Hi everyone and welcome to my build of the Griffin Trainer Kit.

My background...I've been active in radio control airplanes for roughly ten years. Started in the hobby when i was in 8th grade and have been hooked ever since Last summer i started thinking about scratch building my first r/c airplane.

From there i started working on drafting and design ideas. About two months ago i completed most of the drafting. After that i had to do some fine tuning of things and prepare for laser cutting. Yesterday i had the Griffin laser cut by Nagel Innovations. There website is: [link=http://www.nagelsinnovations.com/]http://www.nagelsinnovations.com/ [/link]
They did an excellent job laser cutting the Griffin and they do great work. I would highly recommend Nagel Innovations.

After having the parts for the Griffin laser cut i couldn't wait to get started building, here are some of the pictures of the construction and build process that i have worked on so far... Rudder construction, Elevator construction, and starting of the right wing panel construction. Ill take more pictures and add more posts to this thread as we get underway with the build of the Griffin. If anyone has any questions, comments, input, ideas, etc... or anything else they would like to add please do so Thank you.

David

looks pretty good. I hope they used good lightweight wood as there is a lot of wood there so far. Trainers can afford to be a bit heavy, but hopefully it isn't overdone.

Keep us updated.

BTW, how much was it to get that kit cut? Short kit or full?

Sneasle,

I had pretty much everything laser cut that could be laser cut, fuselage sides, fuselage formers, wing ribs, landing gear pieces, battery tray, servo trays, all tail pieces were laser cut to, thats one of the things i really wanted to have happen with the Griffin. I ordered all the wood from Balsa Usa, it took awhile to compile the list, i triple checked everything to make sure i didnt miss any of the pieces since shipping is $8.00 for orders.

All the wood on the wing is balsa actually, except for the wing joiner and servo tray area, those are lite-ply. I'll have more pictures of the right wing panel construction later today

David


I have video of the laser cutter cutting out the tail surfaces, wing ribs, etc... how do i load a video into rcu??

I'm not sure, But I would love to see it. You could youtube it and then post the link. Not sure how the RCu video thing works.

Here is the video link of the laser cutter cutting out the tail surfaces, rudder, elevator, wing ribs, etc...
They are at this address: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...69#post6727392


Enjoy [8D]

Thanks,

David

Attached are pictures of what i completed yesterday on the Griffin


Yesterdays building day went by really fast, i almost CA'ed two of my fingers together when gluing wing ribs (1,2) together. I was trying to hold the pieces together as the CA set but in the process two of my fingers got stuck to the balsa, and then my fingers got glued together, lol. i ended up having to pull them apart before they dryed, it happened fast though, haha no damage to the wing ribs or my fingers lol but had me scared there for a bit.
Gotta be careful with that Thin CA

(1.) During this part of the right wing half construction you slide a scrap piece of balsa under the trailing edge sheeting and CA the rest of wing rib to the trailing edge sheeting. During this step its important to keep a weight across the main spar, such as a level or something so the wing stays straight and doesn’t twist or turn at all.

(2.) After step one you move to the front of the wing and CA the forward bottom sheeting piece to the bottom of the wing ribs. During this step it’s important to keep a weight across the main spar, such as a level or something so the wing stays straight and doesn’t twist or turn at all.

(3.)Another view showing how to glue the foward sheeting piece to the wing ribs using a scrap piece of balsa to get the foward sheeting to make full contact with the bottom of the wing ribs.

(4.) After completing steps 1-3 we will need to remove the tabs located on the wing ribs 1,2,3, and 4. These slots will later be used for the wing joiners. I found using a small saw from a hobby shop works great for this job. Cut on each side of the tab with the hobby saw and the tabs will come out easily.

(5.) Next we need to locate scrap 1/4" balsa sticks to fill the space inbetween the main spars of wing ribs (1,2) through (3,4) and wing ribs (3,4) through 5. After cutting the pieces to size, we want a pretty tight fit, CA those in place.

(6.) Another view showing the 1/4" balsa used to fill the space between the bottom main spar and the top main spar. Also shows the wing ribs tabs removed on wing ribs 1,2,3, and 4.

