Tee Bee

The dust hasn't settled from my little Fokker DVII glow conversion project but I'm already off on another 1/2A adventure. This will be a build thread devoted to the Scoundrel which was recently designed by Steve Adams(skaliwag). I believe this is a prototype of a soon-to-be-available 1/2A size kit. You may remember his Selenium electric powered project a few months back. He then built a new set of elliptoidal(sp?)wings for it which were inspired by Steve Staples' Shaboom he saw at the SMALL Fly-In this past June. Anyway, it looks like he's going to kit this one.

For those who don't know Steve, he is the proprietor of Select Hobbies.com.

On to the model. It's a laser cut, high-winger with the already mentioned artsy Rascalesque wingtips. The kit and plans allow for building it with or without ailerons and with varying degrees of dihedral to suit the builder's flying skills or desires. This one will be equipped with ailerons since I've already got a handful of 1/2A planes that are only 2 channel. Per Steve's request, it will be powered by a stock Cox Surestart .049. He won't allow me to use one of my "speedy reedies" on it. As mentioned already, the prototype is electric powered, this one will be Surestart powered, and I believe there is another one out there being built for a small PAW diesel. This will demonstrate the versatility in the kit and hopefully allow it to appeal to a larger audience. Those that know me know that I can take a long time to finish a model project. I work rotating shifts,lots of overtime in spurts, not to mention have a family, so bear with me. It looks like a fun project and I already can't wait to fly it. Anyway, here we go:

Some pics of the kit and plans. I spent some quality time this evening with an Xacto knife and a box of Whoppers. The laser cut pieces required very little coaxing to remove from the sheets. I think you'd have to build from scratch a time or two to really appreciate that. There are lots of small pieces and I will need some time to "stare and think about it" before it all comes to me. I built Steve's Skydrill kit and have been flying it for the past 18months or so. It's one of my favorite planes to fly. This kit looks a little more complex with it's partially sheeted wings, cap strips, etc. I was lucky enough to have some properly sized music wire on hand so I went ahead and formed the landing gear.

LittleRock

I am building the PAW version of the Scoundrel for Mr. Adams. Serious nitpicking of the plans and cut parts will press Mr. Adams to produce his best kit thus far. Careful attention to detail will produce a beautiful plane. All of these different versions should be brought to SMALL 2010 in Little Rock.

Steve Staples

Tee Bee

"All of these different versions should be brought to SMALL 2010 in Little Rock."

Hi, Mr. Staples. That's exactly what I intend to do if I don't wear it out first. I'm already psyched about returning to SMALL. I spent last weekend at a big warbird fly-in pitting for a friend. The show and flying action were great but some of the people were rude to say the least. Some of them wouldn't even speak to you if you weren't in the clique. Made me miss all the fine folks I met at SMALL. I need to finish this one and 2 or 3 more so I will have something different to fly next time.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Teebee, giant scale toy snobs are everywhere! OTOH, I've recently bumped into an old WWII bomber pilot who pulls a trailer full of giant scratch built models of the real planes he has flown in his life. What a guy, as down to Earth and geniunely nice as they come. Imagine running into someone like this while visiting a little model club field way out there on a drive towards the mountains.

Tee Bee

Wing construction is underway. I glued the bottom sheeting sections together and began framing it up. I think this is a very nice looking wing with it's shape, sheeting, capstrips, etc. Formed the leading edge by wetting some 1/8" sq. sticks, bending them to shape, and laminating them onto the wing one at a time. Will sand most of it off later with a sanding block to achieve the right shape. It will also give me an excuse to use that Great Planes Power Planer I bought last year that's still in the box. The left panel is off the board. I'm going to build this plane with the optional ailerons so I modified the trailing edge by adding a 1/8" stick onto the bottom sheeting, trimming the trailing edge, and cutting the rear of the ribs to fit. The plans show this option with additional notes about using less dihedral if you choose to go this route. So far, so good.

As a side note, I recently bought a bottle of Sig-Bond aliphatic resin glue and have used it for several tasks on this project so far. I really like the stuff. It lacks the nauseous smell of CA, gives more working time to position parts before setting, and sands easily. I find that useful for lots of tasks such as laminating the leading edge.

