knucklebutt

Got ya covered in the "Fiberglass " dept. I'll be doing the Fairchaild in about a month

SunDevilPilot

roncannell

After you glass it, cover it with the Flite Metal Foil, that stuff looks great.

malitape

My Feedback: (213)

Hope you will have a build thread on the P-51

pete

SunDevilPilot

This morning I inlaid the forward strut mount into the sheeting of the lower wing. Went smoothly, starting with a cut slightly undersized and working my way up to a perfect fit.

Photo shows the mount being glued in place with some weight keeping it down on the ribs until the epoxy sets up.



I also completed my battle with the wasps. I was trying to figure out why, after several years in this house, we were getting wasps inside. When I saw yet another wasp inside the firebox of the fireplace I found my answer, a nest behind one of the heat shields. I could just see the top of the nest peeking above the shield.

First step, run the fireplace for a few minutes to cook the live wasp and whatever is in the nest. Then I took the shield out of the fireplace and got rid of the nest. Did I mention "I hate wasps!!!!!"

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

The left wing panel is almost complete. I just need to add the leading edge and plane / sand it to shape.

Today was mostly a marathon of cap stripping. I'm really happy with how the last of the wing panels is coming together. Next weekend I should be able to get the leading edge on / shaped and join the two wing panels together.

I need to come up with some type of permenant wing storage solution. With the addition of these 80" wings I am having issues getting to my other planes without "Digging" them out.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

This morning I installed the leading edge, planed, and sanded to shape the leading edge on the lower left wing. I also blended the leading edges into the wing tips on both wing halves. At this point the halves are ready to be joined.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

I just finished truing up the inner root of the wings making the panels perfectly straight in relation to one another. I also installed the sub-rib into the leading edge. Once the sub rib dries in place I will install the dihedral brace making the lower wing panels one piece. Only a few steps of sheeting and I will be ready to move onto the fuselage.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Lower wing panels are now one piece. I also got the center rib installed. Tomorrow I will get the top and bottom sheeting installed and the wing, at that point, will be complete. There is some minor work to be done on the wings but that will take place along with the fuselage construction.

SunDevilPilot

xcz5785

My Feedback: (21)

I know your not at this point of your build but putting incidence in the tail really helps. I bought my Nieuport used. I knew very little about it. When I went throught it I noticed the tail plane had positive incedence, I thought it was a mistake but searching forums I found it necessary in keeping it from lifting at higher throttle. Also the wing differential that is suggested is perfect, needs very little rudder for smooth turns. I might put a little more on the up to give a little better roll rate. Love how this thing flies, like a trainer. Here it is in action-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNcRw...e_gdata_player

SunDevilPilot

Nice video!

I have heard it is a good idea to add some positive incidence into the elevator, I'll definately look into that. Thanks for posting the video and for the information.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

Wings are done... Onto the fuselage.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

The fuselage construction is under way. The construction begins with the building of an inner skeleton, often called a crutch. This skeleton is build from some 3/8" X 3/16" stock. After building the perimeter it was time to fill in the structure with some cross bracing. It is this cross bracing that I would like to focus on in this post.

There are many ways to create the cross braces but here is the best method I have found:

Lay the stock being used to create the cross brace in its position and on top the outer perimeter framework.

Take a piece of wood with a notch cut out of the bottom (the notch is two times the height of the framework) and line it up with the inner edge of the framework and over the top of the cross brace to be cut.

Make a mark along the cross-brace but before moving the brace, and while carefully holding it in position, move the notched block of wood to the other end and make a mark on that side.

Then, cut and sand the cross brace until the pencil lines you made on each end of the brace just disappears. I used a bandsaw to cut the wood just oversized and then a disc sander to true up the end to just past the line.

This is the type of joinery you should expect using this method.

You might see the little dot I made on the top of the cross-brace. This is done to keep the cross brace in the correct orientation until it is glued down.

SunDevilPilot

LesUyeda

"I have heard it is a good idead to add some positive incidence into the elevator, I'll definately look into that."

