wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Also my first kit, so be gentle.

So...

As I mentioned in my other post, I ordered a Venture 60 kit from [link=http://www.btemodels.com]Bruce Tharpe Engineering [/link]

Now, I don't care how big or small a company is, but when the owner of the company and designer of the plane answer the phone and take my order, I'm impressed to say the least. Then when Bruce took the time to answer a question I had at 9:00pm on a Sunday, I was floored. When it comes time for my next plane, I know where it's coming from...

The outside of the box was about as expected, with the best part in the lower right-hand corner:

(Pay close attention to the street address. Any donations to the put Jeff through college fund can be sent there.... j/k)




Inside, well, let's just suffice it to say, I have know idea how he got it all in there....





Or how I'll get it back in there:

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Unrolled the plans. I hated cutting them apart...


Got started on the right wing...




And that's where I sit for now...

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

I have had a couple of mishaps so far.

1. Turned my back for a minute and the puppy got into the box of parts and found something to snack on. Lucky for him it was just the shear webs. Went down to the hobby shop and got some more 3/32" balsa to replace the ones he chewed. [sm=angry.gif]

2. Had a small CA explosion when I opened the bottle of thin CA. It somehow got pressurized and went everywhere when I cut the tip off. Glued three fingers together, glued the cap to the bottle to a fourth finger and a T-pin to the other three.

3. Forgot to make larger holes in the ribs for the servo cable to go through. Gonna have to find a good way to enlarge them now.

Mindwarp

I had that problem too. Originally built the wing with the single central servo, then my wife bought me a Futaba 9CAF for Christmas (did I marry the right girl or what?) Had to remove the wing sheeting, repair the cut center rib, cut servo wire holes in the ribs with a hobby knife, then re-sheet and glass everything.

Was worth it in the long run though

Hardy_H

To me the holes in the ribs look big enough, unless they are smaller than the cable diameter. I don't understand why people always drill huge holes and install wire tunnel tubes. I just put in the cable (with some extra inches) in before covering (or sheeting), then solder servo and plugs to it after covering. If I have to replace the servo I cut and solder. Did you ever have to replace a servo cable?

Mindwarp

The holes in the Venture 60 rib are smaller than the size of a standard Futaba J connector, so if you're using those you need to enlarge the holes a bit.

Neatness, and being able to replace the servo/extension without having to cut and solder I suppose.

Fubar-One

My Feedback: (1)

Man!
You planning to get it airborne next weekend? Looks to be a fast building kit. I gotta get mine started.

halflight

My Feedback: (5)

What engine are you planning to use?

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

It won't be up for awhile yet. Didn't get anything done on it today...
And I've gotta get my truck fixed. (electrical problems)

Haven't purchased the engine or radio yet, but I'm probably going to go with an OS .61FX and Futaba 6EXA.

Mindwarp

That .61 FX will be perfect for it. One warning though, the gap between the firewall and the needle valve is tiny (about 3/4" in fact.) I'd seriously consider getting a fuel dot and fitting an extra fuelling line to the tank, because once that fuel tubing gets coated in engine oil it's going to be a bear to keep taking off/putting on. I plan on removing the tank from mine and outfitting it with a separate fuelling line today.

I purchased my fuel dot from PSP Mfg. They were very quick to ship the order to me, had a great range of milled and annodised Aluminum dots, and the price was right. If you want to take a look, their range of standard sized fuel dots is [link=http://www.pspmfg.com/FuelDotsRegular.html]here.[/link]

Good job on the build so far, by the way! Those wings just fall together, don't they

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Fall together? I've got about 10 hours into the right wing. But this is my first kit and I've been taking it slow.

Mindwarp

That's absolutely fine. I remember doing the same with my LT-40. The second kit (Venture 60 in my case) goes a lot faster once you're more comfortable with the procedures involved in building a straight wing panel. I think my Venture wings took something like two hours a side for me. It's absolutely not a competition though. Take as much time as you need to feel comfortable with what you're doing, and remember to double-check all those measurements and rib numbers!

I hear that if you accidentally glue an R-2 where an R-1 should go, you can carefully pick apart the glue joint with debonder and a craft knife. Not that I did that, of course. No. *ahem*

In my defense, the ink was patchy on the R-2 stamp and it made it look like R-1. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Swager

My Feedback: (1)

The Futaba 6EXA is a nice radio but do yourself a favor and look at the Futaba 7CAP.

Good Luck

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Haven't gotten a chance to do much building over the weekend. Truck got a new alternator, battery, plugs, wires and I finally got around to replacing the U-Joint that died about a year ago.

On the bright side, got all (I think) of the hardware, the engine and radio purchased.

Radio: Futaba 6EXA
Engine: OS .61FX

I'll stick some pictures up here when I get home from work.

Oh, I do still need to get the tailwheel ordered.

