Brodak Arf Oriental

[Juan Valentin]

 Hello  I was given an oriental and I noticed the leadouts seem to be made real short  and I`m worried they might break. Advice on this and other tips on making plane better will be apreciated.
                                                                                                                       Juan

[Wynn Robins]

the oriental is one of the better ARF/ARCs  - if you replace the leadouts for your own peace of mind, then that is a good step.

I dont remember changing anything else on the one I had a few years ago and it flew great

[FLOYD CARTER]

Look at the "many pieces" section of flyinglines.  You will see one of our club members was flying an ARF Oriental when the swage job (?) at the bellcrank let go.  Destroyed the plane.  Close-up pictures of the failure. Another good reason to replace the leadouts, and probably the entire control system.

Floyd

[john e. holliday]

Look again, that is not a swage job.  It is a crimp, which to me is the worst type of making connections.  I replace the leadouts on mine and it flew great.  Had to put brass inserts in the horns and discard the clevises.  First rebuild was when the controls were not working right.  The flap horn had a big hole where the clevis and brass insert were.  Replaced with a ball link.  Also make sure that the wing to fuselage joint are glued real well.  Mine had separated at the fuse wing joint on first rebuild.  That is when the top was cut off and the joint done right.  Also stripped the covering and recovered it.  Good luck with yours as they are good flying planes.

[Brian Massey]

Look at the "many pieces" section of flyinglines.  You will see one of our club members was flying an ARF Oriental when the swage job (?) at the bellcrank let go.  Destroyed the plane.  Close-up pictures of the failure. Another good reason to replace the leadouts, and probably the entire control system.

Floyd

Hi Floyd; I think the section your referring to is called "Fragments" on the menu, but "crashes" in the URL. Good section, makes you realize your not alone.
Here's the link: http://flyinglines.org/crashes.html
Brian

[Bill Heher]

Control system upgrade, beef up the landing gear mount, check the wood used for the engine mount bearers- 1 of mine had splits / weak spots due to the grain of the wood.

There is a stress point / weak area at the back of the wing cutout in the fuse. I have had 2 of the break the fuse in 1/2 right at the back of the wing ( granted they broke during " Sudden deceleration"). 

When I repaired them I used some 1/4" square firm balsa sticks to make longerons that bridged this area to help carry the loads across the transition point between the front and rear fuse sides. I also did the same on either side of the existing longeron at the top of the fuse. I have another one at home that I will add these to before I assemble it.

I really like this plane, good value and flies great. I use OS .35 FP-S for power. Others have had good luck with the OS LA .40 engine. My next one will have a Fox .35 with Hemi head / stuffer backplate / PA CNC crank. The fox is lighter so I shouldn't need to add as much lead to the tail, the OS with a tongue muffler still required I add about 1 1/2 to 2 oz tailweight.

[Juan Valentin]

     Thanks to all that replied,will heed advice.
                                                                    Juan

[Juan Valentin]

    Brodak Oriental Arf is getting close to flying status.Did some mods on the advice that I got here.  I realize that engine outside thrust was not mentioned but since I wanted to try it I gave the engine 3 degrees right thrust. I reinforced the Landing gear mount with a horseshoe shaped ply bulkhead and a pair of hardwood blocks between it and back bulkhead in tank compartment. I moved the landing gear as far back as I could. Used bamboo skewers to tie the nose of the plane to the wing bottom fairing and to the tail of the plane. Cut a hole on the elevator control horn area to be able to adjust pushrod. I will be covering the hole with clear packing tape that will make it easy to inspect link and be easy to remove for adjustments.Here are some pics.
                                                                                                       Juan
                                                                       

[Clayton Berry]

Mine was an early version.  Perhaps they changed it.

The leadouts were sawing into the ribs.  The holes just weren't set up for the angle of the leadouts.  Just couldn't figure out why I couldn't fly it level.  Picking it up by the leadouts (for whatever the reason) had this sawing noise going on.  This was at Brodak's a few years back.

And checking with others on the flight line - they had all been doing it.  The sawing part.  Not walking around and being generally annoying.  And several of us relieved the ribs thru the leadout slot with my handy-dandy 18 inch long 1/8" Harry Higley drill bit that I always carry in my pocket.  Alas, I still bonked the rudder later.  Jack Sheeks helped me (Hell, he did it all) while I was arguing politics (and winning, of course) with Dennis M. and Peabody at the finest restaurant in Carmichaels).  Just didn't have enough down elevator.  At that moment, anyway.

Scott Richlen later gave it a go at his shop.  But, it was still an ARF.  Like kissing your sister.  Had an OS 35S on it.  10/6 Rev Up.  I understand why they're thought of as a good flyer, but I've got a thing about something I didn't build.

I'm seeing someone about it.