(7.) After completing those steps we want to locate a sheet of 1/16" x 3" x 36" balsa. This balsa will be used for vertical grain webbing inbetween the wing ribs. This vertical grain webbing is placed on the front and back edge of the main spars from wing rib 5 all the way through wing rib 16. Inbetween wing ribs 4 and 5 the wing joiner goes but to the left of wing rib 5 there is vertical grain webbing that is about an inch wide.

(8.) Proceed down the entire wing CA'ing vertical grain webbing on the front of the main spar and on the back of the main spar.

Looking good. Keep it up.

Hey everyone, hope all is well.

In the last 2 days or so ive been building the left wing half. Its amazing how much you can build when your on winter break Well i continued construction of the wings and now have both wing halfs up to the same point. I've been working on those...and there is lots of balsa dust flying all over haha. Ive also started construction of the fuselage. I removed most of the fuselage laser cut pieces from there sheets and sanded the edges a bit. Then just layed them all out and started building the thing to see how all the joints and edges matched up, it all looks good, no problems. Fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. So thats what ive been up to the last few days, today im going to start gluing and building the fueslage pieces and putting them together. Thanks.


-David

Hey everyone,

How is everyone doing? Enjoying the flying or building latley ?

Well i was out of town this past weekend so i didnt get to much done on the Griffin but ive made some progress. I started gluing the fuselage side pieces together before i left on thursday. Then earlier today i epoxyed fuselage formers F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, fuselage sides, and the battery/servo tray all together with 30 minute epoxy.

Attached are pics showing the fuselage sides, and everything sitting drying.

Tomorrow ill take some more pictures of the fuselage progress since the epoxy will be dry then and ill take more pics as well of what i accomplish tomorrow afternoon.

The wing halfs are all ready to be epoxyed together, just havent done that yet, but i was suprised to find out that when i weighed both wing halfs and the wing joiners that in total everything weighs 12 oz's. Once i add the wing sheeting, ailerons, servo, sand the leading edge, and cover the wing, im guessing it will come out around 20 oz's or so depending on how crazy i go with epoxy :P lol

Thanks for taking the time to read the build of the Griffin, any comments, thoughts, ideas, etc would be great, and id love to hear them, thanks again.

-David

Hey all!,


Sorry about not keeping up on my building thread lately, with classes starting again and hw its been busy. Construction of the fuselage is going well. have ran into a few hurdles so far and adjustments ill have to make on the laser cut parts but overall its going good. After gluing the main fuselage pieces together i added on the fuselage rear side pieces, then epoxyed F6 in place, after that was done i CA'ed in F7-F9. Have to download the other pics in a few mins here of the top hatch/removable hatch from my camera, and ill have those up shortly.

-David

One of the hurdles ive had is the top hatch piece. I originally had the pieces laser cut and then realized that balsa in this place wasnt strong enough to support what i needed. I then recut the pieces out of lite-plywood and ended up with what i have in the next post.

Posted below are the pictures of the balsa top hatch piece and the redo lite-plywood top hatch piece that i made to replace the balsa one. I felt this was necessary becuz the balsa just didnt seem to have the structural strength i need for the hatch. This top hatch is going to be removable and will be held on with a tapping screw/nylon bolt that goes into a 1"x0.5" piece of balsa behind F3. This makes it very easy for battery access and quick change of the battery at the field.

hey everyone, how are you all doing???

Its been somewhat silent on my post, im worried either no one has interest in this project? or is it the way im writing thats not good? or am i boring people lol....hopefully not

Attached are pictures of the sheeting of the rear bottom half of the fuselage. Also a few pictures showing the top hatch plywood block that will be tapped for a nylon bolt that will hold the top hatch in place. This makes it very easy for battery access and removal while at the field. Also a picture of the landing gear pieces, LG2 is the one you see but there are three of them LG1, LG2, and LG3. these three pieces when expoyed in place will be where the main landing gear will bolted in place using nylon bolts. Thanks

-David

is the rear section of the fuse each side in 4 pices?looks like from behind the radio compartment/wing saddle section is?

hi horace315,

Yup your correct , each outside balsa fuselage side is made out of 4 pieces. inside of that is the 2 plywood fuselage side pieces. the sheeting on the top in the picture is really the underside of the fuselage.

