BEAVER DH C2 no 2 30 IN RUBBER DUMAS KIT 306 Nov 25 2025 to PRESENT

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #105

Mon Feb 16 2026

Final Assembly

Beefed Up Landing Gear Fairings

Pic #1     1522     Right side Landing gear fairing is glued up and boxed in.

Pic #2     1526     Here you can see the little rectangular  slot in the fairing that the strut fits into.   This should 'guide'  the impact pressure from landing.

Pic #3     1527      There was a gap that needed a sliver of balsa.

Pic #4     1529     Both fairings are glued up now,  to the LG wire only.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #106

Mon Feb 16 2026

Final Assembly

Pic #1     1532     Another good view of the fairing and strut connection.

Pic #2     1536     The Alaskan bush wheels are now added.

Pic #3     1539     The clear hubcaps are squeezed on.

Pic #4     1541     Side view closeup fresh out of the blocks.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2  30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER  DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #107

Mon Feb 16 2026

Final Assembly

Pic #1    1543    Another right side view.

Pic #2    1546    Left side view.

Ready to fly -  prop cowl rubber motor -  all in !   83.3 grams

Pic #3    1547    Nice pic of left side.

Pic #4    1552    Nice pic of right side.   

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #108

Tue Feb 17 2026

Final Assembly

Pic #1     1553     Dead on front view.   Everything looks pretty even.

Pic #2     1556     Side view of left front.

Pic #3     1558     Light shining through opaque wing.

Pic #4     1562     30 inch wingspan Beaver sits on the building board.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #109

Tue Feb 17 2026

Final Assembly and Balancing

Pic #1     1563     Beaver in front of big board of plans.

Pic #2     1567     Beaver lit from underneath.

     I had to make a new rubber motor less than seven inches long.    The current seven inch motor held the prop in,  but not strongly enough,  as the nose block would rattle out at the end of the rubber run.     
     I tried to make a  six  inch motor,  but it ended up less than  that.     It does give a good short motor burst now,  and the cowl stays on.
     The snow has mostly evaporated in the last two days.   Plus it is going to rain tomorrow Wodensday,  and rain Thorsday.   The grass in Jackson park dries out first,  right under the medium large knoll,  where the replica Spitfire and Hurricane sit on pedestals.    That knoll is sheltered all around,  by many small growing young trees,  so it is the best place,   for starting the slight downhill,  gliding tosses.   The trees cut off the wind,  and you can do the little glides between the trees.
     The humidity right now (heavy fog in the morning) is 100%,   so there will be heavy tissue sag, if I try to do hand tosses today.    I do have one of those little newfangled portable fans,  with which to dry the sloppy wet tissue covering,  after landing in heavy dew.

Balancing the Beaver

     I knew from before that I needed a hunk of clay weight of  5.3 grams,  and the weight of the  5.3  gram Spinner,  together,  just by lifting the wing with two middle fingers.    I measured the  Balance Point on the plan,  as being the front edge of the main wing spar,   1 3/16"   from the leading edge  30.5mm.

     I got the plane on the balance pins,  while the spinner and the clay weight were both on,  and it balanced!!!

     I got out the weighing coffee jars,  with their round head pins,  and their ice cream tub bases.

     In the end,  I need 10.6 grams of ballast weight up front. 
Bare plane no prop  =  63.3 g
Total will be  73.9 grams
Total wing area  I generously included the center section  30"  x  3 3/8"  =  30  x  3.375  =   101.25sq inches   

Golden Rule for flight is ;   max weight  0.5 grams per square inch,  in order to fly well.   the plane should then weigh  50.6  grams max.   My Beaver weighs  73.9 grams.

73.9 grams  divided by  101.25 sq inches =  0.73 g/sq in  (I hope these are correct)

Pic #3     1597     Finished Beaver in front of the vertical plan board.

Pic #4     1598     Beaver folder title.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #110

Tue Feb 17 2026

Balancing the Beaver

Pic #1     1601     Foggy morning.   The snow has almost all evaporated.   High temps are in mid  40s  deg F.

Pic #2     1604     Beaver is balanced on round head pins,  using a   5.3 g   hunk of clay,  along with a  5.3 g  Spinner.

