Dancing Wings Hobby. 60" Fokker Dr1 tri-plane kit build.

[Mike.K 60]

Awaited from George at 4-Max on Monday is my next build. This is the laser cut Dancing Wings Fokker Tri-plane B version kit which includes 8m of covering material. With the price of covering material being quite expensive ( typically around £18 for a 2mx600 roll from general retailers) the B kit represents seriously good value.

The kit is available in half a dozen versions from basic, basic with coverings included, right the way up to an ARTF version. Those choices of kit are only available via the Chinese DW eBay site and are priced in US dollars with P&P included. It isn`t very clear whether extra delivery charges and 17.5% import VAT are applicable as extra costs payable once the kit enters the UK. I`ve been caught out like that before. Dependent on exchange rates you might perhaps save £20 on the initial purchase but then get clobbered with those extra charges and taxes. Delivery from China takes about two weeks. I`d rather support Georges` business at a known price of just under £250 which includes the coverings and known week day, next day delivery via DPD. It is worth remembering to order Monday to Thursday if you want next day delivery. If you do as I`ve just done and ordered on a Friday, your kit has to wait at the local DPD depot over the weekend before being delivered on the Monday.

George describes the kit as being something of a work of art...it even comes in a laser inscribed ply box with a hinged lid and catches. Frankly, I`m not blown away by that idea when a cardboard box would do the same job. Forget the ply box and knock a tenner of the price is more to my liking! Anyway, that`s how it comes, so that is what we get.

I previously posted these links on my thread about the Fokker DVII build I completed yesterday. Anyway, here are the links again more correctly located on this Dr1 thread

.DW Fokker Dr.1 (Kit and film) for just £239.99 from 4-Max

1.5M Balsa Fokker DR.I - YouTube

The wonderfully clear build manual is downloadable from the 4-Max advertisement above.

So once again I await delivery impatiently with super-glue at the ready, building area cleared and with £250 less than I had in the bank yesterday. That`s the problem with having a building addiction. No sooner than I have a project moving, I`m looking for the next one after that!

More details on Monday.

Mike K

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Mike.K
Error corrections. MK

[Emma 47]

Hi Mike,

thanks for popping into the shop with it yesterday. I can confirm it is a very nicely done kit, beautifully cut and I love the ply box it came in (you know you can dispose of it my way when you've finished with it lol 🤗)

 I'm looking forward to seeing it built very soon and you bringing it along to the club one night.

Em.

[Trevor 25]

Looking forward to seeing it fly Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Twenty four hours late having sat in the DPD depot in Basingstoke over the weekend, the kit finally arrived on Tuesday. Frustrating, but at least it arrived without having been run over by a lorry.

The Chinese produced 5Kg package is presented in a laser engraved ply box. Its hard to grasp how a 60" span model is compacted into such a small volume. Four hours were spent popping out all the parts from the sheets of ply and balsa. The cutting is generally well done but perhaps not quite as accurate out of the sheets as the parts found in the SFM SE5a or the SFM Fokker DVII. Just a little trimming is occasionally required. Oddly, whilst the sheets have part numbers adjacent to the lasered part, one finds that numbering has to be transferred to each individual part by hand. Quite why the manufacturer didn`t burn the part number onto the component is strange. Failure to transfer a part number onto a component would eventually create a pile of unidentifiable parts. There are a fair number of wing ribs and many variations on a theme which fall into that category. Some parts come out of the lasered sheets without any markings on the sheets at all. One then has to begin an identification regime of trying to locate similar parts that are identifiable! Sorting out those ribs without previous identification being done would become something of a nightmare. It is essential to bag up parts to avoid loss or confusion when building. Many parts are small and easily lost or binned when sweeping build rubbish off the floor. A few marked up sandwich bags provide a simple solution to parts control and storage.

