FSM (fuselage servo mount) glued in place with thin CA.
Because of my Kadet LT-40 being nose heavy due to the bigger engine than recommended (my .46 instead of the .40) I had to reinstall the ply piece originally removed from FB-R (fuselage bottom rear) in front of former F3 to accommodate the battery pack and receiver that I must place behind the servo mount to properly balance the model. Needed that piece glued back in to prevent the receiver and battery pack punching through the covering material. With them placed there instead of in front of the servo mount as instructed the model balances out perfectly level.

Any ideas from my fellow LT-40 owners on how I can keep the battery pack and receiver in the front under the fuel tank as recommended, please share your thoughts. I would much rather have them under the tank floor as in the plans.

Well now that my past updates are completely posted now, it is time for me to update my present building photos so I can post my to-date work that is being completed at this time.

Why can't you get them under the tank floor? You didn't glue it in place did you?

Also, I suggest that you put a short piece of solid tubing in the pickup line to assure the clunk can not flip forward. Ken will be showing a picture of this in his thread soon if you are unsure of what I mean.
You can't work the battery or RX under the fuel floor through the bulkhead behind it?

Don't know what you mean by 'short piece of solid tubing in the pickup line . . . ' Can you show a detailed view of what you mean?
Yes I can fit the battery and RX both under the tank floor but if I do the model becomes nose heavy. I would like to be able to put them there without the nose being heavy. I have plenty of room to slide them in and I would love to have them there if someone can tell me how to prevent the nose from being too heavy. Thank you.

See diagram

Ken

Don't worry about whether the battery is under the tank, behind the servos, etc.

The plans to my Uproar 60 have the receiver and battery behind the servo tray. Final balance has the battery in the fuel tank compartment and the receiver in front of the servo tray.

Place the weight wherever it needs to go to balance the plane.

OK, the way post 151 read it sounded like you couldn't figure out how to get the stuff under there. If it is just a matter of balance, just put them where you need them to be and make sure they can't shift around in flight.

One of the best wys there is to balance a model is having the ability to move the battery and reciever. There really is no need to worry about where the plans tell you to place the battery and reciever. I have yet to assemble and ARF and place the battery and receiver in the recommended places. Usually the engine that is used will dictate this as you have already discovered.

As was already mentioned, leave the battery and reciever for last, place them where ever is needed once the plane is completely built and covered with all other radio gear installed, wing on and no fuel in the tank.

The easiest way I do this is to assemble the plane including the receiver, mark the balance point I want, the place the battery on the fuse until it balances correctly. Then remove the wing and place the battery in the fuse right at the point where it was outside the fuse.

I haven't gotten to this point in my LT-40 build, but I'll lay out how I balance for you. I do it a bit different than others in that I will balance the plane BEFORE I cover. I completely assemble the plane with no covering on it. I then balance the plane. One of the best things for adjusting the balance is changing the location of the battery. In a plane like the LT-40 where there are TONS of rooms inside of the fuselage you can more than likely do all of your balance adjustment with the battery alone. Anyway, I do both the CG balance and the lateral balance of the plane. I then sand and cover the plane, and a final check of the balance of course after it's covered. I do it this way because I had having to cut covering to add weight to a plane after it's covered.

Hope this helps

Ken

Will do tonight, ken, when I get back. Do you do this with all your airplanes OR just the LT-40 for a particular reason?
Any other advice will always be appreciated.

Did a verrrrrrrrry stupid thing the other night.
I was plugging in the servos to test them while inside the fuselage and inadvertantly plugged the battery pack wires wrong into the harness switch and receiver [sm=bananahead.gif][sm=bananahead.gif][sm=bananahead.gif]. When I turned the transmitter and harness switch on the battery pack started smoking []. I immediately turned them off but was not quick enough [:@].
Thankfully the servo wires and receiver antenna were not scorched but the harness switch and battery pack are ruined.
I thought I could remember the sequence the wires of the battery pack plugged in without the radio's instruction booklet (my roommate has misplaced it and as-of-yet can not find it for me) but too ignorant to have been able to: battery pack wire into harness switch, harness switch into receiver with charge plug left alone. Don't know what I was thinking[sm=drowning.gif]. My room mate MUST find what he did with the instruction booklet before I replace the harness switch and battery pack so I can do it logically and NEVER without an instruction booklet in front of me. That would be like building an airplane kit without the instruction booklet I now realize (TOO LATE).

