Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

After you mentioned the plans, I realized[sm=bananahead.gif], I could get a fairly accurate measurement for the standoffs. I noticed you also have an extra plate behind the standoffs, can I do this without the plate? I was thinking that I could use a wide washer behind the standoff to spread the load on the firewall and to prevent penetration into the plywood. I might just be able to get to a lathe to fab some up or have someone else do it for me. If not, I found a few places on the web to purchase.

I did frame the front wing saddle with 1/2 stock as you suggested, I'll probably do the back as well. By the way, I really appreciate your suggestions. I am sure in the end I will have a better built model because of them.

Just curious, what is the green cable for coming off of the firewall??
How's the engine alternate coming?

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

The green line is a fuel line coming off the fueler,it wasn't hooked to the engine at the time . I made my stand offs 3/4 in dia and they still wanted to suck into the wood so I did the alum plate behind them.No its not a necessity.

After taking off the mag and spring starter and one of the coils I dropped off 1 1/2 lbs from the engine It now weighed in at just over 4lbs I can live with that.It will cost me a little for the C&H ignition system,but it's a lot cheaper than a new engine. One thing I will caution you on as much as I dislike the things they say you should use a Nyrod linkage on the throttle to stop the RF.And if you choose to use a fuel filler like I did make sure its a gas one.

I did get my cowl and pants yesterday ,in case you haven't got yours yet, my cowl measured 10 3/4 long ,That was from Stans BTW its beautiful, Makes me hate to cut holes in it *L*

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Thats great that you could reducing the weight of the engine. I'me sure I would have felt the same way and not wanted to buy another. On the other hand it would have been a great excuse to build another plane. Can't have an engine like that just sitting on the shelf you know. I've been reading a lot of posts about different engine mounts and I think I might just build one up with hardwood dowel resting on more plywood. Probably end up with 1/4 ply base and 1/2 to 3/4 dowel length approximately. I just ordered the cowl and pants from Stans, it's funny I didn't get a final cost from him but I do know the shipping is free and I got the 10% discount, we'll see. I'm afraid I'll have to cut a pretty good opening in the bottom of the cowl as well. I have heard about the rf creation from metal to metal and thought a good quality ball joint would eliminate this. Maybe that's not the case, I really don't know.

One other thing I am considering is to use white Ultracoat all over the plane and have it air-brush painted. My daughters boyfriend is into that and he said he might be interested. I think I'll first look at his work to see if he's talented or not. If not I have another color/scheme in mind.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Back at it again, Ok, this time I have several pics as I got a lot done this weekend in the shop. The weather was nasty so I couldn't fly. these pics are of the landing gear pinning and the front wing hold down blocks. I added 1/2 bulsa instead of 1/4 and sanded the exposed edges even with the saddle. The pinning on the landing gear is on the front and both sides. Epoxy sure can get messy!!

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

These pics show first the pinning in the landing gear and the firewall dry and the edges of the landing gear rounded to help fit the cowl. Second, fit f8,f9, and f10 to the top of the fuse and glued in place. Third, Turtle deck ply sheeting cut and ready to be installed. Fourth, Drew a line to glue one edge of the turtle deck.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

I have seen some paint over covering on war birds for the cammo effect ,but not on a sport plane this could be the start of something if it wont peel off .It would sure save a ton of time .The idea of hardwood dowels for stand offs is a good one. Here is about what it came out minus the spinner which is on order,still isn't any servos in it.that can wait for a while,i'm not going out and fly it soon sometime this spring I would think ,when it warms up a lot *LOL*.
I'll be watching your build as I start on another .I think this will be it for this year My hanger is to full as it is . thinks its about time for a airplane sale.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

