Hey folks!! Got me a really neat kit from Greg Garrison @ G & L Hobbies. For all you old rc 'ers you may reconize this kit as It was formally kitted by RC City In Tullahoma, Tennessee. I bought one from Greg the other day and sometime this week I am going to go full blast on a build. I am posting some pics to show you all what this kit consist of. Fiberglass fusealage and cowel with pannel lines and rivet detail. The plane comes just under 1/4 scale which I think will lend real nice to the evolution 26 gas. That is the route I am going with this plane. The wings, horizontal stab, and rudder are all foam core and get this !!! All have a complete airfoil!!! Now how many planes this size do you run across that has a complete airfoil on all surfaces? Even the elevator surface is an airfoil!! Comes with a very nice canopy and landing gear with nicely done fiberglass wheelpants. A nice 3 page set of plans. This is going to be my first, but I am sure not my last kit of this type. For the last few years I have wanted to do a kit of this type but have awlays been reluctant to persue it because I was intimidated buy the build process and the size of their kits. Well Greg made a few up so I thought this would be a great start to do a build thread .I finaly got the nerve so lets take alook at the pictures.

As you can see in the first pic is all that it comes with except the wood and I forgot to include the landing gear which is nice looking aluminum.
The next pic is of the cowel. I went ahead and cut out the air holes which took all of 20 min. with a Dremmel tool.
Pic three is another shot at a different angle. Notice the nice wheel pants?
Pic 4 is a inside shot of the fusealage. As you can see I got excited a installed the landing gear block out of 1/4 in aircraft grad ply. A little note, I almost messed up here and got ahead of myself. There is a bulkhead tha gets installed before the landing gear block gets put in. Then you install the block and tie it into the bulkhead. This will all eventually get tied into the firewall for added strength. I made up the rest of the bulkhead templates and am waiting on my wood order to arrive sometime this week. As soon as I get it I will follow up with more pics building processes.

Nice, very nice. What are they saying about the weight, plus and minus, low and high? My 1/4 scale Extra came in right at 13 pounds with the RCS 1.40 22cc engine and it was just about right for scale flying. Lighter would have been better but it flew all the IMAC stuff veru well.
The normal question is the price, that looks like some very nice glass work.

Yes, Greg with G & L Hobbies does some of the finest glassing I ever seen. There should be very little puttying to do. The weight should come in way under 10 lbs I think maybe in the 8-9 lb range. will post weights asap. You will need to contact him for final kit pricing due to shipping to your area.http://www.glhobbies.com/ .

I Thought I Was Familiar With All Of Greg's Kits But I Didn't Know About This One.....Not Under 1/4 Scale Anyway. I Have An 87" Span Extra 300 / 300L Kit That My Brother Built Several Years Ago And I Recently Aquired It. I Say 300 / 300L Because It Can Be Built Mid Wing Or Shoulder Wing. What Is The Wing Span Of The One You Are Building ?

Greg and I measured it up and come to about 72" just shy of true 1/4 scale. I looked on the internet to see what the scale plane's wing span was and according to what I found was 27'. It may, by the time all the stuff gets put into it be close to 73-74 inches. If my transit eye didn't fail me. Greg is just starting to kit this plane and it is going to sell for $139 plus shipping. I am waiting on my wood order to come in hopefully this week cause I am dieing to get started on it. I have a paint scheme that is gonna knock your socks off if I can get it done with no problems. This type of kit is different than the usual kit say from Great Planes or the like. You have the choice to build it any way you want . as elaborate or simple. my mind has gone into overdrive on planning this build.

[quote] Greg is just starting to kit this plane and it is going to sell for $139 plus shipping.

This Would Explain Why I Didn't Know About It. I Haven't Talked To Greg Since The Cookville Giant Scale Fly In. I Have The Extra 300 Of His That I Mentioned Before, The 36% Ultimate, The 1/2 Scale Pitts, The 1/4 Scale GeeBee R2 And A 35% Weeks Solution X That He Used To Kit. I Had One Of The 36% Ultimates That I Flew A Few Years Ago Which Was A Great Flying Plane As Is The Extra 300.

Fantastic to hear that info!! I know all of his kits fly great. They must, cause he ships them all over the world. I am waiting on my wood order to come in. must be backordered.As soon as It does I will continue this thread and hopefully get more people interested in this type of kits.

