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Bücker + Segelflugmesse 2024

Written by Robin
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After the crash at the 2023 Segelflugmesse due to the engine overheating, I promised to try again this year and ideally do it better.

The incident last year motivated me to find an optimized engine system that works more reliably, especially in hot temperatures.
One year later we were ready…
The engine is still the same, a Fiala / Valach 250cc 5-cylinder radial engine, but no longer with the classic Walbro carburettor, but from now on with a fully electronic fuel injection.

We are currently in the testing phase with this system and as soon as we have completed this, I will report in detail here. It absolutely convinced me!

I also adjusted my flight program a bit and equipped my Bücker with smoke on the wingtips… check the video below 😉

Thanks Pawel for making the video!

The Segelflugmesse 2024 was again an absolute highlight for me this year. It’s just a shame that the weather didn’t cooperate on friday for the airshow. Saturday was great for that.
A big thank you to Lukas and the hard-working helpers in Schwabmünchen!

After the crash at the 2023 Segelflugmesse due to the engine overheating, I promised to try again this year and ideally do it better.

The incident last year motivated me to find an optimized engine system that works more reliably, especially in hot temperatures.
The engine is still the same, a Fiala / Valach 250cc 5-cylinder radial engine, but no longer with the classic Walbro carburettor, but from now on with a fully electronic fuel injection.

We are currently in the testing phase with this system and as soon as we have completed this, I will report in detail here. It absolutely convinced me!

I also adjusted my flight program a bit and equipped my Bücker with smoke on the wingtips… check the video below 😉

Thanks, Pawel, for making the video!

The Segelflugmesse 2024 was again an absolute highlight for me this year. It’s just a shame that the weather didn’t cooperate on friday for the airshow. Saturday was great for that.
A big thank you to Lukas and the hard-working helpers in Schwabmünchen!

Events, RT DESIGN

GP-14 VELO by Multiplex double carbon

Written by Robin
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I thought about writing a short construction report about this MULTIPLEX plane for a long time and finally decided to do so. Because the new GP-14 VELO by MULTIPLEX is significantly better than its reputation. In a german forum the aircraft and the construction are being trashed, which I personally cannot understand. I built the plane and I`m absolutely convinced by the quality and the flight performance. I think the development team at MPX did a great job with this model, and that’s why I’m sharing a few pictures of the building and nice flights in the mountains.

First of all, it is very commendable that there is a detailed, illustrated instruction manual available for the GP-14, which is a rarity these days. Various installation options are described, whether landing gear, FES or retract EDF, all information can be found in the instructions. The cockpit tub including panel is available as an option from Multiplex. Also a special carbon spinner and a white painted carbon prop is available. For this prop, the hacker service recommended a suitable engine for 6S setup, the A50-16S.

For the linkages in the wing, I didn’t use the standard linkages with Z-wire and fork head, but rather the extremely high-quality installation frames including rudder horns and pushrods from heizkoffer.de. It couldn’t be more playful, rigid and elegant!I still had a pilot in 1:3.5 from Tailored Pilots which fits perfectly into the GP-14 VELO. I drew the rudder pedals in CAD and simply printed them out of PLA and painted them. Thae same I did with the linkage and control horn covers on the wings, they are also printed from white PLA.The 5000 battery is located directly in front of the wing joiner and with the pilot in the cockpit, not a gram of ballast is necessary in the nose for the correct CG!The finish is entirely realized with plotted vinyl stickers.

The power unit by Hacker allows very easy hand launchs and in headwinds, two steps for takeoff were enough. The A50 offers enough power to climb a good 45° with a current consumption of approx. 70A. So with the 5000mAh battery allows 6-7 climbs per flight.

The GP-14 performs fantastically both in thermals and in aerobatics and the pulling power is also very good for a model of this weight and size. With the help of the ACL glider lights on the bottom of the wing, the model can be perfectly recognized or found even at high altitudes or when flying on a slope with a changing background.

All I can say about the GP-14 is: Well done MPX!

RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

GeeBee R2 Restauration!

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My passion for the GeeBee started at the age of 12 and has not changed since then. For a few years I flew an electric powered GeeBee equipped with a Hacker A200 and 2x 12S 5000mAh but sold it in 2019. Last year I had the chance to get another damaged R2 and decided to restore it and install a Fiala 250ccm 5-cylinder radial engine, the same engine I’ve been using in my Bücker for the past 2 years.

