SunDevilPilot

Today I installed the radio tray, elevator / rudder servos, pilot floor and pilot into the fuselage. Went smooth enough but it was somewhat like building a ship in a bottle. No matter how large the model you can never really reach the places where bolts need to be added.

I'll show more of the servo side once I get into installing the linkage. In the first photo you can see the servo tray and pilot floor connected as they are inside the plane. The servo tray connect to preinstalled mounts in the plane then the pilot floor mounts to the servo tray.

SunDevilPilot

G.F. Reid

My Feedback: (1)

That's one of the best looking pilots I've seen. Did you paint him yourself?

VincentJ

SDP, I love the pilot, he looks very realistic! Are you considering incorporating any "weathering" techniques on your paint job?

SunDevilPilot

Unfortunately I don't have that kind of talent. The pilot and guns were painted by my friend Denis so the level of detail on those exceeds what I can do. I think this one will be factory fresh until time itself weathers it.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

I also installed the tail brace wires. I almost forgot I need to make a little adjustment to the tailwheel. The support rod had a little too much angle bent into it. The castering portion of the assembly was not 90 degrees to the ground. Fearing this would wreak havoc on the steering I straightened it. The process cracked / scratched the paint on the rod so I did a quick sand / repaint. Once the paint dries the tailwheel assembly with get its final installation.

On the "Bones" photo you can see the misalignment of the tailwheel in relation to the ground (not 90 degrees on the pivot point).

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Tailwheel is installed. You can see the proper alignment with the ground now present in the second photo.

Not sure what is next. Either the motorbox / cowl final adjustments or move onto some control system linkage.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

The receiver arrived in the mail so I took a few minutes to get it installed. I added the antenna guide tubes bent with a heat gun in such a way to make them roughly 90 degrees to one another (Optimum for a Futaba 2.4 Setup).

I think the next job will be the control linkage for the elevator and rudder.

SunDevilPilot

VincentJ

Well done, everything is as it should be. The inside of your plane exudes the same beauty and perfection as does the outside!

SunDevilPilot

I ordered some supplies (Fishing Cable Crimps) to complete the rudder / tailwheel pull pull setups so work is at a little standstill. I couldn't resist putting the main painted pieces together to take a look at how it is all coming together. I think I even surprised myself with this one. Please let it fly good!

SunDevilPilot

G.F. Reid

My Feedback: (1)

My opinion....That plane has no choice but to fly right. You built it right, it's a proven design, done deal!

SunDevilPilot

Today I made the control horns for the elevator. The design is based on the Du-Bro HD Horns. Most of the work was done on the lathe but I forgot to take photos until had already pulled out the mill. I have a set of Du-Bro horns which I will use on the Rudder.

The interesting feature of the Du-Bro horns is the washer. There is a sphere on the washer and a dish on the horn which allows the assembly to seat when installed on an airfoiled surface. My surfaces, however, are flat so I built the washer right into the horn on my version.

The bolts in the horns were also handmade out of aluminum. The entire part is very light yet strong. The aluminum is T6-6061.

The plastic horns will be slight shortened to properly align with the hinge line. I have no idea why Du-Bro makes these parts so long.

The bolt threads through a piece of hardwood I installed into the elevators. Because of the strength of the hardwood I made the upper portion (Screw-Head) quite small. It just needs to stop the bolt from pulling through the hardwood, something that will never happen despite the small size of the head.

SunDevilPilot

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Nice Job. Did U single Point the screw threads of chase them with a Die? Is Your Sherline 5400 a separate Mill or part of the Lathe set up?

SunDevilPilot

I used a die. I can cut threads with the lathe but it's really time consuming.

The lathe and mill are separate machines.

I basically have these:

SunDevilPilot

This morning I worked on getting the elevator and rudder linkage installed. All the preplanning worked and everything went in without issue.

I was mistaken when I thought I had some springs for the tailwheel setup so that didn't get completed today. I will pick up some springs tomorrow.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

I started off today with a little project for a friend. He recently completed a H-9 Super Cub and had an issue with the battery hold-down. The main battery tray is secured into the plane by means of a screw, neatly disguised as a control stick. His issue was the threaded portion was too short. So, I made him a new one. Similar in design with some upgrades. The one I made has the knurled end.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Once I had completed the part for my friend I went to the local hardware store and got some springs for the tailwheel.

