Hey guys and Gals, everyone is Doing a BUILD on their newest project.............

How about some " how to"s on adding some super details??????????

I thought so, So lets start at the front and work our way to the rear.

We will start with the nose cone. It is a separate moulding so it makes adding the four 20 mm cannon a snap.

Start by using your dremel and rout out the index marks where the guns will go. Cut four (4) 1.75" pieces of 1/4" Inside diameter aluminum tubing. chamfer one end and use the tube to cut a circle of 1/16" balsa and CA a circle in the end of each tube.

Sand the inside of the nose cone around the gun holes.

Fit the tubes in the routed out holes in the nose cone, leaving .375" inside the cone and making sure they are aligned with each other, and when satisfied put a drop of thick CA on the inside. Be careful not to get any glue on the outside.

Kinda like this:

Next we will fill any voids around the tubes with thick CA and Zip kicker FROM THE INSIDE again not getting any glue on the outside.

Use your Dremel with a cutting wheel or a Zona saw and trim off the excess tubing on the outside of the cone.

Fine sand the excess off with some 100 grit sandpaper on a block trying not to scratch the nose cone any more than you have to.

Cut four (4) pieces of 3/16 dia. thick wall tube for the gun barrels 1-.750" long, four (4) pieces of 9/32 dia thin wall tubing .125" long and four (4) pieces .375" long.

Use thin CA and glue the .125" piece .250 from one end of each 3/16" tube and glue the .375 piece flush with the other end on each piece.

Cut four pieces of 1/4" OD dia tubing .375 long and glue them over the 9/32" .375" end. This will be the spacer to center your guns in the 1/4" ID tube glued in the nose cone.

Kinda like this:

After cutting and gluing the gun barrels and sanding the excess aluminum tubing off the nose cone use a bit of glass cloth and CA and reinforce the inside of the nose cone over the gun barrel recepticals.

Carefully mix and apply a bit of Evercoat 400 auto body putty and fill any voids on the outside of the nose cone. When the filler is set sand it down with your 100 grit sanding block. Finish sanding with 320 grit, again try not to scratch the nose cone more than .125" away from the openings.

Use some aluminum tape and put a square over each hole smoothing it down from the hole outward.

Scribe and cut (With a new #11 blade) the flange around each hole.

Keep it going Terry, make me sick....my new one is on the way, should be here in a couple of days. Helijet and PST are tops in my book....
Tommy

I use a 1.5 mm mechanical pencil with no lead in it to make "Rivits" in the tape:

Insert the gun barrels and you are all ready for paint.

Next I'll show you how to add the shell ejection ports and gun smoke vents.

I made the vacuum plugs for the parts when I was building the Ziroli, and the parts fit this bird perfect.

Look very nice. Keep on the good work! This really is a good help for everyone building this bird. Mine just confirmed last nigth so she will arrive a little late than expected. Can't wait!

Rgds
Alejandro

I decided to jump back a bit farther on the details. I'll do the Gun / smoke ports later

.Here is an easy one for ya. Doing the Scale Blow in doors. Others have used a servo to operate them, but I saved the weight of the servo and channel in the transmitter. Do it like the full scale. Let the engine do the work, it really works and looks cool, too.

Here is what the engine hatch looks like as it comes from PST in the first photo:

In the second picture you can see some excess glass threads and epoxy, Use your Dremel with a sanding disk and sand these down flush with the rest of the hatch. you want the thickness of this area to be as close to being the same as you can get it.

After sanding the back side smooth turn it over and using the molded in panel lines as a guide carefully cut both doors free. (I used a Diamond coated cut off wheel that is only about .5 mm thick, works great and is fast. You can also use an Exacto #11 blade and a metal straight edge. Use several passes with the blade)

Then sand the edges to the panel lines:

You can see in the second picture I used some .020" thick styrene plastic CA'd to the back side of the right door.. I cut it with scissors about .250" wide before gluing. One drop will do the trick. I keep a paper towel handy to soak up the excess as one drop is even too much. Mist it with some Zip Kicker. When dry, retrim it to 3/32 bigger than the door with your scissors.

Sand the center area of the hatch between the doors with 100 grit paper (Back Side) and wipe clean with some Lacquer thinner so the glue will stick.

Cut a piece of scrap 1/8"x 3/8" spruce about 2" longer than the openings for the doors and tack glue it centered between the openings with some gap filling CA.

Get four (4) Dubro Giant scale hinges ( the same as you used on the Flaps) and remove the hinge pins. Cut four (4) hinge halves in half at the first set of holes.

Using one of the hinge haves as a guide mark the hatch openings in four (4) places, so you can trim out the space for the hingepin. Dremel or sand the necessary clearance.

Glue the trimed hinge halves to the back side of the hatch. I held hatch vertical and used one drop of thin CA to glue the hinge in place. let gravity keep the excess glue out of the hingepin openings. repeat for all four hinge halves.

Reassemble all four hinges and put a drop of oil on the hinge pins. Using the vertical method and thin CA glue the doors to the hinges. Be sure to center the doors in the openings on all sides. After all are glued and work free, use some gap filling CA and glue all the hinge edges and over the remaing holes in the hinges. Don't forget to hold the hatch vertical and apply the glue BELOW the hinge pin. Again gravity will keep the excess glue out of the hingepin.

Apply gap filling CA all around the Spruce firmly gluing it in place.

Bend a "whisker spring" out of .015" spring steel music wire. Each "arm" of the spring should be about one(1) inch long.
I tried to show a 2 view of the spring in the 2 pictures below. The idea is to only have a very small contact area of the spring to the door.

Drill a 1/16" hole in the spruce so the spring will contact the doors between the hinges.

Install the spring in this hole with a #2 x 3/8" selftapping screw.

