TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Cockpit kit

So here is the cockpit kit I got from Chad Veich, great stuff here. It is so nice to have a resource like this. The tub is well made and the plastic parts fit good and are comparable if not better then what is out there. There is still a lot of components that go into this. This is just the base for all the detailing. I do have the instrument panel and the rest is being fabricated. I will get this painted and get it installed. I am making it removable from the bottom, pulls out of the wing saddle.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

The instrument panel is very detailed, This too will be removable, you cant remove the tub with the panel in. My pilot is going to love the leg room

TB

Leroy Gardner

Tony your cockpit is going to be awesome, I seen Chads work in the earlier stages of that cockpit build back when I was doing mine for the mustang, his work is top gun class. Back then I was surprised at how much more the P47 had compared to the mustang. One thing for sure, your plane will be a stand alone for a sport scale rarely ever seen to the level you have gone.

Ok I'm in on the weight, I know you have done a lot to hold the weight down but you have built it strong also which adds weight so 32 lbs is reasonable I think, looks like we are getting close to finding out.

Your hinge set up is very well done but I've become accustom to that and expect no less for the rest of it.

Regards, Leroy

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Back at it


Well I got a good day in today. Installed the forward hatch that contains the fuel dot, air fill, air gage, and the tac.
I also got the second hatch on the left side by the canopy for my two switches.


Next I will do the cockpit and canopy.


TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Hatches


The first two hatches are cut in. The first one up by the front is for fueling, adding air to the retracts,air gauge, and the engine tac. All my hatches will be held on with magnets. I will prime and sand just like the wing.

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

The second hatch is for my receiver and ignition switches.

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

I am getting the cockpit ready to install. It is all fitted and trimmed. I took about 3/8” off the top front (the portion behind the panel) so I could raise the cockpita bit, it was really low and I wanted the side rails a little higher. I will be mounting the cockpit from in side the belly so I made a bracket at the front and I will use two button screws at the back, maybe two on the floor behind the seat.
The cockpit is removable threw the bottom of the plane. The instrument panel gets installed after the cockpit in installed, it too will be removable so I can get the cockpit out if I need to. TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

In preparation to start the canopy install I cut and fitted the two side panels that will house the canopy rails. The switch hatch is completed and it all fits good. It is small but functional. I will sand down the hatch leaving it slightly raised, I don’t want this one to be flush so
blue tape does that trick.

Next I need to layup the canopy fiberglass.





TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Canopy layup


I got the canopy laid up today. We will see how it turns out tomorrow. I went a slightly different wrought on it so who knows. I cut the rails and they are ready to install. I cut the rails with a layered dremel wheel

Moving along at a snails pace

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

So I just had to see how the canopy frame turned out. It looks good so far and I think I can work with this. I have just rough trimmed it so far. I need to do a bit more on the inner part of the frame. The outer will get trimmed after I have completely sanded it and before I prime it. I need to make a template out of card stock so I can make both sides the same.

Mike was right, it really looks ugly at first but it cleans up nicely I still need to do a lot more fine tuning on it. The form release really works well. The canopy looks to be in good shape. I have two of them so one gets sacrificed during the finishing process. I want to temp mount the frame and sand it and fill it in place then when I am happy with the frame I will prime and paint it before I glue it to the glass.

I laid up my last carbon fiber for the front section of the canopy so that was nice be done with all that (I hope, all out of carbon fiber weave). I started to design the rear section of the canopy sliding rail. I am doing it a little different then the way Mike did his. I am using two rectangular tubes side by side to create the rails and I will most likely make the curved bare that attaches to the canopy out of G-10 and carbon fiber. So I am working on the prototype while I get the canopy ready.


TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

I glued 1/64” birch ply to the bottom of the frame to add rigidity and to give me a nice surface to glue the front portion to the fuselage and a the rear section for sliding back over the fuselage. I have rough timed the canopy frame to the
shape I want, it still needs more trimming but I want to do it slowly so I don’t over trim it, but its close. The front plate that will act as the forward canopy floor is cut and fitted nice and tight. I will glue that in after I paint it and just before I glue in the
forward section of the canopy. This will also help hold the canopy in place.


The canopy rails are coming out nicely.I got the left side done and tested. I am using a small bushing to seat the canopy to the rail. This allows for a tighter fit and I can tighten the screw down onto the slide so there is no slop and the canopy stays just off the fuselage by a hair. I am going to use a bras slid instead of the plastic one. I have some dry-slide I will spray in there for lubricant.

