flygilmore

This has the removeable wing correct?? I have to wonder why you don't use a 6v pack- after flying 6v, I will have nothing less in any of my planes. Looks good, I have been eyeing this one for a couple of weeks-I know it's pretty new but I haven't heard much about it yet though. I look forward to the rest of your progress.

Spacey

Hehe you won't find many JR guys using 6V packs. JR's servos just aren't rated or designed to run on 6V, but they don't need to. Their all optimised to be used on 4.8V. Some of the newer servos are now being rated for 6V and higher as well but it's only a handfull by now and then those servos already kick the competition's behind on 4.8V.

This bird has removeable wings yes. More to follow on the build soon. For now it's weekend and flying time though. Hehe

TailTwister

My Feedback: (1)

I fly JR servos, and mine seem OK with 6v. That's a bad idea Spacey?

flygilmore

Spacey, maybe I am missing some very important info but your 539 servo isn't kicking much butt as you put it-rather you're kicking it in slooow motion with that .23sec [sm=eek.gif]transit time eehh?? Not to mention if you loose a cell on your heavvvvy stock nicad pack-things won't be looking so hot.

Spacey

Hey Frank,

In short I wouldn't recommend it at all no. Unless JR specifically rated the servo with 6V specs. I'm also sure you know that if you run a servo which isn't rated for 6V and it burns out the warranty is void, and yes they'll pick up on this one if you send the servo in. Sure we've also had a few guys this side run some of the servos successfully on 6V without problems but then there's the others of course. Most of the folks who tried it had poor and expensive results. Like I said however alot of the new servos JR has come out with has been rated for 6V except of course their gyro servos, and those are wonderfull on 6V. Heck the servos I use on my helis can even be safely run on 2S lipo unregulated, again however at own risk of course.

Spacey

You are missing some important info yes. I specifically said some of the newer servos when I made that comment, go do a little searching for the DS 8915, 8511, 8711 and of course the new 8900G. The 539's I'm using on this plane is bone stock standard analog servos with over 4kg of torque and decent speed. For a standard servo it kicks butt if you ask me. I don't know about your comment about losing a cell either? If you lose a cell on anything your screwed if you ask me? And no you shouldn't use batteries that has a tendency to lose cells.

DS8915
Torque : 12Kgs
Speed : 0.09S/60deg
All at 4.8V

DS8511
Speed: 0.19sec/60deg
Gearbox: Metal
Torque: 15kg @4.8v

DS8711
Torque:347 oz/in @ 4.8V, 403 oz/in @ 6V
Speed:.19 sec/60° @ 4.8V, .15 sec/60° @ 6V

DS8900G Ultra-Speed Digital Gyro Servo 4.8V Specs
Size Category: Standard
Type: Digital
Torque: 48 oz-in @ 4.8V
Speed: .05 sec/60 deg @ 4.8V

Spacey

Hey everyone,

I'm already being shouted at in PM's for not finishing the plane, I apologise. Work is keeping me from spending the time on the internet I would have liked to. More to come real soon!

Constrictor

My Feedback: (46)

Spacey, i'm flying Jr and have been using 6v in everything for about 9 years now with zero problems. As a matter of fact in all that time, ive never had a single servo have a problem ( other than a broken gear) in any servo above a standard. Ive had plenty of standard jr servos go bad though maybe the 6v? i am now running A123 batteries for my rx's and they are 6.6v and no problems. Some of our club members are running unregulated lipos 7.4v on their jr stuff with no problems.

Spacey

Hallo everyone!

Wings time!

I made some good progress again over the past few days but yes work has just been keeping me from what I want a bit too much. Anyways here we go again.

First step was to sort out and slap together the two unique sets of ribs closest to the fuselage. These are firstly the root rib which is a balsa/ply rib glued together. It's very important to try and keep these straight looking at it from all angles otherwise you'll end up with some gaps between the wing and fuselage later. I used to wax paper layed on a mirror to glue these together. Also pay very close attention so you get all the holes and notches aligned properly and of course MOST importantly be sure to build a left and a right!!! Be sober when you tackle this step.

