Thanks rsad but I have to many things going on at this time to start another plane. Dumorian, you start flying off water and you will have a hard time ever putting wheels on a plane again.
Ken

Boxcar,

I have the same going on........way too much and I buy more than I build. I have over 40 unbuilt models and just finally accepted that I will never get to most of them. So, time to get rid of some. There was one time when as soon as I finished a plane, I would start building another. Times have changed!

rsad

I have tried to have restraint. At one point, with kits, I did have a Senior Miss Stick and the Decathlon in the box. It's hard! I did decide that I needed to finish the Miss Stick, my first stick build, no pun intended. I immediately started the Decathlon during which I was overcome with a terrible urge to build a quarter scale Stinson SR-10... but I've resisted so far. Then I went to a swap meet and came home with a GeeBee Tiger moth kit. So, I still put off the Stinson until the Decathlon is finished and until I at least start the Tiger Moth. Meanwhile, there's a EF Yak 54 74" ARF still sitting in the box waiting for the bench and that's next. Then there's the 'C'heapo 'M'odelPro 4M glider. It's an ARF which really stands for 'A'll 'R'eady to 'F'ix. The model was cheap... a pile of model for the money. It looks like however the parts were put into the fuse using something between hot melt and epoxy and it's all pretty easy to remove. So, yes, a good bit is rebuild. The spoilers drag badly and are not removable without major wing surgery, so I'm very slowly making progress by dragging sandpaper along side them and working a bit more with a dremel with a sanding disk. Still very tedious and time consuming, but they're getting better and better! I have plans to put a 4130 on the nose of this thing, so, this poor glue stuff is not really a bad thing as I need to remove the stuff to do some fiberglass reinforcement anyway. Supposedly the thing flies pretty good.... At the same swap, one of our club members gave me a fairly busted up Carl Goldberg 76" Cub. A bit of fuse glue work, a bit of tail glue work and some covering should make it look just fine as it's the army covering and some patches should make it look like a war veteran. I did finally get my Night Glider off the bench. It's an EGPro filled with LEDs. Wow the soldering... over and over and over and over. So, I'm faithfully putting in the time on the Decathlon, have the Yak planned for the bench next... then the Cub repairs then the Tiger Moth. Meanwhile I keep watching for the perfect engine for the Stinson just in case one comes up... I do have the plans but am resisting ordering the kit. And I've decided I need to completely reorganize my totally disorganized workshop. If I can get some junk cleaned out, I can pull my workbench out. It's one of those old school shop workbenches... very nice. If I pull it out I could use both ends of it and have two planes going at a time. That would help me deal with epoxy drying times. Things like gluing robart hinges....

It's been cool and rainy here now for like 4 days. The humidity in my Decathlon wood is very high. I did a bit of light sanding to discover one should sand during these times. It sort of rolls around instead of sanding off. And then I started thinking about it when it dries out and then I could have some low spots from the wood shrinking back. The east coast sure does have to deal with a lot of humidity. And, I don't see myself as having a climate controlled workshop ever, although it would be nice.

Yup, it's easy to get a lot of projects. I'm really trying very hard to limit myself. And now flying season is just about to come on full swing. This of course means that I'll have addition projects lining up for the bench. You know, those repairs.... dumb thumbs... failures... I've gotten to the point where it is not very often pilot error anymore and that feels really good, but it does seem that at times everything that's flying starts to line up for service.

Isn't this hobby fun?

Well, my building has been interrupted a bit yet again, this time by 'FLYING'!!! Yes! Got some good weather and put a few models up yesterday. Today, I did get a little done. I installed my inserts into the wings. These are the brass threaded inserts, wood thread on the outside 8-32 on the inside. This way I can use machine screws for the struts instead of wood screws. I'll do the same under the fuse. I plan to use metal plates on the ends of the struts instead of the plastic stock parts. I do plan to put this plane through the paces, and I expect the struts to be feeling some force. At the fuse end, my LG plate mode is 1/4" baltic ply. Once I start on that part of the struts, I'll decide if maybe blind nuts might be better than the inserts, but whichever one will be anchored in that ply which should be substantial. I'll for sure do fiberglass on the joint where the struts come together. I might even run a small CF pin or two through the joint as well.

