That'll certainly help. Just make sure to do a full balance before covering...

That whole 76 in a SSE still makes me shudder. Mine was pretty darn quick with a 46! Lookin good though Karter, keep up the good work!

I was looking at my newly joined elevator, admiring my work when I noticed it is slightly off. When set on a flat surface the rear right half sticks up about 1/4 in and the right and left inner parts (where they connect the joiner wire) stick up about 1/8 in. Should I be worried about this and if so how do I fix it?
Karter

Fix it. It'll add a slight roll moment to the tail, which you'll have to compensate for with aileron trim. The joiner is wire. It'll bend. I prefer long-term (overnight) steady pressure over trying to bend it back in one shot, however the amount of bend you need isn't much, and you might be able to do it with gentle pressure in a few minutes.

Shim the floor up on the right side.

I had the same problem on an earlier kit.The wire was straight, but my hole wasn't Just be very careful if you are bending it back to shape while still installed.The wood will split in a hurry.If you can, remove the wire first. I m not even close to being an expert, but I know alot of these guys are.I m sure someone will give better tips.I m actually looking forward to there tips on this.For some reason, this seems to be the tuffest part of building for me.

It would be hard to remove the wire due to it being epoxied in. I think I will put two pieces of wood on each side right where the wire is, then slowly bend it into shape. Or put a bunch of weight on it for a while.
Karter

I figured it was epoxied, but wasn t positive. I tried to weight mine down with a huge stack of books. Left it for days, no luck.I ended up cutting it off completely with a dremel flush with the LE.Then made a new one slightly longer and drilled new holes. This worked out well for me.

I'm afraid that cmstone has the only real answer here. Not what you want to hear of course. Build a new one and be sure it fits well during a dry fit. Drill holes a LITTLE oversize if needed as you can always fill with epoxy and let the excess squeeze out. Weight it down during the drying time to make sure it sets straight. Any attempt to straighten the one you have now will probably warp back at a later date.

BTW - The hard part may be deciding which side to replace.

I had good luck when I assembled mine by gluing the wire in place and then placing the assembly on my building board to dry. Pinned in place flat on the board after verifying the front edge was true with a straight edge as it was pinned in place.

somegeek

Simply weighting the whole elevator overnight won't work. The wire has too much elasticity. Trust me, I've built many a twisted elevator. You need to place a shim (1/4-1/2" or so) under the LOW elevator half, then place the weight on the HIGH elevator half. The idea is to stress the wire beyond it's elastic modulus (or ideally just below it, but enough to allow the metal to creep), in order to get some plastic strain out of it. When I do this, I sometimes go overboard and the next morning the high side is now low, but the difference is easily removed with some gentle pressure.

Pinning the elevator to the board while it's drying works only if the holes are straight. If they're not, the pins are forcing the wire to flex, and when the glue dries the elevator will still be twisted. Make sure the holes are straight, or at least that the wire isn't under stress when inserted with the elevator halves flat on your board. In other words, take your time and do it right.

This was assumed.

somegeek

If we're talking about my building skills, you can't assume anything.

I asked the guys at my club meeting tonight about it and they said to cut the side off of the elevator right next to the wire and twist it loose. Then twist the wire itself into shape and re-epoxy it. But I'll do that later, a guy offered to help later in the build.
Karter

I ordered the engine about 20 minutes ago!!! Yay! It should be in sometime middle of next week, then I can continue building. For now I might see if I can do some thing else with it like fixing the elevator.
Karter

Sorry about triple posting but Tower says for sport models my engine should use a 12x6. I would like to get more verticle power so I should use a 13x5, right? You get bigger diameter and less pitch I think. And for more speed I would get an 11x7 right? Please correct me if I'm wrong because I want to get several props when I pick up the engine. Also GMS engines have no break in instructions so if you guys could tell me how do that it would be great (I never broke in my last one and it took a long time to get working right). I think you are supposed to use a smaller prop for break in also, so I will get an 11x6 or 11x5 too. The engine should be in tomorrow I believe.

