sfaust

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photos 5-8

The nose area has a large hatch that will be used to cover the service panel. The service panel will have all the battery switches, charge jacks, a C-Volt, air fills for brakes and retracts, ECU charge jack, etc. The nose gear also retracts forward into this area, so there it will be a tight fit and the components need to be placed carefully on the service panel to avoid interferring with the gear when retracted.

sfaust

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Photos 9-12

sfaust

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Photos 13-16

I used JR8411's for the elevators, rudder, and speed brakes. JR2721's for the flaps. JR4721 for the nose steering servo, and JR341's for the brake and retract air valve servos. Since the design of the plane needs the extra nose weight, I will be using dual receiver packs. Most likely 1700 or 2150 NiMh dependong on how much weight I need. I haven't decided on the batteries or placement for powering the navigation and landing lights yet.

sfaust

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Photos 17-20

sfaust

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Photos 21-24

I used the Airworld tail pipe which is very nicely done. Too bad it doesn't go on the outside I used rivets to secure the alum bell housing of the bypass to the fiberglass section. I haven't secured the tail pipe to the bell housing yet since there is very little lip on the pipe to secure it.

sfaust

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Photos 25-28

Here are a couple shots of the nose section. The kit came with the nose section separate and the option to either secure it permanently or, or make it removable. I decided that I wanted it removable in case I needed to replace any formers in the gear area, and also for better access to the forward section of the fuselage since the cockpit forward panel would be permanently installed. I found that even with the nose installed, I can access almost anything I need in the forward area through the hatch. If I were to do it over again, I'd probably make the nose permanently attached with the hatch.

sfaust

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Photos 29-32

In the second photo, you can see the cockpit items that are permanently installed. The side panels are glued to the fuselage sides. The forward panel and dash is secured to the fuselage as well. The entire center section with the seats and rear console is removable which leaves a large space underneath that is completely accessible for service. To access this area, the canopy and frame come off in one piece, then there are three screws to remove to allow the center cockpit to be removed. All the wiring, receivers, propane and air tanks, etc, are all located in this area.

sfaust

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Photos 33-36

Wish I had time to add descriptive text to the photos to make them more useful, but I have a lack of time at the moment. I will however have all that on my website as time permits. More updates and photos to follow in the next week or so. I've been working away on this and have the next couple weeks dedicated to getting this airplane ready to fly prior to the finish paint and detail work.

sfaust

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Here is whats been accomplished so far, and will be updated on my website shortly.

All the formers installed, wings attached, and gear test mounted.
Internal duct work, bypass, and tail pipe installed.
Nose gear door and nose hatch created for service panel.
(above work completed by Tom)
Forward panel, windscreen, and full cockpit kit installed.
All control linkages, servos installed, programmed, and mixed as appropriate.
Retract air lines are all plumbed and tested.
Gear door air lines plumbed and tested.
(waiting on UP2 and UP4 valves to finish retracts and gear doors)
Navigation lights installed and set, circuit board installed.
Landing light wiring is run, but not yet complete (waiting on lenses)
Service panel in nose section is complete, switches, gauges, meters installed (no photo yet)
A complete custom wiring harness was built using heavy duty wiring, locking molex connectors, etc.
Jetcat P-120 engine was fit and mounted, but not yet plumbed.
Onboard GSU interface board installed.
Propane, retract, and brake tanks fit, but not permanently installed.
Disc brake lines run (waiting on mini hobby brake valve to complete)
Plus all the little stuff you forget :-)

DavidQ

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Stephen,
Nice work! What technique did you use to attach the wings and the horizontal stabs? Can you post some pictures?
Regards,
David
Oklahoma City

sfaust

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On the tail, there is a single screw from underneath into each of the two rods, so two screws on each stab. The wings use a single nylon bolt from the fuselage into a block in the wing root. I will be adding another one for redundancy if there is space. I'll grab some photos next time I shoot a series, which should be soon. I've connected up just about everything for placement purposes, and will be securing it all and taking some photos. I've also build the nose service panel and mounted all the switches, air fill valves, PSI gauges, etc. Still a long ways to go...

As a side note, do you or Pete feel the gear is a little soft? I feel like it needs to be a bit stiffer, but I don't know. It just feels really spongy when I put any weight on the airframe, even with all the components installed.

David, I've got a few more photos to collect, and Pete is sending me an additional set, then I will be uploading them to my web site for you. Just need a bit more time.

Franny

Ref soft u/c.
Just put mine together with full tank and run the motor. At this weight the model waddles like a duck
because of the soft springing. I have seen the Airworld video which has 3 L39 models flying.
The 2 `Team' models (red, white & blue) seem to be OK when taxying and landing but the other
model (all white) looks as soggy as mine. I am going to look at stronger springs.

Franny

sfaust

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I'll look into that as well and share anything I find here. Guess I'll have to take one apart to find the right springs Other than that, the model is looking quite good. If it flies half as good as it looks, its going to be a major keeper!

BTW, do you still have another photo update for me in the next week or so, or should I go ahead and publish what I have. Its just that I'd rather do it all at once since I think updates will be more work.

Later

Ali

My Feedback: (5)

I would suggest that you try to strengthen the U/C Springs as this waddle can be a pain in a cross wind. As well as a fast take off run When I was at the jet masters I spoke to the airworld team and the two pilots both had stronger springs to counter this problem. With my one I just wound another spring into the oleo. Dont make it too tough as you want the model to slightly compress the oleo under its own weight .

