samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Upper wings (cont)
I cut up some extra cap strips using master airscrew's balsa stripper and finished up the cap strips on the upper wings.

Lower wings (cont)
I cut some new aileron servo covers as my servos needed to be located a little more off center. Using HS-645's. Four new extension wires were made.
As with the elevator, I used the dual control option using AUX 3 and AIL channel for the ailerons.
The instructions say put in 2" up and 1" down which is good advice since I remember the plane wanting to crab left when I turned right which was exasperated on windy days (even when using the rudder). Again, the dual channel allowed easy servo arm travel adjustment via each channel.
All 9 channels will thus be used: Throttle, choke, paint ball gun and smoke and the already used rudder and two channels for the elevators.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Wings (cont)
Didn't get a whole lot done today as most of the day was cleaning up the basement and spare room with all the plane parts with all kinds of bolts/hardware scattered all over from not 'cleaning up' since last Spring.

I cut and glued some bass wood over the square wing spars where I'll be drilling/tapping for #6 bolts to hold the wings together. The final inside balsa sheeting was also done to cover this area. Some easysand bondo over a few minor spots on the wings and they'll be ready to cover with solartex.

The stab and fuse will be a lot easier to cover since the stab is removable.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

wings (cont)
Securing 3 piece wing to each other:
I put the lower wing together so I could drill/tap holes for the #6 bolts to hold them together. With the curve of the fuse, I put the bolt out at the extreme end of the hard point.
The upper wing was then done.

Surface prep:
I used evercoat easysand 2 part bondo to fill in all the blemishes. Since I don't have to 'glass' the surface, I'm still guessing that the solartex will show any surface defects the same as paint.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Flying wires.
I've got an old set of wires from my last plane and they are all longer than needed so I will use them. One end was kept 'as is' and the new clevises were soldered on the other end.
I want all of them removable so the wires connecting to the bottom of the fuse get clevises at both ends. The top wing is bolted to the cabane so that end of the wires can be looped/soldered.
Figuring the wires will stretch, I subtracted 1/8" from where I wanted the wires to be. I used the supplied clevises and the wire just slides into the hole in the end of the threaded rod. Some sharp dykes were needed to get a clean cut of the wires so they didn't unravel. The end was sanded and cleaned and flex/solder finished off the assembly.
I figure it was best to do one whole side first as that gets that side of the wings equalized with each other. I don't think I'll need wires to fly but they will be quick to connect: I''ll leave one side (fuse side) always connected so the wing side will only require 'popping' on the clevises. The wires are taught but not real tight. After getting all the wires soldered and connected, I was surprised as none needed any further adjustment.
All the wires were labeled so assembly will be easier after covering the plane with solartex.

Again, glad that stab is removable; taking her up the basement steps with a 90 degree turn at the top made it much easier, without the stab, when I was taking her to the detached shop.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex application:
I've got a 15 meter roll and a 5 meter roll.of antique. Antique appears to be the basic color on the plane I'm modeling so it will save me some painting.
I'm using a top flight monocote cutter along with small scissors and an xacto blade. First time use of the TF cutter but it seems very good at maintaining a nice straight cutting edge. The heating iron is top flights and I'm partial to using it without a 'sock' (covering) as it allows fine control of small areas, ie, securing small cut tabs around corners, etc.
Solartex only needs 100-120 C (note C) which is plenty to activate the glue on the underside of the solartex.

