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Fokker EIII Page 1 scale Thank you for buying the AerodromeRC Fokker EIII OR Fokker EIII EZ Build Version NOTE: This manual is for both the standard AerodromeRC Fokker EIII and EZ Build versions. The differences are noted above. Also, Brian deviated from the design in many areas as indicated in the following manual taken from his build comments. The model can be built Balsa fuselage side and doubler glued together. Make one according to the plan considerably simpler and lighter. left and right!! However, for those desiring a detail rich model, Brianʹs modifications are included. Even though the resulting The designer includes laser cut pieces of 3/16ʺ balsa and model was heavier than designed for, it still flies very 1/8ʺ balsa to make these parts. I had a fistful of 3/16ʺ sq well. balsa in my wood stock so I used those. I did not have any 1/8ʺ square balsa so I used some scrap pieces of 1/8ʺ x Model Specifications 3/16ʺ balsa I had laying around. The reason I did not use Scale: 1/6th the laser cut pieces of 3/16ʺ and 1/8ʺ sq balsa provided was Wingspan: 66ʺ due to the fact you need to glue several together to get the Wing Area: 712 Sq. in wing area. proper length. I was just lazy and decided to raid my Weight: ~ 48 Oz. wood stash. Power System: AXI 2820 Direct Drive brushless motor Prop: 15X6 prop I built the second side directly on top of the first to insure ...
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Fokker EIII Page 3 When the pieces are glued, the 1/8ʺ OD brass tube is cut to assembly and former F3 in place after checking to see they length and epoxied in place. were perpendicular and square to the fuselage side. After that, the bottom former F4 is glued in place. This former The front landing gear mount is made up in a similar goes from the rear landing gear block to F3. Once these fashion as the rear with an interesting twist. The lower parts are glued in place the left side in placed on the section consists of three pieces of 1/8ʺ lite ply and a length fuselage assembly, checked everything nine ways to of 1/8ʺ od bras tube. It is glued up in the same manner and Sunday to make sure all was aligned properly and glued the tube epoxied in place. The topside of this mount also it up. has a lite ply structure to hold the main 1/8ʺ music wire gear. It consists of one piece of 1/8ʺ lite ply that is glued to the top side of the front mount, two pieces of 1/8ʺ square lite ply to form a channel and a top piece of 1/8ʺ lite ply. The two pieces of 1/8ʺ square lite ply are glued to the piece on the top side of the mount spaced apart 1/8ʺ (use a piece of music wire or brass tube as described previously as a spacer. The landing gear will then be epoxied in place and the 1/8ʺ lite ply cap added and the whole shebang is then glued into the fuselage. It has to be done in this order since once the mount is glued into the fuselage you cannot get the gear wire in place. It has to be in place before the mount is glued into the fuselage. The rigging wire pylon mount is made from two pieces of 1/8ʺ lite ply that are glued together. After gluing up the firewall it is time to get the front ...
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Fokker EIII Page 6 Former F6 glued in place on bottom rear of fuselage. carbon fiber or fiberglass tubes as the spars and a 3/8ʺ diameter hardwood dowel or carbon tube as the leading edge. I had trouble finding any reasonably priced carbon fiber tubes so I used some 1/4ʺ fiberglass tubes that I got from a Kite Shop called “Into the Wind”. They have a web site and I ordered them right off the site. They are actually .248ʺ OD but that is close enough. The training edge is made from two pieces of laser cut 3/16ʺ balsa that have a long scarf joint that require gluing. I pinned a long metal straightedge to the board to keep it from moving and then pinned the trailing edge pieces up against the straightedge to insure that they were straight, then glued. I then positioned the straightedge along the trailing edge position on the plans and pinned the trailing Two formers F7 glued in place at end of fuselage rear. edge in place. Upon completion of the fuselage rear area I decided it was a tad bit whippy. I installed some diagonals on the top and bottom sides using a piece of soft 1/8ʺ x 3/16ʺ balsa to help stiffen up the rear of the fuselage. Very effective. I forgot to install the two F10 pieces previously. They are glued in place at the tail on the sides of the fuselage and serve to stiffen up the back end. After removing the wing ribs from the sheets and sanding off the small hold tabs, you thread them onto the two spars. Then starting with the most outboard rib, the ribs ...
