Conference vmszoo::rc

    Re: .-2,
    
    I, too, was somewhat impressed with this kit(?).  I like the idea
    that it's built conventionally using normal balsa/ply and "no foam."
    This will make it more durable and easier to restore to original
    condition, should you "ding" it...and this is nearly impossible to 
    accomplish with the E-Z type ARF's.  I'm almost tempted to get one
    just to have a "ride" for my O.S. .90 & 1.08 2-cycles and a good
    radio test-bed.  You sure can't beat the price!!
    
    Re: .-1,
    
    Unless I'm mistaken, Indy-R/C sells by mail-order only...no retail
    distribution.  If I'm correct in this, the only way you could look
    through one of these kits would be to buy one [or convince someone
    else to buy one], however, if the pix and text in the SR/CM review
    are any indication, this is a quality product and would be hard
    to go wrong on.
    
    Adios,	Al

    I HAVE THE DECEMBER ISSUE OF THE "RC SCALE MAG."
    AND THEY HAVE A GOOD ARTICLE ON THE "INDY RTF APACHE"!
    IT BASICALLY SAYS THE SAME THING, IT'S BUILT JUST LIKE
    YOU WOULD BUILD IT YOURSELF! IT ONLY COST $59.95!!!!!!
    IT ONLY TOOK THIS GUY ONE NIGHT TO COMPLETE THE ASSEMBLY!
    HE WAS AMAZED HOW WELL THIS KIT WENT TOGETHER AND PERFORMED.
    LOOKS PRETTY GOOD TOO!
    
    				TOM
    

    
    	I figured I'd write my comments here seeing as the kit I'm
    presently building is sold by INDY RC.  It's a Modeltech kit
    called the Dragon Lady.
    
    	The Dragon Lady is an ARC kit.  That is to say an Almost
    Ready to Cover kit.  This fuse comes assembled with only the
    addition of the chin blocks,landing gear,firewall,stabalizers 
    and cowl required to complete it.  The wings are presheeted.
    
    I was originally thinking of spliting the strip aileron and
    setting this plane up with flaps and ailerons but the needs
    to have this ship flying within one month have changed that
    strategy.  Instead I will use the JR 347 to mix in flaps
    and ailerons.  To date I've installed ervo boxes into each wing 
    panel so I can run seperate servos for each aileron. Joined the
    wing panels and glued the wing tip in place.  I still need to
    install some filler blocks on one wing tip and the TE blocks to
    the rear center section of the wing.  
    
    I plan to use an OS 108 engine of this plane seeing as I have the
    OS and want to get away without having to buy another engine.
    Perhaps the plane will be a little over powered but the vertical
    performance should be excellent.  The plane sports a 66" wing span a
    and 890 sq inches of wing area.  It was originally designed to
    support a Malony 100-125 so It should do well with the OS 108.
    
    The kit as I got it in a trade didn't have any landing gear so I'll
    be buying some.  It's a tail dragger so it should do well this winter
    on skis. If you order this kit understand that it doesn't come with 
    a cowl. Rather that is an additional item.  I ordered mine from
    Fiberglas Masters with a set od wheel pants.  I plan to cover the
    plane with monocote I already have so we'll see what the monocote
    inventory will yield.  I also hope to buy two main landing gear
    and set up one with the wheels and wheelpants while the second
    gear will get a large set of skis. I hopefully should get to
    fiberglasing the center section tonight and possibly installing the
    wing on the fuse.  I haven't done a long building session in quite
    some time.
    
    Tom

    Paul LeLievre of the CRRC club flies a Dragon Lady and absolutely
    loves it. He has a 1.20 4-stroke in it. It's a real smooth flier.
    
    

    
    BAck when we had the first DECRCM fly-in one cold spring day
    (remember when!! when we were one happy file !!) anyways...
    Later that day a gentleman showed up with a Dragon Lady with a 120
    in it and I really liked how tha plane presented in the sky. 
    It was big and had "presence" but wasn't unmanageable when it 
    came time to pack up and go home.
    
