Test005

I also built some of my tailsurfaces off the plans on both my SSE's and they're OK.
As long as you keep the long piece (hinge side) straight the rest can't be built wrong, it's interlocking.

somegeek

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Kostas1 - it's a ceiling tile. $5 I think from Home Depot.

From page 1...



I backed it with a 3/4" piece of MDF to help assure a flat building surface since the tile was a little warped.

Deadeye - what Test005 said. I used a straight edge to make sure the critical pieces/edges were pinned straight in place first and then added pieces to that one.

Deadeye

Roger that, somegeek. I use the cieling tile too. Great work surface.

somegeek

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Instead of sanding the front edge of the control surfaces for the needed taper, I picked up some 1/4" triangular balsa stock and glued this on the front edges. It will require that I do a little sanding but won't take much to get it to the same thickness as the control surface material. Read this tip in another RCU thread - don't recall at the moment where.



I only picked up enough 1/4" triangle material to do the aileron and the elevator surfaces so I used a 3/8" piece on the rudder from a bundle I bought from Tower Hobbies. The first piece I took outta the bundle was really lightweight balsa... after checking again there were a few different 'weights' of balsa in the bundle... varied a bit. Found the hardest piece of balsa and used that for the rudder edge since the hinges will need to be secured well.



Got the tank floor, forward hatch mount, landing gear mount and triangular reinforcement in place along with the firewall reinforcements.

somegeek

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Got the rear formers in place and installed the antenna tube...



The instructions state to glue one end into the servo tray and then bend into position. Did it a little differently. Bent the tube slowly while holding over a gas stove burner to heat the plastic. Once I had the desired bend I put it under running cold water while holding the shape just a little past. Rx wire fits fine. The bend didn't collapse the tube much at all - worked great.

tuwood

As long as the RX wire fits, it's all good!

Looking good somegeek,

somegeek

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Moving right along... got a bunch done today but will get pics posted tomorrow. Been working on this build yesterday and all of today. Took a break from building and wanted to sketch up some covering schemes but the old .jpgs I had were a pain to use so I fired up visio and made up a template from rough measurements of the plans.



Already purchased the Ultracote True Red and Ultracote Pearl White... just a matter of tweaking this scheme now.

somegeek

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When I glued up the bottom of the fuselage a part of the doubler musta had a really rigid glue
joint or something because it didn't bend as easily as the other side... but masking tape worked
great to hold the fuselage sides in.



Got the pushrod tubes installed as well as the fuselage top rear sheet and the fuselage stab mount.



I waited until I had the fuselage assembled to install the W-1 rib. I applied glue to the W-1A rib, layed
the W-1 rib on and then mounted the wing to the fuselage and secured the wing bolt. Once in place I used
toothpicks to make sure the edge was glued up well all around. W-1 is flush against the fuselage and
the gap is just filled with a little extra glue. Just need to do a little filler and sanding and the wing is ready
for hinging and covering... gonna hold off though to balance before covering.



Got all the control surfaces sanded and ready for hinging and covering. The triangular stock on the
hinge edge worked great.



This is a great item for sanding rounded surfaces. Sponge sanding block. I think these work better
the older they get as they soften up a little and contour to the rounded surface easier. Was great to
use to help shape the rounded edges of the control surfaces.

balsabuster2003

Somegeek, no updates on your progress?

Chuck.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

somegeek,

I did my first one in True red and Pearl White.

You DO realize that Pearl White looks like silver in bright light? Not saying that is bad; its actually a good-looking combination. But it caught me by surprise, and wasn't what I really wanted.

YMMV...

The only pictures I have of that plane are from print film; sorry, no scanner.

somegeek

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Funny you should ask balsabuster2003(haven't made time in the last few weeks as work has been nuts and other things have taken priority over building)... started working on the cowl tonight.



Whacked off the cheeks with a rough cut.



Got the engine in place and worked on the front piece of the cowl.



I plan on laying pieces on the outter edge of this piece.





I broke off a bolt in one of the engine mount blind nuts and ended up removing the blind nut by twisting it out. When two of the the blind nuts were hammered in they mushroomed slightly(I think) so the bolt was tight and then snapped off. Didn't think I applied that much pressure though. Either way, after I removed the bolt, the blind nut was toast but the hole in the firewall it was removed from was not damaged(phew!!). Have to pick up a blind nut and also a thread tap to open one of the other blind nuts that is tight. Once I get that mounting hardware squared away I'll start gluing the cowl material in place.

Steve - I did notice that the pearl is a bit of a light silver after covering a small scrap. Was kinda disappointed it wasn't lighter, but the color combo is good so I'm happy.

somegeek

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Here's what I'm planning for the cowl to look like vs the stock cowl cheeks:



You can see above that I added a little bit of material to the firewall. This is to keep the height of the fuselage from the canopy to the firewall and then it will taper down to the size of the spinner on the top half. I'll prolly drop down the sides so there is roughly 1/4" below the spinner.

yel914

Somegeek, Once again, your work looks impeccable!

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for the kind words, yel914.

Got the blind nut replaced that I removed. First I sanded the face of the firewall clean/flat and then installed the new blind nut. Since there is triangular stock behind the firewall, I needed to cut off about 40% of the flange to fit it in but I got it epoxied in place and then filled the hole in front to help pin/keep the blind nut in place.

Also picked up a tap and cleaned out the other tight blind nut and it removed a small amount of metal and the bolt goes in fine now. Will remember this for the builds down the road!! Replacing a blind nut on the firewall is a beyatch.