The second set of ribs only get a small ply doubler piece laminated onto it, pretty easy just pay attention to the left and right thing again. They are very much unique.

Next step was to build 4 mainspars, doubling them up at the root. Silly easy these steps if you follow the instructions. My advice also is to make absolutely sure you keep the spars straight when you glue on the doubler, pin it down and run a straight edge over it regularly.

Next onto pre building the wing sheeting, build all the sheeting required to build both wings in my opinion now. I am one to build both my wing panels at the same time but ok some would prefer to finish one and then do the other. Either way when you're building the sheeting do the whole batch. These steps didn't have any complications either except of course as always I advise folks to be very carefull when they cut the two joined 1/16" sheets for the taper, BEWARE the grain of the wood will want to take the blade everywhere. Pay attention, go slow if you have to and keep a firm grip on the knife and straight edge you're using to guide the blade. Oh I also advise folks to draw a guide line first between the markings, it helps.

Now time to glue the spars to the bottom leading edge sheeting. The trailing edge of the spar on these babies will overhang the trailing edge of the wing sheeting by 1/8" (ie half the spar). Pretty easy..keep things nice, flat and straight on the building board with pins and then glue the spar to the sheeting with thin CA. Unpin things again except for one or two pins at the root of the wing closest to the fuselage to help initially till all the ribs are in place. The spar and sheeting however will not touch the building board again except right at the root maybe. Only the rib tabs will do that job. [8D]

Ok time to get the ribs on! What more can I say? Don't glue anything untill all the ribs are in place and pinned down properly. Ensure they are absolutely 90' to the building board and perfectly aligned on the plans, also ensure you keep the mainspars straight, you'll need a proper square or triangle for this step. Either way in short take your time and don't glue untill you are absolutely sure. Also beware to not glue any of the sheeting just yet, only get the mainspar glued to the ribs.

Spacey

Oh I forgot to add, the spar needs to be pulled up into the ribs away from the building board. Why I recommended you wait to glue anything untill everything is nicely into position.

Ok next up was to glue in the top spar. Check again before gluing, ensure the ribs are still 90' to the board and straight. Ensure the alignment tabs are still pinned down properly on the building board. It's really very easy.

Next up was the shear webbing? Plenty of thick CA, a sharp blade=quick work of this step. It's really an easy step as you are putting the shear webbing on the front of the spars inside the sheeting tube and you don't need to fuss with cosmetics too much. Only the bay between the root rib and next rib gets shear webbing all the way. The rest the width of the sheet will do. 5 minutes! Hehehe

Now onto the leading edge stock. You want to make sure you seat this one properly into each little notch before you bring on the glue! You also wanna ensure you keep the ribs straight front to back! Especially the root rib. Mark the rib positions on the LE before you glue it in place to aid this process. Little wiggling, double eyeballing and thin CA will quickly sort out this one.

Right then the 1/4" trailing edge stock. Same story again marking the ribs before hand and just some eyeballing, thin CA will quickly sort this one out. The instructions call for sanding the TE later to match the rib contours better before you glue on the TE sheeting. I opted to grab my balsa planer and to quickly just scrape the TE stock a little angle top and bottom before glueing it in place. You really don't need to take off much to avoid having to sand carefully later. But ok if you aren't too confident with the planer then rather go the sanding route.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Looks like it is building very quick Spacey. Good tip on the trailing edge stock. I bet shaping it before gluing it on is way easier than sanding afterwards. Plus you can use the crosssection drawing on the plans as a guide!

Spacey

Indeed yes getting it to shape beforehand is much easier than doing it when it's glued on, but ok the risk is a little higher to get it wrong? Although that's probably debateable also huh?

