well i'm back from the family vacation and got a chance to get more work done. It's pretty much reday for covering. Got all controls hooked up and working and i couldn't resist so i put a battery in her and taxi'ed her around the yard. She wants to fly so thats good. It's really stable on the groune but dosen't like the the grass. So for the next few day's some finish work and we'll start getting some color on ole girl. Asfar as the wing incidence goes i believe it is set a 0-0 But i'll have to check. Phil

Phil,

glad to hear you are at the covering stage.

I checked incidence recently and the wing is at a slight positive incidence - about 0.3 degrees. The stab is evidently aligned with the flat fuse top so it's at 0 degrees. I wouldn't worry too much about the incidence on this model until its in the air - you won't know the difference between 0 and 0.3 until airborne.

David.

yeah i'm glad it's at that stage too although i must admit Covering isn't my most favorite part of the hobby but must be done. Have some filler drying now waiting to finish sand and trying to plan my next project. Thinking of finishing the nanorare and cutting my own cores as i have to learn to do it anyway. Any advice before i get started. The ony reason i'm cutting my own is i'm planning on doing a couple of deceptions in 2 sizes and i would just like to learn how to do it. Later Phil

alright fuse is finish sanded and came up with a scoop to get cooling air into the motor area. Got the canopy sanded and smoothed and a coat of finishing epoxy put on. Gonna paint it black to go with the scheme i have envisioned in my head. Any ways the scoop is a plastic spoon cut in half and glued and blended into the fuse bottom. Just have the fairing where the wing meets the fuse in the dowel area to do and covering wil comence. Colors will be white,sapphire blue, Sky blue and black.Anyways more pics and more tommorrow. Phil

ok sorry for the lack of updates lately had a busy few weeks. Anyways i have the wing and tail covered in white all i have left is to cover the fuse in white put on the trim and fix my canopy. Will post pics when i get out of work in the morning. Phil

alright here are the pics as promised. Hopefully tommorrow i will have the white on and can start on the trim and fixing the canopy. Phil

alright base white is on and started the trim. All controls except ailerons are in and working correctly including retracts. So finish trim and canopy and i think we will be ready to get this bird in the air. Phil

Phil,

nice and clean covering scheme. Are you planning on adding some contrast?

That is an interesting prop. What kind? It looks rather small for an electric and/or for a model of that size.

How's the 40 size coming along? it'd be cool to have the pair side by side at the field...

David.

it's a 6/3 ma but it's what i git for now need to get new batts first anything bigger and it goes into lvc cutoff so batt is shot but good enough to co set etc. The 40 is getting the engine fitted and the turtls deck repaired and then off to finish the covering. I plan on adding some black stripes along with the blue on the top of the wing and maybe checkers on the bottom for orentation. Hoping to improve my aerobatic flying with these so orientation will be my biggest concern with these. anyways more to follow next week. Phil

ok progress mis being made just nothing picture worthy yet. Fixing my canopy where spot putty ate the faom away and balancing. Looks like i'm going to have to add 1 ounce of lead to the nose to get her to balance right. And this is with a 2200 3s batt pushed all the way to the firewall. Wasn't expecting that. Any ideas on to add usefull weight? Maybe biggerr battery? What do you think. Phil. Also thinking about my next project. I've narrowed it down to a picorare,40 inch wingspan curare, Or a .40 size dirty Birdy. What would any of you do? Opinions? Phil

here are pics of the amount of lead i need to get this to balance at the specified location on the plans. Any body have any ideas on to get rid of atleast a portion of it. That is an ounce and a half on the nose. Phil

Yup! Use a heavier motor. Sounds like you might need the thrust anyway.

Also, you could use an aluminum E-Flite, GP or TT E-spinner but I'm not sure how much weight it will net you.

The location of your weight is requiring much more than you effectively need. If you place the weight in the motor bay say flush against the FW, you should need quite a bit less.

Finally, use higher C rating (e.g., 30C) or slightly higher capacity batteries (e.g., 2650 mAh) - they will be heavier.

Oh, you could also use heavier wheels but that won't help a great deal due to their location close to the CG.

Coming along nicely but I'd imagine it will be hard to see your Vortex in the sky! Maybe you're not done with the covering or your eyes are excellent.

