Topic: 1/6 scale scratch built Airco DH-2 build

hi, i'm dave clark, ( not from the 60's band) i'm building a DH-2 from scratch. i won't be useing any laser cutting just a table and scroll saw. i thought about fiberglass for the  front of the fuse or even wood laminations on a skeliton. it's a very formidable piece to produce, lots of compound curves so i decided to vacuform it in 2 pieces as my vacu system is only 10"x10" then glue together and fill and sand, and sand and sand. i used 0.60 black styrene, very thick. i made the plugs out of hard balsa laminated together and filled. i alway use a silicone wax on the surface of the plugs when there complete and then a little talcum powder just before i form the plastic over them. after it was all sanded and primered i used litho plate and small rivets for the banding. here are some pics of what i came up with.

Very nice work   what engine will you use and what covering?

Very nice, watching this one closely. I presume its going to be electrickery powered?

Ian.

Very nice work Dave, looking forward to the build

Steve

I presume its going to be electrickery powered?

Ian.

ewwwwwwwww 

Lovely job.  

Just as a matter of interest, how was the full-size fuselage constructed?

No, I know it wasn't vac formed.  

Twas a longeron and spacer jobster, with cable bracing. The top decking and nose cone were bashed ali. In the first pic, you can see the structural details.

Ian.

Thanks Ian 

Very nice work  what engine will you use and what covering?

all be useing a outrunner, a rimfire 35-48-850  with a 60 amp speed controller and covering with solartex antique. thanks

Lovely job.  

Just as a matter of interest, how was the full-size fuselage constructed?

No, I know it wasn't vac formed.  

it's being built with spruce, bass and balsa, 1/4 and 1/8 light ply and 1/64, 1/32, and 1/16 reg. ply. i'll post a couple of pics because i happen to be working on that now.

Superb job

Alan

outrunner, a rimfire 35-48-850  with a 60 amp speed controller

Awwwwwwwww    and the rest of it looks sooooooooo good 

thought i would post a couple more pics of the inner workings such as the rudder bar, servo deck and the control stick. i could not find for the life of me anything on the net as far as a close up of the control stick. i do know because of the placement of the horz. to the elevator horns and from what pics i do have that the stick has to pivot left and right and a solid placement forward and reverse to control the elev.  so got left to right covered for the alierons but how do i get elev. movement with out affecting the alieron shaft and keep it from going up and down. i'm not sure if this is the way it was in 1916 but it works and works well and as i see it there arn't to many ways to do this plus at 1/6 scale you don't have a lot of room for a cockpit that works so i built a miniature universal so to speak. so i hand cut all the parts and silver soldered every thing together and it works just fine, you'll see when you look at the pics.

WOW! 

WOW! 

Indeed!   

Real nice.  I hope to be able to produce such nice work one day.

What plans are you using. I know there is a set (.60 size)  on the RCM plans site that I was thinking of buying when the time comes to make one of my own.  I like this plane b/c you seldom if at all see it and it epitomizes the early flying contraptions! From the way your going I assume your going with all the flying wires, and pull pull, etc.

thanks mike, the plans are P. Neate from MAN they seem to be scale but dont show a lot of the cockpit detail . this info i scavange on the net 3-views whatever i can get and then scale it in. if you would like if there is some way you can P.M. me your e-mail address i'll send you the digital copy's of what i,m useing  (2pages) at 1/6 scale 60" wingspan and you can resize them or whatever you would like. i'll post the pics of the plans and if you want them there yours.
                                     Dave C.

Thanks Dave  .. sent my email   .
If anyone is intersted here is a set of plans for RCM Plans Service  ($18.50 US   )

http://www.rcmplans.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1391

I was looking through my lnks for the DH-2 so far also had the one for the plans your using.. and I had this link to 3 views for many planes and the DH2 in particular.

Main Site:
 plan 3-vues
DH-2:
http://membres.lycos.fr/wings2/3vues/dh2_3v.jpg

Mike

here are a few more pics of the progress on the working cockpit and i also got some of the grommet work done. how i do this is useing 1/64 ply as a stiffner and predrill holes in the ply than i wrap and seal in solartex leaving a 1/4" tab. useing a solder gun i then burn holes through the solartex where i pre drilled and then set the grommets. i decided to keep every thing in brass and not paint anything, it seems to be a nice change. i have about 75% of the cockpit detail done, a little more instrumentation and valves and then it's on to weave a wicker seat, say that 3 times fast. i'll keep you updated.

i finally finished the seat, it took me a good 12 hrs to lam the frame and weave. i also finished the cockpit and got my eyelets installed. i ran 15 eyelets short for the canvas center piece and don't mind telling you i was really p----ed off. it seems like my local supplier is out of them so it's hurry up and wait. i'll post a couple of pics on the progress so far.

