I cover the control surfaces first before hinging. Makes covering a lot easier and Hinging is not any harder.

Thanks guys! That's the way I was leaning, too. I was thinking that it would be easier than trying to get the iron in the gap. The reason I was hesitant was that I didn't know if it would be possible to install CA hinges without dorking up the covering job.

Will the CA wick into the gap without getting all over the covering? I have never used CA hinges before.

Hi!
Ca glue (thinnest version) like Flash Ca is what I use and recommend.
If you get Ca glue on the covering it is easily removed with pure nitrometan...even aceton will work, but 100% nitro is much better.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

looks good. You guys should combat those trainers when yall learn to fly good.

I guess it's safe to say you don't have any inside cats. Oh, does your wife get to fly it?

jaka- here in the states, most of us don't keep 100% nitro laying about. In fact I doubt if most of us, including myself, know where to get it short of the local drag strip.

windridr- if you read the orig post carefully, you will see that he has 2 kits to build. One for each of them supposedly, we'll see about that later.

Construction looks good, keep it up.

Dave,

Your build of the Baron is really looking good! I absolutely love the looks of this plane, beautiful lines. Keep up the good work and good luck with it I'm sure the both of you will really enjoy the planes.

Regards

Mike

Dave,

Darn you, man. This thread REALLY makes me want one now! I have a 52 Surpass that needs a home.

Where did you find these two?

Steve,

I have had these two kits for about 3 years now. I got the first one from a guy out in Arizona. I can't remember how I found out about it, but I paid WAY too much for it! The second one I got off Ebay. A much better price for that one.

I think you will like the airplane. It's not too difficult to build and I think it looks much better than your typical trainer. Good luck on finding one. They do show up occasionally.

We'll be posting some more pics in the next week or so. Stop by and see our progress.

Be sure to let us know how the hunt for your new toy is coming along!

Thanks. But I agree with the caveats a few others have mentioned here; this is NOT a trainer.

Again, not trying to rain on your parade, but if I was in your situation, I would most definitely invest in an ARF high-wing trainer to knock my rust off and get the wife up to speed, before risking all the work you will have put into those kits.

Here is something you may not have thought about regarding women; while women make excellent students, and learn quickly because they are generally more focused than men and have better muscle tone and control (which means mastering the reflexive responses needed to fly an r/c model more rapidly), they generally do NOT take instruction well from a sibling or spouse.

Don't ask me why, as I have no clue. But I've been a professional firearms instructor, as well as club instructor pilot, for many, many years; and I see it all the time.

I'm sure your wife will see this, and ma'am, it is not my intent to insult or piss you off. But you guys need to discuss this teacher/student thing at length. I am NOT making it up.

And please, re-consider about using these beautiful models for your initial flights. You can pick up an el cheapo high wing, dihedralled trainer for less than $100; put one of the Irvine's and your radio gear in it, and fly the tar out of it until your skill has returned and your wife's has been created. Better yet, rotate the Irvine's. That way, both engines are broken-in and airworthy for their new homes.

Not trying to get into your business, Dave; just offering some free advice.

Steve,

Thanks for the tips. I've already experienced the difficulties one encounters when any spouse is trying to instruct the other. You're right. It usually doesn't go very well.

We have just joined AMA and a local club and they not only have instructors, but they also have a club plane (a SIG Kadet) that they have available for students, so we can get some time on it in addition to using Reflex XTR at home. That should help us ease into the Black Barons.

I very well may get us a Kadet ARF (if I could get it set up as a tail dragger) so that we could have our own. Of course this all costs money, and I've already spent quite a bit. Then again, two crashed Black Barons equal lost of money wasted. Defintely something to think about. Besides that, I quess one can never have too many planes in the hangar!

Steve, let us know how your search goes. I know you will like the kit. It's a really neat plane. You'll have to post some pics when you are done with it, too. Lots of luck!

Sounds like you guys are on the right track.

The LT-40 is easily converted to a tail dragger; there are several ways to do this. A quick search will probably turn up a few of them.

As for my own BB Special; I'm looking...

Well, this is going a lot slower than I thought it would. [&o] It seems like there is some sort of conspiracy against me getting this airplane together this spring. The other half of my construction crew (my lovely wife) seems to have run out of steam on the project, and I have been plagued with honey-do's and work. (I still am trying to figure out how to collect that paycheck without having to ever report in to the office!)

Needless to say, I have some progress shots to post, but not much more than has been seen before. I did manage to get the cowling fitted to the airframe and the engine. I think it looks pretty good. It is a very tight fit. We'll just have to see if the engine runs cool enough during the break-in period.

The rear turtle deck that runs from the cockpit to the vertical stab is in place, also. Here are shots that I took during the installation process:

Actually, I have gotten a little bit more accomplished.

After the cowling was fitted and the rear deck was installed, I was able to work on the plastic decks that are located on top of the fuel tank compartment and the wing. The wing was the real challenge. It came from the kit manufacturer with a flat bottom, which had to be trimmed so that the bottom would fit the camber of the wing.

This week, I managed to find time to get all of these parts painted. I also finished filling gaps and creases and did the final sanding and Eva gave the plane a good coat of Balsarite in preparation for covering.

