YUKONFLYR

Mshay, like most modelers I have a few ARF kits laying around[], a few unfinished projects ( 2 to be exact) , and lots of spare parts and a few cases of fuel. I get the grass is greener on the other side syndrome when doing projects or you could call it by eyes are bigger than my stomach

I have only those projects that I will do at some future date, but if my house starts looking like and episode of "Hoarders, Buried Alive" I will give you a call first

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

I thought you liked callecting the ARF boxes meself! [:-]

YUKONFLYR

Hmmm, after the ARF gets extracted from the box, I usually dispose of the box. Sorry to say, all the boxes you see save one have a genuine ARF inside[sm=stupid.gif]

YUKONFLYR

The back side of the wing is basically the same as the front side. The short kit has a middle saddle and wing tip saddles so you pin the wing upside down in the holders provided and clip off all the tabs, add the vertical grain sheeting for the spar and then the front two sheets for the forward part of the wing.

I did not install bellcranks so I constructed servo bays in the wing so each aileron will get a servo. This will allow flaperons. My first intent was to have full functional flaps but the servo count for this project was getting much too heavy. My servo count with just ailerons will be 6 servos and with full flaps it would be 8[X(].

Detail of the servo bays in the wing and the completed wing save the servo bay covers.

smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

Looks like its coming along beautifully.

YUKONFLYR

Aileron Time []

I approached this task with some reservations, Edge glue a couple of sheets of 3/32" 3x36 sheets, then add a leading edge, then cut up some scrap for the ribs. No matter how hard you try to get scrap pieces to match, there are always some pieces that are slightly different. then you flip it over and do the same thing again. What you end up with is a really fat aileron over a inch thick[X(]. Then its get out the carving knife to cut it down to size!

I pined it to the wing to take some dimensions prior to carving it up. The whole aileron gets thinned down and I tapered all the ribs from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The instructions say to match the rib profile

After much carving and sanding I did end up with an aileron, then you have to do it again.

I am glad this task is behind me.....would have been nice to have some laser cut ribs instead of cutting up scrap

Pics included.

Next up is the Fuse, which should be much less carving

YUKONFLYR

More Pics

YUKONFLYR

Last Aileron Pic

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

Looks good Richard.

Finished my wing today. Will get the ailerons and flaps done tomorrow. Im doing my kit without any mods. So I will use the bell crank set up. My power plant is a Super Tigre .51 with a Jett pipe. Can't wait to get them flying together Richard

YUKONFLYR

A few more takers we could have a group build.
Can't wait to have them flying as well.

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

got the bell crank, ailerons and flaps done today.

YUKONFLYR

Well Pete, looks like just you and me, no takers on the group build! I guess the Simple Flier will remain one of those very rare planes that you see more often on G4 than in real life

BTW, nice job on the wing and ailerons / flaps

YUKONFLYR

Got a good start on the fuse!

The fuse is made in two parts, top side first, then the bottom over the top. Basic stringer and bulkhead with no surprises
I found the bulkheads for the most part fit well, some had to be sanded and others were loose, but I am only talking about 0.25mm, maybe I am just picky[8D]

YUKONFLYR

Since I will be clocking my engine to the right side of the plane I have left the front stingers long so that I will have some structure to glue the front bulkhead to. I am only using a 2 1/4" spinner, the largest that Jett produces so I will have to custom cut the front bulkhead.

YUKONFLYR

Canopy is part of the fuse itself, the tailplate at the rear is plywood and has the mounting holes for the stabs already cut into it. Rear sheeting on the fuse, called upon the old Windex to soak the balsa, even with a good soaking, it still cracked in two places to install it after waiting a whole day. In hindsight, I should have pre worked the balsa which worked very well for the upcoming sheeting.

YUKONFLYR

Over the wing sheeting. This sheeting like the rear upper fuse is laser cut, and has a cutout relief so that the balsa will fit. I soaked the balsa in windex twice and preworked slowly the balsa so that it would not crack under the curves it was about to endure. even with that it still was very stiff and resisted so it got poked a few times

YUKONFLYR

More sheeting pictures, when it dries it should hold its form just like the wings The center pic shows how much the balsa resisted being formed. I am not sure how many pins that is....Kinda reminds me of Neo in the Matrix when he was first freed, total pincushion....

YUKONFLYR

Last sheeting forming picture. Lower rear fuse....

