Balsa USA Fokker D7

Gregor77 · October 12, 2012, 09:50:54 AM

Well, the BIG water tap of Scale planes has opened again..

Coming from RC Canada, Fokker D7, but kit only. Looking forward to starting this one, oh in maybe 5 years once the rest are done! lol!

Stephen, this threads for you! ;o)

Gregor77 · October 12, 2012, 10:09:35 AM

I was really impressed with the G160 Turnigy for set up and power. This plane is approx 20 lbs. 88" WS. I would most likely use the same system as my PUP.

I just don't know if I have a table big enough for this thing! lol!

Madman · October 12, 2012, 12:41:20 PM

Greg

Was that one from down east? I recall one being posted lately and thought it came from there. Which prop and how many cells on the G160?

If interested I have a spare dummy motor kit, side panels (in aluminum) and 1/4 scale lozenge covering. The engine panels and motor kit are from the Proctor D.VII and the covering is from BUSA. It is pre-printed Solartex, same as on mine but different colours. The colours tend more towards green hues and the underside covering has no flourescent orange. It is done by the same guy just with BUSA's prefered colours.

Of course I have tons of info you are welcome to. Any thoughts on colours yet? I am still leaning towards Joseph Mai's black and white stripped D.VII from Jasta 5, or possibly a 'fantasy' pilot still in Jasta 5.

Stephen

Gregor77 · October 12, 2012, 12:52:17 PM

I will need your help on this one!

I was thinking of going with this one...

http://www.aerodrome24.de/out/pictures/master/product/2/035d.jpg

http://www.aerodrome24.de/en/aviation/kits/roden-1-72-fokker-d-vii-alb-carl-degelow.html?listtype=search&searchparam=d.vii

I will need your help none the less.

The G160 will do 2800 watts on a 10S. That is more than enough... I heard that the plane is 20lbs. I was going to run 10S with 4 5S-5000 packs. I was thinking of a switch from one 2 pack to another.

Madman · October 12, 2012, 01:08:22 PM

20 lbs should be do-able. Mine is somewhere between 24 and 25 and has all the nose structure to hold a G62 so lots of weight there. Both schemes look good. The white tails should help orientation. I am unsure about the black fuse as all black planes I have seen (film of course) have been very wrinkly and I worry about heat build up. Seen any black fabric planes? I have some good pics of Degelow's stag emblem. It comes from a pre-war Sanitarium (private? hospital not looney bin) which a number of pilots had been through. Don't know what it specialized in or general recovery from illnesses or surgery. It showed up in a couple others.

I am hoping I can do the Proctor D.VII for about 20 lbs all up. The spars apparently weigh about 4 lbs by themselves and the forward nose is overbuilt to hold up to the recomended 3 cu in V-twin Laser. I have a Scorpion 5545-150 which easily swings a 28" prop (scale) at 4300 rpm on 12S2P A123s. Time will tell.

For any others out there I have lots of WWI reference material for all sides and most planes and am very willing to help out with what I can. Just try me.

Stephen

Madman · October 12, 2012, 01:21:37 PM

As an aside on the Proctor D.VII and its electric incarnations. I never saw Dave Griffe's fly but came accross it on static at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. At the time (sometimes in the '90s) it was beside the Spanish BF109 and looked somewhat ratty. Ben and I went to the 2009 Dawn Patrol in Dayton and spent the next day at Kalamazoo. Eventually I found the Fokker hanging near the members' libary in the new building. Either my memory was poor or it was totally gone over and looked awesome. Dave had originally flown(?) it with an Astro cobalt 60 superbox and somewhere between 27 and 40 cells. He might have tried a 90 but that is what I remember. It was way heavy and suffered accordingly. He retired it rather than risk it. When I saw it last it was in Jasta 15/18s red and white 'Rabin' (Raven) markings. No orientation issues there!

On RCScaleBuilders I found another guy from Germany who had built one but couldn't get enough info except brushless and scale prop. He had covered it with the Glenn Torrence fabric and had it in Jasta 6 markings. Somewhere there exists a flight video for it.

Stephen

piker · October 12, 2012, 05:14:29 PM

I saw Dave's fly at KRC '98. As I recall it had plenty of power. Enough to take-off ACROSS a paved runway at a municipal airport. I recall it looked very nice, but the sound with the superbox was off. I remember Tom Hunt shouting "Get a belt drive for that thing". Tom owned Model-Air Tech, and they made beautiful belt drives.

