Anyone for combat?

[stephane.savard]

I started building this last Sunday (May 20th), and now it's ready for its first combat!

[Chris Bowes]

Right then, dogfighter is being prepared! be there around 11!

[beto9]

Chickens... no one showed up!
If you want to play combat you can't be afraid of drops of water...

[stephane.savard]

I had other things to do today, but I should try to maiden the ME109 sometime this week on an evening.

Plus, chances are when I got there, you might have been too busy eating a sandwich to fly combat ;)

[Dwight Macdonald]

Great looking combat plane Stephane!

[stephane.savard]

Thanks Dwight!

Turns out its somewhere between 3 and 3.5 lbs, with a brand new 25fx in the nose. That also means that the flight pack and quite a bit of equipment that was in the MiG is now in the Me109 :)

Soooo, whoever speaks up first can have the Mig! It's not in it's best shape, requires some repairs, and most hardware, but its still airworthy to whoever wants to take the time to have a fast and maneuverable plane.

He's a "shopping" list of what's needed to get it airborne once again:

Wings:

* Two strip aileron control horns are needed. These are Dubro 4-40 dubro self-tapping style
* One standard servo
* Two 2-56 pushrods and clevis

Fuselage

* Standard switch harness (goes in the side of the fuselage to turn the plane on off, but I also recommend it 'cause it actually holds the battery in place ;) gotta see it to understand, heh)
* T-style Dubro control horn for the elevator
* Two standard servos
* 2-56 clevis (for the elevator - the pushrod is included in the plane)
* Dubro 6 oz fuel tank (fits perfectly)
* Engine + motor mount
* throttle linkage (to go on a yellow flex tube, I have the flex tub, but not the clevis and threaded stud).
* Glue. One of thge formers needs to be glued back into place.

Like I said, it's seen better days, but it's free :)

[briankizner]

Bring it to field day, Saturday. I am interested.

[stephane.savard]

okay Brian, the MiG is yours!

The ME109's first flight did not go so well yesterday, I beleive it was just too nose heavy, and then when I got that fixed, a fuel tube broke and that ended the day. No damage from the failed launches - I'll tweak a few things on the plane, and the next flight should be great :)

[stephane.savard]

Tonight with Chris we finally got the Me109 airborne, for a few seconds at least. Still more problems with kinks in the fuel line, and overly long fuel tube line caused a lot of grief in starting th engine and keeping it runing. Once we fixed this problem, we managed to get it launched. Certainly no problems with power, and elevator throws were good, but unfortunately, roll authority was non-existant.

The fuel drawing problems are solved, but this aileron thing is turning out to be more difficult. I built them exactly as the plans called for (4 coroplast flutes wide) but that may be too small. Initial tries to fix it by shoving music wire (5/32?) down the flues of the ailerons does not appear to allowing the rigitiy needed. The fuselage is sound, but I may need to rebuild a new wing with larger ailerons and a better placed torque rod. Luckily, minus the painting, I can complete a new combat wing within a day :)

Thanks to Chris for all the help he's been providing!

[stephane.savard]

The ME 109 finally took flight! Takeoffs are hairy, but once airborne it flies nice. Unfortunately today during combat, the camoflage scheme got the better of me and I smacked it into the ground behind the bushes. Most that were at the club today heard the thud when it hit. I figure it hit the ground at full throttle, inverted at nearly a 45 degree angle.

Amazingly, just like the Mig, nearly no damage. The front of the nose is a bit squished, but can be repaired with a bit of duck tape and repainting. And I broke the motor mount. The rest of the plane is in perfect shape.

The only thing though is that paint is peeling off the airframe. I had not sanded the coroplast, which contributed to some of the problem, but the bigger is that Sico Corostop Rust Paint is NOT fuel proof enough. For those that want to paint their combat planes, stick to Tremclad, a proven choice.

Anyhow, the ME109 will fly again, but I'm going to be building another Mig too, nothing flies as well as that Mig :)

[Dwight Macdonald]

I bet the manufactures of Tremclad and Sico didn't think to test for resistace to glow fuel! ... perhaps they would be interested in your test results Stephane!

Those little warbirds sure zoom along! I can't wait to see some real combat!

[Sunfly]

This is a kind of new concept for me.
For sure I am interested.
Like I do before launching my self into something quite new I better play naive an ask all the questions that comes to me.

So here they are:
1) Is there a reason why all combat planes seem to be of size 25?
2) Is there only a price reason ?
3) Is there a separate class for 40 size combat planes?
4) Could a 40 size combat plane engage with a group of 25 size and still keeping the battle to be fair?

[stephane.savard]

Luc,

here are some answers:

1. All scale combat planes are of size 25. This has to do with competition rules, you can find these rules in the MAAC r/c combat committee. Everyone at the club has so far loosely followed the Open class B (dogfighters and 25 size engines) and Scale class rules (which I beleive was originally based on the 2610 rules from the states). For example, I am re-building a Mig-7 combat airplane, but I would not be able to bring it to the Nationals because only fighter aircraft that participated in WWII are allowed, plus, I'll be painting it in MiG-3 colors. So, it would not be legal in terms of scale subject, but it adheres to all other rules.

That doesn't mean you can't build an 80 inch coroplast Spitfire and stick a Weed wacker gasoline engine in it. It actually has been done! Check out www.spadworld.net in the "big'uns" section. But I would refuse to be anywhere near you if you played combat with that :)

2. Price does come into play, a 25 size engine can be bought for cheap, and does not cost much in fuel. Hardware is also cheap for such a small plane. I beleive this is one of the main reasons why 25 size was chosen.

3. Yes there is a seperate class for 40 sized combat, but not currently in scale combat (that I know of). You have to look into Open class C

4. I would not recommend it. I'm not entirely sure who would have the advantage, but in terms of safety, the larger the engine, the further out you need to be flying to stay safe.

Of course, all the above is mostly competition rules, as can be found on the MAAC website. We don't follow the rules to the letter. We're just having fun, using the guidelines found in the scale combat rulebook, or the Open Class B rulebook.

[Sunfly]

Thanks for your update on this. Very much appreciated.


If I plan to build a 25 Dog Fighter which is not a scale model to anything I guess
I will then be able to join the air combats at WIMAC , will I?

If I won't take part of any official competition so I guess I can stick to one of the simplest SPAD, can I?

[stephane.savard]

A dogfighter is fine, this is what Albert and Ronald use for combat. So far, only Chris and I use scale airframes for combat.

Actually, I'm not even sure whether a dogfighter or a scale plane currently has an advantage in combat. The only time I did manage a streamer cut was with a dogfighter, but I find the scale combat planes fly better.

Also, get yourself a hardhat (fairly cheap at Canadian tire), I leave mine in the trunk of the car now and I'm going to start using it. In the middle of combat, I noticed that some of the planes tend to stray a bit close, and it's very easy to get disoriented - several people on Saturday thought they saw my Me109 hit on its belly (included myself)... but it hit inverted!

[Sunfly]

I am getting the idea now.
First I will finish building that modified DPS 40 size just for fun.
Then I will put my self into building a Dog Fighter right after.
I would like to build a Corospit like Chris but I don't think I want to invest that
much time on this.

Cheers,

[stephane.savard]

Once you've built a coroplast plane, you can build a plane like the Corospit in a week. Less if you decide not to paint it :)

[George Bozian]

Here are some new moves from the pros of dogfighting.Maybe some of you combat guys can use them. www.metacafe.com/watch/304657/rc_plane_vs crows