EscapeFlyer

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Keep it coming! I'm interrested. [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Its stopped snowing but the rains coming down so not much chance of flying today.So here we go with the fuse part of the build.

I started with the firewall typical 2 piece thats joined together with epoxy.
Nows the time a person needs to decide on what engine there going to use , since I don't know I will omit the part about the engine mount and go on .
I then found the formers D,E,F and the slant former and added the 1/8x1/2 inch balsa doublers as shown in the manual.
I then found the fuse sides and punched out all but the front lightning holes. I glued these in place to add the extra strength needed if a larger engine is used.

I then glued the fuse doublers to the sides making sure I made a left and right fuse sides. Now comes the part thats a little tricky and hard to see in the pics but I omited the original landing gear plate and added one of my own on a slight angle towards the front of the fuse , this will help nose over if the plane has the larger engine or flying from grass.
I omited the landing gear triplers.

Next I Tapped the fuse together at thr rudder post with a piece of 3/16 scrap in between
Useing no glue just rubber bands and tape I added the formers starting with D then E and F.

I then added the fuse top ,You may need to loosen the tape to get the fuse top in place, then I added the slant former.
I then turned the fuse over and slid the fuse bottom in place.
Tapeing and rubber bands is all thats holding things together at the moment.but it allows me to see if I have a good straight fuse by laying it over the plans to check. If everything I good I will then glue all the seams with med CA, but only after I tack glue it in several places to make sure it stays straight while glueing the entire fuse.

Ok nows a good time to add that landing gear plate I made I made it 1-1/2" wide buy about 7" long the extra length will be cut off later.
The original plate is not this wide and the bottom nose cover will need to be cut down and sanded on a angle in order to fit good, Also the fuse sides will need to be modified for the gear plate to fit.
I used epoxy to install the gear plate then added 3/8 tri stock to the insides of the fuse ,I also added the former C to the gear block,making sure it leaves room for the bottom nose cover to rest up agaisnt the gear plate and former C to tie it all together.
I then added the former B and firewall but have not glued then in place yet.
I hope you can see the gear plate and angle in the pics.

Hint Making any mod to a kit build ,can change the order a little of how they have it laid out. Nothing to worry about just don't forget anything .

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Just so you know, the weak spot in this plane is the fuse doubler that runs from just in front of the wing. These days we tend to run larger engines then when the kit was designed and I have seen several of them have the fuse break just in front of the wing and fall off, one of mine included. If you look at it there isn't much holding on the nose section from the wing forward. This is a good time to add a 1/8 light ply doubler over there doubler. Pick up your engine and cowl then give it some thought, the picture in your minds eye will come to you right away.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Thats why I left the lightning hole in place ,it adds a ton of strength to that area W/O adding alot of weight. Goes from a 1 inch unsupported piece of 1/8" lite ply to a almost 5 inch piece of 1/8" lite ply, which I don't think is going to break off very easy. If i'm overlooking something here let me know, cause I don't see it honest.
It ties in good at both the top and bottom so side strength isn't a prob or shouldn't be.

av8djc

My Feedback: (4)

I didn't mean to put down YS, they are great engines. If the 120 SC will "take it straight up out of sight at a little over half throttle" I would suggest that for most pilots that is a little overpowered. Mine was originally powered with an OS 1.08 and that I felt was not only overpowered but heavy. When I went to the Saito 100 I pulled a pound out of it and ended up around 9-9 1/2 lbs. It still floats in for a landing! The Saito 100 is enough power for me as it will do three vertical rolls before petering out but I would suggest that a Saito 115 in a light airframe would be a desirable combination. Or a YS 110, whatever floats your boat.

I have two more kits and the next one will be built as light as I can get it still using the FG cowl and aluminum gear. (I have FG gear on the present one).

Cyberwolf keep up the good work and keep us posted. You're doing a great job and we are watching you [8D]

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Oh please guy no offense was taken or ment. The YS SC was the next to the last of the 120's and it had all the bells and whistles inside it to make it a real thumper for brute power. The FZ came out after it did but it didn't have near the power the SC did .
The next time I have it out and have some good help , I'll clock it with the radar gun At WOT just for kicks, it hauls purdy good.
Thanks for the kind words, now if I can just figer out what Grey beard is taking about i'm in fat city *LOL*

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Back to the build , I finished glueing all the seams and joints with med CA on the fuse, this takes alot of glue and is a little time consuming, so turn it over a few times and check to make sure you have not missed any places.
I then glued the FW in place and added the 1/2" tri stock making sure to cut it at a angle to match the bottom cover piece. I then glued both the top and bottom cover pieces in place after making sure of a good fit.