Drill a second hole and install another screw to keep the spring from rotating.

Bend and adjust the spring tension as necessary to keep the door snapping shut when you push on the door lightly with your finger

Congratulations, you now have scale functioning blow in doors for your PST pride and joy. When the engine is at idle they will come open about 1/4" when you rev it up they will be completely open. on the ground. In the air they will be closed as the airpressure of the intakes will keep them closed.

NEAT HUH? Stay "tooned", more to come.

Lets move back forward on the fuselage a bit and look at the access panels on both sides under the cockpit:

In the first picture I am following the molded scribed lines with my trusty Dremel with the diamond wheel.

Cut only the straight lines as shown in the second photo.

Then I switched to a tiny end mill (.010") to freehand the curved corners of the panel doors in the third picture.

The fourth picture shows the opening after touching up the edges with some 100 grit sandpaper.

Use some 100 grit paper again and sand the back side of the doors smooth. You want to get rid of any Irregularities on the back side. They need to be the same thickness all over so the framework you build later will fit snug to the surface.

Using some 1/2" x 3/4" balsa build two (2) frames for your doors, thes will be the door jambs. Make the opening inside each frame 1/8" smaller than the doors. Extend the bottom of the frame about an inch beyond the verticals as shown.

Carve and sand one side of the frame to fit the curvature of the inside of the fuselage, the fuse has a slight curve front to rear as well as vertical. Don't forget to make a right and left, not two rights as I did..................LOL

CA a strip of 1/8x 3/8" spruce to the top of each frame as shown, sand them to fit also. I made the top and bottom frames longer to strengthen the sides of the fuse so they will not flex as the doors are opened and closed. Also I have a cradle the fits the fuselage and without the added strength the fuse will flex (when placed on its side while working on the plane.)

Cut two pieces of 1/8"plywood to fit the flat side of your door frames, as in the pictures.

I installed the radio switch and charge jack in one side and the retract air filler valve in the other one. I left room for a pressure guage in the air valve side. (I don't have one yet, but it will be no problem to add one later.

Center the door on the door jamb and draw around it with a pencil to locate where to make the hinge slot. Do this for both doors.

Next using the Dremel and Diamond wheel again I marked and cut a notch on the top of each door to clear the piano hinge I will be using. I use metal hinges to eliminate any flexing of the hinge as the doors are opened and closed.

Sand the hinges so the the glue will stick better, and put a drop of lube in the hinge joint.

Cut some 1/2" x 1/4" balsa as shown to make the door frames. Carve and sand them to fit the back side of the doors. cut a notch in the top of each frame to clear the thickness of the hinges.

I glued the hinge to the door and then the frame to the inside of the door on one, and slotted the door jamb and glued the hinge in on the other. Both methods worked equally well.

Finish gluing the doors and hinges to their frames and the the hinges in the slots in the door jamb assemblies.

Drill a 1/8" hole centered (in the plywood) near the bottom of the opening in each assembly.

Holding the doors shut push a piece of 1/8" aluminum or Brass tubing through from the back side to make a mark in the door frame.

Drill a 1/16" hole in the center of this mark. Use a drop of gap filling CA and insert a Dubro 1/16" ball link in each hole.

Remove the tubing and drill another1/16" hole all the way through the tube. Slide a piece of standard Glow fuel line over the end of the tubing you just drilled and drill thru the fuel line. Glue a rod or small screw in the hole, capturing the fuel line to the brass tubing.

Slide this assembly through the hole in the door jamb close the door compressing the ball link into the fuel line. pull the brass tubing so the door is held tight to the frame. Adjust the fuel tubing as need to get a tight fit. You may need to cut the fuel line below the capturing rod/screw a bit so the door is tight to the jamb.

When satisfied glue the brass tubing to the plywood using gap filling CA. Check the operation with your finger nail under one edge of the door to open it.

Cut the excess brass tubing (sticking out the back side) off on both doors.

Bare with me now, as we are almost done!

Sand the inside of the fuselage with your 100 grit paper where the jamb will be glued on, as shown in the seventh picture below. Don't forget to wipe the fuse clean with some lacquer thinner.

Using a .050" drill bit, drill eight holes thru "Rivets" on fuselage, four above and four below the access door openings in the fuselage. By hand, use a 1/8" drill bit and counter sink these holes. Be careful and not drill all the way through the fuse. (That's why we're doing it by hand.)

Take the nozzel off your aeropoxy and squeeze about an inch and half on a mixing board, mix it throughly and apply to the edges of the door jamb and the long parts above and below the door, with the door closed. Keep the glue about 1/8" away from the door on the jamb as shown in the photo.

Start eight #0 x1/4" flat head screws in the holes in the fuselage.

Holding the door assembly (With glue applied) in place, with one hand, using the hinge at the top as a guide and centering it in the opening screw the #0 screws into the balsa door jamb frame, with the other hand.

Don't strip out the balsa as you want tighten them just enough to hold the assemblies in place. I started with the corners , then screw in the rest. Wipe away any excess glue that may ooze around the door.

Go on the inside of the fuse and apply a small fillit of aeropoxy around the frame and the reinforcing strips above and below the doors. Open both doors and let the glue set up.

Except for painting the inside of the doors and the jambs you are done with this useful detail.

More to follow in the coming days.

Fun Thread. Great stuff Terry. Keep it coming.
Paul

Terry this is looking a very good thread, indeed. . Those interested may care to know that there is a very detailed description of this relly excellent kit coming in next RCJI.

Not sure I want to "bare with you" though, no way I'm taking my clothes off !

Regards,

David Gladwin.

Should you "Bear" with me.(I hope I can out run you, don't "nead" to out run the BEAR............Just you. ha ha..... Ain't the english language "grate"...............LOL