Well Spring Break is here and i have some extra building time for the Griffin.

I'll post photos tonite of what ive completed recently but here is what ive been able to accomplish this week.

(1.) Epoxyed both wing halves together.

(2.) Installed the main landing gear block with epoxy, decided to reinforce the inside edges of the block with another piece of 1/8" plywood for added strength.

(3.) installed the landing gear, tapped the holes with a 4-40 tap, the landing gear block will be held on with 3 nylon bolts (4-40's)

(4.) Installed the front steerable landing gear piece. I decided to reinforce the area where the screws go thru with two extra 1/8 plywood squares.

(5.) Epoxyed in piece EMS, this piece is the base piece below the elevator that the elevator will be epoxyed to.

Currently im working on finishing up the wing. I started sanding the leading edge to match the airfoil/curve it requires. Once i complete that i will install the servos in the wings, add cap strips, and sheet the inner part of the mid-section of the wing. Then install ailerons and its ready to be balanced and covered.


Ill keep everyone posted on the progress[8D]

-David

Well somehow i stayed up till 4:30 am working on the plane last night , dont know how i did it lol.

Attached below are some pictures of the work ive done recently on the Griffin.
Pictures in order described here:
(1.) I decided to reinforce the landing gear with plywood brackets shaped like this: l____l i thought this would add some extra strength to the landing gear area for bouncy or rough landings.

(2.) The three landing gear blocks that will be epoxyed together to make up the main landing gear block area.

(3.) The plywooed landing gear reinforcement pieces CA'ed in place.

(4.) Centerline drawn on wing joiners. There are 2 groups of wing joiners. Set 1: F1,F2 and Set 2: F3,F4.

(5.) The three landing gear blocks epoxyed in place and rdy for landing gear installation.

(6.) The two sets of wing joiners and both wing halves rdy for final assembly [8D]

(7.) The elevator lower support piece rdy to be epoxyed in place.

(8.) After attending our club meeting, a few of the members suggested i add some cross bars to my elevator to strengthen it up and make sure it wont twist at all. Thanks club members!

(9.) landing gear block centerlines traced and drill holes marked. centerlines were also marked on the actual landing gear, just on the sides tho.

(10.) Landing gear block tapped with 4-40 tap and rdy for the 1/4"-20 nylon bolts. Also had to drill out the metal landing gear with 3/16" drill to allow nylon bolts thru.

(11.) Landing gear pieces rdy for installation.

(12.) Sheeting the front edge of the wing, have to cut the sheeting from 3" down to 2.5".

(13.) Its starting to take shape and look like a trainer [8D] Sweet!


I hope everyones enjoying this build thread This plane has been a fun and exciting project thus far.

-David

More pictures of what i accomplished last nite.

(1.) The pile of balsa cuttings from the leading edge of the wing I had to clean up the balsa dust as i went cuz there was to much, but man there was alot!

(2.) Wing leading edge completed and all sanded to shape

(3.) Another view showing the leading edge sanded to shape and rdy for flight

(4.) Sheeting the middle section of the wing from wing ribs 1-5.


Any comments, suggestions, thoughts, etc... would greatly be appreciated [8D]
Thanks,

-David

Hey everyone, hope you all are enjoying the flying and/or building

I was able to accomplish a bit more this weekend, im excited as its getting close to being done. I'm also in the process of picking color schemes for it and am leaning towards transparent blue, some transparent red, and some white at the moment. Not sure exactly, but i thought being able to see the structure with covering on would be a good idea. Any suggestions or ideas on color schemes would be great to hear!?


Below are more pictures of what ive been able to get done today/yesterday and descriptions of each step. Thanks for checking out the build log.

(1.) CA'ing on the extra backing piece of the wing made out of the aileron stock. This piece is ca'ed to the back of the wing and sits up against F5.

(2.)Closer view of the wing on top of the fuselage. Showing the addition of both the extra balsa aileron stock pieces attached to the back of the wing. Sitting up against former F5 right behind them.