LittleRock

Troy,
I've attached a photo of the wing (almost complete) and what is done so far on the fuselage. This will have the PAW .03 in the nose and fly as a 3 channel. Any more progress on yours?

Steve Staples

Tee Bee

Thanks for the pics, Steve. I haven't made any recent progress due to working overtime shifts. Maybe I can get the other wing half framed up this week.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

How much Dihedral did you opt for Steve?

LittleRock

Since I will be flying 3 channel I put 1 1/2 " under one wing tip. Looks about the same as the Shaboom. Got a radial mount for the PAW. Landing gear and the rest of the fuselage sheeting go on tomorrow. I'll attach a photo of the wing tip tomorrow.

Steve

Tee Bee

Framing up the right wing panel. After gluing on all but the most outer rib, I raised the bottom sheeting at the tip and glued it to the spar. Then the outboard rib was attached.

Tee Bee

The leading edge is formed from several pieces which have been laminated together. I decided to use some 1/8" square sticks. Here, the first one has been soaked with water, bent to match the shape of the wing, and glued in place.

While waiting for the LE strip to dry I glued a couple of pieces of the top sheeting together and pinned them during the cure.

Tee Bee

Looks like this project just got delayed. My ceiling fell in tonight from water damage caused by my air conditioner. Now I'll be repairing plumbing and redoing sheetrock, texturing, etc. Bummer. [:@]

build light

Oh my!

Robert

Tee Bee

Here's a couple of shots of the leading edge being formed up. After wetting it, I bent another 1/8" stick and laminated it on top of the first one. After setting up a bit, I bent a 1/8"x5/16" stick and glued it in front of the others making sure it contacted the bottom sheeting from root to tip. The excess on the ends will be cut off later and then the leading edge will be rounded to shape by spending a lot of quality time with some sanding blocks.

Tee Bee

After the leading edge was in place, I glued the top front sheeting on. The front was glued first to the LE, then the sheeting was wetted and pulled down. Next was the rear sheeting. Just glued it to the ribs and trailing edge. Note the overhang that will be trimmed off later to make room for the ailerons.

Tee Bee

Next were the capstrips cut from 1/16" scraps. They are glued to the top of the ribs between the sheeting.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

Hi Troy..... Did you change your mind about the ailerons or are you going to cut the top sheeting after it has been glued down?

Tee Bee

I'm going to try an aileron just on the left wing. I hear it's all the rage these days. See post #15.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

AHhh /.... Trimmed off later.. The print is small.

Tee Bee

A shot of the wingtips showing the unfinished leading edge. The majority of it will be removed to make it look like the one on the right. I use lightweight spackling to fill in the gaps and low spots.

Tee Bee

After shaping the leading edges, I moved on to the ailerons. The kit included 2 pieces of tapered trailing edge stock. I just traced the profile of the ailerons on them and cut them out. My scroll saw made quick work of this. After a few minutes with some sanding blocks, they were in the basic shape I was looking for.

Tee Bee

The plans simply show the two wing halves being joined together with epoxy but since I tend to horse around with aerobatic maneuvers and general high-g nonsense, I decided to install a dihedral brace for peace of mind. I cut slits in the inboard ribs just in front of the spars, then made a cardstock template and used that to trace the shape onto a piece of 1/16" plywood. It will be epoxied to the spars when the halves are joined. The 2nd pic shows a dry run of the joining process including the 3/4" shim clamped to the #5 rib to set the dihedral. I hope to get a chance to join the wing panels tonight. I'm really starting to enjoy this little project.

Andrew

That's a nice technique. I usually block up the tip, but for semi or full symmetrical foils, your method would ensure that an unwanted twist doesn't get built in. I'll have to tuck that one away for future use.

andrew

Tee Bee

Thanks. I just make this stuff up as I go along. I found build threads like this very helpful when I got started in this hobby and I hope that this will help someone else someday.

skaliwag

My Feedback: (1)

That is a nice little technique to set the dihedral. The clamp also adds a tad of weight to the mix. I'm thinking of incorporating a brace in the kit, or at least a shape on the plan. Low dihedral on one side, High on the other. The other option if you want to do the Pitts Special maneuvers would be to Glass the joint. Can't see the spar and sheeting giving.