I did a few more little things on the wings... then a fair amount of finish sanding. All I lack on them right now is sanding a few small spots of wood filler and then adding the filler pieces that close down the gap at the windshield... and then they're RTC!!!! Yes! I might actually get to see what these colors are going to look like on the plane very soon now!

The fuse has been patiently setting off to the side.... still lacking the same things. I was going to do the nude photos today, but guess what? The camera batteries were dead! Imagine that? Anyway, they are charged now so maybe tomorrow.

I did check the balance on my wings and I'm just a tiny bit heavier on one side, like about the weight of one penny. I'd rather be lucky than good and with all the sanding and carving this is for certain luck. The light side is the side where the throttle servo resides and the side to which the engine base offsets, so I'm leaving it alone in hopes that the model as a whole will be pretty close laterally.

Just thought Id check in with some progress pictures.

I believe I am approximatley a week away from covering. (I hope!!!) I am trying to do a rough assembly to get my balance as close as possible before covering, since I am running a light 1.60 os glow engine.

My balance seems to be good right now. I had to at least give it a check to see if it was anywhere close. Obviously there are alot of items missing, heavy ones at that. But I think they should work in my favor. Right now it sits nose heavy..... slightly.

The cowl is quite heavy, as I have glassed the inside, and the prop and spinner are missing. The struts are pretty much a neutral item. Wing servos and ailerons will probably offset the cowl a little.

Things to go in the tail yet are the flying wires (will be 2-56 rods), elevator linkage and pull pull linkage. I believe considering all the items to be installed yet, it will be nose heavy.

I wonder if its got something to do with the 15 AA's and the sub c I have in the nose. He he. Im happy......

Quick note on all the batteries...... (2) 5 cell packs for rx, (1) 5 cell for smoke pump, and a sub c for the onboard glow driver. Also 2 aa's and a 9 volt for lighting system.

Looks like everyone else is moving right along! Enjoy!

Well that is going to be another beauty if the covering is as clean and perfect as the mods and installations you have done so far. Nice and organized in side that baby! I am glad you finally posted pictures so we could see what you were up to. I think I will buy some stock in a battery company........ after this flying season, one company's stock should rise! I can't wait too see it complete. A picture is like a thousand words..........now I know what you were talking about in your email the other day.

Well Stevo..... I thought by your posts, I was really just tearing along in front of you on mine.... but it looks like you've done at least as many mods as I have although completely different ones. I like your door. I like your double floor system. Very nice and neat. I think I might be seeing a hs 55 in the back there that might be running a contact switch? Is that your light switch? I've been moaning on if I should use a power expander or not. I REALLY like those and am leaning towards doing it. With the gasser, the optical cutoff is a very nice insurance against any potential of ignition feedback into the radio system. Mine will likely get one.

If I'm counting correctly... did you extend your ailerons one extra bay? If so, I've heard this is a very good idea. Mine with flaps and my plan to do full span aileron programming should give me whatever I want for a reasonable roll rate.

Nice Stevo... you've been working every bit as hard as I have and I think have pulled ahead of me again. Very nice work.

Stevo,

Congratulations, really nice work. Yesterday I built the elevator and rudder. Now I'm going to build the fuselage, before assembling everything, I m going to build a matching piece to the side where the wing tube going. for that I am doing a piece according to the plane and then have to strengthen.


regards

Dumorian: If I'm counting correctly... did you extend your ailerons one extra bay? If so, I've heard this is a very good idea. Mine with flaps and my plan to do full span aileron programming should give me whatever I want for a reasonable roll rate.

Yes he extend his ailerons and i believe he extend the ruder too.... i think so. i will put flaps too.



a litle present (picture) ...

Thanks guys for the kind remarks! Much appreciated!

A couple of replys to your comments......

The hs 55 in the rear of the cockpit is actually the switch for the glow driver. It is shared on the throttle channel. It comes on with my kill switch and cuts out at about 1/3 throttle. I have a light visible in the front window so i know when its lit......... translation, safe. The switch is on a screw (which is visible if you look close) so I can adjust the contact point.