The elevator WILL fly horizontal. A positive incidence in the elevator WILL reduce the incidence in the wings.

Les

knucklebutt

Crossbraces: I dont use the block, I Pencil line, cut with fine razor saw, true up with the sanding block, find I have sanded too much, chuck the part and have a second go. I use yelloe wood glue and pin if necessary. Of course if the cut is correct there will be no need of this pin (referr to statement above)

How was flying yesterday: What did John Crash

SunDevilPilot

Good point! Maybe I wont.

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

John was there and he left the plane in the van. No crashes that way!

I did a little experiment with my 1/4 Cub though.... I was having the problem of it being hypersensitive to tipping sideways onto it's wingtips on landing. I was also a little tippy sideways on touch and goes. So, I pulled off my giant tires (My favorite part by the way) and installed the standard 1/4 Cub tires. Unfortunately it made it fly just like my smaller Cub, perfect. So it is out with the big tires and I will stay with the standard ones....

SunDevilPilot

knucklebutt

Good Call ::::::: Unfortunately I have had to eliminate items that LOOKED way cool but just didn't work on flyability The Fleet is next when it cools off, I have the same issue, I'll go to a more Standard wheel/





Denis

SunDevilPilot

The construction of the first fuselage side is complete. Now to duplicate it.

As you can see the joints, using my method (Learned somewhere from a construction forum), produces perfect results.

Oh.... And one more thing....

I had a Battle Royale in the front yard again! I was cleaning up the yard in preparation for the Father in Laws arrival and I found this little nasty. I kept seeing wasps fly into one particular bush. A good soaking with poison and I was reluctantly able to cut out the nest.

I needed my cape for this one!

SunDevilPilot

SunDevilPilot

And then there were two!

I did not remove the pins and blocks from the board and used them for alignment of the parts to all but guarantee the second fuselage side matched the first.

SunDevilPilot

radfordc

My Feedback: (14)

I consider this a must. I added two degrees of positive incidence to the horizontal tail and the plane flys with neutral elevator trim. I also concur that this plane is a sweetheart to fly. I was up with it this morning doing loops, rolls, snaps, spins, cuban 8s, stall turns, inverted flight, etc. Afterward, one of the guys in the club said he didn't think that WW I bipes could do all of that.

Charlie

SunDevilPilot

I will definately look at the issue a little more when I get to mounting the tail. I can easily add a shim to the tail mounting surface to add the incidence.

I have only seen one Balsa USA Nieuport and his plane had a tiny bit of down trim on the elevator.

SunDevilPilot

VincentJ

Very nice joinery SDP. Thanks for the lesson.....

xcz5785

My Feedback: (21)

Thought you might be interested. In my snooping around the internet I found a great build thread on RCscalebuilder.com for the Nieuport 28 (1/3 and/1/4 scale). Its unbelievable how detailed they are, works of art! Now I'm looking at mine, looking at theirs, looking at mine. Doh! There are some good tips on there though. One thing that drives me nuts about mine is the elevator. It flexes horribly, it will sustain flight but is weak compared to the beefy wings and fuselage. If i would do one thing it would sheet both surfaces. According to them (builders on RCSB) the original was sheeted also, at a 45 I think.
There was no mention however of the incidence in the tail that I spoke of but I'm positive it works for my plane, just a few clicks up and all speeds are equal lift. Possibly it needs one positive degree in the wing incidence.

SunDevilPilot

I too have looked in amazement at some of the ScaleBuilder threads.

Well..... This weekend the build of my Nieuport will take a little detour. I recently watched a show on how Lego attempts to appeal to their customers, young and old. By attracting adults they retain their loyal customers. Well, my wife was at the mall with her dad and they went past the Lego store. When they walked past she saw something. She couldn't help but purchase a Sopwith Camel for me which was proudly displayed at the store. It looks pretty good and even has functioning elevators and ailerons, functioned via the stick in the cockpit.

Should be an entertaining build.

Fortunately I am over 14 so I am not restricted by the age limit.

SunDevilPilot