khodges

My Feedback: (1)

Kind of hard to say, considering how I went about changing wingtips, etc on the ARF. Odd thing, the wingtips on the ARF had a curvature on the top surface which was what should have been underneath. When I rebuilt the tips, I also changed the ailerons from center-hinged to top hinged, and reversed them; in other words, I flipped the ailerons over, and used the left-side ones on the right, and vice-versa, which perfectly matched the scale curvature of the new wingtips. I sanded the surfaces as much as I could to thin the balsa sheeting and also thin the trailing edge. When I applied the plastic corrugated material, it worked out that the trailing edges of the ailerons were the same thickness as the trailing edges of the wings. Although they are still somewhat thicker than true scale, they look as good as you could expect a balsa sheeted wing edge to look, and the corrugations on the aileron are flush with the trailing edge. Note the broken wingtip in one pic, still haven't fixed it. I think the plastic sheeting could be applied over the ribs alone, with no sheeting underneath, or sheet the ailerons with 1/32 balsa and then the plastic. I used 3M 99 high strength spray adhesive to glue mine on, just be careful and not use too thick a coat, as the carrier in the spray will soften the plastic if it's too heavily coated.

Nine-O-Nine-- thanks for the compliment. I sent those pictures in back in June, I didn't think they were going to print them.

I picked up a nice plane yesterday, couldn't resist it. I was in my LHS last week and there was a gorgeous Super Decathalon hanging from the ceiling; it has a 90 inch wingspan and had a 150 Saito and digital servos, all for $500. I immediately wanted it, but when I asked, the store owner said it was already sold, and hadn't been in the store for two hours. I was back in the store yesterday, and it was hanging from the ceiling again, the store owner said that the guy who bought it said it was too slow. He did keep the Saito however[], but that's really okay, as I want a gas engine in it anyway. I think a G-26 will be plenty, the plane weighs about 14 pounds. It was built from a Pilot kit by one of our club's oldest members and is immaculate, all the control surfaces are sealed, the door is functional, two piece wing, and has the traditional Super-D sunburst pattern in red, white and blue. The price was better, too, without the Saito ($400). The LHS owner told me the kit was around $300 when they were available, and the servos are about $70 apiece (5 came with it).