B-36 build thread and free plans  
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Tower Hobbies
Enter up to 4 keywords or Tower stock numbers
Logged in as Guest



Users viewing this topic: none
  Printable Version
       


Premier Pilot 1/4 scale full body pilot
Seller:  Ren DiLeo
Details:   $99.00   |  9/21/2008   |  Classified Ad
We will rotate YOUR AD in this spot if you select "Forum Featured" when placing or editing your ad!

All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> RC Scale Aircraft >> B-36 build thread and free plans
Page: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10   next >   >>  

Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/16/2008 10:27:21 PM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
This is an extension of a previous post named: I have free plans for a 114" B-36 How do I share

That post has photos and some good (??) information. Look it over if you have an interest.

It was suggested that I rename the post to a building thread but I don't know how to do that so I am starting this one.

The 3 bladed 9x7 pusher Master Airscrew props arrived today.

I did manage to get the retracts set in to place.

The first photo shows where I decided to cut in to the ribs and the second shows the retracts set in to place.

I still need to box it in and create a retract mount that grabs hold of the carbon fiber wing spars.

Mike

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
       Post #: 1

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/16/2008 11:29:12 PM   
CrateCruncher



Posts: 627
Joined: 10/14/2005
From: Austin, TX, USA
Status: offline
Nice build of an interesting subject Mike.

It brought back bad memories reading about your trouble with the paper templates you used to cut out the parts. I forget who told me about it but here is a neat trick. If you lay a photocopied page upside down on balsa and saturate it with solvent (like lacquer thinner) the image will print directly onto the wood! Not only do you not have to deal with the paper, it will also label your parts at the same time. The solvent evaporates too fast to distort the wood like water can. The first time I tried it I was blown away at how well it worked.

Also, if you have to make 4 identical parts you can stack and pin three blank sheets to your printed wood and cut/sand them all at once. I gather all my 2x's and 4x's together and lay them out on a phantom sheet of balsa within the CAD program. When I print the file I line up the corners on the piece of wood and do the print trick.

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 2

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/17/2008 12:01:21 AM   
FlyerInOKC


 

Posts: 388
Joined: 11/17/2004
From: Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Status: offline
Mike are the wheels you are using those super light wheels Dave Brown makes? They look familiar.

Mike

(in reply to CrateCruncher)
       Post #: 3

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/17/2008 2:48:06 AM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
That is an interesting suggestion about transferring the print from the paper to the balsa. This is the third wing that I have built for this plane. I keep getting a bit closer to what I am looking for. I will definitely try your suggestion if I go for a fourth wing or if I just build another B-36. Where was that suggestion when I needed it :-)

The wheels are the Du-Bro Super Lite foam wheels. The 2.0" wheels weigh in at 5.2 grams each. When you have 10 wheels, you gotta go lite. The proper scale for the wheels should be 2-3/8 inches on the main gear and just slightly under 2.0 inches for the nose. Century Jet built a custom set of retracts for my B-36. They built them large enough to hold 2-1/2 inch main wheels. It seemed ok to me. When I designed this plane about 10 years ago I didn't have any thoughts of putting in retracts. I was focused on eliminating weight anywhere possible due to heavy brushed motors and NiCad batteries. With 2-1/2" wheels on the main gear, the wheels don't fit between the carbon fiber wing spars. I started by taking an inch of length out of the rectangular aluminum bar that holds the main wheel axles. This almost fit so I bought 8 of the 2-1/4 inch wheels. They MAY have fit because the foam wheels could rub slightly on the spars and the wheels might flatten slightly when retracted. I didn't like that so I just bought a set of 2 inch wheels and they fit fine with a little room to spare. The 2" wheels are a little narrower than the 2-1/4 or 2-1/2 wheels so now I need to shorten the axles a bit for the main gear. That's ok, they won't protrude from the bottom of the wing quite as much. FYI, the wheels protrude on the bottom of the full size plane so I will still be pretty close to scale.

I didn't know there was so much to say about wheels......



LOOK HERE.... LOOK HERE....LOOK HERE....LOOK HERE...

IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD THE PLANS, HERE IS THE LINK : http://rapidshare.com/files/92497326/B36_Design_First_Pass.zip

There is an option at the bottom of the page to download it for free. The download speed was quite high and I downloaded it successfully myself.

I feel that I must apologize a bit. I started out with the idea that I would post the plans and then kind of walk away until I got around to posting another zip file with the updates for retracts and so on. This zip file is not as organized as I would have liked and it does not have all of my documentation, it has no Unigraphics CAD files, no parasolids (for those who know how to use them, and finally it has only pdf versions of the part drawings, no postscript versions). I removed this info in an effort to get the size down. I will get all of that stuff in an updated file.

Be sure to download a virtual reality viewer so that you can view the files with a wrl file extension. I really like the virtual reality files. I referenced them from time to time when I was building. Virtuall reality viewers are available free for download. You should be able to get one from www.download.com I have used SolidView Lite which is easy to use, but the displayed assembly isn't quite as nice. My favorite is Cosmo Player. Cosmo offered a freeware version when I downloaded mine. I am not sure if they still offer that version. If not I can share my copy of this freeware version.


There, now the plans are shared out. I will be sure to post when an updated set of plans are ready for download.

My email address is mikeroerig@gmail.com

Contact me if you have questions. If there are Unigraphics users out there, I would enjoy a conversation with them.

So from here on it will be back to a build thread.