First pic here is the front turtle deck ply with one edge glued in place. I had a really hard time getting the opposite edge to bend properly around the fuse side. Very short radius, and I thought if I wet it any more than I did, the glue would not stick. It must have been a very hard piece of ply right at the spot where it needed to bend the most. Second, I ended up using several clamps, heavy I might add, to lightly hold the ply in place while the glue dried. The straight edge the manual suggested was just not working for me. Third, I finally got it to stick somewhat, but there were still parts that were not laying flat on the fuse side. So I placed a brass bar across the entire edge area and clamped in place again and re-glued to complete the job. This worked pretty well an I wish I had thought of it to begin with, oh well, maybe next time. Finally!! the completly glued front turtle deck.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

As you can see in the first pic, the first edge that I glued on the front deck is very clean, however the opposite edge that I had to do all the clamping on is not so clean. I cleaned it up pretty good as you will see in a couple of posts.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

First pic is the rear deck with the first edge glued. Second, the entire sheet glued in place. This piece went in much easier than the first. The radius of the bend at the fuse edges are virtually nothing which made it very easy. Rest of the pics, the edges of the decks trimmed with a dremell. This is starting to look like a plane!!

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Added the 1/4 strips in the cockpit area and started to filet the decking sides in with bulsarite.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I then placed the vertical fin in place to prep for installing the blocks at the rear of the fuse, not sure what they are called but the taper the fuse along side of the fin. Looks like the angle of the f10 decking brace is off a little. It is, but not as bad as it looks. The rear of the fin is setting too low and the front is setting to high. Will fix this after the blocks are installed and when mounting the fin permanently. I mounted the blocks one at a time, being careful not to glue to the fin in the process.I removed the fin after each one so no mistakes could be made from seeping glue onto the fin.

After both blocks were installed, I used a power plane to roughly shape the blocks to match the fuselage slope toward the back. Then used a bar sander and did the rest by hand.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Ok, I just realized that the pics I have do not show what I did to fix the slight angle offset of the f10 brace. I will get some pics tomorrow of the fix.

After both blocks were shaped and sanded to the shape of the fuse, I added the servo doubler blocks to the servo plate and glued it in place in the fuselage. I also added the doublers to the rear mounted elevator servo openings. I will probably mount the rudder servo's to the rear as well just below the elevator servo's so I will need to cutout the sides to accommodate this.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

This is the pic of the mistake made on the f10 piece. When I placed it on the fuse top I did not check to see that it was angled properly. The f10 piece has a brace that fits behind it to hold the correct angle. I "Assumed" it was correct and did not check. to compound this error, I also did not check after installing and before trimming the rear decking. If I had checked it once at any point, it would not have been a recognizable error. The wedge in between the rear of the deck and the front of the tail blocks was an easy solution.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

After setting all the ribs and re checking the angles, I placed the second spruce spar in place. Checked the angles again as I glued each rib to the top spar. Next I placed the leading edge stock centered on the front of the ribs and flush with r9 and glued in place.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

The final steps I completed tonight was to install the trailing edge 1/4 spruce stringers top & bottom and the balsa top and bottom aleron stringers. The next steps are to install the sheer webing to f10,f9, & f8. I will pick up at this point on the next post, hopefully tomorrow.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Started today by laying out all the sheer webs on the plan and sanding to fit. These mostly fit well but a few of them needed a couple of passes with a bar sander. The first three that were glued in toward the fuselage end of the wing need to be as clean as possible. The dihedral brace fits into this opening and any epoxy that leaks or runs into this section will be a bear to remove after it has dried. Because of this I put the front side on and cleaned the joint inside the dihedral area. Then being careful no to over apply the epoxy, I put the back side on and clamped in place to dry.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I then mixed some more epoxy and glued the remaining sheer webs in place.