I'm starting with the upper wings first since they are the largest and did the bottom first using the 15 M roll (hopefully this is a good decision and I don't run out of material). I ran the wing longways so no seams are needed as it's one piece. My last N28 used two pieces with an overlap on each wing: more efficient use of the material but I'd rather not have the overlap showing on the wing. I'm hoping the small pieces can be used for ailerons, etc. For the narrow cut off piece, I didn't cut across it, thus leaving a very long piece after cutting out the two pieces for the upper/bottom of one wing.
The bottom of the wing was done first. The material was cut about an inch on the inside straight side but about 1.5-2" on the outside tip side: I didn't want to go 'cheap' and cut the material too small.
The backing was pulled off, the material was laid evenly over the wing and two U shape cuts were made around the metal wire supports.
The metal supports is ground zero, where I started using the heating iron to secure the solartex. Only the solartex contacting balsa is heated and the open areas are done last after all balsa surfaces are done.
The LE was next sealed as that is large and has a compound curve. The TE was next done as it is a much smaller surface. The free hand is used to keep the any major wrinkles out while securing the solartex to the balsa with the heating iron.
I trim the solartex to about a 1/4" overlap for sever corners, edges (ie, wing tips) and then the solartex needs lots of cuts (using small scissors) so the material can bond to the balsa without folds. All these small cuts (tabs) can then be secured with the iron as they will overlap each other without causing any folds. Wrinkles are OK as they can be removed by heat but folds are bad as they cannot be removed, no matter how much heat is applied. The TF monocote cutter made for a nice even trim on the inside and tip of the wings.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex application (cont)
As I mentioned, wrinkles are OK. As seen in the picture, there are what appears to be severe wrinkles but, after all edges are secured, running the iron over these, removes all of them. Initially, wrinkles are inevitable since we are covering a compound curve.
I applied solartex to both the bottom and top before removing the wrinkles as to insure no warpage in the wings.
The solartex gets very tight but, as seen in the last picture, there is very little scalloping between the ribs.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex covering (cont)

The other top wing was done.
Holding the waste end allows the TF trimmer to make a pretty straight cut.
I was getting some severe wrinkles that may become folds so I pulled off the initial tack gluing and re-arranged the end for a better 'lay down'.

Keeping the waste cut off from the wings extra long allows the ailerons to be covered with said material.

Center top wing:
To get a better overall look, the inside curve was done first. After trimming the edge to about a 1/4", scissors were used to cut a slot about every 1/4" to get a good 'lay down' around the edge on the adjacent surface.
The top/bottom pieces were cut separate keeping the waste as large as possible for possible future use.
I choose to overlap the back curved side with the top/bottom sheeting. This will leave a line that will be seen after painting but I choose a more secure method over 'looks'. Cutting the material at the edge would virtually hide the seam and the solartex glue would probably keep it secure but I opted to 'make sure' the material did not delaminate. Primer is not going to be used so any surface defects are going to show.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Top wings done.
Now, to keep the wings facing each other so those heavy wire metal mounts don't face inward and puncture the solartex!

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

solartex covering (cont)
Ailerons:
The ailerons were did from the waste pieces cut from the top wing.

Bottom wing:
Being an L shape cut from the solartex for the left bottom wing, I could reduce waste since the opposite L pattern could be used for the opposite sides wing, only the top half and vise versa for the other sides.
The center bottom wing still needs work so that could not be covered.

wildbills21

Sam,

On Patches III we sealed the aileron hinge line with solartex. This seamed to help the response. It seamed a bit sluggish without it, something about lower wing only ailerons. Mark E, said to try it and it helped a lot. This can be done anytime, just a thought.

Wild Bill

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Bill,
Good idea. I can probably just put the antique over the bottom since I don't think I'll have to paint it.
==========

Solartex covering (cont)
A small piece of balsa plus some easysand was applied to the top center of the stab to align with the fuse surface.

Elevators:
Some left over scrap pieces of solartex were used for the elevators. About a 1/4" trim was needed for the 'wrap around' of the solartex.
I'm partial to my old ways, I used the small scissors to cut all the solartex to size around the parts. I like the monocote trimmer for the inside 'fold over' of the material on the inside of the wings.
As with the wings, the bottoms were done first with each side overlapping about a 1/2" (total).
After solartex applied, insured LE of elevators and ailerons are still straight.

Rudder:
The scrap solartex from the center top wing was just large enough to do one side of the rudder.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex covering (cont)

Stab/vertical fin:
The bottom was covered with one piece but the top requires several.
The far edge is covered with one side trimmed longer and over lapping the opposite side and finishing off the remaining 'tabs'.
Scrap solartex was used for the vertical fin, each side done separately, working from the center, out to the edges.
The partial fuse 'hump' on the stab was also done separately.

Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

Hey Sam, The Easy Sand you mention. Is that the auto body filler or the drywall top coat??
Always looking for a better filler.

thanks
steve p

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Steve,
That's at the auto shop.
It sets up quickly, about 1-2 minutes, so only about a 1/2 a golf ball size is mixed each time.
I like it because it sets up quickly and, ....it's easy to sand!
It's also very sturdy; it's not going to lift up, or off due to heat and takes any kind of paint (the same reason I always use 2 part primer: tough as iron).
Nothing worse that doing a great paint job and having it ruined by poor sub-materials. Painting is easy, the prep work is the hard part.

