ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

Not much snow for us here in Michigan either. I had about 6" fall on Thursday night, so since the ATV with the plow eats this stuff up, it took me about 20 minutes to clear the drive way at 4am before I went to work on Friday. No biggie. We have missed a lot of the big snow here the last couple winters as well. I am sure its only a matter of time........

~Dave

TomCrump

Vince, I do have a build. If you look in the pic, you can barely see the fuselage, just behind the bench. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1812573 I bought a VK kit, for the Corbin Super Ace, yesterday.

TomCrump

LOL

I call that thing, "Big Orange." It has 10hp, and takes a 24" cut. Unfortunately, it's been getting use all too frequently.

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

You know you are sick when your snowblower and model plane have the same HP!

TomCrump

It's all about priorities.

VincentJ

Driving home from work today I was wondering how much longer it would take for my stitches to arrive. Frustrated, I got to my driveway and saw that the lid on my mailbox had something sticking out of it. Could it be, could my stitches be here! YES ...

Thanks all for being patient and I hope I haven't lost any of you with this delay. So without any time wasted I went right down to my shop and got to WORK...

You can see in the first photo how the stitches come as well as the tapes. The stitches come in a sheet 2 inches wide and 36 inches long. It's up to you to cut off the width that you want. Securing each side of the stitches with some painters tape prevents the stitches from movingwhile cutting. I decided that I wanted my stitches to be 3/16" wide so using a pencil I made marks and trimmed to width with a fresh single edge razor.

Having the correct width that I wanted I thenthen peeled off the backing on the stitches which reveals the sticky side. Place it where you want the stitches to go and lightly press into place. The stitches then get covered over with some rib tape. The rib tape was purchased from Gary at Pink-it. These tapes are scale, in this case 1/5 and they are made from Solartex. They come in a variety of colors that Solartex comes in. I find it better to iron the tapes on using a trim iron. It takes some time to ensure the tapes are secured. You can see how it has turned out. I'm heading back down to get more done...

WacoNut

Looking good VJ,
I am currently doing the same thing to my wings
Anthony

acerc

Really looking good VJ. And I, will be doing the same thing in a week or so. Except I cheap, and will make mine.

Cub Flyer Fresno

Awesome VJ!  Thanks for those photos too.  I guess I need to invest in a trim iron.

TomCrump

Nice work, Vincent !

I'm glad to see that Gary took care of you. I've used the Pink-it product for years. I really like them.

raptureboy

Yeeee Hawwww!!Now all you need is another snow storm so you can have a day offThat is going to look so good when you put the paint on, I'm so jealous now. After seeing all this I'm going to have to refinish my Ryan now, thanks alot buddyjust what I need more projects.

VincentJ

Thanks all for the compliments. It feels so good to be back in the workshop. I had a big ol' smile from ear to ear working last night. It got me thinking about how sorry I feel for those individuals that haven't found a hobby that not only occupies their time but one that gives them pleasure. We are indeed fortunate...

acerc

Amen brother, Amen!

TCampbell

Great to see you're back on the build and it's looking good!

VincentJ

Thanks Tim, I appriciate your following along!

Placing the stitches and the tape is slow exacting work that can't be rushed. Tonight I finished the horizontal stabilizer's top and bottom halves as well as laying down the perimeter tape. I wanted to show you the difference between the rib tape which covers the stitches and the perimeter tape which is wider and goes along the perimeter of the stab. It may not show well with these pictures, I tried to hold the light at the best angle thatI could for you to see. Getting the perimeter tape to lay down around the tight radius of the stabwithout getting any wrinkles proved to be challenging but doable. Tomorrow night I will get the elevator halves done, but for tonight that's a wrap for me as my energy level is down.

ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

Does the perimiter tape get applied to the LE & the TE or just the LE?

~dave

VincentJ

Both Dave. The rib tape goes from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The perimeter tape then overlaps the ends of the rib tapes on the leading and trailing edges.

TomCrump

I hope that Vincent doesn't mind. Here is a pic of my Cessna Airmaster, with both rib and perimeter tapes applied.

The tapes are white, because Gary (Pink-it) was out of Natural Solartex, and I didn't want to wait for more to come in.

VincentJ

I don't mind Tom. The white tape shows up well, good visual. I love that plane BTW.

TomCrump

Thanks. I thought that the white tapes would illustrate your point better, as they are easier to see.

The model is my 1/4 IKON Cessna Airmaster, covered in Solartex and painted with Rustoleum

VincentJ

All the stitching and taping is done on the fuselage! Today I worked on the elevator halves (top and bottom), fin and rudder. It took me 8-9 hours just to complete these items... Now I am ready to fit the plastic pieces to the fin and stab areas and get the rest of the rivets done that surround these areas. It should be ready for paint in a few days!!

Today I alsoordered a new drill press to replace my exsisting one. I am done buying inferior tools that only work for a year or two. It's a Jet 15" table top drill press that has bearings instead of bushings in the spindle for long life. It will be a welcome addition to my workshop when it arrives.

WacoNut

Looks really good VJ,
I know your pain, it is taking me 4-5 hrs for each wing panel. A job you just can't rush.
Later!!
Anthony

OldScaleGuy

My Feedback: (2)

VJ, your STA looks great. You just can't go wrong buying good tools. I just checked my Duracraft bench top drill press, it was manufactured in August, 1990 and still works just as well today as the day i bought it.

acerc

Well I have a Central Machinery drill press from Harbor Freight and YES! it's a piece of crap. And it will be replaced before my next build. Trying to machine the canopy rails, well, just aint happening.

ghoffman

My Feedback: (3)

That is the way I feel about engines, servos, radios and alot of other things these days.