    Later at another Fly-in he showed up and again I was impressed with 
    the planes lines and looks.  Then I stumbled into a deal with
    a gentleman from South Carolina who ws getting out of RC planes
    and into choppers.  We made a deal, some of his kits and engines for 
    a chopper I had.  That was about 6 months ago.
    
    Yesterday I continued fitting the cowland engine to the fuse. I should
    get some quality building time this evening.
    
    
    Tom

    Last night after a birthday party I finished mounting the engine to
    the fuse.  The engine mount is shimmed forward from the firewall
    using a 3/8" piece of sheet plywood stock supplied with the kit.
    The engine mount is backed with a foam pad material and the mounting
    bolts are isolated from the firewall using fuel tubing.  I've used this
    (cheap) set-up a few times in other planes and it workes quite well
    in isolating the engine vibrations from the fuse.  This will allow
    the rear edge of the cowl to overlay the fuse by app. 3/16" which is
    per the plans.  I also finished fitting the blocks to the wing tips and
    the center section TE pieces.  Tonight I should get to fiberglasing the
    wing center section.  I'm going to use some of that new laminating
    epoxy that is odorless so I'll report on how it works.  I should also
    get the wing mounting blocks installed so maybe the wing can get bolted
    to the fuse.
    
    I have to stop by the hobby store tonight to buy my landing gear and a
    16oz. fuel tank. the tank may get mounted tonight.
    
    BOY!! this is going to be quite a bit of engine for this plane. GREAT!!
    
    
    Tom

    
    Last night I got the center section epoxies and fiberglased using
    some Zap finishing resin.  Also I got the filler blocks between
    the vertical and horizontal stabs carved and sanded.  I didn't make
    it to the hobby store so maybe today after work. 
    
    What remains?
    
    Glue in the wing mounting blocks, secure the wing to the fuse,
    install a tank and throttle line. Glue on the bottom plywood 
    chin block, Install the stabs and install the landing gear.
    Then she'll be ready for covering. 
    
    
    Tom

    
    	When I fiberglased the wing center section I used the fiberglas
    that came in the kit.  It's that heavy weave type and the result
    is that I will have to sand the edges.  The finishing resin was quite
    a bit thinner than I was expecting.  I had expected something like
    epoxy but this was definately thinner.  The hardener and the resulting
    mix did have an odor.  Not terribly bad but I'd wonder if it were my
    product and I called it "Odorless".  Ok so how did it work?
    	It has seemed to work fine. I layed the glass cloth down on the wing
    and applied the resin to it. A few seconds later I began spreating it
    out and working it through the weave.  With two hours I was able to go
    back and trim the cloth from the TE of the wing.  This morning I
    checked it and it was solid as a rock but seemed to have an oil feel 
    to it.  I'll wipe it with lacquer thinned today and see if that
    eliminates this feeling.  It's application was a little different so
    I'm not sure how I liked it.  More later.
    
    
    Tom  

    
    	Last night I got to work on the Dragon Lady.  I sanded the center
    section reenforcement smooth and then mounted the wing to
    the fuse.  The kit comes with plastic threaded blocks that are
    bolted to the sides of the fuse.  I wasn't going to use them but what
    the heck.  I used them and it actually came out OK.  I drilled the
    wing first and the located the blocks and drilled the mounting holes
    The head of the bolts ends up crushing the balsa sides and is held
    by the plywood doublers.  I cleaned up these areas and then used some
    plastic wood to fill in this area covering the bolt heads in the
    process. I then epoxied the bottom front plywood chin block in place.
    This serves as the bottom of the fuse and the landing gear support
    block.
    
    I should get the tail feathers installed and the landing gear fitted
    tonight.  that will wrap up the assembly process and then it's on to
    covering.
    