Theres 2 donuts you punch out from the FW ,one holds rear of the dowel in the wing and the other glues to former B for the dowel to fit in to hold the wing to the fuse. Again I used a 5/16 brass tube to cut the hole in the donuts for the dowel so not to over size it for a sloppy fit.
I then added the wing bolt plate useing epoxy to glue it in place ,but being carefull not to get much on the top so it would hold the rear fuse gusset up and hit against the bottom of the wing and prevent alot of sanding . I then glued in the gusset after some sanding to make for a perfect fit, Believe me its not that great.
Opps hold the phone, before I added the wing hold down plate I put the 6-32 blind nuts in place , much easier if you do it before.
After the wing doubler disk is glued in place and dried, test fit the wing and measure it from the tips to the tail, make sure the measurements are the same on both sides then make a mark with a ball point pen or pencil.
With the wing in place and correctly lined up use a drill bit that will go thru the blind nuts from the bottom side and drill a hole thru each one. I removed the wing and redrilled them out to fit the wing bolts with a little clearance and bolted the wing in place and rechecked my measurements.

Next I located the former BB and glued it to the top front sheet lined up with the rear edge ,I also used a square to keep it vertical with the fuse. I also added a small piece of 1/2" tristock to the FW and top plate in between where the blind nuts go.
After that had dried , I located the front fuse covering material which is 1/32's light ply cut to fit , theres very little room for error here so make sure it lines up good .
I glued it to one side of the top of the fuse with Med CA and let dry. I tried to split the diff so there would be equal overhang on both sides.
I use a window cleaner with ammonia in it and sprayed the outside of the sheeting , try not to get any on the inside if possible, makes the glue not want to stick.
I wet and glued this sheet untill I had the whole thing in place with the exception of the very last edge.
I lay some glue down and useing a good straight edge such as a rule and lay the fuse on its side and push this down tight and hit it with accelerator. Its a little bit tricky but if a pesons carefull it can be done and match the other side. I then added some spackel to contour the edge with the fuse side, I go down maybe a 1" or more with the spackel to give it a gental taper and is invisible after the plane is covered. I do the same on the turtle deck which is coming up next.
While I had the can of spackel open I went ahead and filled in all the former holes along the sides of the fuse and anything else that needed any attention. I rushed it a little but I went ahead and added the landing gear, I used the dubro gear with 4 holes predrilled in it, just a matter of transfering the holes to the landing gear plate I made and added 6-32 blind nuts and bolted it in place. I also used some axles so I had to drill out the gear to 5/16". With this gear and the pants I plan on useing ,it appears things are coming out fairly good so far.
Thanks for the positive comments guys its well apreciated.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

I suppose a few pics is called for here, since I failed to add them to my last post.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Hi again ,while waiting for things to dry so I can get more done on this bird I was flipping thru the instruction manual, and seen a few things i'm not very comfortable with. I have built so many planes over the years I don't much read what all is in most of the manuals, just a good ref in most cases.
It shows the plane setting flat on a table and you get the same measurement on both sides of the stab to the table ,Thats great if you have a perfectly flat underside of the plane and also if the wing saddle is true to the bottom of the plane. Nowhere does it show any where about a measurement between the wing and Horz stab, It does say to use a square on the vertical stab to line it up with the horz. The Horz Stab and wing should be in line with each other or you will be doing corkscrew loops and shaking your head as to why.
To someone with some experence this is not a problem, they have there own way of doing things to insure a straight model but to a newby on there first or second build this could be a real problem.
Heres what I do, I put the wing back on the plane and bolt it up, I then add the Horz Stab and useing my incidence meter I level the wing both ways then check the stab both ways, hopfully I made a square fuse and things are not off or off very far, but this way I can check my work. Next after I finish with the level and measure the centerline and make sure its centered on the fuse then measure the distance from each tip to the wing tips, as a rule I will pin or tape it in place while doing this. After I get the same reading on both sides and its level to the wing I mark the stab with a ballpoint pen or pencil, so I can remove it and epoxy it in place useing the previous lines I made before.
But I don't just go by the lines although they do help it still might be off just a tad so before the epoxy sets up i'm back at it with the meter untill i'm satisfied that all is good.
After the glue has dried I next add the Vert Stab I do use a square like there talking about on each side to make sure its standing up straight, Also the square down along the side is a good idea useing the rear of the horz stab as a resting point. I also measure things and eyeball down the plane from the back end and front end before I do any glueing. Maybe I'm a little over board here but I hate a crooked plane and they will never fly as intended if there not straight.
Sorry I thought I had better mention this in hopes it may save someone a bad experence one day.
Are we having fun yet *L*