For those that haven't done a lot of work with pull pull cables here is a little tip. Take the wire and put some heat shrink on and the crimp. Then loop the cable through your end piece and back through the crimp. Then slide the crimp up towards its final location. Make any adjustments in length you need then when all set bend the extra cable at the crimp. This will temporarily hold everything in place. Check your work.... Then loop the extra back through the crimp. Once the extra is pulled tight crush the crimp, I used Channel Lock brand Crimping Pliers. Trim off the excess cable and neatly cover the crimp with the heatshrink.

You may also note, the connection points at the ends of the spring are protected with heatshrink. By wrapping the loops with heatshrink I doubt they will ever open up under stress and become detached. Also, the use of a second set of pull-pull cables specifically for the tailwheel greatly increase the adjustment of the wheel. Any adjustment of the tailwheel can be done independent of the rudder. The angle of the cables is also much better than they would be if connected to the rudder itself.

The tiny metal looks are for fishing.

Pictures say a thousand words....

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

One thing I decided... This will be my last store purchased tailwheel. Im staying with what I have on the Nieuport because it is already setup for it but the next one will be custom made via my lathe / mill. For the vast majority of models the main wheels and tailwheel seem like some junky afterthought.

This one works well enough but it could be a lot better.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

I will have to wait for the titanium rod ends to arrive from Central Hobbies but I did get some work accomplished today. I made the servo extensions and installed the servos into the bottom wing. I also installed the aluminum skid plates onto the aileron for those "Not so perfect landings." Went without issue.

Rubber grommets used to "finish" the servo extension holes. Not needed but they make it appear as if you cared.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

I was planning on making the pushrods for the ailerons last week but as it turn out a made a little miscalculation. There is not enough room between the servo and the horn to use the carbon rod / titanium ends I was planning to use. However, there is enough room for some 2 1/2" H9 Turnbuckles so I made an order. I should have those tomorrow.

In the mean time I made a spinner for my friend's Flybaby that he is currently building. He had looked around and was not able to find something that would work so I did the best I could.

The radius cutter I have for my lathe runs along the centerline of the part so any radius it makes would be round. To get the cone shape of a spinner I made some new mounting blocks to move the pivot point below the centerpoint of the lathe.

In all honesty it was pretty much a guess as to how high to make the new blocks. These can be seen in the photos as they are raw metal (T6 Aluminum) in color.

The spinner I ended up with is really close, just a tiny bit longer. The length was needed to conceal the propeller nut within the spinner.

All I had to use for a shape was the attached photo. I had a few others but this photo showed the profile the best.

The rear of the spinner was bored out first to fit precisely onto the washer, which indexes with the spinner. The recess into the rear of the spinner is large enough the propeller mounting bolt will be concealed within the spinner. Once that was one I made a mandrel and mounted the spinner back onto the lathe to turn the radius. The spinner was simply bolted on using the 10-32 bolt which will be used on the actual plane. Once cone shaped the rear of the spinner would be all but impossible to remount so the order of operations was important.

SunDevilPilot

marksp

My Feedback: (9)

BTW, all of us who fly the H9 Super Cub electric have the same issue with the battery hold down. Bet if you made a bunch of those, you could easily sell them all! Heck, I had to but the entire hardware kit just to get one after the first one wore out!

Cheers

SunDevilPilot

Awaiting my turnbuckles in the mail..... but was productive.

My friend stopped by with the motor and propeller so I was able to do the final fitting of his spinner. Looks pretty close to the real spinner.

The first photo is of his Continental Engine. As you can see I had quite the scale effort to try and match.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Aileron Linkage complete. The H9 Titanium Turnbuckles fit perfect.

Time for the final work on the motor box / wiring / and cowl.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Today I put the paint onto the motor / battery box.

The paint is still wet so the final installation will be done tomorrow. This phase includes the installation of the electric motor, faux rotary motor, ESC and BEC.

You may note some tubes in the upper motor box. These tubes will be used to get the power wires from the ESC side of the motor compartment to the BEC side. I didn't want to just string them across the box allowing them to be visible on the completed model. I also wanted to protect the wires from the constant installation / removal of the main flight batteries.

Once the electronics are installed all that is left is the final cutting / painting of the cowl and the completion of the flying wires.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Final installation of the motor begins. Reinstalled the aluminum rods I made to secure the batteries into the box, installed the electric motor, and installed the faux motor.

Next will be the ESC and BEC and some soldering.

I did put the motor box onto the plane just to take a sneak peek... But the box will be wired / soldered off the plane and installed as a completed unit.

SunDevilPilot

smkrcflyer

Looks great!