Bootlegger

[Terence Moore]

Thanks largely in part to Steve Dunning, (semi-kit ) and Terry Westrop ( from whom I bought the K&B 100 Aero rear exhaust, I am about to start the build of a Bootlegger +10%.

This however will be subject to my limited computer skills and ability to post photographs.

[Bob Cotsford]

looking forward to it Terence.

[Terence Moore]

I thought i would start this diary with the route followed to arrive at the decision to model the Bootlegger.

Surfing the net via "www.trentonfliers.com" produced a long list of classic aerobatic model designs. Then looking at the RC models forum indicated an significant interest in this model, which I understand was originally kitted in fibreglass fuse/foam wings sets. www.eurekaaircraft.com showed that they didn't feature this in their list of kits, and that was how I orignally chose to model the "Revenger" from their kit, which included anhedral tail; retracts etc. and somewhat larger than the norm for the period, which was a pre-requisite for me with my less than youthful eyesight.

However as per typical US kits, the foam and wing cores were just that...cores with no cutouts and needing to be veneered. Also by the time import duty and VAT had been added to the cost of the kit, plus shipping, it worked pout Bl........expensive.

I did locate a glss/foam kit for Bootlegger from www.rcaiir.com but this was even more expensive, equating to approx £450 at my door by the time all of the charges were added. And then I bought the K&B 100 from Terry W., obtained a set of outline plans for the Bootlegger, and taking terry's advice scaled them up by 10% and contacted Steve Dunning (who was working on developing the same design) got a quote from him for the wings & tail, plus fuselage parys and hey presto here we go.

[Terence Moore]

.

The fuselage formers were also cut out with precision by Steve.Note his fuselage plan in the background for balsa/ply construction

Pictured below are the fuselage sides, joined in their length, with ply doublers and 1/2" traingular edges, as per Steve's plan 9 big thanks to him)

[Terence Moore]

Sorry it appears I can only attach one pic per posting, so below the fuselage formers

[Terence Moore]

Having just re-read my previous postings, apologies to all for typo's

[Terence Moore]

The fuselage formers, front and rear of wing, and servo tray parts from Steve, have to be pre joined before glueing between fuselage sides, thus creating a centre frame around the wing cut-out. The necessity of pre-joining is due to the tabs on the formers and servo tray to be located in the pre-cut slots in the fuselage doublers.

[Terence Moore]

I added 1/2" triangular fillets to reinforce the joints, to the top of the tray

[David Foley]

Nice work, looking foward to this one.

Steve, does this mean there is a short kit available for the "Bootlegger" ??

[Steve Dunning]

Hi Dave. Don't forget that this is a +10% one. I'll let Terry get as far as the basic fus is done to see if it's OK. But, after that I don't see why not. Watch this space!

Steve

[Terence Moore]

The semi kit from Steve, includes a ply rear fuselage alignment part which runs from the wing t/e to the fin post position, and just under the tailplane cut out, supported on 1/2" triangular balsa each side.

These triangular supports, and those at the bottom of the fus sides, have to be tapered in thickness, to allow the rear of the fuselage sides to close, but only to the width of the ply .

The attached pic should show this, but will be better illustrated when the fus sides are joined.

Speaking of which, work on the fus temporarily stopped pending receipt of tuned pipe & header from Weston UK. Once these are received I can set up the firewall/motor mount before joining of sides with formers on fuselage jig. The plan shows 0/0/0 set up for wing & tail incidence & thrustline. It also shows no side thrust, but I have decided to build in 1.5 dgrees right thrust, which is reflected in the header from Weston. It will give me some flexibility to change from no right thrust to approx 2.5 degrees.

I have unwrapped the wings and will start on these till the pipe/header is here.

[Terence Moore]

Steve provided and excellent set of balsa covered foam wings, with cutouts and mounting plates for e-flite electric retracts, and seperate aileron servo cut outs with mounting boxes. Also cut out were the wheel wells (lined) and servo lead slots.

Doesn't leave that much for the builder to do.

[Terence Moore]

So my starting point was to add leading and trailing edge strip balsa, (marking the centre line of the leading edge to aid with shaping . I leave them long past the root and tip, only cutting off when ready to join the panels and add tip blocks.

[Martyn K]

Looks like an interesting build, looking forward to watch it develop.

Good luck

Martyn

[Terence Moore]

Apologies for delay since last posting........work interuptions..

Leading and trailing edges being shaped, balsa shavings, razor plane, sanding block etc.

Nostalgia for us older modellers, and hopefully newer/younger ones too.

