Camel build

I think that what you have is what the colorists call a CHANGELING where the color acts differently in incandescent light then it does in ultra-violet and sun light. As A wannabe artist I have found that my colors change when I look at a painting in daylight vs. normal incandescent bulb light. I paint in color corrected lighting at night when I must keep at it but as any artist, I mostly paint in daylight.
Sure anxious to see the Camel on its own legs ready to go.
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I don't think that I described changeling properly. Colors will APPEAR warmer or cooler in warm or cool light. A changeling changes its color as you described ie. from green to brown. Re flattener. When we repainted the L-3 we added Syloid 78 to the paint. I have an article on WW2 paint that explains the origin of the British " Type S". They found that looking at the captured or downed German aircraft that the paint was smooth and not rough or grainy as were the allied dull camo paints. Soon the paint was changed to the same mix as the german paints and thus became Type Smooth. It also increased cruise speed.

 

Russ- Get it as close as possible on paint and all the details and it will pay dividends. As for the engine, remember, Fred's Camel nearly killed him because it was too realistic. The same thing that killed tons of British pilots in WW-I, low fuel pressure, nearly got Fred killed. As it was, he spent a considerable amount of time in the hospital recuperating. Not sure how his Camel rebuild is coming.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

The original Camel had the main fuel tank behind the cockpit so I assume that Russ's camel will have the same. Fuel pump...engine driven? outside source of power? wind driven? I hadn't thought about that with the new style engine.

 

Russ- WW-I aircraft were usually rigged tail heavy because they spent most of the time climbing. Just about universal back then. The WW-I pilot was actually more like 120-150 lbs. They were much smaller than we are, even me at 5'7". Here is a photo of MvR (5'4") and Friessenhagen. Their feet are dangling from this bench.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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It's a pleasure to see a well thought out approach to a program. I have flown with types who built or restored and then got in "to try it out". Most succeeded. The placement of the fuel tank forward of the cockpit makes sense of the CG considerations since there is no need of an ammo bay there and since you are a bit heavier than the old guys, aerodynamic CG location problems can be eliminated. The absence of weight transfer aft on the ground will help in handling too. Cockpit photos look great and do I see a fuel quantity sight gage on the left?

 

When I looked at that glass tube I cranked up my old head and remembered a couple of airplanes in which I had flown that were equipped with glass sight tubes. My old L-3, the Stearman PT-13, and believe it or not, the B-24. The '24 had a glass tube mounted on the flight deck bulkhead to measure fuel. Scary. It always smelled of fuel.
Another memorable experience with a sight gage was when Joe Hughes aborted his act at Abottsford when the sight tube on his airplane cracked and started to leak. I don't know whether I was stupid or full of bravado but I figured that if I had the correct size plug and a bit of luck, I could unscrew the sight gage and get the plug installed real quick without loosing too much of the 40 gallons of fuel in the tank. We got the plug from the Conair shop and a wrench and performed the operation successfully without too much fuel loss. Stupid? Yes. Lucky ? Yes. Bravado? Back to stupid.
Next year Joe took me to his airplane and showed me an emergency kit in the baggage compartment that contained a spare sight tube, a plug (same one) , and a wrench.
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I forgot to mention that Joe Hughes flew a 650 HP Stearman with a wing walker/rider. First was John Kazian, second Gordy McCollum who was killed at Reno in 1976-77.

 

Russ- If you have a minor problem, you can always play with the angle of incidence of the horizontal tailplane. IIRC, the SE-5a actually had a cockpit control for tailplane incidence, the closest thing they had to trim back then. A similar device was fitted to some German 2 seaters.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I don't know if you can go wrong by adhering to the 25 percent chord rule for initial aerodynamic balance, the good ol' 1/4 MAC. Get that established with you and the fuel in it and you shouldn't have a problem. You are a careful and thinking pilot and that is a huge plus in this show.

 

Russ, I got restless before lunch and I decided to take a shot at where the CG should end up. I have some drawings of the Camel, quite small but dimensioned, and I just had to settle my curiosity with a stab at CG location on the airplane. I'll admit that it is a rough sketch and not the final word but I took a crack at finding out where the CG might be based on what I have.It'll be interesting to see how close I came when you and the crew work it out.
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Russ,

I'm a bit suprised that you haven't put together a excel spreadsheet that you can use to keep track of the weight and the CG. I wouldn't take more than a few minutes to get it started and you could, with a relatively inexpensive electronic scale get a really good idea of where you are with the whole thing. You can weigh whatever you have up to now and find the CG of that, and then weigh what parts aren't on the whole thing, figure a location and load them into the spreadsheet.

Better to know now while you can still move things about as opposed to getting it a lot further along and saying "whoops" and then having to move stuff around.....

While it isn't perfect it could save you a lot of grief later.

 

I just had a gut feeling that moving the tank forward and your modern stature would put the CG a bit forward, which is good.I have assumed that the Rotec is about the same weight or somewhat lighter than the rotary. There is nothing quite as frightening is flying something that wants to squat in spite of everything you try to keep it from doing it. Sensitive buttocks and a gentle stick doesn't work every time.

 

Subscribed.

I recently found out that you can buy 80% and 90% replicas of the Spitfire ... which I had the money as I'd be interested in building one of those kits.
Pete

 

Russ,

That's great, it's surprising how accurate these things can be be, the sum of the errors tend to work themselves out. As the old saying goes... "It's much like a partner that moans in bed, it's not that it's so pleasant to hear, but it's nice to let you know how you're doing"

 

Oh, If I was younger and a bit richer I would have an SE5 at your wing tip. Somewhere I have an in-flight shot of my flying in formation with the Pietenpol. Those were the days.
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