gascager

I am currently working on a Life like turbo jet 2000 conversion. It's a small toss glider with a 24.5" wingspan. This is life like's web page.

http://www.lifelikeproducts.com/lifoam/gliders.htm

Total time spent building it was about 4 hours. Mostly due to not having a work area. I had to keep moving things from the kitchen to the garage. All in all it went easy but when I went to fly it the elevons were to weak and broke off. I will try some sturdy board next.

Components:

Life Like Turbo Jet 2000
Tymaiya Hyperdash motor from slot car
Zagi Prop 4.5"
Two GWS PICO servos
Hi Tec Focus III radio and rcvr
GWS 7.2v 350mah battery pack

gascager

The first thing I did was make a thicker horizontal tail out of meet trays. It still wasn't thick enough I'll have to make one out of sturdy board. My left elevon broke on the maiden flight durring the first bank.

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The next step was to hollow out a space for the motor and make a channel for the power line. I did this with a rotary tool. And yes that is speaker wire for the power to the motor.

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I then cutout a hatch to get to the electronics compartment. I made a small notch toward the front and use this as a hinge for the hatch.

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I then used a screw drive to punch a hole from the cable channel into theelectronics bay.

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After this I used 3m 77 spray to atatch the wings to the fuselage.

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Clamps were used to ensure the wings bonded properly to the fuse. Notice the thin board across the bottom of the fuse to provide pressure across the whole bottom. I only had two clamps.

Off to the side is the hatch that was cut out for the electronics bay.

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Servos were mounted directly to the fuse by cutting out a recess with a hobby knife and inserting the servo. This works best I have found if you cut it out slightly smaller than the servo and wedge the servo in.

This was done on both sides of the fuse. I will be using vtail mixed channels.

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Then came hollowing out the electronics bay now that the wings had bonded to the fuse. I started with a hotwire but it went to slow and was tricky. I unded up just using the rotary tool again. I suppose I could have used a soldering iron but with that method the foam melts into the surrounding foam and not weight is lost. This plane was so small I wanted to get rid of all the weight I could.

I then packed the gear in to try and balance the plane. With the motor so far foward I placed the battery pack in back of the compartment to counter the weight. This worked well the plane has a glide path when tossed instead of the nose dive it had with the battery pack in the front of the compartment.

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This is a picture of the top of the plane. It shows the position of the servos. Yes they are off. That's what I get for eyeballing the install.

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I used package tape to cover the cable channel and electonics bay. The hatch was on the bay. I got carried away with the tape but the plane still glides ok. Not that it can be called mutch of a glider anymore with all the added weight.

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The hatch was the cut out again. It was removed sanded down a little and covered with tape to strengthen it. A metal pin was inserted through the fuse at the point that the hatch has the notch and the hatch now hinges at the notch on the pin. Another pin was inserted at the rear of the hatch to hold it closed.

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Here is another pic of the hatch before the pins were inserted.