PS. I got a new signature! check it out.
Karter

Ok, well I am now quintuple posting on myself! If only you guys would actually reply. Its kind of wierd just talking to myself here. I spent lst night and this morning working on the fuse. It should be done tomorrow. Boy those fairing blocks are hard to carve!! My heat gun will be here thursday but I'll start covering the fuse tomorrow after finishing the fuse. I went to the hobby shop today and got a few sheets of 3/32" sheeting for the turtle deck (this is the size somegeek used on[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3755434/mpage_7/key_/tm.htm]his.[/link]Go to post 172.) I also got a sullivan tailwheel and some metal pushrods. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Please come back and reply to this!!
Karter

As for the prop - what was the engine size.model again. It's been a while since you mentioned it and most of us won't remember it and don't have the time to hunt for it. Therefore we don't know if you have picked the correct props. Most of us are getting old and senile with no memory left so you need to remind us of little things.

As for carving nose and fairing blocks, a razor plane makes that go pretty fast.
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXAA64&P=ML
Big chunks can be removed with a saw first.

As for the signature - not nice, IMO. Try again

The engine is a GMS .76. And Ihad looked at that razor plane but by the time they shipped it I would be done. I'm goingto the hobby shop thursday to get a heat gun and I will see if they have one there. As i type I am waiting for the turtle decksheeting to dry. The sheet I got is 3/32"x4"x36" due to the lack of width I am having to make large fillers for the gaps on either side. Actually I just thought of another way I could have done it. Take two sheets and glue together longways so you have 3/32"x8"x Whatever the length it needs to be. Arghhhhhh...I wish I'd thought of that earlier. Also for breakin the manuel siad to use the same size prop you will be flying. I ran afew tanks of fuel through it at a rich setting and then tuned the neddle valve for max power wich was slightly leaner but not too lean. This engine has a massive amount of power!! I have a table that has a piece of plywood on the top with a 2x4 screwed to the bottom of the plywood. The 2x4 is clamped in a vice type thing on 4 legs. It is quite sturdy and my engine test stand is on it. I clamped the2x4 in extremely tight and started the engine. It is so powerful it actually pulled the plywood out of the vice and almost flew away!! I would not be suprised if the plane had unlimited vert at half throttle! I had to lengthen the firewall holes to mount the engine mounts due to the engines width. It has about 2mm clearence on eather side. I hope the plane isn't too twitchy with my massively enlarged control surfaces and hugely huge engine! depending on how fast I can cover (read: how much determination I) have I am looking at a maiden in two weeks. I will be working on it a few hours each day. Well, I have to go carve fairing blocks.
Karter

Hey Kart,

If you have any pictures of your assembly of the horizontal stabilizer and vertical stabilizer I would like to look at them, I am having trouble getting this together. Thanks

Welcome to the thread buckeye!! And yes I just snapped some pics for you. Were you thinking pics like these or pics on the plane? If you wanted pics of them on the plane I will get those tommorrow as I will be to that step then. If you have any questions for me or any of the guys here feel free to ask, we're all glad to assist.Hope this helps!
Karter

Ok buckeye, I just looked at your post in somegeeks thread and I will snap several pics as I go through the process tomorrow or thursday.
Karter

Kart,

That would be perfect, basically I need to see how the horizontal and vertical stabilizers are attached to the fuselage, I look forward to seeing your pics, thanks again.

Buck, I'm sorry I didn't get the pics yet but I've been extremely busy. I worked on it all wednesday morning sheeting the turtle deck, And it was very hard. I ended up cutting pieces to fit between each spar in the TD. This was the third method I tried to sheet it. The first method I tried was to put one 4" wide piece of balsa on the top and fill the gaps next to it. This didn't work and then I got two new pieces and tried to cut and glue the pieces on seperately to the sides . This also didn't work so I used the previously explained method to sheet the TD. I had a party at my house yesterday, I was in Beaufort all day today, and I have to go to a party/cookout at a friends big mansion on the lake tomorrow. I will hopefully be flying my trainer on sunday but if the wind is to high or if it rains I will be working on the SSE. I have another party tuesday afternoon at my house. I will get along as quick as I can. Expect covering to begin end of next week. And buck, expect pics anywhere from sunday to tuesday.
Karter

I ran into the same problem.I wasnt comfortable with soaking the wood to bend it.So I ended up inlaying the sheeting between the stringers. I liked the finished results.A little time consuming though. Measured the fore and aft gaps, and cut it slightly bigger and sanded to fit. I used tite bond instead of CA.Sanded it to a rounded shape.I was actually ashamed to cover it up.Looked to good to cover. I m sure it also saved a little bit of weight too.