Removed the excess front of the engine mounts. (removed them from the engine to cut off) Also cut off enough of the engine mounting bolts to leave about three threads sticking outta the nuts when the engine is mounted. This will allow access to the engine firewall mounting bolts from the front of the cowl for engine removal once the cowl is in place.



Since I was waiting for the fuselage epoxy to set up I went ahead and covered the rudder. Had my fiance hold down the rudder when I was working to cover the tail end of the rudder. Definitely easier with two people for that part unless you clamp the rudder in place.







Still need to add the checkers.

somegeek

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

I STRONGLY suggest that now, while it will be relatively painless to do, that you fit an easily-removeable/replaceable tailwheel assembly. That supplied 1/16" wire WILL break; its just a question of when. And it doesn't require a lot of imagination to see that replacing it will be a major deal.

I've got a photo somewhere of the way I dealt with this; and it paid off big time. I'll see if I can dig it up. If not, this mod has been detailed in several of the many threads on this airplane. It is one of the very few poor design aspects of the SE.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Here ya go...

N1EDM

My Feedback: (2)

Steve,
Clever idea on that tailwheel mount. Much simpler than what I just did... May I plagerize your idea?

Bob

somegeek

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Thanks for the suggestion, Steve.

Is that a 20-40 or a 40-60 gear?

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

Plagarize away, Bob. I stole the idea from another RCU'er...

Geek, that is a Dubro unit; the 60 size. I would definitely go this way and avoid the Sullivan unit. That one seems to get wobbly/sloppy rather quickly.

Take note of the soldered washer just above where the rubber band is tied to the strut. That is a very important small detail; the washer takes all the load when taxiing, keeping same off the rudder.

somegeek

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Got to working on the cowl today.



Got the faceplate mounted and then the first piece in place and realized that I needed to have my pieces on the outside of the faceplate, but that once they were sanded down they'd be pretty thin given the size of the faceplate. So I opted to mount the pieces so they were hanging about 1/2 their thickness over the faceplate. I figured the structure is not load bearing so 3/32" making contact with filets on both sides would be fine. Some filler will be added later to square it off. Not as graceful as I planned, but the end result shape and look will be the same.





Still working to get the starboard cowl pieces made. Will have two seperate pieces to mount using small blocks with screws.

Got the tank cover piece soaked good and then formed to fit. Will let dry out overnight and then mount it tomorrow.



One of the toughest things about installing this cowl was how to mount the engine, the faceplate and then the cowl material... and then get the engine back out and be able to do it again down the road with out any problems. After some thought it worked out well... after the cowl was installed, I drilled four holes in the faceplate around the middle and then used an extra long 7/64" allen wrench to reach the four engine mount bolts to loosen the engine and then remove it. Was kinda tight but I got it out. Then I opened up the engine hole in the faceplate so the engine goes in and out easily now and I have access to the engine mount bolts through the faceplate.

While the cowl was drying, I finished up sanding my wings to get them ready to cut the hinge slots/cover. I picked up one of the wings and my my thumb punched through a spot in the sheeting.



I didn't know it but I sanded a few areas of one of the wing's upper sheet really thin when I was working to get it flat (something to consider when sanding sheeting). I cut out the mid section of the sheet and glued in a new piece of 1/16" sheeting and then got some filler on it this evening. The razor plane went a long way to helping me get this piece shaped just right so it was a perfect fit.



This is my second kit and I continue to learn a lot.

Can't wait to get back to the strip to get my LT-40 back up in the air and train more to solo so I can just go when I want and fly! Looking forward to it.

balsabuster2003

SomeGeek - One thing to remember - Model airplanes have an expiration date. It's just not written anywhere on the plane! I haven't lost a plane in my 3 years of flying, but it will happen.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Balsabuster2003 - hopefully this one has an expiration date waaaay out there.

Got the cowl mostly sanded. Marked a few spots with pencil that still need some work.



Glued on some scrap to the bottom edge that will be trimmed off later to help brace the cowl for the sanding work. Need to add some filler and do the final finish sanding and then trim the bottom edge...





Working on two trim pieces for the starboard side - those are really tricky but they are getting there.

Got the formers, spine and stringers in place for the turtle deck. Then I made up a pattern and cut a 3/32" piece of sheeting and got it soaking in some warm water to soften it up. Layed a piece of glad wrap over the area to be sheeted and got the piece of sheeting taped into form to dry over night. Read this method in a few other SSE threads here on RCU and seemed like the way to go for me. The sheet was just a little too narrow so I'll be gluing on the front corner pieces once this dries before mounting.



This razor plane worked perfect to quickly trim the spine and stringers to accomodate the sheeting thickness for the profile of the fuselage.

My dremel has made quick work as well for this build to clean small things up with a small sanding drum bit.

Kostas1

You soaked in water this piece of balsa for sheeting?
Why?
In this way is getting more flexible?
And also why you mounted this piece of balsa with tape?
It takes the form you want?
Sorry,for my many questions but i am going in the future to build one SSE kit,but first a tower uproar and i must know many things!

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

Yes - getting the sheeting wet will make it much more flexible.

Yes - once this dries it will be mostly in this shape and easier to mount and work with.

No problem.

caux

First of all, great job! It's looking nice! Im building a SSE myself, it's definitely a fun build.. Now to business. Do you have a picture of the other side of the cowl? Im thinking about doing something similar with my SSE, and since Ill be using the same engine as you Id like to see the opening and how the engine will fit in there..