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Fokker EIII Page 8 The wing tip is made from three laminations of 1/16ʺ The wing panels are held against the fuselage side by two balsa. They are glued together and the wing tip is glued in 8‐32 bolts and accompanying blind nuts in the wing panel place. When gluing the front of the tip to the last wing rib root ribs. These were installed next although they should I used a small shill of about 3/32ʺ to 1/8ʺ thick at the very have been installed prior to the start of the wing front of the wing tip. This sets the front of the wing tip at construction. I just forgot to do it. There are laser cut holes just about the centerline of the wing leading edge dowel, in the root ribs and each fuselage side for the bolts and which I think looks better. The rear wing spar needs to be blind nuts. notched at the last wing rib to allow it to drop to contact the wing tip easily. I used a fine toothed saw to cut a Depending on whose brand of blind nuts you are using notch into the tube at the last rib and then bent it down the 1/8ʺ lite ply root rib may be too thin to allow and glued it in place into the notch in the wing tip. installation of the blind nut. I had to add two spacers made from scraps of 1/8ʺ lite ply to makeup the thickness of the blind nut. These were glued in place on the root rib and the blind nut holes redrilled. The blind nuts were then installed and held in place with some medium CA. When the tip is glued in the place pieces R2 and R5 are then glued in place. The tip is then sanded round on its edge and the last wing rib and the leading edge dowel are Once the blind nuts are installed the wing panel is sheeted sanded and blended into the wing panel. on the top side between the root rib and the first full rib ...
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Fokker EIII Page 9 Each panel has eight wing wire rigging points that are made from some laser cut 1/8ʺ lite ply. There are four long pieces that are glued in place over the rear spar (two on top and two on the bottom) and four short pieces that are glued in place over the front spar (two on top and two on the bottom). These are the attachment points for the flying and landing wires. My flying buddy Ron has bent up al the wire parts for the main landing gear. A K&S wire bender comes in real handy here. So with parts in hand I decided to get started on the landing gear. The main gear is epoxied into the main landing gear block, which is then epoxied into the fuselage. The front piece L2 slips into the brass tube that is already glued into I did some work on the wing panels and fuselage carry the main gear block and held in with a bit of epoxy. throughs. The fiberglass tubes that are used for the wing spars exit the root rib. They need to be trimmed so they You must trail fit everything first to make sure that can fir into the brass tubes in the fuselage that locate the everything fits properly and in the correct location. One wings. The fiberglass tubes are trimmed to a length of thing to note is that the two pieces of 1/8ʺ sq lite ply on the about 2ʺ to 2 1/2ʺ from the face of the root rib. top of the landing gear block that form the channel for the 1/8ʺ music wire gear are actually 3mm thick, which is a The fuselage has two 9/32ʺ brass tubes that are installed tad less than the 1/8ʺ thickness of the music wire. As a from side to side. The fiberglass tubes that exit toe wing result the top piece F12 that caps off the gear hold down panel root ribs slid into these brass tubes and the panels ...
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Fokker EIII Page 10 When ready, sand all the ends of the piece L2 and the and add some triangle stock to the gear block inside the main gear wire than will be glued to remove all oil etc. fuselage to reinforce this area. Mix up some 30‐minute epoxy and squirt some into the ends of the brass tube in the landing gear block. Insert the ends of L2 and then fill the main slot with epoxy, add the gear and then add some glue to the 1/8ʺ sq pieces and add F12. Clamp tightly. With the main gear and forward L2 piece in place, it was time to get serious. I had to rebend the L4 pieces from new Add glue to the slots in the fuselage and place the gear wire, as the ones my buddy Ron bent up for me were too block/wire assembly in place. The main gear wire slants short. This is due to the fact that I glued the rear landing forward slightly. According the plan the axles should be gear plate in backwards so the rear L2 piece was off by a roughly in line with the front edge of the landing gear bit. No big deal. In fact I would recommend not bending block (the wide base piece) so I moved the gear wire the two L4 and the one L3 pieces until you get the main forward until it was in the correct position by eyeball. The gear and forward L2 glued in place and the rear L2 wire piece L2 slants forward of the main gear wire by positioned. about 1/8ʺ at its point apex. I clamped a piece of 1/8ʺ thick spruce to the main gear wire using clothespins and then clamped the wire L2 to the spruce. I placed the rear L2 into the rear tube on the gear mount ...
