Building a Gentle Lady!  
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    • All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> RC Gliders, Sailplanes and Slope Soaring >> Building a Gentle Lady!
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    Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/21/2004 9:18:03 PM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		Hey, I'm Mark and I've just started building a Gentle Lady kit. This Thread is going to be about building it! The reason that I am doing this is to help out people getting started in gliders(like me). I didnt see any posts on building the Lady so I'm starting one up!
           Post #: 1

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/21/2004 9:23:42 PM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		So far I have completed the stabalizer and the rudder! These were simple to make, all you have to do is cut to the size on the plans, pin down, and glue. Next, I will build the fin, and then sand all the edges that it says to.

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    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 2

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/22/2004 11:23:25 PM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		Hey guys,

    I finished the fin, it went along fast and easy! There is a pic of the fin/rudder and the stabalizer/elevator. I have also finished the right inboard panel of the wing! At first I had a couple problems, but I figured them out. There is a pic of the panel below. This part of the wing took about an hour and a half of work, the next panel should go easier since I've got a feeling for it now!

    Please comment if something doesnt look right, or if you want to tell me something.

    ...till next time,
    Mark

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    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 3

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/26/2004 11:02:11 PM   
    Rick K


     

    Posts: 260
    Joined: 11/16/2003
    From: Fontana, CA, USA
    Status: offline     		Hi Mark! Looks like your off to a good start, although I didn't enlarge your pix I don't see any thing wrong. It's pretty hard to mess up with a Goldberg kit, but please take your time at it. Take head to the axiom "measure twice, cut once" or if in retorspect: "things I didn't know, I learned by doing twice"

    Welcome to the club of real modelers, those who learn all of the skills to build . . . oddly enough you'll find those skills to come in handy in other areas.
    Rick K
    LSF 6493

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 4

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/27/2004 8:45:31 PM   
    Ron Kay



    Posts: 56
    Joined: 10/21/2002
    From: Prescott, AZ, USA
    Status: offline     		Hi Mark,

    Great job building and terrific choice.. I'll bet most sailplane flyers built and flew the GL early in their careers and probably still have one someplace in the house. Actually I have one in my inventory and fly it on occasion... I also have a Sagitta 900 and a Genesis unlimited ...

    Back to the GL: If I could I have a couple of suggestions... If you haven't progressed into your building too far consider building the wing in two pieces. It will make transportation and storage a great deal easier without sacrifice of any sort to the aircraft or it's integrity. Also, keep your building as light as possible (minimal epoxy use CA ..) . Use the weight of the two servos, battery pack and receiver to adjust the CG as much as possible. Make sure everything is square and true...

    FYI, I use a 12V winch for launching and take it a bit easy so I don't fold the wings. It's a stout design but can be abused ... Also, my GL is a bit modified... wasn't necessary but I do like to dabble ... I added a full flying stab and a pull-pull system for rudder and stab. All I can say is that it flies great in light to light/moderate winds and thermals with the best of them. Color is important ... bright transparent is good. High thermaling it sometimes dots out but the bright colors do help. In fact is difficult to get it down sometimes ... it just likes to fly...

    Good luck and have fun...

    Regards,
    Ron

    I see your in PHX. I'm in the high country, Prescott. If you ever want to get our of the heat come fly with us. Call me any time... 928.777.0951. I'm a member of the CVMA and we have what I'd consider to be the perfect flying field and environment for both power and non power... Check out the web site... http://www.cvma-online.com/

    (in reply to Rick K)
           Post #: 5

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/29/2004 5:02:24 AM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		Wow, my uncle lives up there in Chino Valley! I go up there once in a while...actually I'm coming up there saturday (October 2),are you flying then? I checked out the site, It looks awesome, in fact my uncle has flown there a few times when it wasn't paved!!!

    I built the wing and it looks pretty good for a first-timer! I built it without detachable wing panels...it's pretty big. The wing tips are 7" above the table, the instructions say it should be 6 & 3/8ths of an inch above (is this a problem?).

    I used medium thickness Super Jet for the whole construction...should I do a coat of epoxy on the polyhedral/dihedral joints?

    I still have to add the sheeting that goes on the leading edge and on the dihedral joint, and then sand everything. After that, the next task is the fuselage!

