Excellent! Thanks bruce88123 and rjm1982!
Will do this tonight!

My bottom trailing edge sheet extends past the back end of the trailing edge
currently. I'm assuming that I need to trim that back flush with the back of
the trailing edge.

Now to work....

Okay, sorry for the absence... work, good weather, and lack of time have gotten in the way. I really need to get going on it though as I am really outgrowing the LT-40/LT-25. Not that they aren't still a lot of fun, but when you are trying to figure out inverted and knife-edge spins, they really don't cut the mustard

Anyhow, I got one of the ailerons done today, all but the finish sanding and hinge slotting. I used the tri stock method for the LE to add just a little surface length and for ease sack.

The pics of the finished product kinda suck, but I couldn't figure out a better angle.

Patrick

Yeah, I know what you mean. I finally got back home and got all my various projects started / re-started.

Been working on my 4*40 as well, got some of the sheeting done on the wing today, motor and gear temporarily mounted(some adjustment still required). I was thinking about the hatch... and have decided to put one in the bottom instead of on top, mainly because it's flat, so it's easier, and a little bit just because I'm slightly lazy. Here's a few (not very good) pictures of mine so far:

Very nice cwrr5! Are you bashing that thing and making it a veeery low wing, hehehe [:-]

I got the other aileron done and got all the sheeting cut for the bottom of the wing. I think I should have the wing, sans sanding, rapped up tomorrow. I'll post more pics when I have some that don't suck like the last batch

Patrick

Thanks
Hmmmm.... a gull wing 4 star...? That would be interesting!

Needless to say, I have a little more work to do on this one. Just thought I'd share pictures with an engine and gear finally mounted(temporarily). It kinda almost sorta in a way maybe looks something like somekind of aero-space vehicle type thingy now..... [sm=bananahead.gif]

I wonder if anyone's done a 4* bipe....? Seems like it might be a good airframe for it....

Gull wing... now that's funny, I don't care who ya are.

I am glueing and clamping the hatch rails now. If I get around to it tonight, I will have more pics.

Patrick

No new pics of the build yet, but I need to start coming up with the covering scheme so I can order it. Here is what I have so far. Not sure, but I think there is a little cheesyness going on and I really want something classier. I also don't know what to do with the sides and tail feathers, so, they are just left as is for the moment. Any input would be greatly welcomed.

While we are on the subject, and at the risk of starting a holy war, what should I use to cover it? I used a combination of monocote and sig aerocote on my first build. I like the monocote, but it seems to wrinkle worse in the car than other films. I like a lot of things about the aerocote, but the compound curves suck with it. I have heard people like it for just that reason, but in my experience, it hardens on the edges when you heat it enough to stretch it. I was thinking of using ultracote, but I need to have matching paint for the cowl.

Patrick

I am starting to get a complex here [&o] Am I not asking questions in the right form? Is the covering design perfect [:-] Come on fellas, help me out here...

Anyhow, I took some pics of the aileron hatch progress.

In order of completion: 1) & 2) left and right hatch cover mounting 3) servo mounting 4) finished hatch cover

Figment,
Sorry if I haven't participated much in your build thread, the last couple of weeks have been totally crazy for me and I haven't been able to spend as much time on RCU as I would have liked. But things are getting back to normal for me now (at least I hope they are) and I should be able to spend some more time on here.

What did you mean by the question about your covering being perfect?

I did notice something that caught my eye. I know that you are just putting the mounting blocks on for the aileron servos and you may change it when you actually mount the servo, but make sure the servo isn't sitting directly on the hatch. You will want to have a small gap (approx. 1/16") between the servo and the hatch. If the servo is touching the wood it will transmit vibrations directly to the servo which can damage the servo (very quickly in some cases). The rubber grommets on the servos are there to isolate the servo from the airframe, and therefore keeping the vibrations out. On the same note you will want to make sure that you don't over-tighten the servo mounting screws as this can do the same thing as mounting the servo directly to the wood. See the attached diagrams for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Hope this helps.

Ken

RCKen, I hope you will be around more now as I value your opinions and advice, but I wasn't trying to guilt trip anyone[sm=spinnyeyes.gif]. As far as the covering comment, I just meant that I posted my first very rough draft yesterday and not a single comment. I was eluding to the fact that it must be perfect or so bad that no one wanted to hurt my feelings. I was just kidding either way and wanted to get some people to start commenting.