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Fokker EIII Page 11 piece to length and held it in place with some fine copper When the epoxy has cured, the solder joints are filed and wire to keep it from moving. I then bent up the two L4 cleaned up as needed. pieces, positioned them and tweaked them as required and held everything in place with some clothespins to get RUDDER all the angles and dangles correct. When satisfied, the L4 I decided to build up the rudder. and L3 are removed and the L2 is removed from the tube. Some 30‐minute epoxy is mixed up and squirted into the It consists of a number of 3/16ʺ thick laser cut balsa parts tube and the L2 reinstalled. that you assemble over the plans with a drop or two of thin CA. The rudder is connected to the stab pivot by a piece of brass tubing that is attached to the stab pivot. There are two pieces of tubing on the rudder that serve as guide tubes for the rudder pivot tube. The plan calls for these to be 5/32ʺ OD with a 1/8ʺ od brass tube riding inside of them. I used pieces of 3/16ʺ tube (and a 5/32ʺ pivot tube), as the 3/16ʺ od tubes are the same diameter as the rudder is thick. The plan calls for aluminum tubing here. I used a small piece of brass and a larger piece of aluminum tubing as I had these around. The two pieces are separated by about 3/8ʺ, this is where the pivot tube that is attached to the stab tube rides. The smaller diameter tubes rides through the two pieces on the rudder and captures the tube on the stab pivot to Once the L2 is installed and positioned, the L3 and two L4 provide a bearing surface. pieces are positioned and held in place with fine copper wire. When everything is correctly positioned, the whole ...
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Fokker EIII Page 12 ELEVATOR the spacers loosely. I used three builder squares to insure that the cowl pieces C1 and C2 were in alignment and I The horizontal stab (full flying stab) is built in a similar then pressed them together against the spacers. These manner to the rudder. It consists of a number of laser cut were glued; the assembly popped off the board and the 3/16ʺ balsa parts that are assembled over the plan with ply cowl skins added. A piece of scrap 1/4ʺ balsa was thin CA as per the rudder. glued to the top center of the cowl to support the cowl skins butt joint. The stabs are attached to a length of 3/16ʺ brass tube that is carried by the stab pivot tube bearing tubes (7/32ʺ OD brass tube) that are epoxied and thread wrapped to the aft end of the fuselage. The 3/16ʺ tube and the bearing tubes will be added later when it is time to get everything setup and all the angles, dangles and incidences are checked. For now, I cut the piece of 3/16ʺ brass tube to length and used it to help locate the parts so the fit against the tube is tight. The next step is to glue up the balsa front cowl pieces C3, attached them to the front of the cowl and sand to the proper shape. COWL Time to start on the cowl. It consists of two 1/8ʺ lite ply The cowl is held to the firewall by two bolts and blind formers (one at the front and one at the rear that mounts nuts. Laser cut holes are provided for these pieces and a ...
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Fokker EIII Page 13 the front of cowl piece C2 to form the front of the cowl. When this is done, the front edge is rounded over fairly The plan calls for a Hitec HS‐55 in each panel to drive the severely to get the proper shape. I have not yet started to aileron in each wing. I had a couple of HS‐81ʹs laying round over the cowl front. around looking for an application so I decided to use them. As the HS‐81ʹs are a bit bigger I moved the servo The cowl is attached to the firewall using two 4‐40 screws location back away from the TE a bit more to allow the and blind nuts. The holes in the firewall are the correct servo to fit easily within the wing structure. diameter for the 4‐40 blind nuts so there are installed there and glued in place. I used two 4‐40 x 3/8ʺ long socket head Two laser cut servo hatches from 1/32ʺ ply are provided in cap screws to hold the cowl in place. If you look in the the kit. As I have a nasty habit of breaking these, I made photo, you can see one of the cap screws. two new ones from 1/16ʺ ply. I located the back end of the hatch 5ʺ from the trailing edge and glued in a piece of 1/16ʺ x 3/8ʺ balsa flush with the rib bottom. This will form part of the hatch hold down and also give the covering something to grab on to. I then placed the hatch cover in place and glued another piece of 1/16ʺ x 3/8ʺ balsa at the other end flush with the rib bottom. I then glued a piece of 1/16ʺ x 3/8ʺ balsa to the back end of the hatch cover to form a tongue. This will slip into a slot at the back 3/8ʺ balsa piece to retain the hatch cover. The front end gets held in place with some 2‐56 screws and blind nuts. I cut a piece of 1/8ʺ lite ply 9/16ʺ wide and glued it to the ...
