Greg Covey

The single-piece intake ducting was glued in place using BVM V-poxy. I made an adjustment to the position of the RC Lander fan to lower it slightly and allow it to press down on the bottom of the ducting. This also helped distance it from the wing tubes that run through the thrust tube.

V-poxy was also used to create a smooth seal and lip between the intake tube and fuselage body. This acts similar to the intake ring when used in a nacelle. There are no rough edges and the air flow is directed into the rotor blades.

The thrust tubes were sealed with dense brown rubber foam strips and plumbers goop. The mid-section between the two thrust tubes was sealed with 3M clear tape. I also sealed the holes around the wing tubes and motor wire vane where they pass through the thrust tube.

The Rebel is off to the NEAT Fair in a few days for some live show-and-tell demos with full power run ups.

Greg Covey

The Rebel Demo was very popular at this year's NEAT Fair. Most people found the design interesting and everyone was impressed with the power when I ran it up to full throttle in the pits. Some notable names in the business, like Rick Vaughn and Dave Baron, stopped by for a closer look at the Rebel. A few people asked if I was planning to fly it in the noontime demos. My answer was, "Yes, in 2011".

Airframe Inventer

Hey Greg,
What's up with the coats and jackets?
I haven't seen one of those in a very long time.
Here in Phoenix it was 108 degrees yesterday.
Our flying season will begin in about two weeks if it cools down.

Greg Covey

Hi Richard,

I guess when you live in a desert, your whole flying season gets shifted. It looks like your flying season starts up again just about when ours ends.

In the Catskills, we had lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s. I'll get an accurate tally from Tom Hunt but my estimate for the crowd on Saturday was over 3000 people and over 400 pilots so it was non-stop fun at the NEAT Fair.

Regards.

Airframe Inventer

The Phoenix area will be host to many R/C airplane model airshows between October and January.
By January, it gets a little cold. There will be many Fly-in's and competitions.
There are some good Jet shows and Electric festivals.
I think January is the big electric festival, maybe you can come out this way?
Thanks, Richard

i3dm

My Feedback: (51)

Greg,

Any news about the maiden flight ?

Greg Covey

Hi Lior,

Our flying season is essentially over here in the New England area. Since there is still much to assemble on the Rebel, I plan to spend the winter finishing it up. The maiden will likely be in May of 2011.

Both my EDF jets made the NEAT Fair SKS event video last month and I expect the Rebel will be even more unique and interesting than this year's models.

So stay tuned as I complete my Rebel assembly right here in this thread.

Regards.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The left wing aileron and leading edge slat were assembled as before. The aileron used the supplied hinges and the leading edge slat used Robart Super Hinges. The only change here was in using my preferred control horn assembly made from spare servo arms, a hardwood wedge, and BMV V-poxy.

Before attaching the aileron cover, I tested the left aileron in the live receiver, connecting it to the AUX3 channel. After the swing was reversed, I added a second mix that mimics the offsets of the right aileron for high-alpha and under-camber.

Greg Covey

To assemble the canopy, the black molded plastic piece needs to be cut to size so that it fits properly inside the fiberglass frame. I was very happy here with the perfect fit of the fiberglass canopy frame on the fuselage. There was no warping and it sit in place well.

I epoxied a wooden dowel onto the front of the canopy assembly and then drilled a matching hole in the fuselage so that the nose would fit well without any wobble.

The slider bar on the supplied hatch latches is not glued in place so you also need to put a small amount of CA on the bar where it meets the metal latch rod to keep it from pulling out. The hatch latch was then epoxied to the inside of the fuselage just aft of the opening. I used a combination Dremel tool and razor knife to cut the slot in the fiberglass for the slider bar. After gluing a hardwood piece to the back of the canopy assembly, I then used some black paint on the tip of the metal latch rod to perfectly mark where I needed to drill the hole in the hardwood piece. Once assembled, the slider bar can be cut shorter, if desired.

The last step of the canopy assembly is to cut the back piece to the proper size and then glue it in place. A small slot was cut into the black plastic to allow slider bar movement. I used Plasti-Zap to secure the aft plastic piece to the fuselage.

At this time, I also epoxied the nose piece in place. The Rebel really started to look nice with the nose piece and canopy in place!

Greg Covey

The leading edge slat servo was mounted as before using balsa blocks so it can position the linkage at 90 degrees to the control surface. This time a reverse DS821 Digital Sport Servo (JRPS821) was used so that I can connect both servos to the flap channel using a Y-harness.

The cover was cut to fit and secured with the supplied tiny screws. With the left wing complete, it was time to attach the left boom.

Airframe Inventer

Bob Ruff is building two Rebels now.
They should be ready to fly for the Arizona Electric Festival in January.
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slevin1

My Feedback: (23)

Your build looks great Greg.

Saul

Greg Covey

Thanks, Saul.

My 2011 building season is underway so the VERTIGO Rebel was returned to my backroom for completion. The left wing and boom assembly was started last season so I need to finish up the elevator, rudder, and retract. Fortunately, I can refer to this build thread for reviewing how I assembled the right side.

With all the recent media on the new stealth plane from China, I suddenly realized that the Rebel had some similar characteristics to the F-35 Lightning II. I made a simple collage so you can see my point. Perhaps I will take some liberties on the finished looks after the initial test flights.

Greg Covey

I used a standard DS821 digital servo and the supplied linkage hardware on the second elevator. Since the linkage aligned with the center of the servo, to reverse the direction, I simply connected the L-bend and keeper to the opposite side of the servo arm. This allowed me to use a single channel for the elevator. Recall that the new elevator servo position is now in the bay closest to the elevator so the linkage is much shorter.

