Nitro2Burn

Hi Huhu, have to agree with KJ on the extra webbing, so long as you have upper and lower shetting from the spar forwards, you will only need to web the rear side of the spar. This alone will make a closed box section which is rather strong. Great idea using spruce, and if you can get the 48" lengths you will be able to use single pieces unjoined. A rudder sounds like a great move if your going for the standard tail design, offer that bit of extra control.
Did you do ply doublers on your other talons? I'm curious as to if you laid the doublers onto the ribs then the balsa skin or glued them to the balsa sheets first? The reason I ask is due to the amount of shaping you need to give the sides, and I imagine this would be difficult with the doublers already glued on.
If possible I would enjoy seeing a few pics as you go along if you don't mind.

Kevin, yup west is best one of my fav products. My Talon has been flying great, though not much time for flying at the moment, we have just had a little baby girl on the 5th Jan, is our first and we are pretty flat out with nappy changing etc. Still my wife has accepted the fact that our little girl is going to grow up as a pilot , so long as she wants to anyways.

Tmt, will check it out thanks for the link.
Byron

bighuhu

Hi Nitro, good point on the extra webbing. I'm just used to building boxed spars ala Windward style. My last Talon had a conventional tail, so I just added a rudder to the vertical fin. For the life of me I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want one. A coordinated side slip is something you can't do without one. A rudder is also necessary for proper landings when using a wheel in a crosswind.
I have not built a Talon with ply doublers yet, but I'll start next week. I have Kevin's booklet and plan on using his procedure. I'll let you know how it goes. I wonder what he uses to thin epoxy.

I just finished a Foka! It has a flat (no dihedral) wing with ailerons and spoilers. It also has a wheel.

Nitro2Burn

Hi Huhu,
If your read in post 20 and 21, myself and Kev were discussing epoxy thinning, and the reasons I don't. Though I guess if I had to choose I would probably go with acetone, mainly because it is what I would also thin dope with. Plus with alcohol I think I would find myself thinning the orang juice with it not the epoxy

Stick up a pic or 2 of your build if you can as it progresses.

bighuhu

Nitro, I'll go with acetone. Thanks. I'll get out the camera and take those photos.

richoliver

The initial flights went ok as I recall. Some minor bumps, etc. Over all it was great until one day it spun in pretty hard. So I built another one even stronger than the first. At least I hope it’s stronger, the weight went from 28 oz to 36 oz. Later I went back and put the first one back together. Got the weight down to 21 oz.

Originally I did all the mods and then some Flaps, wingspan, fuse length, light glass on the outside and ply on the inside as well as fully sheeting the wing.

The second one is built from the plans of the first. I didn’t like the flaps so I went back to using the torque rods for ailerons with 2 servos. I did the conventional tail because I couldn’t fabricate a suitable wire torque rod for the v tail. The stabelator is built up with an SD8020 profile and a carbon tube for a spar, which is also the pivot. I love this plane!

I recently went back and repaired the first talon. It turned out the damage was not as bad as I originally thought. You got to go with the spruce spar and leading edge. Got the weight down largely from removing the sheeting behind the spar and sanding the paint and glass off the wing, then used film to cover.

victorzamora

Wow, I want a Talon! I might have to start looking for the kit, as I've been wanting to build another kit for a while. I would want self-launching, so I guess something along the lines of the Super Talon EP is what I want. But hey, is this a good first glider?

Huhu, if you use acetone it'll evaporate completely. Alcohol doesn't evaporate completely. There are no ill effects of the left-over alcohol, but it's worth knowing.

richoliver

Depends on what you mean by first glider. If you’ve never flown then no. Find something in foam. However, I’m guessing you have flown power planes of some kind. This would make a great hot liner. I hear it can thermal if built light but I wouldn’t bother to add the weight of a power system just to get some altitude before I started looking for thermals. Go build a Bird of Time if that’s what you want. I fly my Talons off the slope. Just a hand toss and then rock and roll. I have flown the heavy in winds of over 30 mph and she could easily handle more.

victorzamora

Actually, that's exactly what I've decided to do. I'm going to build an EP Bird of Time. I'm just not a good enough glider pilot to maintain flight long at all without power. Plus, the massive wing area of the BOT means an EP power system won't really effect the wing loading. That isn't something the Talon is really good at (just judging by the wing area).