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Fokker EIII Page 14 fairing on either side of the fuselage These were there to help fair in the cowl to the fuselage due to the diameter of the rotary engine used on these planes. The design calls for carving these out of some blue or pink foam. As I am a bit concerned about the short nose and long tail on the EIII (and just about every other WWI aircraft) I decided to make my cheek fairings out of some balsa blocks I had handy. Figured a bit more weight in the nose wouldnʹt hurt the balance issue (although I will state that the design is very light in the aft fuselage and tail, just the overall length versus the nose is so long). I cut up and glued up some pieces of block to make one large enough. I then placed it on the fuselage and traced With both servo mounts/hatch covers made up the next the outline of the cowl on the front face of the block. I then step is to make up and hinge the ailerons. broke out the Bowie knife and started hacking away. Once The design calls for the use of standard 1/4ʺ x 1ʺ aileron I got real close I tack glued the block in place and finished stock and to top hinge the ailerons to mask their the contour with some 80‐grit sandpaper on a sanding appearance on each wing panel. block. I decided to use my standard center hinged ailerons and Once the block was shaped to match the cowl contour I made them up. I used two pieces of standard tapered popped it off and traced the side shape on it and cut it out aileron stock and seven large CA type hinges per aileron on the band saw. Back again with the knife and 80‐grit The hinges are spaced in every other rib bay (well sort of) sandpaper until I had a finished cheek fairing. Took about and slots are cut using an Xacto knife on the aileron stock an hour between work and watching the History Channel. ...
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Fokker EIII Page 15 Have one cheek fairing complete and am carving away at the front ply rings and the whole shebang gets bolted the the second. airplanes firewall. The dummy cylinders are constructed of a couple of laser cut balsa disks with some card stock The cowl on the EIII has a very pronounced radius on the wrapped around them. Cooling fins are simulated by front. The design has three 1/4ʺ balsa sheets glued heavy thread that is glued on. together, which then get carved and sanded to shape. As carving and sanding are some of my least favorite things to do I have put off doing this. I finally attacked the front of the cowl with a carving blade and lots of strips of 80 grit paper. After creating a mountain of dust I have a cowl that looks like it should. The fabrication of the engine starts with laminating the two front 1/16ʺ ply pieces together. A 1/8ʺ lite ply piece then gets glued to the inside face of the front ply lamination. The mounting holes for the AXI outrunner need to be drilled out to 3mm diameter (about .120ʺ) so this was done at this time. DUMMY MOTOR I also started to work on the dummy Oberursel Rotary Engine. This is an important piece of the airplane as it is used to mount (and hide) the AXI outrunner that will power the plane. The AXI outrunner also has a large C clip on the front face that holds the shaft in place. The center hole in the ply ...
Fokker EIII Page 16 When mounting the AXI outrunner in the crankcase you will need to carve a relief passage in the crankcase to allow the motor wires to pass freely back to the rear of the mount without rubbing against the rotating can. This needs to be done. An option would be to reverse mount the AXI using the AXI mounting kit. This would alleviate the wire routing problem but would require some mods to the front ply mounting plate due to the size of the prop adapter that is used in this case. BATTERY COMPARTMENT I have spent some time working on the bottom battery/equipment access hatch and the battery mount on the EIII. The crankcase stack consists of two sections, the front of 3 The battery mount consists of two pieces of 1/4ʺ square pieces of 1/4ʺ balsa, the rear of 5 pieces of 1/4ʺ balsa. I used balsa about 7ʺ long glued to each side of the fuselage. I a couple of pieces of 5/32ʺ brass tube in two of the three then glued four pieces of 3/16ʺ by 3/8ʺ balsa from side to mounting bolt holes as guides in order to get the pieces to side as the battery tray supports. The tray consists of a line up properly. When the 5 rear section pieces are glued piece of 1/8ʺ x 3ʺ balsa about 7ʺ long glued to the together, a 1/8ʺ lite ply piece is glued to the face that will crosspieces. be against the firewall. The two sections are joined together using a piece of laser cut 1/8ʺ balsa as a separator. This 1/8ʺ balsa piece has notches in it to serve as locater pins for the dummy cylinders. The 1/8ʺ balsa piece does not have the engine mounting bolt holes cut in it (have advised the designer) so after I glued it to one of the sections I drilled the holes in it. Each dummy cylinder is built on a piece of 1/8ʺ dowel to serve as an indexing pin ...