As far as the servos go, I used about a 1/16" shim when marking the holes, but there was a little touching when I tightened things down. I am aware of the vibration issue, so I will make sure during final assembly to sand/shift as needed to get them aligned properly and to avoid crushing the grommets. Do you think I should reinforce the hardwood with small pieces of tri-stock? Not sure if it is necessary (not in the instructions either). I used epoxy to attach them by the way.

Here are a couple pics of the fuse joining including my first action shot, hehehe. I was just posing though, I would have had glue everywhere if I tried to do it while shooting the pic. Also, notice I have the other half laid out opposite to avoid the dreaded two of the same side issue [sm=tongue.gif].

I am prolly going to skip flying tomorrow to build and just fly Sunday, so, there should be more to come this weekend.

Patrick

Figment,
I did see your covering scheme, but hadn't commented on it yet (see about being busy in my last post ). I like the color choice, it's a nice mix of colors. I think that it's a great covering scheme. I like it.

As for the tri-stock on the aileron servo mount, that's a personal choice. If you have a good epoxy joint on the wood blocks it should hold the servo with no problems. But you can put some tri-stock on it if will make you feel better. I do on my planes, but I like to be sure in my mind even though I know the block and epoxy are plenty strong.

Ken

Well then, easy to do, weight of 1" worth of tri-stock is trivial... I will go for it then. It would make me feel better about it.

Thanks,
Patrick

Color drawings look good to me should be able to tell top from bottom
without any problem in flight. Love the stars.

Well, I am going to attempt to scratch build a fiberglass cowl and I just dont think the solid red up front will do it justice. While I am now a software engineer, my first degree and career was in graphic design. My skills are really rusty in this regard though. Anyway, I have not done much with airplane covering schemes though and, while I like this design, there is something just off about it. I think the sides, cowl, and tail need something, but I don't know what. So, if any of you artistic types have any ideas, please pass 'em on.

Patrick

I really like the color scheme, but I agree, it needs something back on the tail and horiz. stab. Maybe carry the same combo you did on the wing back there(the three tone thing). I'm not so wild about the bottom, but it's your plane. At least it gives you lots of contrast to be able to see it better.

I like to add a servo screw for hatches, which goes through the hatch and into the servo mounting blocks. Much easier and neater than trying to add tri-stock to reinforce them. Just remember to drill slightly off center so that the servo screws holding the servo miss the screws reinforcing the blocks.

I was going to say the same thing about screwing the servo mount blocks to the plates. Good insurance and easier than tri-stock IMO.

As for the layout, I like it. The stars may be a little "fun" to assemble but not too bad. Getting the edge margins even all the way around may be difficult but can be done if you take your time and cut accurately.

If you're going to use monokote to cover the plane with you may want to consider using the "windex method" for applying the stars to your wing. There is an outstanding thread that explains how to do this using windex. You can find it here: [link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_603331/anchors_603331/mpage_1/key_flag/anchor/tm.htm#603331[/link] . The advantages of using windex is it give you the flexibility to position your trim exactly where you want it and it won't bubble up like it would if you used heat to apply it. Give it a try, I'm pretty sure you'll be extremely pleased with the results. I'm posting a picture of a plane I used this method on. I used windex to put the flag on the wings, and for all the stars on the underside.

Hope this helps

Ken

No new build picks yet, the fuse doublers are drying. I did make some modifications to my covering design. It is getting better, but I think I agree that it is the bottom that makes me feel like it is a little cheesy. Neither of my LT's are easy to tell bottom from top and so I want to make sure to design this one to be able to tell easily even at a distance. Guess just need to keep playing with it.

RCKen, I know about the windex method and, since it only works with monocote, I think I am going to stick with monocote. It is my favorite so far anyway. I'll try ultracote on some future project I suppose. I LOVE the magnetic building board idea. Right now I am working in the corner of my office. Not conducive to fancy building systems or electric tools. As soon as I can convince my wife to let me buy the large TuffShed that I want for a workshop, I will definitely be building myself a system like you use. I read that thread about the flag covering a while back. Don't tell anyone hehe, but I didn't like a lot of the schemes. Maybe it is my art training forcing me to see the unrealistic 3d effects, but I must say, yours is very convincing and I like it a lot! I really want to get to the point where I can do some of those super nice fancy covering schemes. I would attempt something fancy with this build, but I think the 4* begs for something more classy than extreme.

