gene6029

I decided to get the ball rolling for our Schoolboy build by posting a picture of where i'm at. I have the plans, wood, radio ( MRC Futaba F-66 escapement system) & one or the other motor,( cox .010 or.020 ) I hope to start cutting out pieces today or tomorrow. I have not decided on a silkspan covered wing or a sheeted one. We'll see as i progress......Gene

Strat2003

My Feedback: (1)

My very first R/C airplane was a Schoolboy, from the Top Flite kit. It had a sheeted wing rather than the open bays on your plan. We also had a Futaba radio like that, except the transmitter case was light blue.
We actually flew ours on Babcock radio equipment which gave us right, left and up elevator.
Great fun, looking forward to your build.

Scott

tangerine-jack

Righty-O, time for me to jump in. I am building the Schoolboy to .049 specs, at least that's the idea. I've enlarged the plans 15% to give a crude scaling up to what I figure a .049 Schoolboy would be. As you can see by the photo, the plans scale vs. real world ruler shows the enlargement to be 10" to 11.5". Since I don't really measure anything but build by patterns, I have no problems with doing any conversions. I am keeping all wood dimensions the same and just "fudging" a little in places where the added 15% may cause a fitment problem. All my ribs are hand cut (without using a "la-ser") and I've got one wing just about done. This plane is dead simple to build, the ribs took about 30 minutes to cut, and about 10 minutes to frame. I expect the fuselage to go just as easily and quick.

Now if I can only find the time....

gene6029

TJ, glad to see you are started! I hear you on the available time thing! Same here, but i'll squeeze it in somehow. Looks like there are four of us so far building these Schoolboys. I'll get my butt moveing on mine.....Gene

tangerine-jack

Well Gene, even without you having cut a single piece yet I can see that your plane is already better than mine! Good news, they are forcasting a LOT of rain for the weekend, so no work, no yard work, no house painting.....whatever shall I do????????

D.J.

My Feedback: (3)

Just in case some out there don't know where to find the plans , here they are at Outerzone . http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=1030 .... D.J.

gene6029

I made some progress today! I started out laying printer paper over the plans & traceing the pieces onto the paper.

gene6029

Next i cut out the traceing on the white paper & layed it out onto my balsa wood. i use an ink pen to trace my pattern onto the wood. then i cut out the pieces & check them against the plans for correctness.

gene6029

I continue doing this with all the parts until i have a basic "kit". As you can see i was saved alot of extra time on my wing ribs, since Rubbernecker lazer cut them for me & they are perfect! Only thing left now is to gather up my building board & get to it!!....Gene

gene6029

Well i started on the fuse today, since i havent made up my mind on how im doing the wing yet ( sheeted or open bay ). As you can see i use a piece of thread from the C/L of the firewall to the C/L of the tail to keep my fuse from building into a bananna. My firewall has 2 degree of down thrust & 2 deg of right thrust built into it. To keep the motor spinner centered in between the cowl cheeks i move the motor off center to compensate this.

gene6029

I started sheeting the fuse at the rear. I simply lay my sheeting against the fuse & dribble thin CA on the inside & hit it w accellerator. Once the entire fuse is done i trim it close with an exacto blade & then use a bar sander to finish it off. The cowl cheeks were done the same way.

gene6029

Heres a pic of where im at so far

tangerine-jack

Ok then, my camera is junk, but here's a few shots of what I've got so far. As I figured, it's a dead simple build and a very good project for a first time builder. No surprises really, just pay attention to the wing center section- it's at an angle when the wings are joined to make the dihedral, but then it's shaped flat to fit the fuselage. I used some scrap for fillers and sanded or shaved everything nicey-nice. Remember that the center fits flat on the fuselage, so ensure the wing tips are equal heights before you sheet the center- adjust as required to get it to fit properly. I also reinforced the spar with a plywood brace and did the same for the leading and trailing edge using scrap 3/16" balsa.

The fuselage I built in a very similar fashion to what Gene described. I did, however, use a dot of glue to stick the two halves together temporarily. At this point I drew a line from the wing saddle to the elevater mount to ensure I had a zero incidence- the plans don't state this but when I measured it that's what I got. I shaved the fuselage halves to ensure the stab and wings were on line. I then glued on the 1/8" braces on both sides to ensure they are exactly equal. After a final sanding (ensuring the wing mounting was exactly 90 degrees to the fuse), I separated the halves giving me a left and right side. Now the two halves were perfectly mirror image shaped to each other with the braces exactly at 90degrees on the fuse center. The bulkheads I cut from some 1/8" lite ply (using my ever handy 90 square) and - slapety-slap- they dropped right in the two halves perfectly on the 90's.

