Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

After seeing Luke showcase this old kit, I decided that I just had to have one. Easier said than done.

After several failed ebay auctions, I finally acquired a kit without paying an absurd price.

I didn't want to just build it, and not have a kit anymore, so I started drawing the individual parts in Autocad. I now have the wing parts drawn, and decided to try cutting my own parts.

One aspect of having them on the computer is that I can adjust all of the slot widths to accept american wood instead of the metric wood that comes with kit.

I printed the spars and ribs, and glued them to wood with spray adhesive, and cut them out on a scroll saw. My first parts are shown in the pic.

If there are already too many corsair threads for everyone, let me know and I will quit. The build thread are always my favorite.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

The first pic shows the front spar being glued together on top of the plans. I am trying to keep the two pcs aligned.

The nex two show where I joined the two spar halves. The spar is touching the centerling and the spar tips are the same distance from the centerline.

I am using an old closet door that is actually pretty flat.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

The rear spar was glued together on top of the front spar. I postioned it as shown on the plans, and I wanted make sure is was aligned with the front spar.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

You can't have too many build threads. Build on!

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

These pics show Luke's procedure of gluing the wing spar to the door.

Wood blocks are glued to the door, and the spar is glued to the blocks. The blocks have to bee perpendicular to the door, and the spar has to be on the centerline.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Next, the second spar and ribs are added. The rear spar is shimmed 5/16" to position it as shown on the plans.

I thought cutting out all these pieces would be a bit arduous, but this is alot of fun.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

A couple more with some of the sheeting added, and leading edge parts. The bottom sheeting has to be bent between the last two ribs. I glued the top sheeting on and moistened the lower sheeting. I tried to apply equal pressure to both surfaces so the ribs wouldn't get misaligned.

Also, my tip rib is not as thick as the spar. I need to sand 1/16 off of the bottom of the spar at the end. I'm curious if anyone else has run into this. Its no big deal, but as well as the other parts have fit, I was surprised to run into this.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Time to temporarily remove the wing from the door and make ailerons.

This is a little embarrasing. I cut the left aileron out, and you can see how much the top sheeting bends down toward the tip rib. Its suppose to be flat. I can also see that
the two outer ribs are not in line with the others. I hate backing up and taking things apart.

The first picture shows this.

The next picture is the right aileron, and the sheeting looked pretty good. There is a slight bend, but its not enough to mess with. The ribs looked aligned to me.


I destroyed the tip rib, but managed to loosen the next rib and sheeting. I made a new tip rib and did some realignment. The third pic shows the reworked area.

Maybe I should have scored or notched the bottom sheeting so that it would bend easier.

I would love to hear any other suggestions. How do you bend the wood without altering the rib positons?

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

One more pic showing rear of wing. You can see the center block for the wing bolts and aileron servo.

More later

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

This is cool! I don't usually check the kit building section, so what a surprise. This is not really a kit you are building either! What kind of a build is this going to be? How scale are you going to go, mods, retracts, engine all that stuff!


I sheeted the bottom of the outer panel at the trailing edge first. Also notice the triangle piece in the corner of the end rib, this helps hold the angle of the rib. Your triangle piece dose not look substantial enough. First you glue all the other ribs, when they are dry you bend the sheeting up to the end rib, the whole time keeping an eye down the trailing edge.

Keep up the great work!

Dion

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Hi Luke,

I was wandering if you were going to jump in here. Thanks for the encouragement.

I have a set of Lee's gear on order. I'm on his paid list, but don't have them yet.

I know corsair fans are going to hate this, but I'm thinking of making this a simple build. Fixed gear, no flaps. I've never cut a kit before, or built a Royal. This build is an experiment for me. My engine is a new OS91 four stroke, which will not be alot of power. I want this to be as light as possible, and also build quickly. Then I can think about doing some of the scale stuff.

Luke, can I purchase two of your birdcage canopies?

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Watching you build this kit the way you are and doing great job is interesting. The kit is a challange with all the parts precut. as you can see by looking at the fuse sides they are laminated and presure formed going to be a challange to get it like they have. Sheeting the gull wing is the $%^%&* . Mine is over 30yrs old and needs new motor rails and it will be back in the air:eek: Great flying bird with a 90 or larger power plant likes to tip stall with any thing smaller. will be watching you progress.