I made a booboo, the very last picture uploaded in the previous post vaguely showed my markings I made for a guide when laying down the glue to stick on the trailing edge sheeting. Hold the sheeting in place so you can make a quick pen mark to guide you so you don't pour glue onto places the sheeting won't go. Drop on a a decent bunch of thick CA and gently push and hold the TE sheeting in place. It is a good idea to check the rib alignments etc before doing the above and also beware to not apply too much pressure. Of course the other vital thing is to not press on the sheeting inbetween the ribs as this will mis-align things, best probably to use a big load spreading block of some sort. It is also noted in the instructions to ensure the TE sheeting extends a fart past the TE stock or lign up with it. I prefer to have 1/2 a millimeter hanging over the rear so you can trim later. If it ends up being short it's BAD, gaps to fill later. Trial fit the sheeting before you consider adding any glue to the equation.

Righto time to pull up the lower leading edge sheeting onto the ribs and glueing. This is a tricky step however I will admit. Start out in the middle of the wing and go slow, you don't want to pull the wing off the building board so be carefull! Another note is CA doesn't stick well to water at all so drowning the sheeting beforehand is something I prefer not to do, rather just take care and stick it dry. If the sheeting however is stubborn for your tastes wet it, bend and hold while waiting for it to dry...then glue. It'll take on the rounded shape very quickly and make this step easy. I opted to glue about 2" of the sheeting onto the rib from the main spar with thin CA leaving about an inch in the front. Then drop a line of thick CA where it would contact the leading edge stock and pull it up while very quickly pinning it in place on the leading edge. It is VITAL to get a good glue joint between the leading edge sheeting and the leading edge stock otherwise you'll end up sanding in holes when you finish off the leading edge. Trim the sheeting pieces extending from the LE and done and dusted!

Now time to do the top sheeting. Put something "heavy" (Ya not park your automobile on it) on the TE to help hold it down onto the board. Put in a set of guide pins in the root and tip of the mainspar, remember the sheeting has to hook up to the main spar midway. Get a decent helping of thick CA onto the main spar, ribs and LE and go for it! Start putting on the glue on the main spar then going to the ribs, count to 10 and then do the leading edge stock. Thick CA will act like contact glue if you get it right and the glue is fresh, just needs a few seconds sitting there to manage this so timing where you put the glue will help alot here. Get it to stick well to the mainspar and work your way from the centre putting the sheeting down onto the ribs, pause briefly wherever you aim to stick down next and that should make it stay. Then proceed onto the LE while quickly pinning it down to ensure that perfect glue joint. It sounds hard, but if you payed attention just now it'll be easy! Promise. LOL

The ply servo trays are next. They have laser cut keys in the ribs so nothing troubling about this step. Just don't do what I did and glue the one in the wrong way around!!! Keep your eyes open on this one! Thick CA will glue these down just fine. Please please please the aileron servos go towards the tip of the wing, NOT the root! Bwhahah...I had to go all plastic surgeon on this one. [:@]

Spacey

IMPORTANT: Remove all the pins under the centre section sheeting etc which is about to go in or experience will teach you the hard way this one is very important.

Wing centre section sheeting! Two pieces of 1/16" stuck together the length of the two root ribs apart and then trimmed to match the angle of the trailing edge. Thick CA and viola! That's that.

Cap stripping? Nope, nothing to add here. Nope, not lazy? Just come on? It's easy. Heck it's hard to do a build thread on a bird so easy and quick to build? Haha. Remember the cap stripping on the tip ribs go flush with the tip of the wing and not centred over them like the others.

Time to remove the wing from the building board and trim off the rib alignment tabs. Go slow, be carefull, cut once, cut straight!

I opted to here trim out the sheeting for the aileron servos while I can still use the ply trays for guides, just be carefull when cutting from the inside of the wing to not break the sheeting on the outside and make it ugly. Use a sharp fresh blade.

