skylarkmk1

Anthony,

I would tend to agree with you on the Pepino Stab being too high. Compare your stab with picture 3817 (the side view of the Stab/Vert Fin/Rudder on NC 14081) and you will see what I mean. The front stab appears to be nearly in line with the 3rd stringer down while yours appears even with the first stringer. The hinge line on NC 14081 appears about even with the 2nd stringer down while yours appears to be at the very top of the fuse.

The Paul Matt drawings appear to match the side view photo.

P1 Side view of the tail group on NC 14081 (small pic 3817)

WacoNut

Thanks Ken!!!
John there more errors on these plans than you can imagine, I corrected several issues but a couple got by me or were too difficult to correct and not hurt the strength of the model.
Anthony

WacoNut

With the details I am putting on the plane I am trying to give the effect of scale but I may not always be true to scale. If I put enough eye candy on the plane it will distract you away from the things that are incorrect
Anthony

RICKSTUBBZ

Anthony,

Man, she is looking good. I like what you are doing with the details. The louvers are great. I know you kind of explained how you did them but I am not sure I followed it well enough to duplicate your efforts.

I plan on using the 1/64 plywood deal on my current project as well. I too, was turned on to the Idea by Ken H's work.

As to the slight deviations from scale, to be honest only a few of us will ever notice them. That is those of us that are crazy enough to study countless numbers of WACO photos to notice.

When it comes to tail moments, we all know the designers change them up for a lot of reasons. Handling (flying quality) is one of the biggest reasons, then build simplicity is another. So, with out having Mr. Pepino to ask, who is to say why the stab is a little high. My guess is to keep it in clean air between the wings.

ANYWAY, It's looking great.

WacoNut

Thanks Rick,
I am at work now so I don't have time to go into the details of how I made the louvers. I will post some more on that tonight for you.
Anthony

WacoNut

Rick,
The louvers as stated were made from 1/64th ply. For making my templates I bought some heavy poster board approx 1/64th thick and it has a grid pattern on it and it does make life easier. I first made a template of the panel and then transfered that to the ply, the 1/64th ply cuts with scissors. I marked the location of each louver opening and I cut completely thru the ply with an x-acto knife on the marked line. I made a second score cut parallel and approx 1/4" away from the opening cut, this cut was just deep enough to score the ply so it would beak on the line when bent. This line will be slightly longer than the opening cut. You then need to make a through cut connecting the ends of the score cut to the opening cut. Once this is done you can then bend the louvers open to the correct angle and add thin C/A to the score line, I forgot to mention the score line should be on the back side of the panel. I then added Bondo to the end of each louver to fill the ends in. You can only do about 3 louvers at a time due to the cure rate of the bondo. Once the bondo starts to cure you need to carve the rough shape of the louver end, it slices very easily when it has just started to cure. I then made several sanding sticks and proceeded to blend the bondo in as best as possible. I then gave the entire panel a coat of sanding sealer and sanded agin before primer. After the primer was sanded I noticed a few spots than needed some attention with spot putty. Afet touch up and sanding I glued the panel in place with CA.
This can be done with aluminum but it requires making a set of dies to form the louvers, I did the whole job in less than half the time it would require to make the dies.
Hope this helps!!
Anthony

RICKSTUBBZ

Anthony,
Thanks, that filled in the blanks I had on how you pulled off the louvers so well. I know working that bondo on the ends is not as easy as you make it sound when you write about it.

Good Luck with the rest

WacoNut

No it wasn't easy but it was the only quick solution I had to the problem
Anthony

WacoNut

Ken are you planning on the maiden flight this weekend? I am anxious to hear the flight report and hopefully some pics of your plane in the air.
I added a little bondo to the L/E of the fin to blend the panels, I will let that cure and sand it tomorrow night then spot putty and primer. My piano hinges for the aileron's should arrive by the weekend as well as the #0 screws.
I am still undecided about the paint to use on the plane, I had planned on using latex but I like the results you achieved with the Krylon, which Krylon paint did you use and how many cans of white did it take?
Later!!
Anthony

Big_Bird

My Feedback: (1)

I'm still waiting for my Jump Start to come back from CH. I talked to Terry last Friday and he had fixed it. When I talked to him yesterday he had forgotten to mail it because he had been snowed under with work. Maybe next week.

