ORIGINAL: mcledan
About lightening it up. Tony W.
<<And one guy in this thread suggested building it lighter; I plan on cutting some holes in it, what else can be done to lighten it up? >>
Is the wood in the kit heavy? e.g. more than 10#/ sq.ft.? Cutting holes in the stab may help if the wood is heavy. Better to change the wood altogether.
I have cut round holes in fuse sides, and when weighed the amount was very little weight saved but easy to weaken the structure.
If you are going tp use a heavy 4 stroke in the nose, you may have no balance problems.
In the RC Reports review, the plane, with a 60 engine, came out at 5 lbs. 3 oz. and a WL of 22. That is pretty good and it will fly better in the wind too.
Dan
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The horizontal stab weighs a little over 2 oz without elevator and its ¼” solid balsa so I don’t think that’s bad? I agree cutting holes would not be a good trade off for weight and strength. My plans are to get it built up and temp install all the hardware I can with dummy weight for the engine and see where its at weight and balance wise then use a certain size engine accordingly and add/remove weight were needed before covering. Depending on if it needs less or more weight in the nose I have decided on a JBA56 @ 18oz or a Sk70 @ 26oz. I would like to use the JBA56 if it doesn’t need a lot of weight up front.
I mentioned in my first post that I would buy ceiling tile or dry wall for building but I could not wait and just had to improvise. I robbed a laminated shelf off a cabinet that’s about 2X3’ just big enough for one wing half and it was perfectly flat according to my strait edge. Once everything pre fit I used weights to hold everything in place while the glue set. Then glued the top spar in and made sure the wing was perfectly strait before it set. I am very pleased with how it turned out and was easy enough. May not get any progress up tonight do to a late work shift but will try and get as much done this weekend around family time. Full time job, wife, and 2 kids that need help in school that’s why my goal is 3 months. I will try my best to stay faithful to the project and build thread. Thanks for dropping in.