The Oriental is a mess!

No offence to Brodak but it is a major drag building an Oriental kit if you are not going to use a Fox .35 Stunt! I am putting a OS .35 FP in mine and having a ton of problems getting things to fit properly on it. I am having to redesign the engine cowl and change the shape of the nose on top because when mounted the OS sits lower and farther back in the mount then the Fox and I also discoverd a major error in the instructions for the ajustable lead outs that makes the wing tip look funny if it is built to the instructions.

Just not real happy at the moment

Hi Robert,
That can sometimes be a problem with some of the Classic era planes. The newer, bigger case engines can pose a problem. My son is finishing up an Oriental from the Brodak plans and he is using an older Magnum 36 in it. Originally he was going to use a Fox 36 (based on the present 40) reworked by Lew Woolard.
It does take some fiddlin'.
Bill <><

BLACK HAWK

I am in the prosess of manufacturing the Sterling Polish fighter and it is a real problem. The original plans show a O&R 23 with out any place for a fuel tank. I need to raise the motor mounts so a modern engine will center in the nose and find a place for a fuel tank. There is also no belcrank and that plus a lead out must be added. I am hoping to release the kit around Feb. or March. I am keeping as it was in the original kit but I am looking at laser cutting. It should be quite a project.
Larry

Is the Polish fighter a YAK-9 or something like it??

I, too, ran into the adjustable leadout problem on the Brodak Oriental kit (I've built 3 now) and called them about the problem I found. They said I needed to call their design engineer and when I talked to him, I couldn't get him to understand the problem. The booklet illustation will not build the wing tip with the leadouts centered as shown in the side view on the plans. It's not a problem if one is an experienced builder, but it really throws you for a loop if you're not, or if you're going by the booklet. I've made an informal observation of Oriental inboard wing tips and there are a lot that have a big bulge on the top. Just part of the learning curve, I guess. Hang in there,dg

Hi Dale,
I couldn't speak to the LO in the booklet as all we have is the plans.
We just did them as usual for a built up wing tip.
Bill <><

Hi there

It sounds like you may be building from a kit?

Here are some pictures from the ARC Brodak Oriental that Allen Brickhouse asked me to review for flying models. Mine went together nicely and flys good to. If I can be of some help please let me know

>Hi there
>
>It sounds like you may be building from a kit?
>
>Here are some pictures from the ARC Brodak Oriental that
> Allen Brickhouse asked me to review for flying models.
>Mine went together nicely and flys good to. If I can be of
>some help please let me know

SUPER LOOKING

Thnaks Scott

Hi Michael

What is the engine? And did you use the standard pushrods and lead-outs. These are two areas that I am a little suspicious of.

Also, if mine were an ARC I think I would not use the supplied cowl as I think the fit leaves a bit to be desired, as your pics show, but cutting back and trying to get the thin fibreglass flush fitting could be difficult.

I must say that I was a little surprised to see that the bearers need opening up a little to fit a Fox 35. They will mount a Shhneurle 25 without modification though.

Hi Geoff

Mine has an OS FP40 in it. I did need to do a small amount of carving to give the engine a good fit. The Cowl is not perfect, but its an ARF/ARC. The leadouts I left alone. I did change to a carbon fiber pushrod, with a Ball-link on the bellcrank end and a 4-40 clevis at the tail.I also bushed the control horn. Some things we live with in an ARF/ARC. If we wanted it perfect we would have build it from plans or from a kit. Over all its well done.

With the ARFs online, i've got to be careful to make the distinction! Yes, I'm referring to kits in my previous post. Again, it's not a problem for someone who has built previous wingtips with adjustable lead outs, just a newbie will go around in circles or not know there is a problem until he sees the other planes. The ARF in flight has the leadout/wingtip built correctly. Thanks, dg

This comment/question is probably too late. It may be an optical illusion, but in the last photo, two things:

* the angle and bow of those cables look like you've lost it, and
* the angle on that wingtip looks like a lot of positive incidence, or you have a warped inboard wing.

The Bow in the lines is the same as my other aircraft photo's "from the inside". Next time you fly really look at yours and see if its not the same. As far as the wing the plane flys great! It has good line tension. If you look at the main wheels you can see its in a good trim. It will do the pattern with no trouble. Stays out on overheads, I'm very pleased with it.

Well, as I said - it must be an optical illusion. Very nice job, by the way.

I encountered both of those problems building my Oriental from the kit but the solutions were not too difficult.
On the front end, I just built it without a cowling -- just extended the fuselage sides down and filled and rounded a bit. You really don't notice the lack of cowl unless you pick the plane up and look underneath.
The wingtip issue seemed to be a disagreement between plans and instruction book. As I recall (it was a couple of years ago now) the plans showed it correctly, but the book didn't (or the other way around -- my memory ain't what it used to be). Anyway, I had to take a step back and retro-fix it so that the leadouts were centered. It was a pretty obvious fix.
I have noticed a few such discrepancies in the Vector that I am building. Some things seem to have been changed between the time the plans and book were printed and the time the kit was produced. It always helps to study the plans and book, AND the parts, and make sure the result is going to be what you want. Such small "issues" with plans and kits are almost inevitable.
I always try to follow the plans, but sometimes you have to just improvise.
--jt

>No offence to Brodak but it is a major drag building an
>Oriental kit if you are not going to use a Fox .35 Stunt! I
>am putting a OS .35 FP in mine and having a ton of problems
>getting things to fit properly on it. I am having to
>redesign the engine cowl and change the shape of the nose on
>top because when mounted the OS sits lower and farther back
>in the mount then the Fox and I also discoverd a major error
>in the instructions for the ajustable lead outs that makes
>the wing tip look funny if it is built to the instructions.
>
>Just not real happy at the moment
>
>Robert

John Thompson

John

The plan that Pat Johnston drew two years ago with Dee Rice's input describes that very approach to the cowl as a totally legit option.

Here in the NW we have learned to pretty much follow the lead of Don McClave when it comes to detail stuff on Orientals.

Thus a great many--all?--of them have no cowl whatsoever. As John mentioned, extend the fuselage sides down a bit, round it all off and from the side it looks as if there is a cowl.

With model inverted, one sees the real wisdom in such an arrangement: Drop-in motor; yes, with spinner, prop and needle valve in place. Very handy...

If you read Dee Rice's original MAN article on the Oriental, he suggests not having a removable cowl. Instead glue in the cowl block and just open up the hole (where the cylinder would fit through) so that the engine (a Fox 35 at that time), could just slip in.

I have been messing with the nose area on the Oriental the last few days and I think I have it worked out. I went ahead and stuck with the cowl for looks purpose and just changed where the screws mount the cowl to the nose area. It is to late to fix the inboard wing area where the ajustable leads come out although the problem is only a cosmetic problem but I will know better next time to READ THE ENTIRE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST AND COMPAIR IT TO THE PLANS! I am just getting back into this and a little in the dark about kits, I mean who would think the instructions would tell you the wrong way to do things ROFL!

I will post a picture when it is done,
Robert

Used my wife's new digital camera I just spent $1000 on for her birthday This is a couple of shots of the plane which is not even close to being done but thought I would share. It is pretty much done to plan except I mounted the landing gear in the wings and the few changes I made to the nose and cowl. I am also going to make some pants for it using the cardinal pants design. I will take the pants off my cardinal first to see what it looks like before I make them. If it looks lame I'll just find another design or leave it without them.

Lookin good Robert