I wanted to adjust the left elevator center and compare the throw with the right elevator before moving on to the rudder so I temporarily installed it on the two wing rods.

Everything looked good so it was time to start the left rudder...

Greg Covey

I made some assembly changes to the left rudder to help stabilize the swivel from wobbling. The metric carbon rod didn't quite fit perfectly on the K&S brass tubing so by sanding the rod a bit smaller you can CA a 1/4" x .014 thick brass tube on it.

The 9/32" brass tube pieces were glued in place as done before on the right wing but now the fit of the inserted rudder was very snug.

Since I was out of Hangar 9 (HAN3574) 4-40 HD metal servo arms, I used the shortest Du-bro (#671) Super Strength servo arm on the servo. These arms are plenty strong and can easily be drilled and tapped for the 4-40 ball joint. The Du-bro (#818) 4-40 Kwik-Links connect perfectly onto the Super Strength Servo Arms without modification. The Hangar 9 (HAN3551) 4-40 2" Titanium Pro Link fits the 4-40 Kwik-Link and Hangar 9 (HAN3616) 4-40 HD Ball Link. The result is a strong wobble-free linkage that can easily be adjusted by turning the center flat area of the Titanium Pro Link with pliers.

A standard DS821 digital servo was used for the left rudder and can turn the same direction as the right rudder so a simple Y-harness can be used into the single rudder channel. Use a spare channel for the left rudder if you intend to form a braking position with the rudders when landing.

The completed left wing and boom assembly (less retract) has 4 servo leads run through the center opening so they are ready to route through the main fuselage.

Greg Covey

The left retract and strut assembly was mounted as done before on the right side. I used one of the thin nylon washers on each side of the brass bushing which allowed the solid rubber wheel to spin nicely.

Note the extra V-poxy glue in the boom for added support on the retract mounting area.

Finally, the time has come to attach the second wing and make the Rebel stand on its own wheels!

Greg Covey

I installed the left wing and boom assembly onto the fuselage. In the photos, the top hatch is just sitting in place so it sticks up a bit. I tested all the control surfaces and they worked perfectly!

After installing the batteries to weigh down the front end, I noticed that the angle of attack seemed too aggressive. The battery weight pressed the front strut down about an inch so the remaining section seemed appropriate.

I may need to shorten the front strut or change the mounting block location in the fuselage.

Airframe Inventer

Looking good!
I hear from a lot of people who are following this thread.
Keep up the good work.
When will the weather clear for you?

Greg Covey

Hi Richard,

Thanks. The Rebel is getting close to completion now.

Unfortunately, asking us North-easterners in February when the weather will clear is like turning the knife after you stuck it in! We head back to the flying fields in May. It has been a real winter this year with plenty of snow and cold.

My plan is to video a taxi test in March or April in a parking lot once they dry up. It gives me a good feeling for the readiness of the model and provides time to make changes, if needed.

Regards.

Airframe Inventer

I hear ya,
Last week we had a cold snap, it got below freezing here, I had to use my heater.
It's better now, back into the mid-70's...

Greg Covey

After looking into reducing the height of the front strut, it didn't appear to be an easy task unless a shorter strut can be found. My guess is that either something changed in the retract bay mount design or the nose strut that comes with the Rebel combo set is not a good match. This explains why I needed to cut a portion of thin wood away (3rd photo) when it was originally mounted. The nose strut was too long to fit in the bay without modification.

I don't see an easy way to re-mount the retract assembly or shorten the machined strut by 1/2". The existing stock setup provides too much angle, in my opinion, for proper take-offs. A shorter strut would put the retract back into its designed location.

I am open to suggestions, perhaps there is a shorter strut of similar design. The existing strut measures 5-3/4" (147mm) from top to wheel center.

bruff

My Feedback: (18)

Greg,
  Could you drill a new hole for the screw in the slot to drop the nose gear length? Also could I post my mod pictures for my Rebel build. I had to do them to get the XPS/Hacker Dynamax to fit. Front tube spar goes though the motor.
Bob

Greg Covey

Hi Bob,

Feel free to post away.

Drilling a new hole in the slot doesn't fix the issue because half of the strut compression is already used just sitting on the ground. That leaves only about a 1/3" travel for shock absorption. The compression is a touch weak for the weight of the batteries on top.

I'll look into taking the 1/2" off the top of the strut but I am not certain where the spring stop ends in the shaft. I also Locktited the grub screws so I'll need to drill them out because they stripped when trying to free them.

The main point here is that the retract/strut combo set for the Rebel doesn't work. Recall that I first needed to change out the air up / air down retracts with air up / spring down retracts as well. Now the front strut is much too long.

Regards.

Airframe Inventer

Hi Greg, can I give my opinion?
First, I don't see a problem with the angle of attack.
I'm thinking of the old MiG's.
If anything, it will help you get in the air quicker.
The Rebel will have much power behind it.
It just seems like an awful lot of trouble to modify the strut.

Second, Earlier their was an issue about why you could not use the Air/air retract
because the air nipple was hitting the spring strut.
What I did was rotate the air cylinder 180 degrees and all is fine, no issue.

Greg Covey

Richard,

Your opinion is always welcome here.

In your photo, where is the second air line and nipple? Also, please review post #43 on page 2 to see why turning the cylinder around didn't work for me.

I don't see the aggressive angle of attack in any of the promotional photos. I wonder what has changed. I have never seen or used this much angle when sitting on the ground so I am not comfortable with using it.

I made my cut on the strut and it did break into the spring chamber. I'll work on a plan to get it back together and it will be about 1/2" shorter. Although it is a bit of work, at least I'll have a matching strut.

It will be interesting to see what Bob Ruff used.

Regards.

Airframe Inventer

The other air nipple is directed out the side, not seen in the photo.