I am going to use tri-stock to strengthen the servo rails. Doesn't seem complicated at all. While I am not going to put screws in from the bottom, I was considering pinning them with toothpicks. What do ya'll think about that?

BTW, I want to thank everyone for livening up this thread. I really appreciate it!

Patrick

This is what got me thinking about it needing a classy design. Unfortunately the site is no longer up, but I found it in the wayback machine:

[link=http://web.archive.org/web/20041019031253/www.renderwurx.com/rc/sig4star/]Four Star Build Site[/link]

I may need to blatantly steal this design as a starting point. I just like this tooo much.

Patrick

I have the fuse doublers done, the F2 doubler done, the tailwheel doubler done and the gear mount epoxy is curing. I am attaching pictures of everything laid out ready to assemble.

Question: Does anyone think that it is going to matter after everything is rubberbanded together and then glued, if there is a bow in the fuse top and one of the fuse sides? I think the top should be alright since the sides will hold it and there is not much of a span between the sides. I think the side that is bowed should be okay after everything is glued including the tank bottom and servo tray. Opinions? Solutions?

Thanks,
Patrick

It shouldn't be a problem. I had a slight bow on one fuse side and when I banded all the peices together it worked itself out. The peices locked together pretty well and made it easy to pick up the whole assy to get at all the seams when gluing it together. You might want to hold off on that tank bottom though. The wing dowel installation will be immensely easier because you'll be able to get to them from behind, AND, if the landing gear triangle braces get in the way of the dowels (like they did for me) it will be easier to correct the problem.
I'm getting pretty close to finishing my 4* kit. The cover job is pretty basic and has it's share of wrinkles. I've been calling it the 4F60 project lately because of all little mistakes I've been making. I have another 4*60 kit I got at a local RC meet that I plan to start after this one gets done. (or I put my foot in it, one or the other) [8D] It will go together a whole lot easier (and quicker) now that I know what NOT to do during the build.

RFan

Okay, I am going to deviate a bit before I talk about the build. Some of you may have seen another post of mine talking about recieving my new AFPD sim in the mail yesterday and how I like it soooo much more than G2. Anyhow, I was practicing rolling circles last night at 80% sim speed and, low and behold, I was able to do rolling circles with my LT-40 today . Now, they won't win any contests, but at least I was in control of the plane the whole time and actually was able to make a circle. Altitude is what varied quite a bit, I tended to climb. So, I love AFPD and think that it is already worth every penny. I was also able to hover the LT-40 for about twice as long as I could before practicing on the sim.

On to the build and some questions. I am attaching pics of the dry fit of all the main fuse components. This is only my second fuse build, the LT-25 being the first, and I am a little concerned about getting it all straight. The LT-25 was flat, so it was much easier to make sure of. Any tips here?

Also, should I use epoxy on the firewall? I am going to be cutting of the cheeks in favor of a cowl. I was going to leave about an inch of the cheeks to attach the cowl and fuel dots to. So, I though I could tri-stock inside and outside the firewall. I think this is important since I am putting a ST G-90 up front. Opinions? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Patrick

Go ahead and epoxy the firewall. I was concerned about the weight when I did mine, but with the Saito 100, prop, spinner and tray/ batt/ rcvr all shoved forward, the plane was still just a slight bit tail heavy. And I still havent added the tail wheel assy yet. What cowl ae you going to use? Or, are you going to fabricate?
RFan

Use epoxy on the firewall to fuelproof it. A lot of people thin the epoxy with denatured alcohol to spread it . There is a better way to spread the epoxy. Put a "blob" of (unthinned) epoxy on the firewall and heat it with your heat gun. As it heats it will thin out and you can spread it with a brush. The problem with using epoxy thinned with alcohol is that if you use too much alcohol the epoxy will not harden properly. Also, when you heat the epoxy it will actually penetrate the pores of the wood and will better seal the wood. In addition to the firewall and cowl cheeks you will want to fuelproof the compartment where the fuel tank is located too. If you get the epoxy very thin while applying it you won't have enough extra weight on the plane to worry about.

Hope this helps

Ken

Beautiful plane Ken!!! WOW! [8D]

It might be too late, but what I did on my 4* was use masking tape to hold it together while the glue dried instead of rubber bands. The tape seems to keep it from shifting or warping as easily. Also, I used balsa blocks pinned to the plan on the sides to keep them straight and to help align the fuselage over the plan(using the centerline and center I marked on the formers).