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Mike Evans - Schueler DG-500 Severn Steps to Heaven. March 2003 was the start of this journey. They say that all journeys start with one step, my first step followed several months of trawling the Internet for a large-scale glider project. I was drawn to several models ranging from the Rhosenthal ASW28 at 5mts and a very pretty looking Puchaz. But my heart kept coming back to the Schuler DG505, there were several reasons why, the first and probably the most significant was a concern for buying something over the Internet that I had not seen in the flesh. All of my other choices would have involved a certain leap of faith; with the Shueler I knew the quality would be first class. Step 1. An email was dispatch to Rheinhard enquiring about availability. To say that I was surprised when I received a reply stating a four-week delivery time would be a vast understatement. Three weeks later Rheinhard mailed me to say the model would be ready for the following week as arranged, and did I want him to start organising a large timber-shipping crate. I decided that a short weekend break was more in order and promptly booked a ferry crossing to Calais for Liz and myself. Crossing late Friday evening and then spending a few hours driving down into Belgium before pulling over into one of the large overnight stops that are prevalent in Europe made an easy start to the journey. Before leaving home we had set a double airbed into the back of the Mondeo. We woke early after 4 or 5 hours sleep used the facilities and continued the drive down into Germany stopping off for a walk and a bite to eat on the banks of the Rhine at Cologne.
I speak no German and Rheinhard only has limited English but over the next few hours, we spoke model. In a demonstration of how strong his moulded wings are, an old wing panel from a 6mtr ASH26 was brought with considerable gusto straight down onto a worktop – leading edge first. The workshop walls rang with the noise but following this dramatic demonstration I could see no damage on the wing. Rheinhard also explained how the DG would 'fly like the Fox' in its shorter wing option. This had also been a deciding factor in choosing the DG. To be able to fly the model at 6.3mtrs when thermal hunting and cruising but having the ability to remove the outer tip panels and fly in howling gales and perform flick manoeuvres should keep me amused.
Step 2. Take one step backwards. This is not a model to take on lightly, this is not a kit, there are no instructions, and there is no set route to follow. Looking back at it now I guess that I was lucky that my model room was a little small, and with the holiday season upon us I was forced to keep my hands off for the next few months. Time to formulate my ideas. One thing that I did do was to wrap the fuz in an old towel held in place with masking tape and also to tape completely around the nose area. Liz made a couple of fleece wing bags and with as much of the building as possible actually being carried out with the wings in or on these bags, they have proved their worth in protecting the finish,
Step 3. Garage finished and winter upon us – time to set too. Position and cut out the holes for the tail wheel, nose wheel and the retract wheel – CUT !-- argh!!. Fashion a few formers to hold the Fema retract and support the wing joiner. I decided to fit a complete former at the rear of the wing seating rather than just bridging between them, the idea being to keep the fuz cross section in shape as this would stop any crushing loads and spread them completely around the fuz. Its important when fitting formers into glass fuselages if you donÕt want them to deform the moulding, to make sure that you do not force them into place – far better to fit loosely with a fillet of microballons and epoxy and then if needed a further tie in with a layer of carbon or glass cloth. Multiplex Profi digi servos were fitted in the wings and the wiring twisted and run back to 9 pin computer plugs at the root. I have found that using very thin and slightly opaque epoxy board to mark out positions for fitments like these works very well. The board can be drilled to slip over the wing joiner bar and the wing section then traced onto the board with a fine tip felt pen. With the board held firmly in place drill through the board into the root for the incidence pins and then remove and reverse the board onto the fuz and drill matching holes. Repeat the procedure for the computer plugs and wing locks etc. The epoxy board is so stable that positioning will be very accurate.
