Duellist Mk II

Fly_electric

Well-known member
After posting the FS-1, the long holiday weekend gave some time to consider the next model.
It seemed a good idea to revisit some unfinished projects.
So next up will be the Dave Platt Duallist from 1978.
This one had been in the hanger for quite awhile, but snags-- i.e. newbie snags-- caused it get set aside.
In reviewing the model, it was some 90% + finished.
Last work had been on the canopy and that had turned into an ugly mess of verts..
Wiser now, the fuselage was scrapped and redone. Much better this time.
As a consequence, the nose retract doors had to also be redone.
The gear doors are about the only thing changed from the original.
There are certainly valid reasons for open gear bays, but full doors look much cleaner.
The solution at the orignal build for the long nose gear was two doors hinged on opposite sides.
Will likely swap out the "newbie" wheels with some later ones, but no other expected changes.
 

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Very cool looking plane FE, sorta of Tigercat-ish on steroids, engine nacelles certainly are a lot more aerodynamic. looking forward to the progress.....Gotta ask, are you going gas (as in the last pic.), OR electric...??
 
Thanks guys.
UT, Electric.
So it'll be something along these lines:
Not sure how it effects the flight physics by have the props so far out front, but Dave obviously had to make the nacelles long enough to hold the fuel tanks.
E fliers can use packs out there too, but the penalties are:
1. Less RPM match (batteries are not exactly the same) and are prone to the same loss of a motor as glow fliers (or at least a greater RPM difference at lower states of charge)
2. Dampened roll rate moving the pack mass.
 
That's a cool video of the plane and shows the retracts really well. I modeled Robart retracts for my Tiger 120 and it was good to see that my retracts look close to the real ones in a plane. Looking forward to the build.
 
Thanks guys.
UT, Electric.
So it'll be something along these lines:
Not sure how it effects the flight physics by have the props so far out front, but Dave obviously had to make the nacelles long enough to hold the fuel tanks.
E fliers can use packs out there too, but the penalties are:
1. Less RPM match (batteries are not exactly the same) and are prone to the same loss of a motor as glow fliers (or at least a greater RPM difference at lower states of charge)
2. Dampened roll rate moving the pack mass.
I wouldn`t worry to much about having the props to far out front, there are quite a few (if not all) real world planes that are like that because of the inline engines, thus, goes the same for there RC counterparts. I`m not sure about the matching rpm issue, but (I think) there`s a fix for that, minimal rpm differences aren`t really too much to worry about. Yeah, lost power in one motor on a twin is not good, but just cut power immediately, and then gradually add power once everything looks good about the plane (attitude wise). RE: roll rate, twins IMHO, were never really designed for a high roll rate, it was all about speed. The plane in the vid. looks very cool.
 
Broken promise repaired:
In all the busyness these days, I'd forgotten the Duallist was already the next up vs the WM-- sorry abut that.

After reviewing some newbie mistakes, I rebuilt the canopy (not great modeling + was not the type Dave used).
Fuselage needed enough fixes so it was redone too.
Wing & tail feathers looked ok, so no changes there.
One new recent thing to try was mapping both bottom halves of the wing with their gear retracted, to see how well the entire bottom surface could look like one large surface, thus being able to apply a full graphics image.
So far, it looks like it will work , so another bit of experience gained.
The test image checkers (may actually be part of the final image), was also a learning experience with PS6.
Top of the wing was also obviously mapped, so it has an initial spot of blue.

With the nose also rebuilt, new gear doors are needed, but those go together pretty easy.
Expect to do the same bottom surface + gear door mapping, to give the CS experts a good "canvas" to let them apply their craft on.

Long time since there was any activity from "this will be next plane" post-- sorry for the delay.
 

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Thanks guys.

Step 1: map
Step 2: go to step 1.......................

Zeroing in on the mapping finish line..
Not everything is on the 1x1 yet.
In addition to any missed mappings (looks like the right stab & elevator are not co-mapped for example), am considering another mapping test: in addition to the mapping sample including the gear doors with the bottom of the wing, also include the ailerons (and similar, ailerons with the top of the wing).
Usually, I leave the ailerons separate as that gives the cleanest edge result for those who want a them unique, such as blue wing with white ailerons for example.
Not yet sure how applied graphics will look at the wing/aileron junction as they move, as the ailerons are center hinged with curved surfaces-- concave at the wing T.E. and rounded on the aileron L.E. Sorry, not familiar with that correct hinge name.

So, still working on it..

Some gear down & up renders:
Dualist Mk2 render4 mappiing.jpgDualist Mk2 render5 mappiing.jpgDualist Mk2 render6 mappiing.jpgDualist Mk2 render7 mappiing.jpg
 
asj,
Thanks. Since your comments have increased from "real good" to "really good", I guess I must be doing something right! :)
UT, Yep.
That's sadly one of HH major business weaknesses: only manufacturer a few hundred or thousand of a new plane vs keep it in production for many years so more can enjoy it and the lower costs that eventually occur. Sorry, will get off that soap box now. :)

Enjoy a great day!
 
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