southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

Well after 6 months of not flying I got my thumbs working the sticks last weekend. After the first two minutes I began to feel back at ease with the Katana V2. On the last flight of the day I was back to my old routine of doing 2ft high High Alpha KE passes. Working from East to West doing a 1/2 KE loop and back down the field West to East. Finally, the rust kicked in when the the airplane tried to couple and got 3/4's inverted and 1/4 KE. This is not a AMA field by any stretch of the imagination so I ditched it before it hit my truck (which was less than 5 ft. from the runway ).

All of that to say this. I had a good laugh about it and it gave me the green light to order the fusion. I will outfit it with the Saito .72, Fromeco batterys, and Futaba servos. I cant wait until it gets here. I am going to pull out the trusty DVD recorder and get some footage.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Well at least you don't have 10 inches of snow and ice! It was -4 degrees this morning. Fusion on the way!

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

burrrr....Its cold here the lows are dipping around the mid 20's. Last weekend it was perfect. About 58.

10 inches of snow sounds like hand launch time. Or...maybe designing of new plane time where its nice and toasty inside.

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

I heard from my dad on friday that the plane had arrived. Now it will make the 200 mile trip to me.

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

Got the fusion in on monday but didnt get started until wednesday night. Business has been busy lately. Everything looks awesome and it is going together very fast. I just ask one question??

Are there any good tips on the elevator halves. I know its a proven method to use the wire but I stink at it. I have even used a drill guide that I got with robart hinges before and still not much luck. If the holes arnt drilled 120% perfect then you have major problems with the elevator not being perfect on each side.

Bolio

Make the holes a little bigger than the wire, then glue the wire wtih epoxy and microballons and put them to dry in a flat place with some books on top.
I add a ruler in front of the stabs to make them really straight.
Saludos.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Great tip Bolio. If you pre glue the elevator halfs together this way, installation into the stab will be a little more difficult than stock setup though. You'll have to extend the slot at the back of the fuse cutout a little, first install the elevators, slide them to the rear, then install the stab and align per the instructions, glue in place. Then install the elevators into the hinge slots of the stab. This is how the Katanas are done. The other way is do what Bolio suggests but do it on the plane once the stab is installed. Basically this IS the way the instructions tell you to do it. Once you epoxy the rod into the elevators, clamp or tape the leading edge counter balances to the stab to keep them in alignment perfectly until the epoxy cures.

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

Im running into a pretty major issue on the wings. The predrilled holes for the anti rotation pins are not straight. I inserted the pins and glued them in. The holes were nice and tight and seemed to be straight. Now that I am trying to fit the wings on they will not pull all the way up on the fues. I ran the same size bit into the holes in the wings where the pins go to clean them up and it still wouldnt fit. I used the same drill bit and opened the holes up just a microscopic bit. Still the wings will not seat on the fues. Were talking an 1/8th of an inch on both sides. I have run the bolt in the center and tightened it down good and it didnt seem to help. In fact fully tightened you can shift the wings around with your hands very easy.[]

Now I can make the holes in the wings the same exact size they were by going behind the root rib and installing some hardpoints and redrilling. That would get rid of the loose fit that I might have created but that still brings me back to the fact that the pins are not alined properly. And that means the wings still arnt going to pull up on the fues.

I am thinking that if I can get those pins I glued in out I can step all of the holes up (ON A DRILL PRESS) and use bigger pins.???? Bad Idea???

propchief

My Feedback: (65)

I've removed glued in dowels before ... take a piece of brass tube that fits over the dowel and make a couple notches in the end with a file or hobby knife. Put it into a drill and you have a mini hole saw that will drill out the dowel. Next size up dowel shouldn't hurt anything.

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

That's one heck of a good tip Propchief. I would agree the next size up on dowels would not be an issue.

southern_touch9

My Feedback: (3)

propchief,

awesome tip, but I didnt have to use it.

I took the plane with me to the shop where I could use a drill press to make the holes but before I got a chance to start on it my dad took a look at it. After fully inserting both wings into the tube and then holding the tube up to the airplane the problem became apparent. The wing tube was about 1/8th of an inch too long. A dremel tool and 2 minutes later we had everything fitting flush and tight. Now I can proceed with the build. I am hoping for a maiden next Sunday. I will be at the Southeast model show on friday and saturday, but weather permitting we should be airborn on sunday. [8D]

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Wow Layne! Sorry about the wing tube being a tad too long. Hey double check your root rib to wing sheeting joints to be sure nothing popped loose when trying to tighten the wings to the fuse. With that wing tube keeping the wings out, there might have been too much stress applied when tightening the wings. I would run a bead of thin CA along the inside corners where the sheeting meets the root rib just to be sure. Also make sure the wing tube sleeves are securely glued to all ribs and shear webbing. Let us know how the maiden goes.