Stephen, I may take you up on the offer of some documentation as I get to the covering stage of my SE5a.

Robert

Madman · October 12, 2012, 08:03:58 PM

Robert

I have a goodly bit on the SE5(a). It includes an interesting article by Dan San Abbott on the different radiators, louvers and motors as used in various versions. I also have the Replicraft plans which I copied to 1/4 scale. Must have started out at 10 to 12 sheets 30"x70" when drawn at 1/5 scale so quite big. These are the plans many guys build full scale from. I also have their Fokker D.VII plans again enlarged to 1/4 scale.

wollins · October 13, 2012, 09:57:37 AM

Quote from: Gregor77 on October 12, 2012, 12:52:17 PM
I will need your help on this one!

I was thinking of going with this one...

http://www.aerodrome24.de/out/pictures/master/product/2/035d.jpg

http://www.aerodrome24.de/en/aviation/kits/roden-1-72-fokker-d-vii-alb-carl-degelow.html?listtype=search&searchparam=d.vii

I will need your help none the less.

The G160 will do 2800 watts on a 10S. That is more than enough... I heard that the plane is 20lbs. I was going to run 10S with 4 5S-5000 packs. I was thinking of a switch from one 2 pack to another.

Hey Greg, how do you plan on doing that hex camo? I was wondering if they sold covering like that or do you have to airbrush such a thing? I might just have a project that needs it!

Colin

Madman · October 13, 2012, 10:31:23 AM

Hey Greg, how do you plan on doing that hex camo? I was wondering if they sold covering like that or do you have to airbrush such a thing? I might just have a project that needs it!

Colin
[/quote]

Colin

See post 3. There are a few sources of the pre printed fabric. BUSA and Wildmann graphics (the producer) sell pre-printed 1/4 scale lozenge on Solartex. There are a few guys on the 'net experimenting with the same. Others are using ink jet printers to print on tissue and applying over mylar. Also Glenn Torrence models makes 4 and 5 coour lozenge fabric in 1/4 and 1/3 scale. It is just linnen not 'tex so you treat it like silk and go the full dope routine.

Stephen

wollins · October 13, 2012, 11:16:24 AM

Crap ... I was looking for something in 1/7 scale or so.

Colin

Madman · October 13, 2012, 03:30:49 PM

Colin

At that size I would reccomend the ink jet on tissue then applied over mylar. Only potential problem is you cannot soak the tissue in water before applying. I saw a Fokker at a York EMFSO meet years ago (the guy was from the USA) which used this method. There were very faint creases here and there but looked excellent overall. There are many places on the web where you can get images of typical colours and patterns. Or I have most saved to disc. You would have to work out sizing and deal with pixillation issues as most images are jpg and drawn for plastic model applications (think 1/72 to 1/28 enlarged).

Stephen

wollins · October 13, 2012, 04:01:31 PM

That sounds like a bit of a pain. I might just have to go the "hard" way and cut INDIVIDUAL hexagons out of covering and lay them down on the wing. Now THAT is a pain ... but better a "pain" that I know (did a little bit of it on my Yak a few years back) than one I don't right?

And besides it's gonna be a long winter.

Colin

Madman · October 13, 2012, 05:42:39 PM

Regular hexagons were used for night bombers and naval fighters. The rest used a repeating pattern of irregular polygons. Each colour (4 or 5, upper surface or lower) used about 12 different shapes. No two shapes on either pattern was the same so between say 40 to 60 different shapes. Good luck!

Stephen

xavierm · October 13, 2012, 10:23:01 PM

I will follow this thread closely as I also have a BUSA D VII in work.
I was expecting to use 10S to have extra power to get out of trouble. My Proctor Nieuport 28 on 8S is a little on the edge sometimes and it's about 18lbs. My gas BUSA is 30lbs with a Zenoah G45 so I was expecting the electric version to be around 22-25. The tail need to be build as light as possible to avoid dead weight in the nose.
2010-10-11-Fokker DVII au club WIMAC
In case someone wants to see a original full size D VII, there is one in a small museum in lac Brome, est of Montreal.