How many hours does it take you to build your combat plane(ready to fly).
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1.) My Raptor takes about 10 to 12 hours.
2.) Grenlins take me about 5 to 6 hours.

Spad Dagger, Dogfighter or Friday Night Special takes about 2 hours.

Keep in mind that my fuselages are already cut to length in a pile, and my firewalls are already pre-cut and usually come off a previous airplane. I also have the plans well memorized

Scale planes take me about 15to 20 hours each. (I could build them a lot quicker if I wasn't so anal about making them look presentable... ).

Open planes (SPADs) take me about 4 to 6 hours each (+ paint & trim).

D

Well I'm not as fast at building as you guys. Here are some estimates:
1. Cutting wing cores - one hour to shape blanks, set up cutter, and make a set. Subsequent sets once set up about 10 minutes each. Templates take the longest amount of time but only need to be made once.
2. Making up fuel tanks, drilling motor mounts, installing horns, installing servos, batteries and connectors about three hours per plane.
3. Building wing - gluing in rods, sanding glue ooze off, covering, hinging ailerons, and servo installation with pushrod make up - about five hours
4. Fuselage (CNC router cut Bandit), one hour

Thats about 10 hours or three to four nights per plane. Multiple planes built at same time go faster.

Scale planes, scratch built from own design 30 hours plus each. Scale planes built from RSKits 20-30 hours each depending on finish.

Also have to factor in engine repairs from dirt naps, servo rebuilding from crashes, and repairs to planes after contests.

Thats about as fast as I can go.

And that's pretty dang fast for somebody who can't spell his last name :stupid:

Lou
How long does it take to build one wing, after the cores are cut?

Jimbo,
The working time is minimal, its the waiting time that stretches things out.

First step is glue the cores together with five minute epoxy. A total of about 15 minutes start to finish.

Next is glue and pin the glass rods in place with Elmers Probond, total time is 30 minutes but then overnight to dry. End on night one.

Next is sand off the excess glue, bevel ailerons and attach to wing then cover bottom of wing with ripstop and water based polyu. About an hour and a half total, but then leave overnight to dry.

Third night cover top of wing with ripstop, allow to dry overnight. About an hour to trim off excess ripstop, and apply the top covering.

Night four install servo, install horns, make up pushrods, about an hour and a half.

Total working time is only 4-1/2 hours but total including waiting time is four nights. Also I usually coat the ripstop with thinned epoxy as fuel proofing and this adds a fifth night to the process.

Lou,

I don't mean to change the topic of the thread, but.....

Are you taping your ailerons on with bi-di tape, then covering with rsn? Are you relying on the poly to stick the fabric to the ailerons or do you come back with foam safe CA after the wing has dried?

Thojo,
I attach them with three strips of strapping tape, chord wise at center, mid span, and tip, top and bottom only to hold them in place while ripstopping.

I fold the aileron over onto the top of the wing when I cover the bottom and wrap the ripstop around it. When I do the top the aileron is pinned in a down postion. The trick to getting the rsn to adhere to the aileron without pulling away is to have very little overhang. Lightly mist the strapping tape with 3M77 to get the polyu and ripstop to adhere to it.

Once dry I usually sew the hinge at several points to keep it from moving up and down at the wing trailing edge.

Good luck.

Thanks Lou,

I think its coming into focus, is this about right?

Thojo,
Great illustration! That is how I do it. The top and bottom rsn seldom extend past the edge of the aileron, not wrapped like you show in the illustration. Its simpler not ot wrap them around the edges.

Thanks!

My simple brain just needs pictures to function...

Take 2:

Lou why don't you cover the top and bottom in one night?

Jimbo,
Some folks do cover top and bottom iat one time. Don does up to four wings in an evening and Stan can cover top and bottom at one time. I have never mastered their techniques, so I just do it the best way I can which is one side at a time. The PolyU takes overnight to harden enough to trim off the excess and get a clean line.