Watcha Buildin'?
Gerry
I need to crash something to make room if I'm going to build another plane though. My old 4-Star may have to sign up for combat duty next month.
Fiberglass fuselage sounded good back then, never again!!!!!!
The Pamster
Watcha Buildin'?
Over here it is not winter, it is Springtime... and the tree in the backyard produced seed pods that makes you itch like hell, so it had to be chopped off.
Now I hear a chorus "so, what's a tree in your back yard got to do with rc flying?
Well, when we chopped downthe tree, I noticed that this tree trunk have some aeronautical possibilities.
So I selected the best part - just over 1 m in length and slightly curved downward towards the front.... I've built a numberof Das Ugly Sticks in the past and "Stick" can also include "Tree trunk", so why not build a "Das Ugly Tree trunk"?....
I cut the tree trunk (see pic 1) to the right length, seal it with sanding sealer to preserve the bark, applied a couple of layers moulding wax and spray it with water base mould release - as the bark have a rough texture and I want to preserve it for the looks.
Then I coated the trunk in moulding resin and glass. When cured, I splitted the mould lengthwise with a circular saw and pulled the 2 halve moulds off the trunk. (Pic 2). Then I layed out a fuse and once cured, pulled it out and added some details i.e. "a knot in the wood aka cut off branch"., then made the cut out for the wing and tail feathers. The trunk had a slight bend in it at the base (now the front of the plane and I used that to offset the thrust that way. Careful measuring out of the wings (1.4 m) and tail feathersfollowed - scratch build of course, see pics.
Then a primer coat on the fuse.I took the tree trunktoan automotivepaint mixing shop - they probably thought this guy is a littlenuts walking into an automotivepaint shop with a tree trunk... but they understood the application and after a couple of jokes and I got the paint.....
Then followed thefirewall and formers(I cut the tree trunk just before the LE and behind the TE to get the profile for the formers).
Tank and radio gear followed - oh and a plywood Muttley, I could not made up my mind whether it should be a "Flintstone Flyer" or a Muttley Machine, I think the latter won. I will complete the plane late in October and plan to maiden it then - this isone Das Ugly Stick with one way out theme.... <o></o>
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Maybe load up some of those itchy seed pods from the tree and go to some fly inns with the Muttley Seed Pod Bomber………
Will keep posted.
Cheers
Bundu<o></o>
I know what kind of tree that was!
A Dog wood...How do I know?
Wait for it...I could tell by the bark.
My wife said that was really bad
Gunnar
I also have a GP Rapture that I built last year that I want to do some overhauling and modification on, and I am waiting for the Venture 60 to become available so I can pick that up...hopefully in the next few months (should've picked it up last year!). The Venture will be my "take a break" kit, and then I plan on building a giant scale...probably another Jug. Not sure if I'll go with the TF or Nick Ziroli, I guess it will depending on my budget at that time.
So that should have me covered through most of next year...
Gp23, keep building lite! it will make a world of difference at the end on that Jug of yours. dle20 must really have power. my dle20 is still in the box for the arf Waco ymf. is your wingspan on the jug around 64" ? don
Once I decided to go with gas power for this bird, out of all the research I did, the DLE 20 always came out on top...both in terms of weight (its the lightest) and power output. It weighs only 2oz more than the ST75 that they recommend (the DLE specs indicate 28.9 w/ignition and muffler). Most of the other 20cc gassers I've seen are around 35oz with everything. Once I get a little further along and feel like I have something to show, I'll post some pics of my progress and mods. I was planning on doing that once I'm close to finishing, since at the pace I'm going, I'd hate to leave everyone waiting weeks just to post picture of the vertical stab...