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Fokker EIII Page 17 I first glued some 1/8ʺ square balsa rails all the way provide some additional gluing support for the magnets. around the hatch opening. These are recessed 1/32ʺ to allow the hatch to sit flush with the bottom of the I then glued the magnets in place making sure they were fuselage. As I plan to use some 1/16ʺ thick x 1/4ʺ OD rare properly orientated. earth magnets, I need to add support pieces for the magnets. I made these from 1/16ʺ balsa and added two The front hold down is simply a piece of 1/8ʺ square triangles at the rear corners of the hatch opening. I then spruce glued to the front of the hatch and then a piece of used a piece of sharpened 1/4ʺ brass tubing to cut the 1/32ʺ ply is glued to form a tab. This slips under the front holes for the magnets in the balsa pieces. piece of 1/8ʺ square balsa that is glued to the fuselage. SERVOS The tail surfaces are all pull pull cable so I decided to use three standard size Futaba S‐148 servos, one for each elevator and one for the rudder. They will be installed aft of the battery tray and are accessible from the cockpit. I first glued some pieces of 1/4ʺ sq balsa to the sides of the fuselage to support the servo mounts. These are spaced up from the bottom of the fuselage in order to place the servos in a fairly level line with the control surfaces. I made the servo mounts from some strips of 1/8ʺ aircraft plywood with some pieces of 1/16ʺ aircraft ply glued I trimmed the hatch to fit the opening and positioned it underneath where the servo screws go to give the screws place. I then marked the location of the support rails and a bit more meat to bite into. The mounts were then placed ...
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Fokker EIII Page 18 tubes. The guide tubes are lengths of 1/32ʺ ID plastic In any case, the elevator cables exit the fuselage on the top tubing. and bottom forward of the rudder cable exits. As before I added some 1/16ʺ balsa guide tube supports, installed the They are cut to length and glued into the balsa supports guide tubes and added the internal fuselage guide tube and then cut flush with the balsa supports and sanded supports as outlined for the rudder. Major difference here smooth. The balsa guide tube support are a tad flimsy so I is that the rudder guide tube support brace went from added a piece of scrap 1/8ʺ x 1/4ʺ balsa under the balsa side to side while the elevator guide tube support braces guide tube support pieces to stiffen things up. The ends in are vertical to prevent interference between the support the fuselage are supported by a piece of 1/8ʺ x 1/4ʺ balsa pieces and the cables. glued across the fuselage. TAILSKID In order to get the proper location and spacing on the guide tubes at this area, I installed the rudder servo and I decided to start making up the tailskid. It is made up of ran lengths of spider wire thru the tubes to the servo arm. three pieces of 1/8ʺ laser cut lite ply that are glued I was able to then get the correct geometry and spacing of together and sanded smooth. The front edge then gets a the guide tubes. I then located the holes on the support piece of 1/16ʺ music wire glued to the front edge to stiffen piece, drilled the holes using a bit held in my hand and the skid and make it a bit more wear resistant. I have not glued the tubes in place. added the music wire reinforcement yet. The elevator guide tubes are done in a similar manner. I ...
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Fokker EIII Page 19 1/32ʺ aircraft ply and it is glued in place to the firewall and the three top side fuselage formers. It has two oval slots cut in it; these are for the rigging wire pylon which will be installed later. TAILSKID MOUNT The next step was to bend up the tailskid brace pieces. These are made up of some pieces of 1/16ʺ music wire and are attached to the fuselage by gluing them into the short section of brass tubing that were placed in the rear fuselage longerons a while back. The two wire pieces are then attached to the tailskid and the skid is epoxied securely to the fuselage bottom via a slot cut into the tailskid mount. Some care is needed here as the tailskid mount also serves as an attachment point for the lower end of the rudder post. So things must be all aligned up to make sure the rudder comes out square with the fuselage. COVERING The main rudder post support is glued and wrapped to I have covered the tail feathers and the rear fuselage with the horizontal stabilizer support tube. I have not yet made Polyspan. The front of the fuselage (which is metal on the these pieces up. I have covered the elevators and rudder full size bird) will be covered with Chrome Ultracote and with some Polyspan and will probably clear dope them then I will attempt to swirl pattern it. and paint them before assembling the tail. I think this will make final painting of the place a bit easier. I am still contemplating this. In any event, I have bent up the tailskid brace wires and ...
