sam@ata

My Feedback: (16)

Come on guys, this talk about sound systems, smoke effects and such has me thinking we should start our own movie special effects company! These added features would be totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I remember Keith "Sparky" Sparks of adding something similar to his A10 for smoke/gun effect and i had the bright idea of making my gun barrels removeable to be able to add an Estes booster rocket motor shooting the flame and smoke out. Well some much for the rocket motor deal since Estes stop making the 1/2A booster motors!!!!!![&o]
The same setup you use Fahim on the sound is very similar to what my friend Wayne Mason does for his electric scale AH-64 Apache. Videos on youtube flying at the NATS and IRCHA are plentiful. He was able to make a rig that plugged into the PA system of the event and was triggered the same as your setup with a remote reciever when he fired his gun. No smoke but really really cool!!!

PLEASE post a video soon Fahim on your sound setup, very interested and i did check out the web site you linked to and pricing isnt that bad. Maybe i get Wayne to fess up on his little gadget mean time and maybe come up with something. I really need and like to get my A10 flying soon also! To many ideas runnng through my mind so need to focus.

Chris, glad to hear that the move has benefited you and things are working out better than being in Cali. Looking forward to keeping up with your new build and maybe, just maybe i can afford one of your kits. I might just have to hit you up for some add ons for mine again but will see. Looking to cut time now and get this plane decked out once the initial maiden is done.
My deadline is to have it ready for E-Jets in Colombus OH in Sept. Maybe you two can pool resources and make it up for that event????????? Suppose to be as big as the Arizona event with plenty of vendors showing up. Esprit was there last event and they are from Fla.
Who knows what could happen between now and then!

FYI, yes, the fork projections on the elevators are counterweights. Thought about addingto mine but maybe next time. I did manage to make the ailerons more scale.

PTERODACTYL

My Feedback: (3)

Chris with your new highly detailed parts. I thought you might be interested in making your molds with silicones and high tech rubbers, they have many advantages and some of these rubbers will even pick up details like finger prints left on the plug.
One source for these materials is www.smooth-on.com.
They have many different types of materials to fit your particular needs.
They also have photos and how to articles.

PTERODACTYL

My Feedback: (3)

I am interested in this bird. A few days before your post, I was checking out a 60 inch version and I have the plans for a 140 inch version which would be awesome and probably my best choice. Right now though I have a money-pit turbine heli that I’m working [playing] with. The 140 inch version is just “too� much for me at this time.
I need more information like total wing area? After running the numbers I would be more surer. I don’t need all the cool goodies and I would have to choose my parts very carefully to fly at 7200 feet. I would want the eclectic version.
Do you think that it’s possible to get it to weight about 12 pounds ready to fly, without the batteries? I’m figuring about two pounds for the batteries. It needs to be strong too, my runway is rough.

cgrcjet

Thanks for the info PTERODACTYL. They have quite a big list of materials and i would not even know where to start. Silicones would be nice but i would be worried about any distortion while vacuum bagging. Just about all my parts are vacuum bagged. I do use silicone on the smaller casted pieces. I have done silicone with an added hard shell to keep the silicone stable but not sure about vacuum bagging it. I was thinking about using polyester tooling but dont think it will last as long as my epoxy laminate molds. Polyester would be nice because the cost is cheaper but i guess there is a reason for that.

thanks
chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

All the design work is looking good chris. I'm currently in Sarasota, FL so if you need a spare set of hands this weekend, lemme know

cgrcjet

The lightest setup i have done was with tj90's. Fully loaded weight was about 20 pounds. Dexter is viewing this thread and maybe he can get us some weights on his setup. I believe, if i remember correctly, his airframe came in at about 10 lbs. I dont think you will be able to get away with 2 lbs batteries. I believe 10s setup which was average config. for the A-10 was about 6 lbs of batteries. The setup would really determine how light i could lay it up and get rid of any excess weight without compromising structure. I have always used ply for wing structure and balsa for sandwich material for wing skins. Just the sandwhiched balsa adds a lot of rigidity to these wings and could use balsa for some structure but i always decided to use ply, as its easy to come by in larger sheets. I could always do a custom layup but you also may want to consider this new version will most likely be slightly heavier as it will be slightly bigger and im not sure how much extra weight the 3 piece wing will add. On the new one, i did go slightly out of spec on the main wing and added .5" extra to the chord. I have not calculated total wing area yet. I dont think it would be to big of an issue for you. Tam thought my last one flew too light with his tj100's. That was his thought.

