jofunk

I didn't think the lines on the drawing were that visible. Next time the drawing is rolled out I will take more pix.

jofunk

I started cutting some foam. the inner wing panels were a bit of a challenge. I had to stand on a bucket to reach over the cores to start the wire. The tips were much easier. The tip template was so thin I didn't try putting a nail in the center line near the trailing edge. If it wasn't perfectly straight It could catch the wire. I supported the template with some finishing nails under the template. The tip core TE needs to be cut on a different angle and then sanded back to the airfoil shape then the sheeting can start. After that the tip can be glued to the inner panel.

jofunk

I cut the TE on the Vigilante wing tips back and resanded a sharp TE on them. I also sheeted and vacuum bagged the wing tips. Next is the inside wing panels.

jofunk

Here is a pic. of the wing tips sheeted. I also made a skin for the main wing panel. I applied some lite filler to the cores. When it is dry they can get bagged.

jofunk

I got one wing panel in the vacuum bag. I am just about at my limit width wise.

sysiek

My Feedback: (176)

Hi I know the size of you table and the wing must be giant .

jofunk

Hey Sebastian,

The wing is on the larger size. the table is 4'x8'. One other thing, on all the skins the wood is not edge glued. The only thing holding the pieces together is the tape.

sysiek

My Feedback: (176)

The fiberglass grassing will do the job ,this might be the solution to have the wing perfectly curved without steps from glue .

jofunk

Here is a shot of the wing panel with the tip next to it. Its a good look at the TE feature.

jofunk

The other main wing panel made it into the vacuum bag. When done it will get trimmed down and both wings will get a LE to help support the outer panels.……. After I trim the over hang of sheeting I scribble marker all over the root , tip, and LE exposed foam. The marker works as an indicator to let me know when to stop sanding………………… I hate wasting resin.

jofunk

oops! some how I cut two right wing tips. There was enough meat in the saddles to recut a left tip. Actually there is enough to screw up three times.

ps2727

What scale will this be?
great project
paul

grbaker

My Feedback: (29)

from the first post of the thread

jofunk

Close to 1/6. Like i said so GI joe can fly it. The old dolls are about a foot tall so they should fit. The length of the fuse is going to be 139" and the vertical sweep hangs a little over the back of that. I have an extra wing tip if anyone wants to start one. : )

jofunk

I C temped the vertical root and tip airfoils and transferred it to a piece of formica. I also glued a few sticks together to get the plan view of the vertical stab.

jofunk

I cut a vertical stab out of some less dense foam. Thew thickness of the the foam left no room to spare. Take a look at the saddles at the root. It will get some sheeting and then a post will eventually be engineered into it to make it a flying stab.

jsjshjshu

Thats a big ship. Excellent project. I'll be following.

jofunk

I made some skins for the vertical stab. I need to do some light sanding on the foam core and then it can go into the vacuum bag.

jofunk

ok the vertical stab is in the vacuum bag. the Gast vacuum pump runs constantly with a bleed screw dropping the vacuum down to 6 or 7" HG. Full vacuum would crush the foam.

jofunk

I cut a foam block to the plan view of the elevators. It should be thick enough to get both of them out of it.

jofunk

Here is a mock up of a 1/6 scale Vigilante main landing gear with a 6" wheel that Paul down in texas did. He said he would be happy to let me use it to fabricate a metal gear from. Absolutely amazing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkngrNpVyW8

jofunk

I cut some foam cores for the hoz. stabs. I also started on making some skins for them. It is like ground hog day with cutting foam cores and making sheeting for them. I am trying to make all the reasonably sized pieces of the plane before I start to stand up the fuse.

jofunk

I graded a bunch of sheeting I had and made the other three skins for the horizontal stabs. they both fit in the vacuum bag together. That saves some time. This is it for the foam core sheeting. It was finally nice to get a little work done on the Vigilante.

jofunk

The horizontal stabs came out of the vacuum bag. The horizontal and vertical stabs got a leading edge glued on. I used Elmers white school glue to attach the LE. The Elmers is quick and easy and I don't mind waiting for the glue to dry.

jofunk

It has been a slow go but here is a little progress. Vladimir machined 4 plug ins that will connect the nose to the main body of the fuse. He also laid up some composite 7A bulkheads to set the machined plugs into. The break is just in front of the nose gear. It needs to come apart to make the fuse more reasonable for transportation. When the nose is off the main section of the fuse will sit on all three gear.