Greg Covey

The wing assembly comes next. When I laid out all the plywood pieces, I realized that the inside joiners are to be doubled or tripled to obtain the right thickness, if needed. I used a double set on one and a triple set on another. The top two joiners are used on the outside of the wing in single thickness.

For the wing assembly, I initially used 5-minute epoxy and then filled in the gaps and seams with BVM V-poxy for a strong hold.

It wasn't obvious to me just how the plywood washers were suppose to work. It turns out that the idea is to put the screw into the metal washer first and then into the plywood washer before it presses against the foam. There are 6 sets of screws, metal washers, and plywood washers to secure the wing to the fuselage.

When RC Lander was queried about this part of the installation, I was sent some photos that revealed a change in the wing molding. The original silver wing used the 4 larger plywood washers as shown in the last two photos. My blue Thunderbird's wing had all 6 holes using the smaller round plywood washer. When I test fit the wing to the fuselage, I used the metal washers because only the two smaller plywood washers would fit into the foam wells. The T-33 is designed to fill the foam well flush with the plywood washer.

A quick e-mail to Max at Park RC Models ([email protected]) had my correct size plywood washers being sent from the factory. Max has provided great service and response!

Henke Torphammar

Hi Greg, Very good thread as usual :-) I have a question regarding the wing spar(s). Which material are they made from? Someone said it was steel, so I thought I would ask you for first hand info.

Greg Covey

Hi Henke,

Long time no see! It's good to hear from you. I hope all is well.

There is no steel on the T-33. I think the post you referred to on RCG was about the 4 joiner rods from the tail assembly to the fuselage. They are shown below and are carbon rods. All the wing spars are made from plywood.

I secured my tail assembly to the fuselage using 5-minute epoxy. Once the epoxy dried, the bottom half was glued in place using Beacon Foam-Tac. I used the cloth strips again to hold it in place while drying. Servo extensions were added to the rudder and elevator control lines before securing them in place with 3M masking tape.

I will not be running my motor to ESC wires along the normal channel in the foam so my rudder and elevator wires used it instead.

Henke Torphammar

Greg,

All is fine over here, judgeing from your projects comeing it must be pretty well at your place too :-)

Thanks for the explanations about the spars. I guess I must have been mixing it up. This bird is one of the best looking 90mm I think, also it has a proper wing and will fly on less power then a delta would. Looking forward to some flight video includeing full flap landings :-)

Greg Covey

Sounds good, Henke...full flaps it is!

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I started to mount the DF and couldn't resist painting the thrust tube black as others have done.

Although the mount looked clean, there are flat spots in the fuselage tail that caused some warping issues. I ended up making a split thrust tube so that the second tube started after the step change inside the fuselage...about 2/3 back from the DF. The 120mm thrust tube is about the same size as the inner fuselage wall so it made things easier.

I needed to Dremel out my foam DF cover for the 120mm DF and for my re-routing of the motor to ESC wires. By orienting the wires near the opening, it allowed me to close the slit in the thrust tube more easily with some thick 3M clear tape. I added some Goop on the thrust tube where the metal vane housing the wires exited.

I also made my own plywood hold downs for the DF cover. Although part of the original design, it isn't really needed on the new wing design as it is held in place by the wing. I figured it couldn't hurt to have the DF secured in several areas.

Tim seems to have changed the design along the way so you can see the evolution on certain parts.

Greg Covey

I found another image of the T-33 wing bottom today. This is a grey wing with indentations for the smaller plywood washers like my blue wing. Looking at post #26, I am not certain which version is the new or the old. RC Lander recommends using the larger plywood washers to better distribute the load.

I didn't want my larger washers to sit above flush on the wing and I didn't want to cut into the painted molded foam so Max at Park RC Models is having 4 more smaller washers sent to me.

tim wan

Dear Greg,
We are recommended to take larger plywood washer for joining the main wing. It is more secure that I will modify the related area for fitting.
Besides, I will follow with your suggestion to do related area of installation of 120mm edf.
Thanks for your helpful information and wait for your flying feedback of her.

BRs,
Tim

Greg Covey

Hi Tim,

It sounds like the larger plywood washers are the new recommendation and the molded wells in the wing will get updated to fit them. I can certainly see that the larger washers would make the attached wing more secure so I will upgrade my wing to use them.

Thanks for the update!

Greg Covey

Although the RC Lander T-33 comes with an extensive set of graphics, [link=http://www.callie-graphics.com/]Callie Graphics[/link] has a set of scale vinyl decals properly sized for the T-33 Thunderbird scheme. For only $35 shipped, it makes a nice upgrade to your T-33.

I'll be upgrading various areas during my build.

Greg Covey

My first decal change was to upgrade the "crazy chicken" that was on the bottom of the T-33. I discovered that the Valspar 109S Aluminum spray enamel paint is a perfect match for the T-33's grey color. The paint is available at either Michael's or The Home Depot in the small can for about $3.

Although still a work in progress, I was happy with the result. My T-33 now had a Thunderbird on the bottom of the fuselage.

tim wan

Dear Greg,

it is so better than ours version. I need to try best to improve it back to the eagle instead fo crazy chicken.

Can't wait to see your flying video.

BRs,
Tim

Greg Covey

Hi Tim,

I thought you would get a smile from my "crazy chicken". Since we already know that the T-33 flies great, I plan to spend some time this winter making it an impressive demo model for the 2012 flying season.

Here is another simple upgrade. On the full size T-33, I noticed that the leading stars were a bit larger so I placed some vinyl decals over the existing stars. The first photo is before and the last two photos are after. It makes the tail look even better!

Regards.