 The fuselage was damaged in different areas and it turned out to be much more work than expected. My procedure was as follows:

  • Opened the compressed areas with a cutter until the inner side of the sandwich. Removed the compressed and crumbled support foam.
  • Filled up the opened areas with thick epoxy and sanded it down
  • Put a layer of glass fabric above and sanded again
  • Puttied and sanded all
  • Fillered all fixed areas, sanded and reworked the panel lines with a fine rasp
  • Made rivets out of white glue
  • Repainted red
  • Slightly weathered with black oil color

 The effort was well worth and I am super happy with the result. I hope the model lasts long.

 When I bought the GeeBee I contacted FALCON to produce a scale prop in the correct size for the radial engine. And the result is a stunning 34×18 prop which fits and looks excellent. Even the measurements are almost correct compared to the full size.

 The equipment of the GeeBee is proven in my other models:  Hacker DITEX EL-3214 servos, JETI CB-220 with 2x RSat and RCSW. 2S Hacker ECO-X batteries, ClickConnect for the motor unit, EMCOTEC smokepump and 2 kevlar tanks by CM-Jets.

 In this model I used a gyro for the first time. The Cortex Pro by Bavarian Demon was my choice as it is the best system working with JETI model and can be set up directly from the transmitter, no computer needed. And it is connected straight between the 2x RSat and the Central Box. So easy!

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Partner, RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

RT DESIGN Acrostar mk2 INFO!!!

Written by Robin
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The Acrostar 60E and XL is a very famous and well-flying aerobatic model. The produced batches of both version are sold out and no more available. Due to persistent requests for both models I checked together with Hacker Motor the possibility for a new batch of both models. But the price for the plane plus shipping and the high MOQ make it not possible to bring back these models.

So If you are a proud owner of a RT DESIGN Acrostar, take care of it 😉

Robin Trumpp, February 2023

Partner, RT DESIGN

1:12 Minimoa by Tony Ray / Pichler

Written by Robin
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After my stressful 5th semester at studies I had the desire to build something out of Balsa again. At the exhibition in Friedrichshafen I saw the kits of mini vintage gliders from Tony Ray at the Pichler booth. Right after the event I ordered a kit of Minimoa.
With the support of my 3D printer and covered with japanese paper and Graupner Spannfix  a really nice little vintage glider was born.
Check the pictures and see the progress of my little Minimoa.
Spannweite: 1422 mm
Länge: 625 mm
Gewicht: 330g
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RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

Faszination Modellbau and airshow “Stars des Jahres”

Written by Robin
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After the fair had to be canceled last year due to COVID-19, it was great that they opened the doors from 5th-7th November again. Friedrichshafen is known as THE fair for rc-enthusiasts in Germany!

Unfortunately there were not that much exhibitors than in the past years, but all those who took part were rewarded with numerous of visitors and good conversations.

I had the chance to present my new 50% Bucker Jungmeister at the airshow “Stars des Jahres” at the airport next to the fair.
I was invited a few times in the past years but for me this was one of the best, maybe the best fair in Friedrichshafen ever.
Great atmosphere for visitors and exhibitors, excellent airshow with many great pilots and a perfect organization.  Truly one of the best weekends this year!

I´d like to thank the VTH-Team at the flightline, especially chief editor Uwe Puchtinger. Frank Joosten for great commenting on the show, Jörg for trouble-free communication with the tower and all others who were involved to make this fair a big success!

A special thank you goes to Andreas Maier and Markus Nussbaumer  for providing their excellent footage and video for this report.

Thanks also to all who have helped and supported me during the weekend!

Events, Partner, RT DESIGN

50% Bücker 133 Jungmeister

Written by Robin
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SPECIFICATION:
wingspan: 3,30 m
length: 3,00 m
height: ca. 1,2 m
weight: 24,6 kg

EQUIPMENT:
Fiala / Valach VM-250 R5
FALON beechwood vintage style 32×18
Hacker / Ditex EL-3214S
JETI duplex CB-220
2x JETI duplex RSat 2
1x JETI duplex RSat 900mHz
Hacker / TopFuel 3x 2400 2S
EMCOTEC premium wires

VIDEO (J. Benz):

PICTURES (J. Benz):

RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

KARAT biplane build report

Written by Robin
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I am very happy to see one of the best builders we have in F3A building on of my planes and giving aeromodellers around the world the chance to follow each step he makes.
Isaac Najary from Israel writing in famous american RC-UNIVERSE forum a detailed report of his KARAT biplane building.

