Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Well, I don't know if I bit off more then I can chew, but the wood is here, the plans are unrolled and the clueless shall march into the abyss! I have built kits before, but nothing on the scale of this, and never without some kind of manual to help you along. So I am going with what I know, and hoping the learning curve doesn't cost me a 400 dollar kit.

I fortuitously acquired the plans and most if not all of the parts Roy Vaillencourt makes himself for the Vailly Aviation 1/4 Stinson Sentinel, and decided to go ahead and order up a full kit from Precision Cut Kits. Now the kit is here, the table is prepared for building, and I am scared to glue anything to anything! But I am making progress anyway. Most of the similar threads and reviews I have read seemed to start with the tail feathers, and looking it over, that seems to make sense. The stab/elevator looks like it will build flat on the plans even though it is an airfoiled surface. I have cut the lower trailing edge to size and pinned it down. I have cut all 24 ( !!!) of the cap strips (lower and upper) the elevator requires and cut the 1 and 1/8th balsa leading edges to size. I'm thinking glue the lower cap strips in place, followed by the ribs followed by the upper cap strips and then add the tip pieces and viola! We have an elevator. At least we will after we plane and trim and sand all of the wood which is NOT elevator away. And add the plywood control horn mounts. Then on to the stab!

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Azzir325,

You will do just fine and there is many participants here willing to help you.

Ask questions and evaluate the replies.

Zor

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Looking forward to keeping track of your build. As mentioned, if you have questions just post them here. RCU is full of talented builders that can help you out. Good Luck, Dave

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Thank you Dave and Zor for your words of encouragement. Sometimes I feel confident. At other times I feel completely over my head. I can build, and I can think, but this is a large project even though by standards of REAL scale builders this one is nothing.

I just got home from the WRAM show where I had a chance to talk to Roy V himself, and I just pinned down the bottom cap strips and glued them (CA) to the trailing edge. So 1st glue is on!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

I added the elevator leading edges. Note that since the elevator tapers and I am building flat on the plan, the leading edge had to be leaned a little into the ribs. I made sure the ribs with lower caps strips were positioned properly (or as close to properly as I could get!), put a bead of medium CA down the front of each rib and pressed the leading edge on, holding it there until the glue set (OK I used one hand to hit it with kicker). I followed that this morning with the upper cap strips.

I found out yesterday that a fellow club member actually HAS this model at least partially built and in bones. He sent me some pics, and I am going to get a chance to see it in person, maybe later today. I will get a good look at the elevator/stab on his model, as well as other parts. I will take more pictures!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Azzir325,

Looks like you are doing very well.

Zor

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

The fuse shown in the previous post is not mine. Belongs to a friend who bought it as you see it. I just got back from his house where I took a good look and some pictures. I also just figured out that I am missing 4 pieces of tail.
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

It'll be nice to have a visual reference, if you get stuck. I believe that there are a couple builds, over on RCSB. They may be able to offer assistance, too. http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...pics.asp?FID=9

Your Stinson will be a good flyer once completed. Enjoy your build !

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

This is on my to build list so Ill be watching.

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Azzir, did you contact Roy to get the parts or Precision cut kits. I am looking for someone to cut the fuse/cab sides.

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

I got my kit from Precision Cut Kits, though my decision was aided by Roy's recommendation. The kit took some time, he was busy over the holidays. So far, just working with the horizontal stab and elevator. I'm sorry to have to report 3 missing parts. I sent PCK an email Sunday. Have not heard back as of yet. Larry at Precision is better contacted by phone I think.
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Well I have continued working on the horizontal tail surfaces and so far I don't think I have committed any mortal sins. There are filler pieces to be added all around, and a lot of sanding/shaping to be done before the parts are elevators and stabilizers, but have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. when you are looking at the tips of the surfaces, those curved filler pieces are the things missing. There should be one for the top and one for the bottom of each of the tip pieces that have the holes in them for a total of 4 each, but I was only provided 2 of each. One of the pictures shows a line drawn that represents a thought I had. Since each of the filler parts will go from near full thickness to thin (at least the elevator ones) I wonder if I can make the diagonal cut with my scroll saw and get 2 from each....

I don't know what the problem is, but I am not able to upload a picture. Anybody know if RCU is having trouble? Otherwise, it must be my conn.

I keep getting "Internal server error" any time I try to upload a picture.

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Azzir325,

Myself and others also are not able to upload ;pictures for the last 2 or 4 days.
Another thing that I regret is the inability to write captions for each picture.
At least I never found out if it can be done or how to do it.

Zor

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

I don't know about captions here. That other place where the groups hang out lets you number the order of appearance as well as caption each pic. Yes, I migrated some of this stuff over there...

Looks like pictures are back!

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Yea!!! Here's the pics I was trying to upload!

