VMC Fokker D VIII

[Spiros]

I will try to.

Being my first CO2, not sure if I would be of any good to others...    

Definitely will regularly add some updates

[TheLurker]

Olive in (curtailed) action.

[g_kandylakis]

Hi Lurk,

It looks promising and definitely good in the air. And one piece in the end is always a good result

3/4 of a circle at Trinity, that sounds at least safe...

Looking forward to videos in the next time.

A quick question/request:
can you please give us the following weights;

Model weight with no nose assembly, no rubber no rear motor peg. The basic model.

Nose assembly as is.

Balast in nose assembly.


The reason...

Spiros already stated he wants to make it as a CO2 powered model and I am trying to figure the overal parameters of the model...

Thanks,

George

[TheLurker]

Looking forward to videos in the next time.

Aye, well. If it survives trimming.

ΓΚ> Model weight with no nose assembly, no rubber no rear motor peg.
22.7g

ΓΚ>Nose assembly as is.
12.3g

ΓΚ>Ballast in nose assembly.
Additional ballast is carried in the hopper just behind F0 and at the moment it's 1.3g.  The "fuselage" weight above does not include this.

Bear in mind
1 - The tail assembly on mine is formed outlines rather than the kit sheet parts.
2 - I made up a balsa cowling for the motor rather than use the kit supplied part.

ETA.
The nose assembly includes a Knight Aero MK II adjustable nose block, the new "Lego Brick" style.

[g_kandylakis]

Thanks Lurk!

Forgot to ask about the rubber weight...

[Spiros]

Hi Lurk.

Many thanks for the data!

[TheLurker]

Thanks Lurk!
Forgot to ask about the rubber weight...

4.5g 

A loop of 3/16", 12.5" (31cm) pre-tensioned so probably about 13-14" (32.5 - 35cm)plain loop.

[Spiros]

Lurk, short question.

On the upper front part of the fuselage you added balsa instead of paper. This is also my intention.

Did you do this also on the sides?

[TheLurker]

Evening Σπύρο,

I used paper sides.  I did consider balsa cladding, but I couldn't see a good (i.e. simple & lightweight) way of doing so and still being able to fit the wings & struts.

Because I decided to use paper I cut some 1/32" stand-offs to reduce the risk of the sides becoming concave in use as had happened with my VMC Sopwith Camel.

The other thing I tried was to make a couple of very small stops for the wing struts to make it easier to fit them in the correct location at finally assembly.  It worked rather well.

1    - Strut stop prior to trimming.
2, 3 - Stand-offs
4    - In position

[Spiros]

Τέλειο!!!

Perfect!! Thank you very much. Everything is clear!

[TheLurker]

...If you do build one of these make sure the tail skid is /firmly/ fixed in place, especially if you try and trim over a hard gymnasium floor.  Peter Smart's build of this lost the tail skid inside the fuselage when the tail banged down.

And as I found out earlier this evening while doing a bit of pre-Trinity checking the tail skid has gone on mine too. Mine has snapped at the entry to the fuselage.  If you build one of these for indoor use it may be worth your while looking for a slightly stronger alternative to the kit part. If you're only ever going to fly yours out of doors there's almost certainly no need to bother.

I'm going to try a bamboo replacement and see how that goes. I won't be surprised if have to try something else.