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Title: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: lownslo on March 14, 2008, 06:03:25 PM Hello Fellow Kit Builders,
I loved the way my 1st Butterfly flew.... both .15 LA ... Then an electric conversion. I hope this one is bigger and better. We will see. I am going to try and post a few photos at a time to go through the building of this little jewel. Bob ...... Lownslo Title: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: lownslo on March 14, 2008, 09:52:14 PM BORING...... ;D I have all kinds of building photos of this kit bash if someone would need them. I would like to jump ahead and show you a couple photos of the wing halfs...... then the parts sitting loosely on the fuselage as a preview. The leading edges were not shaped here, and the outer panels were not glued together. There is a 1/4", carbon fiber solid rod, epoxied inside a brass tube.... and this slides into the next size bigger brass tube. This is my center wing joiner so I can more easily transport the large span wing. The tail feathers were rounded, not angles as in the plans. (Tail feathers were not shaped / sanded yet in this photo). Note: I have also added ailerons to the bash. I plan on using them as flaperons. The original plans had no provisions for ailerons.....just rudder and elevator.
Bob .... lownslo Title: Re: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: Chuck Baker on March 16, 2008, 08:03:57 AM Bob,
Looks like you're having fun with this build - Looking good! :) I did have a thought though... Did you increase the size of the stabilizer to compensate for the extra wing area? Chuck Title: Re: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: Thumbskull on March 16, 2008, 07:25:43 PM Looking good. I have a butterfly that I thought already had more than enough wing. I used it to loft a 35mm camera for arial photos. That camera weighed almost a pound and it had no trouble.
Title: Re: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: lownslo on March 16, 2008, 07:54:41 PM Thumbskull,
Yeah..... the wing already had ample span, but I was hoping to gain more duration using this as a sailplane too. My old Butterfly, before the conversion to electric, had a .15 LA on it. I would get it up and idle back. That cheap old LA would just keep running at idle and give me power for a new climb when called upon. It only had a 4 oz. tank, but I once had that puppy up over 50 minutes. Later that year, I actually got it up in a VERY strong thermal and it was lost .... until about 2 hrs later. (This was on the EastSide field). A member saw a plane in an open, harvested field about 500 yards out. I drove to the wreckage via a road in the field used for combines. I pulled up within 25 feet of it. It was barely damaged. When I repaired it I converted it to electric power. Photo attached was the old B/F conversion. Bob ...... lownslo. Title: Re: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: Thumbskull on March 16, 2008, 08:00:19 PM Cool!
Mine is the MarkII version with the square looking tailfeathers. Built it in about 1985 with an OS .25 and it still flies but I think I will update the radio to 2.4. Title: Re: Number 2 ... NEW Butterfly kit bash Post by: lownslo on March 16, 2008, 08:01:59 PM Bob, Looks like you're having fun with this build - Looking good! :) I did have a thought though... Did you increase the size of the stabilizer to compensate for the extra wing area? Chuck Hi Chuck, OPPS !!! ::) It looks like I flunk the aeronatical engineer test!! Hope it flies OK like it is. I do plan to try it as is. Keep your fingers crossed!! :o Attached is a ROUGH CG test, with all electric things in place. Looks like there will be no issues that can't be addressed with just the battery movement. |