Bass1

Thats a nice looking plane you have there..
Yeah I am having fun with it. It's interesting going over work I did 15 years ago and wondering what the hell I was thinking back then.


I finally found the drill bits!
I cut out the slots in the plates for the wing servos.

Mounted the tail wheel.. Thats a CB & associates tail wheel.
I had to bend a drop into it to clear the rudder. It looks like I have some little tweaks to make on it yet.

Fuel tank mount is done.. I left extra room for some padding.

I also got close to finishing the cowl mounting plate..
I got the plate cut and shaped, added the dowels and got it all mocked up to see how it fits.
I still need to put in the magnets..
The one cross brace on the bottom will be cut out after it's epoxied to the cowl. It's just there to hold the shape right now.

I got the mounting plate installed in the cowl last night..
I went with a pair of 4-40 screws and blind nuts in the firewall to secure it.

I mad a big jump this afternoon. I was looking at the plans and realized I'd made a big mistake with the spar joiner plates..
I'd only gone out to the first set of ribs with them and the plans show going out to the 2nd set of ribs..

So since I was hacking out the old spar plates anyway I decided to go for the skylight mod.

I replaced the front and rear 1/8" spar plates with 1/4" plates.. I hope thats enough to make up for the lost sheeting.

Anyway I think it'll look great..

I also decided to go with a pull-pull rudder setup.. The full scale uses it so why not.

If anyone cares to remember I had planned to run the servo wires through the gold-n-rod sleeves I already had in the wings..

Well the wire won't fit.. the tubes are to small.. So on to plan II

Drinking straws!! Not just any straw... the big 7-11 double big gulp straws.. These things are 13" long and 5/16 OD.. Plenty big, extendable and semi flexible.



OK the pics are posing wierd.. I'll do them one at a time

Yet another

One more

Interesting way of installing the wires, you could have twisted them and they would have fit. Nice Wheel pants.

JimO

I have this kit but no plans any one have a copy to sell?pm or e-mail me please with details.

Aero.. My plans are in sad shape.. I remember someone else said they had a set..

JimO.. Yeah they are nice.. I like em so much I think I'll paint the plane to match em

I finally figured out way to mount the pants today..

What are they from? If I crack one on some stupid landing I'd like to know where to get more..

aero, did you get my PM about the plans?

Draftman,
Where you able to use the plans I sent you, if so good. Know they where in bad shape.

JimO

The wheel pants came from a DCA that Hobby People sold a couple of years back. Can't remember the manufacturer. Stan's Fiber tech use to make the cowl and pants for the Nosen. The company is under on the web now as aerofibertech.com.

JimO

Jimo, yes I am able to use them, I had them copied and it turned out ok, I am redrawing them right now. I inquired about payment while back. do you use paypal or do you want a m.o. I have a good enough copy for aerowolf. Thank you Andy

Was it a Global Hobby Super Decathlon 52?

Hobby people still sells parts for it and Chief Aircraft sells the ARF
http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/170291.asp
http://www.chiefaircraft.com/rcmsec/...Decathlon.html
http://globalservices.globalhobby.com/part/126515.asp

YES !!! Thank you I did not know Chief still sells it. I have a Seagull that is a good flyer but liked the Global better. I had a pilot error on take off and destroyed it, going for another as soon as this is posted to you.



Draftman Paypal is fine, Jim Ogorek is my link.

Glad you are able to use.


Jim

I finally feel like I'm making real progress.

The week we got to the struts and wheel pants.

Before I got going on the struts I had to add the wing mount blocks and ply plates in the wing..
Nothing to thrilling there.. Just 1/4" ply plates I drilled and tapped for 1/4-20 bolts.

Now I can finally get to building the wing struts..

I used ball links on the wing mounts so they will fold flat on the wing on storage.
The fuselage end is a double shear joint. I made them thinking it looks like the full scale but I ended up placing them in the location on the plans.. not the scale location..
The full scale location would require cutting through 2 sections of the frame.. Not something I wanted to do.

The cross brace is a CF rod.. I also used CF rods to pin in the mounting plate on the fuselage end.

I'm still debating if I should add the jury struts that go between the main struts and the wing where the brace is located.
Unless I can figure a way to make them fold up I'll pass. I have an idea but it will take some tiny 0-80 screws..

I also started setting up the pull-pull control horns..
It looks like then I built the rudder I forgot to add blocking for the control horns so it's hollow were the mounts go.
To make up for that I opened it up and added a play block inside and a piece of 3/8 dowel where the control horn will pass through..

The wheel pants are mounted too. It's starting to look good.

I've been getting my glass parts at http://www.precision-fiberglass-prod.com/.
They have the Nosen pants and cowls.
Ed is a great person to work with. Ron

I made a tail wheel steering bracket today..
It's made from 1/8" brass rod that I bent and filed into shape.

This is the full scale setup.


The attached photos are my setup.

We had a little slowdown on the work.. My wife gave away the big table I was using as a work bench so I had to clean off the real work bench..