thanks
chris

cgrcjet

Well, well. Come on down! Your only about 40 min. from me, right off the 75. One big problem now is that most of my work is in the computer now, getting more parts ready to cut on the cnc. I am not the one who produced the 3d model and to cut cost i have to design all the small pieces myself. Only manual labor would be adding detail like raised panels, rivets, panel lines on the horizontal stabalizer. Do you have resume,lol? I have found that its very hard to find people who do this stuff, not saying you dont, but in general. You more than welcome to come over invertmast. Just give me a heads up.

thanks
chris

cgrcjet

Well, i also need to finish up the main wing. Maybe we can work toward a kit for you.

chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Here's a link to a resume of sorts I'm free both days this weekend, then unfortunately swamped with work through the week, and then leave friday/saturday

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_88...tm.htm#8868360

cgrcjet

Wow! Thats excellent. Was able to skip through some of the thread. I will have to look into it in more depth when i get a bit of time. I could not imagine building a plug like that. Some serious hours. I have an excellent cad model of the f-14 that i could have helped you machine on my cnc router. Takes me less than a day to machine my A-10 fuselodge, out of foam. I can run up to 800ipm on it. I machine female mold into polyethylene and cast some of the detail pieces. Here is an inlet lip, i did for the engine nacelle and i can cast both out of it. It had taken about 45 minutes with a tight stepover. The rest of the plug was done machining 2" foam in layers. I added 1/4" mdf for the jig. I could have machined the whole plug as a 3d piece but it would have taken me many hours more. Instead i did some 2d cutouts and contact adhesived them together, then fiberglass. I guess i am impatient. Well, i guess i did do some 3d cutting on part of the foam inlet and outlet but they went by pretty quick. I always look for new faster ways to do things but sometimes i learn the hard way and wonder if im actually wasting more time.

Give me a call tomorrow and we can meet up and maybe learn new ideas. 805-286-7227.

thanks
chris

cgrcjet

Heres that f-14.

chris

sam@ata

My Feedback: (16)

Hey Chris, i dont want to steal any thunder from your new build but i couldn't attach the pic i wanted to send you.
It isnt an all molded A10 but it sure will look the part when finished! Lots more work compared to yours but that is half the fun, at least for me!

cgrcjet

How much time before she flies Sam? Have you installed those hinges yet? I did find a canopy i could send to you. Looks in pretty good shape. Let me know if you still want it.

chris

cgrcjet

Heres a little backtracking to the rear vert. stabs. and how i built them up. I machined out .01 styrene patterns for the raised paneling effect. and carefully glued them in place with ca glue. Also a pic. of applying the first row of raised rivets. I applied all the raised rivets to the verts and noticed they were a tad to large, so i had to remove all of them and start again. Only about 4 hrs wasted time, but i am happier with them now. After the raised areas were applied and before the rivets, i sprayed about 4 coats of heavily reduced paint to mellow out the raised panels a bit using 320 between each coat.

chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Chris,
Good meeting up with you today. Those verticals looked fantastic! I can't wait to see what you do with the wings and fuselage

cgrcjet

Thanks for stopping in for the day Thomas. Glad you could make it over. Feel free to stop by anytime you come back to the area. Nice chatting with you today and if you need anything else cut out to help your project move a bit faster, just let me know. Best of luck to you on it as i know the efforts that are put into these big projects.

