fredo

Hi folks, after a long time, I finally made my decision and started a slow building process of the plane, that was always on my list. I want to use DA50 for this project with carbon fibre tuned pipe from ES composites. Studying the plans, I figured, to make my engine powerful, I really need to make this build nice and light. This will be also a bit of an experiment for me as I intend to modify intestines quite a bit. ( I always do ) So, I started by cutting the spruce, I bought years ago in the aircraft shop. Next was to get the outline of the fuse sides and rather than using balsa sheets with ply doubler, I simply made a build up structure. Don't forget, this is the inner box, there's also an outer box, which will be build later. Anyway, enough talking here are the first pics. I also use carbon fibre cloth to reinforce the entire front.

fredo

I had some spare time today so I carried on. Cleaned up carbon fibre edges from the fuse sides and put them on a side for a while. Made some progress by cutting few formers, ribs and sandwiched two plies for strong firewall, which will be laminated with cf. I use baking paper where ever I use epoxy for lamination. I always choose to cut everything by hand. I'm not against laser cutting but it takes all the fun away in my opinion and also I'm more flexible with material choices, which is probably the main reason. Just come across the first little issue. I didn't measure the length of DA50 and in fact it's much shorter than the engine on the plan. No big deal, I'll make some extensions but if I knew this earlier I would've simply extended fuse sides. Here are some pics


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Calvinman

Looks good so far Fredo,

I like your square stock weight, what size is that and how much does it weigh? I agree that cutting and sanding the parts are an enjoyable part of the build(except the dust).

Calvi

fredo

Ah that's my old trusty lump of steel I use for all my buildings �� It's 100x100x120 mm and because you asked, first time ever, I put it on scale. Up until now, all I knew it's heavy but now I know it has 13 kg��

Calvinman

Thats a bruiser of a weight alright. I use old roller bearing bearings, they are about 3cm round and high, maybe a bit bigger, but with a dozen of them they are very handy.

fredo

Today, I had a day off and started fiddling with the UC. (there goes my weight again) Surely apart from the main wing this must be one of the most complicated parts to build if you decide to use molds. I purchased them a while ago together with wheel spats, cowling and canopy. So, now I'm stacked with them and I better use them. The problem with this is, the UC piano wires ( if you choose to build your own) must have the right amount of radius, otherwise good luck fitting them. On the picture, it's just a dry fit and finally got to the point where I'm happy. Next, is to build up frame, so it's all nice in shape and straight. I'll be doing that later when I build the fuse. The last pic shows my new CF tuned pipe from EScomposites, that just arrived yesterday.

Calvinman

Your carbon fiber pipe looks interesting, how much weight do you think you will save over using a metal pipe?

fredo

I don't really know how much weight I'll save with CF pipe but it feels feather light in comparison to KS60 I used to have. Using CF pipe is more for balance reasons. I just don't want to take any chances in case I end up tail heavy.
It gets trickier to achieve correct CG without adding unneccessary dead weight in the nose somewhere. I'd rather put up with nose heavy plane, 'cos it's easier to correct it. To be perfectly honest, I don't really know how this will come out. It's an experiment.

Calvinman

I see, yes why add weight if you don't have to, my ultrasport turned out nose heavy due to the fact I used the tail feathers from an ARF which is built up structure as opposed to the sheet construction in the kit. Luckily I was able to swap out my aluminum spinner for a plastic one and move my battery pack back above my servos to make it balance out correctly.

Calvi

fredo

I have decided to build the main wing in two halves connected with traditional CF wing tube for better storage. I'm going to order one with the sleeve. Now, that might take a while, so in the meantime I started working on tail surfaces. Stab and rudder will be open structure made from balsa, covered with Sig Koverall (same as the rest of the plane). Open structures save heaps of weight particularly in the tail area. Firstly, I cut the outlines of the rudder from ply 10mm smaller as this will be filled with balsa lamination. I use my home made balsa cutter.

fredo

finished off rudder framing, all I need to do is quick sand and round off the edges.