Next, started end gluing the 3/32 x 3 x 36 balsa sheeting to create the 40 piece that is needed for the trailing edge sheet. I cleaned up the ends to be joined a little and and taped them together with painters tape and put one piece along the length of the joint. The tape along the joint helps prevent CA bleed through on the other side. Once taped, I flipped the piece over and quickly applied a small bead of Thin CA along the joint. Almost immediately after applying, sanded the joint with a bar sander, flipped the piece back over, removed the tape and sanded.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I then edge glued the 3 x 40 pieces just made together using the same method. Only difference was I taped both joints together first and only glued one at a time and then sanded the entire piece with a bar sander making sure that there were no ridges at the glue seams on both sides.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I don't have a long metal straight edge so I used a piece of flooring hardboard as a straight edge to cut two 3 1/4 x 40 pieces from the glued up sheeting. One each for the top and bottom trailing edge. Next I used a scrap piece of 3/32 balsa to create the 3/32 overhang at the rib ends when gluing the sheeting in place over the trailing edge. I did this near both ends of the wing. As I placed the sheet in place I checked for the proper overhang at each rib as well. After gluing the sheet in place I placed a few weight bags on the sheet to hold in place while drying.

At this point I thought it was a good time to remove the lightening holes in the ribs ,before I forget. I left them in up to this point thinking they would not be as flimsy during the process.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

WOW look at you go Congrats its coming along very well.
You may want to check the canopy for fit before you cover,the 1/4 inch rails wasnt really enough it just barely made it on my plane.I wished I have of used 1/2x1/4.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I had a little bit more free time this week, I hope I can do the same this weekend and next week, but I doubt it. Lots to do at work this weekend and probably next week as well. We'll see. I'll check the fit for the canopy before covering, thanks for the heads up Cyberwolf.

A few more steps taken today on the wing, First pic, glued up some more sheeting balsa and cut the first piece for the leading edge. Glued the leading edge in place and clamped until dry. Not enough hands to hold this one. Next, I cut the center section sheeting at the wing root and glued in place. Then the same at the wing tip. I then used epoxy to glue in the servo tray in the pre-cut slot in r5.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Next, I cut the sheeting pieces for the center of the wing over r4 and r5 and the servo tray and glued them in place. Installed the sheeting brace against r9 and cut the sheeting to fit and glued in place. In the last pic (almost can't see them) the cap strips were installed on the three remaining ribs. At this point I need to trim the tip edges, sand the sheeting flush at the root and the tip and prepare to flip the wing over and start on the other side.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I didn't get a whole lot done today, but I did have time to do something. The rear bolt block came in the kit pre-shaped and was not mush to installing. Just sanded the block to fit and epoxied in place. I did break a little of the tip when trial fitting the piece. The front bolt block came pre-shaped as well. No shaping at all on this one, Just glue it in place and clamp it to dry.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Should have posted this before the last one. Prior to setting the bolt blocks in place, I trimmed the tip and the fuselage end of the wing and sanded flush with the ribs. Also did the minor cleanup required on the top side of the wing.

When the wing is flipped over, the rib tabs are removed and to keep the wing at the correct angle, three blocks were built up to rest the trailing edge on over the opposite wing plan. That is probably a good point to make, it would be very easy to make a mistake and build two left wings or two right wings by mistake if not paying attention. The bottom of the first wing is built on one side of the plan, and when it's time to flip it over to build the top, it goes back on the opposite side of the plan. When beginning to build the second wing, it's important to use the opposite side of the plan that you stared the bottom of the first wing on.

Next I drilled the aileron plywood horn block and tapped for 6-32 horn. Then marked the location on the aileron sheeting and glued in place with epoxy. Then added a balsa block on top of this for additional support. I then rolled a piece of paper,(cut from a set of prints from work) 5 x 22 to create the aileron wire tube. I wasn't sure about this paper but it seems pretty stiff after rolling and gluing in place.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Nice work,you coming right along there. now would be a good time to check the wing for any twists before the top sheeting is added, if you haven't already done so.I used a Robart incidence meter for this ,but you can use a level and a few t pins and come up with the same thing .BTW With the tabs flat on the table my wing came out zero -zero.I was sort of surprised as a rule theres a little tweaking to be done .*L* I got lucky I guess .
Hey Digger I'll trade ya projects I would lots rather build that extra than this Corsair *LOL*.
Keep up the good work .