I'm putting this wing to bed this week, could I get a pic of Ken's fianl trailing edge? If it is open, do you fuelproof it? Do you pint it to match the covering? Inquiring minds want to know.

Hillville, I will get you a photo soon.

Roger, there are a couple of options based on builder's preference. The bellcrank plate is shown just to give an idea of how it would fit into a wing that was setup the old way. You can put 4 servos in the wings - if you use light servos. Since the load on the ailerons are now dividend between two servos, you can put light servos in with half the torque and still be perfectly capable in the air. Another way to do it (if you do not have as many servos - or have a concern for weight) is to put a servo in the center as before, to control the flaps, then use two servos for the ailerons. This setup will allow you to close up the trailing edge. Fuel proofing is not required... unless you put the engine on the wrong end of the plane

Having a pits muffler means the exhaust would be very far away form the wing.

Thanks Ken, I may do that next time. I like to paint or cover all exposed pieces. My trailing edge will be painted the base color as will the exposed clevises. I know you cant' see them from the ground but it just makes it look finished. You might get away with covering your flap pockets but I dont' think you can cover the aileron pockets. I guess it's a matter of taste on the builders part.

I just came up from the basement to check in while the dope is drying on the horz. stab. . I will have fotos of the recover tonight.

I think this plane is going to attract a lot of attention and I want to cover all my bases with that trailing edge. I have been considering pants on mine. May take me a while to build those. Did Ken ever consider making those part of the kit. I have a box full of wheels that a gentleman left me after his passing. I have never had to a set of wheels in years. I unfortunately found this evening that my treasure box did not have anything above 3 inches[]. One more item on my checklist when I go to the hobby shop.

Hmm... wheel pants. I've been thinking about that for a while. But for some reason every time I mention it around the lab I get dirty looks. Seems to me that everyone knows they look nice, but it turns into a grass scoop and kills the effectiveness of the wheels inside of a few landings. I may give something a try just to see what happens. I may post something tomorrow.

Ok Gang, As promised here are the photos of the tail group recover. I tried something different this time. Last time I used one piece of fabric for each piece of the tail. That is one per side on the horz. and one for the vertical fin. The technique used last time was to start on the bottom, wrap the cloth arount to the top, bring the edge over the L/E and finish on the bottom. I found that this left a rather large overlap on the lower surface and try as I might it was hard to finish it off. This time I laid a piece on the bottom, after the dope set I cut the edge off with a razor blade right at the surface edge. NO overlap. The top piece is doped on in the normal maner with a slight overhang. Once the dope starts to set wrap the edge over and trim the excess at the centerline of the stabilizer. This gives a very slight overlap right on the leading edge and with one coat of dope it is invisable.

I added a small "patch under the Horz. stab where the it joins the fuse. at the rear. There is a void there and this fills it.

The Vert. stab is covered the same way as the Horz. except that I left extra material where the stab and fuse join. The fabric is doped at the edges of the fuse. and along the L/E of the stab. When heat is applied the fabric pulls away to give the "Belly" effect. I think you can see iyt in the photo taken from the rear. On the full size plane the vertical stab and fuselage were covered using a bag. that gave a contour to the covering that bowed out as it hit the fuselage. The horz. stab was then bolted to the fuseat the top longeron. I think my technique approximates this full size look.

Second post tonight with the rest of the photos. The third shot show how baggy the vert is before shrinking, and the last shows the bulge. I hope you can see it. My flash washes out the shots because the white fabric give a false reading to the light meter. I hav'nt figured out how to shoot on manual with this camera.

how do we get these new servo boxes??

actually though im thinking of using some high torque and setting it up with the bellcranks... not sure with which way to go here

Roger, thank you for the pics. On the first posting, the last pic with the fuse inverted is what I needed to see. The fin, when inserted still protrudes past the fuse slightly on the bottom side. Mine is the same way and I thought that we had done something wrong. Glad to see we are on the right track. Thank you for the pics. Ken, I am going to beat you to the wheel pants. Well, probably not, I keep forgetting that I don't have a lab. My in-laws do, but it's a chocalate lab and sheds like crazy. I still want to give them a try. My research has about 50% of the Tripes sporting pants. I think I am going to carve my own, I just read an article that leads me to believe I can do it. I would still like to see your trailing edge. Kids installed bellcranks today. Wanna guess what they did wrong? My boys on the tail used one piece too many and left me without enough to sheet the wing. One more thing on my shopping list at the hobby shop.

Help. My wing guys are making great progress. They are on page 10 and we will hopefully hook up bell cranks today. On page 14 it shows how to sheet the trailing edge, but I don't think the manual talks at all about sheeting the bottom of the trailing edge. I've been wrong before. But it must happen for two reasons: page 15 step 11 shows a sheeted trailing edge and the second reason is that the flaps and ailerons would not be flush with the rest of the wing without a trailing edge. 2 hours before they show up today. Can you point me in the right direction.

Yes, thats something I forgot to mention. You do sheet the trailing edge the same as the top. Then you can cap your ribs with strips.

I will fix that in the manual.

Thank you. I missed the part not glueing the windows on the first couple of pages, so I figured I had just missed it. I had my wife to read it and she couldn't find it either. Fuse is nearly done, can't find a pair of z bend pliers to save my life or the wing would be done. Wing boys are filling the gaps between the ribs on the top and bottom which should keep them busy for two days. I see the end of the tunnel.