FokkerD7

My Feedback: (5)

Sammie looking good. I take it your liking solortex. The gap seal wild bill was talking bout works well just make sure you have full deflection when you tack it down. Make a huge difference in flying.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Thanks Doug.
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Bottom center wing (cont)
Final fuse contour on bottom of wing.
The two bottom formers were placed in their respective positions, a 1/4" square stringer was cut/fit to the formers and bottom of the wing. Some saran wrap placed down to keep glue off the fuse and the formers/stringer was epoxied to the bottom of the wing.
The provided template was used to cut some 1/32" thick ply and epoxied over the bottom of the wing. Some easy sand used to smooth out the transition from fuse to wing.

Solartex (cont)
Bottom center wing:
With only the edges showing, I just used three pieces of scrap solartex to cover the top. Even with the compound curves, I was able to cover the bottom of the wing with one piece of solartex.

Access panel in fuse tail:
With servo wire connections and my satellite antenna receiver back there, I figure that I'd better put in an access panel.
Some thin 1/32" thick ply sheeting was epoxied to the bottom stringers. A 'hand size' hole was cut. I used the needed curve in the ply to build a hatch with no screws; just two thin ply tabs on each side of the hatch and two pieces of small balsa block CA'ed to the center ends of the hatch hole. Bending the thin ply into the curved area keeps the hatch in place.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex (cont)
I had about 2 square feet of solartex left of the 15 meter roll with the 5 meter roll to finish off the fuse.
Fuse:
I'm figuring I'll cover the fuse from back to front thus, all overlays will be on the 'down side' of the wind so less chance of the solartex from being pulled off the fuse.
The solartex is 28" wide and the fuse diameter just behind the cockpit is about 3' in circumference so I'll cover the 'stringer' section with two pieces, with the large piece over the top and the bottom will get the 2nd piece. All seams will be parallel to the stringers as it probably would be difficult to seal a seam perpendicular to the stringers.
I'll break the application into three parts:
The small tail section since it has a lot of curves.
The 'stringer' section that is cone shape.
The cockpit/engine section that is all ply.

Tail section:
A piece of scrap solartex was used to cover this section. Ground zero was at the tail skid where I cut a round hole in the solartex and used the iron to secure the solartex to the ply. Having the piece an extra couple inches too long allowed me to manual stretch the fabric while applying the iron, which significantly reduced the wrinkles.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex covering (cont)
'Stringer' section of fuse:
First piece:
The solartex was cut long enough to span the full length of the 'stringer' section. A pencil tick mark was put at the center of the solartex so it would be exactly equal on both sides of the fuse, starting at the top center. I'm glad I got the exact center as the solartex just covered the 3rd stringer from the bottom center on each side. The solartex was wrapped around this 3rd stringer for the edge points.
The before/after pictures show the wrinkles while securing the solartex to each stringer and after the iron was run over all the surfaces after all edges were secured. I alternated from each side when tightening the solartex to insure I didn't warp the fuse (not likely but doesn't hurt to be careful).
Second piece: After laying the 2nd piece on the fuse and pencil marking the outside edges, an xacto blade and metal straight edge was used to get a nice straight line.

Last will be the front section of the fuse. The cabanes will slide out of their supports so covering will be a lot easier.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Continued from previous page:
First picture of the series that I forget to upload.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Hatch door (alias service panel on N28)
I epoxied and taped two 1/32" thick pieces of ply together and clamped them over the side of the fuse to get the same curvature.
I'll use #0X3/16" screws to attach the nelson 1/2" wide piano hinge to the kit supplied metal service panel and sub ply door and attach it over the hole in the side of the fuse.
After the door was made, the center stringer was cut out of the hatch and the lower one was cut leaving 1/4" on each side to hold some magnets.
With no retracts, I should only need one door for receiver, gun, smoke and fuel.

