RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

When the subjest is light-do you know the blink sequence for the top and the bottom fuselage blimp? Are they syncron and is it blink-blink blink-? Or blink blink-blink blink Well i hope you know what I'm after.
The vingtips red and green is always on I suppose.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Marc
I have two questions for you.
1. does the vertical stab have two bolt attachment points? If not I think it needs 2 to stop the possibility of rudder flutter.
2. Because of smoke system, the rear formers need some sort of protection from the smoke fluid and the blow back that will occur.
What are your thoughts?:eek:

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Mark,

On my Skygate Hawk I did a modification to allow "additional securing" of the vertical stab to the fuselage. As you know the kit uses a single 3mm bolt to secure the vertical stab to the fuselage. This bolt is located on the leading edge of the stab, near the bottom and front part of the stab.

1. I cut a piece of maple block, drilled and tapped it to 4mm, and glued it to the phenolic tube inside the fuselage, then drilled through the phenolic tube. This now provides additional support to the vertical stab spar tube as I use a 4mm bolt as a grub screw.

2. Access to the screw is via a small hole on the right hand side of the fuselage. I also mounted a length of plastic tube inside the fuselage to act as a guide for the hex driver to reach the head of the 4mm bolt.

If you need me to send any photos I will gladly do so. The vertical stab is now very secure and gives me additional piece of mind as I wasn't really happy with the single 3mm bolt on this size model.

Best regards,

Darryl Tarr
Dubai

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Darryl thanks for the input and suggestion. I have seen this mod done, and will certainly add this security once the stab phenolic tube is in, which with any luck should be this weekend time permitting.
I notice that a few like you have made access to this bolt via a hole in the fuselage, is there a reason why this simply cannot be accessed via the removable panel on the back, that way you don't need to make a hole in the fuselage?

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Greg, morning, I am planning on making a fixing as per the suggestions and also from pictures I have seen on the forum and Schroeders build (see pic) - I have already added some strengthening and have prepared four holes to use the BVM carbon tow wrap system to provide additional security for the fin mounting.
On the smoke front I will paint the whole rear former section in my usual grey cellulose primer, and if required will add if you think it is needed a light aluminium plate under the formers and above the thrust pipe to further reduce blowback etc. Ask Ali about the aluminium plate;)

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

QUESTION:

With a P200 and a normal type build with electronics in the area below the cockpit etc does this jet tend to come out nose or tail heavy?

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

That Alu plate as lovely as it is, is too heavy. I think a coat of primer and maybe a coat of finishing resin will suffice. Just to stop the formers absorbing any un-burnt liquid.
All the SG Hawks I have flown, and including the one that I had built by Skygate had two bolts for fixing the fin.

Greg... Dont panic! Those photos that you see are not from you Hawk build. Marc could never bring himself to apply hysol in that fashion ( Like a badly iced birthday cake ) :D

Marc. I doubt very much that this jet will work out nose heavy ( Dont take that as a challenge ;) )

Regards Al

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Marc,

The removable back panel has to be secured first before inserting the vertical stab. I initially also had the same thought process as you but it is NOT possible to fit the back panel once the vertical stab is in place, hence the hole required in the fuselage.

I am using two Duralite HC 4300 Li-Ion mAh batteries for my PowerBox Royal and my batteries are located on the floor about 3" behind the back of the front pilot seat. Moving rearwards are my two recievers, then the PowerBox. I have no equipment forward of the batteries and my CG is a little forward.

I agree with Al on the coat of finishing resin to stop any excess fluid being absorbed by the wood. I have done this on my Ultra Bandit and am still suprised how smoke oil can get to the most obscure places.

Regards,

Darryl Tarr
Dubai

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Cut the holes in the fuselage for the various exhausts and openings, its quite amazing just how many there are!
Made up some glass fibre tubes to fit in the exhaust openings, cut them to the correct angle and glued in place.
There are three openings for various gauges, on each side there are two openings in the same position, which on the full size are gauges for fuel capacity (I think), on the starboard side there is an addition oil level eye glass which is supplied with the kit and will be fitted later.
The two openings for gauges are in such a position that makes it very difficult to reach from either end, but it did seem logical to use them for a function, two air pressure gauges seemed right. So first job was to make a clear cover to fit the hole, this was done by heating some clear acetate over a coin that was the correct size, once hot I then pushed a piece of FR4 board with a hole cut to be just a bit bigger then the coin and forced it down over the coin, the result was a clear window with a lip to fit the opening.

The air gauges needed to be removable and accessible, so a length of aluminium was cut, one end had a hole made to accept the gauge, then a little way back from here I made a key slot, and near the end a normal hole. The plan was to fix two blocks to the strip, the one nearest the gauge and most difficult to reach would slot over a bolt set in a wood block and locate in the key slot, the end furthest away and closest to the fuselage opening had an M3 bolt to secure. I lined up the gauge with the hole and glued the complete assembly with blocks to the fuselage side.

I still need to fix the clear cover in place but the gauge fixing is done on one side and looks to be good. I will work on the gauge face a little to make it more in keeping with the original units, but this will provide instant air pressure readings without having to remove covers or cockpits, and can be removed by removal of one bolt.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

more..