He recommends flying anything that will traverse a circle under its own power, as long as it is launched (and cheered on by) a large breasted woman that appreciates you coming to bed later smelling of castor and Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent.

I've found one, by the way. 

I had to up the nitro to 40%, but I don't quit easily.  A cinder block.  2 Fox 35's.  .015 lines, at 15 feet or so.  10/6 Rev Ups as a matter of fact. 

And she rocks!

Okay, the cider block is a dawg.  But...

I gave the Oriental to some promising young guy at Huntersville.  Not with the OS, of course. 

[Mike Callas]

Mine was an early version.  Perhaps they changed it.

The leadouts were sawing into the ribs.  The holes just weren't set up for the angle of the leadouts.  Just couldn't figure out why I couldn't fly it level.  Picking it up by the leadouts (for whatever the reason) had this sawing noise going on.  This was at Brodak's a few years back.

And checking with others on the flight line - they had all been doing it.  The sawing part.  Not walking around and being generally annoying.  And several of us relieved the ribs thru the leadout slot with my handy-dandy 18 inch long 1/8" Harry Higley drill bit that I always carry in my pocket.  Alas, I still bonked the rudder later.  Jack Sheeks helped me (Hell, he did it all) while I was arguing politics (and winning, of course) with Dennis M. and Peabody at the finest restaurant in Carmichaels).  Just didn't have enough down elevator.  At that moment, anyway.

Scott Richlen later gave it a go at his shop.  But, it was still an ARF.  Like kissing your sister.  Had an OS 35S on it.  10/6 Rev Up.  I understand why they're thought of as a good flyer, but I've got a thing about something I didn't build.

I'm seeing someone about it.

He recommends flying anything that will traverse a circle under its own power, as long as it is launched (and cheered on by) a large breasted woman that appreciates you coming to bed later smelling of castor and Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent.

I've found one, by the way. 

I had to up the nitro to 40%, but I don't quit easily.  A cinder block.  2 Fox 35's.  .015 lines, at 15 feet or so.  10/6 Rev Ups as a matter of fact. 

And she rocks!

Okay, the cider block is a dawg.  But...

I gave the Oriental to some promising young guy at Huntersville.  Not with the OS, of course. 

A new use for Hoppe#9!!

[Dennis Moritz]

 I  wound up opening the rear of the plane, slitting the back end, inserting a v shaped balsa stick making space for a ball link. I also cut away about a half inch of balsa under the elevator area and glued in 1/8" ply in on both sides. The ply was cut away to allow access to the ball link. Eventually I plan to make some neat-oh doors for access. At the moment there's towercoat over the opening. Carbon pushrods. Ball links. I've been sealing the covering seams with trim seal. On my third coat. We'll see if this cures the dreaded peeling disease. I reinforced the motor mounts with an 1/8inch aluminum plate on ply/aluminum pads bolted and stuck on with T-88. Kind of a profile methodology for reducing bad vibes. The canopy is black enameled and finger printed. (HOW DO YOU GET darn fingerprints off the acetate?) Kind of looks good. It was John's first ARF batch, sitting around my shop for perhaps five years. My newer ARF Vector, in comparison, looks like a cinch to assemble. A Tower 40 with extra head gaskets is ready to power or over power, if needed. First flight showed no major vices.

[kenneth cook]

            Juan, I noticed that you did something on your stab that I also did myself. I highly recommend this to anyone that has one of these. This is depicted in the picture of the plane inverted showing the clevis. You placed nicely shaped gussets under the stab where it meets the fuse. I had both sides of my stab break right as it exited the fuse. I think this is due to  a stress fracture that is created when you cut the covering for the adhesive to stick. Those block are still working for me like that today. I had one side break in flight and the other side when I was showing someone what happened to the other side. I flexed it a bit and sure enough it broke. Ken

[Juan Valentin]

Hello Ken
                   It was on your suggestion on  SSW that I decided ro add the 1/4 triangular gussets. I shaped the triangular parts and covered them before applying them to the plane with epoxy. I`m making new lines to fly it Sunday. The hole for the clevis adjustment allowed me to epoxy 1 1/4 ounce of lead  to the tail to get it balanced. I`m using a Randy Smith OS.40 FP  with Tower .40 Chrome liner and piston.
                                                                                                                       Juan

[kenneth cook]

          Juan, sounds like an excellent choice of engine for that plane. Dennis Moritz from the post above provided me with a Tower.40 piston sleeve for one of my engines. I added one head gasket to the engine and couldn't be happier. The engine makes more than enough power for the Oriental. I had to add almost 2 1/2 ounces to get mine to balance using a LA.40. My son used this plane to move into intermediate and he used it well. I moved into intermediate a little later than he did and I used this plane as well. I eventually built a kit version of the Oriental. Ken