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Fokker EIII Page 20 3/16ʺ brass tube, the large one between the elevator horns and the two smaller ones outboard of the horns. You then attach the wings and place the main support pivot tube against the rear of the fuselage, line it up in relation to the wings and tack glue in place. There are several holes in the rear top and bottom fuselage pieces that you run Kevlar thread thru to lace the whole shebang together. Where ...
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Fokker EIII Page 21 half will be slipped into the support tubes with the wheel collar in place and the collar tightened, thus trapping the elevator half in place. I started this by cutting a piece of 3/16ʺ brass tube to the correct length for the center tube. I then attached the wings and ran a 15ʺ long piece of 5/32ʺ music wire thru the brass tube. I then placed the tube against the rear of the fuselage and moved it around until the 5/32ʺ music wire was parallel to the wings. When satisfied with this, it was tacked in place with some medium CA, the wire removed and the tube laced in place using some Kevlar thread. It will then be epoxied in place. When it is try, the outer support pivot tubes will be cut to length, the piece of music wire again inserted into the center tube, the two wheel collars placed on the wire and the outer tubes will be located, tack glued, laced in place and epoxied. I was originally planning on using a length of 5/32ʺ music This sounds much more complicated that it sounds. wire as the pivot wire for each elevator half. After looking Actually it took me three months to figure this rather at the long tail moment and the weight of the music wire, simple setup out. I would also recommend that this be I opted for some 5/32ʺ brass tubing instead. I cut two done before covering and painting, as it would be easier pieces to length. The tube goes all the way into the 3/16ʺ to do from a clamping, pinning etc standpoint. tube in each elevator half and extends from the end of each half by about 1 1/2ʺ. The length is determined by The elevator halves are attached via a set of 3/16ʺ OD dividing the width of the rear fuselage by 2 and adding brass tubes laced and glued to the end of the fuselage. that to the amount in the elevator half plus about 1/4ʺ for ...
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Fokker EIII Page 22 One of the features of the Fokker Eindeckers is the distinctive swirl pattern on the metal covered areas. Like the Spirit of St Louis, if it is not there it just does not look right. One of the previous posters suggested using a piece of a Scotch Brite scouring pad to impart the swirls. I have an old electric drafting eraser that I chucked a length of 1/4ʺ diameter wood dowel in and glued a small circle of the Scotch Brite pad to it with a drop of CA. I made up a small test section of Chrome Ultracote ironed on to a scrap of wood and went to town. Came out well so I started on the EIII. Took about 30 minutes to do all of the chrome. I had to change the pad piece a number of times but I think The front end of the EIII is covered with aluminum sheet the effect came out well. (cockpit forward and cowl). To replicate this I covered these sections with some chrome Ultracoat. It went on well but I learned that when covering solid surfaces with this material you have to be very careful with the temperature. If it gets to hot it seems to dull very quickly. So a bit of experimenting found a good temp. The fuselage sections were covered in individual pieces to pattern after the full scale ship. I wanted to cover the cowl in two pieces, one left side and one right side but the radius on the front edge of the cowl was too difficult to cover without getting a lot of wrinkles ironed in so I ripped it off and covered the cowl with about six smaller pieces that Next is the attachment of the rudder pivot tube support were easier to handle. piece to the elevator pivot support tube. The design calls for a short section of brass tubing that fits into the slot left in the rudder when it was originally built (See post #31 on page 3). This piece of brass tubing is to be ...
