using the DA 170. DA recommended using header from KS called Comfort Mount

https://www.krumscheid-metallwaren.de/neu/shop.php?lang=EN

These are headers with crimped sections that you bend specific to the engine installation. The crimped section is not welded in place, but rather the tube has been crimped so it can be bent. No need to heat or torch the tubing to bend, just a good strong arm does the trick. There are also silicone bands in the crimp to keep the tube from getting a sharp bend in it.

They work very well and are not prone to breaking as some of the other headers might do in the weld areas.

I think KS manufactures these for a wide range of engines. I would guess they have one to fit not only DA, but also DLE and ZDZ.......not sure about that, but worth looking at and seeing if it would work for anyone else's installations. Easier than custom welding a header system as well.

I have MTW canisters on mine, the TDH 110's with rear exhaust dump.

http://www.mtw-daempfer.de/en/silencer/silencer-with-rear-exit.html

Mounting rings are also from KS, the comfort mount rings. I think they have a either a 70mm or 75mm diameter. I had to use the clear silicone tubing provided with the ply mounts on the rings to provide friction to help hold the canisters in place as the rings are too large. I should probably just make my own set of rings with some sheet metal, either some thin steel or thin aluminum......a project for another day when I have some time to get back to the shop.

I'm not sure who the US importer/distributer for KS is, but there must be at least a couple of the bigger companies that have there parts.

Bob

[lenb]

Dean,
Do you have many flights on it yet? I love the way it flies, solid on rails feel.

[Stew]

I have found that the album of build pictures, that Stephane posted from one of his friends in France, at the front of this thread are a great source for information and what the maintenance points or improvement points are for the air frame. And, they get updated from time to time when any maintenance or improvements are done. Like the recent addition of pictures of machining a new nose gear strut and some of the details of what is being improved. It gives us a great insight from an air frame that seems to get the same level of use that Len's is at. Well worth a look and I think you don't even have to speak french to get the points.

[Helijet]

You may be correct. I just did a rough measurement as I was not sure if the header / can design would allow for some flexibility.
Thx for the help everyone / we are all excited to have such a great tow plane in our area for next year!

BTW Len....I have a CARF 800S too...my son said he could use the wings as a car ramp for oil changes. I said no way...
I did not want tire tread marks on the beautiful finish....lol​

[Stew]

I wonder if the drop will be even more than 120 mm. The reason I say that is because with the ZDZ 180 the header drop is 130mm - 135mm so maybe the DLE could require a similar or posibly even larger drop?? I do know that the mounting hole patterns are identical from the DLE 170 to the ZDZ 180 and I'm sure some research for engine drawings and a little math would show if the drops will be different between the two.

[lenb]

HI Dean,
Bob M above has the perfect header setup for the plane. I'm sure he'll chime in soon. The specific flex setup he used is by far the best I've ever seen.

I'll post a Bidule upgrade thread soon, covering all the small mods including the highly successful servo saver system for the nosewheel
We now have 73.5 Hrs on our Bidule 170, with 25 trouble free hours on the steering system.


Len

[Helijet]

Hello fellow Bidule 170 builders.

I have the kit and the DLE 170 now in hand. I have redone the steering bar and
started work on the engine install. Could someone advise me on what header / can
setup worked for you. It looks like the cans MTW 110H ( ? ) could be bought from Desert but I
still don't know the answer to the header. I assume it needs a drop of 120 mm which means a
custom design??

thx
Dean W. ​