    
    Tom

    
    Went to the hobby shop today at lunch and picked up a set of Klett
    large fiberglas gear to replace the gear that were missing from my
    Dragon Lady kit.  They are need in that they come with the bolt on
    axles.  Normally you'd have to buy a set with an aluminum gear.
    These come stock.  Picked up a 3" spinned also.
    
    Has anyone ever mounted gear to a plane using 1/4-20 nylon bolts?
    How did they stand up to takeoffs and landing abuse?
    
    
    tom 

    Dan Weier (and others) has them on his Panic. If anything, they break
    more often than you would expect. I had mine held on with 4 nylon 6-32s
    and managed to pull the plate out anyway without breaking the bolts.
    
    Yes it's been done but make sure you have something to back the broken
    pieces out (a butane lighter to warm a screwdriver works)

    
    I installed the main and tail wheel landing gear last night.  I used
    the sheet metal screws provided with the gear to secure it.  I also
    glued the horizontal stab and the stab filler block in place.  I
    stopped there because I still needed to sand the vertical stab before
    installing it and had to attend a meeting.  More tonight.
    
    Tom 

    
    
       I can't take the credit for installing the nylon bolts on my Panic, as 
    I purchased it complete from Dan Snow. The bolts do fine regarding
    abuse on Take off. My Panic weighs about 8 pounds to give you an idea,
    and there are 4 bolts on the main gear.
       They are sensitive on landing is the sense that anything other than
    a fairly decent landing will result in 4 sheared bolts. A landing in
    tall ( velcro ) grass will virtually guarentee sheared bolts. Needless to
    say, I have went through several dozen bolts over this past season,
    although I am getting better :)
    
                                                    DW2 
    although not as many as I used to.

    
    	Thank's for the inputs but I ended up using the supplied sheet
    metal screws.  Both because the landing gear was designed to take 
    a counter sunk screw and because of lazyness.  But thank's again!!
    if I have problems I'll brobably retrofit the installation to use
    1/4-20 nylon bolts.
    
    	I still need to do a little sanding on the wing tips and then
    she's ready for covering.
    
    Tom

    
     I put the finishing touches to the building of the Model Tech
    Dragon Lady last night.  I had to finish carving the wing tip blocks
    and install a plywood reenforcement to the elevators and the
    wing.  I should start covering tonight. Colors? Who knows.  All
    I do know is that I'm using whatever I already have. White,Plum
    Crazy,Yellow,Red, Blue.  Should be interesting.
    
     I ordered a Soundmaster Pitts style muffler for the OS108 in
    order to get down around 95db.  It should be in today. Boy!!!
    Muffler and adapter with COD will run me 72.40 direct from the
    manufacturer.  
    
    
    Tom

    If you want to get the noise down even further try one of the Paco-Amber
    Rubber mounts. I was impressed with the noise reduction. I put one onto
    my Acro-Wot while leaving the Wots-Wot with a std engine mount. The
    difference was very noticable. They say you can get 3db with the mount.
    I haven't measured it but its significant. I keep on getting
    complimentary comments on the level of noise from the OS91 4S. Some
    even thinking it was a 61 before seeing it. Prices are not cheap and vary 
    for different sizes but regardless I am one very satisfied customer.
    Engine changes are fast - just two rings to loosen and slide the engine
    off.
    
    Regards,
    
    Eric.
    
    if anyone is interested in details I can forward a photocopy of the
    blurb and smail it.

    
    I spent all day sunday covering the dragon lady.  It was an adventure
    in that I had one and one half rolls of yellow and about two thirds of
    a roll of metalic blue.   SO the color scheme came out with a metalic
    blue fuse and yellow wing and horizontal stab.  the vertical stab is
    white and the rudder is white on top and blue on the bottom.  Covering
    is probably the one aspect of this hobby I hate.   I find I loose my
    patients for it.  I ended up doing a little and then retiring to the
    living room to watch the football games and then returning again to
    do a little covering before retiring again...  By the end of the night
    I had the whole ship covered except for the rudder.  Yesterday I had
    a day off of vacation and after doing the needed home duties I again
    went into the hobby room to get a little accomplished.  I got the wind
    screen installed and the firewall coated with epoxy, engine installed,
    throttle line installed and the rudder covered.  Today I hope to stop
    by the hobby store and pick up some hinges and decals to complete the
    job.  This ship should fly later this week but definately this weekend.
    