Pic #3     1605     Another view of the balancing act.

Pic #4     1608     The Beaver is off of the balance jars.   You can see the round head pin.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2  30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER  DUMAS KIT 306

Reply #111

Tue Feb 17 2026

    Smaller motor is needed for test glides with adequate small number of turns on the motor.

Pic #1    1609    Clay plus Spinner =  10.6 grams.

Tying up a smaller motor,  for test glides,  with a little power.

Pic #2    1611    I was going for  six inches or less.

Pic #3    1616    Rubber is cut to length (four strands total).

Pic #4    1618    The motor tied up a little short,  but that was OK.  It had a nice smooth power burst,  however short,  right to a solid stop,  with no shaking.

     Now,  we are ready for some test glides !

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Jmk89]

Hi Richard

I know that you're not seeking the ultimate duration with the Beaver, but I do wonder if the amount of rubber that you are looking at putting in her will be near enough for satisfactory flight.

I  would be looking at braiding (sometimes also called pre-tensioning) the motor.  Here is a video that explains why and how to do it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPP-6e_gTkI&t=30s

Getting another 30-40% of rubber in and keeping it tight between nose and rear peg, seems like the best of both worlds to me.

Please feel free to ignore this, but it might be an idea to look at braiding if the current motor setup disappoints.

Cheers

Jeremy

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2  30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER  DUMAS KIT 306

Tue Feb 17 2026

Reply #113

    Hi Jeremy!  Thanks for your nice reply and courteous salutations.      I will definitely be trying a braided motor.  Thanks so much for the convenient braided motor link.  And before I forget,  thanks for all your work and time loading up the file plans and archives.

    Way back,  I did try a braided motor when I was beating my  30 inch Dumas Rearwin Speedster,  to death in the Cricket Field,  with many flight reports and repairs.    I was warned by Pete Fardell that it would come out "hot".  It sure did.  It spun around instantly,  and right over my head,  and into the thick,  side canopy foliage of a full grown,  model eating deciduous tree,  one of many that line the perimeter.  It did not just fly into a tree,  but "bored in" at full power,  a long way,  through a heck of a lot of small fully leafed branches and leafy twigs,  like one of those tunnel boring machines.  There was a lot of damage as it grinded itself in there,  and finally stopped quite deep into the foliage,  and was very difficult to cut out.  Yes,  I had to climb ....

    So yes,  I will start slowly with the trimming,  but eventually move up to longer motors,  and if it flies well,  I will try a braided motor.    I think I have the correct pulling strength with the  4 strand motor,  of 2 strands 3/16" and 2 strands of 3/32" rubber.

    So thanks for the Reply Jeremy.  Please feel free to post into my threads any time.   

And four more pics from the restaurant.

Pic #1    1575    Left side front view.
Pic #2    1579    Tail on balsa block.
Pic #3    1584    View from rear.
Pic #4    1588    Spinner off.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Wed Feb 18 2026

Reply #114

Cowl Anti-glare Cover

     It was raining today,  and I was going to make a braided motor and bench test it,  but I got distracted in a good way,  by adding a little more detail to the scale look.

     I did not think I would use the black anti-glare cover,  as in the kit box cover art,  with the yellow scheme,   on the top cowl,  because it would not go along with my white and blue pin stripe color scheme.

     Then,  on second thought,  I still had not finalized a place for the  5.3 g  hunk of gray clay ballast weight,  that I needed to balance the model.

     So we flattened out that clay and used it as a the anti-glare cover,   gray scale of 3  ( 1 is pure black,  10 is pure white).

Pic #1     1621     Balance point at right wingtip.

Pic #2     1623     A big lump of  5.3 g  of gray clay is roughly spread out on top of the cowl.

Pic #3     1625     It still needs more flattening.

Pic #4     1628     M and B get out the  5/8"  hardwood dowel,  and use it as a pie dough pin roller,  to flatten out the clay even thinner.

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Wed Feb 18 2026

Reply #115

Cowl Anti-glare Cover

Pic #1     1634     Here is the cover all nicely trimmed up,  and it sticks on its spot,  from pressing it in on the edges.

