Dyke Delta
get used to is making hinges out of glue! Usually one uses adhesives to hold some- thing in place or immobilize it. In this case, one is using the adhesive to not only attach the control surface, but also depend on the flexible nature of the cured adhesive to func- tion as the actual hinge for the control sur- face. By being full length, the hinge is also sealed aerodynamically making the control surface more effective by eliminating the leakage along the hinge line associated with other methods of mechanically hinging a control surface. The closest thing in the cur- rent modeling world to this would be the MonoKote type hinge usually seen on the smaller R/C and C/L models. This is actual- ly a big advantage in making the control surface more effective. One other thing worthy of note is that
when installing the controls you simply cut a hole just big enough to fit the servo and then glue it in place with the same Welders glue used elsewhere on the model. Because most of these models are very
similar in nature and many are made from kits, the primary way that the builders dif- ferentiate their models from their peers is very much like that of the R/C helicopter and R/C car enthusiasts. That is with a very distinctive and unusual paint scheme. As the model itself can be fairly quickly assem- bled and rigged by proportion, a good deal of the time spent in the construction here is
spent in elaborate paint schemes and fancy air brush technique. If this is your first one of this type of air-
craft and you intend to try learning how to fly in this particular style, it is highly rec- ommended that you not construct a “golden calf” for yourself and end up with something that you are not prepared to put at risk. Keep the design of the paint scheme as sim- ple as possible and yet still easily visible and pleasing. You will also want to make the top and the bottom look very different in some way so that you tell them apart easily. Fortunately most Dyke Deltas covered in
the media have fairly simple color schemes, even if the top and the bottom are very sim- ilar. I painted mine using a product called “Faskolor” paint for Lexan by Parma Inter- national Inc. There is a large selection of bright pleasing colors and when properly thinned with water, it air brushes on to the EPP foam very nicely and is easy to work with and also easy to clean up with no messy thinners and no bad vapors. The use of the airbrush also keeps the added weight down on the model. It had been years since I last used my airbrush so I was really out of prac- tice and yet the model came out looking great with this product. I also bordered the colors with black trim
lines using a “Sharpie” permanent marker. In fact I have heard about some of the flyers decorating their models using only the col-
ored “Sharpie” type markers for application of trim and color. So decoration of these type models is really open to a lot of different styles. Just remember that if you want your plane to hover and fly well that you do need to keep the weight well down to or under the prescribed limits. You could say that in dec- orating these models weight and your imag- ination are your only limits. Also remember that the darker colors do
color more completely and provide stronger contrast for less weight. Lighter colors take more paint to get the proper effect. The shade of yellow I used gave good coverage, but did require more for proper coverage than the black. Still, I don’t regret the choice as the effect I was going for gave very grat- ifying results. Keep it light and keep it bright. One other reason that these models are
quite durable is that they are fairly light weight. There is a listing of the component weights for this project as well as some of the additional equipment on page 43. Mine weighed in at 183 grams (61⁄2 ounces) with- out the flight battery installed in the air- craft. The 315 mAh three-cell flight battery weighs in at 1.5 ounces with the connector installed to connect with the 10-amp ESC. This would give a total flying weight of about 8 ounces ready to fly. The E-flite Park 300 motor used on the model would just barely support its own
Full-size plans available through Carstens Bookstore
www.carstensbookstore.com 40
Order Plan CD440 for $11.00 JUNE 2012
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