    
    Tom

    
    	I finished us installing the radio and getting the Dragon Lady 
    ready for it's maiden flight Sat. night.  She now has a 4031 on the
    elevator, 501 on  the rudder and throttle and two 401's on the
    ailerons.  Instead of using the wimpy torque rod that came with the
    kit I installed servo boxes in each wing panels for seperate aileron
    servos.  I plan to use the 347 to mix in some landing flaps and give
    that a try. 
    	I finished off the radio installation by installing the on/off
    switch inside the open cockpit.  Oh well, guess you had to be there.
    Today I'm stopping by a club members business. He makes the "Major's
    decals" and I'll be picking up some 1930's army stars for the wing
    panels to finish off the look. Maybe the weather will break tomorrow
    and allow the maiden flight.
    
    
    Tom

    
    Well, the weather has cleared and the Dragon Lady is all charged up and
    ready to go.  Today at lunch will be it's maiden voyage.  More later.
    
    
    Tom

    
    I went flying in the wind yesterday and the Dragon Lady is proving
    to be a wind bucking beauty.  she takes off at 1/4-1/2 throttle
    and lands like she has flaps deployed.  A few clicks of poser are
    required until you get over the runway or else she'll sink at about a
    45 degree angle. One of the springs for the tailwheel has been lost
    so I now need to replace this.  Other than that she has been a dream.
    Everything I thought she would be.  Not a pattern bird in that she
    is mushy.  If you've never flown a pattern ship you won't know what
    I mean.  
    The other day when we went flying we checked the noise level with
    a Radio Shack meter.  I have a SoundMaster Pitts style incowl muffler
    attached to the OS108 and I'm running a Master Airscrew 15/6 prop.
    Noise level readings were 91DB on either side of the fuse and 93DB
    from the front.  It's usual that the front is louder that the sides.
    Well below the club requirement of 95 db.
    
    Hope to make it out tomorrow afternoon.
    
    
    Tom

    
    
    I have about 20 flights on the Dragon lady.  Impressions to date
    is that the plane is a very enjoyable sunday flyer type of aircraft.
    The atilwheel has however lost both of it's springs but this hasn't
    had any effect on the ground handling.  With a free castering tailwheel
    the plane taxi's well, as goo as it did with a stearable tailwheel.
     I think the design could use larger ailerons but still as a sunday
    flyer it works well.  Power is needed to keep up some airspeed during a
    landing.  If left to glide the plane assumes a 45 degree decent angle
    and usuall runs out of elevator.  However with one or two clicks of
    power the glide path is gentle and the plane settles smoothly. Rudder
    is positive.  
    
    All in all I'm very pleased with the plane.  It's exactly what I
    expected.  I'd definately build another!!  If I run across one
    at an auction or other I'll definately buy it and store it for a rainey
    day.  Within the next two weeks I hope to make a set of skiis
    for some winter flying.
    
    
    
    Tom

	I saw another new Dragon Lady this weekend at the CRRC Drop Zone. 
	Guy named Ruane owns it. He put an OS 120 in it, and loves the
	way it flys. Take offs are at about 1/4 throttle, and it will go
	vertical with ease. It handles beautifully on the ground. He also 
	has the neat dual-spring loaded tailwheel. Nice plane.

    
    The dual spring tailwheel is stock with the kit.  That is what I 
    have on mine except that the springs have been lost.  However as 
    I wrote in another note,  the ground handling is the same with
    or without the springs.  
    
    
    Tom