ValuePlanes Seagull

[Michael]

In-flight photos by David K.

The finish gives this model excellent visibility. Aerobatics and slow steady flight are easy. Takeoffs and landings (grass) are easy.

I fly for about 6 minutes on a 4-cell 5000 mah lipo batter, and use about 40% of the energy available. The battery packs remain cool after a flight.

This summer, I'll try to fly it from water.

[Michael]

Now that the model is finished, and I'm very happy with the flying characteristics, I spent some time adding additional decorations.

Finished in Canadian rescue colours, I added white and red stripes, from white Monocote adhesive sheet and red ¼" red tape.

[pmackenzie]

Very nice
Since you are adding stuff, a fairing for the motor would add a lot to the looks 

[michaely]

The upright supports/struts for the tip floats simply fit through a slot in the servo covers, but there is nothing to hold them in place, nor is there any indication of how deep in they should rest.

I approximated the depth from another similar model, and I built hardwood boxes to hold the supports/struts in place. After careful measuring and fitting, and ensuring that I would still have access to the servos, screws, etc., everything was glued together.

I painted the supports/struts, and the power pod. Both were brush-coated with a clear gloss-finish sealing finish.

The Valueplanes.com website description for this model now includes a hyperlink to  20 pages of instruction sheets.  Clicking on the picture of the skeleton picture of the model may be needed to surface the link.

In the now available instructions there is a bit more about the length of the float struts but their solution to anchoring the float strut in servo box - apparently gluing in a single batten between the strut and botton of servo box - isn't as robust as yours.

I had to laugh...... in their instructions it says to "build the tail parts over the plan".... but the picture of same clearly shows the build is just over the perspective assembly drawings, not an actual plan.

Perhaps they should advertise their offering as a "model airplane kit puzzle".

Over at rccanada Mike Sebastian has a build thread on Value Planes 3.8:1 Tiger Moth with what appears to be even greater "opaqueness" in the build information accompanying that kit.

I remember a time when model airplane kits were not widely distributed while still in their prototype stage ....smiley

Michael in Newmarket, Ontario

[Michael]

Thanks. Here's a link to the instructions, if anyone wants to see.

http://hkwb588a3.pic17.websiteonline.cn/upload/SEAGULL1570MMSEAPLANE-EDIT-2.pdf

Those sure would have come in handy a few weeks ago.

[Michael]

Very nice
Since you are adding stuff, a fairing for the motor would add a lot to the looks 

Great idea!

For now, though, I'll fly it as is. Maybe later in the season or next winter I'll build a fairing and use a spinner.

[pmackenzie]

@pmackenzie love Old Timer planes.
Great looking bird you have there.
Transparent covering you said?
Guy

Transparent?  No.
Translucent?  Yes

Finally reliably warm enough to be able to open the shop door (for ventilation )and start covering.

Might start a new thread with more details.

[Michael]

Updates:

1. The model has successfully flown of water several times. It was easy and fun.

2. When landing a bit hard at TEMAC, I heard a slight crack. I thought it was nothing serious.

3. It turns out, the plywood dihedral (wing angle) brace cracked in half. On the next flight, when entering a loop, the wing folded and crashed straight into the ground, badly damaging the wings and the forward fuselage.

4. After some time, I decided to buy a new kit (about $180) and rebuild/repair.

The fuselage was damaged from the rear of the wing area, forward. The rear fuselage and tail were in good shape.

Since the front fuselage was almost a complete separate construction from the rear fuselage, I simply built a new front fuselage, and spliced it onto the surviving rear. I did some additional bracing and repairs, but overall, this worked.

[Michael]

I noticed recently that the product page for this model on the Value Planes website (China) is featuring images of my plane.

http://www.valueplanes.com/Old-Timer?product_id=20

[Michael]

I decided to rebuild the wing, except for the wing tips and servo hatches, which were in decent condition.

Since this is where the damage occurred that ultimately caused the crash (the plywood dihedral brace cracked, and the wing split exactly on the glued rib center joint), I added some additional support and strength. There are now bolts and blind nuts holding the center ribs together, and a thick carbon fiber circular rod acting as an additional dihedral/center support, glued and held in place with wood.

[Michael]

Another area of concern is the attachment of the tip floats onto the wing.

On rough landings, especially with some lateral (side) sliding, the tip floats kept breaking off and needed to be repaired.

Since I'm building a new wing, I added extra wood supports in the wing and on the tip-float pylons, and use magnets to hold them in place.

It's a very strong hold, but detaches easily with side force.

[octagon]

very nice work

[Michael]

The plane has been flown several times off the snow. Lots of fun!

Here are a few beautiful photos, taken by David K, of the plane flying from Lake Scugog, summer 2021.

[bweaver]

The plane has been flown several times off the snow. Lots of fun!

Here are a few beautiful photos, taken by David K, of the plane flying from Lake Scugog, summer 2021.

Ah, summer 2022 will soon be here.  The photos are great...