Next up will be joining the tail and installing the firewall. Sometime this week, maybe..... stupid job.............

gene6029

TJ, looks like your moveing right along there. It was a perfect weekend to build here, since it was windy & rainy. Wonder how Vicman & rubbernecker are progressing? They will probably pop up with flight pics......Gene

Rubbernecker

My Feedback: (22)

Gee, you guys are way ahead of me. Was a little under the weather this weekend so didn't get anything done. Things went well tonight. Excuse the mess. Have about 3 projects at once going on.

John

gene6029

Looking good Rubbernecker! Actually you guys are both further along than i am. I only have my fuse built, but should start my wing this weekend tho...Gene

tangerine-jack

Good job, both you guys! A few questions, I noticed you used shear webbing on the wing - it's not on the plans but in your experience do they make enough of a difference to offset the added weight? I've built one or two planes in the past with them, but never notice much of a difference, most everything I built has been open rib and they all flew just fine. Also, with the stabilizer did you cut it full size including the non used elevator or just hacked that bit off? Good idea using cross grain ends to stiffen the rather thin stab- I was planning the same for mine.

soarrich

My Feedback: (98)

I have the Early RC Schoolboy kit, I was planning to make it a electric twin seaplane. Will people throw rocks at me? [X(]

Rubbernecker

My Feedback: (22)

Ahhhhhh, the beauty of the laser. Since there is no bottom spar, not real sure how much strength it adds from the standpoint of web. On these small models I like to use it mainly because I notch it and the rib so that they interlock. Once that is glued, I'm very sure it is much stronger than just a top spar. As for the strength of sheer webbing on a wing. It adds great strength. My grain on these is horizontal. On actual sheer webbing, it is vertical. If you want to get an idea of how strong it is in the building world, just look at built up beams for house construction. I have seen 2 - 2 x 4's with a ply wood web span great distances (like over a garage or basement) that would have required a 2 x 12 or greater. As for the cross grain on the stab & rudder, yes they do help keep them from warping. Thanks.

John

tangerine-jack

Right, I'll install shear webbing on my wings. I was thinking about doing it anyway, but I won't be using a "la-ser" to cut the webs

gene6029

My take on lazer cutting is this... If it were available back in the 60s, we would probably have more than double the people still in this hobby as builders. Its only those that toughed out the die crunch kits of old & didnt give up that can really appreciate lazer cut kits. I wish i had the ability that rubbernecker has to be able to lazer cut parts. I bet i would have twice as many models built in my collection, ( if i had the time )....Gene

tangerine-jack

Sure, and if there were micro proportional FM digital airborne radios and polyfoam the same could be said. But it is what it is now, and was what is was then. Back in the 60s there was no internet forums to bring us together to build an antique airplane either I just like joking on the "la-ser" for no good reason at all. If I had one at home, I would never leave the house!

Anyway, I installed the shear webbing with the grain horizontal and I included cut outs for the ribs. I was a simple matter to make the web and it dropped right in once I cut reliefs on the ribs so it could interlock. Next project is closing up the fuselage and sand sand sand sand sand......

Rubbernecker

My Feedback: (22)

No problem, I say to each his own. The fact of cutting out ribs is something I hated when scratch building. With the advent of the laser, I hopefully will never cut another rib. And Gene, I have built more planes since I got it over a year ago than I ever have in one stretch. In a little over a year, I have built 4 - 1/2 A control line planes, 3 - 1/2 A rc planes, 3 - micro electric, currently building the School Boy and partly built a 25 size pattern ship (Tweedy Bird). Have also sold or bartered 20 or so short kits. The cad work has been the most work, but as TJ said about these forums, I have had a lot of help from members. It has been a blast. TJ, did you put a spar on the botton to attach the sheer web to?

John

tangerine-jack

No bottom spar on mine. The webs to seem to stiffen the structure quite a bt and gives the ribs something to "grip". I'm going to build it like that and see what happens. I've built other planes with top and bottom spars and shear webs, the wings never folded- but then again I've never folded a simple single spar wing either. As I see it there is only one way to find out for sure.......

buzzard bait

I built one in 1965 with S/N escapement and a cheap radio from AHC. Power was a Pee Wee .020. I had one good flight, and then the radio failed. It flew very well without any radio. A larger fuel tank would have been nice, but other than that the Pee Wee was perfect.

Years later, remembering what a good plane it was, I got the larger Schoolmaster and installed an Ace Digital Commander I built from a kit. That gave me rudder and throttle. The throttle was a thru-the-backplate needle into the air intake. Crude, but it gave me a nice cruise, and allowed me to shut down the engine when I got too nervous. I taught myself to fly with it, and later added an elevator servo. What a luxury!

Later I scratch-built a lighter Schoolmaster and substituted a built-up wing like you're doing on your Schoolboy. The whole thing weighed 16 oz RTF with 3 channels. What a great plane! I liked the looks of the all-sheet wing in the kit, but for scratch building the open frame makes sense. Boy, that plane could stay up a LONG time on a Cox QZ engine run. Have fun!

Jim