All my lighting switches and servo are in the top of the cockpit behind the skylite. I will snap a pic of that for clarity.

The power expander is a smartfly sport. I just though it was good insurance and ALOT easier to keep track of connections. Plus it opens up each channel for 3 servos. Alot better Idea than using a bunch of Y's. Plus the serovs see the full rx pack voltage. And you're not trying to stuff all that thru the reciever.

The ailerons are one bay bigger, and I extended the rudder about 1.25 inches. I also cut the rudder clearance in the elevator halves about 10 degrees wider.

My dream with this model is a kick butt flat spin w smoke on at our club airshow in June.... Thats why all the throws were increased and surfaces enlarged. I want a good aerbatic model that looks fairly scale. Man Im really getting the itch to fly her now.

But thats still a few weeks out!!!!

Happy building!

dag gummit stevo! I can't hardly stand this thing not being air worthy already! And now.... after I had already thought about increasing rudder throw.... I'm looking at my stock rudder and scratching my head. But as I don't have any balsa laying around to do this and since the itch is about killing me, I guess I'll leave the uber flat spins to my other models and live with what i get. [] I wouldn't want to shake up whatever might be in the bomb bay too badly anyway..... NOT!!!!

At the store today, since Easter is coming, I picked up a couple of bags of plastic Easter eggs... so I'm getting ready! I already have plenty of Peeps. You can take a toothpick and a bit of crepe paper and have a streamer/chute for them pretty easily.

Meanwhile. I did get to work a bit this afternoon. I got my new elevator control rods installed and the new 'ports' made... or the new slotted hole. As there was nothing here to start with, I added a couple of pieces of 1/16" ply. This was a task made more difficult since I did the bowed out midder longeron dealy. So these parts had to have a tapered bit of 1/8" balsa to shim them out at the front.

Got the top mount for my tug servo glued in. Ready to do the bottom mount and servo tray... all just sitting there waiting. I pulled the engine back off again to work on the cowling. I had in a previous session glued the top to the front, careful to not glue it where the bottom slides between. I used 2" blue painters tape to locate that part on the deck and then fit the bottom half into place. I used scotch tape to hold the bottom on... removed it all and then first tack glue it and then taped all the seams outside to try to keep thin CA from running all over the place... and then went over the seams with thin CA. It still escaped, but the worst run is on the bottom and I think I can get that covered with sanding and primer. So, my bleach bottle is in one piece now. Tomorrow I'll start glassing the seams internally... might do just a bit more CA work from the outside if I can keep it neat enough. Next will be cutting out for the carb, mounting screw holes, a few more cooling holes, a bit more sanding at the rear and it will be ready for paint.

Gee... that doesn't sound like much progress. But the tow release really is just second from done. Then the bomb bay servo mount... which is going to be a tough hole to cut at this point but I'm going to do it using my new idea of it going into the top of the bomb bay box. Gee it would have been soooo much easier to have done this outside of the model. This is one of those things that I dread worse than the actual task. I should get right onto that tomorrow first thing.

Oh lets see..... and then, I do believe I'll put a SmartFly in there and a tray to hold three lipos... two flight packs and one ignition pack. Then the interior should be complete and ready to have everything removed for painting.

Darn... somewhere along the line I need to cut out the windshield so I can do those filler blocks on the wings so I can start covering!

And then there's still the struts to finish...

Well, it's supposed to be up on the 60s all weekend, so I guess I'll at least have good epoxy days! I guess I should do the struts before starting any covering. Maybe I have enough tiny nuts and bolts around to do this without any delays waiting for parts.

And then there is going to be the flying that gets in the way! Oh isn't life just rotten. The weatherman finally says no rain, very low to no winds and decent temps all on the same day! If this holds out, I think this will be the very best flying day so far this year!

JEJEJEJE

About the ruder i thinck im crazy becuse i extended 3/4" but you extended 1.25".............thats great....

About the sistem for the glow driver, thats a very good idea to do too. (for super tigre G 23)

Dumorian, for cut out the windshield, you only used a scissors ????how you do it???