Got my wood in and immediatly got down to building

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In the second pic you can see I installed a ring former on the inside of the firewall. THe plans originaly called for a 1/4 in firewall with blocks to screw the cowel on but I did not like that . So when I get the main firewall cut out it will blind nut to the ring former and the engine, tank, throttle servo,ignition and ignition battery will mount to the removeable firewall. This way if I need to get into the noe of the plane to make repairs all I have to do is remove a few screws and everything slides out . I have to give Greg credit for comming up with that idea. The 3rd pic shows the ring former installed.
the 4th pic shows all my formers cut out and ready to install.

Ok in the 1st pic shows the front fuselage bulkhead. I trimmed it up so as to cut down on weight .All my bulkheads were made of 1/8 in lite ply with the exception of the firewall and landing gear plate those are 1/4 in aircraft ply. as you can see I got a pretty nice fit in the 2nd pic.
In the 3rd pic. I glues the bulkhead in using 30 min epoxy mixed with micro balloons to make a thick peanut butter like paste.
So far this has went very well.

As you can see in the first pic is the rear blukhead that will be installed and become part of the headrest.
2nd pic shows a rough install with the 3rd pic showing my idea of making it lighter and glued into place again with 30 min epoxy and micro balloons mixed to peanutbutter consistancy.
I thought I would take a pic of all the types of glue I will be using on this build. the last pic showes that.
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Ok in pic 1 you can see I have glued a 2in piece of 1/8 lite ply and tied the front and back formers together this serves several perposes.
1 beefs up this area of the fusealage
2 gives the fiberglass strength for the wing tube to pass through
I cut and glued one on each side .
Pic 2 and 3 showes the removeable firewall that will be screwed to the firewall ring with I blind nuts and screws
pic 4 showes the area where the wing tube will go .
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As you can see in pic 1 I made a 1/2 by 1/2 piece of hard balsa tha i will glue into the vertical stab also I notched out and installed a 1/4 x 1/2x 2 inch long piece of ply that will alow me something to screw my tailwheel to. the last pic showes it all glued up.
This completes just about all the bulkheads that will need to be installed in this plane . i dont have a scale but I will weigh it as soon as I can and post a weight.The piece of wood in the rear will allow me to glue another piece of balsa to and it will be belved as will all my serfaces. Double beval for maximum throw. I don all this in about 3 or 4 hours. but I had allready had the master templates built out of hardboard. So it went pretty fast. I will post more tomorrow evening of I make it back to the shop. It is suppose to be in the 60's tomorrow so I have to get some flying in!!

Same Procedures As The 1/2 Scale Pitts And 36% Ultimate Pretty Much. Not Any Harder Than Building A Wood Kit, Just Different. Must Like Mixing Epoxy To Build One Of These Kits Though.

Flyinmike I have the beginning stages of mixing cramp. If you see anything that I need to do please feel free to offer advice. THis is the first fiberglass kit like this I have ever done and need all the tips I can get. Not much to report today. I sanded all the bulkheads to remove any epoxy that ran down . I think I will go to the shop and make up some wing skins. What kind of primer and paint did you use on you kits?

I have never built A glass kit either and this thread is A big help to me deciding if I wanted to. So far it's a big yes if I can ever finish up all my other projects and not take on something else.
Thanks for the thread!!!

Thats great Greybeard. I am trying to do as close to a step by step build as I can. So far this way is better than stick building. You know once you do one they keep getting easier. The construction is faster.

Well, go to do some work on the Extra the last 2 days.

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Don't forget to tell/show us how you are cutting your foam. Did the kit come with pre drilled wing cores?? Did you have to use A solder iron with home made cutters for servo holes?
I have always made built up planes and was just given A nice kit with foam core. The wings were already sheeted but I have been sheeting the rest of it. This was the first time someone has given me A kit with all the foam blocks complete so it is A thrill to have them to do better/cleaner sheeting without all the clamps. I know how to do it but would like to see you installing your servos and such. I know there has to be better ways then what I do.

