Somewhere in there I started to work on making some templates for the starburst pattern common to decathlons and shown on the kit plans. I used a glass plate over the plans, and clear plastic material for the templates, straightedge, and a sharp #11 exacto blade. It was a bit tedious, but not that bad in the end. I intend to use a trim sheet to make the starburst pattern. My thoughts are that white covering won't be as white over the red covering on the rest of the airplane.

Ok, last post for the day

I sanded down the epoxy nightmare on the fins, rudder and elevator. One thing I learned in their construction, do not use T pins on small hardwood strips. I used some CA to seal the split. I also beveled the ailerons.

Happy flying and don't glue your fingers together gang!

Kargo, I'm enjoying this thread. I'm planning to build that one.
I plan to use an LA .15 on it. I've heard that that plane comes out
a little on the heavy side, so sand it thoroughly and keep the
on-board gear light. Enjoy your project![sm=shades_smile.gif]

I really like the laser cut of this kit. Everything fits much better than a die-cut, and the pre-shaped spar helps greatly in aligning the ribs. The one wing side I've built so far turned out very good and strait, the leading edge fit perfectly. That's a lot more than I can say for my last winter's project, which required a lot more sanding and fabrication.

NorfolkSouthern

Hey gang, I've been doing a lot more family stuff and building than posting, so its been a bit. The progress to date;

Wing

I dealt with the gap between the trailing edge pieces with some epoxy, wax paper and a clamp. I pressed the epoxy into the gap with a piece of scrap. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the finished result. I'm sure its added some weight, but there is no more gap.

I was not comfortable with the way the servo was mounted, so I messured the length of the Blue Bird BMS 380MG micro servo

http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id...93&pid=T886880

and placed to pieces of balsa between the ribs according to its length. I placed them so the sheeting would rest just on top of them. The instructions has you use two ply "servo rails" glued to the sheeting for the stock servo mount. I used those as well. There is 3 pieces of sheeting for each wing side/half (12 total). I soaked the front two pieces in water (which had the most curve) and used Titebond II with rubberbands, clamps and bag weights. After the sheeting was in dry I cut out the hole for the servo mount. The instructions say to mount the servo off-set of the centerline, and I mounted it right up against the wing joint. If I had it to do over, I'd leave some space.

Back to the fuselage. I left off at the firewall.

Having marked and installed the firewall, I was ready to "hog" some of it out. I used spade bits to drill out the stuff I thought was absolutely not necessary. The holes will also serve to vent air past the motor/battery/esc. I didn't remove a lot, but I'm sure it'll help.

Sorry about the picture not being vertical.

Next I setup the motor mount. As I said in a previous post, I intended to use nylon spacers and bolts to mount the motor far enough forward to have a nice fit with the prop and the cowl. I did a lot of fitting with this, and eventually came up with the length my spacers needed to be. There is a large amount of right thrust built into the model, and its construction (cheeks, motor mount offset, etc) allow the prop to clear everything. Yeah, I know, no kidding. The point is, all this allowed the spacers to be the same length. I used a miter box to cut them. I also fount I had to nip a bit off one corner to allow the motors mounting plate screws to fit. The motor fit near perfect, with the prop exiting the center of the non existent front of the cowl. I also used nylon lock nuts on the back side of the firewall.

I installed the blind nuts prior to gluing in the firewall, and used CA on the back of the nut to secure it.

I'm watching this thread because I always wanted to get one of these, suprised your going electric, but to each thier own I guess. looks like a fun, easy build.

I'm planning to mount an OS 10LA rather than going electric, since there are very few models with a glow engine that size. Still, I'd like to see how this one looks when covered. Also, can you show us some photos on how you shaped the wing tips, Kargo? I'd like to determine how I'm going to sand mine, before I get any farther into it.

NorfolkSouthern

First the question on shaping the wing tips;

Ya know, I didn't really have a good way of doing that. I found that as a bit of a sticking point too. The plans don't really show it, so I just sort of guessed. The supplied wing tip is made of balsa sheet, laser cut to its rounded shape. It slides into a notch in the main spar, inbetween the TE sandwich construction and on top of the LE dowel. I used epoxy for where it touched the cedar LE dowel, and Titebond 2 everywhere else it touched.

I sanded (used a razor saw for the ruff angel on the dowel) the dowel, spars, and TE to match the taper the wing tip would provide to the covering. I'm not sure if this was the right thing to do with the TE sandwich construction, but its what I did. I rounded the corner of the LE dowel. I hope the pictures help.

Also, I think the forward spars were meant to be cut flush with the last rib. Instead, I added pieces of balsa between the forward spars and the wing tip piece.

pictures

pictures

ok, slowly learning to get these pictures posted;

The reason for the electric conversion is so we can fly it in the fairgrounds behind our house. We could probably get away with glow power, but I feel more comfortable with something quiter. We got some help from our RC Instructor/Mentor Dave and tested the electric setup with a wattmeter. The Great Planes Rimfire 28-30-1250 motor, 25SS ESC and 11.1V 3S 2100Mah setup drew 14.5amps on a 8x3.8 APC prop and 19amps on a 8x6 APC. We weighed all the components minus the covering, nelson litefilm, and two servos and a reciever (which weight less than 1.5oz) and came up with a wopping 1lb10oz. If the model AUW is 2 lbs, it should give us 200 watts per lb. Very good aerobatic performance.

