LEFTWING102000 · Jun 07, 2006 05:47 AM
#0 sourceJust finished my Brodak Cosmic wind and would like to share some observations.
The kit is fully laser cut and of high quality. Wood is some of the lightest balsa I've seen. One thing I think could be improved is the thickness of the horizontal stab. I just think it is a little thin for an airplane of this size. Increased thickness would also lend itself to installation of nylon hinges ( I did use nylon hinges on mine and slot cutting was a real challenge for me).
As with all Brodak kits, the leveling bar system is used for wing construction. I had some problems with my wing coming out a little twisted, but I think that was my error ( less than stellar building surface). Twists were removed over a pot of boiling water using steam to straighten the wing out ( it's pretty easy with the wood quality of this kit).
Fuselage construction is very straightforward and the doublers practically fall into place with very little sanding to match the fuselage profile. One point to note: drilling of the hole for the wire landing gear is critical as the hole must be in the lower motor mount beam. Brodak used to use a piece of tubing to fill up this hole but I've had prolems with vibration elongating the hole and the gear swiveling. Landing gear itself is a wide track and lend itself very well to ROG takeoffs. I opted not to install the cheek cowling provided in the kit so I have no comment on that portion of fuse construction.
Airplane was finished with aerogloss white and orange on fuse and tail surfaces with trasparent blue monokote on wings. O.S. 25LA for power with Acme 2 3/4 oz. U-Type fuel tank with pressure and Top Flite 10x4 prop. Finished weight came in at a shade over 27 oz.
This was my first new airplane I've flown in awhile and it was very forgiving of my piloting errors ( overcontrolling ) and handled the wind very well. I also found the airplane to be very durable ( a pleasant surprise for as light as it was ). Built to plans, it needed very little adjustment ( at least for my level of flying ability ). The leadouts come fixed in the kit, but the wingtips are thick enough to allow adjustable leadouts to be installed without much trouble.
This is a good kit and meshes well with the O.S. 25LA. A Fox 35 stunt could be used as well but I think it would be a little heavy and require a good bit of tail weight to compensate for the extra weight.
DAVE
The kit is fully laser cut and of high quality. Wood is some of the lightest balsa I've seen. One thing I think could be improved is the thickness of the horizontal stab. I just think it is a little thin for an airplane of this size. Increased thickness would also lend itself to installation of nylon hinges ( I did use nylon hinges on mine and slot cutting was a real challenge for me).
As with all Brodak kits, the leveling bar system is used for wing construction. I had some problems with my wing coming out a little twisted, but I think that was my error ( less than stellar building surface). Twists were removed over a pot of boiling water using steam to straighten the wing out ( it's pretty easy with the wood quality of this kit).
Fuselage construction is very straightforward and the doublers practically fall into place with very little sanding to match the fuselage profile. One point to note: drilling of the hole for the wire landing gear is critical as the hole must be in the lower motor mount beam. Brodak used to use a piece of tubing to fill up this hole but I've had prolems with vibration elongating the hole and the gear swiveling. Landing gear itself is a wide track and lend itself very well to ROG takeoffs. I opted not to install the cheek cowling provided in the kit so I have no comment on that portion of fuse construction.
Airplane was finished with aerogloss white and orange on fuse and tail surfaces with trasparent blue monokote on wings. O.S. 25LA for power with Acme 2 3/4 oz. U-Type fuel tank with pressure and Top Flite 10x4 prop. Finished weight came in at a shade over 27 oz.
This was my first new airplane I've flown in awhile and it was very forgiving of my piloting errors ( overcontrolling ) and handled the wind very well. I also found the airplane to be very durable ( a pleasant surprise for as light as it was ). Built to plans, it needed very little adjustment ( at least for my level of flying ability ). The leadouts come fixed in the kit, but the wingtips are thick enough to allow adjustable leadouts to be installed without much trouble.
This is a good kit and meshes well with the O.S. 25LA. A Fox 35 stunt could be used as well but I think it would be a little heavy and require a good bit of tail weight to compensate for the extra weight.
DAVE
DAVE