In the first pic I made up my balsa skins out of 1/16x3x36" contest grade balsa.Make sure you have a fan to blow the CA fumes away from your work area before you begin to glue. It is going to take 5 sheets to make the skin. First I layed and taped some Reynolds Cling Wrap down on my workbench. A piece 50" long will do. I also tore a small piece of cling wrap (about 12") for later use. I layed 2 pieces of 3" balsa sheeting down and pressed them side by side and edge glued them with thin CA. Don't try to glue the whole length at once. Work in 12" incraments. Butt the edges together, apply a bead of thin CA then use the 12" piece of clingwrap which is wrapped around your finger and smooth the glue out along the seam. after that immediatly take a sanding block with 150 grit or a bit smaller and sand the glue area just enough to level it out. repeat this for the whole lenght of the balsa sheets and for the remaining 3 sheets. after its done you end up with a skin that is 15" wide and 36" long. Do this 3 more times for a total of 4 skins.
Pic 2 shows how the wings come in the kit. They are hot wire cut from a block of lite weight foam. Now this is very important !!!! DON'T THROW AWAY OR DAMAGE THE OUTSIDE FOAM SHEETS !!!!!! You will use these during the entire build. As you will see later.
Pic 3 shows what I mean about how they come. I will call the outside pieces of the foam cores "Shucks" from here on out. The wings come in 2 pieces with a foam core "rod" that will be discarded. Also this is very importand!!!!!!! DON'T MIX YOUR WINGS UP!!!!!!! THERE IS A TOP SIDE AND BOTTOM. LEFT WING AND RIGHT WING!!!!! MARK THEM WITH A SHARPIE !!!!!!
Pic 4 shows a 2x2x 1/8" lite ply spar support. First step is to drill a 1" hole in the center if the lite ply. Now look in the kit and find the 1" phenolic tube and cut it in half.slide it into the hole in the wing all the way through. Now slide the 2X2 1/8" lite ply on the end which will eventually join the other half of the wing. Hold it place and mark on the ply the out line of the wing and bandsaw that to fit the contour of the wing, Making sure it is even with the top and bottom of the wing. After this is done slide it back on the tube and making sure it is lined up withe the top and bottom of the wing, trace the out line if the lite ply onto the foam . Now cut the foam soit will be recessed into the foam the thickness of the lite ply. You should end up with everything being flush. Now take some 5 min epoxy and with the tube still in place glue only the lite ply in place. You only need enough glue to hold it into position. Clean any squeeze out up immediatly.

Greybeard the wing cores comes cut out and still inside the "sucks" , with the spar holes cut and the wing cut in half to allow you to install the liteply support block.I will not have to hotwire anything. All the rest will have to be done by yours truly . I have a router attachment for my Dremmel tool that I will route the servo pockets out with. As for the servo wire ,Some folks use a long piece of piano wire heated up with a blow torch to melt a chase for the servo wire to run. If I cn get a hold of one , a 1/2" drill bit on a long extension is how I will do it. I am not going to have to chase a very long hole maybe 10-12 inches. Somewhere close to 1/3 of the length of the aileron length.

Ok on with the wing build. Sorry I got my pics out of sequence.
Pic 2 showes the phenolic tube installed in one half of the wing.The long piece of tube will be trimmed off later. This is where I will be using gorilla glue to install the tube in the wing half. First chase a lightly damp towel through the foam wing hole to moisten the area where the tube will go. Put a coat of Gorilla glue on the tube and slide the tube till it sticks out past the liteply support block maybe 1/32".wipe up any squeese out immediatly.Place the wing half back into the "shucks" and weight it down till the glue cures. After it cures, clean any dried glue up with an Exacto Knife and sand paper.
Pic 3 shows how the tube will look at the spar support block.

Pic 1 shows how I recessed the 1/8 lite ply spar block into the wing half.
After the the glue has had time to cure, sand the tube flush with the 1/8" liteply spar block.
Pic 4 Now you can glue both halfs together with 5 min epoxy. A real lite coat is all you need. Making sure no glue gets insitde the phenolic tube.
Pic 5 showes me loining the to wing halves.

Now do you remember what I said About the "shucks" your wing came in? Before you glue the wing halves together place another piece of Cling Wrap on the bottom wing "shuck" . Now glue the wings together with 5 min epoxy and place them back in the wing "shuck"making sure it fits as tight as possiable. Place another piece of Cling Wrap on top of the glue joint and then place the top wing "shuck" on top of the wing. Place some weights on top to hold it while the glue sets.