RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Mike,

Here are some pics from last night, you will see red spots and same spots covered in gray primer, i just sprayed single light cote last night, i dont have any problem with using red evercote glazing putty, see yourself....I also took pic of area that cracked couple nights ago but its ok now...Its the picture of forward fiberglass moulding for cheater hole between landing gear openings...

Terry,

I also took pic of the tube of Evercote Glaze putty i am using...

Cheers,
Sammy

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

I actually plan on CUTTING SOME BALSA today.

W00t. :) And stuff. :)

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Exciting day! Looking forward to 1st build photos.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Tom,

As it turns out, not going to get to work on it tonight. Mike and I will likely be starting in on framing up the fuse as soon as they open at 10:00 tomorrow...come on up and hang out for a bit. :)

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

A little while back on this thread someone forwarded me the OS.91 large head web page at Tower. I thought $50 was a bit steep and so started rumaging OS's web site. I found a model number for the motor that could be ordered with the large head. I was ectatic since I am using a Byron fan. Thought the deal would be better. It was not on the Tower site so I went to my local hobby shop (The Prop Shop, Center Line, Michigan). They accessed the OS site through their professional connection only to find that the large head only version has been discontinued. The large head configuration could only be abtained by ordering the small head and the seperate large head heat sink. Ok, so be it. Then the suprise. They quoted me a price $40 less that the Tower price! I have been doing over 90% of my business since returning to the hobby with Tower since I did not get good service at any of the local shops in the past and I have complained that the local shops in the Detroit area have not been dealing with what should be their strength, customer service. Nice to see that change at this shop. They have me as a customer even though it is a two hour round trip for me to get there.

Anyway, if anyone is going to use a pusher fan and needs the large head OS .91 this is currently the only way to get it.

bob branch

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

The LHS where I work part time has one in stock.......................299.95 I think. can be mail ordered,too.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Thanks Terry. I already ordered it at my LHS.

bob

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Construction has begun! :) :) :)

The fuse sides are, save for the wing alignment holes and spar slot, complete.

I've created a quick/dirty little website to track progress. I'll comment here whenever it gets updated.

Enjoy. :)

Edit : Going to blog the process instead...

http://bluesconvert.blogspot.com/

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

I went to your Blog. Nice

Just want to clarify, tha last RE picture of the three (Other peoples) you have posted is in fact a TGA Ultra Eagle Pro. Built By "Joeflyer" I believe. Not A BP Reagle Eagle.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

I received my Regal Eagle kit from Bob today and now after reading the manual and parusing the plans I have a few questions you guys who are ahead of me might be able to help me with. Did you find a balsa materials list or did you just create it from your plans?

Donniercjet: I noticed you mounted your engine upright with the Byron fan rather than on its side as Bob has on the plans. I think I know your reasoning but would you share it? Also are the slits in the fuse side inside the inlets on your plane what I think they are for, please include your reasoning there too. I'm too new to jets, this is my first, to assume I know the answers to anthing so please just bare with me.

This will also be my first retract airplane. What systems did you use Dornniercjet and what did you use Sammy and why. From others, if I go with a Robart system I notice the 510 system is air up and spring down. Is the money saved worth it or is this a headache looking for a place to happen. I plan on using struts instead of wires on the gears.

bob branch

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Hi Bob,

I am not sure what are you refering to as "Slit on the fuse, inside of intakes", could clearify a little bit more, as for retracts, this my first model with air retracts, i got B&Ds with it when i bought the model, i had my friend Peter checked them for me and they work perfect and should be good for my needs. If you are going to get air retrats saprately then i'd go with air up spring down type, they would work if you lost air pressure while inflight, but in my case B&D work with air up and air dowm system and if for any reason air leaked or line ruptured while i am flying, my jet is coming in for belly landing, i wont be able to deploy gears at all.....

Hope this helps...
Sammy

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Gary, Terry...

I need some advice on this little problem i am having, since my wings have BP wing skins on it the trailing edge joint where it glues to trailing edge is seprating and chipping!, i have CA the split in joint but its the chipping that i cant figure how to fix, so far i ahve tryed epoxy bead across from root to tip with no sucess after light sanding, then after epoxy faile i used red putty and buided up thin bead but after sanding results are same, In the picture you can see tip being reflected by flash, there is this bead of epoxy there..Now i need you advice and help how to and what to use to get solid square trailing edge.......

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Bob,

I did not receive a balsa cut list. What I DID do was run down to kinkos, and made a copy of the rolled sheet that had the templates for all the parts (fuse sides, stabs, etc etc)...you could also make a copy of the template heet for wing ribs if needed. (I did not, as I'm using BP's foam wing cores).

