JohnF

Photo's sent. Enjoy.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

I just thought if we are following this thread we must be a bunch of old buzzard buddies!

Since you mention it I plan on starting a Ryan thread after I get my current projects completed. Here are a few pictures of the instrument panel I had made the root and tip wing ribs and a test fit of a few wing parts.The second picture is the completed main wing spar leaning next to a standard 80" doorway. The final wing size is 84.5" and is one piece.

Sethhunter

Hi Mike - Very nice! That's a very nice instrument panel - did you take the photo of the full scale?

John - WOW - yes I got the photos. Going to take some glorious time to go through them all. I smacked my forehead when I saw the underside aft. Why on Earth I figured they angled the fuse sides in? Curved. Of course Easy to correct. Lots of great scale detail. I usually use eyelets for lacing because they're readily available. Those little lace hooks would be a challenge. Have to give that some thought!

Thanks again.

JohnF

Hi Seth, I believe you can find those lacing hooks at Michael's craft store. Photo's are worth a thousand words.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Seth, I had panel photos from the prototype airplane SC-M and the early production SC-W along with a number of aircraft still flying (They only built 14 total Aircraft.) The Instrument panel of each airplane was built to the buyer's specification so no two were alike. The prototype had a lot of blanks taking the place of the instruments to lower costs. The instruments could be added when the airplane as sold. The airworthy craft still around have all been updated to various degree the replace wore out and out of date instruments. What I did was take the stock layout and then specified what instruments I wanted in each location. Chad Vieth who made the panels took it from there. I gave him a lot of details of materials were used in the full size and the function on several obscure parts. He produced two panels way above my expectations.. To ease the installation the complete setup is made in 4 pieces, the main panel, the apron to hide the fuel tank (this looked to be a textured fiber panel and he nailed it.), the manual fuel sight glass (strange domed leather piece on the apron), and the fuel tank/chock control panel at the bottom. I always like to point out the screws holding the instruments in Chad thought to vary their rotation as you would see in a full size airplane.

Sethhunter

Not too much to report this weekend.... I did get the bottom sheeted and framed a hatch in the bottom. Also notched the fuselage for the cabanes, and installed a tail skid mounting tube. I'm not planning on making it steerable (as the original was) but scale in appearance. John's pictures show some significant differences between my 3 views of the F4 and the photos of the F3. Waiting to get the Windsock Datafile for a tie breaker! The D3 and D4 fuselage's are supposed to be very similar. John's photos offer a huge amount of mouthwatering scale detail! The curious balsa tube is a guide for the nylon bolts that will hold the stab. Access from the bottom, the tubes will make inserting the bolts much less frustrating

JohnF

The Datafile will be a big help. The major difference between the F.3 and F.4 is the cockpit location and engine used. Also the bottom wing was smaller on the F.4. I know you'll put the photo's to good use.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Still making progress Seth, that is all that is important.

Sethhunter

Yep. Datafile is a big help! Especially the photo of the fuselage uncovered. Some nips and tucks are in order. The drawings in the magazine (referenced earlier) are off in a few respects. Mainly I need to reshape the turtledeck a bit and there are twice as many stringers on top. Interesting the side stringers are tubes. Very small diameter. .

JohnF

I figured you would catch the former's, turtle deck construction and side stringers. Also, you will notice not every wing rib is taped on the F4.

Sethhunter

Well a little tear-down and rebuild of the turtledeck was in order. Stripped off the stringers, replotted the formers, glued and cut the new shape.
For the side stringers, I glued styrene tubes to balsa stringers (balsa for strength), and cut/glued card stock to simulate the tube retaining straps. The thickness of the card stock is just enough to show through the covering. Next step is to cut back the fuselage sides below-behind the radiator. The radiator is a honeycomb structure. Any suggestions how to make that?!

JohnF

Looking good Seth, For the radiator you could use perforated alum. sheeting. I used some perforated screen off a pair of old stero speakers when i was building an SE5. Round holes will look fine. McMaster and Carr sells the stuff.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Very cleaver the way you did the straps and brackets.