PS
Fixed gear is OK just tell every one you are on Final:D

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Thanks Larry.

I am trying to keep this as light as possible, but I have decided to add the flaps. The only weight added will be one, high torque servo.

The fuselage seems to be ply formers sheeted with precut, 1/8 balsa. I think the kit uses 3mm or (0.118) inches

I mentioned drawing this in cad. Here is some of the work I have done with the fuse pcs. You will need adobe to open.

When I lay the actual parts over these drawings, the outlines are perfect.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Just a thought but if you take 1/16 balse and laminate it with light weight glass cloth and tite bond or simular glue you can make the bends easyer;) with the help of a little amonia or windex. I use Wally World in the spray $.99 per bottle. Then you can run the grain of the wood any direction;) no cracks or spliting.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Kelsey
Just another suggestion:eek: Try a scrap first but fibberglass dry wall tape on back side o sheeting with your favorite glue not CA gets to brittle. Try it in layers for wing tape:D

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Those are interesting suggestions. I haven't thought about the fuse construction too much yet. I doubt I can get one piece of 1/8 balsa to make the sharp radius that the pre shaped wood does. I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there. My first thought would be to use several pieces instead of one. Each strip making up just part of the bend. I'll experiment when we get there.

Thanks for the interest. I'll pick up supplies tomorrow, finish ailerons, and start on flaps. More pictures coming soon.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Just an up date to what I posted. I took 2 sheets of 1/32 balsa, drywall tape and glued them together with tape in the center. Misted ligthly with water and Ironed them with a clothes Iron:D took about 10 minutes and have a skin you can work with with out cutting into strips and can rewet with windex to bend. Just tried this today and it works!

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

I did not mean to shut down your thread but it is a great kit and fun to fly.[:o]

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

No, its not shut down, I'm just not the fastest builder. I've also have two kids in dance and playing basketball. So that takes some time.

First pic shows aileron LE cut down per plans and control horn mounted to a ply wedge that will be glued to aileron.

Second show aileron capped with 1/4 balsa and sanded to shape.

Third shows balsa blocks for hinge anchors

Fourth aileron bay capped with 3/32 balsa

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

First shows installed aileron

Second shows servo and linkage. I ran out of time for second linkage. What looks simplistic always seems to take an afternoon for me to complete.

Third is the bell crank assembly.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

The build is looking great! Build a sport plane first, I don't see a problem with that. It'll be the best looking one around! Don't use the stock flap set-up, copy the set-up used on the Top Flite Corsair. Download the manual from TF if you don't have one. Remember to add a little extra balsa around the center flap area, helps them to maintain their shape when you cut them out. Your drawings of the formers look awesome, that is some great work there. I'll get you a couple of canopies, just give me a few weeks if you could? You're building her at a good clip, the fuselage will be a snap, it's much easier than the wing.

Dion

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Larry,

Sounds like you have good procedure for making the uppper and lower rear fuse sheeting. I may have to try that. Thanks for your help and interest in my work.

Luke,

Thanks for the canopies, and please, do them at your convenience. I'm in no hurry.

Your threads are always fun to look at. I have studied your flaps on the F2G thread and was really impressed with your method. I plan to do the same thing, except for the scale hinges. They look cool, but I don't think my saw will hanlde the circuit board you like to work with. I need to experiment with that. I plan to use robart hinges for now.



I am famililar with Topflite flap method. Don't they look small in the pic.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

On Saturay, I was still messing with the aileron linkage. I was getting more movement in one direction than the other.

I noticed the ball links were spaced far apart and one was closer to the wheel center than the other, and, when centered, my linkage with the bellcranks was at an angle. The original ball links are still there.

After some adjustments I got them to look like the pictures. I was very pleased with servo operation after this.

After that, I put some loctite on the bellcrank bolts and nuts. Once you start sheeting, you can't get to these. Everything has to be dialed in now.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Next show the landing gear blocks being glued. They will be epoxied between the front spar and leading edge. This is the first original wood from the kit I have used. I have drawings, but I don't plan to do another fixed gear, so I used them.

RE: Royal Corsair 60 Build
 

Now that the ailerons are done, its time for sheeting. The wing assembly is still pretty flimsy at this point. I glued it back to the door on the original marks and sheeted the outer panels.

I was wanting to work on flaps, but ran out of time. I'll try to start them this week.