Greg Covey

I secured the servo wires with some tape and glue. The motor wires were secured with short pieces of cable ties pressed into the foam and glued. I made a lite ply plate to cover the servo wires just in front of the fan where the air flow is greatest.

The DF is not perfectly sealed to the 120mm insert so I will likely come back to this area and seal it with some clear silicone tub chalk. The small tubes should easily fit inside the fuselage.

At this point, I decided to test my wing fit again. I couldn't resist pressing on the pods. Even unfinished, the T-33 takes on a striking appearance!

Greg Covey

I used a stronger JR DS-821 digital servo to go with my thicker control rod (post #18) for the nose steering. This setup provides great strength and precision for the tougher grass field take-offs I plan for my T-33. Since the control rod sat high enough, I saw no reason not to glue the foam bar back in place as it would strengthen the fuselage near the air intakes. The manual has you cut it off for the normal steering servo placement.

Although I haven't checked the T-33 balance yet, one possible set of flight packs I may use are these two 6s (28C) 3350mAh EON28 FlightPower packs. They fit up front nicely.

The JR [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=JRPR921X]R921[/link] 9-Channel DSM2 Receiver is fed directly by a 2-cell, 1100mAh Hobbico [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXYAS7&P=7]LiFeSource[/link] pack. Eliminating the regulator reduces the chances of a digital receiver reset condition by removing the glitches caused by multiple servos reversing. This issue didn't exist in the days of analog, non-micro controller receivers. The LiFeSource pack has two connectors that go to the receiver for redundancy and higher current capacity.

Greg Covey

I worked on the bottom decal more by connecting the neck to the original graphic on the T-33. I'll probably highlight some of the existing areas with pieces from the Callie Graphic.

The CG target was marked at 123mm (black line on center silver strip between gear main covers) based on the success of Andy (Falcon5) on RCG.

I mounted the wing to the fuselage using smaller plywood washers under the recommended larger washers. The smaller washers fill the molded wells and the larger washers provide a greater holding area. Eventually, I'll paint them to match the surface.

The airbrake covers (in front of the main gear covers) were glued to the wing bottom since I am not using the air brake option.

Next, I glued the aileron and flap control horns. I'll detail this next...

Greg Covey

The aileron and flap control horns were glued in place as before using BVM V-poxy. Although the aileron hinges are already glued in place, the flap hinges are not so now is a good time to paint the inside before gluing the hinges. I used several coats of Testors (1231) Bright Red Spray Enamel after masking the top and bottom.

I also applied my "Thunderbird's" decals on the fuselage from Callie Graphics.

Greg Covey

The scale police would never allow me to put the bombs and missiles on a T-33, especially when finished in the Thunderbird's theme. I cut some covers from a piece of silver plastic and filled the bays with some double-sided foam tape. The covers were then pressed into position and glued in place. Half of them will get covered up by decals on the bottom.

The control horn glue area was painted to match the surface. I found that if I first painted the blue area black then the supplied blue paint sample in the kit covered nicely.

Greg Covey

I applied some more decals both top and bottom sides. The "USAF" decals come with the T-33 and the others are from Callie Graphics.

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

wow, this one looks really good!
great job man

Greg Covey

Thanks, the Lander T-33 is indeed a unique model. Not many EDFs have normal size wheels that can be used on grass.

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[link=http://parkrcmodels.com/index.php?cPath=97]Park RC Models[/link] is now selling parts for the Lander 120mm DF. I'll be looking into testing the DF unit with a Turnigy T600 [link=http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=11143]4030[/link] outrunner. The 880Kv motor with a 6mm shaft may be a good combination on 11s or 12s for around $260.

srt10

My Feedback: (20)

Awesome, really looking forward to this one with that motor!!

Mike Mangus

Greg, I'm looking forward to seeing how well the Lander fan is going to perform. I have one sitting in the work shop awaiting an airframe. Will you be testing the stock fan before trying out the new motor and parts?

Greg Covey

Hi Mike,

Yes, the older stock Lander DF with the inrunner motor is what I have in the T-33 now. On a 12s 3200mAh setup, it provides about 2900 watts, which is more power than most people are flying the T-33 with now. It is incredibly vibration-free so I'll make a short video of it running on my driveway sometime this winter.

My only concerns were that I didn't know what inrunner motor was used so I don't know anything about its longevity. Since the T-33 will not be stressing it much at a scale flying weight of around 10lbs, it may last a long time. My guess is that Tim Wan changed to an outrunner motor to get "more bang for the buck" out of the 120mm DF. Typically, people expect around 5KW from a 120mm setup on 12s, and his new outrunner provides that power.

My 120mm experiment with the Turnigy outrunner motor will be done on my test stand. I have also heard that the Lander motor will also be sold separately at Park RC Models so we'll see how my test compares to it.

Regards.

Greg Covey

I made a short video of my retract testing on the T-33. The only adjustment needed was a slight wire bend correction on one of the gear main covers. Initially, it worked fine when the plane was inverted but hung up when the plane was upright. Overall, these retracts, struts, and wheels look like they will work fine for grass take-offs.

In the photos, the wing pods and canopy are temporarily pressed in place but not glued.

[link=http://www.gregcovey.com/reviews/LanderT33gear1.wmv]T-33 Retract and Cover Testing[/link] (6meg)

Greg Covey

The Lander 980Kv outrunner motor and mounting plate are now available as spare parts at [link=http://parkrcmodels.com/index.php?cPath=97]Park RC Models[/link]. It looks like the mounting plate also comes with the 980Kv motor. I see that the rotor has also been labeled as unbalanced so I will start my Turnigy motor experiment by balancing mine.

When you buy the assembled 120mm DF as a complete unit, the rotor runs vibration-free.