Captive bolts were fitted for the tail plane and the incidence checked and set at 1.5deg. Elevator servo and also a bellcrank were fitted in to the tail fin. The bellcrank allows a closed loop to run along the fuz to the rudder servo mounted on to the side of the retract former and also allow short metal rods and clevises to exit from the fin post so that the rudder could be removed and reconnected easily. Most of the summer had been spent thinking of ways to achieve a sound canopy hinge and latch that would allow the canopies to open and sit like the full size but also be totally removable for maintenance. A job made more difficult by the curve that exists along the canopy frame. The solution involved making hinges that would pivot lower than the canopy frame line and therefore throw the canopy outwards during operation. To achieve a secure latch the only solution was to follow the full size so a release handle that operates two shoot bolts was mounted onto each canopy frame. The canopy latch is operated through the canopy window. The electrics for such large-scale models are always a time for a considerable amount of head scratching – do you KISS (keep it simple stupid) or build in redundancy at every opportunity. My final solution was to install two five cell 2700mah flight battery packs that run through two mechanically linked but separate heavy duty switches before connecting with a MPX 12 channel IPD receiver which has a built in battery backer system. I have also installed a third five cell 800mah AAA pack that has been wired through a separate switch, and then its positive feed has been run directly to the three aerotow servos, retract, retract brake and aerotow release. The main idea was to take the retract servo out of the main flight battery loop. The other 2 servos were joined in to this loop to help reduce the draw on the main packs and Step 4 Choose a scale colour scheme. The Faulkes Flying Foundation is a charity that has been set up to encourage youngsters to develop an interest in flying. In their fleet of aircraft they have four DG505 one of which during the summer of 2003 became based at the Midland Glider Station on the Long Mynd. By pure coincidence I was driving back over the hill returning from a day working in Wales and noticed this new acquisition being taken out of its trailer, as it turned out for the first time. I welcomed the opportunity to help rig – but a further trip was needed with the camera to gather all the detail shots that proved invaluable in the next stage of fitting out. Step 5
Step 6. Remove the masking tape and towel wrap from the fuz, and plan out the stickers. Some of the smaller details were created using Coral Draw and printed out onto labels that were then sealed with a top covering of diamond tape. The main stickers were produced for me directly from the originals full size file. I estimate that over 500hours have been spent in completing this model to its current state. It could never be called work, most of the time it would be better described as fiddling. As I said earlier there are no plans and no one way to achieve the final result, and consequently a lot of time can be taken in planning or if that fails reworking. The scale detail is the real time consumer; whenever I was in doubt as to how to proceed I referred back to the full size for inspiration. Step 7 With the model completed and resplendent in it FFF colour scheme the day of reckoning was drawing near. As I predominantly fly from the slope my preferred choice was a 10mph westerly to allow the first flight to take place from Pole Cot slope on the Long Mynd. I also wanted to try and find time for a few nice photos of the model together with the full size, preferably before its maiden flight. Not that I wasnÕt confident that all would go well but – there are no certainties. I thought Christmas had come early when Dr Dill Faulkes offered to take me for a fly in the real DG and a date was tentatively fixed. Come the day it was a 10 mph westerly with big white fluffy clouds and very bright sunshine – was I dreaming. I arrived at the glider station to meet Mike Wollard and Colin Knowles who had flown up from Dunstable in the Faulkes Motor Glider. Mike welcomed the opportunity to fly the Mynd again and have the chance to check over Jezebel at here new home. After the obligatory photo shoot it was time for my first flight in the full size. I have never flown before in any light aircraft, and a winch launch is as good a place as any to start. A few deep breaths seemed to keep everything in place – wow what a way to fly. If you have never had a go then book yourself a flight right now! Mike spent the next 15 minutes scratching around for some lift, all around us gliders were running for home, but the DG held on, and finally after spinning the glider round on a wing tip for most of that time we managed to reach 3000ft height gain. Mike gave me a quick run through the controls and a then gave me a few exercises to practice on how to balance the rudder and aileron controls. It was very surprising just how much adverse yaw the glider experiences if no rudder is applied. The next half hour was spent with Mike having a quick forty winks in the back seat while I toured the ridge and tried to work the odd thermal. The techniques used are the same as model flying it just takes time to get used to the stick and rudder movements required, but all started to feel reasonably natural very quickly. Mike then took the control back and threw the glider into a few manoeuvres, a loop quickly followed with several chandelles and finally a negative G manoeuvre that I'm sure was designed to test my stomach, which up to this point had been coping very well. Luckily we landed a few seconds later and the decor remained a better colour than I did. A fantastic experience and I am indebted to the Faulkes foundation for giving me this opportunity. Have a look at their web pages http://www.fffoundation.co.uk/ you may find their services to be useful.
A fair amount of grunting and tightening of belts took place, but eventually Tony was lined up at the end of the runway and given the nod for take off. Unfortunately for Tony he didn't take off but fell flat on his face. In a final last gasp effort to heave the model forward at the end of his run his legs could take no more. Hey - but what the Hell the DG had flexed its wings and despite sliding off the side of the hill with only a couple of feet of altitude she was away and looking every bit the part. A couple of clicks of up trim were needed and in the light lift a little thermal flap was also introduced. Now the DG was settled and Tony had stopped groaning we could all settle back and enjoy the flight. The first impressions were of how slow the DG is able to fly, speed is always the giveaway when comparing models against their full size counterparts. With the model I had set 50% differential on the ailerons (to reduce any effects of adverse yaw) but had not mixed any rudder in, but even so the turns needed to be flown with careful rudder input to keep the fuselage angle in the turns looking just right. The feedback that the model was giving me was very close to the experience of the real flight I had had earlier. With the flaps away and the nose pushed down the speed quickly builds and the model transforms into an elegant aerobatic ship. First manoeuvres tried were several large and impressive chandelles and then although not a scale manoeuvre a few stall turns with very late and very slow flips over the top with pure rudder input. Very impressive. Loop and roll came next – slow big and graceful – but thatÕs what I asked for – next one much faster and with a perfect if somewhat tight arc running through the wings in the loop still no problem – fast roll - surprisingly fast – but a very interesting S shape running through the wings as they coped with the forces I was imposing on them. With just a nice (small) amount of down elevator held in Inverted can be sustained easily. Fifteen minutes and time to land to check everything is still in place. With crow braking as well as spoilers set into the model the DG easily slowed and felt completely unruffled, even at what must have been around 3mph ground speed and less than 10mph total air speed. In a stronger wind I feel confident that slope landings will be able to be carried out with 0mph ground speed. Everything checked out and Tony was dusted down and again placed on the end of the runway. This time (and every launch since) with the elevator trim set and the flap dialled in the DG lifted out of his hands and away totally uneventfully. A very welcome sight that should mean that I will be able to fly much more often in more varied conditions and from more inhospitable slopes. I still haven't flown the model in its shorter wing variant, but all the signs are that it will be just as Reinhardt said very able to 'fly with the Fox' UpDate – in a 35mph wind off PoleCot without the tip extensions it was simply awesome, rolls, bunts, squares – what-ever you liked all were as fast and as controlled as you could wish for. No wing flex to be seen and never once did the model give me any cause for concern – it simply oozed confidence, and asked for more..
