Johnkpap

Summerwind

You should be fine with the amount of play you have in the engine sounds normal, make sure you use lots of Caster oil in your fuel.

Enjoy your Nice Engine

Johnkpap

summerwind

OK, time to get serious since i have had a lot of PM's to do the kit.
i'm sourcing the parts to be laser cut and of course the pricing. i am also thinking i can jig these parts as there aren't a lot of pieces to hand cut.
a little about me though, i am a journeyman millman by trade..........not a typical kitchen cabinet builder, but a case builder of high end casework known as Premium grade as specified in the Woodwork Institution of California (WIC).......we build from raw stock.......you know, jointed,planed and cut to exact size.

here too is a scale thread i have going to show you what kind of a builder i am

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_8507751/tm.htm

hook57

My Feedback: (21)

That is beautiful workmanship Mike andI would have guessed nothing less. I bet the FF's will create loads of smiles while being built. Looking forward to em so please keep up the work.
Mark

Joe Pierson

My Feedback: (12)

Hi Guys,
Mike is a good friend, and I have been building for over 35 years! But I can always learn more from him! Mikes workmanship is unreal And to top it off most Scale builders do not fly that well, but let me tell you Mike
Flys unreal! Makes the wings melt in flight!! If Mike is doing a kit it will be right on the money. Now back to building any thing that flys [&:]
Joe Pierson
Kerman Ca.
USA

YellowBlueBird

Gotta question for the kit builders. Many kits require bonding 1/32 plywood to balsa for the fuslage side. I use titebond mostly and find that for this appliction it causes the balse to curl even when clamped between two 3/4 inch pieces of hard plywood. solutions?

summerwind

that use to be my way as well...........now i use the really thick CA......it allows time to spread it and posistion it. i normally pin the fuse side down, then use a couple pins at the edge and end of where i want the ply to be posistioned and that aids in getting it in place.

my other method which is easier for sanding is to use Duco cement...........spread it, lay the 2 parts together and then use a second coat of glue and then press and weight the parts together. it's strong, and light.

another thing about Titebond that recently put me off was when building my WW1 planes that use Reed outlines and balsa was while sanding, the pieces did not hold together like i thought they would.
if anything i find Titebond dries too quickly to be absorbed into the wood enough to make a strong joint...........and i use to be a glue dobber to no end.

CA is all i use now, but for some people, CA causes problems.

Duco cement is great stuff, but has the acetone odor, so one or the other seems to be a trade off...........there i went on long enough

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

I basically use Mike's approach too - thick CA. It's fairly painless and fast. For those who don't like CA though (love the glue, hate the smell), another option is to use laminating epoxy. Although definitely heavier than CA, a very thin uniform smearing cut down with alcohol at prep time can also be very strong. It might be somewhat messier than CA but less care is needed when working with the wood as the epoxy takes some time to dry (overnight ideally) and can be cleaned up more easily once the parts are weighted.

Another idea. David.

Free Bird

Because of this thread, I pulled out my FF plans and started "think building" this little cutie. But alast, I have other projects before this one. Who knows, that may change next month! I'd really like to see a build thread started on this model though!

FB

flying pastor

Yellowbluebird, I have always used contact adhesive for bonding ply doublers to fuselage sides. I have used Evostik and Dunlop thixofix (UK). I have built many models since the early '60's and have never had a failure. Two downfalls are, the smell and the need to be extremely accurate..you don't get a second chance as the bond is almost instant!
Free Bird..Likewise regarding a FF but it will be project 3 on the list although I have been sorting out various servos etc.
All the Best...Chris UK.

YellowBlueBird

Is Duco the same as SigMent that comes from Sig? The thinned epoxy and thick CA sound good. I fear that being a true southerner I am to slow to use the contact cement. Thanks for all the ideas. The FF plans printed out very nice. It will be a toss up as to whether the next plane after the Primus will be a FF or King Altair. The climbing price of glofuel may help make that decision. I have a family member that has offered to show me how to trace the pdf file to a program that will run on a local cnc machine. Right now I had rather build when time is available.

