I am new to some of this as you know, so here it goes, what is GMA an event?

Hey Wendell, it's the meet next month that Mike is CDing - it's at a field north of atlanta. Come on down and fly sportsman.

Hey guys, here are some more pic's of my fuselage. I had an idea for the belly and turtledeck and it worked pretty good so give it a try. Rather than just eyeball the 1/64" offset I put masking tape along the edge. 4 or 5 layers should do the trick. This serves two purposes: first, it keeps any glue from getting on the sheeting in that area and second it holds the belly / turtle deck in the perfect spot when you pull the tape over it to hold it onto the fuse. I also did something cool with the firewall. First, I decided to try the "clocked motor" idea that Jason talked about a while ago (in order to avoid cutting a hole for header clearance with a side-exhaust motor). Jon Lowe did this and it worked great for his OS 160 so I did the same for mine. Karl makes a header that fits perfectly. Just tell him that you're using the same setup as Jon Lowe (motor is rotated 15 degrees clockwise from vertical when looking at it from the front). Here's how I did it:
1. Draw two perpendicular lines on the plywood re-enforcing disk. This gives you a reference point for top / bottom and both sides. I used a piece of graph paper to help find the end points of the lines.
2. Locate your motor mount holes on the disk using these marks.
3. Drill holes for your motor mount in the disk only.
4. Draw reference marks on the balsa firewall piece. For up / down I used the original horizontal line that intersects with the top of the top stringer since that's how the plans show it. In other words don't calculate an offset for the down thrust. If you look closely at your plans you'll see that that's how it's supposed to be. To accomodate the right thrust however you need to calculate an offset. That's .33405" to the left of dead center when viewed from the back side of the firewall. 11/32" is close enough unless you're really into splitting hairs. MAKE SURE YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH SIDE WILL BE RIGHT AND LEFT!
5. Locate the disk on the balsa firewall over the reference lines that you just made. Line up the marks on the disk with your (offset) reference marks and cut around the disk.
6. Laminate the balsa and plywood firewall. I used slow epoxy and 75 lbs. of weight. Let it cure.
7. Now for the cool part. Glue the disk into the cutout in the balsa firewall but rotate it 15 degrees counterclockwise (since we're working on the back side) using a small protractor referenced to the lines on the disk and the firewall.
8. After the epoxy on the disk cures, drill holes through the firewall using the holes in the disk as a guide. Put your blind nuts in the disk.

Now clean up the stringer notches and sand a bit of an angle into the whole assembly so that the fuse sides make good contact. Use slow epoxy on the firewall and put it in place on the fuse. To help hold everything together I left the stringers about 3/4" ~ 1" longer than required and I put #64 rubber bands across them to hold the firewall in place. Some pins on the inside at each stringer keep the firewall from sliding into the fuse while the epoxy cures and some tape across the front keeps the seams tight.

John Pavlick

Hey John,

nice trick for the "clocked" motor mounting....

Here is my Black Magic. It should have been done months ago, but I am a slow builder. I finished building it last October. Did not begin painting it until Jan 07 and began covering it last week.

Tony

Hi Everone

When you are doing the firewall for the BM do you cut out the ply circle before you laminate the 1\8 balsa onto the firewall or is it another plywood circle added to the firewall as well ??

Thanks

Troy

Troy,
RE - Firewall: Look back in the thread on this page - I explain how I did it. I have some pictures of the belly and a detailed description of how I assembled the firewall.

John Pavlick

Mike

When you make all your carbonfiber laminated pieces, do you layup the material yourself ? If so before you layup the balsa or ply with the carbon fiber and epoxy do you seal the surface with something first to stop the wood absorbing the epoxy.
Im sure I have asked this one before you have the pieces routed rather than laser cut for these

Thanks

Troy

How much do those carbon laminated parts weigh? My fuse is built with 6 lb. balsa and it's as strong as the bed in my pickup truck!

John Pavlick

Yes, I lay it up myself and then it gets CNC cut. The parts weigh a little more, but the plane is ridiculously stiff and durable.

As for the firewall piece, yes cut the hole in the balsa and inset the piece.

Great looking plane Tony! Be sure to get a pic of you and the plane for my website gallery.

John, shoot me an email, I have something to show you and I have 3 email addys for you....

-Mike

HI All,

A sneak peek of the Mike's New Black Magic VF3-X prototype. It's done in simple monokote trim, but man this plane looks great. You just have to see it in person as none of the photo's I took really capture the size and shape. It's a beauty. Has a very aggressive look, it's not a plank or guppie like some of the other current designs. I really think Mike has created something special here. The new plane is super light. I bet we will be building these at under 10 pounds. Flight testing is starting next week.

I cut the graphics for the prototype, the Black Magic Graphics on the fuse side is big, almost 20" long and 3" high but gets lost on the fuse side. I did a special treatment with the dragon and YS logo for the top cowling, that I am really happy with. The plane is really really big, and very sleek. It screams Black Magic!

enjoy!

Dean

Yep, that's a sneak peek for sure....LOL

God willing, I'll have this plane at the Ocala contest next week. This is a one day finish job, since I have so many other pressing projects I really didn't want to go nuts on the finish of a plane I'm not afraid to take a knife to if needed. Plus I suck at Monokote.....it's already wrinkling, so I can't wait to see it in the Florida sun. Yuck.

I am not sure if it will be flying at the Ocala contest, but it will be there, and go back to Miami there for some extensive flight testing.