Pic #2     1639     Left front view of the  "squared up",  anti-glare cover,  of thin gray clay.

Pic #3     1640     Closeup.

Pic #4     1644     This shows the raised hump of 5.3 g of ballast clay.

     This  5.3 g  of thin gray clay,  can be carefully removed and peeled off quite easily,  and stuck on again.

     So,  at least the Beaver should look good,  while test gliding ....

     The forecast is rain the next three days and colder temps,  so no glides just yet ....  Time for a braided motor test run on my new table stooge ....

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2  30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER  DUMAS KIT 306

Sat Feb 21 2026

Reply #116

Prop Runs and Braided Motor

    Hi Jeremy.  I watched that Braiding video again (I do vaguely remember watching it before - thanks for the refresher).

      I have to have the Beaver's motor always under tension,  and not flapping around inside the fuse on run-out,  and possibly knocking the pilots off of their bench plank seat.  When Maxfiart's braided props run out,  they are then not under tension. 

Pic #1    1652    Small elastics.    1/8"  Aluminum tube.  I have no larger tubing for a slip peg,  to loosely ride over this  1/8"  tube.

Pic #2    1655    6" motor test run

Pic #3    1657    3/32"  and  3/16" rubber,  two strands of each.

Pic #4    1658    tied up

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Sat Feb 21 2026

Reply #117

Braided Motor

     I cannot use a Crocket Hook at the prop wire hook -   it is too large to pull through the thrust button hole in the Cowl.    Also the braided motor will not fit through that hole.   The prop hook is now buried deeper into the nose bock,  after I extended the tenon,  making it that much more inaccessible.

     As for a  "slip peg" tube,  to slide over the rear 1/8" aluminum  peg,   I don't have any of those,  and no way to forge the  "flange"  on the ends.      He didn't state the size of the slip peg tube or the wall thickness.

Pic #1     1660     all strings with knots are added.

Braided Motor

Pic #2     1662     Start with a 12" loop,  which when folded,  will give a  6"  braided motor.

Pic #3     1665     Ball of twisted string.

Pic #4     1666     Braided motor at rest.   I really struggled to even get that motor off of the  3/64"  wire of the stooge,   and onto that  1/8" dowel in the pic.     You really need those  "slip pegs" ,   of which I have none.    And that rubber is so tight that I cannot get it off the dowel  or the winder hook.   So,  I give up on the braided motor for this model.    If I get it flying,  I may put in a further rear peg and begin testing longer,  regular motors ....

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[Lastwoodsman]

BEAVER DH C2   30 INCH RUBBER POWERED  FREE FLIGHT PARK FLYER   DUMAS KIT 306

Sat Feb 21 2026

Reply #118

     That was sure a lot of good practice with changing motors.   

Pic #1     1668     Really a  5"  braided motor.

Pic #2     1671     Spinning prop with spinner.

Pic #3     1672     Spinning prop no spinner.

Pic #4     1673     Spinning prop  very light clear shadow.

     The new  6"  four strand motor gave  5 sec,  and second 5 sec spin,   on  85  finger winds.

     Using the same  6"  motor,   but stretch wound in the stooge,  260  stretch winds,  gave me  11 seconds.

     So anyways,  I found the Braided  "wound"  rubber,  to be so tight,  as to make it almost impossible to handle with finger tips,  when taking it off of prop wire hooks,  and winder hooks.   But I got the new stooge back on the table,  and did a bunch of more motor test runs,  so it is all good.

      The weather is still cold rainy and windy,  but the snow is finally gone.    I will be ready for the first chance of test glides ....

Lastwoodsman
Richard

[OZPAF]

So anyways,  I found the Braided  "wound"  rubber,  to be so tight,  as to make it almost impossible to handle with finger tips,  when taking it off of prop wire hooks,  and winder hooks.

Not that I have had a lot of experience with braided motors Richard - but this seems a little strange. I use a braided motor in my small Elf of around 4" approx prop to rear hanger length. The braided length of the equivalent 2 strands of 1/8" -  resting, is around 5". After winding - it shrinks to slightly more than the prop to rear hanger length, and is not tight.

That motor is braided with approx 120 forward turns - as per Tom Hallman - - MAXFLIART on Utube.

John