Balsa USA Eindecker 40 Build Log

[gordonbw]

OK, so I'm gonna log my winter build here. It feels like time for me to try a WWI warbird, and even though the BUSA Eindecker is far from scale it's nice looking and reputed to fly well. 



Along with the kit I acquired scale wheels, a Spandau machine gun kit, and Iron Cross decals.  I am also looking for a pilot (hopefully no spiked helmet) and dummy engine.  I plan to finish it with beige Coverite in the classic scheme, with rigging wires.

This will take time – my builds tend to sidetracked.  Getting there is half the fun!

Electric conversion will be challenging.  The kit has a very short nose moment and lots of lumber behind the CG, so getting it to balance without adding church roof looks difficult.  My strategies for dealing with this will include:

•   Replace 3/16" slab fuselage sides with Warren truss construction, starting at the rear of the wing saddle
•   Change sheet tail feathers to all-stick construction
•   Go heavy on the power system –  looking for suggestions...
•   Place batteries as far forward as possible -- likely underneath the cowl

I see this as an opportunity to learn some new building techniques and hope you guys will chime in at appropriate points... like when I mess up.

[Madman]

Gordon

I have been building that kit since last November. I have a Turnigy 4260 500 for it and plan on using a 4S or 6S A123 pack. Haven't done anything to lighten it.....yet.

However, I am not happy with the kit. Part of the reason for the long build is there are a number of issues. The latest is the ribs are 1/16" shorter (height wise) than they need to be so the upper spar stands proud. I ended up caping the ribs. If you don't have the kit yet I have alternatives, especially as you intend major changes anyways. Mine is going to be a Pflaz E.I and I am building it for Ben.

Stephen

[gordonbw]

Thanks for the heads-up, Stephen.  I already have the kit so will muddle through somehow.  What other issues did you experience ... and where are you placing the batts?

[Madman]

Mostly part fit. Many times I had to sand or trim to fit as needed/intended. Present plan is for batteries immediately behind firewall. Electronics to go above or just behind. Also have opinions on covering.

Stephen

[Gregor77]

This is also one of the kits that I had on the plate.  But I am side tracked with a 1/4 DR-1 and a N28C.   

I think the G46 Turnigy is also good for the model (40 size?).  I have that in my Bristol M1C and on 5S it's perfect.

[gordonbw]

Looks like we'll have a quorum for a WWI funfly next year! 

Stephen... please share your views on coverings...

[piker]

Great to see you have another cool plane on the building board, Gordon.  I look forward to seeing it flying next year.

Robert

[Gregor77]

Rob. Get working on your se5a.  I am done the mid wing now. Starting on the top wing. 

[piker]

I'm giving you a false sense of a lead.  I can have both wings built, covered, test flown and sold on E-Bay before you finish that top wing 

But I AM torm... I have the SE5a on the board, calling my name, my CL-215 70% recovered caling my name, and a desire to work on my next flying boat build, the Supermarine Seagull.  It's so hard to stay forcussed!!!!

But thanks for the reminder to move my ass....   

Robert

[gordonbw]

Which Seagull?  1948 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Seagull_(1948) or 1921 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Seagull_(1921) ?

[piker]

The later one (1948).  I have plans from Electric Flight International.  It's around 60" span.  Cool plane, eh?

Robert

[Gregor77]

SE5a!

[Gregor77]

I am building Verner Voss's DR-1.

Here is a good recap of why I am building the DR-1 and your SE5a would be very fitting...

A lone silver Dreidecker stalked the evening sky. Below him, a flight of unsuspecting British fighters supporting a reconnaissance mission. Patiently he waited for just the right moment. As the mission wore on, two British SE5a's became separated. The pilot was just two kills short of his fiftieth victory. Few pilots would consider tackling two enemy aircraft alone but Werner Voss was no ordinary pilot. He liked the odds. Like a hungry leopard his Dreidecker pounced on his would be prey with deadly precision, forcing the two British SE5s to the ground.

Suddenly and without warning, the predator became the prey as seven SE5a's Dropped down upon the unsuspecting ace from nowhere. Hopelessly outnumbered it seemed like the only choices were to turn and run or fight to the bitter end.


As McCudden put it:
"We were just on the point of engaging six Albatros Scouts away to our right, when we saw ahead of us, Just above Poelcapelle, an S.E. half spinning down closely pursued by a silvery blue triplane at very closed range. The S.E. certainly looked very unhappy, so we changed our minds about attacking the six V-strutters, and went to the rescue of the unfortunate S.E".
For whatever reason Voss chose to fight. Perhaps he was unaware of the odds. Perhaps the enemy had him so well surrounded that he was unable to put the superior climbing ability of the Fokker Dreidecker to use. For what ever reason he chose to fight and he couldn't have picked a more dangerous group to fight. His opponents were not just any British pilots. This was B Flight of 56 Squadron. All seven of the pilots were aces. For the next ten minutes Voss would fly circles around his adversaries as he emptied his Spandaus and managed to pepper every enemy plane with bullet holes. In the meantime his enemy tried in vain to bring down this most noble opponent but the silver-blue triplane was simply too agile and Voss too talented a flyer for the British.

