Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40  
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/14/2003 10:38:56 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here are both sides. I forgot to mention that while the sides were in the shuck, I drilled 1/4" through the existing holes to a depth of 1/2".

The two sides are held together by 1" long 1/4" dowels.

Some reference marks have been made in the canopy area. More will be made for the thrust line, the wing location, and the stab location.

A 1/32" plywood cowl ring will be cut, and half of it placed on each side as a reference for the spinner. First I have to square up some stuff.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/14/2003 10:43:14 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here is a top view.

Today I sanded, compounded and polished the Swee' Pea tail molds (again). I installed a torque rod on one side of the first Swee' Pea tail. Satisfied with the installation, I then drilled the bottom of the tail mold to accept the two torque rods during assembly.

Then I whipped this out. Tomorrow it hits the belt sander, and it should start to take shape.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/15/2003 1:54:16 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here is a shot of the right side roughed out. I cut the top profile 1/8" oversize, so I could play around with the shape some before committing it. One thing I will be doing is adding a little concavity to the canopy/turtledeck. And obviously, the cowl will be made round.

Any comments?

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/15/2003 7:00:47 PM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here is the right side before final shaping. The left side will be shaped, and the cowl will be a little more rounded. Right now it's a little out of round.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/15/2003 7:06:00 PM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here is the right side where you can see the shape a little better. The cowl ring has been attached, and the cowl sanded to fit.

The canopy will get a little skinnier, but I'm waiting until I do the left side, so that I have some wiggle room.

The fin/rudder has not been shaped yet.

This is the last picture for a day or two. I have to work on The Smasher, and I've got to layup a complete Swee' Pea, wing, tail, and all. Then I'll shape the H-1 left side. Since I'll have a Swee' Pea wing ready, I'll then fit the H-1 fuselage to the wing.

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Don Stegall
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Pink Foam Warning - 4/19/2003 8:11:25 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		FYI...

I had a little free time tonight, so I started shaping the left half of the H-1. I ran into a serious problem. I use a 1" belt sander for rough shaping. I had noticed that hand sanding the pink foam with 220 did not work well, and that it peels the surface, if it is smooth anyway. I had a 120 grit belt on the sander, and I though I would be smart and change to a finer belt, so that the amount of foam removed would be easier to handle. So I put on the Extra Fine 220 belt. As I started sanding the canopy area, with several inches of foam meeting the belt, the piece was yanked out of my hand. I resolved not to let that happen again, so I held on tight. It happened again. Then I started sanding some of the foam away from the tail. When I took it off the belt I noticed some dark streaks. The dark streaks turned out to be melted foam. It seems the finer the grit, the more heat generated. Be very careful when sanding pink foam, especially with a belt sander or disc sander.

I tried some Tri-M-ite 150 paper, and it does not work well either. The only paper that seems good for shaping the pink foam is 150 wood sanding paper. I have used 320 wood paper for very fine sanding with no problem, but I think it was because of using a very light touch. 100 grit can be used, but be aware that it hunks away the foam, so leave room for final shaping with the 150.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/23/2003 8:50:05 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		I finished shaping the H-1 fuselage plug today. Because the fin/rudder is the plywood that provides the backing for the pink foam, I brushed some coating epoxy on the fin/rudder. Then I decided to just go ahead and coat most of the plug with the remainder of the epoxy. I'm still going to put .7 oz cloth with water based polyurethane on the plug for strength, but the epoxy will (hopefully) allow me to provide a better surface than the foam does.

I've decided not to put a wing or stab saddle into the plug for this iteration. If the plane works out, I will make a male mold (plug) and make the modifications to include the saddles. This requires more work to build a flyable plane, but it makes the plug easier, and allows for easy changes to the wing and tail.

I've done some pink foam combat planes from [URL=http://www.jkaerotech.com]JK Aerotech[/URL] and they came out fine for the purpose. That's where I came up with the idea for using pink foam for a plug. I think I will get results that are fine for a prototype, and it may be that making a male mold will allow me to achieve the quality I want, but I don't think pink foam is a good idea for a fuselage intended for production. It is too hard to get things exactly smooth. But you really can whip out a plug in a hurry. I could be making the mold as early as this weekend.