Most excellent work DC gonna be a show stopper fer sure

Simply beautiful work

Ian.

Simply beautiful work

Indeed it is  

Alan

thanks mike, the plans are P. Neate from MAN they seem to be scale but dont show a lot of the cockpit detail . this info i scavange on the net 3-views whatever i can get and then scale it in. if you would like if there is some way you can P.M. me your e-mail address i'll send you the digital copy's of what i,m useing  (2pages) at 1/6 scale 60" wingspan and you can resize them or whatever you would like. i'll post the pics of the plans and if you want them there yours.
                                     Dave C.

Excellent work!

Look forward to a interesting plane to fly. Just maiden my second "Quick & dirty" DH-2
today. It was a bit windy so it almost hoovered once (it's in scale 1:12).
Remember to save some space in cockpit for the battery very far forward. At least
my 1st one was pretty tail heavy.

Ofly

finally got the cockpit all finished and framed up my tailfeathers.i also did some work on the L.G.. i decided to fabric cover my wire wheels, gonna get some boo's for this one but most wheels were covered anyway. i also hand stitched the cockpit combing on to match the seat cushion. here are some pics of the progress so far.

here's the latest pics. i finally finished my 7 cyl. gnome. i just about scratch built the whole thing. for one  thing you can't find a gnome in 1/6 scale i do believe WB sells a cylinder in 1/4 scale and there seems to be quite a few versions on the net so i gathered up what reference material i could and started building. the crankcase is made from 1/16 ply and for a cylinder i used some existing 1/6 scale lerhone from WB and modified it. i cut the head off and a little nip and tuck here and there. every thing else i etched in brass and stainless steel with my etching tank. the new heads are all soldered together and were made from three brass circles notched and stacked. all the 3-D parts were etched flat with a score line etched into one side  for easy and clean bending into it's form. the crankcase cover etc. were etched and backed with 1/16 ply laminated together.the engine also spins at about 1/6 of the overall rpm and seems to look really good, no wobble, very balanced. i didn't want to put that much torque and KV on the dummy engine in fear of somthing breaking loose. if you notice the stainless steel crank cover, well i did something very stupid , i was honeing out the center to make it a littlle bigger with a sanding drum and dremel and the drum  siezed up and started spinning this metal disk at 10,000 rpm while i was holding it and it cut such a large hole in my hand i could almost see to the other side and on top of it all those bolt holes acted like a meat grinder and just ripped all the fatty tissue right out of my hand and i'll tell you i felt a little nausiated and ive seen some terrible things in my day. my saving grace was the metal was a few hundred degrees from friction and it colirized the wound as it went through so it didn't bleed right away but when it did it was a gusher needless to say i have to go to a hand surgeon because i cut all the muscles, tendons and nerves so i'm working a little slower these days, one hand and a vice. if your thinking why didn't he put the metal part in a vice in the first place, well i tried but being only 0.05 it was to flimsy. right now i'm waiting for some stock to be delivered and then i'll start the wings. i posted a pic of my hand and maybe someone will see it and won't make the same stupid mistake i did.

every thing else i etched in brass and stainless steel with my etching tank.

Details of the tank, the etchant and the process would be really interesting DC

Don't do that to your hand again!

Alan

By the looks of the quality of your work you should have stitched up your hand yourself, would have been better and good practice for the rib stitching 

Details of the tank, the etchant and the process would be really interesting DC

Don't do that to your hand again!
.

