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3D Hot Hots Build - 12/3/2007 10:34:34 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Well, I just got and email from Steve, and the short kit and plans will be $80 shipped. The check goes in the mail tomorrow. This will be my first kit build in over 5 years, and only my second balsa build. My first plane and build was a Spirit 2 meter sail plane. Since then, I have been building and flying SPADs for the fun of designing and building my own designs, as well as experimenting with changes on other's designs. I've always wanted a Hots and this one looks like it will be fun. I've also been itching to build with wood again, so here we go. Now I just have to wait for the kit, then I have to find a balsa supplier. I was going to use Lone Star as they are just across the Metroplex, but they burned down recently. The only other supplier I know of is BUSA. Any Ideas on other suppliers? Most of what I can find locally is very soft and doesn't seem strong. What am I looking for in the way of qualities for good balsa? I'm going to have lot's of questions I'm sure, but I'm equally sure I'm in the right place. I'm fairly confident in my building skills, but am always open to help. Any tips while I wait would be greatly appreciated.
       Post #: 1

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/3/2007 4:03:40 PM   
Gray Beard


 

Posts: 2267
Joined: 4/21/2003
From: Hemderson, NV, USA
Status: offline 		There is/was A wood supply place in Calif. but I thought it's name was BUSA too but two different companys. I ordered from them once then used no one but Lone Star over the years. Mid West still sells wood and I can even get it at Michale's craft stores but it cost A bunch and I have found it to be heavy. Most LHS carry wood too but it seems to be from Mid West too and the prices keep me away. My next scratch build is the Giant HOTs but other planes keep getting in the way but I will be looking for A new wood supplier myself soon.

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/3/2007 5:17:46 PM   
mmattockx


 

Posts: 2256
Joined: 4/28/2005
From: Calgary, AB, CANADA
Status: offline 		Dynamic Balsa:

http://www.dbalsa.com/

Mark

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/3/2007 11:12:25 PM   
kdc



Posts: 315
Joined: 11/21/2002
From: Shenfield, UNITED KINGDOM
Status: offline 		Are you building the 48 inch Hot Hots from the Jan 2002 RCM (plan 1305 ) ?

There is another Hots section in rcuniverse Sport Flying. Some of the builders of different Hots types commented that they added a ply doubler from engine bulkhead to the wing seat. Are you going to add a ply doubler?

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       Post #: 4

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/4/2007 6:39:46 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		kdc, I'm building the newest version. It was in the May 2007 MAN. I'm going glow with mine, but Steve Santich's is electric. I haven't seen much on it, but if it flies the way Steve says it will, It should be just what I'm looking for.

mmattockx, thanks for the link, I'll check them out.

Gray Beard, The Balsa around here is Mid West. Most of it is very soft, and like you said, the price is high. I use it sometimes when I'm making test gliders. I will check my LHS once the plans get here and I have a wood list, but I can't imagine it being cheaper unless the list is small and it comes in less than with shipping.

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       Post #: 5

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/26/2007 12:34:35 PM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Well I finally got the check in the mail and have received my plans and short kit. I waited until I got the kit to make an order for other needed supplies. This forces me to study the plans well before I start the build and allows me to make sure I order everything I need at once. The other supplies should be here the middle of next week. My kit arrived with no damage and the laser cutting is very good. I am missing two part and will contact Steve about them. There was a separate set of some parts meant for use if you go electric. They appear to have been cut by hand using the laser cut parts as templates. I say this because they have no burn mark and the laser cut pieces had been removed from their sheets and replaced. The difference in the parts is the thickness of the sheet stock (3/32" for glow, 1/16" for electric). I thought this was a nice touch. This is not a beginners kit by any means and I would suggest you have a few builds under your belt before trying it or have an experienced builder on hand for help. So far I have only found one area that I'm not sure of. I will post pics of the problem area and let you guys see it after I contact Steve. Here is a pic of plans and kit parts.




Click the picture for a larger image.

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       Post #: 6

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/26/2007 4:15:32 PM   
Gray Beard


 

Posts: 2267
Joined: 4/21/2003
From: Hemderson, NV, USA
Status: offline 		Are those all the parts you got in the kit plus the plans??? Just wondering. I got ahold of the old Mid West Hots kit and built that last year and love the plane. The kit comes out A bit on the heavy side compared to the plans built plane but that was because they made some changes to the design. All the Mid West wood I have found has been on the hard and heavy side so I don't use it very often. I always got my wood from Lone Star and was able to pick the grades. I have the plans for the Giant 91 inch Hots but other planes keep getting in the way of the build.

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/27/2007 6:12:06 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Those are the parts. Basically, anything that needs to be cut a specific shape. He also included the LE stock and all the hard wood rails. the pieces that are fanned out on the right are the 1/16" rear sheeting meant for the Electric version. The parts count low, I over ordered on the other balsa so I would be able to pick and choose the wood. I ordered $27 worth of balsa and will probably only use 1/2 to 2/3 of it on this plane.


Here's a pic of the LE stock. Should be easy to shape.


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       Post #: 8

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/28/2007 9:24:36 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Let me see what you guys think about this.

First question.



The black arrows point to what seems to be a piece of the vertical stab structure.



This photo shows the sheeting in it's place. It would seem that this piece is captured by the sheeting along with another piece of 1/4" square balsa for hinge support. The next photo is a top view of the same area. It does not show this to be true. The bottom sheeting (no photo) is about 5/8" wide at this end, not pointed as it would be for the top view. It makes more since to me that the side view interpretation is correct. What do you guys think?




Second question.