I didn't count but I must have used at least 8 cans of Gloss White and 2 cans of Banner Red from Wally World. The paint was pretty cheap when you consider $2.95/can. I think that I mentioned it before but I'll say it again. Krylon has developed a new nozzle which is far superior to the old one. It produces a fan pattern and puts out a greater volume of paint. There is one thing to be very careful of. You must do all of your spraying (several light coats) within one hour or, as the directions say, wait 24 hours before re-coating. I prefer 36 to 48 hours. If you don't there is a good chance that the paint will wrinkle.

WacoNut

Thanks for the tips,
I will make up my mind over the next couple of weeks on which direction I will go. My hinges showed up today and I am getting them fitted up to the aileron's. I am also working on the fairing at the fin/stab.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I have the hinges fitted for the left wing panels and the fairings primered on the tail surfaces. I need to pich up some #2 screws tomorrow for the aileron hinges.
Here are a couple pics of the fairings.
Anthony

mango12

Anthony,
How did you determine the size of the cut out for the front cockpit?
Looks like you are progressing quite well !!!

mango12

Ken,
I noticed there were no backing plates on your elevator control horns. Did you just screw them into plywood plates, or is there some secret method you used?

Big_Bird

My Feedback: (1)

The 4-40 blind nuts are recessed under the covering in balsa blocks and the screws are cut to a precise length.

WacoNut

Scott,
I used the template from the plans but cut it undersized(scared) I then slowly opened it up while comparing to pics of tail #14081. I scaled from the pics how much distance I should have from the bottom edge of the cockpit opening to the panel edge on each side. It was a pain and drove me nuts but I am satisfied with the results.
Later!!
Anthony

mango12

Thanks guys.
Anthony, i kinda figured I could just cut the cockpit opening around a half inch smaller than the template and go from there. I don't plan to detail the front one, but I wanted the cover to have that "sag" once it is installed. Hope that makes sense.
Ken I am using the same control horns as you, so I'll use the same method. Did you run into any clearance issues with the ,ie. the rudder control horn hitting the elevator control horn? It looks kinda tight.

WacoNut

Makes sense to me,
I will be detailing both cockpits, I am just trying to figuren out how far I am going to go with them.
Later!!
Anthony

WacoNut

I am very dissapointed in the hinges I bought,
I ordered brass piano hinges from Lee Vally Tool and they do not work as smooth as I think they need too. I installed the hinges on one of the aileron's and it has too much resistance for me. By the time I hinge both the top and bottom aileron the servo would have to work too hard just to overcome the hinge then I am sure I would have servo buzz constantly. Back to the drawing board, I think I will just go with Robart hinge pints and be done with it. I may be able to hide the hinges below the corrugated panels anyhow.
Anthony

skylarkmk1

Anthony.

Before you scrap the hinges, pull the hinge pin wire and replace it with one a few 1000ths smaller and see if that helps free up the movement. To pull the wire, try to get an end to stick out enough to get a variable speed drill on it and slowly twist and pull the wire out. The new, smaller diameter wire should then slip in without a problem and things should work smoother and more freely.

RCBOATMANIAC

another thing that you can do is chuck the wire up in your drill and use a piece of 320 grit wet/dry paper with a little oil and turn it slowly in your drill to sand a little off the wire to make it smaller. Then go back over it with a piece of 600 grit to smooth it back up.

Big_Bird

My Feedback: (1)

Is there any chance that metal to metal contact could cause radio noise especially if you loosen it up a bit with a smaller wire?

WacoNut

I have already scrapped the piano hinge idea and installed Robart Hinge Points.
The brass piano hinges were heavy and didn't give the freedom of movement I wanted. I could have worked with them as you suggested John but I went back to the hinges I know and trust. I just need to apply a couple coats of sanding sealer to the aileron's and then install the corrugated panels. I am using 4 hinge points per aileron which will be more than strong enough for the job and probably saved about 6oz of weight.
I am debating on what material to use to make the windshield frames. I could cut them out of ply or styrene. The front windshield should be easy as it does not have a full frame. I think I will go with ply and I will cut an inner and outer frame and glue them to the windshield material.
I just might have to start painting this thing next weekend.
Anthony

WacoNut

Here is a look at my 1st aileron,
The Robart hinges are epoxied into the aileron only at this time, I applied the corrugated panel with medium CA. All it needs now is a little sanding around the edges, primer and rivet detail. 3 more to go and I should get them completed today without a problem.
Anthony

WacoNut

The aileron's are complete,
You can see where the Robart hinge points are installed but I think this will become less noticable after everything is painted. It's amazing how something so simple can make so much difference in the looks of a plane. I am going to spend the next few days just going over the plane and touching up little spots here and there. I also need to get the luggage compartment and the scale hatches hinged. I am running out of things to do before painting
Anthony