Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
For the use of a radial, there's about 6" from the fire wall to the back of the prop. One nice thing about non-spinner planes is you can have the engine shaft stick out farther without most people noticing.
------------------------ Connecting the inner flaps to the outer flaps.
pic 1: We're going to make ply end caps and tabs to interlock the outer flaps to the inner flap. I cut some 1/8" thick ply and traced the end of the flap profile on the ply. I bought one of those cheap 5 buck window insulator kits at HD and used the double stick tape(nice and thin, all the other double stick tape is too thick) to hold the four end caps together. After cutting most of the waste away on the band saw, I sanded the rest of the profile on a small wheel sander.
pic 2: I drilled some very small holes in all four corners where the tabs will be placed for ease in cutting the holes.
pic 3: Here's the final shapes of the flap end caps and the tabs. I sanded an angle on the rounded end of the tab to ease in connecting them when at the field.
pic 4: The end caps and tabs epoxied to the ends of the flaps: inner flap gets a cap on each end and each outer wing gets one end cap and the tab. Since the outer wing has dihedral, I cut the slot for the tab at an angle so the tab will go in parallel to the inner flap. Use good quality multi-ply for the end caps. 1/8" of balsa needs to be cut away on each end of the inner flap and on one end of the outer flaps to make room for the 1/8" ply end caps.
pic 5: Before sliding the outer wing into the inner wing.
pic 6: After sliding the outer wing into the inner wing.
pic 7/8: flaps deployed.
pic 9: I used a 1/8" diameter grinder to clean out the balsa for the tabs.
< Message edited by samparfitt -- 1/10/2008 5:25:54 PM >
Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
Glassing (cont)
pic 1/2: Glassed the bottom sides of the flaps and ailerons with 0.5 oz FG cloth. I overlaped the LE/TE by about a 1/2 inch. Also did the aileron servo covers.
Called Bobby at Cactus and ordered a side mount muffler. The muffler comes with a heating coil for smoke. I also needed a mounting plate that was missing.
Posts: 306
Joined: 2/5/2003 From: Potomac,
MD, USA Status: offline
Hi Sam,
Great build thread on the Yellow Texan. Outstanding craftsmanship! I am also on my second one... my first was also a Yellow. It is still "almost flyable" with a Husky 5.7 on it .. really hauls the mail :-) It is gray, the Night Train scheme.
Next one is like your Ziroli color scheme. I wimped out and got it pre-painted from Yellow...
I had Kelvin from Keleo creatios do a scale exhaust for the plane, I am also using the side-carb 3W-75 .. here are some pics. I wanted to do it on the prior one, but the Husky exhaust is on the wrong side... would be too complex on the plumbing.
Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
Yo Dave, That Keleo exhaust looks sweet. Can't beat functional scale exhaust. -----------
Glassing (cont).
pic 1: After sanding off the cloth waste from the glassing of the bottom of the flaps and ailerons, I glassed the tops.
------------------ Tail feathers (cont)
pic 2: The dowels that support the control horns were epoxied into the elevators.
pic 3: The control horn support block was epoxied to the TE of the stab. I drilled and added two wooden dowels for extra support: putting 266 oz of torque on a block epoxied to a soft balsa TE had me a little concerned. I'm also going to glass some heavy auto FG cloth around it. I aligned the holes for the block with the hinge holes. The hole in the block is offset (closer to one end) and this offset hole is suppose to be farthest from the TE of the stab. I found better movement of the elevators by rotating the block 90 degrees and having the block holes closer to the TE of the stab. This is also why the block is closer to the top surface than the lower surface. (A good side view is seen in picture 7) You may get different results but this worked best for me.
pic 4/5: A dry fit of the stab, control horns and elevators.
pic 6: I didn't realize it previously when I cut some of the fuse away to allow clearance for the stab that more of the fuse will have to be cut away to allow room for the control horn support block. There is a white line in the picture where I used a razor saw to cut additional FG away on the fuse. Obviously, only one side of the fuse needs to be cut.
pic 7: After removing more of the fuse, the support block on the stab can slide into place.
pic 8: Later, I'll epoxied that cut off part of the fuse back on, once the stab and elevator are connected.
pic 9: With the control horns added.
pic 10/11/12: Dry fit of all the parts. There's a gap there for the original part of the fuse that was cut but I don't think it'll be very noticable.
< Message edited by samparfitt -- 1/11/2008 4:34:58 PM >
Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
tail feathers (cont)
pic 1: I find that it's easier to first put the control horn in the support block and then slide the elevator into the control horn and hinges at the same time. Putting the control horn first into the elevator caused binding. ----------------------
Glassing flaps and ailerons (cont)
pic 2/3: Here's the top after glassing and the waste overlap on the bottom.
pic 4: After sanding all the waste FG cloth away. --------------
Tail feathers (cont) The next few posts are pictures of applying Solartex to the elevators. Solartex is a woven fabric with an adhesive on the back and applied with a heating iron. The fabric requires very low heat (100-120 C) to apply fabric to solid surfaces. Most of this is 'old hat' to most of you but I've encluded lots of pictures for those unfamiliar with the procedure. I basically, sealed the LE from the center out, seal the fabric to the center ribs and TE by the trim tab. Then I did each end, again working from the center out, sealing the fabric to the wood, trimming about a 1/4" off the edge and wrapping the trim around to the other side. Solartex is really easy to work with: it takes sharp compound curves if the overlap is kept short. You have to take the iron and pull the iron around the curved edge over the solartex starting from the top and working toward the overlap.
pic 5: The LE done first and then the center of the TE done next.
pic 6: Inside edge.
pic 7: Half overlap.
pic 8: Sharp corner has multiple cuts since the overlap is about 3/8 of an inch.
pic 9/10: About a 1/4 inch cut for the TE overlap.
< Message edited by samparfitt -- 1/11/2008 9:42:56 PM >
Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
Tail feathers (cont) Applying Solartex (cont)
pic 1: Bottom of one side is done.
pic 2: Overlap.
pic 3: Bottom
pic 4: I initially cut the solartex with the elevator perpendicular to the edge and had excess waste. Cutting the solartex with the elevator parallel saved material.
pic 5/6/7: The bottom of the left elevator being done.
pic 8: End work.
pic 9/10: TE cut and ironed.
< Message edited by samparfitt -- 1/11/2008 9:32:31 PM >
Posts: 1740
Joined: 9/1/2002 From: West Chester, OH, USA Status: offline
Tail feathers (cont) Applying solartex (cont)
pic 1: Ironing the edge of the TE, starting at the center of the edge and working toward both ends (trim end and LE end).
pic 2: 1/4" overlap.
pic 3/4/5/6: trim tabs being done. Used one piece of solartex, starting from the LE and working to the TE, one side at a time.
pic 7/8: All parts done. To tighten up the surfaces not contacting wood, I turned up the iron to about 130 degrees.
-------------- pic 9: I thought our hobby was expensive. I bought some Flemish (rippled) glass for my daughters kitchen cabinets. $426 for a 12"X24" sheet and a 40"X52" sheet! (nothings cheap anymore....except me!)
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RE: YELLOW AT-6 TEXAN BUILD THREAD - 
