Part 2, putting the filler in the corners and putting the cheek filler in place is now online.

See [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSiHoycXfx4[/link]

I have a chemo infusion this afternoon.

Parts 3, 4, 5 are queued for upload on YouTube and will appear over the next 4-8 hours. Just look for more videos by me.

Part 6 will be a second attempt at the join, and Part 7 will be tomorrow when I pull it out of the molds.

More stuff is online ... The YouTube queue did not complete exactly right, but Part 3 and Part 4 are now online

A multi-part series of the making of a model airplane fiberglass fuselage (called the Stinger Q-40) - Part 3 - Laying in the cloth

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI6vutJ72xQ[/link]

A multi-part series of the making of a model airplane fiberglass fuselage (called the Stinger Q-40) - Part 4 - Laying in the doublers, trimming for the join, preparing for the join

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zodu5n2ug[/link]

The Benadryl they gave me knocked me out at 8pm last night. I got a double dose of Remicade and a double dose of Benadryl as well. So here I am wide awake at 3 am.

The upload of Part 5 completed, but the descriptions and stuff didn't get saved. You would think YouTube would have their act together. But it's free and it works pretty well.

A title screen in Part 5 says something about doublers. That is wrong. But the video is the correct video.

I will be taking the fuselage out of the mold this morning and I will complete Part 6, The Final Join, which is obviously already taped, and Part 7, Taking it out of the mold.

Around 15-20 people seem to be following the videos, so it seems worth my time. I hope the videos provide a little info or just let you know me a little better.

Part 5 is ...

A multi-part series of the making of a model airplane fiberglass fuselage (called the Stinger Q-40) - Part 5 - Final preparation for the join, and first attempt at the join

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeWNoqJ_ZBg[/link]

The fuselage is out of the molds and the video is made and uploaded to YouTube.

A multi-part series of the making of a model airplane fiberglass fuselage (called the Stinger Q-40) - Part 7 – Removing the fuselage from the mold

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFSQHVN8ME[/link]

I will post Part 6 when I get time. It is just the second try at the join, finishing the seams, and putting the screws in the molds. If you saw the end of Part 5, you saw the process for the most part. Part 6 may have some useful commentary about the joining and seams though.

Making the videos was a little extra work, but a number of people have never seen a full lay-up with wet lapped seams.

Let me know how you liked the videos. Is this kind of stuff something you would like to see more of? I have some real time saving techniques for shaping balsa tail surfaces using a $70 belt sander that I could do a video on. And I could do composite part lay-ups as well. I have male molds for a V-tail I made the molds for Dave Norman for and the price for a set of females is much more reasonable than CNC cut molds.

Great lay up Don, I really enjoyed it and feel I learned a few new things to try. I was not quite sure, but it looked like you use the 1.4 oz. (whole side) for the outer layer, a 6 oz. second layer (whole side) and a second 6 oz. layer (doubler layer) only from the wing mount foward? I know you used carbon tow as reinforcements too, just wondering if the 7.4 oz. tail section is stiff or a little flexable? I am gussing all the curves in the tail area will give it a lot of stiffness that would not be there if the area was flat or not curved.

Really enjoyed it Don, Now do the next one showing it painted in the mold!

Scott,

Thanks. When you guys watch the videos on YouTube, please rate them if you think about it. And you can add comments there also.

You go the cloth recipe correct. The tail is plenty stiff because of the curves. On some fuselages, you would want to add some carbon fiber cloth in strategic places.

Someone ordered a Stinger on Saturday. I had one in stock, the first one I laid up after getting the molds back in gear. But I forgot to add the 50K carbon fiber tow stringers to that one. I decided that I wanted to do one with the stringers before shipping the order.

The stringers are like adding rebar to the structure. the tail unit is so stiff from the CF tow that it can't bend. As shown in the video, the stringers go in the wing saddle all the way to the middle of the stab saddle.

Ed Smith, who made the molds, sent me a private message with some of his lay-up techniques for the fin/rudder. Maybe he will post them here as well.

I would be interested in hearing from other guys laying up fuselages and your cloth formulas if you don't mind sharing.

James Barr is in town for some training. He came by the house and we chatted some and did a little modeling. He posted this over in another thread.

I actually reconfigured the Feather/Cut from left panels to right panels while James watched. Took less than 5 minutes. I did boob one setup blank by not getting the wire down against a template.

James got one set of white foam cores and one set of pink foam cores. The pink foam cores weigh about .8 ounces more per set. If you order a Stinger Starter Kit ($30 shipped), let me know if you want 2 white or 1 white and 1 pink. I think you will use less glue on the pink foam and the pink foam is so smooth and strong.

I got a got a good nights sleep. Rare for me in a motel.

It was a very good experience watching Don cut out the cores. The feather cut system has been out for many years. It was the first time for me to watch one work. I have cut foam cores over the years with a bow and model train transformer. A lot of ridges that had to be sanded out for me. The cut system Don has leaves the cores very smooth. Once I get back home, I will look over the blueprints. From what I saw last night, they are very good. I was too tired once I got back to the motel last night.