The instructions are on four, glossy, double sided A4 sheets. Computer enhanced/generated illustrations show where all the parts supposed to fit, but it is often left to the builder to work out many of the important details. Without doubt, this kit is best suited to a fairly experienced constructor. A beginner would struggle with a lack of practiced and necessary skill needed for this particular model and he would be better building an SFM DVII just to get himself familiar in the methodology employed in this and other similar laser cut kits. If the Dr1 illustration instructions were just a little better, I`d give the kit a 100% rating. In my opinion, this model presentation is just very slightly lacking in useful clarity, so a rating of 98% would seem more appropriate. Although I`ve knocked on fairly heavily here about the shortfalls, they don`t spoil the enjoyment of building this model. Indeed it is great fun and I`m totally enjoying it. Having built both the SFM SE5a and the DVII last month, I have something to compare with. The SFM kits are just that little bit better all round which makes the next kit along feel just a tiny bit lacking by comparison. Its not that the issue is with the model itself but more to do with the quality of the build manuals. This Dancing Wings Dr1 kit probably contains at least 1,500 separate components and its a real old box full. Here is what is in it.

The box contains all the expected goodies. Nuts, bolts, clevises etc. Carbon fibre wing tubes, leading edges and internal wing spar braces. Ali and carbon cabane and inter-plane struts etc. The cowl is epoxy and glass cloth with a white gel coat finish. Unless you stick with the white cowl, the cowl would need to be spray painted in an appropriate and matching red colour. I wouldn`t have thought film covering would be easy or successful.  Wheels have to be made from ply centre circles glued to the tyres. The builder has to source his own pilot and also make up his own decals...not difficult for this Dr1 as the only air-frame markings are the simple German black and white crosses or for the more ambitious, Maltese crosses. Coverings x8m are included in the kit. I`m not sure what the covering is but it is distinguishable because of its prominent white backing. I had a couple of metres of this material off eBay, again unmarked, which I obtained cheaply for the DVII. The issue with this red covering is that white backing. Cut at a joint line or on an overlap, a small white line can be seen. In other words, you can`t make seams disappear with it. On the DVII, I had to resort to putting a strip of white along the trailing edges so that the white line on the red covering then became lost. So whilst this Dr1 B-kit is quite reasonable value at £240 with coverings included, one might be better satisfied buying the basic kit at a slightly lower price and then having your own choice of separately purchased coverings. You pay `yer money and take your choice. No kit is perfect and this one is probably best regarded as very competently produced in general terms, odd and quirky in detail but with more than enough quality to make it an intriguing build. It is also something of a curio in as much as you never quite know what little surprise is hidden around the corner as you progress with the build.

Working away quietly and relatively slowly, the tail feathers were completed in a couple of hours. That consumed a pile of small parts and emptied a couple of storage sandwich bags. Work then transferred to the fuselage, the bulk of which took just a day. More parts consumed but not without some constructional head scratching. The fuselage comes without even a general arrangement drawing and one is reliant on the fairly small low pixel digital computer originated semi jpg illustration sheets. On several occasions I`ve had to resort to a magnifying glass in an attempt to ratify constructional detail. Some of the detailing is far from sufficient and one can only really attempt to reverse engineer the original methodology and rational of what is required. I can easily see an inexperienced builder getting somewhat frustrated at times. Even having now virtually completed the fuselage, I still have some unidentified parts and no amount of instruction perusal shows even the part number or anything that resembles what sits in front of me. Some aspects of this build take a goodly amount of horizontal and vertical thinking! Would I buy another DWH kit? Yes, most definitely. The only real gripe is that DWH would do well to improve the build instruction details and employ a decent Chinese/English translator for a morning!! Then the kits would be coming out of the factory as a near perfect product. Take a look at these images of the build to date. Club night is on Thursday so I`m hoping this Dr1 fuselage will be standing on its undercarriage by then and can make an appearance that evening.

Despite the minor grumbles, this is a seriously nice model to get your teeth into. Its not one to be rushed but one to enjoy to the full during a careful construction. Needless to say, I`m looking for the next project already but available funds have taken a serious bashing over the last few weeks and guess what? The Jaguar insurance renewal has just dropped through the letter box. The construction program for next years season will have to slow down a bit for a couple of months.