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Well back at it again, I now have a finished fuse and wing.
I added the front cover piece and turtle deck cover last night and filled everything with spackel and let dry over night .Sand sand sand all day long.
As you can see by the pics I finally finished the rudder bet cha thought I had forgot to huh , Grins well I did *LOL*

I did a mod on the fuel tank plate so it can be removed if needed I took a couple of pics to show what I did. I will next do the canopy frame and canopy itself. I'll prolly go black with the tint on it ,we'll see as time goes by. Outside of maybe a few places that needs some sanding I have missed I think the wing and fuse is ready for covering. I still need to decide on the servo setup before I cover it, I may just go stock on this one with 4-40 rods.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Well I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to, but I did manage to cut and trim the Canopy and get it tinted black and mounted to the frame work.
as far as the interior goes in the canopy frame I just went with grey paint.

Heres what I did ,I started out by laying up the pieces that make up the frame work on top the wing and in there respective places. I needed to trim a little and sand some to achive the fit I wanted.After I had things fitting I laid a sheet of waxed paper under it clamped the ends in place where it will later bolt on.
My dowel hole was off just a tad , but by turning the front pieces of the frame work I found the hole had not been drilled on center.
After lineing things up good I glued it all together, a little bit of a gap under the stringers are not going to hurt , however I did need to sand a relief in the rear part to clear the wing and allow the stringer to set down in place.
I then added the interior piece and glued it. This takes a little trimming to get it just right.
Also glue the backrest in place so it stands up W/O any help when removed.
I cut and trimed the canopy while this was drying , then decided to go ahead and tint it black.
The Canopy is plenty large I had alot to trim off even when it was cut on the given lines. But this may not always be the case so cut it over size to be on the safe side.

When the glue has set I took the clamp off from one side and drilled a hole to fit a 2-56 blind nut I then used a 2-56 screw and held that side together while I did the other side.
I then removed the frame and reglued anything that looked weak.
I then sit the canopy on top the frame work to check the fit, Be carefull here not to pull the headrest down or up.
Useing some small plastic clamps that won't mar the finish I clamped the canopy to the frame, doing just a little at a time I glued the canopy to the frame I used Med CA, Then reclamped that area untill dry.
After the whole thing was glued and all set I then trimmed the excess off the bottom and ends of the canopy to match the frame. I trial fit the canopy several times as I did this to make sure of a nice fit along the top of the wing saddle remember when I said a little gap was ok in the frame , well nows the time you take care of that gap with the canopy itself.
This takes a little time to do, once your satisified with the fit drill the holes thru the canopy from the holes you made in the frame work and try the screws. If you didn't push or pull the headrest the holes will line up ,mine was off a tad so I needed to enlarge the holes a little.
OK after I had it all glued, trimed and bolted in place , then it was time to paint it. I just used the exsisting lines on the canopy and some fine line tape for the edge of the paint line and masked it off then painted it useing some Automotive paint I had in a can. I don't prime it because if you do it will show on the inside.

I had forgot just how much of a PITA this part of the build is *LOL* Oh well its done now and we'll be doing some more later today.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Hi again I played hooky and went flying over the weekend, So not alot got done, however I did manage to get the fuse covered.
I took my CB extra out and flew it ,well I tried to fly it, the engine mount had broken and things was moving around more than I liked.
Do yourself a favor if your building this plane and going to the larger sized engines, don't use the supplied motormount, I knew better but didn't have another that would fit at that time. The stock mount may work ok with a 60-90 size 2 stroke but the YS-120 was to much for it.
Heres a couple pics of my plane and one of the fuse i'm building. More to come later

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

I finished covering this airframe today. I'm running out of ideas for covering schemes, so this will have to do.
I glued in all the hinges and added the control horns , built up the pullpull system on one end only. They shorted me the elevator hardwood 3/8 stick used for the pushrod i'll see about getting one when I can.
I added a second servo set up behind the wing bolt plate like I did my plane, that way who ever gets this plane can add whatever size engine they want and not have to worry about adding unwanted lead to the tail if they go with the larger engine. I'll cut out the cowling and fit it up tomorrow I hope to have this all done and finished by the weeks end.
When the planes all done I'll do a recheck to the wings and see if I need to remove any twist that may have occured while adding the covering to it, I know I had about 1/2 a degree on the building board.
Here is a couple of pics ,when am I gonna learn straight lines not round *LOL*

EscapeFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

VERY NICE! I can't wait to hear how she flies!

