Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Dear All

I am going to start a build thread for my new Flair Puppeteer fitted with an SC .52......Anyone interested

Here is the box to wet your building appetites

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

You might tag yours here too http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_25..._1/key_/tm.htm They are looking for the next successor to build in the thread.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Well TFF here goes...

These 3 pictures show what Flair mean about left and right handed fus sides when laminating the main body........... I made sure I numbered all the die-cut parts before taking them out of the sheets.......

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

These pics show thebox in place....the plans shown the orientaton of the box sides as they appear in the plane. As long as you number the parts, dry fit first and DOUBLE CHECK the open end has down and right thrust angles at the front you should be OK.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Moving fast and looks good.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Started on the tail yesterday. Covered the plan in cooking grade grease proof paper and carefully measured and cut andd hand trimmed all the balsa. Pin it well down and I used super glue, medium thickness. Left it a few hours then carefully took out the pins put another layer of GPP on the side already built and built the second directly on top. You then have 2 matching halves. The GPP comes off quite easily and a light sanding gives you a great finish.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

This morning carefull cut to length all the cross members sanded to fit and cyno glued them in. For reference the angle of the cross member cut is 5 degrees. Double checking that the fus sides are perpendicular to the lower cross members and therefore the "oil rig" as the plan refers it to is parallel.

I will now wait until everything is thoroughly set, probably 24 hrs.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Today modified the firewall for the SC 52 and installed the engine bearers and drilled the mounting holes.

Also did more work on the tail.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Moving on to build the tail components now..................

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Looks good. How detailed are you going to get when you get to the covering? Is it one of the first kits?

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

I have got round to thinking about detailing, only that I was given 3 rolls of solatex covering and the Fair green paint. Also got given when I bought the kit off a club member,machine gun, pilot, dummy radial. However, if I get on OK I will put rigging wires on the tail as well.

If you can open this link OK I found this!!

http://www.alwayshobbies.com/Store/M...ound-Generator

Worth a go don't you think???????:)

Thanks for the interest- no one else seems to want to make an input.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

It would be fun. Shoot up the planes in the pits:). Sounds like you got just about everything. I would have some sort of wires, even if not functional, just to make it look right.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Hi
The four stroke took a bit of work to shoe horn it in, but its OK now. The cowl is cut for the exhaust and will need some fine tuning. After looking at the plans in detail for the wings and undercarriage it seems that the U/C wire legs attach themselves to the bottom wing making it a real pain to get the bottom wing off. Therefore I think it would be best to leave the wings permanently attached??? Would you agree. If this is the case then I could go the whole 9 yards ( as you chaps in the colonies would say[X(] ) and try to copy all the rigging detail.

Any thoughts?????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????

Best wishes

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

I leave my small biplanes all together but last weekend I came in too hot and flipped one, breaking the bottom wing mount. Not a lot of damage but sure was a pain to take apart. It has music wire for flying wires. I have another with kevlar fishing string but it has stretched some so if you use some of that I would pre stretch it. I would go for it.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Vincento discussed this on the other thread. If you can manage to transport your Puppeteer fully assembled by all means do that! It will save tons of hassle and just make it more fun to pull out and fly. If you can't get the fully assembled model in the car, you might to see if you can get it in with only the top wing removed. And, definitely, you've got to have rigging on a WWI model! Besides, functional rigging will add to the strength tremendously. I also used music wire for the rigging (which is pretty close to scale for the Pup).

Personally, I wouldn't bother with the sound module. That might work with an electric motor but probably won't be heard above the sound of a 4-stroke.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Sorry for the long wait on the build but I have been flying as the weather has finally broken. We also had our sons 18th party to organise.......good do.
So here we are with some pictures of the fus 50% done and now forming the sheeted sides. I put boiling water on the balsa to help the curve. The sides of the balsa always curve away from the side you put the boiling water on so this will aid the bending. I will leave the sheets a few days to dry thoroughly.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Looks good. Is the black on the firewall for fuel proofing or just for looks? Any ideas on colors.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Black for looks and there is clear fuel proof on top. Might need more coats though.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Here's the fus after rough sanding....

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Looks great to see how its progressing through the photos, perhaps we will fly together up the site soon.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

Cheers Richard......See you when the hols are over. Don't forget the trainer next time we're both up and lets have some T & G fun.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

After a break for a holiday I started on the first wing half. Starboard lower one. The drawings don't make 100% clear that the aileron spacers need to be apart from the main ribs. A bit of head scratching was done but I finally got it figured out. I will post some better pictures in a day or two.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

So Hols are over and I have almost finished the starboard lower wing. As you can see I will not sheet until the wings are mated and glued, I want to make sure the bracing slides in good and there is plenty of epoxy all round the main structure. Before that wing join I will cut out the ailerons from the wing....it should be easier with 2 halves.

Here's the progress.........

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

About the sound generator .... 50mm speaker is a fraction less than 2", ok that can handled but how are you going to get 9-18 volts of power? Are you going to hook a couple of 4.8v or 6.0 batteries in series. Machine gun sounds may be wonderful if they can be heard over the engine (unless using electric motor), but the weight of 2 (or 3) extra batteries plus the weight of the sound generator (not given in description) may make this impracticable IMHO. Interesting idea. I'm curious for more.

RE: Flair Puppeteer Build
 

hey,

I don't know about the Flair-kit, but most WWI-planes need a good bit of balancing weight in the nose. There is plenty of room on top of the engine to build a tray and put your battery's for the sound generator there. That way you may not need "dead" weight.

Keep up tje good work!

Phil