Hey, you are right. I cant find any reference to bottom sheeting either. I just repeated the process on the bottom that was used on the top. Bring the 3/4 wide strips flush with the rib ends. Butt the edge up to the hinges. There are several photos of the bottom sheeting even if there are no instuctions. It's not a critical area of worry.

Hey guys, I will be off line for a while. I am leaving the thread in your hands. I have a cardiac proceedure scheduled in spokane for Friday and have to go in for the pre-op workup tomorrow. I could be home friday night depending on what they find and how they fix it. Another stint will cost me a night or two in the hospital. Anything worse could take me out of circulation for a week or so. I'll see you all in a couple of days. Sorry I won't be able to check in and chat for a while. Keep up the good work.

I'll be praying for you. I hope everything goes OK. Here are some pics that the kids took. I turned a kid loose with the camera but did not have time to look at them. I took a look and thought yuo might enjoy the smiles on their faces. Kind of makes it worth it. Update: my fuse guys are awesome and don't need me at all, my nose sander is out of the wheel chair and walking again. The nose is finished and he has started the servo tray. The aileron and flap boy cut himself twice today, oh well he has 8 good fingers left. Good luck with surgery Roger, I am hoping for the best.

Take it easy Roger. Everyone here will be pulling for you.

Thanks fellows. It's not that big a deal. I had a stint put in after a mild heart attack two years ago. At my last checkup the Dr. saw an anomily on my EKG and suggested another cardioscope. I put him off and now I am showing symptoms of something going on. It could be another blocked artery or two. Hopefully it's another artery and not the stint site. If the stint is blocked they will have to bypass it. In any case it is not to the point that they will have to send the helicopter for me. It may be nothing at all. I tromped all over the mountians this October during hunting season and felt fine. At the end of the season I could walk strait up the mountian without even breathing hard. We will just have to wait and see.

I tried out my new HVLP touchup gun today. Sprayed a little primer/sealer on the fuselage and wing. It works pretty good but the thing only holds about 3 Oz. and it must be reloaded often. I am still experimenting with the valves and knobs so primer is all I can use now. I will have lots of time to pint the plane when I get home. No heavy lifting for 6 weeks so the incision in the femoral atrery can heal.

"Sorry honey, can't do the garbage or the dishes... I'm going down to work on the plane..."

Hello All,
I am very interested in offering a fiberglass cowl for this Tri Pacer. A gentleman building the plane has contacted me about it and said he will send his cowl when finished to make a mold of. Once I have one to mold I will work on it as soon as I can. If you want to contact me please use my email or phone as I don't check RCU too often. Thank you.
Craig Schmidt
Fiberglass Specialties
479-359-2429
www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com
[email protected]

What will become of the airscoop? Hey Ken, send him one of yours, lets get the ball rolling. I'm going to build yours in the process, but I want a Fiberglas one as soon as possible. This is a good thing.

The question has never been weather we can make one. The issue was complexity and cost of the glass cowl. When we made ours, it was heavy, costly, and posed a lot of challenges when servicing the engine at the field. It also added 7 inches to the all ready long 49" box. We Later looked at doing a partial cowl, but haven't worked out what that would do for various engines if the builder had to cut valve rocker holes into an area where the seam would be.

I will mention it at the next meeting to see what became of it.

oh no! [>:][:-]
the cowl is the thing that i thought was the most brilliant design aspect of this plane

because as it is now, i plane on cutting the pattern out of thin aluminum and hinging it and making a working opening cowl like the real deal. thats the number 1 thing i hate about 1 piece cowls is that there such a royal pain in the donkey for maitenence

but hey, i realize i dont have to put it on my plane, but i do hope that any other scale project that mosquitobite planes puts out incorporates this type of cowling,

like the beer add says, BRILLIANT!

It is nice to have the option. Half of my planes have fiberglas and half have ABS. Wanna guess which half have cracks in them? All the ABS ones have cracks, usually at the screws. Sure with fiberglas you have to take off the prop or carve out the headers and glow plug, but that's why it is a hobby. I'm not one of the guys that goes to the field to work on planes, I take two so that I can fly. If I have problems, I usually don't take it apart right there regardless. I want something that is going to last a long time. And I want this plane to be a centerpiece for a long time.

What about part glass, part Poly? Keep the nose glass and the "hood" section poly. Get both features.

I think one piece would be nice. I would like to see that scoop incorporated into the cowl somehow. I realize that different motor and muffler combos might interfere, but I like spraypainting a cowl and being done with it. Maybe the scoop could be epoxied to the bottom as a seperate piece once the muffler was positioned. What do I know? The kit is out of the kids hands now. I took it home to finish it up. It took them exactly 5 weeks. That's only a half hour a day and we had 4 snow days. That's pretty impressive. Usually it takes at least 7 weeks. I will take components back for some finishing. I have not made the sccop yet. They will also make the struts. But for now, I getting her sanded for covering. Also bought my wheels today. Excited that they were only $3.99 until I figured out that was for each one. I hate visiting the hobby shop and spending over $60 and not walking out with a plane or an engine, just a bunch of little things. Hope Roger is OKAY. Let us know soon.