That's one beautiful Gentle Lady you have there Dave. I also had an electrified GL, built an extra fuselage with an Astro 05 motor & bloody huge brick of NiCads. Flew like a brick compared to the pure glider version but that was electric flight back then. Things sure have changed, changed for the better...
on with the build!...
Covering (continued)
It's time to tackle the fuselage & get that covered. I usually dread using heat-shrink covering on the compound curves of a fuselage, lots of wrinkles but in this case she's a basically a box. Easy-peasy to cover...
That's starting to look kinda sexy...
Finished up the tail, using CA hinges to attach the control surfaces...
The stock Spectra has a reputation for tip-stalling, mostly due to the saggy covering on the tip sections. Even though I've addressed that issue on mine, it's still good practice to twist in a little washout...
Electronics
With the covering done it's time to install the guts.
I noticed the wires were rubbing against the motor housing, not good. So I crafted this simple wooden post to hold them out of the way...
Before you ask, here's what I'm using...
Balancing
Up on the balance stand, lets see how we're doing...
We're just a smidgen tail heavy, nothing a little bird-shot won't fix...
Pretty happy with how little weight it took, worked out well. Mixed the bird-shot lead with a little finishing resin & poured it into the bottom of the nose...
Okay so the all important weigh in...
That's pretty good, five ounces lighter than the stock Spectra. Here's the data...
Project Complete
Woohoo we're ready to fly! Stay tuned for the maiden flight video shortly...