I'm not a very fast builder. Hopefully I will have a Q40 sport ready to fly in a couple of months. The fiberglass fuse looks really good.
I picked up one of the molds that Don makes them in and was surprised at how heavy the molds are. This was the first time I have seen molds. It's just one of those things you never think about. More work goes into these things than I thought. Gives me a better view of just what goes into making a kit.
James

Part 6 - The join of the fuselage halves and finishing the seams

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWbKj1qur78[/link]

This part is now online for completeness. It is the redo of the join, closing the mold up, and finishing off the seams.

That's it for this set of videos. With 30-50 views so far of the different parts, it seems like it was worth it. With the camera and software I have now, I can do these pretty easily. I may do more on topics that I think will benefit builders or glass and composite makers.

Thanks for watching.

Glad to have you over James. Good luck with your starter kit. One thing I forgot to tell you is that the new cores have the trailing edge going all the way back. So you can extend the sheeting and not have to deal with a balsa trailing edge.

Don , Do you layup each half of the fuse and then let it dry and then join them in the mold or do you do it in all one shot wet??

The video shows doing it all in one 4 hour session ... wet.

Wet lapped seams are very strong because the tab from one half just becomes part of the other half. However, they are very difficult to get perfect. I usually wind up with some voids in some places along the seams or in a corner because of inadvertantly pulling the cloth.

If I had to have a perfect surface with no voids, I would not use wet lapped seams. I would let the halves get at least semi-hard, then use 1" cloth tape and do the join that way. For painted in the mold fuselages, I would probably use the tape technique. I have done tape and it works fine. It does add a little weight.

I have stopped priming fuselages in the mold when I'm wet lapping because the primer makes it hard to find the voids and then you find them after you paint the plane. Not a good thing.

With all of the views of the videos (now at 87 for taking the fuselage out), I'm very happy about making them. Thanks again for watching.

My ways of doing things certainly aren't the only way. And I'm sure others have better ways. I have already corresponded with some people and I've learned new things as a result.

I am encouraged by the views and I'm going to start doing more videos of things like making a composite tail and even something as simple as a quick way to shape tail surfaces.

BTW, the price of a Stinger kit with the glass fuselage, foam cores, and a set of plans is $125. For a limited time, I will pay the shipping in the US.

The Stinger Starter Kit with 2 sets of cores and a set of plans is $30 shipped Parcel Post in the US.

This is the Stinger from the video.

It had some defects on the seam and in the corners that had to be fixed. I used the re-molding technique where I put filler into the voids and put the fuselage back into the molds. I had to do this several times before I felt it was good enough to ship.

I'm getting landing gears made for all of the people who have gotten Stingers.

I forgot that I had gotten elevator control horns made and I did not include them in the kits I shipped recently.

I am including both white foam and pink foam cores with Stinger kits. The pink foam is 0.8 ounces heavier per set, but the resulting wing is stiffer.

I am also going to start including a piece of 1/4" balsa cut for the stab and pre-slotted for 1/64" plywood. I thought that people would like to make their own wood selection, but a lot of people don't have the capability to slot for the plywood as easily as I can do it.

Left_Turn's plane looks so good with wheel pants on it that I'm also going to include wheel pants.

If you have gotten a kit lately, look for a kit update in the next week or two.

Cutting the 1/64 ply slot in the balsa is easy as making the tool that does it. There are many ways, but one of the easiest way is to use 4 piece of 1/18 ply, 1 - #11 blade, and 2 - 4-40 bolts and nuts .... sandwich them together and cut the slot in a second ...

G

That is the way it was done back in the 60's. My Dad was one of the first people to make the tool.

Almost everyone who pre-slotted tail surfaces (like Lyle Larson, etc) have used the technique that my Father started using in the early 70's of using a micro saw in a drill press. The 1/64" ply slides right into place. Unfortunately Dremel discontinued the saw (I still have some). But the Chinese stores have some slightly thinner ones that still work.

I've done intense threads on mold making and composite layups, and videos as well. Check them out. You might learn some new stuff.

Here are some pictures of a Stinger wing, hatch, and radio installation.

Thanks to Left_Turn for the photos.

This is a nice installation with the hatch bolting down after the wing is bolted down. Easy access to the wing servo and no open holes for wing bolts.

Got my Stinger kit Thursday...
Very nice glass work, and the cores are great...[sm=thumbup.gif]
Gonna follow the build thread closely, and take notes...the pics help a lot too.

Thanks for all the tips and advice too Don [8D]

Because I built this for Q 40 sport, I wanted to keep things simple, I used STANDARD size servo's for ALL the control surfaces and only used a mini servo for throttle just because I had an extra one sitting on my bench. I had NO problems with getting it to balance by shifting the battery around and it ended up just behind the tank. The standard servo's actually made it easier to balance than if I had used smaller servo's.