The elevator seems to be one piece with an uninterrupted leading edge. The red arrow from the earlier photo shows this lining up with the piece from the VS in the earlier question. If I cut a hole hear for the elevator LE to move in, I would have to cut it through the VS piece. If I do that, I don't see what would be holding the VS in place other than the top sheeting. The VS does not show a piece were it meets the Horizontal Stab. It seem that I could add one and then it would be glued to the HS as well as the top sheeting. I know I can work this out myself, but I thought maybe you guys might see something I am missing. Maybe I am misreading the plans.

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       Post #: 9

RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/31/2007 4:25:59 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Ok, here we go. With the MAN article in hand, I started the build. The article is sparse on details and there are no instructions with the plans, so study them well. Plan your next move several steps ahead and recheck you plan after each step to see if you next step will cause problem down the road.



Start by gluing the two front sheeting pieces together.



I glued the bottom stringers on tho the fuse sides and then pinned them to the plans. make sure to make a right and left side. After this, I glued in the formers and fire wall making sure they were perpendicular to the table.



Following the article, I shaped and glued the ends of the bottom stringers together.



Next add the top stringers. The laser cutting is very good and the 1/4" stock slides easily into the notches while still giving a tight fit.



Next I started adding some of the 1/4" support pieces where shown on the plans.



Add and trim the stringers to the nose.



I then took a 1/4" stick with some sticky back sand paper and opened the LG mount hole back to the former to get it to fit tight against the former. Steve says to use thin CA for everything. I decided to use epoxy for the next steps because the LG mounting system is a bit of a puzzle and you need a little working time to move things around.



Add the LG mount and side braces. Dry fit these first to make sure you have a good fit. The hole is over sized to allow you to get the pieces in place. I filled the extra space later with the balsa that is used for filler.



Back to the tail. Add the rear side sheeting and trim the top stringer, and add the 1/4" supports as shown on the plans.



At this point I took the opportunity to fuel proof some of the inside as I am going to use a glo engine.



The top front sheeting is twisted into place and has a bit of stress to it, so I added a few supports that are not on the plans.



Add the top front sheet shown. The article says to trim the top sheeting to fit.



Rather than trimming it , I sanded it as shown to get an overlapping joint.



Next comes the side pieces. After glueing them into place, I sanded them down.



The kit comes with two of the top sheets. Only one is called for, but I decided to add the second on top for a bit more strength and to have material for shaping.



Next add the supports and rear top sheeting.



Add the 1/4" sqr. balsa crutch. I made this piece a bit long so I could sand it to fit well when the VS is added.



Next comes the wing mount plate along with 1/2" of balsa for support.



The next support is hard to put in place accurately, so I added balsa supports just to make it easier to align.



Now to the belly pan. I added the sides. after that I cut the stringers almost all the way through (no photo). after adding the bottom sheeting, I cut the rest of the stringer away with a razor blade.



Now add the end formers to the belly pan. The rear former needs to be sanded as show to make a good fit. Rather than try to sand the front former to fit the wing LE, I have decided to cut a notch in the wing LE to accept the former. To finish the day , I put a first pass of putty and sanding on the fuse, and Fuel peoofed the inside of the top sheeting on the nose.

< Message edited by kbear -- 12/31/2007 4:32:17 AM >

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/31/2007 8:03:04 AM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		A few more photos.



The area below the upper LG mount is filled with balsa and sanded to match the fuse. Then the Lower LG mount is added. This is one of the pieces that was missing from the kit. I still have not got around to contacting Steve so I just made the part myself out of 1/8" birch ply.



Glued the nose former on and filled and sanded some gaps with balsa.



The tail group is standard stick building so I won't go into great detail. After test fitting the HS I did find an answer to my earlier question.



The HS sits far enough forward that is leaves a gap at the end. I decided to split the elevator halves and us a music wire joiner. What size Music wire should I use? I was thinking 1/8" in, but that seems a bit large. 3/32 doesn't seem strong enough. Help me out here. The elevators are pretty large and I don't want them to twist under load.



I added a base piece to the VS and glued it to the HS with a couple of support block. The whole assembly slid into the tail. I won't glue it in until I get the wing built so I can make sure it all lines up correctly. I extended the TE of the VS and will glue it to the tail when I mount it. Anyone have an opinion on my solution?



I have to mount the servo rails in the tail and finish the bottom sheeting. I won't sheet the nose until I get the engine mount on so I can still get to the back of the fire wall for the blind nuts. I ordered a 5060 Dave Brown mount as stated in the article, but the fire wall is actually drilled for a 4650 which is what I will use. If you want to see larger Photos you can find them Here

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/31/2007 2:45:15 PM   
Gray Beard


 

Posts: 2267
Joined: 4/21/2003
From: Hemderson, NV, USA
Status: offline 		I went with two elevator servos in mine plus A pull/pull rudder with the cable running out the top of the fuse so the wires could attach as close to the center of the rudder as I could get. I do A lot of knife edge flying and that way I get very little flex of the rudder. I installed A YS 1.10 in mine {.60 size} so the added engine weight and the two servos in back helped out the CG.

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RE: 3D Hot Hots Build - 12/31/2007 5:12:18 PM   
kbear



Posts: 295
Joined: 9/11/2004
From: Denton, TX, USA
Status: offline 		Gray beard, thanks. The engine range on this version is supposed to be 40 -50. I haven't decided on the engine yet. If it looks like she'll be tail heave then I lean toward a 4 stroke. I want to get an Idea of what she is really going to weigh also. Been working on the wing. I get photos up later.

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