Once I get the right side done I will cut the frame from the front section. The second canopy fits like a glove so I trimmed it and stored it for the final installation. The one I am using now will be sacrificed during the finishing proses. I don't know if I will glue in the final canopy for the test flights. I may just tack in this one until I go into the painting proses. Once the canopy is attached to the rails on both sides I will do the rear slide and servo. That should complete the fuselage so I can move on to priming and assembly.

TB

Calvinman

Hi Tony,

Nice build, very clean! One question though, how do you get the hatches off? It looks like they may be stuck on there but good once you drop them in place!!!

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

i drill a tinny hole at the top and use a small hooked piece of wire to pull them off, works great. I will put it on a keychain and hang it on my field box.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Progress on the canopy is slow and tedious. I am tying the rail panels into the fuselage with some bras tubs that are locked into the rail with a set screw. This screw also holds the rail to the panel. The screw will get cover when I paint. I will glue the panels in with epoxy and fill the lots. I am testing the slides and so far the aluminum bushings are binding so I may try some plastic ones. The bras slid is working good and I will try the plastic one also.

I cut in a bras hard point on the canopy to keep the fiberglass from wallowing out. It also gives me something to tighten the bushing down onto. Aligning the rails are a proses. They need to be aligned with each other so the canopy does not widen or bind, and with the fuselage tapering to the back you need to make adjustments so I'm working on that before I glue in the panels. I cut the canopy away from the front section and I'm stewing on the results. I tacked the canopy into the rear section with canopy glue so I can do so real time testing and so I can sand and prime the frame.

Not sure on the proses yet but I think I will end up gluing the canopy in permanently just because it will end up needing to be. So I'm working on the best way to do that. CA works but it can discolor or fog the plastic and it is not always reliable. canopy glue I'm not to sure of, not a lot of experience with that and this is going to be a structural area. I am building this strong because I want to be able to land with my canopy open.

Epoxy might be the best way, I can clean that up as I go so I will be testing that also. I may end up using a dozen #80 counter sunk screws to hold the canopy glass in, that's been my method with this bird so far, all structural areas get pined and secured with fasteners.

I need to cut in the rear slid next to make sure it all works before I glue in the side panels. That's on the board today.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Here is a preview of my rear slide rails and the servo mounting. I have the body of the rails made and I am getting ready to make the base and mounting brackets. The sled that goes on the rails and attaches to the bow like arm is in production and I should have that ready to install soon. I will get into the details as soon as I have more done on the rear slides. I went ahead and installed the clean new canopy glass in the front and back. I sanded as much as I could with the old glass in then pealed it out. I will bolt the glass in next then prim it and have it ready to install.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

The canopy sled is all finishes as far as the functioning part. I still need to do the rib detailing. I tacked the rails to a carbon fiber plate backed with 1/32" birch play. The rails will be screwed to the plate from the bottom. The rail plate will be screwed to the two 3/8"x1/4" base wood blocks that run along side the actuators arm. I made the bow arm that will attach to the canopy out of G-10 sandwiched by two carbon fiber laminates. The bras bracket is bolted to the arm and I am using a 2/52 button screw that is treaded into the actuators arm at the end. The actuator is not designed to have lots of lateral forces on it so when it is fully extended it flexes a little so I created a slid tube out of carbon fiber for the arm to slide into. The tube is slotted at the top . This will keep the pulling affect the canopy will have when it open during flight. The tube will be epoxied to the 3/8" base rails.

I am using a piece of the rectangle tubing for a bushing that slides in between the rails. This seats onto the actuators arm and the bow bracket.

Next up is to make the mounting brackets that will hold the bow arm to the canopy. This is going to be a cast of epoxy then shaped to fit and then held in place with screws. This will be the method of installing and removing the canopy. Once I get that installed I will begin testing and installing the rest of the components to complete the installation, getting there

Here are the specs on the actuator.

L12 -I Linear Actuator
100:1 Gear Ratio
100mm Stroke Length
5-6 volt - 450mA Stall Current
Control: PWM (RC) or Analog Voltage/Current

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Here is a short video of the canopy sled.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RivG0602_Hk

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

The access hatch for the canopy actuator is cut in and held with 6 magnets. The only reason I would need to get in there is to replace the actuator so no screws and I can lift it from the front. I will sand it and paint it so that it is part of the panel lines.