It wasn't really intentional, but it might be the tallest pattern plane out there right now. Hint: it has 820+ inches of fuselage side area, and that's almost as much as the wing. It's still very aerodynamic and "flowing", so it should be just what the doctor ordered for the absolute top end of cometition. It should roll and knife edge like a wet dream.

Nothing about the shape of this plane is set in stone yet, it needs a lot of testing. But it's pretty close, I'd have to say. I've been working on this project for about a year now, maybe more, and had input and such from more people than I can list here.

As Dean mentioned, it's light.....and I mean REALLY light. I intentionally built this with all of my heaviest wood, the stuff I throw into a "that will never go on a plane" pile. I doubt there's a single piece of contest balsa on it. But I wanted worst case scenario....and it looks like it will be everything I want in that department. I also designed it from the ground up as a laser/cnc kit, with all of the emphasis placed on easy building. I won't even mention how easy and fast these can be built right now.....or the quality of the kits, jeez...

I may post some more detailed pics before I take it to the contest, I don't know yet. But so far, the camrea can't capture it. I tried, Dean tried, so you just have to see one. but the proof will be in the pudding so to speak, and that's how it flies. I will not under any circumstances stop before this plane is what I feel can't be outflown by any other plane, anywhere, period. And I'm confident we're already close.

Enough about that.

What I really wanted to do was post a pic of Dean's YS dragon. Again, pics don't do it justice, you have to see it. There are some really good graphics people out there, but I have never yet seen anything that approaches Dean's graphic talent. I ask him for something, and he exceeds my expectations. Sorta like I am, good enough.....isn't. And these graphics are intentionally "simple". But they make the plane. Dean has nothing but top of the line equipment and is a graphic designer/artist by trade (his day job LOL). I'm certainly glad he's on our team!!!!

I'll see you all in Ocala next weekend. I'll be there mostly just to be there, because practice is pretty much out of the question for me at this point. But I intend to have a lot of fun, see my friends, and maybe even fly this plane that I've been staring at for over a year now.

-Mike

Looks good Mike. A pattern builder/designer's work is never done.

Oooooh. Ryan likey.

Mike, I will certainly get you some good pics of the plane once it is finished for your site. I started covering the stabs yesterday and I hope to have the whole plane covered by the end of the this month. One stab and wing still needs covering and I will be completly done with the build besides installing motor and radio equipment. I have never built a kit in my life let alone something from scratch, but this is one easy building airplane in my oppinion. This one is for glow and I am building another one for electric.

this is the graphics package that I did for the Vf3-X. It's mostly my black carbon fiber look vinyl, a holographic film orbit on the YS logo, and Missile Red YS letters - all vinyl. I'll post a good image of the black magic dragon, this is my version 2. A complete redraw with more details and better usability. It also works great cut in spray mask film. Mike didn't want AMA numbers or pilot's names yet.

The YS Dragon logo is a work in progress, It's 3 different vinyl colors - all flush registered - so it's basically one layer. It takes me a good 15 min just to weed and lay up the layers. But then is a easy application. It's an updated version of the first version that I have on my Blue - Black Magic V2.2 - back a couple pages.

and thanks for the good words Mike! - I love this stuff !!!

cheers!

dean

Dean,
You and Mike are out of control. Cool! When I finally figure out my color treatment I'll let you know so that you can cut some graphics if you have time. I'm about ready to shape the fuse now. What a sweet looking design. I was looking at the lines of this airplane and mind you it's still just rough at this point, but this wood gives me wood!!! Man, I can't wait to get this in the air!
Hey if anyone has any ideas for a quick release canopy retention system, I'm all ears. I'd like to be able to pull the canopy with just one 1/4 turn fastener if possible. Has anybody done this? I've seen a few canopies come off in flight so I'm a little concerned about what I end up using. I'm sure the setup on the plans works great but since I'd like to use the wing bolt access in the radio compartment idea, it would be cool if I could get the canopy on and off really quick.

John Pavlick

I like the music wire spring that clips into tabs to hold on the canopy. I know it was introduced by one of the Japanese flyers but I don't remember his name.
Sorry to refer to a lowly ARF here but the UltraRC Evolution uses a variation of this. 2 tabs from the front into holes in the fuse and then 2 tabs ,one on each side of the canopy, that the wire catches. You can see the tabs sticking down under the canopy in the 1st pic.
Eddie

ps I just saw a similar attachment for the chin cowl of the Shinden

Hi John,

I finally made use of the BV Hatch latch I had laying around. It's secured with .070 deps cf glued into 1/16 ply...just snaps in place. A spot of glue will hold it permanent. The canopy has four 1/16 music wire pins into nyrod receptacles. They actually hold the canopy in position while the latch just keeps the canopy from lifting off the pins.

John,

When your ready let me know, I can have graphics for you to pick up at the GMA contest. I am going to do a OS Dragon Logo version like the YS version next go-round. Anything you need bro.

cheers,

Dean

Dean,
Awesome graphics. Will you be attending the Ocala contest. I'd like to talk about custom graphics for my new Hydeout.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I won't be at Ocala, we are in the middle of a complete kitchen remodel. But just send me a PM and I will send you my contact info. I can do anything you might want.

thanks, dean

Pete's #1 fuse in Pete's jig...

cheers all !

Dean

A few more shots of Pete's new fuse.

Does anyone offer building services or have one built (Black magic) that they would like to part with?

Maybe someone wanting to go to the later version?

If not, are kits available?

thanks,

Pugs