My Excalibur is finished!

Guys,
Finished my plans built Excalibur. It has Monokoted wings, flaps, stab, and elevators. The fuselage and fin is tissued and Sig dope. It has a SSW OS 35FP swinging a Bolly 12.5 x 5.5 prop. A 5 1/4 oz profile tank with a chicken hopper. It weighs 43.5 oz with 1 oz tip weight. I used the article colors and paint scheme. Now I'm waiting on the weather.

Nice plane Crist,

Why such a big tank? 4.5 ounces is plenty big for one of Len's .35's. Mine uses about 4.25 ounces.

>Nice plane Crist,
>
>Why such a big tank? 4.5 ounces is plenty big for one of
>Len's .35's. Mine uses about 4.25 ounces.
>
>Jim Pollock
Jim,
When I use these engines in my Legacy 40 or Actroma 40. I used a 6 oz clunk tank and nearly used all the capacity. I've always "flowed" a lot of fuel with the engines and have they have produced a lot of power. So I made a 4 1/2 oz tank longer.

Really nice plane! I like the way you finished the canopy. I bet it will even better in the air. have a good flight.

Just plain beautiful. Great job.

I’ve always liked the lines of the Excalibur and yours looks great Crist. The airbrushed canopy gives me some cool ideas. I plan on building one soon. I already have the Yellow Mono and a can of light blue LusterKote. I’m interested in hearing how yours flies.

I have the magazine article that includes the plans. Often magazine plans leave a key aspect out or are incorrect. Did you build from the magazine plans? Change anything?

The very thin fuselage section from the T.E. of the wing back to the stab has me re-thinking the idea of putting silkspan on it. To save weight, I’ve never covered anything other than wings with silkspan. I usually use just a couple coats of clear dope, sand then final color. I’m not a contest flier, just the pattern moves and freestyle stuff. I have never built a plane with this thin of a fuse. Will I see big handling problems if it’s not covered?

Super Sweet! very nice looking. Be sure to let us know how it flys.

Bob:P

Crist,

Ok, I sent a large package of good weather to you, care of the Big Guy. (I borrowed it from the budgeted California weather. This was a freebie, but in the future, we may have to sell the stuff to solve our energy-induced budget crisis.) Can't wait to get a flying report!

I recently bought an Umland kit of the Excaliber designed by Dick Mathis. The kit included a copy of the magazine article, but of course, it was in black and white. Now that I see yours, I get the color scheme! Nice detail work! Did you build it completely stock?

I too, wondered about the stiffness of the aft fuselage. Let us know how it flies.

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I have built Walters kit and have a few flights on it. The only thing I told him was the wood was sooo good in the kit that he should have used a less desirable piece for the fuselage. I covered it with cloth and polycrylic and it made it stiffer but not as stiff as I'd like. However with my current skill level it hasen't been a problem and I'm still sorting out a minor engine problem. Tank is a 4 oz non uniflow but is being changed as I write this.
Obviously to get that large tank on you didn't use the side cheek block of wood. Did you make a plywood stiffner for that side?
Dennis

>snip>
Did you make a plywood stiffner for
>that side?
> Dennis

Yes,
I used 1/16 ply on both sides.

>Crist,
>
>Ok, I sent a large package of good weather to you, care of
>the Big Guy. (I borrowed it from the budgeted California
>weather. This was a freebie, but in the future, we may have
>to sell the stuff to solve our energy-induced budget
>crisis.) Can't wait to get a flying report!
>
>I recently bought an Umland kit of the Excaliber designed by
>Dick Mathis. The kit included a copy of the magazine
>article, but of course, it was in black and white. Now that
>I see yours, I get the color scheme! Nice detail work! Did
>you build it completely stock?
>
>I too, wondered about the stiffness of the aft fuselage. Let
>us know how it flies.
>
>Dave
>LA_Flyer

Dave,
Received the package early Saturday. Spent some time Friday evening doing some initial trimming. I removed the tube muffler and installed a tongue muffler to shift the CG aft. It now is at the 2nd turbulator spar. About 3/4 aft of where the plans show. Dick does mention that it can go 1 inch further aft....he's right. Still working trimming issues but the plane has a lot of potential. When I built the fuselage, I laminated it from 3/8 C grain and 2 pieces pf 1/16. It helped a lot. Yes it a bit "twisty" but the plane does fly well. BTW it was plans built...no kit. I extended the flaps aal the way to the tips because I'm lazy and that's how I do all my planes. I reduced the assymetry from 1 1/2 to 3/4.

Very, Very nice, Crist. Is the stab/elevator simply covered with monokote? How stiff did that work out? I've covered a couple of quick and dirty ships with moneykote on thewing and tail and was a little disappointed in the lack of rigidity in the stab. Needed better wood, I suppose, or else a bit of creative grain aligning.

LAST EDITED ON May-02-04 AT 08:39 PM (CDT)
 
Ted,
Thanks for the compliments.

Good question. I should have mentioned that I laminated them along with the flaps too. For the stab I used 2 pieces of .077 with 1 piece of .032 with the hinge slots cut out. I epoxy these together and when finished I have a "fairly" stiff stab with the hinge slots done and in the exact middle. I think the elevators and flaps used .062 instaed of the .077.

Seems that the OTS and Classic designs have those "thin" stabs, elvators and flaps that are 1/8 or 3/16 and that is how I get some stiffnes out of them. I suppose silkspan and dope would add some stiffness...hmmmm laminated and silkspan and dope.....yeah, yeah that's ticket!

Yes then they are just covered with Monokote.

In reality, my focus remains PAMPA stunt and OTS and Classic is just for "fun"...........yeah right.