Next, I cut each of those templates out, and used 2-sided tape (contact cement works as well) to attach them to the sheet balsa, and then cut around the templates, leaving about 1/8" outside the lines to sand down to shape later. I also, when > 1 paart of the same shape was needed, taped 2 (or however many) pieces of balsa together, and cut/sanded at the same time, to ensure both parts were identical.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

More work was done tonight... http://bluesconvert.blogger.com will have photos whenever blogger decides to function again. Work completed was:

1) Cut and assembled the vert. stabs, and also cut the horizontal stabs and elevators.
2) Drilled wing alignment holes in fuse sides, applied finish sanding to fuse sides
3) Consturcted and mounted the wing spar assemblies. (more on this in a moment)

I must admit, I'm starting to feel a little frustration with BP models right now:

1) On Dec 30th I placed the order for the nose fuse and nose cone. I received an e-mail from BP that day, confirming that he had received payment for the items, and had received the order. To date, I have not only not received the items but 2 e-mails requesting information on the status of the order have gone unanswered for several business days. I could understand any reasonable delay (especially since I placed the order right before NYE), but would at least like some confirmation that they're working on things, ya know?

2) The onstruction of the wing spar assemblies this evening revealed a wide range of issues.

First of all, the plans state that the included spars are 4 1/4" spar pieces, which are to be doubled to make 2 1/2" thick spars. Fine, but the included spars were 3/16", not 1/4", resulting in 3/8" spars. Spars were recut out of 1/4" ply, per plans. Not a BIG deal, and only a few bucks of ply...but still, I really think I should be able to expect that the included components are as specified, ya know?

Then, before assembly, we began looking at the spars and foam wing cores. Where the spars are meant to enter the wing, they are about 1/4" wider (top to bottm) than the thickness of the wing...in other words, the wing isn't wide enough to contaian the spar!

Now, this is a pretty significant issue in my mind, as it leaves only 2 possible solutions...either I relocate the spars considerably forward of where the plans specify, or I trim the spars to fit within the wing cores. The former is uncomfortable, since I hesitate to locate such a critial component in a spot that differs from the plans, but the latter is uncomfortable because making the spars narower obviously weakens them. After much consideration and consultation with Mike, the decision was made to install the spars in their specified location, and to trim them later as necessary to allow learance into the wings.

Ahh well...onward we'll go. :) Plan on doing more work tomorrow, and expect to join the fuse sides and get started skinning the wings.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

gboulton

Give Bob a call. I find he usually answers the phone and will probably be able to clear up the questions maybe more timely than by email, though I have also received good communications from him that way too.

Let me know what the final resolution is on the wing spars as I am also using the foam wing cores and it will be an issue for me as well. I was going to use birch ply and remake them anyway in that material rather than the thick light ply in the kit. I don't doubt the kit ones are adequate, Bob has been doing these things a long time, but its just my perchant for not liking the material. Too much other history in other medium.

bob branch

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Bob,

Was planning on giving BP a call today, so good to hear he can frequently be reached that way.

(EDIT : Right after posting this, checked my e-mail and saw a note from Bob saying he appologized for the delay, and would send the items today, so that concern seems to be resolved. :) )

As for the spars, I'll keep you up to date. I'll probably shoot some pics this afternoon showing the detail of the issue, and if we get that far, our resolution to it. I suspect it'll work out fine, as long as we don't sand any hard 90 degree corners into them. After thinking about it more last night, I'm beginning to wish we'd gone ahead and narrowed them before mounting, so we could avoid a sharp corner where they enter the fuse...so we may have some difficulty getting around that...we'll see.

In either case, as I say, I'll get some good pictures of that area so you can go forward armed with knowledge. :)

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Oh crud.. I missed this post or I would have stopped in for a bit. Let me know again some time. Do you guys work up there after hours?

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

gboulton

The spar issue isn't really a big deal. The wing is only so thick and so no mater how wide the spar is cut it is still only going to be the thickness of the wing. I think i building a short kit we have to be ready for some of that. I noticed in the plans that you are instructed not to begin assembly of the fuse without the fan in hand if you are using a pusher fan. Obviously, there is enough variation in them that you might have a fuse a little wider or narrower than the plan specs. Plan is still going to fly fine. In the world of Laser cut kits we get kind of spoiled. But my building & flying partner is assembling a 1.20 size Goldberg Sukoi. He had an older kit with die cut ribs. The wing went together aweful. Nothing fit. It was not straight. The center ribs did not account for the sheeting. He is a superb builder and it came out like junk. So He ordered a new wing kit. After figuring out the issues he knew he could build one better correcting for them on the way and not assuming all was well. Now this plane is available as an arf so you know somewhere there is an accurate set of patterns for the wing ribs. Well, the new wing kit arrives with laser cut ribs. Problems solved, right? Nope. Even more issues, different ones, but it would still have come out like shlock had he not just realized ok, this thing is not going to be right unless I make it so. So he interviened. Hand faired and fit every rib after creating a good jig. Beautiful job now. Plane will fly great.

I think in doing a short kit we have to be ready to almost be doing a scratch build. I used to build that way in control line aerobatics where everything competative must be scratch built. I'd get an airfoil, a set of moments, an outline of wing plan from one of my mentors, but then I built the kit. Rerally that is what we are doing here. Bob has set a framework down that has proven to work really well for its purpose over the years, but think of it more as a scratch build with premade plastic components to save some time. I think we'll wind up with better models if we do that because we can interject the things that we know from experience work well in our hands and question here things that we are not sure of.


