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Old 09-28-2005, 11:06 PM
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cwrr5
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Default RE: 1/2A 150ish Build

I also have a few questions, comments, and observations about the plan so far (I love being the guinea pig! )
Some of this may seem way too picky(even by my standards), but may help someone just getting started building (this is a trainer, right?) Patrick, please don't take these comments the wrong way - it's all meant to be constructive, and to make a better plan. There's a lot of things you don't see until sitting down to actually start building.

- When printing the plans from the .pdf file, all the horizontal sheets line up right, but don't match vertically. Could it just be my printer, and/or margins? Can anyone else duplicate this? No biggie, just means I'll be building without a top view. Do you have this in autocad format also? (.dxf .dwg etc)

- What is the wingspan actually supposed to be? I measured the plans(vert. and horizontal to be sure), all the dimensions (1/8", 1/16", 1/4", etc) are correct, but the plans wingspan is 35-9/16". If you were to add 3/16" wingtips, it would bring the w/s up to a nice even 36" and give some extra support against twisting from center to tip. Thin(chordwise) wings seem to be more suceptible to this for some reason. Then you can easily add typical cessna style "droopy" tips too.

- The F1 fuselage former doesn't show a hole for the wing hold-down dowel, it would also be nice to have a centerline marked on the plans, and the fuselage formers to help line everything up.

- The 1/16" balsa sheeting isn't labeled on the fuselage side view. Also, the 1/8" balsa for the horizontal stab and elevator isn't marked.

- The 1/4"x1/4" servo mount rails in the fuselage aren't called out on the plan(but they are shown).

- No detail shown for installing the aileron servo, and no structure to attach it to except balsa sheeting. The location of the servo isn't shown on the top view of the wing.

- There's not enough material for the aileron torque rods to attach/insert into, unless the ailerons themselves are "beefed up" somehow. I'm still thinking this one over... possibly use thinner material for the torque rods...?

Other than these few minor things, it looks great... I'm cutting wood for it, and will probably start the actual construction tomorrow.