Terry Holston

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Here I have drilled/countersunk and installed the screws in the hinges in the left door.

Next I am marking on 1/8" aircraft plywood the exact shap of the door. I did this on the front and rear of both doors. That will give me 4 plywood edges. On the front of each I will leave enough material to use as the "Horns" for the door cylinders.

Terry Holston

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OK, I have them cut out With a Band saw in the first picture.

In the second picture I have spot glued the front former at the balsa with aeropoxy on the ply to fiberglass joint..

The third picture shows the rear former glued the same way as the front former.

Terry Holston

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Here is the final picture showing how I have taped them in place to be sure they hold their shape when the aeropoxy cures overnight.

I put a layer of Saran wrap on the edges to keep from gluing the doors permantly closed. Ha HA

smokin-gun

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your almost ready for paint and i have not yet opened a box for the winter project. what are you going to do in jan. when it's cold????????????

Terry Holston

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Watch TV cause it'e cold in the garage then , too. Ha Ha

avicom

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Looking much better! Keep on the good work Terry! I opened my box and started checking the fit of the ail and flaps. I dry fit them and find this on both wings ailerons in the inner hingepoint. The hard wood is off the area of the hinges. You can see the pics from the servo openings. I can fix this for the inner ones but wonder how the other hinges blocks are? I can not see inside the wing for other two.

Rgds,
Alejandro

Terry Holston

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Wow, I didn'd even check that on mine! Iguess I'll have to R&R the servos to check.

Since you don't have the hinges glued in yet, I would try a piece of small dia wire with a hook on the end. Put it in the hole and push to one side of the hinge point hole and get it to hook on the inside. Mark it where it stops. Wiggle it back out and measure the length from the mark to the hook. More than 3/4" you are OK. if it is only about 1/8" Get a hold of PST. They are good about customer service.

Terry Holston

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Back to the door build:
I made these brackets at work today. the big hole is .595 " in diamerter , as the struts are .585 in diameter. This give .010" clearence. They have a 6x32 set screw to hold them in place and are drilled and tapped for 2x56 threaded ball links.

The cylinders I got from Great Northern Models and I made the aluminum rod ends at work yesterday.

The last shot is of the retract mechenism with the strut removed to get the bracket on.

Terry Holston

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Here is the right one installed on the strut. It may need adjusted up or down the strut to get the links in the right location.

Also the fuselage former that supports the gear mounting plates needs to have 3/8" more clearence where the strut passes through it. This is for the links that pull the outer gear doors shut.

Terry Holston

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Here are the links made from 8 (Eight) ball links with 1/4" cut from the threaded end and 4 (four) 3/4"x2-56 bolts with the heads cut off. When they are adjusted to the final length, I will cover the bolt/ball link ends with aluminum tubing cut to the correct length.

Terry Holston

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Here we see the cylinders mounted to the plywood bracket, ready to glue in place.

Terry Holston

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Here I have them mounted in the Panther. The UPC valve works great, all the doors operate as they should.

Now I need 8 more 1/16" ball links to hook up the links to the BVM plastic door brackets so the outer doors will follow the struts to close.

Terry Holston

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After visiting 2 LHS, I was able to procure enough ball link to finish making and hooking up the outer main gear doors.

Terry Holston

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Here I have it installed, Just need to do a bit of final adjustments.


Sorry about the picture, I'll take a better one tomorrow. (Gotta watch Battlestar Galactia, Ha Ha)

OK, as promised a better picture. They are all adjusted and covered the 2x56 bolt and the ball link shanks with 3/16" dia aluminum tubing. Ready for paint, almost.

Terry Holston

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OK, here is what a few of you have been waiting for, I will go back to the nose and show you the Shell ejection ports and the Gunsmoke vent.

In the first picture I am showing the balsa and plywood pattern I made of the Gunsmoke vent and 2 vents already trimed ready to be glued on.

In the second picture the Shell ejection port pattern and finished parts are added.

The balsa is sanded with 320 grit and hardend with thin CA, then sanded smooth again with 320. I then vacuum form the parts from .020 sheet styrene.

Terry Holston

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Using the 1/48 scale plastic model to get the locations, I measure with my calipers, multiply the measurement by 48, divide the answer by 6.3 and then use the result for location. In the case of the Gunsmoke vents, I used the panel lines as a reference.

Terry Holston

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Before the vents :

Terry Holston

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I outline the location with fineline tape , then scuff the paint around the inside edges so the thin CA will glue them in place.

Terry Holston

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I lay the fuselage on its side and using care not to drip any glue where I don't want It, I let gravity run a drop or two aroud the edges of the vent to glue them on.

Keep a bottle of debonder and some paper towel handy in case you get too much glue on there and it runs past the vent.

Terry Holston

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Next I measure the location of the Shell ejection port and cut an approprate sized hole in the fuselage.

Scuff the edges of the hole about 1/16" wide.

Using the same method as before, use thin CA and glue the ports in the hole.

Terry Holston

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All ready to paint the vents and ports to match the rest of the fuselage:

Terry Holston

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Using the above method I determined the antenna on the nose gear door should be 1.19" by 1.92" and cut two halves from 1/8" aircraft plywood.

I then glued the two haves together ready to be sanded to an airfoil shape and slightly tapered from the pointed end to the 1/4" base.

Next. I will show you how to make it easily removable and yet hold on for flight.

Terry Holston

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Here it is sanded to shape and the parts that will hold it to the door:

Terry Holston

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Here is the door after the "skin" is routed out to clear the shape of the antenna. The short piece of "glow" fuel tubing is inserted in the hole and the retaining box is glued over it.

Terry Holston

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Trial fit to the door, Then I added a small alignment pin and covered it with aluminum muffler tape, AKA Poor mans Flightmetal.