cwrr5

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Here's the new formers.

Pt - If you need it, I can send you the scan, full size (it's large), if you shoot me an email with your email addy(I misplaced it somehow )

ptulmer

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That's plenty good. Now to figure out how to calculate the angle needed and double check using your work. If I can figure that out, it'll be a big gain. Thanks for the picture and the extra effort.

SGC

You can check/get the measurement for the side possitions of the cutouts from the side elevation on the plan. The angle cut through the triangular stock is longer than a straight cut, this can be seen/measured in the side elevation.
Hope this helps
Stewart
can sometimes remember some of my highschool drawing class's

N925WB

My Feedback: (56)

PT, why not just leave F1 without cutouts up top for the tri-stock? Just butt-glue the tristock to the front of F1. That'd solve the whole problem of having to do math! The same thing would work for F2, as well.

-Wayne

cwrr5

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That would just be too easy!

I was thinking about doing that, instead of trying to fix the angles in the formers, but it's become a challenge I can't resist now... [>:]

cwrr5

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That's exactly what I did when I built the "mockup", with a little sandpaper adjusting to get it perfect. We all just missed it somehow in the first pass. That's why my name is "giunea pig".

ptulmer

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Wayne, we think alot alike... that oughta scare you. The reason is to make it easy to carve. It's easier to use a razor plane than sandpaper. See, it's about being lazy!

SGC, you're right! That tidbit of info is right there at my fingertips. Thanks![sm=thumbup.gif]

Guinea Pig, keep up the good work. I'll say two nice things about you today.

cwrr5

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Wow! two nice things? I'm honored.... really!

More progress tomorrow, had other things going on today. (flying and took a nap )

N925WB

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After I posted my thoughts on F1 and F2, I took another look at the plans, and thought... "I'll bet he has the tri-stock there for rounding the fuselage to look like a windscreen". Duh.

Designing is fun and challenging. My hat's off to guys like PT and Bipe who actually build what they draw. All my stuff's still in the "development" stage, and will likely stay there until it's "perfect".

Keep up the good work, cwrr5; I'm enjoying this thread!

-Wayne

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

Yep, that's the idea. Easier to sand balsa than ply.

Got a bit more done today before the temperature in the shop got unbearable.

I carefully re-cut the fuselage formers to the new angles to accept the tri-stock, and installed the cockpit area tri-stock. I left the ends slightly long, and will adjust them with a sanding block once the glue dries.

cwrr5

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Same process with the F2 former, and installed rear cockpit and fuselage tri-stock. The angle in the 1/4" tri-stock at the "pointy" end was a challenge, but I got it right this time.

cwrr5

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Used a sanding block with 150 grit to even up all the top surfaces with the top edge of the fuselage sheeting. Also sanded the tri-stock in the cockpit area flush with the insides of the F1 and F2 fuselage formers where I left it slightly long. While I was making LOTS of balsa dust, I figured I would go ahead and pull the fuselage off the building board and sand the bottom fuselage sheeting flush with the sides also.

cwrr5

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Cleaned off the bench a little, and took a couple of "beauty" shots of the fuse so far, minus the dust.

The wing in-progress in the background on the bench is for my Ace Air Scout, the build thread is in the beginner's section.

I cut three pieces roughly to shape, and slightly oversize from 1/16" balsa for the turtle deck/rear fuselage top sheeting. Glued all three pieces together with wood glue and pinned them flat to dry, so they pretty much turn into one piece of balsa sheet, cross-grain to the fuselage. Adding the top pieces with the grain going across the fuselage really adds a bunch of strength and rigidity to the structure.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

Next I cut a piece of 1/16" balsa for the rear cockpit slightly oversize, and beveled the edge to match the fuselage top sheeting when it gets installed. Glued in with wood glue and taped in place to dry.

cwrr5

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I added a part to the forward fuselage former where the wing mount dowel goes because I didn't like the amount that the F1 former flexed. "Beef up" plate made from 1/16" ply, cut and sanded to be a tight fit against the front of F1 and with the grain again perpendicular to the fuselage for some extra strength. Epoxyed in place and clamped with some "1/2A" clothespins. I'll re-drill the hole for the wing dowel a little later on after it cures.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

By this time, the aft fuselage top sheeting pieces had dried and I installed them also with wood glue. (it's easier to sand) I taped it in place, but still had some gaps, so I weighed it down with a few battery packs and some lead weights, then wiped the excess from the fuselage sides before it dried (another nice thing about wood glue).