    Till next time,
    Mark

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    (in reply to Ron Kay)
           Post #: 6

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/29/2004 5:20:03 PM   
    Ron Kay



    Posts: 56
    Joined: 10/21/2002
    From: Prescott, AZ, USA
    Status: offline     		Mark,

    It looks great.. BUT measure twice and cut once... The 7" is not a tremendous issue with this model but could be with others. The only affect more dihedral will have is a bit more lateral stability and a bit slower overall flying speed. It has to with the geometry. More dihedral slower flight and generally more stable. On the other hand a flat wing, no dihedral is normally associated with a fast and not as stable or forgiving aircraft ... MAKE SURE THE LEADING EDGE AND TRAILING EDGE OF BOTH STARBOARD AND PORT TIPS MEASURE THE SAME. What I'm getting at is washout and warp. The trailing edge can be as much as 1/4" higher then the leading edge. This will assist you when landing... they call it washout. Make sure the wing is symmetrical. A twisted wing will result in an airplane that's not stable and want's to roll or worse. A symmetrical wing will hold the plane in a stable position without tendency to roll, pitch or yaw causing you to continue to provide correction input ... This is an extremely stable model and once launched it should hold good heading, roll, pitch and yaw without input.

    If you followed the directions on the dihedral joints you shouldn't need to coat them with additional epoxy. At this point it will serve no purpose other then to add weight. The real strength is achieved in the face to face bonding of the spar and dihedral joint brace.

    Top and bottom leading edge sheeting adds a tremendous amount of strength to the structure. It completes the "D" tube. Structurally it makes the wing able to carry the loads necessary .... When you apply the sheeting, make sure it makes a good joint contact with each rib top and bottom as well as the leading edge and main spar. If you look at it , when you glue this on the wing you're forming small rectangular compartments. If the sheeting is not completely in contact with the ribs and spars you'll not achieve maximum strength and most likely under high stress something is going to fail... My choice is to do bottom first, one side at a time, stabilize the wing on a flat surface keeping it from warping while everything is drying. Next do the top. You can use either CA or perhaps Titebond. The Titebond will give you time to adjust the balsa before it sets. Don't overload the joint with adhesive, use it sparing. More is not better. It's heavy but strong. Titebond takes about 24 hours to completely cure... don't rush you have plenty of time...

    Fuselage... Hmmm! Not difficult BUT it has it's own set of issues. It needs to be straight. Stabilize and pin it on a flat building board, if not it can come out looking like a banana! Given this banana geometry it will NOT fly straight... I built a 1/2 HOB P-51 and didn't follow my own advice, it came out looking like a P51 Banana! It should have been yellow instead of silver! Never did fly.... I finally built a new fuselage and it flies great. Keep it straight and take you time...

    Let me know if you have an questions. Sorry for the lengthy response... I hope you find some pearls of building wisdom.. Pickings are slim...

    Yes I'll be at the field on 2 October weather and wife permitting. Give me a call... 928.777.0951

    Good luck,
    Ron

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 7

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 9/30/2004 1:27:40 AM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		No problem, I like lengthy feedback! Don't have much time to write today. I will take my time on the fuselage as you told me to, I used CA on the whole thing so far. I put the sheeting on today, it went very smooth and I did glue everything the sheeting touched. I will try to call you tommarrow, but I've got to go for now!

    <Mark

    (in reply to Ron Kay)
           Post #: 8

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/4/2004 6:30:49 AM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		Hey,
    I got the fuselage done...Will post a pic tomarrow(doesn't look like a bannana!!!). I have also chose my colors and have already covered the stab. and fin! The colors are transparent yellow (for wing, stab. and fin) and metallic teal for the body.
    Gotta go for now,
    Mark

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 9

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/4/2004 9:43:56 PM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		I finally post again!
    Sorry about the long wait guys, I've been really busy! I went up north on saturday and my uncle taught me how to cover the plane....getting ahead of myself. I finished the fuselage on friday after making a quick trip to the hobby store! After getting it all sanded and making the nose I went to my uncles house and learned how to cover using monocote...it's way easier than tissue covering the rubber-powered planes!!! The colors that I chose are transparent yellow for the wing, fin/rudder and stab/elevator, and I will be making the fuselage mettalic teal. I want my first plane to be pretty easy to cover, yet look good.
    HOW DO YOU JOIN THE POLYHEDRAL ANGLES WITH MONOCOTE???
    Any Comments would be very helpful!!!
    Thank you again,
    Mark


    Here's the pics!