The DG moved around the sky from patches of dissolving thermal with very little height loss and gained height very impressively when centred. I start to get bored at anything over around 500feet, as I said IÕm really a slope flyer, and consequently there were many occasions were height was lost deliberately but it was still over an hour later when I chose to land. To sum up there are many easier models to build these days, but I can't think of any that I would replace this model with. I have thoroughly enjoyed the research, the building, the travelling the flying and the friendships that have resulted from this total experience. If there is a down side it has to be ' what next'? Mike Evans |
When we arrived at Rheinhards workshop; he was still hard at work removing the canopy frames from their moulds. The wings were propped up against the workshop wall and the fuz was sitting glistening on one of his large workbenches. I tried hard to look nonchalant but inside my heart was racing, what a model, would I ever be ready to fly such a large and perfectly finished (shiny) model. This was quite a jump from my current largest ship a Purbeck ASW 27.
Our intention had been to spend the night in a local hotel with a nice bottle of wine, but once the model was loaded in the car we decided to make a small start on the return journey. Stopping off at a large hypermarket we took advantage of the many bargains to be had – not just beer and wine. It had by now become obvious that there was no way that we could leave all these items alone in the car, so back in the hypermarket to buy a couple of aero elastics to enable the wing panels to be held aloft during another night spent on a Belgian roadside stopover. I have to say that this did in fact turn out to be a great way to travel, being able to drive late when the traffic was light and stop easily and start early were advantages that would have been difficult to take if booked into a hotel. Back in Calais and any remaining nooks and crannies that the Mondeo had were filled with duty free wines and spirits.
The next few months passed with little actual work-taking place on the model but ideas were gathered over the Internet from other modellers all over the world. It also became obvious that the garage was the place to build it, so work started on plastering and refitting out the garage as a workshop. Liz has never been so enthused, she normally hates models but so far she had had a trip to Europe, and more work done on the house than I had done for years and to top it all off had had a great summer working her way through a very well stocked wine cellar.
5mm stainless steel incidence pegs were fitted into the wings and 5mm captive nuts were drilled clear of their threads and then epoxied to the inside of the wing root to give position and extra support to the incidence pins. Multiplex wing locks (two for each wing) were also fitted to the roots.
therefore maintain better voltage to the receiver. This set-up has resulted in the advantage that when switching the model on to check the flight surfaces etc the retract will not operate. ItÕs all to easy to switch on with the tranny switch in the wrong position resulting in stalled retract servo or worse. The battery packs were made with separate leads for charging and had I thought about it earlier I would have wired these into the computer plugs at the wing root. This would have allowed easy access to charging.
Not so much a step as a hop, skip and jump. Fitting out one cockpit on a scale model is bad enough but the DG is a twin seater. When you have just completed your rear panel with its nine instruments and various other add-ons', you can start on the front console, a further eleven instruments. Then the side cheeks, flap controls front and back, air vents, canopy emergency releases, canopy windows the list goes on and on. To just finish me off I also needed two full length pilots. Axel would be an easy choice but the cost of two would go along way towards another model. I shouldn't really make it out as such a chore – Several months in by now and I had reason to talk to my wife again. 'Liz how would you like to knock up a few pairs of trousers and tops to fit these foam bodies I've just made?' Pete Richardson of Pete's Pilots didn't have a 3.5 scale resin head he could offer but with a little persuasion a new head was soon added to his range.
Could this day get any better – well yes it could as I was now standing on Pole cot with the wind around 7mph smack up the slope and Tony had arrived to give the all important heave-ho. Not a task to be taken lightly (if you will excuse the pun).
I had flown a couple of aerotow events last year with my ASW27. At 1⁄4 scale the ASW found several holes in runways and tried to create a few of its own with the resultant whippers. The model survived all these incidents but my confidence for aerotow was severely scared. Lord's Hill that's the place – billiard green grass – the perfect place for a first test. Bigger model, bigger wheel, smaller holes all added up to the perfect fix for my lacking confidence. Slightly larger tugs would have made life even easier but may have detracted from the spectacle of a 30 yd tow before leaving terra firma followed by a very gentle scale like climb out.