dfturnock
Posts: 133
Score: 100
Joined: 9/5/2003
Last Login: 4/5/2013
From: Eureka Springs,
AR, USA
Status: offline
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Happy Holidays, Everyone!
First, I have a canopy for the BabyMach One, and possibly the Baby Banshee, and the Baby Curare. Stay tuned.
I am looking into the Fancy Foam gear, looks perfect for the Baby series.
I will also have the foam wings available separately when I get a chance to edit the web site, in case you want to have a set with and without landing gear.
Just a few comments from my experince... They are just my opinions, and as always, there a lot of viable ways to do the job  I have been working with foam wings lot since the early 90's, when I was a partner in Dynamic Balsa, and we bought the foam wing business from Ralph Andre at wing MFG, before he passed away. I in turn bought the business from Dynamic a few years ago.
PART A
On a plane this size, (and most others for that matter), I always use Scotch 77 (#77 from now on) spray adhesive. Contrary to recent myths, it does not eat foam. The accelerant now used is what attacks foam. It works fine as long as you treat it as you are using spray paint. Don't spray it on from 3" away, back off and you will not have any problems. I did 6 sets of wings for Raytheon, and used this method. The wings are surviving many tests with no issues at all, and they are very particular. I have over 10 year old wings that haven't even thought about separating done with #77. It is very light, works perfectly, not messy, and is very quick to do. Very similar reults to Sorguhm, but not as messy. Both are great if you are allergic to epoxy.
Epoxy is my next choice, I have always found it to work well. I use it when there are landing gear in the wing, so the sheeting is glued to the false ribs used to mount the gear plates, and any dihedral braces.
I have also used a combination of epoxy and #77, adhering most of the sheeting with the #77, and spreading epoxy where any spars, false ribs, braces, etc. touch the sheeting. The advantage of the eopxy, with less mess.
I tried Gorilla glue, and was not impressed at all. Overpriced, and way to limited shelf life, with no advantages I have found.
Also worth mentioning, is always glue LE, TE, and wing tips on with wood glue. Doing these with epoxy makes it almost impossible to sand properly.
When joining the wing halves, epoxy or wood glue works good, feel free to poke a few holes in the ends with a pencil. That allows some of the adhesive to flow into them, creating sprues which act a lot like dihedral braces. And it is always a good idea to wrap the center with a narrow sheet of fiberglas if there are landing gear in the wing.
As always, personal experience prevails If you have ways of doing things that work for you, by all means use them. These mentioned have always worked for me.
PART B
Don't waste you time trying to change the planes to a sheeted turtle deck. I have went back and forth between that and the current (actually ways learned from the old masters LOL) method, a few times, and that is what delayed their release.
The weight results are very, very close since almost everything is sanded away. I took care to size everything so very little of the tri stock was left when done.
The main reason is, despite me being lazy on the plans, and showing the section behind the wing TE as straight, the whole fuse side should curve gracefully from front to back, however the wood naturally bends. The old planes don't have a straight turtle deck, like an Edge540, for instance, that 'breaks' at the wing TE.
Trying to apply turtle deck sheeting is next to impossible due to the compound curve that results from the curved sides. Wood sheets don't bend that way. Foam turtle decks are a problem on these shape of planes for the same reason.
It also helps to add the top sheeting while the fuse is in the building jig. This helps keep the fuse very straight for the rest of the process. You are using one, right?
Ok that's enough for now. Please no flames, they are just my experinces from years of building. hope they help a few of the 'ARF' people out there.
Off to eat a wonderful Christmas lunch I smell in the other room.
Don
quote:
ORIGINAL: viva_peru
David,
Thank you for the advice. I checked with the hobby shop and John suggested going with the laminating epoxy which is what I am going to do. On the previous foam wings I've done, I used slow cure epoxy as well as 3M contact cement. It seemed to me that the epoxy gave the best results. For the landing gear, I will probably install the blocks on the wing and then decide wether to keep the gear or not. I will move the blocks forward relative to what is shown in the plans since the plane will be a tail dragger.
For the power system, the E-flite on a 10x8 prop will make about 250 watts or so and give me a pitch speed of about 55 mph or so. For such a small plane, that seemed fast enough. I have the motor on hand and it does fit the nose of the plane if I go with a nose ring mount. I agree that the battery might be a little big given the size of the plane, but at that power level the battery is good for a 7 minute flight or so. I know also that people have used the small Mega 1615 on these types of planes and fitted then with a small prop, but I am hoping to fly a little more slowly and use the motor thrust rather than speed for vertical performance. Off course, it the plane ends up being heavier than expected, that assumption goes out the window and I will need more speed. I have been flying electric planes for about 5 or 6 years now so I thought I knew what I was doing. If you guys think that I am going down the wrong path, I am open to suggestions.
As a slight change to the design, I might do the rear turtle deck in 16th sheeting with formers simply to save a little weight. I have not decided if it is worth the extra effort or not. There is something to be said for carving and sanding, I find it very relaxing. We will see.
Thanks once again and Merry Christmas to all of you,
Teo
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RE: Baby classic pattern planes are here! - 
As always, your milage may vary.