More in due course.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

I`ve been busy on the Tri-plane over the last ten days or so and have been having a very enjoyable time in the process. The final images in this post showing wings fitted with three of them covered. This has accounted for about 120 hours of building time. Its amazing just what a difference having pre-cut parts make to the speed of a build. Only a few small issues encountered mainly due to lack of detail in the build manual. Those were of little consequence and construction has progressed rapidly and predictably. Wings look reasonably in line with each other, spaces between each panel look even and incidences don`t look unacceptable. Sadly no incidence details are in the manual so one has to pretty much accept how things self jig as one builds. Some precise measurement and adjustments later at the inter-plane struts is expected to obtain uniform dimensions.

I expect to be on this model for around another 100 hours. Covering has yet to be completed and control snakes and servo cables installed. 17g servos have been ordered and I`ll be placing my motor, ESC and UBEC order with George at 4-Max on Wednesday. A 50mm motor, PO-5060-360Kv with 6cell 3700 or 4500mAh lipos already held in my stock. an 80A ESC is likely together with a 6A UBEC. Props are likely to be 15x8 preferred or biggest at 16x10 max. This should keep current draws sensible, prop speed at the needed speed and the required amount of thrust. My thanks to George for specifying this models needs. To show the size of this humble 60" model, the cowl measures some 9 inches in diameter...hence the requirement to swing big prop blades without a motor or ESC melt down. I`ve also modified the front of the adjustable length motor mount box to enable either a 50mm electric motor or a .90 size i/c motor to be used.

This game doesn`t come cheap. £250 for the kit. £150 for the motor, ESC and UBEC. £30 for the servos, Lipo units at £75 and £100 each, pilot £20, rolls of Solartrim or similar for decals, £20 plus the costs of receiver/transmitter etc. Essentially given that I have some of this gear in stock, the model is realistically and in this case, at least a £600 build. I`d love to build the 65% Bill Hemple Tri-plane but costs for that would be £8-10K. A Valarch 820cc, five banger radial accounts for about £5K of the cost! A 90" Stearman for Christmas would be well received......

I`m hoping this Tri-plane could be ready to bring to the AGM later this month. I keep working at it in the meantime. Some further images here now showing the state of play as of tonight, 03/11/2018.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

A few more hours work early this morning saw the wings and also ailerons covered. This really visually increases air-frame volume and presence. The covering has now been itemised as a Hobbyking product as covering 102. This comes direct from the UK suppliers at an exceptionally interesting price of around £6.53 per FIVE METRE roll. Can you believe it?!  It is what shows on the Hobbyking site as the price. This obviously needs checking but I`d certainly expect VAT and post to be added to the final invoice total. Covering Film Solid Bright Red (5mtr) 102

The motor, ESC and UBEC arrived from 4-Max this morning. A typical "George" bundle and physically the same size as the PO-5065-420 unit bolted to the front of my 60" Ultra Stick.

Nice to see this model progressing now at such a rate. Roll on the delivery of 17g servos from China. White and black Oratrim has been ordered from Elite Models in order to make up the Maltese Cross German air-frame markings. Finding a suitable 1/5 scale pilot has not been easy. Dick Dastardly is no longer produced and several other alternatives have also bitten the dust. Great Planes via Elite produce a rather characterless pilot and it doesn`t really cut the mustard. Without much by way of alternatives, I`e ordered one. Several outlets list other pilots but then ping back to say they are out of stock. How I wish some of these suppliers would show their stock levels accurately on the internet.

As shown below, the air-frame less fuselage covering weighs 4Lbs. The 4500 6s Lipo adds another 1.5Lbs and the motor, ESC and UBEC another 0.5Lb. So that makes a current 6Lb weight with fuselage coverings, four 17g servos, receiver,  glass fibre cowl, light weight pilot, ailerons and rudder and elevator push-rods still to be added. This will account for perhaps another pound in weight. It is quite amazing how the weight builds rapidly towards completion.

