splitzed

I started placing the stringers in today, Before I started I checked the crutch to ensure it was straight and level I had a suspicion that it was sagging at the tail end so I leveled it up and put my lazer level on it and sure enough it was down gradually about a half inch from former f9 back. So be sure to check and when its good and straight start with the top stringer to hold it in place properly. If i would have gone ahead and glued it together like that it would have put the rear stabilizer incedence out by quite a bit.

mistral12

My Feedback: (1)

I had the same problem with my crutch so I turned the fuse upside down and made sure the crutch was laying on the stand I made that holds it up in three positions front middle and back. ;Made sure it was level. I then glued a few stringers on the top and sides to hod the crutch in place. The instructions in the cockpit has the measurements of where the pieces go in the cockpit space. If you want them I could email you a copy.

splitzed

ahh, good thinking I never thought to turn it over, It's pretty cool seeing another plane in the same building stage as your own. I was staring at the plans and the fuse last night ( I seem to be doing alot of that lately), trying to figure out where to add the weight needed to balance this sucker, most of these seem to require about 6 to 8 lbs to balance, which will be fairly sizeable. So i think I'm going to build a sturdy box between f1 and f2 right under the fuel tank floor with an acces door on the wing root side of f2, that way I can stuff weight in there up against f1 and can add or remove as needed, there is lots of room under there and it will keep the weight on the lower half of the fuse that will help it to be more stable. I'm just not sure if that will be far enough forward the other option is to build a box on the engine side of the firewall, I just dont like to clutter up that area and restrict air movement around the cylinders? What do you think?

Tmoth, Nick, Frank, SBD, Where did you guys put tour ballast weight?, and what did you use?

SBDdauntless

My Feedback: (2)

I built a box to mount the engine by using 1/4" ply and built it out on either side to move the engine forward and used that open space for some of the weight. I also lined the rim of the cowl with weight and epoxied them in place. I was trying to get the weight as far forward as possible to reduce the amount needed. I did a rough drawing of my engine mount. Hope it helps.

SBDdauntless

My Feedback: (2)

Sorry it appears the first pix did not show up. SOOOOOOOOO...lets try again!

Sheriff of Nottingham

I added as much weight as possible during the build to the front end. The firewall was replaced with 1" Marine Ply with added greatly to the nose weight and also made a good solid mount for the engine. Also, I added 4 x 1/2" ply directly behind the engine mounting, which the bolts pass through into spikey nuts. Even in doing all of this, I still add to add approx 7.2lb in ballast.

mistral12

My Feedback: (1)

I was planning to make a box to mount the engine also. Will the fill with weight. Splitzed have thought about your control rods for the elevator. Are you going per plans using 2 exiting out under the stab or try to hide internally. I am going to try to fab a T or some other engineering marvel to hide the linkage.

Bryan

splitzed

hi Bryan, I am going to hide all the linkages in the tail, I will try to make an access hatch back there, it's pretty tight though, Yes I would be interested in seeing those cockpit instructions, can you e-mail through this site somehow?

Thanks for the ballast info I will probably try to figure something out on the engine side of the firewall the more forward the better.

splitzed

Heres some photos of the completion of the side vents, before the sheeting. Iwant to fuelproof the light ply and stringers inside before I cover it up

splitzed

I Built a box in the space under the fuel tank floor that serves as a cooling vent on the bottom of the firewall on the front and a compartment on the rear side to install ballast in case I cant fit it in on the engine side. It's also a spot where I can install the batteries if necessary. I am trying to have all radio components and servos forward of the cg I got the 1/4 scale servos ahead of f3 so the only servo that will be behind the cg might be the tailwheel servo.

mistral12

My Feedback: (1)

Trevor, thought you might find this interesting about hiding the linkage for the stab.
bryan

http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...19&PN=1&TPN=35

Nickrc3

My Feedback: (6)

Splitzed,
I don't like the idea of fabricating a stand or compartment attached to the firewall for your lead ballast. I've witnessed this procedure fail more than once on heavy-metal warbirds and its always catastrophic.

