NMPRA

One last F1 Build thread. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to build one of these airplanes. The DARA has been one of my favorite racers for as long as I can remember for several reasons. It has a sentimental connection between me and my father as well. Throughout the build I was in constant contact with both Bob Smith and Kent Nogy. Having said that, the plans and instructions were some of the absolute best I have ever seen. I have built several airplanes but never one of these and not anything during the time for which this was built and raced. Nothing out of the ordinary but different stuff. Kent was able to find a motor and graciously sent it to me. My plan was to fly the airplane at the NATS but RPM and Time were short. I need to work on some props and will test fly it later this year. Robert Holik and Travis Flynn installed the radio in Muncie and it wouldn't have been ready to fly without them. Thank you to all along this journey.

I started the build by working on the wings. The wings are skinned with 1/64th ply. They have a 3/8" square spruce leading edge and are 1.625" thick at the root. Completely different from anything we do today. But awesome none the less.

The model uses a laminar flow style airfoil with some washout. After installing the LE and shaping the balsa tips I moved onto the tail feather. I elected to go with the scale rudder style which required a torque rod for operation.

Before glassing the wing I installed the dowels for the wing bolts. This is also a different methodology. The 8-32 bolts pass through the fuselage up into the wing, rather than the traditional top down or through the fillet methods.

The rails were installed into the fuselage to support the wing bolts and the wing was placed in it's final position, blind nuts were installed after glassing. K&S aluminum guide tubes were added below the rails for the wing bolts.

Kent and I had a long conversation regarding finishing the wing. He didn't feel that the wing needed to be glassed. Normally, back in the day they did not fully glass the wing for speed and ease of finishing. However, after a brief conversation with Jim Katz, I decided to glass the wing and I very happy with the results.

Tail feathers were final shaped. And the glassing process has begun. I use the TP method for removing all the extra resin.

Unique to this version of the kit, was the use of Dural gear. The original DARA had wire gear with balsa fairings. I installed the gear as I would have in a Polecat, with the gear block on top and the gear legs cut in 1/2 and drilled and tapped for 6-32 bolts.

Once the gear was in place multiple layers of glass and epoxy were used to secure the block to the fuse.

Next I tackled the firewall. Kent provided the side exhaust rear intake K&B and the old CB mount. The plans called for a tunnel/duct to channel air from the cheek directly into the venturi. Very cool and even though I had seen this before, I didn't realize it was standard with the kit. After the firewall was installed I installed a 1/64th ply floor to completely close off the left cheek from the engine compartment and the air was forced through the duct to the venturi.

Here are some final pictures of the firewall install.

Next I moved onto the aileron/torque rods. This was very different, yet probably the norm back in the day. I had seen this before, yet I have never built anything using this technique. It requires soldering brass tubes and completely cutting off the TE of the wing. SCARY! Yet very simple once it is completed.

The torque rods we fitted and eventually glued to the aileron. A balsa cap was added to the aileron and rounded. The wing had a pocket for the balsa to rotate in and this provides a very clean gap and installation. Everything is then glued back in place and filled.

The wing was potted, and the tail was installed and filleted. I elected to go with an internal elevator horn rather than an external as shown on the plans.

The motor side cheek was final mounted using the supplied CAM lock system. Actually very slick and worked flawlessly. This was a departure from the standard DZUS style and probably wouldn't work with the rear exhaust motors.

The pilot was painted. At first my plan was to use a full pilot like the plans showed. This would require some creative cutting around the body to clear the pushrods. In the end I decided on a floor above the torque rods and most of the body of the pilot was removed.

Fillets were added for the cheek cowl. This was different from the modern methodology as well. Today we would put fillets in the cowl and mate it to the fuse. The DARA had the fillets on the fuse and cowl was inside the fillets. Very clean but fragile.

The hinges were installed and pinned.

Prime and Paint, done.

I finished the model in one of Bob's schemes. I tried to purchase DURO decals from EBAY to provide the authentic look for the numbers. Unfortunately, not all the numbers were available. SO... I went with the gold leaf method. Turned out well. Not perfect but looks great from about 5 feet away!