More on this build soon.

Mike

[Bravedan 106]

Great progress, Mike.  I have more chance of running a Marathon than having the time and patience to build one of those!

[Pilot Ben 28]

I can't wait to see it in the air Mike, it looks fantastic already! As you say the kit really isn't cheap, but I think it's one of those things that you really do "get what you pay for", especially taking into consideration the time it took to design a kit like that.

As Dave rightly said, you certainly do have more patience than the rest of us combined! Indeed I find that I tend to get fed up with one 30 inch wing, so I cannot imagine how you've managed to do three 60 inch ones  

You seem to be building up quite the collection  

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Pilot Ben

[Mike.K 60]

A collapsed back and severe sciatica preclude any chance of me personally running a marathon......so I`ll sit here in a sea of balsa shavings and build the models! I don`t mind pushing a sweeping brush around the place at least half a dozen times a day. I`m always amazed at the amount of crud that gets generated!!

The 17g metal geared servos have just arrived from China so I`ll be getting those in at the same time as installing the carbon fibre push-rod sheaths for elevator and rudder. The aileron servos will mount on plates screwed to a base mount in the wings and fixed with strong double sided tape. No issues envisaged there. The ailerons are now hinged and control horns epoxied into the structure.

The motor mount is now complete and has the 4-Max PO-5065-360Kv motor bolted to it. Some shortening of the motor box was required in view of the large size of the motor. George tells me that anything up to about a 17 x 10 prop could be fitted which would produce about 13Lb of thrust. Given that the model should complete at under 9Lb, prop hanging should easily be possible. Yes, I know....it could be quite easy to fold the wings with that amount of grunt during fast, high G pulls. The plan is to start with a 15 x 8 and gently go from there. Any advice is always appreciated and welcomed. The dummy motor is glued to the motor box and has been painted black then dry brush over-painted with silver to high-light the cylinders and their cooling fins. This seriously adds to the character of the mock engine and it certainly looks the part for not much effort.

The glass fibre cowl is a lovely molding. The gel is well adhered to the under-laying epoxy cloth. Minor trimming was required to get it to sit well on the model. A laminated ring has been constructed to sit around the 9" diameter circular fuselage onto which the cowl slides. Five ply pads will allow a simple five screw fixing for the cowl. It fits a treat. The cowl was flatted with P320 to provide a mechanical key for primer. The primer used is aircraft grade etch primer from U-poxy. It is a 2:1 thermo-set, non reversible, 2-pack coating which touch dries with half an hour. Four high build coats were applied at half hour intervals by paint brush. It provides a chemical etch which makes for an almost bullet-proof attachment of the primer to the structure you are painting.  The cowl was then "cooked" in front of a blower heater for an hour before being guide coated, with contrasting colour aerosol paint dusted on and left for a few minutes to dry. The cowl was then wet flatted with a drop of washing up liquid added to a bucket of water with P320 W&D paper before being further flatted with P1200. The soap in the water stops the rubbing down paper from dragging during flatting sessions. As you flat, the aerosol paint is rubbed away and all imperfections, paint brush marks etc become clearly seen. One continues to flat until the colour is completely removed and this gets you down to perfectly smoothed out primer. The imperfections are removed in the process to leave a prepared surface for top coat colours. Its the same methodology as used in any refinishing trade, ie an automotive paint shop.

We discussed coverings and the difficulties of obtaining good paint colour matches on my Fokker DII thread. I`m pleased to say I think I`ve now found the answer to finding a local paint business that mixes paint to order, in aerosol cans. A call to L E Went near Selhurst on the Tait Rd industrial Estate (020 8684 0204) finds that they will mix to order whilst you wait. They have a colour spectrometer unit for colour analysis on site and all that the customer needs to do is take a playing card sized piece of covering with him as a sample. The cost of a can of specially mixed aerosol paint is £15.25 as at November 2018. So that is I hope, the end of a paint matching night-mare. I`ll get down there later this week and get paint matched to the Hobbyking Brilliant Red 102 covering that was provided with this Dancing Wings kit. I suggest those also experiencing paint matching difficulties note this business for future reference.

