BIG A-5 Vigilante build
06-11-2016, 04:43 PM
#326
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I had 2 paddles made for the next 1/4 scale Panther I was going to build , so that saved a step here. One extends 10" and the other 12" into the wing. One thing that concerned me was the aft spar aluminum staying inside the profile of the wing. The forward goes into a thick part of the wing. I was very happy when I removed the wing to see the marker lines not running over the aluminum. I cut inside the marker lines and capped the paddles with hard balsa. It is a lot easier to sand flush than the plywood. Two slots were cut and sanded clean in the foam core. I outlined the perimeter of the slots with tape to keep the expanding urethane glue from getting on the sheeting. I also put some saran wrap between the paddles and the fuse to keep the glue out. Once the glue stopped expanding and was still soft I removed the tape and it cleaned off 95 % of the expanded glue.
06-15-2016, 06:48 AM
#328
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The hard balsa trimmed off and sanded nicely. I started jigging up the other wing panel. I had to slide the table away from the wall to get both wings on. I am not comfortable attaching both wings without seeing them together on the plane.
06-15-2016, 12:53 PM
#330
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Hi Matt,
Yes, the glass on the wing will be structural. I did the same thing on a 1/4 scale Panther I built. I bought a 100 yard roll of 2.75 oz. glass cloth from Thayercraft and shared it with a few people. The price gets really cheap when you buy in quantity. Anyways the Panther got 2 layers on both sides with the leading edges overlapping a few inches. The wing is very strong. The Vigilante will get the same thing.
Joe
Yes, the glass on the wing will be structural. I did the same thing on a 1/4 scale Panther I built. I bought a 100 yard roll of 2.75 oz. glass cloth from Thayercraft and shared it with a few people. The price gets really cheap when you buy in quantity. Anyways the Panther got 2 layers on both sides with the leading edges overlapping a few inches. The wing is very strong. The Vigilante will get the same thing.
Joe
06-20-2016, 10:15 PM
#331
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Both wings are attached so I swung the fuse back around and started lining up the nose. Nothing looks out of whack. The table has a slight belly in it so I will need to get the fuse up off the table to make sure the bottom of everything is flat.
06-22-2016, 08:03 AM
#333
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Thanks TF.
Once the nose is stuck on then the fun of making it look like an airplane is over. Engineering everything in isn't as exciting but still satisfying.
Joe
Once the nose is stuck on then the fun of making it look like an airplane is over. Engineering everything in isn't as exciting but still satisfying.
Joe
07-04-2016, 08:26 PM
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The plate attaching to the fuse need some 1/4-20 T nuts. The ply on the back is lite so I glued on some aircraft ply doublers. I don"t like the idea of the barbs crushing into the ply so I broke them off then pressed and epoxied the T nuts in.
07-05-2016, 07:20 PM
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A 2" 1/4-20 cap head screw is the perfect length to mate the plates. The access solution is to cut openings in the sides of the nose. The openings will get boxed in with some t stock , resin and glass. This will give me room to insert the screw and get a ball driver in there. The four openings will eventually get some covers. If the plane doesn't drill itself in on the test flight maybe I will upgrade the screws to stainless.
08-24-2016, 06:49 PM
#337
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I had to trim 1/16 off the side of the nose gear box to get the mating plate and nose to line up with the fuse. The top of the box got some T stock. To make sure the nose and the fuse will be glued together perfectly flat I needed to borrow a closet door for a while. When finally aligned the mating plate will get glued to the nose gear box with more T stock, glass, sheeting, etc. The bolts will need to come out to separate the two.
08-26-2016, 06:24 AM
#343
The panthers are scratch build just based from blown to 1/4 scale plans no kit, all the wood hand cut ,inlets hand molded and the canopy scratch made to.the vigilante jet shoul be finish for the next year sezon there a lot to changes to the only prototype .
08-26-2016, 09:10 AM
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That looks great Joe. For a boxy looking plane it is very hard to get all the shapes looking correct. My kit bash of the Chris Golds is getting closer but at some point I just have to go with it.
08-26-2016, 08:51 PM
#346
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Joe F, this maybe asking too much....the Litchfield Middle School is bring the ENTIRE 6th, 7th & 8th grade students (300) to our Route 66 Jet Show on Friday....we will setup a table to demo & explain various models....it would be very en-lighting if you demo the scratch built Vigilante in progress.
Last edited by Roger Shipley; 08-26-2016 at 08:55 PM.
08-27-2016, 08:04 AM
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Hi Joe,
Yes Chris designed the wing as one big part. He did put a hatch in the middle to get to hardware. Its all built up with LE and TE flaps. its a bit over size for scale also. I plan to built it as is but if it looks too out of scale I will make a foam core wing that is scale later.
Yes Chris designed the wing as one big part. He did put a hatch in the middle to get to hardware. Its all built up with LE and TE flaps. its a bit over size for scale also. I plan to built it as is but if it looks too out of scale I will make a foam core wing that is scale later.
08-27-2016, 08:46 AM
#348
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Hey Roger, I would demo the Vigilante construction in a heart beat but I am playing work by ear on Friday. The other thing is my mini van will be full with the Panther. I also want to bring a Boomerang and Space Shuttle and may need to rely on Sebastian for transportation......................Hey TF I am jealous of all the access you will have with the wing off your Vigilante.
08-27-2016, 08:21 PM
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I flipped the fuse over to work on the inlets today. The edges got a 1/64 strip to give me something to sand to and keep the shape. I glued some urethane foam pieces in to get rid of the step in the intake, Some scrap foam is keeping them in place. They will get sanded down to the ply then glassed. I flipped the fuse back over and glued the nose on with some slow West Systems. I put a little West Systems filler in the glue to thicken it. Everything can sit over night while it cures.
08-30-2016, 06:07 PM
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The slabs of foam in the intakes got rasped down. The step in the intake is gone. The steps further in are not a big deal. They will get faired in a little but they will be hard to see. I closed up the top of the nose gear box. The West Systems with the WS high strength filler looks like Hysol after it is mixed.