CLICK HERE FOR RC-UNIVERSE build report RT DESIGN KARAT biplane

Thank you very much, Izzic! I am very excited to see the result 😉

F3A, RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

Acrostar mk2 XL repair

Written by Robin
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Unfortunately a clubmember crashed my Acrostar and damaged the gear, the gear frame, the wing support, the landing gear covers wheelpants and cowling.
I thought about building a completely new Acrostar or just fix the fuselage.
I decided to do the second option and took some pictures during this process…

 

My message with this post: You don´t have to throw it away immediately 😉

RT DESIGN, Tipps & Tricks

Arcus 6,06 m and DG-1000 6,66 m

Written by Robin
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After a few years without flying a scale glider, I wanted to have one again. The Arcus by Schempp-Hirth is with its unique wing shape one of the most beautiful gliders in the present so it had to be an Arcus. End of 2019 I was together with Erwin Schreiber from RC-Flight-Academy in Asia and on the flight back to Munich, 11.000 m above the ground, I placed my order for his Arcus. Right after my father joined the project and ordered a DG-1000 from him.

Due to various projects and my study we were unable to finish the gliders earlier. In a creative phase during study I drew the scheme for both gliders. Of course these 2 planes should also bear the spirit and signature of RT DESIGN. Based on this scheme I worked out another 2 versions of this livery for a new F3F glider and TSAR monoplane- more on that later!All the grey parts are 2K painted, the golden parts are realized with ORACOVER-easyplot.

As most of the customers buy the planes ready to fly, the building progress was laborius and took quite a long time. It took some effort to cut the slots and holes into the top wing of Arcus for the flap and aileron linkages. The following applied: cut and hope it was correct! All the linkages were made with high quality MP-Jet aluminum clevises and carbon tubes. The DITEX servos are all mounted in wood frames which are also available from Hacker Motor.

We wanted to install a self launching electric motor system, that we are not always dependent on a towing machine. As we have a lot of 10S packs from the F3A models, Hacker needed to arrange a power setup for 10S packs and the concept works excellent! Max current on Arcus is just around 55A and on DG-1000 it´s around 70A and a few several hundred meter climbs.

A few blowholes and areas where the white paint wnt off are needed to be mend. The good flying characterisitcs of the planes are bringing the troubles in balance. Almost no function had to be trimmed, the CG´s are reached without any extra weight in the nose, the drive dimensioning from Hacker is excellent and the super bright LED flash light make those gliders to a really successful project. Now we wait for days with good thermals to get them enough air-time!

We installed the Click-Connect system from Hacker Motor for the first time because of 5 servos in each wing plus the LED´s. That´s during building much more work, but in the end the most precious and safest solution for all the wiring and after crimping 2, 3 cables it´s quite an easy task. The result is a perfect reverse polarity protected central plug for all wires from wing to fuselage.

The power management system is a JETI model CentralBox 400 with two 2,4Ghz RSat and one 900mHz RSat. Each servo is directly connected to the CentralBox and can be programmed individually. That make the flight conditions and landing setup (airbrakes + butterfly) very easy in setting up. The CB-400 has still enough pins for the 3rd receiver and all the telemetry inputs. Telemetry from the CentralBox itself, each receiver, from the ESC (current, capacity, temperature…) and from the MVario2 are delivered in real time to the radio and gives a great overview about the safety onboard. As already installed and loved in other planes, the RC-switch is also here a must. The batteries are Hacker TopFuel ECO-X 3000mAh 2S.

I heared a lot about Tailored Pilots from England, but never had one of these pilots in my hands. After carefully checking their website it was sure that those pilots can meet our expectations. A few eMails with Wilson Li from Tailored Pilots later the order for 3 pilots were placed. What I can say after getting them is: quality, weight and detailing are surely one of the best available today. And they have a wide range of accessories to choose such as seatbelts, sunglasses, parachutes, headsets… Really nice are the RT DESIGN baseball caps he made in the correct size for our pilots.

A big “thank you” goes to Hacker Motor, JETI model, FALCON and Tailored Pilots for joining this project!

Equipment (both almost the same):
Hacker / Ditex EL 3214S
KST X10 (outer wings and stab DG-1000)
JETI Central Box 400 + RC Switch
2x RSat2
1x Rsat 900Mhz
JETI MVario2
Hacker A50-14L FES Ex-Uni
Hacker A60-7M FES Ex-Uni
FALCON folding prop white 14×10 (Arcus), 19×13 (DG-1000)
JETI Mezon opto 95
Hacker / Unilight ACL-light system glider
10S Hacker TopFuel 5100 F3A
Hacker Click-Connect
Hacker/Emcotec Premium wire
Hacker Topfuel 2x 3000 2S ECO-X, 1x 1800 3S ECO-X
Tailored Pilots 1:3 und 1:3,5

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Partner, RT DESIGN