tmac48

No mate, I'm referring to the side mount with the 4mm hole that the cabane is bolted to. There is a big step up to where it meets up with the top turtle deck. It looks like you have filled it out to match the alloy cover. On my pic it has RH OUT wrote on it.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Right. I certainly did add filler to both front and back strut mount locations. Mine is not going to have the bent up aluminum strut covers so I had to handle them a little differently.

tmac48

Thanks, I had not even thought about the rear mount as of yet, I was leaving my options open as to how I was going to handle the alloy in these areas as well.

tmac48

The redo of the foam on the bottom has worked out very well. Mich would you have any close up pics of how you applied the filler for the front and rear cabane mounts? It looks as if I will need to run some thin .8mm ply butting up to the top deck ply on the sides as well.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Id be happy to add some detail shots of that area, Terry. Unfortunately I’m out of town so it will be a couple days.

I found that I had to fill the areas where the edges of the .8mm ply terminate - all the way down the fuselage. I used fairly dense balsa. If you don’t do this you’ll see unsightly terminations under the covering.

tmac48

Thanks.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Terry, here's how I filled the cabane front mount areas. I used a hardwood disk (without the bolt hole drilled out yet) for the mount hole area and a soft balsa triangle around it. After glued in I drilled from the inside out using the existing hole for perfect alignment. All of this has to be sanded to desired planes, of course. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be exactly perfect because all of this is ultimately covered with sheet metal.

EDIT: I saturated the hardwood disk, which was end grain, with thin CA glue for better compression strength.

You'll also see how I filled the bottom of the .8mm top sheeting all the way to the back of the turtleneck

I sawed the hardwood disk out of a wooden rod.

Balsa filler below the .8mm sheeting all the way to
the back of the turtle deck.

tmac48

Thanks for the pics and cometary, pretty much what I had envisaged. I think I may need to add some thin balsa all the way along the fuselage to get that smooth transition of the fabric.
An up date on my Pilot.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Wow, your wife did a great job! He looks fantastic. Eventually I'm going to have to throw something like that together to make a bigger bust than I have. In the mean time my little guy is going to have to handle the flight test program!

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

For those of you that think I'm just sitting on my laurels, NO. I put together the tail servo extensions and got them in place prior to cover. You'll also see my radio tray in this pic. I'm using a "Aura Pro" flight stabilizer in this setup. I have one in my Phoenix Waco and like it a lot. The Aura dampens unwanted excursions (wind etc) yet is completely transparent in normal flight. The "Pro" also manages the double battery setup. They aren't cheap though. The extensions I used are all 20 AWG and are as follows (although yours will vary:

For each elevator I used a 60" extension PLUS and additional 12" one. Total of two, of course. Yes, this is a LARGE aircraft!

For the Rudder: one 60" and one 24".

Needless to say I used locks on all connectors and tested each lead for function prior to installation. They'd be a pain to remove.



Here's the three tail extensions on a carbon rod to feed them forward. This all can be done after cover but much easier now.

I'll always be able to remove and install them when covered - although I hope I won't have to. . .

Zip-tied to keep them out of the way for cover.

The Aura and Spectrum 10100 receiver sitting on the radio board. Two 5000mah lipos will reside on either side of them to handle the radio, ignition, fuel pump, and smoke pump. All accessible under the metal side plates.

tmac48

Mitch not sure how you were able to tension the cabane wires but I certainly couldn't, I ended up re threading one end along with its clevis to left hand and now I can do all the final adjustments and then lock it it up with the looking nuts.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Looking good, Terry. I better get moving or you are going to catch up. . .

tmac48

I don't play golf.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

HA HA HA HA HA

I don’t either now that the weather turned COLD

tmac48

Made a start on the undercarriage.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

I looked back to my first post of this build to see what the date was: November 2021. I'm over a year now! But it's finally starting to look like a flying machine:



Reminds me of my old silk and dope days. Back when I still had all my brain cells. . . . .

This is the cloth and glue I'm using. It's water based, odor free and wonderful. But wow, is it expensive! Good news is a little goes a LONG way.

tmac48

That looks realy neat! The next best thing to a model in the bare bones is a model fully covered before paint.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

I totally agree. One strange thing: usually when you get to this stage of a build the beautiful view of the first-covered surfaces are accompanied by VERY strong smells of solvent/glues thinners etc.

With Stewart Systems there's absolutely no smell of any kind! Very very nice.

tmac48

I will let you know just what that smell is like when I get to do some covering!!

tmac48

Mitch, care to share what method you are going to use to secure the bracing wires on the stab & fin now that they are covered?

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Terry, I'm using the kit supplied system on the tail wires. This setup allows you to remove/install the phenolic fittings after cover - or anytime you want for that matter. Pretty nifty.

Did I answer your question?

EDIT: at least I think the removable wire fitting system I built into the stabilizers was factory intended. Upon recollection, now I may have just designed it in myself. I'm not really sure. . . l

tmac48

Mitch, I don't think that JW gave us the option of fitting them after cover, but I was thinking along the same lines as you , now I'm convinced that is the way to go.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

Yes, it absolutely is. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the other side but it's not too complicated.

mitchilito

My Feedback: (6)

More eye candy

tmac48

How the hell you got the covering on the trailing edge so neat without showing raised cap strips beats me!!