Rudi’s Fokker E-III ‘Eindecker’ Build

[Hammer]

Congrats Rudi - thats awesome!

[Tomcat1]

Congrats on the first flight Rudi, your three years of hard work have really paid off, she is a STUNNER
I do have a question though, when and where do we get to see her in the air over PTA east area (Willows/Silverlakes enroute to Kitty Hawk)?????

[FLYGUYS]

Awesome Rudi, a big well done to you
Wish you lots of happy landings and look forward to seeing it at some fly ins

[pietmeyer]

Awesome Rudi. Waneer en waar kan ons die mooi Fokker kom bekyk? Wat van n breakfast flip Brits toe?
Kan nie wag om haar in regte lywe te sien nie

[RudiGreyling]

Your approach and landing looked very fast, but I suspect it is just the focal length of the camera.

What was your approach speed? and touchdown/stall speed? Very neat landing by the way.

Oh, and did you NEED that massive slip indicator? I suspect the ball stayed in the middle pretty much ono its own after the first couple of minutes. Yes?

jim

Hi Jim, the fish eye wide lense make it look MUCH faster than it is...Take off was just below 35MPH indicated, so I used +30% = 45MPH as target over the fence for first landing and let her bleed it off till touch down just above the runway.
Yip the big slip is just an exaggeration and a talking point/conversation starter now
PS: I like puddle jumper, she has also been affectionately called a "Noddy Airplane" by someone this week

[RudiGreyling]

Congrats on the first flight Rudi, your three years of hard work have really paid off, she is a STUNNER
I do have a question though, when and where do we get to see her in the air over PTA east area (Willows/Silverlakes enroute to Kitty Hawk)?????

Thanks Tomcat, but I have to fly off at least 25 hours of proving flight, from home base, not allowed outlandings yet.

[RudiGreyling]

Awesome Rudi. Waneer en waar kan ons die mooi Fokker kom bekyk? Wat van n breakfast flip Brits toe?
Kan nie wag om haar in regte lywe te sien nie

Piet, sal nog 'n rukkie vat voor sy toegelaat word om op ander vliegvelde te land. Kondisie van "Proving Flight" is minimum 25 ure en 100KM radius net van die Coves af. Maar jy is baie welkom om vir haar te kom kuier en in te vlieg Coves toe...reel met my privaat offline...Groete

[ppakotze]

Well done Rudi! Looks great, but you need your leather jacket and silk scarf still.

Regards
P.

[Theuns v V]

Jou aerie lyk great, wel gedaan.
Nou moet ek my Nieuport bou om jou te kom rondjaag LOL

T

[RudiGreyling]

Build the Dream, Live the legend, Fly your Own Fighter!
Bare Bones, Grass Roots, Stick and Rudder Flying

Good Morning Avi8tors,

This is pure FUN: Some Feedback and photos from Test Flight #3 and #4:

1) Flew for about 45 mins during 2 test flights on the weekend
2) Got a chance to test my WW1 leather pilot cap and goggles (Cap and goggles help with wind, but goggles create a little bit of tunnel vision as you loose peripheral vision a bit.) Will fit a windscreen a little later during test flying.
3) Prop now very close to proper pitch setting. Can go Full throttle at any stage of flight without worrying of redline RPM.
4) CHT temperature now nicely in range, as configured as J-Type senders.
5) EGT temperatures good and in close proximity of each other.
6) Oil Temperature a little cold, just below 80 degrees (Preferred operating temperature is 80-120 Deg C.) I will blank off the oil cooler with a bit of Velcro Strap, that I can remove during hot summer months.
7) Landings good at 45MPH approach and keeping power over the fence and then flying 1 ft along the runway before closing power. If you close the power to soon, this draggy airplane looses speed and power too quick too high in the flare.
Pitch is sensitive, roll rate is slow (will fit aileron gap seals later to improve)
9) Cruises at 55MPH and 5200 RPM, lots more testing to do.
10) Slightly 'heavy' left wing during flight. I have adjusted the wing rigging by increasing the angle of attack of the left wing for it to produce more lift, to lift that wing back up during flight, and will see if it improves the 'heavy' wing. If not I will decrease the AoA of Right Wing, for the Right wing to dump a bit of lift. We will see during next test flights if it helps and if I need to adjust it more.

Here are some photos.









Groete
Rudi

[V5 - LEO]

....I am gobsmacked, lyk pragtig en na baie pret!

[Jan]

Congratulations Rudi - this is really an awesome project and it seems so much fun to fly.
You need a fun meter on the panel, but I suspect it will be sitting at maximum and in the red all the time

[jimdavis]

I had to go back to a photo on page 24 to see how the suspension works. It looks like a very neat idea. Rudi, does it work reasonably well?

jim

[Tomcat1]

Build the Dream, Live the legend, Fly your Own Fighter!
Bare Bones, Grass Roots, Stick and Rudder Flying

Good Morning Avi8tors,

This is pure FUN: Some Feedback and photos from Test Flight #3 and #4:

1) Flew for about 45 mins during 2 test flights on the weekend
2) Got a chance to test my WW1 leather pilot cap and goggles (Cap and goggles help with wind, but goggles create a little bit of tunnel vision as you loose peripheral vision a bit.) Will fit a windscreen a little later during test flying.
3) Prop now very close to proper pitch setting. Can go Full throttle at any stage of flight without worrying of redline RPM.
4) CHT temperature now nicely in range, as configured as J-Type senders.
5) EGT temperatures good and in close proximity of each other.
6) Oil Temperature a little cold, just below 80 degrees (Preferred operating temperature is 80-120 Deg C.) I will blank off the oil cooler with a bit of Velcro Strap, that I can remove during hot summer months.
7) Landings good at 45MPH approach and keeping power over the fence and then flying 1 ft along the runway before closing power. If you close the power to soon, this draggy airplane looses speed and power too quick too high in the flare.
Pitch is sensitive, roll rate is slow (will fit aileron gap seals later to improve)
9) Cruises at 55MPH and 5200 RPM, lots more testing to do.
10) Slightly 'heavy' left wing during flight. I have adjusted the wing rigging by increasing the angle of attack of the left wing for it to produce more lift, to lift that wing back up during flight, and will see if it improves the 'heavy' wing. If not I will decrease the AoA of Right Wing, for the Right wing to dump a bit of lift. We will see during next test flights if it helps and if I need to adjust it more.

Here are some photos.









Groete
Rudi

BEAUTIFUL Rudi, at the rate you're going, I'll see her soon in the sky's over my area in the East
By the way, I am NO PRO, but looking at the pics from the front, it does actually look like there is a bit more positive AOA on your right wing, may be the angle pf the pics or even the angle of my eyes

Good luck with further testing, look forward to the updates

[RudiGreyling]

I had to go back to a photo on page 24 to see how the suspension works. It looks like a very neat idea. Rudi, does it work reasonably well?

jim

Hi Jim, They work great! Here is all the details of the construction of the suspension: viewtopic.php?p=1864180#p1864180

The trick, with experimenting during test flying, I have found is to have the bungi's tight enough to have the suspension at it's top position with the plane standing on empty weight on the stop, but just loose enough when the pilot gets in to ride away from the stops to actually get a suspension feel without hitting the stops.