[Terence Moore]

So, after a delay due to work!!!! back to the flying surfaces. Wings first. I checked the overall length of the panels, and not surprisingly, from Steve, they are identical. Good start. Due to the "tightness" of our field I intend to repeat the experience of my Revenger and have the inner sections of the strip ailerons as flaps. I therefore marked the hingeline of ail/flap first, then the lengths, allowing a 3/32" gap for facing the cut edges with thin ply & also a clearance. It is important to note the geometry of the wings, as with a double taper and parallel strip, the ends are marked out perpendicular to the hinge line, which works untill the tip end, where the face has to be parallel to the inner edge of the tip block.

Also important at this stage to check each flying ail/flap is of equal length, and mark the underside port/stbd for future reference.

Then I marked parallel to hinge line 1/4" lines for sub spar/l/e

[Terence Moore]

Now as per wings, the simpler task of marking out the elevators. The geometry for these is differennt, in that the surfaces taper in width and the hingeline is parralel to the centreline of the fuselage.

Again 1/4" sub spar/l/e drawn and 3/22" end gap which this time is parallel to the tip block face.

Panels again are identical in length from Steve.

[David Foley]

Have you tried "spoilerons"? Very good at bleeding off lift

Dave

[Terence Moore]

No I haven't tried that. Our field is alittle short, therefore by using inboard flaps as per full size, a 30-40' deflection increases the lift, giving a slower stalling speed, with no risk of increased tip stalling, as the increase in the angle of attack is inboard, also there is a small increase in drag, which also slows the model down.

I am by no means and aerodynamicist but that is my theory, carried over from my full size flying era.

However, if you could explain the theory/practice of spoilerons I would be grateful, as I don't know quite how I would set them up.

[Dave Bran]

My opinion.........based on lots of use of them....most of my planes have flapperon and spoileron available at will proportional to movement of a side slider.

Spoilerons (both ailerons move up) give negative camber so reduce lift, they also in most cases cause an inherent pitch rise to the nose so increasing angle of attack/flare/drag, useful to slow the plane and steepen the glide slope. If the ailerons go near the tips then you also get a degree of washout increase.

My normal field is very small with tall trees in close boundary and alignment to runway, so approaches need to be steep and short!! It is the ONLY way I can get hotliners down OK at that location!!

Start with a small angle and increase, testing at height, till you get the best action short of loss of aileron control, then adjust throws on that action so you cannot overdo it.

They do depending on the plane reduce the aileron effectiveness a little, but then during landing you should be on throttle and rudder........

[Terence Moore]

Thanks Dave.

I have already now cut out the flaps. However I can try this out on my "Revenger" model which has seperate aileron servo's set up as flapperons, but also flaps. So I could even try the two together?

Any thoughts on incidence as designed i.e. with anhedral tail o/o/o' thrust/ wing/tail incidence & no apparent side thrust.

As a complete aside am flying a modern F3A model Bondero with 1 1/2 degrees uptrust!!!!! designed into the ARTF due to wire undercarriage legs & therefore no lift contribution from wider legs. Strange but true, & borne out from flight trials t date111

[Terence Moore]

Thanks, I will try that next time I fly my "Revenger" which has seperate aileron servo's set up as flapperons.Might also try in conjunction with the flaps i.e. ailerons up & flaps down.

Any thoughts on the designed set up of the Bootlegger with 0/0/0 thrust/wing/tail and also no side thrust shown?

[Terence Moore]

Seems i posted that last one twice.......dooooooooooooooooo

[David Foley]

Build in .5 dregee positive on wing. This starting point has been proved by many great pilot/designers

(i.e. D.Hardaker, Ken Binks, Don Lowe to name a few) The designer of the Bootlegger (Steve Helm)

never built it with an anhedral tail,always flat. If it was good enough for him.

You have built in some side already,

can always add more.

As for down thurst, I would start at zero and adjust if required.

 

Edited By David Foley on 01/12/2013 17:59:06

[Terence Moore]

Having seperated ailerons and elevators on their hinge lines, it is now easier to remove further strips for the sub spars on the wings and tail, and leading edges of ailerons and elevators. It is important to ensure the cuts correspond on top and bottom surfaces. It you angle the cuts to less than 90' through the balsa skins, leaving a shallow triangular section of foam protruding, then the final surface can be sanded true, with a long sanding block. Sounds complicated but isn't. Trying to cut through the full depth from one side only inevitably results in an out of true surface........at least it does for me.

However, the cuts stop short where the aileron horns (strip variety) are located, towards the root of each panel. Here you should pre mark each left and right hand section, so that they can be saved and refixed over the sleeve of the horn.