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Fokker EIII Page 23 then measured the width of the fuselage at the rear and marked the center of the elevator tube so I knew where the rudder tube piece would be soldered. I then inserted a long piece of 5/32ʺ brass tube into the short piece of 3/16ʺ tube and then clamped the end of the 5/32ʺ tube on the tailskid wire support. The end of the rudder pivot supports in attached later to the tailskid. I then positioned the short section of 3/16ʺ brass tube on the mark on the elevator pivot support tube and eyeballed the whole shebang from the end. After making some small adjustments to insure that the tube was vertical, I checked the position of the short tube one the elevator tube again In any event, after a fair amount of careful study of the and using a 40 watt soldering iron with a sharp tip, I silver Squadron/Signal book I have on the Eindecker and the soldered it to the elevator pivot support tube using some photo pack I got from Bob Banka, I think I have finally Stay Brite Silver Solder and flux. I then cleaned everything figured out all the wire attach points in the landing gear. up and installed the rudder temporarily for a quick Now if I had half a brain I would have made these up alignment and function check. long ago and soldered them in place eons before I covered and painted the fuselage. But no one has ever accused me of having half a brain. I made the attach clips from a piece of K and S 1/32ʺ x 1/4ʺ brass strip stock from the K and S rack at the LHS. The clips were cut and filed to shape and a 3/32ʺ diameter hole for the wires was drilled. They were then (very carefully I might add) silver soldered to the landing gear wire at the appropriate places. There are 6 clips for the gear tensioning wires. I also added a strip on the front of the gear for the front lower wing wires and two in the back for another set of gear wires that attach to the fuselage ...
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Fokker EIII Page 24 RUDDER TAILSKID ATTACHMENT for alignment. Due to a slight twist I have in my fuselage I I have attached the rudder to the rudder post pivots and had to fiddle with the slot a bit to get the tailskid lined up added the tail skid. They both tie together so they need to properly. When satisfied, the rudder pivot tube is cut to be added at the same time. length from a section of 5/32ʺ OD brass tubing. Make sure to deburr both ends and clean the outer surface of the tube The rudder is supported at the bottom by a short section well to insure that it rotates well in the pivot support of brass tube that is glued to the tail skid wires and the tubes. I cut the pivot tube slightly shorter to alleviate any tailskid and is then reinforced with some Kevlar thread possible glue seepage problems. wrapping. Being the adventurous type, I decided to silver solder the lower support tube to the tailskid wire instead You then install the rudder and the pivot tube from the of gluing it. I cut the piece of brass tube to the proper bottom end of the lower support tube and add the tailskid length and then sanded both the tube and the wire to again. When satisfied, it is epoxied in place in the fuselage make sure that they were clean and ready for soldering. I slot and to the tailskid wires/lower support tube, taking used a short section of 5/32ʺ brass tube as the pivot and care to keep any and all epoxy out of the end of the installed the rudder and the lower support tube. I then support tube. spent some time making sure everything was lined up correctly and clamped the lower support tube in place using a clothespin. I then removed the 5/32ʺ pivot tube and the rudder and silver soldered the lower support tube to the tailskid wires. I cleaned everything up and then reinstalled the rudder and checked it for freedom of operation. ...
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Fokker EIII Page 25 thread the cable thru the hole in the coupler and make up a crimp fitting from a short length of 1/8ʺ K and S aluminum tubing and a drop of thin CA. After attaching the two cables to the two rigging coupler/clevis assemblies, I attach them to the servo horn, center the servo and put the horn on the servo. I then pull the cables up thru the fuselage at the rear of the fuselage. I then put a 2‐56 nut on each of the two rigging couplers (to use as locknuts) and add the clevises until the end of the rigging coupler is barely visible from the front end of the clevis. I attach the clevis assemblies to the rudder horn, thread the crimp on the cable and thread the cable thru the hole in the rigging coupler. I then center the rudder; pull the cables tight and crimp and CA. I then turn on the radio and make sure all is centered. The cables usually need a I also added some cockpit combing to the cockpit using couple of turns on the couplers to tension them properly Fourmost Products 1/4ʺ cockpit combing on the front and so I do this and spin the locknuts up against the end of the sides and a piece of black vinyl for the rear. clevis to lock everything in place. RIGGING PYLON The last big thing to do is to make up and install the brace wire pylon on the fuselage. The design calls for this to be made from a couple of The servos used are as follows. The center servo is a pieces of 1/4ʺ diameter hardwood dowel and a piece of standard size Futaba 9201 coreless servo I had from laser cut 1/16ʺ plywood for the wire attach point. The ...