Parts of the fuselage are 1/16 balsa sheeted. Some of the former spacings are well apart causing the sheeting to become prone to breakage if one inadvertently mis-handles the model. Having broken sheeting a couple of times, I decided to put paid to the issue albeit at some small weight penalty. I have a quantity of industrial laminating epoxy left over from my boat repair days as well as some very light 2x2 Chinese woven scrim cloth. I decided to apply the cloth and epoxy sparingly in vulnerable locations ie the top of the fuselage, from the cowl line back to the cockpit. With three coats of resin applied and a good sand back, it is impossible to tell that this area of sheeting has had this cloth and epoxy treatment applied. Other areas towards the front of the model such as the sheeting around the motor are also of slender proportions and considered in need of some assistance strength wise. Internal coating of the sheeting just with thin epoxy resin within the engine bay has also given this vulnerable area some resistance to minor impact or accident damage. Perhaps an ounce or two in extra weight is the penalty but as it is at the front end of the model, I`m not too concerned. No doubt nose weight will be required at final build stages.

I`m about to install fuselage servos and the carbon sheaths...then I can get on with covering the fuselage. This build is seriously fun. Frankly, I shall be sad when its finished. What next?

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

Exactly four weeks after this kit arrived in a ply box, it is now complete with nothing more to do. My time input has been at least 300 hours but perhaps more likely as 350. The eyes were on the prize. Its the settlement of an itch to build a Fokker Tri-plane that I`ve nurtured for years. Now the urge has been satisfied. Emma together with Rob Newman have been the first to see the finished product at Avicraft this morning. Rather a different thing to the box of goodies that I took over twenty eight days earlier. It is done and dusted and is ready for testing. I`ll post more on that with images once that occurs. The finished images outside in the garden were taken before adding the Maltese Cross markings on the top wing as the finishing touch tonight.

After the core build, it was just a matter of nailing all the built parts together after covering. Nothing too taxing at that stage. All the radio and power pack gear went in as neat as nine pence. Within the cavernous fuselage all the gear looks lost. The cowl paint job has come out well although inevitably there is a shade difference now that the paint has flashed off solvents and hardened. The match is good enough for a Government job and no further flatting or paint polishing is needed. It has a very "plastic" look about it with the finish being to a similar standard as the covering.

The model weighs in at 10.3Lbs/4.67Kg. That is about a half Kg more than the instruction manual gives as a guide. When was it any different? Models all seem to exceed what is written on the lid of the box. The extra weight is no doubt due to the larger motor and Lipo combination fitted. I queered the C of G position with George. The manual says 74mm back from the top wing leading edge. THAT IS APPARENTLY INCORRECT. Whilst seeking confirmation, we heard that one other builder had also had similar mis-givings and relocated his model C of G to 74mm back from the LE of the middle wing. This seems more sensible but I do not know if that other example has yet been flown.. Today Rob Newman added more opinion by finding that the Flair 71" Tri-plane has its C of G half way across the chord of the middle wing. This takes the C of G back even further (nose heavier) by about an inch/25mm. Presently my model is loaded, level on the 74mm back from the mid-wing position on the main spar. Any advice that anyone has in regard of C of G would be gratefully received. In the meantime, I`ll do some more research on the precise position. I also understand Ian Garrett has the Flair Dr1 model in his stock so perhaps he may be able to advise in the light of his experiences.