Sethhunter

Hi folks. Not too much to report. Been flying a bit - Mercer County RC had its annual Warbirds over NJ event this weekend. Tons of fun. I've included a picture of me with my aging Junkers J10. New with the Buzzard: Landing Gear!! Decided to build scale bracket and axles for the lower half of the landing gear. Fairly complex assembly (thanks again to John for the detailed photos). Plan is to plug maple struts into these brackets. The bracket below is just under 3 oz. Actually not too much heavier than wires buried in wood. I used 1/16 thick steel for the plate, 1/32 for the piece that bands the wood. Silver soldered and bolted. Once all assembled, I'll grind the heads of the screws down. The axles pivot at the center of the spreader bars. This will all be steel tube. Also fitted the Fuji 43.

JohnF

Seth, Nice work on the L/G. I knew you would put the photo's to good use. Sorry I couldn't make the Warbirds event.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Impressive work on the landing gear, it really adds something to the project.

Sethhunter

Hi Guys - Thanks for the comments. Progress is slow - building a new airplane trailer (thread on the last one is on RCU - had to get rid of it when my housing situation changed in MA. Now that I'm back in NJ I need to get a another trailer going for the bigger birds!). But here's where I am with the LG. Made the struts: Formed the steel wires to attach to the airframe (traditional straps and blocks). Did some careful checking of the strut lengths to make sure they were square with the fuselage, symmetrical, etc. Notched the wires so they hold well in the struts. Heated and sand-quenched the steel to toughen a bit. Glued the wooden struts to the wires and applied some carbon fiber straps to the bottom to distribute the load from the lower brackets to the wooden/embedded wires. Then wrapped the struts in 3oz fiberglass (about 4-6 layers). Next step is to sand it all down and make some faux upper brackets, and the spreader-bar/axle assembles.Then back to the traditional model airplane stuff! Tip about the fiberglass wraps - tack the edge of cloth to the struts with CA. Makes it easy to pull a tight wrap. Considered inverting an inflated balloon over the struts to really drive out the excess epoxy but don't think it was really necessary.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Making progress!

Sethhunter

Hey - here's the latest. Still working on the landing gear believe it or not. This week I focused on the upper brackets. The Buzzard landing gear attached to the fuselage with clevis's. To save some weight, I used 1/16" fiberglass sheet - cut pieces for the brackets, CA'd to the wooden struts, and wrapped in light weight fiberglass. Added some faux clevis bits and bolt/pin heads. Next are the spreader bars and axles, then back to the main build. Another side projects is a an airplane trailer. For those who have been following past projects, I built a customer airplane trailer some years ago but had to get rid of it in 2015 when I moved to Natick MA. Now that I'm back in a house in NJ, I've been working on a scaled down trailer to carry airplanes. A few pics are included. Still need to add a top.

hungrysteve

is there a plan available for this model, and laser cut parts?

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

Thing of beauty Sethhunter!

JohnF

Very nice work Seth.

Sethhunter

Hi Hungrysteve, I'm not aware of any plans for an R/C Buzzard in this scale. The plans I drew for this model are very rough. For past projects I've made complete drawings available - it's a lot of work and while I've given a few dozen sets away, I don't think anyone's ever built a model from them. Sorry to say, I'm not planning to offer plans, and certainly not until the plane has some time in the air!

Sethhunter

More progress on the landing gear. Not too complicated. Just lots of parts, lots of filing. The steel tube stock that holds the axles is 1/4ID with 1/16 wall thickness. That's a little heavy for my taste so I broke out the old lathe and turned the tubes down to 1/32 wall. Still plenty strong (much stiffer in bending than the 3/16 axles themselves. A few more details to go. I'll probably thread the axles for a nut and cross-drill for a cotter pin. Finish bolting together and move on to the tail skid. A key decision there - the full scale had a steerable tail skid. A bit of tail weight and not really that useful unless there's quite a cross wind. Still thinking about it. PS - trailer is done. Anyone going to Rhinebeck this year?

hungrysteve

Thanks for your reply, I do understand the hassles involved in developing plans from a scratch built project. I'm really looking forward to seeing it completed and flying. Nice job.mate.