Regards

I haven't started cutting the windshield yet... but normally I rough in 'carefully' as much as possible, or cut away as much as I can with scrissors, sheet metal shears or exacto knife, depending on what I am cutting and then I use a sanding drum on my Dremel tool to fine finish it. Most of the time I don't dare cut closer than like 1/2" depending on the material and how much curve it has. The final step is sanding by hand to straighten up the Dremel sanding as it is very difficult to cut on a perfect straight line with a drum sander.

What you want to end up with when dealing with any plastic is no corners. All corners should be rounded. You also want no cracks. Either of these is a stress point and will be an easy place for a crack to form at which point it can get longer very quickly.

A hint... If a crack does form, drill a hole at the end of it. This puts a round at the end of the crack and any stress is then radiated out from that circle instead of concentrated at the sharp end point.

This also works with metal. Many body shop fellow would do this on particularly older cars where the metal had cracked. I don't know if it became brittle with age or if it was just less knowledge about making steel back in those years. Maybe a bit of both. I have also seen circular saw blades drilled this way, but I would never recommend doing that as the energy released if it broke would be tremendous. I remember one band saw mill had a top wheel on their band saw break. These are huge wheels but not a lot of RPM. It went through the roof and landed on a car about 1/4 or 1/2 mile away. Now that's on topic if anything ever was!

So, basically first think patients and take plenty of time cutting it using a more difficult method. At the same time think smooth. The end result should be a windshield that holds up for the life of the plane.

OH!!! And I use clear silicon caulk to glue my windshields. It does have to be held in place normally for 24 hours before it is completely cured. Test first, but denatured alcohol so far has not had any adverse effect on the plastics I have worked with. Not rubbing alchohol, but denatured. This is very useful for cleaning. It will remove oils and grease, like from your fingers when handling the part. This help the caulk stick better. It is also really good at cleaning us any extra caulk before it starts to dry. I also use this before painting plastic. I clean the item just before the primer coat. So far my paint work has bonded to the plastic really good.

Meanwhile, I'm taking a short break from hacking up my cowling! Actually, it's coming out pretty nice as cowlings go. I had to enlarge the front of the bottom cutout to clear the spark plug and cap. I also had to cut a bit out right where the front and the bottom come together at that 'step' location as it was barely hitting my head. Not large holes. It looks like it's going to work out really nicely. All I lack now is mounting holes for the screws and the big hole in the side for the carb... and then of course going back over all the cuts to smooth them up.

I made an accidental discovery which might come in handy. If you put Scotch tape along all the seams and try to be neat about it, and then run a fingernail along the seams to sort of mold the tape into the crack... using care in this process... no wrinkles, no overlaps. Then run thin CA on the seams inside, it fills behind the tape and makes it look like one part.

Me, no, I didn't use as much care as I should have, so I have some spots. But it really did a nice job along some areas. This put me ahead on my paint preparation.

Just want to add my two cents.............don't use CA on windows or windshields. It makes them brittle, fog, crack etc......it is the easiest way but you will regret it the first time you touch it with any pressure.

Here is mine with the trim done still have to do paint work and final assembly.

OK... been working on my windshield! Yes, that was quick!

I was able to trim to within 1/8" up the sides with scissors. I used my Dremel with drum sander to cut in along the top corners. This would have been way too much stress to cut around using scissors. At the bottom, my material was much thicker and very hard to cut. I started about 1" away and then worked closer a little at a time. I was still afraid to go closer than about 1/2" in that area.

I noticed that at the top, it was a very snug fit around the fuse. I didn't like that at all. So, I did a lot of sanding, rounding off those curved fuse edges just under the top corners of the windshield. Basically, it's a 1/8" round over now and it fits much better and I think little enough stress to not worry about the windshield cracking.

I am planning to run a piece of 1/8" balsa crossways at the top against the front of the bulkhead. This will cover those steps left from the wing mounting parts. I'm going to double check my wing mounting dowels and likely cover those holes as well. This will provide another 1/8" of thickness at the top for the windshield to adhere to. At the moment, there is only 1/8" which is a bit narrow in my opinion.