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Well, I am still plodding along. Some guys fly thru a build. I crawl. I try to get one or two things done a week. This week I pretty much finished up the horizontal tail. The big chore was making the missing parts for the tips. They were fillers, and had to be installed then mainly sanded away. There are four fillers on both the elevator and the stab, and I only got 2 of each and managed to lose one of those! DOH!! There are also a few small filler pieces from 1/2 inch square balsa. I searched and searched and could not find a bit of 1/2 inch square balsa in the "complete kit" so I had to cut those too. And of course once those are in place you have to trim away everything that is NOT airplane, and there is quite a bit of that! I think I will have to do a bit more sanding before I am done, but aside from that, the only things I can think of that I want to do to the horizontal tail before I move on to something else is locate and cut in the hinges (no glue yet!) and I want to make and instal new control horn plates as the ones provided don't look to me like they are wide enough for a giant scale control horn base.

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

As of right now, I left the build sit all week doing nothing but thinking about what I am going to do, and today I did something! I installed the elevator control horn mounts. As I think I mentioned, I was not happy with the ones in the kit. They just weren't deep enough, front to rear, that I was comfortable thinking about actually MOUNTING control horns on them. So I cut myself a couple of 3/4 inch deep ones out of 1/4 inch plywood and got it done. Used Elmer's on them. And I decided to set the stab and elevator aside as they are and move on. I'll worry about the hinges later. The plans sheet that the elevator/stabilizer is on mainly contains full size templates for the parts, and I figured I would be rolling it up and getting the wing sheet out but I noticed there are a few steps outlined for the forward fuse sides including the inside plywood wing ribs and the crutch bracing. There is also a lower part of the fuse side which I guess has to be glued to the upper part. Any reason I shouldn't assemble these parts at this time? Thanks!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Another weekend comes to an end, back to the bad kind of work tomorrow. Well, it pays for airplanes...speaking of which...I forged ahead and glued the lower lite ply fuse side to the upper. After that was dry, I glued the inner 1/4 inch ply ribs in place, pretty sure I made a left and a right! LOL! After that glue dried, I started the crutches with a long horizontal one. The pictures make it look like the long horizontal one is the one that runs thru, and all of the ones that run from the top to bottom are sectioned. I'll continue cutting and gluing crutches for the time being, then move on to a different sheet of plans. Wings? Fuse? Well see.
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Progressing. Have moved on to the wings. Found the main structures to assemble dry quite nicely and am planning to square up the ribs and thin CA. Any body think of any reason why this might not be a good idea?
Thanks!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

And so today I committed glue. LOL. OK, so I spent a day or 2 fretting but today I took many pieces and through the magic of CA and Elmer, I turned them into ONE reasonable facsimile of a left wing. I didn't get as much done as I was hoping (thinking both wings framed up) but I am happy with the way it went. I need to deal with sheeting the slots now. The plans call for 1/16th balsa, which I have cut to size for the three slot bays.

Now about those slot bays, the sheeting on the aft side has to curve in quite a substantial arc. It probably goes 100-110 degrees, and part of it is sharp. I've bent some balsa over the years, but not quite this aggressively, so I'd like to hear some ideas and inspirations. I've used warm/hot water, and that works pretty good, but I heard someone talking about ammonia treatment and how it makes balsa soft enough to tie in knots. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but has anyone out there done this? How long must it soak, and how do you glue it? Will CA grip ammonia soaked balsa? Thanks in advance!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Azzir325,

I cannot answer some of your questions. I use CA only for tackingdry wood.

I may however suggest an alternative to sharp bending. You can use some narrow pieces stitched glued that follow the sharp curve and sand to shape. Bending on a sharp curve can leave internal stresses that later may split.

Just an idea that I have used and works well.

Zor

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Well, I used steam from my teapot and formed the balsa around a piece of 1/2 inch foam pipe insulation and secured it with rubber bands. Worked like a charm and only broke one out of 3 tries. My fault as I tried to rush it. And no serious scalds to my hands either! LOL!!

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

I can see now from the pictures that the radius of curvature is not as short as I thought. It worked out very well.

Something that I have done with shorter radius is to use thinner sheeting like 1/32" and install it then laminate a second layer over the first one for a finished 1/16". With the laminating glue it makes a nice solid bent over section.

Regards from Zor

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

Pictures show the start of the ailerons and flaps. Don't the aileron ribs remind you of WW 2 tank traps? LOL!

Zor, thanks for the suggestions!
Rick

RE: Vailly Aviation Stinson L5 Sentinel quarter scale build
 

3/31/13 The Build goes on....
... and on, and on, etc. Seems like forever since my last post but I see actually only 3 days. Happy Easter to all!

I continue to add parts to parts. I basically finished one aileron including the leading edge shape up. I will add a control horn mount to it even tho I don't plan to use a conventional control horn. Just in case, you know.

I also worked on the left wing, installing the front spar and those front rib pieces where the front sheet for the slots go. Those things are hard to keep in one piece as the little tiny lower part breaks off if you look at it cross eyed. Mounting those things was the hard part of mounting the forward slot sheets, which I just held in place with a finger while I added CA and accelerator.

I found I needed to square up the front of the wing to get the leading edge to fit better, easier said then done. Seem like no matter how flat your sanding block is, the resulting surface is curved! Drat. I got it as close as I could but had to resort to my belt sander and the leading edge is now glued and drying. Only a few more steps to complete the first wing, including the sheeting, cap strips and some kind of servo mounts. Then I get to do it again. Oh joy! LOL!

Happy Easter again!
Rick