Posts: 763
Joined: 11/1/2002 From: Laurel,
MD, USA Status: offline
Rob,
Here are a couple of pictures- I have started covering. Bottom of wings and fuse is white with the blue and orange. Top of wings and rest of fuse is pearl white with the blue and orange plus silver trim. I should have some more to show in the next few days.
Wayne,
If you are reading this I'm going to finish the wings and then do a trial balance before I cover the fuse. I'll let you know what I find.
Dave
quote:
ORIGINAL: RobT
The plastic alone weighs one pound!
Dave... Faye Stille, the person who wrote the series of books on monokoting, told me there is no better place to monokote than an ironing board. I have been doing so ever since...
Feel free to post pictures / weights of yours here...
Posts: 763
Joined: 11/1/2002 From: Laurel,
MD, USA Status: offline
Thanks, Wayne.
Some more progress on the covering. Wings are almost done- just need to do the ailerons. Horizontal stabs done. I'll be moving on to the fuse in the next day or two.
I had some concerns about the pearl white being darker than I wanted but when the sun shines (it was overcast during the pics) it looks really nice. Very windy today- the tail was sitting on a box and blew off cracking my stab a bit- doohh! Easy fix. Almost worse, I went inside to get the camera and one of the wings was lifting and it was on one wheel only! Could have been ugly....
Posts: 763
Joined: 11/1/2002 From: Laurel,
MD, USA Status: offline
Yea, I put that off too. It takes a bunch of work but it is the best looking canopy area going once it's done.
Here's what I did and it's not much different than what the others have done. I chose to glass my hatch like Albert did and I am going to be painting it. I trimmed it out to match up with the hatch and I used a dremel router attachment to cut away (recess) the balsa railing at the side of the hatch so that the plastic canopy - the part that becomes a piece of the fuse as opposed to the scale canopy area- would blend in to the fuse sides.
I installed a piece of balsa up front to glue the plastic to, again recessing it so that the transition from the balsa covered foam part of the hatch would transition as seemlessly as possible with the plastic. Lastly, I recessed the rear portion of the hatch.
After installing it I used some glazing putting to fill in the transition area and sanded, filled, sanded, etc. till it was smooth. I glassed like Albert did- with .75 oz fiberglass and finishing resin- two layers across the seam and one over the whole thing. Back over with more epoxy, sand, repeat as necessary, sanding and filling as needed.
I kind of outsmarted myself a bit on the sides. I didn't recess all the way to the bottom of the hatch- trying to increase my likelyhood of a smooth transition- but then I had to lay a small strip of glass on the sides too. Again, sand and fill and so forth til it was right.
I cut out most of the decking on the hatch- but not all of it like Albert. On the little foam piece that makes up the rear seat instrument panel, I simply glassed it with .75oz - one simple light coat- and then sprayed it like the rest of the hatch- thin primer coat followed by thin flek stone coat.
As they say, pictures are worth 1000 words so have a look at these.
I made my own control panel- bought some very light instruments that my local hobby shop had and mounted them on some scale "diamond plate" plastic that you can get from train shops. Painted the diamond plate silver, printed out this years sequence, mounted it behind plastic and viola- a very light instrument panel!
Posts: 674
Joined: 9/29/2003 From: Whitestone, NY, USA Status: offline
I should have been more specific... What I worry about is the actual gluing of the plastic piece to the hatch. In the past I have done it both on and off the fuse, There are advantages to both. But the point is to get everything to blend into the fuse without fluing the canopy to the fuse itself...
Posts: 1166
Joined: 1/14/2002 From: Drums,
PA, USA Status: offline
I'll use Goop for now on. Two years ago when I stepped over my Extra and kicked hole in the conopy I had to remove it to replace it. It was put on with goop and it was on there real good. You can stretch that suff several inches, but I was able to remove it without destroying the balsa canopy frame. I was very impressed and used it on the Yak. No more RC56 for me.
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Avoid zen aerobatics...when the ground........and the plane.......become as one.
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> Giant Scale Aircraft - 3D & Aerobatic >> Carden Aircraft >> RE: Extra 300 Prototype #2 
RE: Extra 300 Prototype #2 - 
I had to remove it to replace it. It was put on with goop and it was on there real good. You can stretch that suff several inches, but I was able to remove it without destroying the balsa canopy frame. I was very impressed and used it on the