housedad

Well, I've started building this weekend, finally. I decided to get back into things with a new trainer, a PT-60, since I don't want anything to happen to my beloved Trainer 60. I'll work on that after I make my trainer and I supervise my daughter on hers (a Protege 60 kit) and get some of the rust off the old skills.

The fin, rudder, elevator and stabilizer were pretty straightforward. Hinge gaps turned out nice at 1/32 inch. I will glue the hinging after covering, of course.

It sure is easier making things nowadays having some of the newfangled tools available. The Greate Planes multi sanders are real nice for shaping the edges of the tailplane. Beats the old way I used to do it hands down. I found that the best way to put sandpaper on the multi sander v groove is with two pieces of sandpaper, each with a straight edge at the bottom of the V. This preserves a sharper point.

The Slot Machine is also another Godsend. I was amazed at how well it worked.

Starting on the Fuselage, I found that the die cut parts were rather rough in some areas, (as always with diecutting) and the longedges that should have been straight, were off a bit. I sanded the edges straight and made sure they matched well between the top and bottom pieces. The aft piece was another matter. Seems the angle and the length of the butt joint did not match very well at all. Took a bit of careful sanding and matching to get all the parts to fit well.

Now I'm ready to glue it up.

housedad

WOW! This building with magnets is even better than I hoped. I had laid up the fin and stab on it and used the magnets as clamps until the Titebond set up. Here is the Fuselage sides undergoing the same treatment. I had full solvent cans placed for weight until drying. They are removed in the picture.

I have to admit, there is a lot more waiting time for the Titebond to cure, but it does beat having fumes in the eyes, and it is sure easier to sand!!

Cr@shm@ster

Looks like a fairly nice build how's the protege 60 kit going? The reason is I'm working on that kit now as a first kit just started putting fuse together tonight and up till this point seems to be going ok my fuse sides didnt come printed with locations for drilling the dowel holes for holddowns even though directions said they were there so measured it off the plans hopefully it works out lol.

housedad

The Protege has not started yet. It is part of a 10th Birthday present to my daughter. I've used some rebate certificates and a couple of old merchandise certificates and cash to get the plane, a radio system and a engine for her. Her birthday is the 28th, so we will begin shortly after. I know she suspects, since a big box came and I wouldn't tell her what was in it. She's been building stick frame and tissue models for the past several months. She's gotten pretty good at building them and she's a tiger at Realflight G3.5!!

I will keep an eye out for those hole locations. Measuring from the plans usually works pretty good. Show us some pics of your build!

Edit: oops! That's March 28th!!

Cr@shm@ster

Yeah i'll post some real soon. Like i said this is my first build and real r/c plane i've had a couple cheap park zone foamies and built a couple SPADS but when I opened my box at the house I just stood there thinking what did i get myself into lol. But with some encourgement from the wifey I got started and overall its been pretty pleasant...at least till I had to wrap the center of the wing with nylon cloth and CA (when it says well ventilated area USE IT!)

MasterAlex

Hey Cr@sh, if you haven't done so, check out [link=http://www.airfieldmodels.com/information_source/how_to_articles_for_model_builders/construction/joining_wing_panels/04.htm]Caffeen Man's Site[/link] here for a tutorial on glassing a center wing. There's a ton of information here on his site. He suggests a method that uses epoxy (I use this and it's great) - much better for the CA alergic.

-MA

Cr@shm@ster

OH MAN! well now i know lol I have a lot of fixing to do on that wrap lol. Ah well that's what learning is all about.

housedad

Here is more that I did tonight. The first pic shows the Fuse sides with the doublers finished, the formers, the wing bolt plate clamped and curing, and the firewall clamped and curing. The fuse sides ended up very flat. The doublers were installed with medium CA.

The second pic shows the essentially finished formers and firewall.

I forgot to take a pick of the install of the formers. Drat! I pressed too hard and former #3 shattered on me.[sm=sad_smile.gif] 5 pieces, but it glued back together well. [sm=shades_smile.gif]

Pic three is gluing on the bottom rear sheeting. It was done in Great planes wood glue, and hence the clamps. The front bottom sheeting was done with CA.

Pic four, five and six is the finished bottom sheeting and assembly. This shows the formers in place.

Pic seven is of the pushrod tube and antennae tube installed.

Pic eight is the clamping of the top sheeting. That's where I am right now. Waiting for glue to dry....

There's gonna be a lot of sanding!!

carrellh

My first kit was a PT-60. I built it pretty much "by the book." I made the wings bolt-on rather than using rubber bands. I built the "sport" wing and ended up with slightly less dihedral than the book calls for. The book calls for 4 inches and I ended up with 2-1/2 or 3-1/2. When everything lined up, I stopped sanding. I also did not build washout into the wings. I asked my instructor about it before starting the wing. He said building a strong straight wing was more important than washout for this model. He trains commercial airline pilots for a living, and has been modeling for 40 years, so I trust his judgement.

As you are seeing throughout the build, the PT-60 is designed as a very tough bird. Mine took a severe beating before I finally killed it. It was such a good plane that my brother built me a new one.

The Bluehead

Doing a good job Housedad, and even more kudos for getting your daughter involved. this can be a great family hobby.

Five years ago I got back into RC after a 15 year absence. I built a PT-60 and still fly it quite often. I use it to teach other people to fly, and also fly it year round off of skiis and floats. A good flyer that will be around for years. It has taken a bit of abuse thru the years, but is still a great airplane. I will build another if I re-kit it.

housedad

I have finished the fueslage today. I'll have some pics up later.

For anyone that reads this: I'm about to start the wing and am still unsure about the dihedral. I have read several places that some folks have made theirs withthe sport wing to learn with. This is not my only plane, as I have (now) a protege 60 in the box (and one for my daughter) and a Great Planes Trainer 60 still to rebuild.

Sport wing or Trainer wing?

Bion

carrellh

Sport

The trainer wing has so much dihedral that ailerons are pretty worthless. The slightest crosswind will make it almost impossible to take off or land without the plane blowing over.

Even with the sport wing the plane will "try" to return to straight and level flight if you release the sticks. With an instructor to keep you out of major trouble you really do not need the 'self righting' tendencies the trainer wing forces on you.

My current PT-60 (white/red) has zero dihedral. It is still extremely stable, but, I do have to level the wings after a turn.

The blue/yellow one has sport wing with slightly less dihedral than specified.