Michaelj2k

Don't know yet but I'm thinking of using the standard Taurus scheme but with some color changes.

hook57

My Feedback: (21)

Excellent work FB. Nice to see some classic build techniques in use; makes me cringe when I think abouttossing out all those old machinist squares I use to have (and all the Taurus kits that we (Dad) had).
Hook

crankpin

My Feedback: (15)

FB - This is cool. You are not wasting any time. Will follow along. I did not read all reply's, silk and dope ?

Crank

Free Bird

I'll be interesting to see what you come up with Mike!

Hook, I don't know about "classic build techniques", just building as I know how. Hindsight is a great thing, isn't it!

Nice of you to sign in Crank! Finish is undecided other than a classic Taurus trim scheme; no iron-on film allowed!

More to come.....

FB

crankpin

My Feedback: (15)

FB - At least it's red-white and blue, or is that black ?

Crank

Free Bird

I always though it was red, white and a very dark blue. But after seeing the original model last year at the WRAM show, I now know it's black. So that's what I'll be reproducing.

FB

Free Bird

OK, it's time to move on to the wing. This first set of pics are the parts required for one wing panel. Sure is a lot of stuff! Fortunately, the formed leading edges are in excellent shape. I can see where these will eliminate a lot of work, no shaping required! One thing I've never seen before, is the use of metal brackets for torsion control instead of hardwood blocks to secure the upper portion of the landing gear.

Before actual building can start, there's a few subassemblies that need to be completed first and cleaning up the ribs. There's the main spars and plywood reinforcements for the landing gear. Also, I decided to add the torsion bracket before gluing the ribs into place. This worked out very well.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

First up is the pinning of a strip of 3/32 balsa to the plan under the bottom spar. I did this first so I wouldn't forget! It's a very small detail on the plan and easy to miss. This strip is to raise the ribs so the formed L/E can be glued into place while the structure is secured to the building surface. I used a long metal rule to make sure it was straight on one edge. You'll see why later. The top and bottom spars are 1/2" wide X 1/4" thick and it's laminated from the root rib out to rib W5. The laminated piece tapers between ribs W4 & W5. I used a razor plane to make the taper and Titebond III to glue the pieces together.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

Notice that I didn't push any pins through the spars. I used the "T" portion of the pin to hold the pieces in place. The less holes in the spars the better.

More to come....

FB

TonyF

My Feedback: (92)

If you're loving this build, as I am, and want to do the same, I just posted a NIB Taurus kit that is in excellent condition along with a partial wing kit for sale in the Pattern section of the Classifieds. I'd love to build it myself, but have a hard enough time getting things I really need done!

Thanks!

Free Bird

While the spars were drying (24 hours), I added the ply reinforcements to the ribs and setup the torsion bracket. First, using 30 minute epoxy, I secured the ply parts in place with binder clamps. Do yourself a favor and get several boxes of them. They come in different sizes and are very handy to have around. There are two different ply parts, W22 & W23. W22 attaches to rib W2 and has 2 indents in it as a drill guide. Instead of blindly drilling the holes and then gluing the part onto the rib (as suggested by the plans), I wanted to align the torsion bracket and gear block with gear in place. I figured that if the holes were drilled before hand, bracket and gear block alignment later would be an issue. As it turns out, I was correct. When I lined the gear and bracket up, the holes in the ply reinforcement were off a little. Good move.

After the bracket holes are drilled, another piece of ply (W24) is epoxied to the other side of the rib and 3-48 screws and nuts are added. The nuts are glued in place to keep them from coming loose. I could have used Loctite, but I wanted to keep this build "old school" as much as possible.

More to come....

FB

hook57

My Feedback: (21)

FB,
I just mean building to the plans, not modding anything in terms of splicing techniques or infusing what might be veiwed as modernetc. Using the weights for instance;I can readiy recallgoing, with my Dad, to his pal's machine shop where he'd pick up some cold rolled steel blocks (milled square) and straight edges to align spars, fuse formers, or to hold caps and sheetingin place(as in the pic). That was circa 1965 when he was building my Sterling Mini-Mambo and his Mighty Mambo (and no, I'm not over 60)! So, in my eyes, it's beautiful classic work!
Hook

Free Bird

Thanks for clarifying Hook. So far I'm really enjoying the build. My first build with my father was a Sterling Mambo Special. I learned to fly it with Orbit reeds. Man that was a long time ago!

FB

Free Bird

One thing I forgot to post when starting the wing construction, is that after I punched the ribs out, like most kits the die cutting leaves a lot to be desired. In this case all of the edges were rather rough and needed to be cleaned up. I paired up each rib with binder clips, and sanded each pair so they matched each other; this only took a few minutes to do. You'd be surprised how much difference there was between the same ribs.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

Now that the subassemblies are completed, the build can start. The first order of business is to place the bottom spar into position. Previously, I had pinned a 3/32" strip of balsa to raise the spar, but more importantly, it was aligned as straight as possible on its front edge. Using the machinist's blocks, I was able to align the spar to the front edge of the strip of balsa. Again, the spar was secured to the plan by using the "T" portion of the pin.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

With the spar in place, using the blocks, each rib was glued to the spar and the rear of the rib was pinned to the plan. The blocks make this job quick and easy.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

After the glue had setup, I added the top spar.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

The bottom T/E 3/32" is now added. I lined up the root end of the sheeting on the centerline, I don't know if this is the way to do this, or leave excess for trimming later. I guess I'll find out when it comes time to join the wing halves.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

After glue had dried, I trued up the end of the ribs and added the 1/8" square balsa strip and the reinforcements for the thread hinges. Again I used the "T" portion of the pin to secure the strip until the glue dried.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

One thing that I noticed, was that the end of all the ribs were higher than the 1/8" balsa strip and would need to be sanded flush to the strip in order for the top sheeting to lay in place properly. I did this using a long sanding bar after the glue dried.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

The top T/E sheeting is added next and after studying the plan, it seems that upper thread hinge reinforcement is added to the sheet before gluing the sheet to the top of the ribs. I wasn't keen on this, so I made some small blocks from 1/4" stock and glued them on top of the reinforcements that were already glued into place. After the glue dried, I used a razor plane and a long sanding bar to shape the blocks to the rib profiles. I reasoned that the solid blocks would provide better support for the thread hinges and the sheeting.

More to come....

FB

Free Bird

With this done, I added the top sheeting and waited for the glue to dry before moving onto the L/E. There sure is a lot of wait time using "old school" glues instead of CA. But I'll take the trade off as CA is almost impossible to sand and get even joints.

More to come....

FB

WEDJ

Progress?

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

FB says she's framed up and has moved on to greener pastures () 'til the temperature changes but we need to see - right?

So how's the little FF coming along?

David.

crankpin

My Feedback: (15)

FB - Has "Taurus Flyer" checked in yet ? Thought he would be riding along. I have built a few Senior and Falcon 56's years ago, enjoying your work !

Crank