Two methods I used for years in adding nose ballast:
Melt lead to a specific shape required for your model and mount to firewall, and/or add lead shot into the cowling lip cavity.
What I did on the Dauntless was both.
Provide adhesion tooth with a Dremel tool to the inside surface of the cowling lip. Clean well.
Obain a bag of lead shot from your local gun/ammunition supplier. Pour the lead balls into the lip cavity, leaving a little area for epoxy. Empty the amount you poured in the cowl lip into a paper cup and weigh this on a table top scale. This gives you a 'ballpark' idea of how much weight you've added, minus epoxy of course.
Mix up a couple ounces of a quality epoxy (West Systems). Pour the pre-determined amount of lead balls into cowling, level out and simply pour the epoxy mix on top of lead shot. The epoxy will seek it's level and saturate the lead. During this time you can adjust the amount of lead balls depending on ballast requirements. Be sure the cowling is properly supported, with wax paper underneath. If anything shifts, you will have quite a mess. Trust me, I
know.

Second method - mount lead ingots directly to the firewall. Unfortunately, I do not have a pic of the Dauntless firewall to show you the lead bolted to it. All I did was obtain a vegetable can of the proper diameter required to mount three ingots. I poured melted lead into the cans until a 2" height was achieved. Once cooled, I drilled a 5/16" hole through the center and mounted against the firewall with a 1/4-20 bolt, washers and aircraft nut. Three of these ingots, plus the cowling lip ballast was required to balance.
This is why I've extended the fuselage of a new Hellcat build.

Good luck.

NICK

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I've used 1/4" steel plate between the firewall and motor mounts before.
Edwin

mistral12

My Feedback: (1)

I like the expoxy glued lead shot method. I have a bag of 7.5 bird shot for reloadin that I can use. I'm sold. Trevor I got my book today! Great resource. Alot of good pics detail and actually interesting reading!

splitzed

Thanks Nick, I like the lead in the cowl idea it will get the weight up front as much as possible so I wont need as much, I'll just have to make sure the cowl is very secure with all the extra weight!!

Bryan how long ago did you order your book? its been almost 7 weeks since I ordered mine, I sent them an e-mail about a month ago but got no response.

splitzed

I sheeted the upper part of the fuse I was a bit worried about the strength of the balsa where the turtle deck overhangs the rear part of the cockpit so I layed three sheets of 1/32" birch ply over that area back to f7, then went with the balsa the rest of the way back. I installed R1 and it was then that I noticed that I have built a slight twist into my fuse, that I will have to fix, once I install the stab and complete the rest of the sheeting. It is very slight but it does put the verticle fin out about 1/16" and the stab will also not be level if I dont fix it, at least I noticed it now while I still will be able to correct it.

splitzed

I also got my pushrods installed and the tailwheel

mistral12

My Feedback: (1)

Trevor your fuse looks great! I too had a twist in my tail. I corrected it by twisting the tail excessively to the corrected rotation and glued some scrap balsa sticks in various angles across the crutch. When the tension was released it seemed to teturn to straight. I will removed the sticks after the fuse is sheeted more. I ordered my book on Oct 26. I did pay for air mail.

splitzed

I had a bit of a break, but got some work done on the center wing section in the past couple of days This center section is built very strong I am very impressed with the engineering of this beast. One thing I recommend is to cut the flap cut outs at the bottom of the trailing edge of the ribs out before assembly. I neglected to do this and found it a bit awkward cutting them out once the whole thing was assembled. Next I will be building the center flap and then figure out servo set up. It may be awhile before I get back at it, very busy time until the new year. Happy holidays everyone!!

splitzed

I had to rest the fuse on top just to see how it will look

splitzed

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a slow speed servo, or a way to adjust the speed of servos? I would like to have the flaps move slowly into position?

ramcfarland

My Feedback: (44)

I have a JR9303 and the servo speed is indeed programmable @the Tx[8D]

splitzed

Well the holidays are behind us and life is starting to settle back to normal, got some time in the shop again this week, so I got to work on the mechanics for the center flap actuation, I went with the bellcrank method and am very happy with the results. Everything moves smoothly and the flap closes up nice and tight

I just have a standard speed servo in there for the time being, but ideally I still want to see if I can find a slow speed servo for this and the other flaps,

splitzed

I also got one of the outer wing panels started, I joined it to the center section, it fits nicely with the proper amount of diehedral

splitzed

A pic of what Santa brought me , I guess I was a good boy this year. I just orderd everything yesterday to make her go including the new Saito fg20 gasser, I cant wait to hear the sound of that puppy.