While I was at it I fixed all the sliders on my old rolling tool cabinet and stuffed it full of hobby tools. (all that junk had to go somewhere)

About all I got done today was finishing the sheeting and cap strips on the wing.
Now I've moving on to sanding and getting ready to glass the center of the wing.

Looking good so far. I liked the ball joint at the end of the struts. Have a couple of planes that I can adapt to the setup.

Jim

Have you ever had concern that the edge of the straw would eventually vibrate enough to wear into the servo wires? I have. My solution is to put cotton (from a cotton ball) around the wire where it is in the straw. Maybe overkill but I tend to do things that way.

Another issue is the place where the wing itself plugs the 2 dowl rods into the front of the cabin for hold downs. That appears to be a weak link. The piece with the holes for the dowl rods doesn't have much to attach to. In fact, it is attached to lite ply.
My solution for this is to fasten a piece of piano wire (V-shaped) as is done on the Piper Cubs to fasten the hold down to the front of the cockpit.
Over kill again, maybe.

I have built 2 of these and after many hours of flying never had a problem with the wing dowels. Where the wire would go into the straw a drop of silicone solves the problem.

JimO

Jimo
Thanks.. The only issue I've found is the strut angle is about the limit of the ball links travel even with the spacer they provide with the links.
It's no big dear since it does work and they lay down nice and flat on the wing for storage.

Now if I can solder a nylock onto the fusealage strut bracket without melting the nylon I'll be happy.

I found a 12" GI Joe in the kids toy box.. he looks great in there but I'd have to cut him off at the knees or make some boot size holes in the F2 former so he can straddle the fuel tank.

Sebo

I didn't think about the ends chafing the wiring.. I'll be sure to keep an eye on the wiring in that area.
I might look into melting the ends of the straws a little to create a smooth edge.
Some cloth nylon abrasion sleves might also do the trick.
Something like this stuff http://cableorganizer.com/nylon/

Makes me wish I still lived near Boeing Surplus.. They has rolls of the stuff available for cheep.

JimO's Silicon tip sounds like the easy way to do it.

I'm not worried about the front wing mount.. It's epoxied to the ply cabin doublers and backed with some large ply triangle braces.
It's not light ply, It's the hard stuff. On the wing side the dowels go through a ply front plate and back into the ply main spar joiner.

I'm more worried about the rear wing bolt blocks that the front plate.
I added a cross piece to tie the bolt blocks together so I'm ok with them now too.

Today I glassed the center of the wing..
I used Bob Smith 20 min finishing epoxy and 2oz cloth for the job..

The is the first time I used an epoxy this thin (almost like painting wit polycrylic)
In the past I've suffered through working on the normal 30 min epoxy..

The finishing stuff is great!! It lays out smooth as glass and really soaks into the wood.

I think I'll be using it more often..

I really like that it's low odor.. I did all the work tonight at the dining room table since the garage was to cold for the epoxy (recommended over 75deg)

I've been quietly working on the Citabria the last few days..

Sanded out the fiberglass
spackled the edges of the fiberglass and sanded again.. (cough.. dust.. argh!)

Carefully marked the filler block that blends the TE of the wing into the body..
carefully planed away the excess.. went to far..
glued it on.. added 1/8" sheet to make up for going nuts with the plane.
Planed away some more. sanded.. spackeled, sanded again.. Hey it's looking good!

Hinged the Ailerons, setup control horns on all surfaces

Right now I'm trying to locate the throttle rudder and elevator servos..

I'll setup the rudder servo and Pull-Pull cables first then the elevator servo and push rod last so it won't interfere with the rudder cables.

I'm placing them at the rear of the cockpit.. It's looking a little nose heavy so far.

I have an idea for adding a cockpit door. Not as an door into the plane but more as a cover for the power switch/ charge jack and remote glow plug.

More pics later.. Covering isn't to far away..

I really need to think about how I'll attach and trim out the windows and skylight.

I started working on the door yesterday..

I found a pic of a full scale Citabria door, printed that to 1/6 scale and used it for a template..

I cut a door skin from 1/32 ply and a window frame for the left side.
I need to build a frame for the skins from 3/32x3/32 stock and something thicker for the hinge side... hardwood or balsa.. not sure yet.

Anyone have some ideas for hinges?
The window frame opens vertically and the door swings at an angle to rest on the spar. I'll use magnets to hold them shut

It'll be more of a mock door.. I plan on removing the sheeting under the door and re-sheeting inside the frame behind it..
Then I can mount the charge jacks, switches, remote glow and whatever behind the door.

The window on the left side.. Thats just for fun

I'm probably getting to carried away with this and turning it into a heavy pig.. It'll need a bigger Saito soon

I was thinking of doing a full interior but the fuel tank sticks out right in the middle of the cockpit making things kinda ugly.
I'm leaning towards a light removable floor below window level, a pilot bust and a printed gauge cluster.

GI Joe may have to find a new ride.