Cub Flyer Fresno

Keep in mind too, you don't have to spend money on paint or painting equipment! That is if you get the colored Solartex, which is what I decided to do...FINALLY! Don't worry, it only took me... uh, let's see... was it two... or was it three years...? Anyway A LOOOOONNNNNG time to finally settle on Solartex. Looking forward to trying it too. Shouldn't be too much longer before I can start covering my Cub. Wait a minute, what thread is this? OOPS!

Say VJ! Hows that STA coming?

Take care,
David

TomCrump

I think you guys will be disappointed if you don't paint, or clear coat, your Solartex.

VincentJ

Raptureboy I am lucky to have such a wonderfull hobby shop next to me, but when you live in rural parts ofN.H. let me define what "next to" means, anything within 30 or 40 miles LOL.It's still a one hour drive one way for me, but it's worth it.... Here's the link to our LHS - http://www.rcbuyers.com/


Tom I agree with you on painting, or at least clear coating Solartex. It stains easily, granted in Tim's case his plane is electric but it still may be beneficial to clear coat. I will painting mine using Klass Kote epoxy paint.

raptureboy

Wow that is a real nice hobby shop. Worth the drive I imagine when you have a shopping list. my store doesn't even have a web site. Agreed on the clear coat for solartex, I found that out the hardway, but now my plane looks like a real plane with those little grease and oil stains. O.k VJ we've let you slide now for a while now lets have some pictures now man!My dad was from Nashua by the way, his surviving brother Gerry Nash, lives in Hudson now, and he was in the 10th Mt division with Bob Dole and they still get together from time to time.

VincentJ

Up from the workshop to give you my nightly report.... The other day I had to pick-up some balsa planking that seemed to be missing from my kitso I couldfabricate transition rings thatI was talking about earlier. I neededone5/8" x 3" x 12"board which I knew I wasn't going to find, so I settled for a 2" x 3" x12" board instead and ripped it to the dimension that I needed. With that done I went about making these ringsof which their are two, one for the top and anotherfor the bottom.They weren't as difficult to make but I did have to be careful that I didn't break them in half because of the way the grain was running. I did manage to get the top one made and glued in place, the bottom is cut out but not shaped as of yet. I installed the bottom 3/32" Birch ply to finish off the area behind the firewall. Tomorrow I'll finish off the bottom ring and then fit the side pieces in place. Celtics are on tonight so I'm going to watch the game...GOCELTS

raptureboy

Thats better did you carve and sand the curves in or use some type of tool? Isaw another one of these for sale now on here. It's amazing, I've passed up 3 of these now and I can quit this hobby any time.... really, Imean it, don't laugh I gotta get building here

VincentJ

I used the disc sander for the outside radius and for the inside radius I put a 1" drum sander in my drill press. The rest was hand shaped. Commercial over back to the game...

VincentJ

Transition rings are completed (with the exception of final sanding). Next in line I am going to pin the firewall to the fuse wuth hardwood dowels locking the whole assembly together. Then onto something I've been looking forward to, the mounting of the cowl, yes.........

Cub Flyer Fresno

Nice VJ!  Such a shame to have to cover that up with a cowl! 

VincentJ

Thanks David.

I had full intentions of calling it a night but I was just dying to know...WOULDITFIT,WOULDITLINE-UP? I just had to know, so I went back to the workshop to see if tonight I would get a good night's sleep or would I try to getsome sleep. Time to see if all those careful measurments from the first day of this thread months ago were right.... Yawn, think I'll sleep just fine.....

acerc

Now it's getting to the good stuff. LOL

TCampbell

Sweet dreams!

Cub Flyer Fresno

OOOOOHHHH Yeah!

By the way, I no exactly what your talking about.  Tossing and turning, dreaming of ways to fix it!

raptureboy

Say it like the Fonz ehhhhhhhhh

VincentJ

You guys are too funny...

Tonight I pinned the firewall in place with hardwood dowels. Sides and bottom were done. I also cut out the cowl a bit more soI could get the cowl properly positioned to get it fastened in place. I haven't committed yet as to what method I'll use to mount the cowl, many different ways to do it. I tried to place the light behing the cowl to see how much space there is inside.

WacoNut

Looking Good VJ,
Looks like there is plenty of room in there. I am surprised it fits so well.
Later!!
Anthony

acerc

I have got to a point with VJ's build that I am no longer surprised by any thing he does. Or how well he does it.

VincentJ

Thanks Robert and Anthony...

After a night to mull over which method of cowl attachment would best suit this situation I have decided on hardwood blocks that will house 4-40 brass threaded inserts. Committed to that idea, I went to my workshop with a nice hot cup of coffee and proceded to make them.

I first found some hardwood in my wood pile that would work and found the center of the piece. You can also see that with an awl I made an indentation a lot like center punching a piece of metal so the drill bit dosen't wander and you not ending up with the hole in the intended location. Using a 11/64" drill bit I drilled a hole about 1" down. It was just a matter then to sand the profile on the top of the hardwood block to match the inside of the cowl. I placed a small amount of epoxy into the drilled hole and with a 4-40 bolt I threaded the insert into place.

VincentJ

Cowl fitting continued: Fabricated and glued the bottom cowl mounts. It took me three tries to make the bottom mounts where they were acceptable to me. The holes had to be drilled at a compund angle and it wasn't easy to do and get the bolts positioned flush atop the cowl. I am very happy with how the cowl is fitting without any sanding at this point. I will take a break and head back down to the workshop and get the exhaust fitted in the cowl next.

Note: The clearance in the front of the engine where the prop will bolt to will be adjusted later. One of the advantages of this style of engine mount is that the engine can be slid forward or rearward to get the space between the back of the spinner and the cowl just right.

TCampbell

Another finely executed element.  Really like that last picture taken from the side, the lines of that fuselage are so smooth.

OldScaleGuy

My Feedback: (2)

Looking great as always there VJ. Would you mind measuring the distance from the centerline of the crankshaft to the outside of the muffler. As of today i am considering this engine for an upcoming project and just would like to get an idea if it will inside the cowl on a TF Spitfire. Thanks.

VincentJ

Thanks Tim. You sometimes can never tell if the cowl will fit right or look like it's just been stuck on. Got lucky I guess.

Steve I'll get that measurement for you as soon as I head back down to the workshop.

Well just fitted the exhaust on and I really like the way it looks....The exhaust was purchased from J-Tec http://www.jtecrc.com/wraparoundpittsstylemufflers.htm and the cowl was purchased from Fiberglass Specialties http://fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com/

acerc

Look's like a match made in heaven.

VincentJ

Thanks, Robert. Lookimg for a favorable flight report tomorrow Captain.!

Steve, if I understand you correctly you want the dimesion from the crankshaft centerline (rear) to the tip of the muffler pipes that exit the bottom of the fuse. If that's the dimesion that you need the answer is 5 3/4". If that isn't long enough J-tec can make those pipes to the length that you need. If I gave you the wrong dimension just let me know and I'll measure again for you...

raptureboy

Top notch as always VJ Ilike those inserts and I have used them to mount my retracts so I can take them on and off without worrying about the holes stripping out. On my Stearman Iused small aluminium angle cut into 1/2" pieces then Iscrewed them to the fire wall and then drilled the cowl and the angles and tapped them for 4-40 button head machine screws. Iam going to change my Ryan over to this system. So what do you have next in line?