We offer the DFS Reiher III under license from Tom Bode of Germany based Woodwings.de.
Tom created his CAD design of the Reiher from Martin Simon’s 3-view,
and numerous photographs of the original and replicas. The spacing of
the ribs and fuselage formers are scale to the original. All control
surfaces are hinged with knuckle hinges, and the ailerons
and elevator have interior drives, with no control horns protruding
from the airframe, just as on the original. For ease of transportation
and handling, each wing is built so that the
outer third is detachable. The wings are joined and attached with
laser-cut stainless steel fittings, which are secured to the fuselage
with M5 bolts or detent pins. When using the jettisonable dolly for
take-off, a tug with a 80cc gas engine is sufficient. Our Piper Pawnee
would be a good tug.
We
produce all the wood parts in the US and import the metal fittings from
Germany. At 1:3 scale the wingspan of the DFS Reiher III is 6.3 meters
(20.66 feet) and is one of the most exacting kits offered today. All
wood (aircraft ply, poplar and birch) is "mil spec" and purchased from Wicks Aircraft Supply. The wood is CNC routed for us by Dave Egnoski of Richmond Cabinets.
It takes more than 12 hours just to cut the wood for this kit with more
than 900 pieces. Here are the basic specifications of our DFS Reiher
III kit.
DFS REIHER III SPECIFICATIONS
MODEL: DFS Reiher III
SCALE: 1:3
PRICE: $1,699 ($1,499 introductory price +S&H)
DESIGNER: Tom Bode - Woodwings.de
MANUFACTURER: Aerosente (Wood), Tom Bode (Metal)
WINGSPAN: 6.33 Meters (20.66 Feet)
HULL LENGTH: 2.60 Meters (8.53 Feet)
WING AREA: 2.10 Square Meters (3255 square inches).
WING LOADING: 78.57 g/dm2 (25.75 oz/square feet)
WEIGHT: 16.5 Kilograms (36.30 Pounds)
THE DFS REIHER III KIT
I
think you will be hard-pressed to find another kit that will provide
more satisfaction than the DFS Reiher III. From the quality of the
parts, to the challenge of the build, to the exquisite sight of the
Reiher on final - this kit is designed for experienced modelers who
appreciate top drawer quality. The kit contains all cnc-routed parts
for the wings and tail surfaces, including parts for trailing edges,
spoilers, control surface horns and hinges, laser cut stainless steel
fittings for wing attachment, fuselage formers, fuselage nose cone,
parts for the canopy frame, parts for the launch dolly ( except wheels
) and release mechanism – all together approximately 900 pieces.
Materials used are aircraft grade birch plywood, poplar plywood (
liteply ), balsa and pertinax. Also included in the kit are a detailed
construction manual translated form German to English by Michael
Tetzner for Aerosente, reduced plans for fuselage, wings, and tail
surfaces, parts list, and a CD which contains approximately 500
pictures of the different build stages. This is what comes in the kit:
1. All CNC-routed parts (Aircraft Ply = Birch, Poplar)
2. Pertinax specialty parts - control surfaces, horns, etc.
3. Stainless steel fittings including wing connectors, elevator parts and ball-lock bolts.
4. English construction manual.
5. 500 construction photo CD
6. Parts "buy-out" list.
The DFS Reiher III kit does not include the "long" stock, fuselage/wing/tail sheeting and basic hardware as listed below:
1.
Birch plywood in 0.4 mm and 0.6 mm ( approx. 1/64 and 1/32,
respectively ) required for fuselage plankings and wing sheeting.
2. Strip material ( spruce ) for spar caps and fuselage longerons
3. Balsa sheet and strip material for false leading edges, and various doublers.
4. Ash material for landing skid.
5. Miscellaneous small hardware parts.
Building
the Reiher will not be a problem for any modeler with previous
experience building wooden models from kits or from plans. Except for
an angled building board (dimensions are included in the building
instructions ) for the gull wings, no jigs are required for the build.
All fuselage formers have stanchions, and all wing and tail surface
ribs have tabs, which define their exact positions. Certain processes,
such as scarf jointing of plywood, or applying the sheeting with the
iron-on method are described and illustrated in the building
instructions. Following are photos from the build.
Fig. 1 Some of the photos that are in the construction manual:
Fig. 2: Metal fittings and pertinax specialty parts supplied with kit:
ORDERING INFORMATION FOR THE DFS REIHER III
All
of our kits are hand picked and packed from parts we either fabricate
ourselves or purchase from a small trusted group of suppliers and
vendors. Each kit is unique and ships in 2-4 weeks. Pay using Paypal via the link below. You do not need to be a member of Paypal to use this link.
The DFS Reiher III is normally $1,699. For a limited time we are selling a few kits at an introductory price of $1,499. Use the link below for the introductory price. $100 is added to cover shipping and handling within the continental US.
Aerosente guarantees each kit to be free from defects in both material and workmanship. If any parts are missing from the kit or are damaged due to workmanship of the product, please notify Aerosente for a prompt replacement of damaged or missing part. This warranty does not cover parts damaged by shipping, use or modification. Aerosente's liability will not exceed the original cost of the purchased kit. Aerosente does not control the assembly or materials used for final assembly, so no liability shall be assumed nor accepted for completed kits.
We accept a variety of payment methods via Paypal. Please email us at bolt55@aerosente.com or call 415.234.6757 if you have any questions or need assistance with ordering, we appreciate your business!
HISTORY OF THE DFS REIHER III
Images from Vintagesailplanes.com:
Research group Emerald has archived an article available for purchase from the 1946 edition of Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology called "The DFS Reiher Sailplane: A Technical Description of an Important High-Efficiency German Sporting Glider" that is quite interesting:
