My super trainer
05-06-2010, 01:38 PM
#1
Thread Starter
My super trainer
Hi all,
I am building a rc trainer, not of balsa but the fuselage is a cheap 2mm door ply works out great, wings will be foam & veneer light weight strong n sturdy. The stab & rudder will be balsa.
The fuselage sides are cut on a jig saw. I stacked 6 2mm ply sheets & cut fuselages for 3 models in one shot, only the doublers are laser cut. In future i plan to cut the fuselage on laser which is the best option.
Will keep you updated on this
High.
I am building a rc trainer, not of balsa but the fuselage is a cheap 2mm door ply works out great, wings will be foam & veneer light weight strong n sturdy. The stab & rudder will be balsa.
The fuselage sides are cut on a jig saw. I stacked 6 2mm ply sheets & cut fuselages for 3 models in one shot, only the doublers are laser cut. In future i plan to cut the fuselage on laser which is the best option.
Will keep you updated on this
High.
05-06-2010, 02:55 PM
#2
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Chilliwack, BC, CANADA
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RE: My super trainer
An excellent experiment. It'll be interesting to see what the final model weight comes out to be. Mind you it won't be any heavier than making the model out of LitePly.
My only concern is that often the wood used for door skins tends to be very brittle. The nose area with the rather generous amount of wood will likely be fine in a mild prang. It's the spot where the lightening holes are cut out where there may be some issues. But there's only one way to tell and that's to fly it often enough that somewhere along the way you have a few hard landings that are not quite hard enough to be classified as "crashes".
Speaking of lightening holes a few smaller ones could easily have been included in the area under the wing saddle. And if the first hole in behind the trailing edge was a little smaller so the "longerons" were a little wider this may reduce any cracks due to shock loads at the bulkhead by the wing's trailing edge.
My only concern is that often the wood used for door skins tends to be very brittle. The nose area with the rather generous amount of wood will likely be fine in a mild prang. It's the spot where the lightening holes are cut out where there may be some issues. But there's only one way to tell and that's to fly it often enough that somewhere along the way you have a few hard landings that are not quite hard enough to be classified as "crashes".
Speaking of lightening holes a few smaller ones could easily have been included in the area under the wing saddle. And if the first hole in behind the trailing edge was a little smaller so the "longerons" were a little wider this may reduce any cracks due to shock loads at the bulkhead by the wing's trailing edge.
05-06-2010, 03:23 PM
#3
RE: My super trainer
Back in the late 70s and early 80s there was a big push for alternative building materials just like you are using. My Favorite was a set of sudo fighters made from foam and door skins;tweak here and there and make a 51, 109, or hurcane out of the same general plane idea. Spads although a good idea are not the same kind of building fun.
05-07-2010, 02:00 AM
#4
RE: My super trainer
Ahhh, door skins, one of my favourite building materials!
It's handy having such long lengths of ply. Even this jet I built uses door ply. - John
It's handy having such long lengths of ply. Even this jet I built uses door ply. - John
05-07-2010, 04:10 AM
#5
Thread Starter
RE: My super trainer
ORIGINAL: Boomerang1
Ahhh, door skins, one of my favourite building materials!
It's handy having such long lengths of ply. Even this jet I built uses door ply. - John
Ahhh, door skins, one of my favourite building materials!
It's handy having such long lengths of ply. Even this jet I built uses door ply. - John
Another thing to tell you all the wings will be foam sheeted with face ply... now many will ask what is face ply? it is the thin wood slice that you see on a ply, last week i had visited a ply manufacturing company & i requested them for some sample i was lucky enough to get this... generally the face ply skin is not available in the market for sale purpose. Other option is to use Veneer that is expensive depends which veneer you use for this job.
High..
05-21-2010, 10:07 AM
#6
Thread Starter
RE: My super trainer
Ok here is the update i am building the wing. Its a foam wing.
Now this is a experiment for covering the foam wing i am using the veneer not a usual veneer that people use to cover the wing, this is a face veneer that is used to manufacture plywood (thin wood skin used on the face of the ply), i had visited a ply factory last month & requested this material.
The results are good i am happy with it.. Can any one tell me whats the weight of a ordinary ARF wing left & right of a trainer.... for example Hangar 9 Alpha?? please let me know i am yet to weigh in the pair of wings.
Now this is a experiment for covering the foam wing i am using the veneer not a usual veneer that people use to cover the wing, this is a face veneer that is used to manufacture plywood (thin wood skin used on the face of the ply), i had visited a ply factory last month & requested this material.
The results are good i am happy with it.. Can any one tell me whats the weight of a ordinary ARF wing left & right of a trainer.... for example Hangar 9 Alpha?? please let me know i am yet to weigh in the pair of wings.
05-21-2010, 05:51 PM
#8
RE: My super trainer
Many years ago the British kit industry used to use a lot of obechi veneer coverd foam wings & fuselage top decks & the like.
It did seem a bit heavier than 1/16 balsa but still gave a good result. What I did notice was that a lot of kits did not sell & ended up in the bargain bin after some time. I'm not sure if the laminating glue or the very thin veneer was to blame but on most kits the veneer would peel off after a while & it was a bit difficult to seal it all back down again & make a nice job of finishing. Once sealed & painted or covered in film everything was fine. The message? Don't wait too long to cover your new wings!
One thing the poms were good at was wrapping the whole wing in one piece of veneer, right around the leading edge so all you had to add balsa strip to was the trailing edge.
Lots of guys in the model club I was in flew these English Precedent Hi Boy trainers, cheap, tough & easy to build. The fuselage was all plywood, much like you are doing now. For some strange reason all these Hi Boys flew ok but they all flew differently. I think the English call this inconsistency 'character'. Their cars have lots of 'character'! -
- John.
It did seem a bit heavier than 1/16 balsa but still gave a good result. What I did notice was that a lot of kits did not sell & ended up in the bargain bin after some time. I'm not sure if the laminating glue or the very thin veneer was to blame but on most kits the veneer would peel off after a while & it was a bit difficult to seal it all back down again & make a nice job of finishing. Once sealed & painted or covered in film everything was fine. The message? Don't wait too long to cover your new wings!
One thing the poms were good at was wrapping the whole wing in one piece of veneer, right around the leading edge so all you had to add balsa strip to was the trailing edge.
Lots of guys in the model club I was in flew these English Precedent Hi Boy trainers, cheap, tough & easy to build. The fuselage was all plywood, much like you are doing now. For some strange reason all these Hi Boys flew ok but they all flew differently. I think the English call this inconsistency 'character'. Their cars have lots of 'character'! -
- John.
05-23-2010, 06:32 AM
#9
Thread Starter
RE: My super trainer
ORIGINAL: Boomerang1
Many years ago the British kit industry used to use a lot of obechi veneer coverd foam wings & fuselage top decks & the like.
It did seem a bit heavier than 1/16 balsa but still gave a good result. What I did notice was that a lot of kits did not sell & ended up in the bargain bin after some time. I'm not sure if the laminating glue or the very thin veneer was to blame but on most kits the veneer would peel off after a while & it was a bit difficult to seal it all back down again & make a nice job of finishing. Once sealed & painted or covered in film everything was fine. The message? Don't wait too long to cover your new wings!
One thing the poms were good at was wrapping the whole wing in one piece of veneer, right around the leading edge so all you had to add balsa strip to was the trailing edge.
Lots of guys in the model club I was in flew these English Precedent Hi Boy trainers, cheap, tough & easy to build. The fuselage was all plywood, much like you are doing now. For some strange reason all these Hi Boys flew ok but they all flew differently. I think the English call this inconsistency 'character'. Their cars have lots of 'character'! -
- John.
Many years ago the British kit industry used to use a lot of obechi veneer coverd foam wings & fuselage top decks & the like.
It did seem a bit heavier than 1/16 balsa but still gave a good result. What I did notice was that a lot of kits did not sell & ended up in the bargain bin after some time. I'm not sure if the laminating glue or the very thin veneer was to blame but on most kits the veneer would peel off after a while & it was a bit difficult to seal it all back down again & make a nice job of finishing. Once sealed & painted or covered in film everything was fine. The message? Don't wait too long to cover your new wings!
One thing the poms were good at was wrapping the whole wing in one piece of veneer, right around the leading edge so all you had to add balsa strip to was the trailing edge.
Lots of guys in the model club I was in flew these English Precedent Hi Boy trainers, cheap, tough & easy to build. The fuselage was all plywood, much like you are doing now. For some strange reason all these Hi Boys flew ok but they all flew differently. I think the English call this inconsistency 'character'. Their cars have lots of 'character'! -
- John.
Hi John,
I understand what you mean to say about Precedent Hi Boy trainers, see it depends upon the manufacturer to manufacturer some Chinese trainers are hell cheap & tough as nail.... if the Precedent rc planes use a laser cut parts & precise alignment tool to build their planes i dont think they will ever have a problem with there planes.... as i have been scratch building since 1995 with these ply samples
I am always experimenting with.
Regards,
High