I'd go with a graphite metallic paint for the canopy. It will make it look like business is meant! [8D]

David.

Ok i`ll try moving the weight closer to the fire wall. guess i`ll open the bottom up and place it in there. i also have a birthday coming up so maybe the wife will make provisions in finances for new batts and a bigger motor just in case i need it. the covering isn`t done need to get to lhs and get some black mk. and i love the idea of the mettalic charcoal for the canopy. this gonna look the buissness. thanks david. phil.

Phil,

can't you insert the weight via the spinner ring? Of course you'd have to remove the motor but once you've figured out how much weight you need placing it just under the FW, you can double side tape it to the FW.

You mentioned you needed new batteries a few posts up so you can probably take care of things just with those. Compare the weight of your current batteries to the new ones making sure they are x many ounces more. Just watch the overall weight. It probably shouldn't weigh more than 36 oz but I can't recall how many squares I aimed the plans at. Just keep the wing loading under 17-18 oz/sq ft.

Glad you like the idea. I am going to use that on a Tipo I'm building. I found some nice Dupli-Color metallic charcoal that I believe matches the same color MK quite well. Charcoal MK would complement your covering scheme nicely too taking the edge off the black and white it might otherwise be. Just a thought.

David.

yeah i'm thinkin heavier batts will fix the issue. And the mettalic like you said will break it up some. I only have the black left to put on and was thing like some thin teal pinstripes to break it up to. But we'll see. The newer batts will also allow me to run a bigger prop so i don't think i'll have an issue with power as she sits now it's a little over 27 ounces. Phil

Great! 30 oz AUW sounds pretty good for this model. The heavier batteries might net you 2-3 oz more.

David.

ok got it balanced with a 1/2 ounce of lead in the nose. Had to put it inside the fuse sides all the way to the spinner ring but it balances and i can live with an additional 1/2 ounce. And it is easy enough to remove if i need to when the new batts get here. I have some turnigy 2650 nano tech batts on the way 35-70c so should be plenty for this ship and my pusher jet. So onto finishing the canopy covering get radio programed and try to fly this thing. Phil

Phil,

got any paint on the canopy yet?

Been priming, filling and wet sanding for three days... Patience seems to pay off.

David.

No not yet had a hole yo get filled the spot putty i used ate the foam so had to get that fixed but after tis last coat of primer it looks ready so this weekend i hope to get some color on it. Phil

Oh yea,

if you're using something like automotive putty (e.g., Bondo) it will eat just about everything except for metal. I'm using it on primed glass but if the primer hasn't fully flashed it will make a mess of it when you get to sanding it so the game starts all over again.

...as I was saying, patience is the word.

For glass over foam, epoxy and MB works pretty well I find provided there are lots of MB in it so it can be sanded reasonably well. Polyester resin sands nicely but it will also eat the foam I believe and it can't be applied over epoxy. Epoxy over polyester works however.

David.

yeah at least now i know to only use that stuff on wood and plastic. Hope to have the final primer coat shot today and the the rest of the trim. Phil

ok most of the trim done and final primer coat on canopy. Almost done. Have to figure out how i'm going to the bottom yet, But almost there. Phil

ok more trim done this morning. Turtle deck and verticle fin done. More tommorrow. Phil

Good stuff Phil,

looking good. Is your radio installed? I'd be interested in knowing the AUW without battery.

How're the retracts working - take a little video with your camera if you can.

Is that LK primer on the canopy at the moment? If you are still planning to do a metallic gray or some other color on the canopy, I have been using some cool automotive rattle can paint - Dupli-Color. It is really nice stuff and comes in a myriad of colors.

I have flown mine but havent finished the trim covering yet. mine came out to 5.1 lbs. I am slightly tail heavy and have a heavy spinner on it. I need about one ounce of nose weight. I have the wing and stab at 0-0 engine I still have to check. i have some up trim in the elevator and think i need to shim the wing some maybe .5 degree. It does around 120 or so on my modded magnum with a Bolly 10.5x7 prop at 15,000. I just ordered a OS 65 AX which is just 3 ounces more than what I have now. A great flying plane as I remember?