I threaded 6 #80 button screws into the rails from the bottom of the plate. Then 6 counter sunk #80 screws to hold the rails to the fuselage. I will glue in the rails that hold the canopy slide once I have everything working and tested.

The side panels are mounted with two screw to hold them in place during testing and fitting. Once all is working good I will glue these in too. So everything here is temporarily mounted with screws so I can do real time testing.

I have the method of mounting the canopy bow arm to the canopy and will do that next. That should complete the slide installation, then just fine tuning and gluing.

I am using nylon rod for my bushing and it seams to be working the best so far. I am still playing with that and my try something ells. Not sure how the ny-rod will hold up. I may try a bras sleeve for the bushing. I will hit the slides with Dry- Slide and see how that works.

All is looking good and I will start detailing the canopy and the rear slide rails. I am testing the bolting method for the canopy. I have roughly 25 #80 button screws per side and I will see if this is to much on the look or if it looks good.


The other option is counter sunk #80 screws either left unpainted or prim and fill over them so you don't see them. That will be determined later down the line.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

OK so after a dozen pages and what seemed like forever I finished the canopy short of priming it. I fine tuned and cleaned up the bow arm mounting brackets. I am using 0-72 button head screws for all my structural areas where I need to disassemble during manufacturing.
I caned the 0-80 buttons on the canopy, wasn't looking right. If this was just a sports scale build that would be fine, wait....... this is a sports scale build Anyways I used 6 of the 0-80 recessed screws per side to hold the canopy on and 4 to hold the bow arm. I will prim and paint over them so I can do the proper flush rivets. I hit the heads with thin CA to stiffen up the counter sunk holes. I also hit the nuts and then cut them off flush. The inside frame will get painted so that should hide them enough.

The ribs where made out of left over layups. They still need some fine tuning but they are in and done. I will paint the rear slide black when I start the detailing. May just leave it carbon fiber color for the test flights.

I have done a few adjustments with the actuator and getting the canopy to move smoothly and to keep it tight to the fuselage. So far when it is open it is snug, when it is closed the rear is up just under an 1/8" The only way to make that snug would be to have the rails dip down at the front like the full scale, not going to worry about that right now, looks great from three feet away I can fix it by simply making a new L bracket that attaches to the bow arm and the actuator, just needs to drop a 1/16" at best.

TB

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Here is a video of the canopy in action.

TB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUg3tzhQpdw&feature=youtu.be

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

Next on the board is to get the fuselage ready to prime. I glued in the side rail panels and applied the light weight filler. Just need to sand it and go over the airframe to see if any other areas need some filler. I really don't want to over do the finishing. I want dents, and uneven areas as the full scale was all aluminum and got pretty beat up. so I just need to do a once over and prim. Then I will wet sand and she is ready for assembly. The cockpit will get rough painted. I will paint the tub and install the components I have. Not in a hurry to finish the cockpit until I go into finishing mode. I wont install the front portion of the canopy until I am all done sanding. I will install it, mask it then paint it with the fuselage. I want it seamless and not the applied after painting look. Once the cockpit is in I can start to layout the servos. I think they will be scattered about and not on one tray. The ruder, elevator, and stirring may be on one or on individual mounts. The throttle and the choke will go up front. The retract valve servo will go up front. So lots to do there once the cockpit is in. Right now if I fit something it stays.

TB

John Taylor

My Feedback: (16)

Tony Builder Great job on your canopy. John T.

rt3232

My Feedback: (6)

Tony

Looking great can't wait to see it primed ready for the madien.

Cheers Bob T

Leroy Gardner

I have a bad feeling, is Tony still with us. ? After all his work on this great thread it's a shame not to see the finish.

Does anyone know whats going on, or if Tony is ok.

Leroy

TonyBuilder

My Feedback: (11)

word on the street is he is alive and kicking, he was spotted on the white sand beaches of Costa Rica this summer escaping the Texas heat. Recent sightings had him at a local Texas flying field so it appears he is back. Although the word is he has suffered a few set backs with crashed planes and is currently repairing the fleet. Rumor has it that the Jug will be back in production in October fallowed by a maiden. He hasn't been spotted on RCU since the dreaded migration, sightings have been reported on RCG though.
Hope this helps.