i started out by buying a small etching system from micromark.com for about 100.00. after mastering the process which is incredibly easy i bought my own small compresser and a couple of plastic fish tanks. i stiil buy the ferric chloride and the sodium hydroxide along with the photo resist from micro-mark. the train guys have been doing this for years and are so far ahead in detail compared to rc airplanes. i use brass and stainless steel 00.5 to 0.15 in thickness, if i need thicker like a plate i solder 2 to 3 pieces together but am learning the process to etch aluminum, whole different batch of chemicals. to start i create the parts in corel draw, i find it much easier than my cad programs, then i ready the artwork for etching, every thing black will etch. i then print it out on my inkjet printer onto a specially coated film copy and pasting the original and flipping the copy so i have to images one is flipped so when you back them againt the brass sheet they will register. if you want to put copy or no's or a fold line you just put them on one side. what's great about the whole thing is you can make 3-D parts very easily. at this point i register the 2 pieces of film and then place them on a metal plate that already has been coated with photo resist. i place 2 pieces of 1/4 in plexi glass on each side of the plate like a sanwich and clamp and now it ready to be exposed under U.V. light, exposing one side and the flipping after it's initial time and exposing the other side, ( i do this this with flourescent lights bringing it up to about 2 inches from the light for 10 min. per side). after this you have to remove the unexposed photo resist from the image area and you do this with a little diluted sodium hydroxide. now your ready to put your plate into the hot etching solution, yes the hotter the better. i achieve this by microwaviving the bottlle for 2.5 min. also aireate the solution the more air pressure you use, (not to much) you want the etchant to have a chance to bite into the metal. for thick stock say 0.15 brass i leave in the tank for 20 min. per side, stainlees steel takes about 30 min. per side. i add citric acid to my ferric choride it makes it bite better and it lasts for 25 etches opposed to five for 0.15 stock per 16 oz. bottle and also keeps the etched metal from sticking to the surface of your image area therefore makeing it much faster. after all the etching is done you soak the plate in straight sodium hydroxide to remove the cured photo resist and wallah, you have your parts. it's easy enough to do in your basement or kitchen but it can be dirty and the etchant stains every thing. you also have to be careful to make sure you dont have etchant on your gloves before you open a door knob, microwave door or anything metal because it will eat away at it so before i leave my etching station i rinse, rinse and rinse. i hope these pics and my description helps. P.S. i still cut and make a large percentage of my metal parts by hand after all etching is a process that i cant wait to be done with, the only thing good about it is what it produces in the end, it still just blow's me away.

Thanks very much DC.  I've buit a few etched brass kits in the past and I've made a few PCB's in my time too albeit quite crude using resist transfers and pens.

You use Ferric Chloride (+citric acid) for steel as well?     I might have a go as I need lots of steel  bracketry for my Triplane.    Have you ever enquired as to how much a commercial etcher would charge if you provided the artwork?   If so, what sort of quotes did you get?

That last shot - Wow  Beautiful bit of work

Alan

to answer your question, yes i do use ferric chloride and citric acid for steel, stainless steel, brass and copper. as for a outside vendor to etch parts it was pretty pricey and right now i do what i want when i want or a quikie part at a fraction of the cost. i finished my frame and got the tail feathers attached and also did some rigging. i had some casting material kicking around and rather than purchase a williams brothers gun i took a 1/6 scale i had in another plane and made a mold of it and cast it. i was going to modify it any way. i made a leather strap for the ammo cartridge and etched some real brass grips for it. i als used my drill as a lathe and turned a brass handle and hand made a brass mounting ring. the theme for this plane seems to be brass, brass and more brass. i also finished up the fuse  and added leather straps and buckles i etched and also mounted the front shell. i have about 60 turnbuckles around, 3 different sizes so i'm about 20 short , but i'm not purchaseing anything except the wood i needed all the other stuff from screws to rigging wire to covering i already had in my inventory which i bought when i was working now i'm just another poor boy so have to be resourceful and inovative. right now im working on the main wings but here are a few pics of the build so far.

It's worth saying again DCF - it's absolutely beautiful

Thanks for the details of the etching - another thing to have a go at!

Alan

Incredible build quality DCF...........and even more so considering the scale of model you are working on, very very nice mate

Wot they said, brilliant stuff

Right behind you on the etching wizardry Alan, I'll have a go after you!!

Ian.

got both wings framed and covered and all the pully's in place. just about ready to join all the pieces and start work on my scratch built 4 blade prop. here are a few pics of the progress so far. i have to say that this is one of the hardest planes ive built to date and ive always wondered why there wern't more of these being built, well this build has answered that question for me.

Just beautiful work, inspirational 

Just beautiful work, inspirational 

It certainly is!

That's an amazing build, almost to good to risk flying (but you just got to anyway).

Just stunning stuff. Just do not know how you do it.

Simon

well guy's and gal's i finally finished my DH-2, i take that back i still have to put the airco logo on all the struts. the four blade prop i made from cherry wood, i don't know if any of you has had the pleasure of making a four blade prop before but by day two i was ready to slit my wrist's. it didn't come out half bad for someone who's never made a prop before. the rondel's and #'s are super thin decals i made, a bear to apply but almost looks like paint when finished. the brass clevises were all hand cut and silver soldered especially on a plane like this you must be able to tension everything. i can honestly say this build has knocked a year or two off my life, some stitches and a few other assorted injuries now i know why this plane isn't often built. here are some pic's of the DH-2 in all it's glory.