(3.) paper wing tubes for the servo wires.

(4.) Installation of the paper wing tubes. CA'ed them in place and tested the servo wire thru them to make sure they fit thru ok.

(5.)Adding the cap strips to the bottom of the wing.

(6.) Half of the cap strips on the bottom of the wing done :P

(7.) Addition of the servo mounting hardware in the wings. Each wing half will have a servo in it.

(8.) Completion of the cap strips on the bottom of the wing.

(9.) Servos in the mounting hardware that will be screwed into the plywood wing servo mounting pieces from step 7.


-David

Hi, hope everyones enjoying the flying and building!

Well spring break ended on sunday, and i was able to accomplish some work on this project this past weekend, and some during the week too. I decided on a color scheme, its still in the final stages of development, always seems to change as i get closer to the end result I decided on transparent blue, transparent red, and jet white. Otherwise not to much is new, i ordered a battery for the Griffin.

I decided on the 3s 11.1V 5000HV lipoly pack. this pack should fit great into the plane with some extra space on either side of the battery. All up weight is going to be between 4-5lbs im guessing, but it might be lighter depending on the covering and battery you decide to use. the wing at the moment is at 1lb. The fuselage is about 10oz. The battery weighs in at 12.5 oz's roughly. So that brings me close to 3.25 lbs. Add the landing gear hardware, motor, speed control, servos, covering, control linkages, prop, spinner, etc...hoping for 4lbs, keeping fingers crossed on that
I also decided on the 3" lightweight wheels by dubro, in hopes that i could do grass takeoffs and keep the weight down too.

-David
Wild Eagle Model Productions

Well its almost time to fly the Griffin

I have a list of things to get done with it first, but the list can almost be counted on two hands now. Some of the things left to accomplish include:

-Install the ailerons and wires for them.
-Install the rudder/steering wheel servo.
-Install the rudder, elevator, and ailerons, and hinge them in place.
-Install the nose cone, speed control, and li-poly battery.
-Install receiver and antenna, and control connections.
-Balance the plane and see if i need to add any weight to make it right.
-Cover the plane and hope it turns out good lol
-Set the control throws
-Charge battery, radio, etc...
-Pack car and go to field and test fly the Griffin

Anything missing ?



-David
Wild Eagle Model Productions

OK I'll ask what nobody else has. From your posts, I'm assuming "The Griffin" seems to be your own design, not something anyone else could buy and build. Nothing but respect for you for designing and building your own trainer.

If that's so, tell us about how and why you named it "The Griffin" and perhaps the fledgling Wild Eagle Model Productions.

Great questions mbilar1 When I first started drafting this project I honestly hadn’t given to much thought to a name. Once I started getting somewhere with the drafting and the plane started to take shape, I began contemplating names. For some reason the bird names always stood out for me and I started doing some internet searching for possible names. After trying to find some I liked, I ended up thinking more about mystical creatures, dragons, and jedi…that must be the Star Wars fan in me. Then when searching the internet I saw a picture that stood out to me and that was a picture of a griffin. I then thought “Hey maybe this might work.” Ever since I saw that picture that stood out to me the names sort of just stuck with the plane

Wild Eagle Model Productions...hmm what to say. Around the same time that I started drafting the plane, I began to think about possibly making this plane into a kit. Throughout the drafting and building of the Griffin, the process involved in making a kit started to sound more and more interesting to me and I began contemplating that idea. I then realized that I would need a company name to possibly sell my kit under. After lots of brainstorming, writing ideas down, and thinking of creative names, I chose to go with Wild Eagle Model Productions.

I hope everyone’s enjoying this thread and I hope too that I’m able to provide some good info about the Griffin and Wild Eagle Model Productions.

-David

Here is a web site that has some Griffin art... maybey you can come up with a sticker/logo for this model. Just check copy rights first
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/griffins/9.html

Cool, thanks for the great link Mr67Stang. Having a sticker/logo for the specific model would be a good idea. I have one for Wild Eagle Model Productions, but not for the model yet

-David