Cabane supports removed from fuse.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Solartex covering:
Cockpit/engine fuse section:
The final piece of 1/32" ply was epoxied to the bottom front of the fuse.
Two holes in the lower front of the fuse will be sealed after the service panel is installed under the service hatch.
The bottom area was first covered with solartex to get all the small areas done.
2" square pieces of solartex was ironed around each wire harness.
One large sheet will cover the rest of the ply fuse. All of the solartex lays down smoothly except behind the cockpit: that is only about a 1/2" wide so it will be cut and overlapped.
Tick marks were put on the center of the solartex and aligned with the top of the fuse. The center was ironed down, first.
Then each side was ironed starting in the center and working out to the edges.
The solartex was laid down flush to the wire harnesses and an x-acto knife was used to put a slit in the solartex.
The solartex was easy to apply to the ply part of the fuse and that should complete all solartex applications.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Landing gear:
I drilled holes in the metal plates and wrapped wire around the main support wires. Unlike my WW II, I can't retract this gear and I've seen planes get destroyed landing while missing a wheel, and, in this case, if the gear should fail (I'm not trusting my soldering methods so I need a 'backup'). Landing a WW I plane with a defective gear is very hard on the plane versus WW II.
The two bass wood with grooves were epoxied on the 1/8" diameter wires. Room was left for the center wheel collars. I noticed, too late, that the bungee cord goes along the inner part of the gear housing so I had to cut out some of the grooved bass wood with a razor saw and cut off disk.

Engine area:
I'll be using the G-62 that was in the last nieuport. With a spring starter, it was easy to start.
I started working on the throttle/choke servos. The choke servo will be mounted on the front of the fire wall for best alignment whereas the throttle servo will be behind the fire wall.
I got out my old sullivan smoke pump. To save on an extra battery charge, I think I'll be tapping into the receiver batteries.
With a power safe receiver, I'll be using two batteries (3200-4200 each) so I should be safe with this approach as the power safe will always draw off the higher voltage battery should the smoke pump drain the other battery a little faster. Also, this plane isn't going to be drawing a lot of power via the servos.
Looks like I can get two 32 oz tanks in the fuse (gas/smoke oil): one dubro and one B&B specialties.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Eye candy:
Needed some reward so I put her together.
Forgot to cover the aileron servo covers.
I measured back 6.5" from the top wing's LE and she is just slightly nose heavy. I had to use my fingers so it wasn't exact. My normal CG stage has to be modified to fit under the fuse. CG on the bottom is a 1/4" back from the former BP-2 which is attached to the bottom center wing.
Don't have all the items attached, ie, struts, wires, batteries, but all the heavy stuff is on there so it should be close to final CG. If I do need more nose weight, one of those heavy resin dummy radial engines will do the 'trick'.
Got a 26X8 prop on the G-62.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Engine area (cont)

Throttle servo:
Will be mounted on the back of the fire wall.
I needed to drill out a hole in the back plate for the throttle lever. I used a hole cutter and secured it to my drill press table for safety. To make removal of the metal waste from the hole cutter, I only cut 1/2 way through before drilling from the other side.
To fuel proof the front, lots of epoxy (diluted with some denatured alcohol) was slopped on all the fire wall surfaces and inside of the fuse where the tanks will reside.

Choke servo.
The choke servo was mounted on the face of the fire wall.
Two more 20 gauge extension wires were made along with ring noise suppressors for choke/throttle.
Aux 3 was used for the choke channel but re-assigned to Aux 3: the bottom left side lever. Should the throttle servo go 'south' on me, I can easily 'throttle' the choke to make a controlled landing. I overkill using an HS-645, 4/40 rod (with 5/53" brass tubing JB welded over the 4/40) and dubro heavy duty ball links. I've had plastic gears brake on me and the throttle is just as important as other moving surfaces; besides, 645's are cheap.

Tail feathers:
Some 1/8" brass tubing was JB welded over the kit provided 2/56 control rod and some glow fuel tubing over the clevises. Normally, I'd use 4/40 rod with dubro heavy duty ball links but I'm figuring there won't be a lot of stress on the moving surfaces.

samparfitt

My Feedback: (43)

Engine area (cont)
I make my servo trays out of lite ply and 1/4" square bass wood.

Throttle servo:
A 90 degree control horn is used to covert the vertical movement to the throttle to a horizontal movement to the servo arm.
The transmitter was used to set up the servos.

Next should be the service panel.