FLAIR ARTF 0-1 Bird Dog

By Mick Hirst

Having trained on and flown a Flair Cub for the past seven years, it's eventual demise (as a result of radio problems) necessitated a quick but equally flyable replacement. Having seen one or two ARTF's from other manufacturers I was a little wary of the prospect of buying and then having to apply the necessary mods to raise the standards to club use requirements. Knowing Flair's quality I opted for one of their recent ARTF kits, the 0-1 Bird Dog, at 73inch WS and an engine requirement of 46 to 61 2 stroke it fitted the bill perfectly.

The Kit inventory comes as below,

complete, no extras required at all. But that's no more than you would expect for a RRP of £200, although I got it for considerably less from a large volume distributor.

 Initial Comments

The Fus' is fibreglass built around liteply formers and appears strong in the pertinent areas. The three section wing is veneered foam, covered with solarfilm (or something very similar) and I'm pleased to say is finished to a very good standard and slots together well with very little play. The stabiliser appears built up (strange!) whilst the flying surfaces ailerons, rudder etc. are solid balsa all covered in the same film. The use of solarfilm is particularly convenient for the inevitable repair, unlike some other ARTF's using a plastic covering making damage very difficult to handle neatly. On first inspection the only criticism I have is, the cockpit window openings haven't been finished off (sanding and filing required) and the colour match between the fibreglass fus' and the solarfilm is a little off the mark.

The instructions are simple and brief albeit in some cases a mistranslation from Chinese to English. One thing is for sure, don't try building this kit if you're a first time or inexperienced modeller. You need to know exactly what you're trying to achieve to be able to make complete sense of the instructions.

Wing Assembly

First thing is to fit the ailerons with a couple of drips of cyano on each hinge, then fit a servo to the cover of the servo aperture. Instructions suggest using epoxy to fix the mounting blocks to the cover but I used screw fixings (just a quirk I have about using glues on unknown plastics). Then oops I've got a problem there's no horns in the box and a closer check on the contents reveals no undercarriage fixing clamps either (this calls for an email to Flair for their response**). In the meantime I've had to rob my own stocks for the horns, the only problem is the medium size horns needed haven't got long enough bolts so I'm having to use bolts from a large horn set thus rendering one set of horns probably unusable.

**Flair responded the next day with apologies, this was an oversight and that the kit should be COMPLETE in all respects baring engine and flight pack of course. The parts are in the post.

The rest of the wing went together with no problems at all. Checking the dihedral on dry fit revealed it was unnecessary for special jigging.

Fuselage

The instructions suggests fitting the tail plane next, but I like to check and fit where appropriate engine mounts, tank, undercarriage, servos etc. first. This avoids accidental damage to the tailplane.

So the fuel tank fitting is checked (see picture below), the half moon cut-out seem a little flimsy to hold secure 8ozs of fuel on a heavy dead stick landing. 

All other airframe components fitted to the fus' as per instructions without problems, although I elected to use a bowden cable for the throttle linkage instead of the solid wire drive supplied. It seemed a little complicated to bend wire for this job probably because I installed another tank support. Engine side thrust is already built in to the fire wall.

Tail Plane

Installed with no problem, I was very pleased that the cut outs in the fibreglass fus' for the stabiliser were spot on. No correction needed at all for "squaring up".

The linkage to the elevator and rudder are composed of piano wire ends and a wood centre section (see also photo below). Since the wooden rods supplied are relatively short, about 12 inches, the piano wire makes up the rest. Unfortunately this combination creates a guitar string effect and resonates with the slightest movement and would almost certainly result in flutter of the control surfaces.

Power Plant

I selected an ASP53 with a stubby "dustbin" silencer, simply because they were now free having pranged the Cub. Mounting the engine on it's side and using a remote glow system allowed total enclosure within the cowl, the only problem being how to duct away the exhaust from the dustbin silencer.

Using a simple fixed exhaust extension pipe wasn't practical since it was then impossible to fit the cowl. So I had to think of a simple exhaust fitting which could be clipped on to the recessed exhaust stub after the cowl was installed. I developed a very simple idea and have tested it (if you want details email me thro' the club).

This is the finished product, with 420gms of lead in the cowl (I forgot to fit the wing struts for the photo session). The total weight of my model came out at 2.8 Kgms (6.1lbs), whereas the expected weight (according to the manufacturers) was 3.1 to 3.2 Kgms (7.0lbs). Where have I lost 0.9 lbs.????  

Overall I'm pleased with the outcome, the model looks good particularly the unusually TIDY nose cowling. If it flies as good as it looks then I'll be very happy.

So now we have to wait for a suitable day for the test flight!!!! (see next page).