Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

I have been building, almost exclusively, from plans for several years and now I'm starting a Taurus from the planes I have from '63. I have all the rib templates and Fuse formers but what to modify the Wing LE.

I what to use a LE Spar of some type and have thought about using a 1/4!QUOT! dowel (like the GB Cub) 1/2!QUOT!sq shaped, etc. rather than the original wrapped LE sheet.

Has anyone here tried this or something similar? If so what did you use and how well did it work?

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Why not just buy the reproduction kit http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2734178/tm.htm . It is extremely well done and sells for an incredibly low price.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

I have already looked into that but figure I can build for for less than a third of his price, besides that I have most of the wood (more than enough of 4-6lb contest grade balsa) from previous projects (making the cost much less than that) all I will need to buy is the block for fuse top (I have figured out a way to do that with 1/2!QUOT! material) and landing gear & hardware. I know from past projects that I can cut all the parts in an evening or two and being retired my time is almost unlimited.

I have built much more difficult models from scratch (own design) than the Taurus and just may build with the sheet LE to save weight.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

If you cut some bucks out of foam, you can wet and wrap some of that 5lb wood and make the shaped leading edges very easily. Ditto with the fuselage top-carve a slightly undersized copy in pink or blue foam, soak your wood in the bathtub, wrap it around the buck with an Ace wrap or bits of cotton cloth and allow to dry. Trim to fit. Lighter than any block you're going to find easily and a lot cheaper!

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Thanks for the tip!

I have thought of that for the LE but didn't give it any thought for the deck! I thought about other means (other than wrapping the LE) to make it a little stronger, but as I have said I'm leaning toward the sheeted balsa LE but think I'll back it up with 1/4" dowel or carbon fiber arrow shaft ( I remember the first Taurus I built was a little fragile there). I have not cut foam in many years (sometime in the late '60s) but think I'll try it again. I looking to get the weight less than the original so your ideas will help.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Here are acouple of threads by Al Rabe, the guy who really "made" balsa moding in recent years. In fact, I'll just give you the uRL for an informal index of threads on the subject, most of them lead by Al.
http://www.clstunt.com/cgi-bin/dcfor...rum=DCForumID1
http://www.clstunt.com/cgi-bin/dcfor...rum=DCForumID1

This last is the best. Someone took the trouble to round up all the good articles.

I have the Taurus plans, and the partial kit, too. I think I will do the molded edges, just because they are so smooth and aerodynamic. Something you could do instead of a LE strip or dowel would be to form two sheets of 1/16th balsa over your buck and let them dry. Then lay in a layer of carbon fiber veil and a bit of epoxy between the sheets. Wrap them back up and allow to dry. Adds a lot of strength without adding large amounts of weight. It would take a pretty good whack to damage this structure. Hope that of some help. It's handy to have the molding skill in your back pocket. The price of light balsa blocks requires a Pentagon-style budget!

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

I got to rummaging ion some of those posts amd found a possible approach to the LE bracing question. Do it the easy way! This also from Al Rabe.

I have made a few wings with molded leading edges. The above info is good. To that I would add that I think 1/16" is too thin. Personaly, I use .077 (5/64") or 3/32". I mold around a foam buck with plain old strips of bedsheet. I don't use amonia, just plain ole' bath water. Rib spacing is about 2 1/4". I don't like hollow leading edges , so I stick a bit of 1/16" x 1/4" between ribs at the leading edge to form a "T" section when the mold is glued on. I do this at least as far out as anyone is likely to hold my airplane.
To get straight molds, I wrap the balsa first, then wrap again over aluminum angle to insure straightness.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Thanks again for the links to post.

I'm not sure about molding the compound curves for the entire deck but may try it for the aft turtle deck. As I said I'm think of using the molded LE 3/32" and using a carbon fiber (hollow) rod as reinforcement. It will be heavier than the 1/16" reinforcement but also stronger. I found a source of rod that is lighter than the arrow shaft I was thinking about.

I cut the ribs last night, went better and faster than I expected, not as good as a laser cut job would have been but a heck of a lot better than the die crunching that most kits have.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Al noted that he reinforced the LE enough that his pit man wouldn't put a hole in the thing. I guess I'm not convinced that you really need the CF rod. It won't add enough stiffness to do anything. It would partially protect against hangar rash, I suppose. My reaction is that it's over-engineering. What do you think?

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

It very well may be over engineered but thought it would be lighter than a dowel, the field I fly off from in FL has aweed that grows about a foot tall and much faster than the grass that is tougher than one could imagine. This weed is capable of cutting the sheeted leading edge (one reason I was loooking at going to a spar type LE) I'm sure the wing would be stiff enough without it.

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

Thanks. Now it makes sense. An environmental/structural compromise...

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

hi.. somebudy help me !.. i am building a taurus from scratch... i can not find the dihedral brace shape... were can i find it?

Thank You
Eduardo

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

I don't know if this will help. Here's two scans from the Taurus plans.

1. The dihedral angle.

2. The center cross section.

From the plans it looks like you set the dihedral, then cut balsa left overs to make the brace to suit.

I just built a 70% Taurus, and that's how I did it.

Paul

RE: Top Flite Taurus from original plans?
 

thank you... now i´m sure i´m building it in the right way...

eduardo