Well the rest was just the sheeting of the trailing edge and cap strips. Trimming the tip stock and sanding the tip nice and flush, then gluing on the tip balsa doubler supplied. Nothing to ramble on about.

Wings are done! Couple of evenings at most.

Spacey

Next was building all the flat surfaces. I really can't comment much here, the instructions are straight forward and so is the building of these things. Just pay attention to the plans on what wood to use where and hack at it, these things can all be done in about an hour.

Now to glue the vertical fin to the fuselage. You'll want to get the wings and things mocked up on the fuselage so you can ensure you get the fin vertical. Don't force it in anywhere cause you definitely want to ensure you get the rear vertical piece nice and straight, this will determine if your hinge line is straight or not. Get it all nice and centred and stick stick stick! Next was glueing in some filler balsa pieces to get the 1/4" TE of the fin to the same thickness of the fuselage, some sanding and finally adding the tri stock to the TE and some more sanding. What can I say? Again very easy. The instructions are very clear about these steps and the plans have a nice detailed sketch of what the end result should be.

And then finally I get to do a complete mock up for a little buzzing the furniture! Heheee, ready for covering when I get back from the weekend's burning fuel session!

Spacey

Spacey

Hey everyone, I got back into the covering thing last night. Progress is a little slow but ok it's probably due to the sudden freezing over of this place. The wings are basically covered and the ailerons 3/4 of the way. I hope to be able to finish covering by Thursday as well as decoration so I can do some final assembly Friday and Saturday to maiden Sunday. Hold thumbs!

Spacey

Hey everyone,

Covering's just about done. I'm having a little difficulty coming up with something interesting to put on the fuselage and tail feathers. Kinda in the mood to just call it and continue slapping everything together so I can fly. Maybe add something at a later stage.

I'll get some more updates on tonight with the progress.

Cheers,
Rudolf

wessco

My Feedback: (7)

show us what ya got so far, you CJ!

TailTwister

My Feedback: (1)

CJs like Spacey take too long to build...[X(]

Spacey

It's a CJ thing, you wouldn't understand.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Hey I'm sure it will be cool and a a surprise. But it will be hard for you to top that Fusion covering you did. Man was that awesome. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Spacey

Alright here we go. I don't have much to add to the thread at this point as all this is just final assembly and pretty straight forward. I took some pics of how I tidied the servo wires up and strapped them to a nyrod inner to route them through the tunnel. I had a little trouble getting the lead connections into the hole at the servos but patience prevailed to wiggle em in. I also opted to keep both servos on the left opposite the spooge simply out of habit, I'm sure this is not essential and they can go in opposite each other or whichever way you prefer. Pictures show the hinges and such all done, I hate installing hinges so much I prefer not to comment any further. Hahaha

Spacey

I think the Fusion was about the peak of my covering career indeed. LOL. Gonna be a beast to top that one, going to be an even bigger beast to convince me to do something that labour intensive again covering wise. Heck this Yak as boring as it is was already bordering on too much work for me.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

What kind of clear covering is that you used Spacey? It sure shows of the fuse laser cutting well. Also that is the same way I install my tail servos. Keeps the oil goop off the good side.

Spacey

The roll said it was Ultracote "Clear". Normal Ultracote I would assume but it's also really thin and light like their other transparent colours. I used Ultracote transparent red on the bottom of the wings and it was similar in thickness and characteristics, very light and very thin. I don't know why they call this clear though because it's really milky? Almost brown if you will but ok a little transparent. I've used an oracover clear back in the day to do a windshield on a super decathlon and this stuff was like glass clear, definitely nowhere near the same as the stuff I got on the Yak now. Not what I had in mind either for the end result but ok I chose to use rolls of covering I had lying in my scrap covering box, I didn't buy a single piece of covering I used on this model and considering the money saved by using stuff that would have probably never seen action, I'm happy.

I got a bit more done last night, fuselage is practically finished, motor mounted and and. I'll post some more updates tonight and it'll probably end with a ready for maiden aeroplane.