Once the sheeting had dried, I sanded the edges flush with the sides of the fuselage, and lightly sanded the top to get rid of any dents or glue spots that crept in.

cwrr5

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By this time, it got to be about 100 degrees in the shop, so I quit for the day. More tonight if I get a chance, or maybe tomorrow. [8D]


It's starting to look like a plane....

ptulmer

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You're making great progress. One thing that may/may not be on the plans is the balsa doublers in between the formers. Vertical grain 1/16 sheet balsa from bottom longeron up to trimmed even with the saddle. That makes the wing saddle extremely stiff and adds almost no weight.

cwrr5

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Thanks!
Not too bad so far, only about 5-6 hours in to the actual "build", not counting looking over the plans and assembling all the parts.

Got it- that's the next step. You have it written in, but not shown on the plan. (not sure how you would show that anyway...? )

cwrr5

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A little more done today, but "stuck" for a while until another project gets a little further along.

I inserted some 1/16" balsa into the fuselage, resting on top of the bottom tri-stock in the cockpit/wing area, with the grain vertical. I cut four pieces from the same sheet, glued, and pinned them down to dry. When the glue had set, I lightly sanded both sides, being careful not to take too much material off, and cut both pieces to length to fill the fuselage between F1 and F2 formers. I'll glue them both in when I'm finished using all the clothespins on the Air Scout. (had to clamp some wing sheeting. [:'(] )

I'll probably wait until this weekend to start the wing.

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

Edited for update... finally! It's been "one of those weeks" with work and having a cold on top of that. I did manage to get some progress made, but got way behind where I wanted to be by now.

After I glued together and cut to size the 1/16" balsa fuselage doublers, I glued and clamped them in place using scrap wood to keep the clothespins from denting the fuse sides and keep the sides fairly straight. I left both sides clamped to dry for a day or so, then sanded the wing saddle area to match the fuselage sides carefully with some 220 grit and slightly rounded the inside edge(to keep it from splitting).

cwrr5

My Feedback: (32)

I was thinking about adding a hatch to the top front of the fuselage, between the windshield area and firewall, but decided to just go ahead and keep it simple with some 1/16" sheeting. I added the windshield sheet first with wood glue, and taped it in to place to dry while I cut and added the nose sheeting also using wood glue and tape to hold it in place.

Once those pieces had dried, I sanded the sides of the fuselage even, and took care of a couple of small dents. (oops.)

cwrr5

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Next I cut a 5/8" wide piece of 1/8" ply for the wing hold-down bolts, and cut the length to match the width of the fuselage just forward of the F3 fuselage former, and about 1/8" below the edge of the wing saddle. Glued that in place with 30-minute epoxy, and held tight to dry with more tape.

I'll drill the wing bolt holes when I get the wing built and get ready to align the wing and tail feathers on the fuselage.

Andrew

The build is looking really good. If you're going to use an internal tank, you might want to pull your fuel tubing before you get much more boxed in.

I like to have a fairly tight fit where the tubing passes thru the firewall to cut down on oil seepage and also add a little epoxy for fuel proofing in the holes. I also use 30 min. epoxy on the firewall for fuelproofing -- add a thin layer, then hit it with a heat gun -- enough to thin it out and it will soak right into the ply. It doesn't take much.

Keep the pics coming.

cwrr5

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Thanks! I still haven't decided for sure which engine I'm going to use.... either a Cox .049 with tank on the mount or a throttled Norvell .049 with an external tank. I left the firewall solid without any holes for now until I make up my mind. There's actually a good bit of room in the forward fuselage, and plenty of access through the first former to get to it so that shouldn't present too much of a problem.

A little more progress this morning....
I glued the tail pieces together while pinned flat on the board and marked a centerline on the aft fuselage from cockpit to tail. The vertical stab is temporarily pinned to the fuselage to check the fit. It's straight, but I got the angle slightly off when I took the picture from the back. I'm going to add a 1/8" strip of balsa inset to the fin to keep it from flexing too much before I permanently attach it, and maybe some small tabs to help the tail/fuselage joint a little bit.

I'm holding off on any more sanding until I get over this cold, I'll probably finally start the wing later today.