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    (in reply to Ron Kay)
           Post #: 10

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/7/2004 2:12:37 AM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		I've been very busy working on the Lady.....he he he!!!

    Well, first off I joined the rudder to the fin and same with elevator. The colors that I chose for the rudder and elevator are metallic teal(see pic)...they look perty good if I can say so myself!?!!!!

    I've also covered the bottom of the wing with the transparent yellow. I can't get wrinkles out of the right out-board panel! I've tried everything I know of except for the heat gun. I would be covering the top of the wing, but I am low on transparent yellow!

    I have covered two sides of the fuselage with the teal, but I will post that some other time!

    Tell me what you think!!!!!!!

    till next time,
    Mark

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    < Message edited by mr_frogdude -- 10/8/2004 4:01:58 AM >

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 11

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/8/2004 4:03:35 AM   
    mr_frogdude


     

    Posts: 103
    Joined: 1/17/2004
    From: glendale, AZ,
    Status: offline     		Anybody have some coments about the glider?

    Mark

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 12

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/8/2004 5:41:31 PM   
    Falcon-Flyer


     

    Posts: 14
    Joined: 8/29/2002
    From: Rocky Hill, CT, USA
    Status: offline     		Mark,

    The glider is looking good. Built several of the Ladies of the years and they are great flyers. You have to use the heat gun to get the wrinkles out....that's what it's used for. Running the heat iron over it with no socks will only scratch the covering. The gun will get that covering drum tight. Just be careful not to heat one area too long as it will blow a hole in the covering like magic. Another thing Mark, now that you have covered the whole wing, you in a sense have now made an airtight plastic bag. What I do is poke a very little pin **** on the underside of the wing to let the hot air out as you are shrinking the covering. If don't do that, evertime you shrink the wing covering it will look tight as the hot air expands it but once it cools the sags and wrinkles come back. Hope this helps.

    Good Luck,

    Jim

    (in reply to mr_frogdude)
           Post #: 13

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/8/2004 10:30:22 PM   
    Ron Kay



    Posts: 56
    Joined: 10/21/2002
    From: Prescott, AZ, USA
    Status: offline     		Mark,

    Sorry I've not gotten back to you been busy at work...

    I looked over your progress and it looks great to me. Of course the final test is soon to come... I know if will be fine and fly like a bird...

    Covering... Hmmmm. It's not that difficult just need practice and patients, lots and lots of patients.... I like to cover wings like the GL with one continuous piece of MonoKote. That is one piece from the root to the tip. Measure twice and cut once... don't forget.

    I begin by tacking the MonoKote at the root and then at the tip. Just tack not toooo much tension as you don't want to change the dihedral or geometry... just tight enough to take the bag out of the material. Then start tacking around the perimeter. Tack leading edge and trailing edge taking the bag out each time you tack. GENTLY pulling along the way and tacking at the same time ... Eventually you get to the tip and most likely you have a bag. Brake the tack and restretch... Go around the perimeter again and your ready to tackle the inside portion. Iron from the inside to the out always pulling the material the get the bag out. Go slow, take your time... Make sure the iron is not too hot or too cold. Try some test material before you get into the actual covering. Once you've gotten the material applied and your reasonably happy with the results use a heat gun for the final shrink. Last step in the covering... check the geometry of the wing. That is make sure both tips are at the same height above the table and make sure you have checked leading and trailing edge. You could introduce a 1/4" wash out if it's not already there... Simply twist the wing, not too much an inch or so will do it, heat the MonoKote with the gun let it shrink to the new shape of the wing and holding it let it cool. It should retain the twist you introduced or had to take out. Make sure top and bottom of the wind covering is not showing stretch marks. If so a little bit of heat holding the twist and it should come right out. Keep in mind, this will eventually come out over time. The wing and the MonoKote with eventually find it's own zero tension ... you might want to check it from time to time if you feel the plane flying a bit different and you've not changed anything...

    Keep me posted and call any time...

    Regards,
    Ron

    (in reply to Falcon-Flyer)
           Post #: 14

    RE: Building a Gentle Lady! - 10/9/2004 10:28:43 PM   
    Hårek



    Posts: 813
    Joined: 1/24/2003
    From: Molde, NORWAY
    Status: offline     		I also made this kit once. But I rarely build them as they should be.
    What I did, was to expand the wingspan to 3,2 meters, by copying the spars in the midd