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

As this jet is running a P200 I was concerned over the 'flexibility' of the two formers which support the turbine mounting rails, I understand a P160 is the most popular choice for this jet. I know that the jet was made light to achieve the 20kg AUW and these items are heavily lightened. To improve the strength I decided to apply some glass cloth to both sides of the formers, the result is much stiffer without the addition of much weight. Depending on the outcome the rails might also get some additional support.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Marc,

Very nice work. Actually I think the G-Booster 160+ was the original turbine for this kit. This turbine is very powerfull and although many think of it as a 160 class turbine it actually produces 170+ Newtons, almost a 180 class turbine.

Its always a good idea to strengthen components where required and when you get to the horizontal stabilizer stage put this on your checklist: Strenghten the join where the dual elevator clevices are glued onto the horizontal box spar. I can post photos if required.

Regards,

Darryl Tarr
Dubai

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Darryl post pics please, always good to see whats been done and modified to improve safety and reliability.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Marc,

I strengthened both sides of the joint where the epoxy glass triangular clevices are glued onto the stab. The Box Spar is incredibly strong and although the clevices are glued into a small recess it looked a little fragile to me so I used 2oz cloth and finishing resin.

Regards,

Darryl

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hey Darryl, is the elevator center section hollow?

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hey Tobba,

No, its a solid box section spar. Sorry for the late reply, have just landed from London Gatwick.

Regards,

Darryl

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Thanks Darryl.

I like your mod. Key piece of engineering IMO. How far do the two control horns key into the joiner...? I'm looking forward to seeing how Tomahawk have executed a few of these key areas.

Cheers

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

My horns go all the way through to the bottom of the box section. I believe Tomahawk have carried the same concept to their Hawk.

Rgds
mark

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Thanks Mark. Sounds good.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Back from travels now so will start to work on the rear formers and then stabs this week, good info to work with guys, thanks.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi Marc.

Thanks for going to the effort of a thread.

I am waiting for a Tomahawk Hawk (march run) and this will be great reference for me. I hear Thomas has shipped his first kits. Hopefully some shots will turn up somewhere soon.

T

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Assembled the elevator servo mount, trial fitted and scuffed the contact area with a coarse wheel on a dremmel. The face of the servo mount sits 4.5cm forward of the fuselage face in front of the mount. Its tricky to see if the plate is level so got the fuselage level and then levelled the plate.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

With the rear formers assembled it was time to fit them finally now the air gauges and rear side exhaust tubes are in, it would have been almost impossible to fit these items if the rear formers were in place.
Using the laser X wire level shown in an earlier post I fitted the wings and got them spot on horizontal, I moved the rear former assembly into place and using a piece of beech on two mixing cups I was able to tack the formers with cyano in place exactly horizontal in line with the wings.
Once secure I removed the fin and phenolic tube and applied Aeropoxy to the former/fuselage joint (previously scuffed), there is a lot of surface area here to glue, and with one small area still to do I got through two tubes of Aeropoxy! Should be nice and strong though..

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Fixing the stabs utilises a very strong pair of aluminium pivots, first job is to mount the pivots to the stabs, it took a while to establish the correct orientation but got there in the end. Once the two brackets were secured to the stab (not too tight) I positioned the whole assembly centering the pivots so the base and arm sections were nicely aligned onto the rear mounting plates. I visually adjusted the stabs into the correct position with equal gaps either side, doubled checked movement and then once happy there was enough room to get two small clamps onto the rearmost base of the two mounting brackets, this held the position needed for drilling. I then removed the stab retaining bolts, which is why they were not done up too tight, and carefully removed them without disturbing the alignment of the plates.
With the stab removed I fired in some cyano to 'tack' the brackets to the mounting rails, once set I drilled 4mm holes through the brackets fixing the front hole first nice and tight so that when the clamp was removed to drill the rear hole nothing shifted.
I opted to replace the small washers supplied with 'penny' washers for the underside of the rail, this helps spread the load of the nut once tightened.

The two forward stab securing bolts are M4x35. the rear two which go through a thiner section of the stab are M4x30. The rearmost two in my mind are a little short, with only a small amount of thread securing into the bracket so I will cut down two additional M4x35 bolts to give a longer thread contact fixing.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Some advise on this stage would be good based on my proposed modification......

The elevator linkage requires two glass board horns to be glued into the stab connecting bar, passing through slots in the top surface and then a smaller slot in the bottom, the ball clevis is bolted through these, there is a picture of this done nicely in a picture in this thread where additional strengthening glass cloth was applied - this got me thinking.

Rather than glue two horns into slots made in the stab, I have made two aluminium horns, shaped to follow the stab contour and shaped to give the same hole location as the original glass horns. Rather than glue the aluminium horns to the stab I propose to fix each side of the control horn with two M4 bolts, these will pass through the stab and where all four bolts exit I plan on making a small plate to act as a big washer to go over the bolt threads and then apply four lock nuts. The added security of nuts and bolts passing through the stab verses glue seems to me to be more reliable.
I have posted some pictures and will not drill any holes until I get feedback, allowing me to use the original system should I have missed something important ;-)

Comments on this mod welcome....

marcs