When it dries all this forming should allow a trouble free install of the fuse sheeting. Then its unpin time and flip it over to work on the bottom. I will go over all the sheeting joints with ca from the inside. The instructions call for thin ca from the outside but it makes sanding a nightmare so I will reinforce all joints from the inside. Hopefully that will make sanding the outside a little easier.

smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

Wow...moving right along you guys, keep up the good work, everything looks tickety boo.

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

got some more work done. Mounted a servo for the nose wheel in the fuel tank compartment. I used a smaller tank ( 8oz ) to give me extra room for a servo. got the engine & engine servo and push rod also installed.

Postman2

I know this thread is frm 2010 "a little old", but I just found it. I bought my Simple Flier, June 2007 and just abt to put finishing touches to it. It weighs between 6-7lbs empty and will be powered by Fox BB46, 2 stroke. It was the first time I built a round fuselage plane and first V-Tail. I am curious as to how u guys setup the mechanics for the tail section. I did mine pretty much per instructions w/ a slight mods. I have 7 servos. Also, I added some stringers under the top of the fuse sheeting; it seemed a little flimsy for a heavy-handed-me.
I have no idea how it will fly but hope to find out nx year. It was my intention to fly this year but got sidelined havin knee surgery. Can post some pix later...
How did the 2 u guys built fly?

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Be patient..they probably are still out checking their trap lines and they should be back any day now.

thebluemax

My Feedback: (151)

I guess they are still out there somewhere as it has been almost 3 years since anyone has posted here. I hope someone has actually seen one fly besides what they saw in G2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ,7, and 7.5.

I just finished building my Simple Flyer. I call it the Simple Flyer after our NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia Flyers. The plane is powered by an Enya 45-CX. There are 8 digital servos in the plane powered by a 2300Mah, A123 battery. The radio gear is a 6 channel Nano receiver and X+10 Channel Expander by Xtreme Power Systems (XPS) . The plane is covered with Black Baron Orange film and flat black film by 21st Century. I made all of the graphics from Monokote, 21st Century, and Black Baron film from pictures and the Silhouette SD Digital Cutting Tool. Not sure when the maiden will be.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Very nice..!
After reviewing this thread, that plane looks like a lot of work...
Just think, the other dude died of exhaustion before he finished his..!

thebluemax

My Feedback: (151)

Thanks. You maybe right as it was a lot of work and a lot of aggravation. 99% of the aggravation was after it was all framed up which is disappointing as the wood was very nice and the laser cutting was awesome. Everything wood wise fit great but there were a lot of problems with the build. I built everything according to the manual and plans. It was not until after it was all framed up and I had problems that I changed things.

The wing would not go on the fuse after they were built. I had to do a lot of sanding to the wing to get it on and off. I hinged the flaps and ailerons according to the locations on plans and when the wing did finally fit the fuse, the flaps hit the fuse. I had to sand those down so they would not. Building the ailerons and flaps were a bear to start with and I am being nice on that as covering them was even worse. I ended up putting servos in the wing as the pushrods coming of the bell-crank would hit the bottom sheeting and could not get full deflection of the ailerons.

Inside the front compartment in the fuse there is not much room at all for the rx, batteries, and 10 oz. fuel tank. I had to mount the A123 battery in the wing along with the X+10 channel expander for the servo connections. I used a wiring harness to attach to the servos and rx in the fuse. Mounting the push rods for the throttle and nose gear according to the plans would not allow the fuel tank to go into the compartment as the pushrods were in the way. The angle on the routing of the nose gear was ridiculous. I ended up putting an 8 ounce tank in there to make room for the rx and then added another servo for the nose gear. Since there is no room in the fuse for another one. The servo was needed for not only to fix the routing but when connected to the rudder servo using the v-tail mix the wheel would turn the opposite way of the rudder. So the servo was added and mixed to the rudder to get both to turn the same direction. I spent 2 weeks just trying to get this stuff to fit in the fuse and to work correctly.

Other than that it was great (yeah right)..... I am glad the color scheme turned out good.......

A couple of years ago there was one for sale here on RCU that was built but and I believe it was never flown. I almost bought it as I wanted this plane. Knowing what I know now i am glad I did not as I am pretty sure that plane probably had all these problems with getting everything to fit and work correctly. I just hope mine flies like it does in the simulator, especially after all this work.