Suddenly Voss's airplane went into a shallow dive, it's propeller no longer turning. No one knows for sure why. The dreidecker had been flying for almost 90 minutes, the limit of its fuel endurance, so Voss may have run out of fuel. Or perhaps the fuel tank had been punctured and Voss was forced to shut off the engine to prevent the plane from catching fire. Perhaps, after ten minutes of fighting Voss had run out of ammunition and was attempting to surrender. Or maybe Voss had been wounded and could no longer control the plane and was attempting to surrender. No one knows for sure.

As the Dreidecker banked into the shallow turn, Voss made the fatal error of crossing the path of Arthur Rhys Davids.

"Eventually I got east and slightly above the triplane and made for it, getting in a whole Lewis drum and a corresponding number of Vickers into him. He made no attempt to turn, until I was so close to him I was certain we would collide. He passed my right-hand wing by inches and went down."
Voss's Dreidecker then went into steep uncontrolled dive which Flight Leader James McCudden described as:

"I shall never forget my admiration for that German pilot, who single handed, fought seven of us for ten minutes . . . I saw him go into a fairly steep dive and so I continued to watch, and then saw the triplane hit the ground and disappear into a thousand fragments, for it seemed to me that it literally went into powder."
The dogfight would become one of the best known aerial battles of World War I. It would also end the streak of the Red Baron's closest rivals. Voss's plane crashed in No Man's Land, The battle still raging in the area. Unlike Von Richthofen, he would receive no funeral with full military honors. He was quickly buried and the remains of his dreidecker were shipped back to England for analysis. His death marked the end of an era, the end of the "lone wolf" pilots.
Arthur Rhys-Davids would fall to enemy fire himself on October 12, 1917 with 25 victories to his credit.

James McCudden would later die in a crash when his plane failed him on take off. He had 57 victories to his credit at the time.


"His flying was wonderful, his courage magnificent and in my opinion he is the bravest German airman whom it has been my privilege to see fight." James McCudden
"If I could only have brought him down alive..." Arthur Rhys-Davids to James McCudden



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Participants
Name Survived? Victories
at time of
engagement Total Victories

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

James McCudden Killed in
flying accident
9 July 1918  12 57
Gerald "Beery" Bowman Survived
died 25 March 1970  16 21
Richard Mayberry  KIA
19 December 1917  13 21
Keith Muspratt  Died in plane crash,
19 March 1918 6 8
Arhtur Rhys-Davids  KIA
27 October 1917  18 25
Reginald Hoidge  Survived
Died 1 March 1963  22 28
Harold Hamersley Survived
Died in December 1967 2 13
Robert Chidlaw-Roberts Survived
Died 1 June 1989  5 10
Cronyn  (unknown) ? 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: Cronyn, Hamersley, and Chidlaw-Roberts were with 60 Squadron. Cronyn was forced down with heavy damage just as the fight got started. Hamersley and Chidlaw-Roberts would survive the Voß' attack with assistance from 56 Squadron, but only with heavy damage. The red nosed Albatros, most likely from the Jasta McCudden had spotted attempts to help Voß but arrive too late. Rhys-Davids will claim a second victory when we downs Karl Menckhoff of Jasta 3. Menckhoff survived this attack, will be shot down on two more occasions and survive the war.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damage to B Flight

Voss managed to hit every SE5 in B Flight. Some of the planes received extensive damage as described in Aces & Aeroplanes 1" "McCudden's statement that Voss 'had put some bullets through all our machines' was understating the case. The havoc that Voss had caused had been considerable.

Muspratt force-landed at No. 1 Squadron's aerodrome with a bullet in his radiator; Chidlaw-Roberts' SE was considerably shot about, although he managed to return to St Marie Cappel and Maybery's machine was hit in the upper right hand longeron and badly damaged, necessitating its return to 1AD.

Hamersley managed to land his badly damaged SE at No. 29 Squadron's aerodrome at Poperinghe. In the brief flurry of the first encounter Voss had shot through the machine's bottom left hand engine bearer, two top planes and the centre section, spars, ribs, rudder and kingpost, the water jacket on the right hand side of the engine, radiator, propeller, CC gear, generator and oil pipes, and had put 'numerous holes in the fabric'. The aeroplane was a write-off and was eventually sent to 1AD.

"Cronyn's SE5a had also been considerably damaged, and he was lucky to be able to return to his aerodrome at Estree Blanche. Cronyn later wrote to his father:


   
'After Mess I went up to the hangar to have a look at my machine. It was a write-off and no mistake. The right lower longeron had a bullet hole through it, while the left lower was nearly cut in two, either by "Archie" or bullets, but there was only about a quarter of an inch thickness left in one place, while about 18 inches further along three bullets had cut right through. The main spars were shot through, and one of the ribs of the tailplane was fractured, by the only bullet he had got into me while on or nearly on my tail. There were also several other bullet holes in wings and fuselage. Besides these few details, the machine was all OK! It was a miracle he didn't hit me in the engine. As a matter of fact he got one in my prop. I went to bed as soon as I had a good look over the machine, but could hardly sleep a wink. I just lay in bed perspiring, though it was quite a cold night.' "

[piker]

Thanks for the report, Greg   

I think 1/4 scale is large enough to carry BB guns!!!!

Hey Gordon!  You'd better get some build progress up here before we forget what this thread was about   

It will be cool to have some good representation from the "Great War" at the warbird FF next year.

Robert

[Ededge2002]

as I take this even MORE OFF TOPIC..  are you doing the counter rotating props Piker?  that would be the extra bling to make it a crazy cool model!