Ward, did you get your thumb screws yet?

OnTheEdge,

Yes I did, very nice! Thanks ...............

I got a set too. They'll look great in my Yak.

Steve

Did you call Dennis to place your order for your Yak-in-the-box yet....??

sort of but it's not official. I talked to Caroline last week and told her I would be putting a deposit down on something for this winter.
I'm still going back and forth between the Yak in the box (thats funny) and the 260.
I haven't said nyet to the 260 but I'm leaning toward the ruskie.
I'm looking to have it for Christmas week since I'm off that week and it's a good one to start building.

Build one of each.

I guessing someday I will...now where did I put that winning Powerball ticket?

last night I made the 2 1/2 degree wooden standoffs that give the engine the right amount of offset.
and today I got the engine mounted...Everything is looking good so far.

Steve

Back to the wings.
Tonight I laid out the aileron and servo locations on the wings.
I use a plywood template and bend copper wire that I put in my solder gun to cut out the foam.
the last two pictures show the "tunnel" for the servo wire. After I melt the tunnel out I back fill the slot in surface of the wing
with sheet balsa sanded down to fit the slot.

The 1/4 x 1/2 servo rails have been expoxied in place. I will back fill extended sides with scrap foam, give the wings a light sanding and they will be ready to be sheeted this weekend

Steve

Here's a pic of the finished servo box. I back fill over top of the hardwood servo rail with scrap foam and then use 1/16" sheet to frame the box.
once the wing skin is glued on this all gets locked in very solid.

Steve

All the foam has been sheeted and the leading edges installed and planed / sanded.

Next up, cutting out the ailerons, elevators and rudder.

All of the control surfaces have been cut out. I added the leading and trailing edges to them and planed and sanded them flush to the surface.
Next I drew center lines and hinge locations. I also drew the angle of bevel on the end caps and line contecting them from end to end as guide when I plane and sand the bevel into leading and trailing edges. I then made the holes for Robart hinges and checked the fit and did some touch up sanding. Take the time make sure you have a nice tight fit with the hinges installed. It's hard to go back and fix once you cut the angle into the edges.
In these pictures the hinges have been inserted (but not glued) into all the surfaces. Tomorrow I will get to work on beveling all the surfaces.

Steve

That should be enough elevator for nice loop

oops.
THIS should be enough elevator

maybe

No pictures to post but some pretty good progress.

All the control surfaces have been shaped, the hard points have been installed and the wing mounting has been taken care of.
Next up I will glue the stab halves together and then mount it in the fuse, add the fin and top deck and then get started on the canopy/hatch.
At that point I will be finishing my Cuda at the same time, building the canopy/hatch is the next step on that one.

more pics to come soon.

Today I got the horizontal stab installed on the fuse.
Here is pic with the wings and stab waiting for the fin and then the top deck...my Cuda is waiting in the background

Steve

Once the stab is installed you need to rebuild the top of the fuse previously cut out to install the stab.
I use left over 3/8" sheet and a contour tool. Some careful shaping and sanding and you can get a nice tight fit.
After that, you add some 1/8" sheet to the top of the fuse and then install the fin.
I use 2 different references to get the fin square. (1) I draw a center line down the fin and I tape a weighted string to the top of the fuse.
make sure the fuse and horizontal stab is 0 degrees side to side and the string will hang right down the line on the fin when it is square.
I also measure from the tip of each stab to the top center of the fin. Make sure they are equal and the string is still right down the line and that's about as square and true as I know how to make it.

Steve

I just finished mine this week, the plane flies great, tracks like a
pattern plane. Flew it through the masters pattern and it did very
well. 3ds good, harriers with a little wing rock but very controllable
tork rolls well. the roll rate is very fast. The plane is alot of fun to fly!
DA 50 8611's all around, 16.5lbs

Great Looking Cuda CHC....I can't wait to get these 2 in the air.
DA50 on both of these on MTW canisters.


Steve

working on the canopy today for both Cuda's.
room to work gets scarce when you're doing 2 at the same time. I plan on finishing the canopys tomorrow and hopefully get the cowl's mounted too. I would like to begin final sanding this weekend so I can start covering soon.


Steve

Got the canopy frames finished and sprayed with speckle paint.
I tried to tint the canopys but the the plastic did not take the dye at all. They came out with a very very light smoke color.
definately not worth the time and money.
I'll get the canopys glued to the frame tomorrow and the cowls mounted.

this pic shows the frame before it's finished with a little raised area to clear the gas tank

Steve

Just a couple pics of the finished canopys.
the first one shows a little reinforcement I did to ply mounting tabs on the bottom of the deck.

Steve

Very impressive Steve You can actually see tint in the canopy's and the floors look great.
Always look forward to seeing your progress on this thread, keep up the good work!

regards, Ward

I've been out of town for awhile and not getting much done. Luckily there isn't much left to do as far as construction.
The cowls have been mounted, the canopy's done. Pretty much all that remains is to mount the wheel pants
and then take everything apart for final sanding and get to work on the covering job.
I just picked up the mixed colors of PPG Omni for the paint work.

I'll get some pics of the planes moked up before finishing this weekend.

Steve