I'm ordering balsa and awaiting my fan. I pick up my motor this weekend.

bob branch

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Tom,

Sorry you missed us. We'd enjoy your company. WOn't be up there tomorrow, not sure about Friday, but DEFINITELY plan on getting some work done Saturday while they're open. And yes, Mike and I HAVE stayed a bit past 6:00 the last couple days, but of course I don't want to ever count on Mike's good graces. :)

Bob,

Yeah, I kinda figured the spar wouldn't be a HUGE deal...the only concern I really have at all is that, once sanded to the proper "width", it'll make a 90 degree notch at the fuselage...and we all know that a 90 degree notch in a piece of wood is a good way to ask for a crack. After some consideration and brainbashing tonight, Mike came up with an elegant solution to that issue...once sanded to fit, we'll be putting a groove into the spar, and adding some carbon fiber cloth and epoxy. The thinking, of course, is that SHOULD a crack begin at the notch, it will progress no farther than the carbon fiber strip, thus maintaining the integrity of the spar.

I should also point out here that, as it turns out, this really isn't Bob's "fault". As I said earlier, the spars included with the kit were 3/16", not the called for 1/4". As a result, I traced them onto some 1/4" play, and recut them, PRESUMING the spars were correct in other dimensions. Since all plywood pieces are supplied precut, it didn't occur to me to check the template sheet for a spar template.

This evening, while cutting the tailplane supports, I realized that there is indeed a template for the spars, and it IS the correct width. What I'm GUESSING now is that, by accident, someone on Bob's staff included precut spars for a different aircraft. Had I done what I SHOULD have done, and checked the plans for correct spar dimensions, we never would have had this problem. So, as it goes, I really can't fault Bob for this one.

====================

Anywho, we DID get a bit more work done tonight, though nothing major. Got the final pieces cut (horiz. stabs, elevators, and tailplane supports) and also got the fuse halves joined with 1 piece each of 3/16" top and bottom sheeting, per Bob's instructions on the DVD. The good news is, that with the sheeting in place, the fuse box is bang on square in all dimensions, and the interior width of the aircraft is exactly the 9" called for in the plans, both front and back. So, at least to this point, it looks like the patience and careful work has paid off with a solid, square box fuse. :) (trust me...if you knew me, you'd know what an accomplishment that is *heh*)

No pics tonight, as I stupidly left the digicam at home. I'll drag it along next build day, and shoot some pics before we make further progress.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Oh, should also mention that I ordered the Dynamax tractor fan and tuned pipe from Bob today as well. I had, honestly, planned on going with a JMP System II pipe for the OS .91, but they have, 2 times now, not met their anticipated date for getting those back in stock, and the most recent word I have from them is they don't know WHEN they'll have them. As a result, I decided to go with a pipe that we KNOW will work, as Bob suggests it for this particular aircraft.

Beyond these items, once they arrive (along with the nose assembly that was supposedly shipped today) the only major component that will remain to be acquired is the retract system.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

gboulton

What are you going to do for a cockpit & pilot if anything. Looks like a 1/10th scale pilot would be about right. Century models has a nice jet pilot bust and full body pilot in that scale. I'm looking for cockpit for em. I can go full body or probably bust instead so I have more room for the nose gear. But it depends on what I find for a cockpit. I'd like to find something with an instrument panel rather than build one.

bob

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

It is not likely that you will have room for a full cockpit. By the time you put your RX, nose gear, steering servo, retract air tank and battery in the nose, you won't have room. Besides that, I think the nose gear bulkhead is in the way. I used modified Williams brother pilots in several of mine. Ths last one had a 1/10 scale jet pilot bust that someone gave me so I don't know who sold it.

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Hi Gary,

I am waiting for your advice on the problem i am having, pls check post# 162
and let me know, guys are coming on weekend to paint the jet....

Plus should i drill a hole for the Antenna now or wait till paint and decals are all done, and what is the beast place to have battery and RX on the R.E.

Cheers,
Sammy

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Sorry Sammy, I missed that post somehow.

I haven't ever had a problem like you are describing. I'm not sure what is chipping. Whatever it is, you need to try to free any loose material and sand it off. I would mix some epoxy (30 minute or finishing resin) and microballoons. Use a lot of microballons in the mix so it will sand easier when cured. You could also epoxy a strip of real light glass cloth around the trailing edge to prevent any more chipping.

The battery will need to be in the nose for balance. The RX will be in the compartment behind the nose gear mount. I ran my antenna inside the fuse in a tube that I ran from the rear of the nose to the back of the fuse.

Good luck

RE: Regal Eagle - A Journey
 

Thanks Gary,

I just rounded the edge slight a bit on all trailing edge surfaces, this should cure and chipping of skin panel at the trailing edge of left top wing...

As for Antenna, yep that sounds good idea also....

Thanks,

Sammy