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Fokker EIII Page 26 I measured the lengths and cut them and used a Dubro There are four wires, one from the top corner of each leg metal landing gear strap as the wire attach points. I and they meet at the center wire at the front and back. I assembled the pieces on a block of balsa using some CA to looped a wire thru each clip (soldered on previously), hold everything in place and silver soldered the pieces crimped it and trimmed the excess. I then ran the wire together. thru the other clip and pulled it up tight and crimped it. Worked out well. I started working on the wing flying and landing wires this afternoon. There are four wires on each side of each wing for a total of 16 wires. What a birdcage. I am making the wires up from the 20# test stainless wire I used for the landing gear wires. At each attach point on the wing I am using a Dubro steel landing gear strap bent to the appropriate angle and held in place with a 2‐56 socket head cap screw. At the strap end I use a Sullivan 2‐ 56 threaded clevis and a Dubro 2‐56 rigging coupler. This will allow each disassembly and will also allow a bit of tweaking to get the wing panels rigged correctly. Problem #1 reared its ugly head at this point. The top sheeting has two holes cut in it for the pylon legs; however, due to the angles of the legs when assembled it could not be coaxed into both holes. So I carefully unsoldered one side, slipped the pieces in place and resoldered everything together. Problem #2 became apparent when I was making arrangements to epoxy the pylon legs to the horizontal cross piece. With the battery tray in place it was impossible to get to these two areas. So I cut out a piece of ...
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Fokker EIII Page 27 # test stainless beading wire. One end is crimped to the helpful to do this operation on a paper tablet so that the brace wire support pylon of the landing gear and the pen makes a good crease. Fold the paper along the crease other end has a Sullivan 2‐56 clevis and a Dubro rigging lines to exaggerate the raised lines. One of the sections coupler. forming a wedge is cut out. Make cuts to the center of the circle along a pair of the spokes. Close the paper cut out to form a cone and tape the joint inside the cone. The inside cones may now be attached to the wheels. The outside cones may be attached at this point if wheel collars are to be used. Alternatively, after installing the wheels on the landing gear, a washer may be soldered to hold the wheel in place and then the cone is attached. This method makes a very nice scale appearance. I went to the LHS and they had gotten some steel LG straps and 2‐56 clevis in so I grabbed a bunch to finish the rigging on the EIII. I made up and added the two remaining rear lower wing wires and then made up the drag wires from the fuselage near the cowl to the forward inboard wing brace wire attach point. To do that I drilled a small hole in the attach bracket (forward inboard bracket) and then epoxied a steel landing gear strap into a slot cut into the fuselage side at the cowl. When cured I made up the drag wire. The clevis end will attach to the fuselage strap and the end that goes into the wing bracket will be crimped there so it will stay permanently attached at the wing bracket. ASSEMBLY ...
Fokker EIII Page 28 Lobby and the 12 wind is 760. Something around there or a bit lower would be good. We were going to fly her again but the winds started to get a bit unreasonable and we decided to forgo tempting fate. So she finally flew. Finally. I was beginning to think that the weather gods were never going to allow us to get her into the air. As I noted before, it looks quite nice in the air, FLYING particularly with all the brace and flying wires hooked up. Here is Brianʹs Flight Report: “After waiting approximately 4 months of some decent Thanks to all, and to M.K. the designer especially, for your flying weather and field conditions, such a day finally support and patience in this rather long running project. “ arrived today. It is the Annual Maiden Flight Day at my club, the Loudoun County Aeromodelers, where we all gather together, bring out our latest and greatest for their initial flights and have a cookout. Couldnʹt have asked for a nicer day, sunny and 70 but the winds were kicking up to 10 to 12 MPH, which was a bit of a bummer. Compared to the last 4 months it was paradise. Ron and I assembled the EIII, made a few adjustments and corrections and pointed her into the wind and off we went. Climb out was good (not 45 degree) but very scale like. Speed was scale like at 1/2 throttle or so, plenty of extra power available. Ailerons effective but rolls would be a problem I think (wonder how well the original rolled with wing warping anyway). Rudder is very effective and the elevators are VERY effective. Due to the long tail the ...