Calvinman

Great technique Fredo, How do you stop your balso cutter from wandering with the grain of the balsa? I can never seem to get a straight cut when I try.

fredo

Thanks Calvi, that technique is not completely out of my head. I'm doing what other people have done in the past. Oh yes with the cutter, it does travel sideways sometimes, you have to try to avoid harder grades of balsa. I only use soft up to about 6mm.

Calvinman

I gave up trying to get straight cuts like that Fredo, lately I have been using my scroll saw with a fence with good results, I think a band saw would be better, but ya gotta use what ya got

fredo

I have a problem. I'm addicted to giant aircraft building but I don't have a real space for it. Does that make sense? I'm doing all this work in our double lock up garage, where one half is used for my wife's car and the other half .. well it's a crappy little workshop where my working bench is a door lying on a made up circular saw vs router table. I also have a bench, which is much smaller, it has one small pedestal drill and a vice. That's it. I can't fit anything else in there otherwise I would be tripping all over and the place would be a total mess. And I didn't even mention planes I've got there. I'd loved to have a combination sanding tool, belt vs wheel and a small band saw one day. It would make life soo much easier.

The good news is, as much as we love the place we live we are thinking of selling and you can guess my conditions for the next one ...MUST HAVE WORSHOP SPACE

Calvinman

Yes I know what it is like to have limited space, I could not imagine building giant scale, I don't have the room, or the ability to move anything much over a 60" wingspan without smashing the heck out of it on cielings, doorways or anything else close to me. The bigger models do fly nice though. Happy house hunting!

fredo

I probably look a bit disorganised, 'cos I jump back and forth with the build but I only do what I can at the time. I was about to start building the stab but realised I ran out of 1.5mm balsa for lamination, so instead I started working on my main wing spars. As you probably guessed, they'll be also laminated. Because the spruce I cut earlier on is a bit smaller in size 9x4.5mm for the main wing, I decided to double it by glueing two together with a carbon cloth sandwiched in between. This way those spars will be really strong. The rear spar is made of 5mm balsa sheet with carbon cloth on one side only. I put baking paper from bottom and the top, so when the epoxy sets and weights removed, I can just peel off the paper and start trimming.

fredo

Finished off the wing spars, now I can jump back and start working on the horizontal stab.
I noticed there isn't much intetest in this thread but I just keep posting pics, for sharing ideas.

Calvinman

I'm watching Fredo

Russmall

I'm watching too. I've always wanted to build this airplane, I even have the plans, laser cut kit and all the glass parts and canopy in storage, but I have not yet started on it. Thanks for sharing your build with us.

RS

maekju

Subscribed
I always did like the Jeep. I tried to build a Coverite Jeep kit back in the early 80's. I was in the LHS and saw the box and thought wow that would be nice. The owner told me it was a real PITA to build and I was hooked, worst kit I ever built. Nothing fit right especially the leading edge of the wing. I had gaps between the leading edge and the rib tips of almost 12 mm. Never finished it and gave it away when I began to travel on my job. Later I got an A-Justo Jig bought another Coverite Jeep and the same thing happened. I did finish the build this time and it did fly. If I can remember correctly it's floating somewhere down the Panama Cannel. I’ll be watching your build. It may spark my interest to build another one from scratch. Your work is looking good.

maekju

Russmall, where did you get wood cut and where did yoiu get the glass parts and canopy?

Russmall

Maekju;
I had this kit cut at least five years ago so I'm not for sure which company it was, but I think it was Precision Kit Cutters. The glass parts & canopy came from Fiberglass Specialties.

RS

fredo

Thanks guys good to see somebody likes the Jeep . I also have my glass parts from the same place. I had it stored in my workshop in a box (still unopened) for a long time. I started feeling guilty about it so I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

Cliffc

Subscribed, fan of the Jeep and I've got a couple of Hostetler's plans and want to see how they build. Looking good. Regards Cliffc