GEOFF WALLACE

stronger springs is not the answer, if you fit stronger springs the aircraft just rises up on the legs with even more travel and when you use brakes its all over the place. what i did is fit a piece of rubber the same i.d. as the spring in side both legs to act as a bump stop. what you have to try and acheave is ajusting the length of the rubber to set the legs so that fully fueled you can still just compress the main gear buy pushing down on the plane but not bottoming it out . not easy to discribe what I'm trying to say
Geoff

sfaust

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David and Pete. I send you an e-mail update on where the photos are located.

DavidQ

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Stephen,
Thanks for the link, however I can't get the pictures to enlarge!
David

sfaust

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The transfer aborted during the night, and the enlarged photos didn't transfer. I started up the transfer again this morning. Go back to the page, hit refresh, and try it again. Let me know.

sfaust

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More progress and photos

Photo 1 - This is how the elevator and stab are connected. The stab was drilled once into the top and bottom carbon fiber stab tubes and tapped for screws. The stab was countersunk so the screws are flush.

Photo 2, 3, 4 - Service panel in nose hatch - dual RX batteries, lighting battery, C-Volt meter for RX batteries, pressure gauge and fill for retract and brake systems. I have yet to add a few other items which will go into the center section, such as the ECU battery charge port, etc. The PSI gauges are not permenantly mounted yet. They won't be crooked when I am finished (beat ya too it )

sfaust

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Photo 1 & 2 - This is how I mounted the emergency fuel shutoff (for those scale guys, this isn't a sport scale airplane, so don't cringe ). I wanted it to be accessible at all times, and not hidden behind a panel or hatch, or need to deploy the speed brakes or gear to get to it, etc. This way if we need to shut it off to stop the engine we can always get to it no matter what. I just drilled a hole and mounted it flush. Its underneath the fuselage by the speed brakes close to the overflow vent. Once painted white, it will hardly be noticeable.

Photo 3 & 4 - fuel tank installed. I need to relocate the propane valve and festo shown, along with the fuel filler, but haven't decided on the final location for them. For now, I'll leave them so I can test run the engine before mounting them.

sfaust

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Photos 1 & 2 - I used some molex connectors for the wing panels since there were 10 wires for each side. 3 for ailerons, 3 for flaps, 2 for wing tip lights, and 2 for nav lights. The molex connectors are locking connectors so I don't have to worry about disconnects either. The other connectors on the red and blue lines are for the gear, and are Robart quick disconnect air lines. There will be another line for the disc brakes with another quick disconnect connector.

Photos 3 & 4 - The tail nav light, and the nose gear landing light. The L39 doesn't have a nose gear light, but uses two wing tip landing lights. I love the look of a nose gear light, so I added one. Its easily removed since its just attached to the bottom of the nose gear steering servo. It will be painted appropriately to blend in better. The switch for the landing lights is a simple micro switch that will close the circuit when the nose gear locks. This is also a good indication that the gear is fully down and locked, since the nose gear locks last. If its locked, then its almost guaranteed that the mains are locked as well. Landing lights on, gear is down and locked [8D]

sfaust

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Photos 1, 2, & 3 - Turbine bypass and tailpipe installation.

Photo 1 - The fuel and propane gas lines are routed though grommets on the bypass.

Photo 2 - With the bypass cover, the data bus and starter/glow power connectors are routed through the cover. I haven't figured out how I want to close off the openings for the power and data bus lines, so at the moment they are just taped closed for the turbine test runs.

Photo 4 - The steel cone on the end of the fiberglass duct acts as a holder for the end of the tailpipe. The tail pipe basically slips into the end of the steel cone. The fiberglass then creates a duct for the actual tail pipe to be inserted and captured at the tail end by the steel cone, which also allows air to pass down the duct around the tail pipe and exit at the end. This provides cooling for the exterior of the tail pipe.

The end cone is mated to the fiberglass duct with high temp silicone, but even if left unconnected, it is physically impossible to move since its help in place at the tail by a lip, and the fiberglass is connected to a former at the front. The tail pipe is free floating within the fiberglass duct and held in place by the steel end cone, and the turbine bypass at the front. Photo 3 shows how the tail cone is mated to the turbine bypass, which is safety wired to the bypass housing. Since the tail pipe free floats within the steel end cone, it needs to be attached to the turbine bypass itself.

sfaust

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Photo 1 - Another photo that shows how the bypss attaches to the tail pipe which floats within the fiberglass duct. The turbine is all installed and ready for the cover.

Photo 2 & 3 - Shows the internal madness. Once everything is checked out, connected properly, general mounting location based on CG requirements, then the fun starts. Final component mounting, trimming all leads to exact length, routing all wires and securing them neatly, and eliminating the mess. For setup and testing, well, it looks like my shop during a frantic build session . Most everything will be hidden under the cockpit sides when done. In photo 3, the rail that the matchboxes are attached to are used for mounting the cockpit floor and seats.

Photo 4 - shows the circuit board hidden off to the side. These control the flash rate, intensity, and duration of the nav lights and beacon. The pots are where the adjustments are made. The circuit boards will be mounted in that general location, and are easily accessible for adjustments.

GEOFF WALLACE

Looking at the pic's of your fuel tank , it does not look as though you have cut the bottom of the tank off to look inside yet. Trust me you will save your self a dead stick. cut off appx. the lower 25% with a dremal, replace the clunk pipe and refit the tank bottom with glass bandage and epoxy resin
Geoff

sfaust

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It doesn't look like I opened it up because I didn't cut away the bottom. Instead, I cut a chunk away from the side.

I replaced the fuel line inside with neoprene, removed the third line and plugged it since it will not be used because of the UAT, twisted wire on the fuel pickup lines (clunk and tube ends) to secure it, kept the filter/clunk, aeropoxied the vent tube to the top to keep it at top dead center and adjusted it so that it would not allow the clunk to hang up on it like before, and removed the fuel pick up line so I could cut it shorter for external clearance and added a nipple on the end to secure the line.