Back to business;

I took the motor and mount off and began work on the battery hatch. I decided on a hatch hinged with pinned nylon hinges (dubro small) and a dubro hatch latch.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD943&P=7

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMRK5&P=7

I started by cutting out a new "tank floor" piece, using the fuse as a template. This I made into the hinged hatch piece. The original tank floor sits underneith the firewall and the F1 former (in front of the landing gear block). To make it into a hatch I removed some of it on the aft end where it would be hinged, cut a strip off the front of it for latches "plate," and a rectangular hole for the latch to fit into. Dubro provides a template for this. It'll make more sence when you see the pictures.

Next I installed the hinges on the fuselage at the F1 former. I used extra strips of balsa sheeting directly on top of F1, and in front of it, sandwiching the hinges between the balsa. I glued the whole works in with epoxy. I was very careful about the fit of the hinges (I think some would say the geometry of it), and to not get any epoxy in the wrong places.
a note on the fit of the hinges; the hinges are thicker in the midlle where the pin is. I stuck that thicker piece just over the edge of the bottom of F1 so it would make a nice tight fit. To explane a different way, the flat thinner part of the hinge was placed in the balsa sandwiched onto F1, with just the round pin part of the hinge sticking out.

one more...

Sorry, F1 is really F8. I knew I should have looked that one up.

I'm trying to figure out your math here. 19 amps x 12 volts or so would be 228 watts/2 lbs equals 114 watts per pound. In all actuality youll be closer to 100 watts per pound. Still enough for spirited aerobatic performance. I built one of these about 5 yrs ago as my first kit. Started out with a Magnum .15-nuthin but headaches. Later converted to electric flying on about 125 watts/pound and it was fun. No good on grass though,every landing wound up upside down. If yours comes in at 2 lbs, watch out for the tip stall and death spiral...

oops, that would be that new math. I agree completely; 11.1x19 = 210.9 then divided by 2 for 2lbs = 105.45watts per lb. Using the rule of thumb I've seen here and elsewhere that would be good aerobatic performance. Thanks for the correction and the advice.

Does it tip stall easily when its slow? Or do you get into that trouble when your stalling intentionally? Does it not like to recover from a spin?

I've got 2 3/4 foam wheels on it so we'll see what happens... maybe I should put it on skis

NorfolkSouthern, so far as how it looks covered, here it is so far...

This information, along with the photos, are very helpful. Now I have a better idea of how to shape the wing tips. The covering is looking good so far, I see you have yet to put the stars on the main wing. From what I recall, you were going to cover it in white first, then overlay the red design to make the white brighter. However, I see you decided to start with the red first, at least on the main wing. Although a little darker, it's probably an easier method.

Meanwhile, I should be back on track with mine fairly soon. But, I also have yet to finish a Lanier Citabria project.

NorfolkSouthern

yup, I went with the white starburst over the red. What I found when I made some test pieces with the Nelson Litefilm is that it was almost transparent. I tried the red on balsa, white on balsa, and then both colors over each other. They'll show the balsa underneath, but you have to look kinda close to see it. At a distance it gives it a look that is definitely different than a heavier covering like ultracote. The pictures I've posted don't really show it. In the end I didn't like the white on balsa, so I put it over the red.

The other thing I found is that when I used the "windex method" for positioning decals with the litefilm "decals" there was much less transparency. This also allowed me to get the starburst cutouts/decals on very smoothly. The difference in the amount of bubbles, wrinkles and other imperfections between using windex to position the covering decals and is huge. I'll cover what I did later in this thread. The decathlon is almost finished. I'm just waiting to iron on the starburst covering decals for the wings. Thanks for everyone’s patience.

Continueing with the build;

I did install the triangle stock on either side of the firwall as I had planned. I did this prior to installing the hinges and tank floor front edge. I used a razor to split a piece of balsa stick, thanks for the tip Sky Sharkster, and then sanded the triangle stock to match the right thrust set into the firewall.

I also drilled the holes for the landing gear screws, set the screws and hardened the threads with thin CA.

Back to the hatch.

With the Dubro hatch latch cutout made I drilled some holes through my modified tank floor for weight savings. I was not concerned about the strength of the structure as it would later be glued to 1/8 inch sheeting, and the tank floor was made from 3/16 inch sheeting. I also had to make a raised "battery floor" to get the battery over the lip created by F1 and the nylon hinge/balsa sandwich. I used 1/8 inch sheeting. I attacked some balsa stick to make some square legs to raise the battery floor high enough to be flush with the F1 lip, made holes in another piece of balsa sheet cut to size for the battery, and glued in the latch with CA. I then glued the whole works together with CA. My intent was to then put some velcro on this battery floor, which I'll get into when I describe installing the "guts." One more point of interest with the battery floor was that I used a square leg in the middle to help with strength of the floor.

pictures