My working space is now a shambles and I expect to spend all of tomorrow attempting to get the place clear, cleaned and ready for the next project. What will it be? This Dr1 build is probably the most absorbing and satisfying build I`ve yet done. The big scratch built Ultra Stick was quite an effort but perhaps not quite so rewarding as seeing this model relic of the past being created. The small issues that presented themselves during the build fall to insignificance. Those relatively minor irritations certainly didn`t spoil the build. Would I buy the same kit again subject to it performing in the sky in a satisfactory manner? Most certainly..in fact I quite fancy building another! That might just happen. If you fancy a winter project then this kit might be just right for you. I don`t think you can go far wrong on price, availability or pleasure of building. Actually, DW do market a 60" Sopwith Camel which is again available from George at 4-Max. I fear it might have to wait though. Sadly I`ve not unlimited funds and I`ve had quite a spending spree over that last few months.

So here are some of the latest images showing the final stages of the build. The covering stage was one of the high lights. A few hours work and all of a sudden you have a finished model. Whilst on covering, the 8 metres of Hobby King covering included with the kit weighed an astonishing 2.5Lb with backing sheeting still being present. This weight falls by one third once the backing sheeting is off the roll. This information was gleaned when I check weighed a large sample and then stripped off the backing to see what the weight change might be.......that must prove something but I`m not sure quite what! What I do know is that covering is a mightily heavy substance. I used approximately 7.5m of the 8m of supplied covering on this model. In the process I made every scrap count with a view to not running out of material as the last part came up for covering.

All the best.

Mike

[Mike.K 60]

I thought this model was finished.....not so.

George at 4-Max pinged me to say one of his customers ( an aerodynimasist) had the same kit and a few issues had arisen. Predominantly a problem with the incidence angle of the top wing. In addition the C0G as shown in the manual was incorrect.

Watching  RC Model Geeks videos, parts 34 & 35 of a DW Tri-plane build and first flights revealed that Rob Lewis down on Hayling Island also had the same model and was also rather struggling with getting it flying correctly. He had also had conversations with Georges` areodynamisist customer with the similar issues. So there are presently four of us in this particular loop. Rob also said the model was directionally unstable and needed a bigger rudder. It is very small indeed so I`ve made and fitted a larger one. In addition braces are needed to support the tail-plane without which it will easily deflect an inch up and down. I`ve therefore added two brace wires which tie the tailplane to the bottom lower fuselage sides. It doesn`t deflect at all now and is much more re-assuring.

The upper wing incidence angle is sorted by cropping 14mm off the length of the two front cabane struts, then re-drilling two bolt holes 14mm lower. A bend in the strut also needs to be re-instated 14mm lower down the strut..... Its not really what one should have to do to a kit costing £240. So I`ve done that mod as well. I also have to improve the aileron differential.

So this Chinese kit is in my opinion, somewhat under-developed as a basic kit offering. Hopefully between us all, we can make some reasonable improvements with perhaps the 71" Flair kit helping us. I understand Ian G has one of these and can add something to the conversation. In the meantime, caution needs to be the thing until we iron out the bugs.

Comments appreciated please.

Mike

[Roger 0]

Hi Mike,

I have registered to make a comment on the above.  I am actually  the (rather antiquated) aerodynamicist that George mentions and possibly on of the first to build  the triplane from his kit..  I have to say that I found the kit excellent although there were one or two niggles.  I found Bob Lewis' videos on the build extremely useful and incorporated some of his suggestions.  Bob raised the CG problem that I passed on to George  As far as the wing incidence was concerned I had slight difficulty in persuading George that ther was a problem.  Two quick sketches prove that there is no way that the wings can be set up correctly with front and back struts of equal length.  Dancing wings have acknowledged that the CG position was wrong on the instruction sheet but have still to give a satisfactory answer to the strut length.  Like you I sawed a bit off one strut, rebent it and drilled a hole.  Mine was 15 mm compared top your 14mm.  I was interested to see your enlarges rudder and will be keen to hear if it does the trick.  (My flying days are over  so I am waiting for a test pilot for my Fokker.  

Meanwhile I have been scribbling a Sopwith Pup to the same scale using many of the construction techniques on the triplaneSopwith camel.pdfSopwith camel.pdf

[Mike.K 60]

Roger.

Totally delighted to hear from you. I had hoped we might hook up some time.