Mike

(in reply to FlyerInOKC)
       Post #: 4

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/17/2008 10:45:21 PM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
I had a couple of emails about the program needed to view virtual reality CAD drawings.

The program is SolidView Lite. It is free and is available direct from SolidView with this link: http://www.solidview.com/download.html

Mike

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 5

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/19/2008 1:24:24 AM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
I didn't get too far tonight, but I did get the main retract fitted in to the left wing.

I wasn't sure how to secure the retracts, but it seems to me that the strongest structure in the wing are the carbon fiber wing spars.

I used 3/8" basswood to make a a couple of pieces similar in shape to center of the rib. I then made spacers of very light balsa and put them between the ribs and retract mount pieces. I epoxied the basswood pieces to the spars and used CA on the spacers. I think this is the only epoxy in the plane so far.

It didn't come out all that pretty, but it is very solid and should withstand a rough landing. It took quite a while to get it all fit in place. I still have to box in the rib area where I cut out for the oleo strut and wheels.

These are Century Jet retracts. In order to fit them in this slender wing, I had to rotate the retract cylinder 180 degrees. That means that one of the air fittings is between the cylinder and the retracted oleo strut. The nylon right angle air fitting was .4" tall. I only have .3" of space when the gear is retracted. Does anyone know where I can get a low profile right angle air fitting? I sent an email to Century Jet but they haven't answered back yet.

Mike

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 6

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/19/2008 8:57:50 AM   
Boomerang1



Posts: 870
Joined: 6/24/2005
From: Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Status: online
What you have done is tie the supports for the retracts to the spars but there is no structure, besides the wing skin, between the blocks at the front & the back. Any twisting motion by the retract will be carried by the wing skin.

Whilst the wing is open I'd suggest some extra good quality 1/8 ply ribs from the front to rear spars glued to the existing ribs to bridge the gap. Of course the inboard rib will need a slot for the leg & cylinder. With the rigid legs the retract mounts will take a real pounding. - John.

< Message edited by Boomerang1 -- 2/19/2008 8:58:39 AM >


_____________________________

Distributor for: Nothing! So my posts can be unbiased.

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 7

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/19/2008 10:32:07 PM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
John,

At first I was going to defend the way I mounted the main gear. There are 2 carbon fiber wing spars that that are the backbone for support. I created 1/2" basswood 'short ribs' to screw the retract mount to. I added balsa spacers to put between short ribs and the remaining portion of the wing ribs. I used epoxy and CA on each side of the retract mount blocks to make it solid. All of the wing ribs and the basswood short ribs are adhered to the wing spars. It all seemed very solid and I thought that I had done an alright job on it. So I decided to think about your comments before responding.

I still believe that I have created 2 solid pieces for mounting the main gear retracts, but I think you have a right about twisting. The pressure of a hard landing would cause the short ribs to try and twist the carbon fiber tubes. I doubt that the tubes would break, but I think it would cause them to break loose due to the twisting. If a mount breaks away from the wing spar there would be very little support and it could punch through the wing skin.

So I thank you for your feedback and I will add the plywood support as you suggest. This is my first design and my first scratch build so I will take help whenever it comes along.

Thanks again and feel free to add your constructive criticism. As you mention, it is best to make corrections while the wing is still open.

Mike

(in reply to Boomerang1)
       Post #: 8

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/20/2008 3:59:28 AM   
Boomerang1



Posts: 870
Joined: 6/24/2005
From: Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Status: online
quote:

This is my first design and my first scratch build


That's the spirit, start at the top & work your way down! I usually scratch build as it gives me the most pleasure & challenges my model was my first attempt at an electric scale model. I was building an IC powered B-29 when I first suggested to my scale buddys I was thinking about an electric B-36 even bigger than the B-29. As they were still convinced the B-29 would not fly an electric model was science fiction.

My main U/C legs are piano wire with a coil in it so little twisting motion is transferred to the undercarriage mounts although the legs bend a bit on bad landings. My wheel bogies are very simple & as narrow as possible to fit in the thinner than scale wing. Even so I had to make the gear doors more bulged than scale. Check the photos of the full size, there are blisters on the top surface of the wings for the undercarriage as well. - John.

_____________________________

Distributor for: Nothing! So my posts can be unbiased.

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 9

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/23/2008 1:10:25 PM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
I haven't had much time to work on this over the last few days, but I did take a previous suggestion and strengthen the retract mount. I added 1/8" ply to both sides of the retract mount (see before and after photo) though most of the plywood was cut away on one side to make room for the air cylinder.

Mike

Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to Boomerang1)
       Post #: 10

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/23/2008 1:46:18 PM   
TFF


 

Posts: 742
Joined: 10/30/2006
From: Memphis, TN, USA
Status: offline
I had a math teacher who was an engineer on one, and he figured out that they could t/o with light fuel and refuel in the air like they had to with full fuel, faster and get to the refuel plane with the same amount of fuel left. It did not pay to lift all that fuel. I guess I need to find a copy of SAC now.

(in reply to xb36)
       Post #: 11

RE: B-36 build thread and free plans - 2/23/2008 7:07:38 PM   
xb36


 

Posts: 312
Joined: 2/15/2008
From: White Bear Township, MN, USA
Status: offline
I received a couple of emails to provide a more complete set of plans for the 114" 6 motor electric B-36.

Here is a link to those plans: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AHJ56N2X

The download is free.

The zip file is 87MB

Mike

(in reply to TFF)
       Post #: 12