In amongst the projects I'm already working on and photo documenting here in the forums, I'm getting ready to start another project.

It's a new Q-40 and I'm going to make the fuseage plug using a new combo of materials and techniques. Instead of doing the fuse plug in one part, I'm going to do it the old way with separate halves, but the materials will be significantly different from the materials I've ever known to be used before.

It will be made with a piece of 1/8" Baltic Birch as the backing side for each half. Each half will be made from 2" pink foam. I've found this material to be quite similar to balsa in shapability. It actually shapes even more easily. I'll be using a hot wire to cut the plug to the top and side shapes, then shaping the rest by hand with templates. Then the foam will be covered with 3/4 ounce cloth and water based polyurethane.

Would anyone like for me to photo doc this project and post it here?

I love to see new things, it's half the reason I do the hobby. I also love to see finshed products too . Keep up the good work

>> Would anyone like for me to photo doc …

This forum, like others, needs more educational material and less hot air.

And you know what they say about pictures.

Don,

What plane will your new Q40 be? I hope it's a midwing!

Yes, please do document the construction here. I know it can be a hassle, but we really do appreciate it.

Pix would be great!

I hope people are enjoying seein the development of the new Swee' Pea tail and the development of The Smasher.

I'll be making the first set of new Swee' Pea tail skins tonight, and joining them tomorrow. I'll be posting more pics in the Swee' Pea thread, as I progress.

JS,

I have three designs ready: El Bandito, Cosmic Wind, and a Hughes H-1B Racer.

The one I'm going to start with will be the Hughes H-1 because it doesn't have cheek cowls, and I can use the Swee' Pea wing on it. I saw a cover picture and article on it in Air & Space Smithsonian May 2003, and was inspired to draw it up because I could use the Swee' Pea wing with its rounded tips. I can also rough out the plug more easily with a hot wire. It will be a retro look, but the Racer was the last non-military propeller aircraft to hold the speed record, and it was built for one thing: speed.

My right arm is getting tired from all of the painting, sanding, compounding, polishing, and lay-ups. This will give me a project to work on when my arm "just can't take no more".

Don,

When will you have your first Swee'pea layed up? Since those molds are the furthest along, I'm guessing your're about ready to do some lay up work...??

I would certainly like to see some pictures of a finished plane...

Randy

Randy,

I've done some test wing layups already, but I'm currently waiting on a bolt of 2 ounce cloth coming in next week. I've only got enough 2 ounce on hand to do several of the new tails, and I'm making one new tail starting today, and hopefully closing up it tomorrow. I'll be posting pics as I can.

Right now I have the new tail mold halves in the bag in a vacuum test. I'll take some pics and put them in the Swee' Pea thread tonight.

I was getting ready to put the final coat of primer on the Smasher/Martin tail and parting plate last night, but I lost my garage to our cat and her 5 new kittens born while my family was eating out last night. We're going to have to relocate them while I spray, especially the epoxy primer. And I still have to get another coat of primer on the wing plug, and several coats on the fuselage plug.

BTW, the Swee' Pea is not new ... only the tail is new ...

Be sure to put the tailfeathers on before carrying it around in public, or you might get arrested ...

Here's a tip I was planning to try on my next carved plug, but you beat me to it. It ought to work just as well for the pink foam as it would have with soft balsa -- in fact, it might be a good precaution when working with the foam, which tends to disappear pretty fast when you sand it. The idea is to lace your plug material with internal templates made of plywood, then sand down to them.

Draw it out in CAD with the exact profile shape (sounds like you've already got that part, with your 1/8" Baltic birch profile plate for each half) and also the cross-section at the nose ring, firewall, leading edge, canopy location, trailing edge, and front of the horizontal stabilizer. Transfer these cross-section shapes to 1/64" or 1/32" plywood, cut them in half at the middle (minus the thickness of the profile plate), and mark the locations where they will go on the profile plate. Remember those old Guillow rubber-powered models, where you built each half of the fuselage separately with formers and stringers? Same idea.

Last step is to take your hot wire and neatly slice the foam log into sections the same length as the distance from one former to the next. Start at the nose and work your way to the tail, alternating formers and blocks until you run out of both. Pin the halves together and sand until you hit plywood. Finish it with glasscloth and you're done. No muss, no fuss.