I'll post a photo tomorrow after the epoxy is hard.

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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/23/2003 11:11:19 PM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here is a view from the left side. The thin layer of epoxy sealed the foam up real nicely, and I expect that the .7 oz cloth with water based polyurethane will come out much smoother because of the smoother base. It's really hard to get the sanding dust off of pink foam, and it tends to cause the cloth to have some bumps in it.

This view makes the radial cowl look huge, but in reality it doesn't look so bad in terms of obstructing airflow. It's certainly not the low forward frontal area of a Dago Red (foreground) ... we'll just have to see.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/24/2003 8:48:29 PM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Here are the two sides with .7 oz cloth applied with Olympic water based polurethane (WBP).

You have to be careful when applying the cloth. Areas that you have done can harden before you finish, especially on a piece this big. I needed a little more stretch in front of the canopy on one side, and the tail was firmly affixed, as was the nose area. So make sure you work out from the center, and that an area is complete before moving on. Or work really fast.

I made another 3/4" MDF handlebar using the original as a template. I got tired of changing it from side to side, and I knew I would need it when it comes time to prime. And that should be later today.

The cloth provides a nice foundation for the primer and any ding fixes. It turns out that sealing the foam with coating epoxy is a good idea. I ran out of epoxy and left two hand holds in the saddle area. They are not nearly as smooth as the epoxy coated areas. I knocked the fuzz off of the epoxy coated areas with 220 before putting the cloth on. I'm sure it saved me a lot of work. You could probably seal the foam with the WBP and get the same result, but I wouldn't use it directly over wood because of the water content causing warping.

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Don Stegall
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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/27/2003 10:38:40 AM   
Mluvara



Posts: 1425
Joined: 1/14/2002
From: San Jose, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Nice work on the threads and thanks for sharing Don. I now look back at our adventures building the Tsunamis, doing the threads, and have concluded that I was crazy : . It's lots of work and I know that many benefit from it. Your racers look neat!

Michael

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       Post #: 35

Oops! - 4/29/2003 1:34:13 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		I lightly sanded the plug halves after putting the .7 oz cloth on with water based polyurethane. I then sprayed the primer on ... boo-boo.

I should have brushed on another coat or two of water based polyurethane. This would have filled the grain in the cloth and I would not have been in pin hole city.

Since the primer was pretty thin, I got out a foam brush and just brushed on a coat of primer over the primer I had sprayed. Many of the pin holes were filled, but it will be difficult sanding.

The WBP tends to run off when you put a second and third coat on after sanding. I thought that going straight to primer would be a good choice. I'm going to do a test piece and mix some cabosil in with the WBP so that it is a little less runny and I'll let you know how that works out.

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Don Stegall
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WBP - 4/29/2003 1:44:46 AM   
daven



Posts: 6762
Joined: 12/7/2001
From: Andover, MN, USA
Status: offline 		You can also mix Micro Balloons with the WBP. It works well.

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Dave Norman

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Hughes H-1 Racer for Q-40 - 4/30/2003 3:03:05 AM   
PylonWorld



Posts: 1346
Joined: 12/29/2001
From: Monroe, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Thanks Dave. I'll try the microballoons in the future.

The primer turned out to be ok. I just have to smooth out the edges because the primer doesn't brush real great if you're looking for a ready to paint surface.

The System Three water reduceable epoxy primer I'm using is nice except for the cure time. It takes 24-48 hours before it's readily sandable. I did some sanding today after leaving it in the hot box at a max temp of 84 degreees overnight. It's clogging the paper a little, so I'll give it until tomorrow.

The primer is a high build primer, and it soaked into the WBP adhered cloth very nicely. Now I have a firm surface and I should be able to fair in some dings (gouges ) I made in the pink foam.

Since weight is not a concern, everything should be ok after all.

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Don Stegall
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       Post #: 38

Spot putty from Nelson primer - 4/30/2003 8:34:56 PM