Another thought, has anyone considered a FF-10? That should be allmost perfect for the OS15 which might be just a touch light for this plane. Afterall one of our often contributers signatures his notes "Excessive power is just about right."

Free Bird

Just thought I'd throw this in. On that site where all things are possible, is a NIB Midwest Flea Fly +10 kit. Price is up to $180 and there's still 11 hours left. Anyone care to guess how high this one will go? Kit prices lately have gone crazy!

FB

Free Bird

You guys aren't going to believe this, but the kit sold for a whopping $363!!![X(][X(] Unbelieveable what someone will pay for a kit!

FB

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

I don't get it. I mean, in as much as Kraft had a nice design for the time, this is a box and single rib planform bird. One could probably kit this within a day at home.

Then again, I know I paid astronomical prices for what can be chalked up to cool Japanese band sawn blocks courtesy of Mr. Kato...

David.

summerwind

i couldn't believe my eyes....2-3 weeks ago i got one from a nice guy on RCG for $25.00 plus he asked for 12 bucks to ship................same condition........guess it's time to make some money eh?
just kidding, it's gonna get built and powered by the ST X25.

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Mike,

what are the full specs of the FF+10?

Thanks, David.

summerwind

easy one.....
right off the box,

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks Mike. Just doing a little back of the envelope.

For a nice wing loading of 16 oz/sq ft for either the FF or the FF+10 we should have:

FF:

Area: 270 sq in = 1.875 sq ft (the plan actually shows a little more - I measure the chord to 7.38" and the wing without tips is ~37.5" = ~277 sq in)
Loading: 16 oz/sq ft
AUW: (16 * 1.875) = 30.0 oz

FF+10:

Area: 336 sq in = 2.333 sq ft
Loading: 16 oz/sq ft
AUW: (16 * 2.333) = 37.3 oz

They probably would both fly nicely at 32 oz (2.0 lb) and 40 oz (2.5 lb) AUW, respectively. The weights provided in the specs are a tad on the heavy side for models of this size (at least for today's standards).

How's the kit coming along Mike?

David.

Johnkpap

FleaFli kit sold for $363!!!

Who would pay that ???

I have just about finished my own kit .....No box

Offers Please ....

Kit collecting has gone abit MAD[X(][X(]

Johnkpap

I have finished Cutting my Kit,

I will be building it over Christmas/ New Year ( We get alot of public holidays > Down Under )

Santa has also Delivered a present Early .......A nice ENYA 19 VI TV New in its box with Muffler

Just the thing for powering the Flea Fly > My HB 25 was a bit too hot and Heavy for this plane, I want to be able to land it and not rip its wings off


The Enya 19 is also a bit Shorter being bronze bushed and fits alot better as per the plan.

I will post more later

Johnkpap

Free Bird

Looks good John! Now get'er done!

FB

Johnkpap

Started Building it,

So far no issues except time

Anyone else building One?


Johnkpap

Johnkpap

More building done.....

Anyone else building one?

I cut a kit in two Evenings....... it took longer to find a engine that was worth buying


Johnkpap

doxilia

My Feedback: (3)

Keep up the good work John.

Eventually I'll build mine but I'd rather wait for Mike's kit to come to fruition first. Any news Mike?

I've got two to three 25 sized projects lined up for building this winter - more than I can chew!

David.

Johnkpap

Put the basic wing structure togeather today

The only part I have been unable to Source are the big horns for the allerons, I will have to cut them out of some plastic
or something :- any Ideas ?


Everything was real easy to build the only hassle was joining the wing halfs with the wire for the allerons, you can't put it in after they are joined lucky for me I did not screw this up

next is sheet the wing and cut out the allerons.

Johnkpap

AllTheGoodNamesAreTaken

My Feedback: (180)

Excellent work, John. Instead of cutting a large control horn, cut one out of ply and sandwich it between two ribs.