Square Bob Foam Fish

You're a hoot, Foam Fish :sunsmiley

Your suggestion gave me an idea ... I can glue the plywood to the foam, and then slit the foam where the formers go. Pop them in the slot, just a little oversized, and presto, built in templates.

We're geniuses, but we knew that already ...

PJ_TankPilot,

I'm sharing as I learn. I hope it inspires other to share more.

The best thing I ever designed and realized (besides my software and my kid ), is my house. My wife wanted a big nice porch. So I started with three different house plans and using the Punch Home Design software, I designed the house, along with my wife. I figured out how to add a BIG bonus room to the area above the master bedroom, master bathroom, and the porch. What I wound up with was a 20' x 37' room with a 10' knee walled ceiling. It was supposed to become the informal family room, and it is sort of ... I'm using it as my shop.

Here are some photos.

Main shop photo #2

Main shop photo #3

Main shop photo #4

For those interested in my layup and bagging of the new Swee' Pea tail, check out this thread..

Hi Don,

I clicked on your layup bagging thread... I noticed that your not using carbon strips through the "movable" part of the elevators. Are you concerned that the elevators will twist??

Randy

Glad to see you checked it out.

This was a test piece so that I can get the torque rod locations correct before drilling the bottom mold for the torque rods. The space inside the fuselage is extremely tight, and I've got to be sure of the location before the holes are drilled. This tail is destined for a Predator if it is still usable after installing the torque rods from the outside.

I've done some serious testing of materials, and what I plan to use is .2 ounce CF tissue on both sides of the elevator and aileron skins. because it is random orientation, when it is applied to both sides of a single piece of skin, it is extremely rigid, when the two sides are joined, it should be stiff as a board.

What do you guys use?

Yesterday was a long day, because I still had to sand, compound. and polish one half of the mold.

Randy,

I forgot to mention in the Swee' Pea thread that I put a strip of 2 ounce on the bias over the hinge line on the inside ... so there is 2 oz, .7 oz, and 2 oz on the bias over the hinge line.

BTW, any tips on doing the torque rod installation on this type of tail?

The Smasher tail has a flat surface where I'll drill through the mold, but I'm going to have to drill/grind the holes at a 55 degree angle to the surface of the mold on this one. I'll probably make a guide block, and clamp it in for drilling the holes in the mold.

Forget the airplanes, I want your workshop.

It’s the size of Minnesota. :spinnyeye

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

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

PJ,

My dad thinks I've just gone nuts with the airplanes because of my workshop. As you can see, it's not fully painted, and it's not carpeted. When I got the drum set for my kid and myself a couple of months ago, I had to get something to dampen the sound, so I bought a 6x9 carpet pad and that helped. At a Home Depot I found an indoor/outdoor carpet remnant in 12' x 9' for $28 which was perfect for the space between the work tables on the drum end. Then at another Home Depot I found an end of roll remnant that was 12' x 22' in the same color for $58. So now it's sort of carpeted.

When the carpenters were framing the house, they half way finished the stairs on a Friday. I came down to the house, and when I climbed up to the second floor, and walked into the "big" bonus room, I just sat down and couldn't believe what I had designed. It was just staggering. Then I went into my office over the garage, and was just as overwhelmed. It's only 25' x 12' with a knee walled 8' ceiling. What was staggering was that I could stand at the front wall of my office and see 75 feet to the windows over the drum area.

A few weeks later, my dad said that he could easily add another room adjacent to the back bonus room. Since I had made arrangements with the builder for dad to be able to do anything he wanted on site as long as it didn't interfere, we made the decision for him to go ahead. Because I had designed out the tall ceiling in the central family room, we were able to add a 22' x 13' x 8' ceiling room, and still have over 700 sq ft of attic storage. The room is currently used for model storage, raw materials storage, the foam cutting table, and the hot box.

Dad also pulled about 4000' feet of CAT5 cable and 2000' of RG6 TV cable to my specs and it all runs into a closet on the second floor. I've got 2 CAT5 and 1 RG6 on every South wall and also every North wall. So the house is wired almost to the max. The home network was up and running shortly after we moved in.

I hope my future income will allow us to retire in the house, because my wife and kid really love it, and I'm proud of having designed and realizing it. I've been diversifying my knowledge base to try to insure that we can retire here. But you know what's going on in the IT sector.