Meanwhile, my rechargeable Dremel has run down from all the activity today, but it is so much more controllable than my other one, that I'm just waiting until it charges. All this cowling work and now windshield work has added up to a lot of Dremel work. I guess it's time to hop onto cutting the bomb bay servo mount... which I seem to keep putting off! Once that's in, and the quick gluing of the tug release mount, I'll be able to take a good set of photos actually showing all of these areas I've been talking about. I hope you folks don't mind nude photos! [:-]

I LOVE that silver/blue and the way you alternated it! And the workmanship looks really nice, too! Great job and great color scheme. I've had in my head to do a blue/silver scheme on something. I'm certain I'll get around to it some day. Meanwhile, my Decathlon will look like a Dreamsicle. And since I'm progressing with my windshield now, I might be able to move indoors and start the wings tonight!

Man thats gorgeous! I really like the blue, silver white scheme. I also dig how you flipped the pattern for the middle star burst. Looks awesome man! Keep the photos coming!!

The good thing about a hobby is you don't have to do things in any precise order... Unless the model itself requires it. So, as the weather improved, instead of covering, I headed off in a different and likely better direction. Wing spars! So, wings went back on and I dove in.

The Dubro straps I bought were pretty tight getting a hole big enough for a 8-32 machine screw, but it worked. The prepunched holes were a bit off center, so I started with a needle file and enlarged while moving them to center. Then drilled from there. I have enough metal on both sides now. It would have been close if I hadn't done this centering. I used smaller machine screws to fasten them to the struts.

My handy dandy Dremel tool! That small drum sander... I let the sanding drum extend past the end of the mandrel a bit. I then used is sort of like a router, lining up the end of the drum with the bottom of the fuse plywood and sanded inward to create the area for mounting the struts to the fuse. This turned out to be a jewel of a way to do this. Looks 50 times better than the the hacked method pictured in the manual.

After sanding out those slots, I drilled for and inserted my brass 8-32 inserts through the fuse ply and into the 1/4" ply I used for my LG plate. I feel like I have a really rugged set of connection point and that the straps bolted to the struts will combine to be a very strong set of working struts.

I managed to pull off a really nice job of joining the two struts together. It is done much like outlined in the manual. A really good technique for the final fit is to hold them slightly apart and put a piece of sandpaper in the joint. Then you work the sandpaper, one side presses the sandpaper against any high areas on the other side of the joint. I'm pretty proud of those joints. I then epoxied them together while they were all fastened to the model. I laid paper towels under the glue area on the wings just in case of a drip and one did catch a drip! Next will be removing the struts, doing a bit of touch up sanding in the epoxied area and then I do plan to cover this area with fiberglass. That should make them as strong as the mounting points.

My windshield is done... my cowling just needs a bit more sanding and the carb cutout. I likely will need to do just a bit more sanding around the nose of the fuse to help the cowling fit more closely. And I need to glass the inside of the cowling seams.

Wow!!! My list is getting really short! Looking at it all again, I think I could go ahead and paint the inside of the cockpit any time now, do a bit of final sanding on the fuse and start the complete covering work.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... where's the photos.... Well, it was this then that and suddenly the model was upside down on my stands and then suddenly the struts were happening and there was just never a really good time to drag the whole thing outside. But look at it this way... I'll have photos with struts now.

OK... here you go! Finally.... My nude gallery.

And a few more....

and the last...

Duromain,

Beautiful work!

rsad

Very good job, i try to do the wing like yours.

heres some picturesof mine.

Dumorian - Nice detailed work! I love the pics. Glad you got the camera working. The bomb doors look outstanding. I looks like you maintained the compound angles under the fuse when they are shut. That had to be very difficult.

I've stalled a little on the SD. Been working on repairing and recovering and old Sterling Fledgling originally built in the 70's. The ply firewall turned to mush so I thought it would be safer (and fun) to just scratch build a new fuse.

I did try that Testors decal paper and sealer. It works pretty well. You have to spray the sealer over the ink using extremely light coats or else they will run. I'll post a pic later of the small "2009" lettering that I am putting on the top of the tail fin.