thanks
chris

sam@ata

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for looking Chris on the canopy. Yes please send. Ill pm you my address and you let me now on the cost.
I am hoping to fly by July, maybe sooner depending on real work and available time. My main short term goal is to LSII the fuse and finish out the bottom of the wing for LSII. Adding the initial wiring will be straight forward and dont expect any trouble with that. Once installed then a few run ups to test cooling flow and power. I just want to make a maiden flight then continue with the finer details afterwards. In order to finish out the fuse, i need to detail out the cockpit and attach canopy before applying the Liquid Sheeting.
I have managed tonight to get my C model instrument panel copied and the colors and contrast to pop so that part will look good and still be able to see the picture in the MFCD's.
Scaling pics and 3-views of the ACESII seat so as to fab that tomorrow and to finish out the 1/9 pilot bust.
Thanks again Chris for your support.
Sam

cgrcjet

Thomas, hope you dont mind a little competition with your f-14. I decided to start work on mine today and finished the whole airframe in a couple hours. Just need to machine some struts and find a power system i can fit in this one. I decided to use the f-14 model i showed you yesterday to try out some 2 sided machining. I have never tried machining my parts like this and wanted to see how easy it was to do it. Worked out pretty easily. I may try this method on a few of my parts. Only problem i had was when i went to do the finish pass on the top side, i forgot to switch out the bit to a bull nose, so i lost some detail using the .125 end mill. I cut the bottom side out right. Not to bad for mdf. Would have come out real nice with plastic. I cut the verticle stabs out separately as you can see them attached in the corners.

chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Chris,
That is awesome man! If you ever wanna machine up a foam version for a micro EDF setup, lemme know.. I would buy one!

cgrcjet

What size you looking for? Could probably get away with 1 lb foam and very light cloth and carbon. But i would have to let you do the cloth part, lol.

chris

cgrcjet

Having a hard decision with mold releases on the plugs. Spent a big portion of the day talking to manufacturers about the options for the application. For my parts i use pva, but i am worried about wax and pva on the plugs as i do not want to diminish the detail i have. I have also used safelease 30 as its very thin, dries quickly and no loss of detail. I called the manufacturer and they suggested freekote 700, which i have never tried. Funny how they pushed me in the opposite direction. I know with the freekote, i will need no wax according to a few people i talked to. I could not imagine cleaning all the wax out the the flush rivets before molding. Ofcourse simpler applications would be best and save time. I have ordered the freekote to try it out. Not sure how compatible it would be with the urethane base coat i used on the plugs.

I chose to wet sand the areas with the raised rivets with 320 grit to ensure the rivets stayed on the plug. To glossy of a plug and i have a chance the rivets would not adhere.I sanded the areas with flush rivets up to 1000-1500 grit. Ofcourse thinking when demolding, i should not have to touch the areas where the flush rivets are but i will need to finish the final grits out, where the raised rivets are. I think being reversed after demolding it will be easier this way. I have never done parts like this, with this amount of detail so im trying to think of the best way to do this.

If anyone else has experience with highly detailed plugs and releases and would like to share it, i would love you. Get rid of some error and guess work.

thanks
chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Chris,
Ill do some research on the size, probably like 25-30" wingspan though, ill let ya know.

Wax and pva works, you just gotta fudge with the flush rivets and over-exagerate them. Im not sure how the freekote will work, but make up a few test panels and try it out.

cgrcjet

Let me know and i will see what i can come up with.

As far as the pva and wax, im just worried about the humidity. The wax would be fine, just trying a different route to be safe on detail and prep time. I have been having problems with the pva fully drying. I have parts that i have left in mold for a few days and in california, i could easily blow and peel the pva off with air. Over here it does not want to blow off. Feels like it retains moisture and does not want to come off easily unless i wash the parts with water. Kind of hard to do that with the parts that have ply structure. Another issue, is a controlled environment to spray the pva. Kind of lost that back in California. Any little blemishes would not be good.

chris

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Yea i hear ya on the pva. The pink pva i have been using works well, but i have a humidifier and all in my garage shop. If you want when i get back home i can pour you a few ounces in a jar and send it to you to try.

Look into a Jet afs-400 air filtration unit. Its good for a 12x16 room to filter out dust and only about $225, it helps allot in ellimanting dust while spraying paint or sanding.

cgrcjet

Ya. No humidifier here. I will try out the freekote first and keep you posted on it. In more ways, it seems like it will be better for down here. Only problem is i cannot let it sit in my gun like pva but it can also be wiped on.

thanks
chris