Now to figure out what colors I want to make it...

piper28

Can you give a brief description of how that actually hooks up? I'm looking at their page, and I'm not sure from what I see exactly how it works, and how you'd connect a fuel line to fill it there. I'm vaguely curious, mainly because I find the whole idea of pulling the fuel line tubing to the engine on any plane a strange way to deal with fueling, and even on the trainer I'm building I'd rather not deal with that.

Mindwarp

Sure thing piper:

The fuel dot is basically a pretty termination point for a third, separate fueling line to your fuel tank. Many fuel tanks (certainly the Great Planes and DuBro tanks) have attachment points for these separate fueling lines.

Due to the fact that there's very little distance between the firewall and the needle valve connector in my Venture 60 I added a separate fueling line to the tank. You COULD just leave the fuel line dangling in the engine compartment and seal it off with a screw if you've not got a fully cowled engine, but it's neater to use a fuel dot.

The fuel dot consists of two pieces: the hollow receptacle that the plug fits in to, and the fuel line plug. First you drill a hole through your cowl/airplane side of the same diameter as the fuel dot. Next you fit the fuel dot receptacle so that the attachment nut goes on the inside of the cowl/airplane. Tighten the nut so that the fuel dot receptacle is firmly attached (it's an idea to use thread-lock compound or a drop of thin CA on the thread so that you don't lose the attachment nut during flight.) Next thread the fueling line through the fuel dot receptacle from the inside to the outside of the aircraft. Finally insert the fuel dot plug into the end of the fueling line, then click the fuel dot plug/fuel line into the fuel dot receptacle. This seals the end of the fueling line and secures it to the side of the aircraft while still leaving it easily accessible from the outside.

Personally I wouldn't worry about installing a separate fueling line on your trainer if there's enough space to easily remove/attach the fuel line from the needle valve. It's really a very simple and effective method of refueling your aircraft, and has the added benefit of one less fuel line attached to the fuel tank (and therefore less chance of developing a leak in the fuel system) and one less hole through the firewall/aircraft side. As I said, I'm really only doing this because of the space constraints in my Venture. Well, that and it looks cool

Hope this helps,
Neil.

piper28

Thanks for the description. I've been pondering what to do, since I'm running a 41fx, so the needle valve is also in the back, and I'd been looking at the debating what the odds are that I'd be able to pull the fuel line without scorching my fingers on the engine. So I've been debating some sort of valve or something. (Now, the obvious question of course is why they show 2 dots on the planes in their pictures).

Sorry to sidetrack the thread, I'd just seen several references to fuel dots and had been wondering how they worked.

Mindwarp

The two dots will be connected to two tanks: one for fuel, and one for smoke oil.

jspencer

My Feedback: (6)

The quick and easy way to do this, if you haven't already, is pick up a piece of 1/2", or close to it, brass tubing from the LHS and sharpen one end. Then just twist a little and it will cut out the extra that needs to be removed for enlarging the hole. I've used the 7/16" brass tubing, it works excellent and gives you a nice clean hole and is a good size for the futaba connectors.

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

I'll give that a try.

I'm ticked off right now. I was looking over the right wing before I started on the left and noticed I put shear webs in two bays I wasn't supposed to and I put the dowl plate between the main spars instead of the front ones.

Broke out what I could with my thumbs, now I gotta figure out how to get the rest out and smooth it back down so I can put the dihedral brace in.

Lesson learned? Read, then re-read and read one more time, the instructions and don't build airplanes when you're exhausted. (2am was when I made this blunder.)

Mindwarp

The shear webs should be easy enough to remove, although to be honest it wouldn't hurt to leave them in there and just get a bit more balsa to cut extras for the other wing. If I remember, the dowel plate is epoxied into the wing, so rather than remove the one you installed on the main spars I'd get some matching ply and cut new ones to install on the front spars. The extra weight really won't matter all that much, and since you're installing servos in the wings the plate in between the main spars isn't going to get in the way.

Cheers,
Neil.

As my old driving instructor used to say "Experience doesn't stop you making mistakes... it just lets you cover them up more effectively!"

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Only problem is, they're right where the plans say the dihedral brace go.

On the bright side, here are the pictures of the radio and engine...
My supervisor got into the pic of the radio.

Mindwarp

Argh! I forgot about the dihedral brace running through there. Well, if you epoxied the dowel plate in you should be able to remove it with careful use of a covering heat gun. What you need to do is use the heat gun to heat up the epoxy, then scrape as much away as you can with a hobby knife. Keep heating and scraping and you should eventually be able to loosen and remove the errant piece. Make sure that the inside faces of the spars are clean of hardened epoxy, as the dihedral brace is a snug fit between them.

If you used CA to attach the dowel plate then liberal application of debonder should fix the problem.

Good luck,
Neil.

wraith0078

My Feedback: (2)

Umm.... I used Elmer's Ultimate Glue(same as Gorilla Glue, only cheaper)....

It's out of there, but I'm gonna need to stop by the hobby shop and get some more liteply....

And I'm gonna have to get creative with an emory board/nail file to smooth the spars back down.

Oregon Craig

You COULD move the needle valve to the front of the engine, at the carb, where they always used to be. I know, somewhat less safe.