Official Black Horse 1724mm Dornier DO335 Pfeil ("Arrow") Thread

[Twowingtj]

For those that missed the first shipment, the Do-335s are back in stock.

[MrSmoothie]

There should be a coil spring inside the strut.

Of course that makes sense -- but when I look into the end of the strut, there's something solid, and in fact, you can push against it with a screwdriver (and it gives, as would a spring). It's as if there's a part under the spring that the oleo shaft pushes against.

An aside -- I just compared the original nose strut, which has been very stiff from the start, to the new BH strut (got the last one at MRC) -- the replacement strut is much more giving. The original one was very difficult to compress. I wasn't going to switch to the new strut quite yet, but changed my mind. However, I did replace the strut pin (between strut and retract) with a length of 5mm K&S music wire cut to the same length.

[Twowingtj]

MrSmoothie There should be a coil spring inside the strut. I've often cut a coil or two off the spring to get the compression feel I like. Thanks for the tips as well.

OV10 I'll see what I can do. Sometimes there's not much planning ahead as "predictable" as our weather's been lately.

[MrSmoothie]

Hey, I'm looking into what's available to replace (to start) the nose gear strut. I feel like the "oleo" is way too stuff, and I'm finally starting to experience minor bending both at the oleo as well as the strut pin at the top. Not hard to straighten out, but of course it rebends more easily now. Does anybody make something the same size, equally as strong, but with a "cushier" oleo action? I'm new to models this size and unfamiliar with what else might be out there.

took one of the stock nose struts apart (I have a spare) to see what's in there -- and it doesn't appear to be a spring -- or if it is, it doesn't come out easily. What could it be?

[CF-105]

A little trick a professional photographer taught me years ago to reduce this kind of visual distortion -- back away from the subject and then zoom in with your lens. You can test the same effect on another person. Getting close the subject will make their nose look huge. Back up and zoom in, an their nose will appear correctly.


The spinners look great and from all I've heard are top-notch quality. I won't tell you the hours I put into the design of my spinners, let alone all the prints I made. But I did learn a lot in the process which was a goal. The only advantage mine have is a very close to scale profile. I'm just glad they have held up well.

BTW, the Master Airscrew logos come off quite easily with acetone. Luftwaffe blades at this time didn't have any graphics or even yellow tips, so just didn't look right to me. From what I've read, they weren't even black (!) but a very dark green! I couldn't bring myself to do that however, haha.

Yeah, Luftwaffe props are what I'd call a "black-green". Had a chance a few years back to see the FW-190 from the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum at an air show; they had it right.

[OV10]

Twowingtj I'd like to see the maiden on this beast. Please let me know when ya gonna do it that is if you don't mind witnesses :stuck_out_tongue_wi

[Twowingtj]

paladin Thanks Joe. I'm looking forward to getting it done and in the air. Trish is starting work on her Nexa JU-52 this week. It looks like a regular airplane factory around here .

[paladin]

looks good tony!

[MrSmoothie]

The pic of the front spinner makes it look more elongated than it is.

A little trick a professional photographer taught me years ago to reduce this kind of visual distortion -- back away from the subject and then zoom in with your lens. You can test the same effect on another person. Getting close the subject will make their nose look huge. Back up and zoom in, an their nose will appear correctly.


The spinners look great and from all I've heard are top-notch quality. I won't tell you the hours I put into the design of my spinners, let alone all the prints I made. But I did learn a lot in the process which was a goal. The only advantage mine have is a very close to scale profile. I'm just glad they have held up well.

BTW, the Master Airscrew logos come off quite easily with acetone. Luftwaffe blades at this time didn't have any graphics or even yellow tips, so just didn't look right to me. From what I've read, they weren't even black (!) but a very dark green! I couldn't bring myself to do that however, haha.

[Twowingtj]

The pic of the front spinner makes it look more elongated than it is. The front is a 3" P-51 style and the rear is a 3 1/4" Ultimate style.

[downwind3zero]

Nice! Mine have yet to arrive.

[Twowingtj]

Finally received the spinners from Tru-Turn. Time to finish her up and get to flying. The half white, half black gives an interesting effect in flight. Simular to what was done on the BF-109

[Oxotnik]

Got in another flight of my 335 today. This plane is rock solid in the air. I love the power and speed that it has with the 6S power train.