Tigerdude,
I do all of my fuel tanks like that. If you do it this way you won't have to worry about the clunk getting stuck in the front of the tank.

Ken

What radio system do you have? Many manuals are available online.

Futaba 4EX 6 channel

http://www.futaba-rc.com/manuals/index.html

Scroll down and you'll find the 4EX is listed and the manual is available available for free download.

The 4EX is a 4 channel transmitter though, not a 6 channel. The 6EX is a 6 channel transmitter.

The majority of current and recent models are listed, though, so whatever you have should be there.

Here is my latest progress update. Haven't been updating as much lately and I am trying hard to keep things posted up-to-date like.

I am going to do things a bit differently with the stabilizer and fin covering. That will be done very soon as I am cleaning up the build area to start those steps.

I have gotten the final filling and sanding completed on the entire structure and coated entirely with Balsarite fabric formula. The engine compartment, tank area top, wing saddle area, and landing gear block all painted with 4 coats of fuelproof Rustoleum paint. I also painted the servo mount on the wing with 4 coats of Rustoleum to blend in better with the covering. The lower portion of the tank area (below the tank floor) and the lower portion inside the fuselage wing area are all coated with Balsarite.

I am thinking instead of covering the entire stabilizer with one piece of covering on both the bottom and top, I am going to do it with separate right and left pieces each, and do it in such a way that the center of the stabilizer will be left open instead of peeling the covering away later. I am also leaving the space open where the fin glues on to the stabilizer instead of peeling that back later. Please see later posts to show my progress with that. The seams on the bottom of the stabilizer should blend in with the fuselage nicely as the top seams should blend in and be hidden underneath the rudder.

After the covering has been done as stated, I will then proceed to glue the stabilizer to the fuselage as instructed in the plans.

Here is the completed and temporarily assembled structure posing in the cold snow [:'(]. I am having a problem with the rubberbands being too tight across the wing. The size of the bands I believe are #57, but I need bigger. I have been told that these are the typical size used for holding on the wing but I have been fooled [:@]. There is no way these rubberbands can be used. What is the larger size up from these bands? What is the correct size in rubberbands used for wings?

Is someone peeing on a dog in the first pic?

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, no!!! That is my mother taking the dogs out for their hourly exercise. Sorry if it looks that way .

Tigerdude,
You need #67 rubber bands for this plane.

Ken

Looking good tigerdude... keep going, and keep asking questions.



What's that white stuff all over the ground? wierd.

What's the matter cwrr5, you never seen white sand?

Plane is coming along nicely Tiger.

I misquoted the size in my last post. The size rubberbands I got are #64 and they are not big enough.

Thank you all for your kind remarks. You all had a great deal to do with the building and I am glad it came out like it did.

Awesome job, keep it up!

Well, the covering is not coming out as great as I'd like it to, but here are my latest updates on my progress.

PHOTOS 1 - 5: Measurement for the center of stabilizer completed.
PHOTOS 6 - 8: Tail feathers temporarily aligned.
PHOTOS 9 - 11: Harness switch cutout complete and temporarily installed.

More to come.

PHOTOS 1 - 5: Tail feathers covered and glued onto fuselage. Looks OK I guess but I am still learning. Next model hopefully shall be better and neater.
PHOTOS 6 - 9: Hatch covered.
PHOTOS 10 -11: Hinge cutouts complete.
PHOTO 12: Completed covering as of this post.