We have all of the hinge slots cut and are about ready to start covering the plane. Hopefully, this bird will be in the air in June!

I'll post pics of our latest accomplishments as soon as I get back into the shop.

Thanks for looking!

BTW, the club that we have joined has assured us that there are a couple of LT-40's that they have in the hangar that we can get up to speed on before we kick our first Black Baron Special out of the nest. That's nice to know. Thanks again to the Concord Skyhawks club up in Concord, NH![sm=thumbup.gif]

Dave,

Your build is really looking good. The cowl work is very impressive. Since you've started this thread, I've pulled out my Coverite Peashooter, that would seem to be the sister ship to your Black Baron. As I stare at the peashooter plans and fumble with the cowl it would appear that room "under the hood" will be limited. With that being said I can appreciate the work you've done to fit your engine and overall appearance of your cowl with the fitted engine in place.You've done a good job.

In addition I continue to be amazed by the phenomenon of not having enough time to dedicate to your building process. Life responsibilities do seem to get in the way of modelling progress, Rats!

Regards
Mike

It may be taking a while but it is coming along. Good work is more important than speed.

Tortoise & the Hare

Thanks for the encouragement guys! Mike, if you do end up starting your peashooter, be sure to let me see some pics of the build. A few posts here on RCU would be great!

It is definitely a drag when you can't get any time to build. I can see why the ARF's are doing so well these days. It sure is fun to see a new airplane materialize from a box of balsa planks and sticks, though!

It looks like it's going to be a while before I can get back to work on the BBS. [:@] Maybe in a week or two. Hopefully!

There are some weeks when I only get a stick or rib or two done but it is all progress. Sooner or later a plane magically appears out of the pile.

Try to do just one piece a day or week if you can. (More if possible of course) Set a goal like that and you may be surprised at what happens.

Howdy..... Wow, great build... a word to the wise tho, those planes seem to be a passion, which is good, you seen very articulate which is also good. Their in lies the problem, as I have found out, repeatedly the more passion that goes into the build, the more critical is the end result. Critical to the crash that is..... The many posts that suggest training out on your own arf or a clubs trainer is Very Important... and hopefully you will have a buddy box hooked up for the critical first flights of your own birds.... Todays ARF's and RTF's only cost you dollars not sense..
I didn't notice if you had rsolved the landing gear "skirts" thought, but here is my 2 cents, on landing and takeoff an incredible amount of force is applied to that point, flexibility is essential, stiffining up the gears in my guess will result in fractured covering materials. Just a thought...... Good luck with those planes!!!!!!! Captain Crash been there done that, hahahah

Here's a couple of kwik piks to let you see how far along the Black Baron is now.

We haven't been able to do a whole lot of work on the bird lately, but we do have some paint on it now and clear coat should be next. We hope to start covering by the 11th. If our luck holds, (and the kids cooperate!) we should have it done by the end of the month and ready for the engine to be broken in.

The weather up here in NH has been quite unpleasant for R/C to say the least. Rain for two weeks straight. Not even a break for Labor Day Weekend![&o] The only thing good about that is that it keeps us from rushing to get this plane built.

Our plans are to cover the fuselage and wings with Monokote Insignia blue, add some polished aluminum and yellow stripes for the sides and cover the bottom of the wings, horizontal stab and elevator with black and yellow checker patterned Ultracote. Wish we could have found the same pattern in Monokote. Ultracote is VERY expensive!

We'll probably add some sort of accent to the tops of the wings using the aluminum and yellow. Still thinking about what we want. Not too little, but not too much either.

Here's our pics:

Coming along well. Need to get an inexpensive ARF and go practice flying so you don't ruin it on the first flight. Don't recall if you ever stated your RC flight experience.

Yes, I have to agree with everyone else about getting an ARF trainer, there is nothing like losing your brand new kit built planes. www.richmondrc.com has some very nice trainer ARFS that build super quick. You will be happier that way, there is nothing wrong with having an extra trainer around.

I would get an arf trainer. Those planes look too good to let go of. I would get an ARf from tower or somewhere else. All the hobbico birds fly good. I had the superstar, and it flew great.

Well, I'm going to be the one to disagree. If you have a good instructor, and you are going to train on a buddy box, there isn't any reason to buy an ARF. I've been an instructor for about 6 years now and I've never lost a students plane yet. Years ago before ARF's came on the market all that you could do was build the plane yourself and then fly it. ARF's are nice, but unfortunately they make people lazy. Too many people will damage an ARF and instead of spending some time to repair it properly, they get mad and throw it away and go spend their money an another ARF. I've salvaged some nice planes out of the trash cans at the field, take them home, fix them up, and either fly them or sell them. It's too bad that so many people these days don't want to build. It's a fantastic feeling to see something you built take to the air.

As somebody that has built many a plane, I can tell you there is nothing that feels as good as seeing the plane that you built flying. It's a great feeling. If you've got an instructor don't waste your money on an ARF.

You are right Ken, I went back and did some reading and in post #36 they describe a great situation they are in. Club, instructors, club trainer planes to brush up on. All is well.

Go for it.