[Vextren]

I can't wait for these to come back in stock, I missed my window of opportunity on the first batch, but I bet it will go well with my Extreme Flight FW-190 Red Tulip. I can not wait!

[Oxotnik]

I got in another flight of my 335 today. Perfect take off, great flight. Rolls were nice (although I think that i'm going to increase my aileron throws a touch, to speed up the roll rate) and the Immelmans were each (l like the throw of the elevator). On my first landing approach, I almost dumped her as I was turning onto final. All my fault. I'd let her get a little slow and the bank angle too steep. I think that I also hit some turbulence coming off the end of the trees down there (a known problem on windy days). Luckily, I still had plenty of altitude and was able to easily recover from the stall, climb back out, and go around for a better approach, although I still wasn't happy with the landing. My poor old heart was beating 90-to-nothing after the previous botched approach and I think that I was just too damn tense. the landing wasn't horrible, but just barely. As you can tell from my groan at touchdown, I'd been expecting a bad slap-down, but I managed to round out the landing angle just in the nick of time. Better lucky, than good, right? LOL

Just for completeness.
Flight weight: 16.5 lbs
Motors: Freewing 5055-390Kv
Props: MAS 16x10x3
Battery: 6S-8AH
CG: at Mfg Suggested Location

Flight time: about 5.5 minutes
Battery remaining after flight: 50%
Max Speed (ground speed, per FrSky GPS sensor): 87mph, with a 10 wind (so, assume that the max airspeed was 77 mph)

[MrSmoothie]

Question for Alpha, if you are watching:

What kind of paint was used for the canopy frame? I had a helluva time removing it, as it did not react to the usual assortment of solvents. In the end, I had to use Strypeeze which is pretty heavy duty, which dulled the clear plastic a little. Usually isopropyl alcohol takes the paint off of canopies, but that didn't touch it, nor did acetone. I don't think I had any lacquer thinner to try, but now I'm wondering about that.

[MrSmoothie]

I got around to editing some video my father took with his iPad, including the nearly disastrous first takeoff. He ducked for cover so didn't get all of it. He also missed the smooth second flight takeoff (it was!), so points off for that, haha.

Around the 7 minute mark I did a high speed pass -- more impressive when you realize this is nearly six feet long.

https://youtu.be/RtOGe0-P8i8

[MrSmoothie]

So, Nick, now that you've got two flights under your belt, did you have any observations that were different than the flight observations that I've posted?

First, let's discount my first takeoff -- too many adjustments out of whack. I'm still trying to forget it.

I found the plane very stable -- I reduced throws on the elevator of course after the first flight, and dialed back the ailerons after both flights. The first time I rolled it, the plane rotated like it was on a spit. Later slow rolls were great with little to no correction while inverted. This is definitely a plane with no need for stabilization of any type. I thought the second takeoff was excellent -- very easy to keep going straight and it essentially took off when it was ready, with no flaps at all (from Geotex runway). I was a little concerned when I made the first Immelmann; whether it would get over the top easily or barely -- it was no problem at all. It wasn't that wide of an arc, however, and I'd like to open it up a little more next flight and see how it does. I'm not an "inverted flying" guy, so I didn't try that.

As I said, both landings couldn't have been easier, including the first that still had touchy controls and aft CG. Both were fairly flat approaches. I think I made the right move, landing on the grass strip both times -- settled right in with no bounce or anything. Half flap seemed to be just fine, which surprised me -- I normally land all my warbirds with full flaps cranked as far as they'll go. I honestly don't know if I ever tried full flaps at all, or did for a little and went back to half. But I'm sure both landings were half-flap, and if I can replicate those two landings going forward, there's no reason to change.

BTW, I had no shimmy of any kind on my full-throttle passes. At first you might think it's not going all that fast, except when you consider how big it is -- that can be deceptive, speed-wise. I think it was going plenty fast. But clearly, it flies and handles very well at half-throttle or a little more.

I'm really looking forward to flying it again, I can tell you that! The only change I've made for the next flight is reducing aileron throw a bit and adding a little more expo. I generally don't fly with multiple (low/med/high) rates -- I get it to where I like it and leave it.

[MANFRED]

NICE!

[Oxotnik]

So, Nick, now that you've got two flights under your belt, did you have any observations that were different than the flight observations that I've posted?