(Late edit) Contact now established between us. Most useful.

In short, I think your involvement and that of Rob Lewis saved the day as for as the Dr1 is concerned. It was obvious the incidence of the top wing was incorrect and you both came up with a solution which might otherwise have eluded us for many a long month.

George has also seen this thread which he read with interest. A link to it was also sent to DW for their information and perusal. It must of hit the spot down there in China, because they immediately mailed and thanked me for the thread and requested I review their next production offering!

I much enjoyed building the Dr1l but as said above, there were several issues needing important attention. The C of G issue was a glaring error. We all saw that immediately and corrected that in an instant.

The tail-plane and rudder were other obvious areas for major attention. DW in my opinion failed to understand that the tail structure, together with the torsionally weak rear fuselage needs some slight increase in cross sectional area and a revision to structure based on the I-beam principle. I see revisions as very necessary to impart a reasonable degree of structural stiffness. That Rob and I both added tail braces was proof enough that there is a substantial defect in design as regards the tail-plane.

Rob Lewis and I are currently both involved with trial building the latest DW offering...their Fiesler Storch which frustratingly also has the same type of rigidity issues. I`m a bit ahead on that build so have been able to ping Rob some images which I hope will assist him. Kits were sent to us both about three weeks ago for evaluation. I`ve had to address tail weakness on that model also. I have increased tail plane depth by 2mm by cross grain sheeting the basic DW structure to impart some torsional stiffness and strength. Indeed the leading edge of the elevators snapped on me as I lifted it off the building board...... One appreciates that the tail end of almost any model must be kept as light as possible, but DW in my opinion fail do not understand that this must not be at the expense of lack of intrinsic air frame strength or structural integrity. In the case of the Storch then, I have agreed to compile a report on my build findings once the model is finished. Presently, it is about 70% done and should be complete in about ten days.

George has been kept in the loop as regards the build of the Storch and has seen images of the areas which concern me on that model. Having been involved with two DW offerings now, my personal opinion is that the design and kits are under-developed in several areas. This is a shame because the core product and concepts deserve to be winners. I`ve also built both the Taiwanese SFM SE5a and their Fokker DV11 which build perfectly and fly even better. If the offerings from DW and SFM were placed side by side for comparison, then DW would struggle badly in the contest and SFM would romp home as winners leaving DW to trail in the dust. If DW could only come to understand what modellers require and indeed demand, then they might then become competitive. I`d like DW to make better kits. Whether that will ever happen is debatable. They will have to run hard to catch up with SFM.

The incidence issue was irksome and very concerning until you came up with the solution after which George pinged me a "heads up". We immediately spoke together about the problem. At the same time, I saw Rob Lewis`s RC Model Geeks videos and made contact with him. I was further able to brainstorm the problem. Thereafter, further words with George allowed him to see that there were issues with the development of the Dr1 kit and he took the matter up with DW direct. The problem is that the DW sales guy speaks English but the CAD man doesn`t! Thereby perhaps lays the nub of the matter.  Details get lost and dumbed down in translation. "Chinglish" is not the ideal lingo with which to discuss aerodynamic subtleties!!

Having seen Robs videos of his DR1 in action, I have to admit to being rather shocked by what transpired. Rob had a most difficult maiden flight with the DR1 which left him clearly shaken and verbally dumb-struck. The model did not fly well initially but Rob later did a little more work to help some of the problem areas. Then winter set in and the 2018 flying drew to a close. This coincided with the conclusion of my own model build with my model being moth-balled for the winter pending better flying conditions. I don`t think Rob has latterly flown his example since his final 2018 flying session concluded. So it sounds to me as if we all have dormant Dr 1 models awaiting the 2019 flying season. Frankly, with more that three hundred hours invested in the building of my example, I`m almost terrified to have it flown! Lets hope it doesn`t end up as my five year old Grand-daughter once described it as potentially "A very expensive but exquisite little ornament"!

Good to chat on the phone this morning, Roger.

All the best.

Mike K