I'm thinking about the Raven color scheme on mine.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks ,I will prolly never hear how it does fly unfortunately, since its a give away plane at a funfly coming up this memorial day.
I really got rushed for time on this plane, like I said earlier I had one already built and ready but a fellow flyer thought he needed it more than I did.
So I have had to cram alot of info in a short build here and hope its all understandable.


I did get the cowling cut out and glued together , filled, sanded, then filler primed. As soon as I can I'll be finish sanding that and getting some colors on it. Again multi colored cowlings are a PITA but we'll get it.
I have to admit this cowling is the thinest ABS I have seen in one of these kits, just the front part, the sides are ok.
Before I put any color on this cowling I think i'll add the glass cloth to the insides, just in case.
I'll use automotive paints for color then clear coat to finish off the cowl and pants . That leaves a very nice finish and shine plus makes things fuelproof.
I didn't mention it but I went with the stock tailwheel. They can upgrade it if they want to.

bipeguy03

wait your givin this beauty away!?[X(][X(] Were is this fun fly at?

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

James, this is the last one I built and a photo of the new owner. I got the kit for 10 bucks at an auction and my friend needed a good stunt plane so I built it for a gift. Problem was it flew better then anything I had so I really had a problem letting it go. He bought all the glass parts and had them ship them to me, all his controls and a brand new YS 1.40 Sport. At least I got to do the maiden and trim flights.
If you were a real nice guy you could send me that little Sukhoi you built and make me real happy!!!
The guy is still thrilled to death with it and that was in 07.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Hahaha our first funfly of the year is held at Salmon Idaho 22-25 of May every year, this is one of 4 planes that will be given away this year. If I ever get it done
I hope we have some nice weather for a change this year.

bipeguy03

dang I need a club around here that gives away finished planes! But your extra is absolutley beautiful!

Sorry to crush your feelings Gene but my suk is saying right here with me! I love the thing to much, and I've been practicing IMAC Basic manuvers and it blows through it like its computer guided!

I've been flyin it insted of workin on my cap!

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Well I got stopped right in my tracks here, I suppose I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a glass cowling for this thing. When I said it was thin I mean very thin like paper,Although I was doing the kid gloves thing I still managed to break it and being its just plastic its not worth the time and effort to fix it. It was so thin the heat from the epoxy setting up melted it.

Making one from wood will take way to much time so thats out.
I had a stock one kicking around here for years and I tossed it out last summer, thats about typical right *L*
I'm hoping to order a glass cowling tomorrow if it will get here in time, if not I may need to do something different.
If someone has a glass cowl for this plane and wants to sell it let me know. I need one like yesterday.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

FGS has them and can get one to you maybe faster then one of the guys here. That's who I got all of mine from, I used the extended one.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

Thanks Grey Beard I tried to get a hold of them yesterday and they was closed.
I guess since Stan sold out ,they must have gone away? Thats to bad I really liked Stans glass parts
and was hoping the new owners was going to make a go of it.

I got a hold of FGS and got me a cowling headed this way ,Whew they already had some made up so that took a week out of the equation, So maybe i'll make it yet *L* Well with nothing else to do right now and for a change the winds not howling I think I'll go fly sumpin.
Later guys

smithcreek

My Feedback: (25)

I just received a GP Skybolt and GP Extra 300 cowl today from AeroFibreTech, used to be Stan's and the stuff is great. It's my first time ordering from them and the quality is much better than my last order from FS. Not a single bubble, seams are great.


By the way, I'm enjoying this thread. I've got a GB 300 waiting to be built.

Cyberwolf

My Feedback: (4)

smithcreek Im glad that someone is having some luck reaching them.
I tried several times to reach that place and no such luck, I needed a glass cowling last year for a chimpmunk and nobody was home and when I tried again today and yesterday I got the same thing , Stan and I went way back to when he was in Riverside CA. I had bought several items from him and got to know him quite well over the phone. He told me that he used a Aircraft epoxy used by the Gov and thats why the very few or no bubbles I always got a quality product. Although I may have a few more bubbles with FGS stuff, there quality has been ok over the years but there cowlings are a little heavier than the ones from Stans., but I don't think there any stronger just a diff process in the making.
Thanks for the info i'll try them again the next time I need some glass parts.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

At one point I used them both and didn't notice a lot of difference in there products as far as bubbles go. Stans may have been a bit lighter?? Never had them on a scale. I really had great service from them both. I have found a better selection from FGS for old canopy's for plans building and they have all been pretty good quality too. When Stan sold out I started using FGS but it was just to allow the new owners of Stans to get rolling. I have only been able to get ahold of them once though so I have refered people to FGS. Not sure what is going on but you have to pick up the phone to get orders.