Samolot DKD III (oz3741)

About this Plan

Samolot DKD. Free flight rubber scale model.

Quote: "Here's a Polish Peanut with an added bonus: twice Peanut-size plans are available too; build either or both and you'll have a good-flying, out-of-the-ordinary model of a Polish lightplane.

There are a lot of reasons that a model builder might want to build a model of a specific full-size aircraft. The possession of a good three-view of an obscure design is enough to trigger off this builder. In the case of the Samolot DKD lll, once the three-view was at hand the registration letters P-PAWD was all that was needed.

Now anyone could tell you that a Pea Pod would have to be green, and my intention was to cover the model with green tissue until I talked to Bill Hannan who said he had some data on colors in the Polish language and we could decipher the information I had and do the model in the correct color scheme. Sooooo, after a good bit of head scratching, we determined that the model should be dark blue with black letters and white pin stripes. The model in the photos is covered and decorated accordingly.

Shortly after the model was completed, Bill said he had some information that would make me hate him. At the next meeting of the Scale Staffel Tommy Wilson brought in a translation done by a Polish friend and Bill said he had received a Polish Profile both of which gave the main color as Dark Green. Wot a revoltin' development! Well, anyway the photos are only black and white, so they are OK. Unless the model gets recovered its not likely to get a lot of points from the scale judges at any of the Flight Masters contests, however. So be it, if you like the Samolot DKD lll, you can finish it in the proper colors.

The DKD III is reminiscent of the Fokker D VIII in its aerodynamic configuration. The size of the horizontal and vertical tail is proportionately larger and thus the DKD III model should be somewhat easier to trim out satisfactorily for flight. The configuration is also somewhat more angular in appearance and is therefore of interest. The model is built with all the movable control surfaces as separate entities.

The model in the photos was built twice Peanut scale size and the plans are dimensioned accordingly. Divide all the dimensions given by two if you intend to build a Peanut Scale version directly off the magazine plans.

There are four major structural components that must be constructed and the details required to complete the model. The major components are the fuselage, the wing, the horizontal tail, and the vertical tail. The details include, the dummy engine, the landing gear, the wing and cabane struts, and the propeller/thrust bearing/ propeller hook assembly.

The major components structures are built up using balsa sticks and ribs or formers cut out of sheet balsa.

The wing structure is composed of ribs R-1 through R-12, the leading edge, top and bottom main and rear spars, aileron attach spars, aileron spars, wing cutout outlines, gussets, and trailing edges. The ailerons are made so they can be separated from the wing and therefore adjustable for flight trimming. It is probably best to build the wing and the ailerons at the same time so that the whole assembly will fit together without the tolerance problems that would be likely if the ailerons were constructed separately.

Cut all the wing ribs from the correct thickness sheet balsa. Pin the bottom main and rear spars down over the plan, and cement ribs R-1 through R-10 in place on top of them. Cement the aileron attach spars in place and temporarily locate a 1/32nd-thick spacer between them and the aileron spars. Cement the aileron rib parts of R-6 through R-9, and ribs R-11 and R-12 to the aileron spar. Cement the wing trailing edge in place at the rear of the ribs. (Because the wing ribs have under camber the bottom rear spar must be elevated above the plan by about 1/16th inch during wing assembly.) Now add the wing cutout outline parts between the spar and the aft end of ribs R-2. These parts are cut from 3/32 sheet balsa. Four are required, two at the lower spar and two later when the top spars have been installed.

While the wing structure is still pinned to the plan, cement the leading edge stick in place. It will have to be shimmed up above the plan to properly fit on the forward end of the ribs. Cut the wing leading and trailing edges at the dihedral break locations and raise each tip..."

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

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