RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Started on the wings tonight, was going to tackle the flaps first but came across a small problem - have posted a thread to ask for help on this.

Until I work out what to do I decided to start on the ailerons. I taped the flap in position to provide a guide for alignment of aileron/flap trailing edges, then offered up the aileron to mark the hinge positions. I always find this tricky, marking the hinge position accurately seems difficult as the angles etc seem to throw out measurements, following some head scratching I cut a thin piece of scrap FR4 board into a shape like a house with a point at the top, I wedged this with the existing ply hinge into the slot in the aileron, offered up the aileron and when in the correct place pushed the point of the FR4 into the foam former where the hinge would be fixed, this left a mark where the edge of the ply hinge would be, from then on it was much easier, the holes lined up spot on with a nice fit.

Epoxied in the hinge on one wing. Also cut out the servo hatch with a modified junior hack saw blade and taped it in place for later work on the servo fitment.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Marc s!looking great so far!Wait till you get to those pesky UC main side doors[:@] I had a hand in sorting Schroeder's ones[:'(]

keep up the good work!

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Mj I hear the doors and the canopy are both fun, can't wait! Currently trying to sort out flaps - horns are different to those on CD and in most build pics [:@]

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

I was able to contact Stefan at Skygate today and asked about the flap horn problem, he confirmed that they have changed the shape of the horns slightly from the originals to make them easier to fit.
The horn that sits in the flap carries the main changes, it has a small tab at each end of the base, the forward one is designed to line up with the front edge of the flap, the rear is for allowing correct seating onto the flap surface, both can be removed once the horn is fitted. There is a change to the mounting area for the secondary flap which i will show when I get to fit this piece.

First I mounted the flap to the wing with the correct spacing, around 1.5mm gap, then I drew lines across the wing and onto the flap to give the centre line for the horn positions. I positioned the flap horns on the line and marked the slot positions, then using my small mill I cut the slots in the face, a dense foam support lies beneath the areas being cut for extra strength. I then moved to the front curved face which requires a slot to be made for the horn arm to extend through, again I used the small mill to get a nice neat slot cut.

I have marked on the pics the dimensions I used which came out about right, they are only intended as a guide so please double check if you are making one of these kits.

Next came preparation of the flap horns, the hinging is done via a clever use of an M3 ball clevis, a slot is already made in each horn for this and the clevis literally screws down onto the glass board finger until it seats on the side tabs. Once the thread was cut I backed off the clevis and scuffed all the areas that were going to be receiving glue, I added a small notch each side of the where the clevis mounts for my option of securing.

In addition to scuffing the horn I also did the shaft of each clevis. Rather than glue the clevis in place I opted to use the carbon tow method, similar to the fin phenolic tube mounting. I wrapped a length of carbon tow round the clevis and horn making sure not to get too close to the fixing point, then wicked in a good dose of medium cyano, the result is a very strong fixing and easier in my books than applying epoxy.

Next job will be glueing them into the flap.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

While the glue was drying, takes a while in the cold we are having currently, on the flap assembly, I decided to fit the metal grilles to the top of the fuselage.

I noted from full size pics these sit flush with the fuselage, so removing the area where they fit and leaving a small edge onto which to glue them would leave them proud of the surface, so after a few cold hours I went and DID IT - hatches, yes, hatches. I was told it was fine to access fuel fill etc from the panel behind the cockpit, but I cannot build without a hatch somewhere ;)

So lots of fine sanding got me to two nice holes that matched the aluminium panels, next, hinges. Used the same ones I found on the internet that went into the PC21 build hatch, small stout little brass numbers. Recessed the fuselage to accept the hinge, drilled and spaced the aluminium plate with some FR4 so it closed flush to the fuselage top skin, and tacked the hinges to the fuselage with CA, after first scuffing the area.

I plan on installing the closure system, wire in a snake (BVM style) so that release is done via hiding it in each of the two air scoops just behind the cockpit, it keeps the runs short for the release cables and also for fuel and smoke filling. One side will carry fuel/smoke fills, the other the air fill points and maybe gauges as well to double up so that while filling they can be seen, and when the grilles are closed the gauges on each side of the fuselage can be used for spot checking air pressures.

Now back to the flaps......

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Hi marcs I am very impressed with your work ;)
Whats this about bypass?
I will email you tomorrow

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Brilliant - love it.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Marc s,

Thanks for your extensive report.
For your info, and for others like Schroedm, Tobba, I have picked up my Tomahawk kit last sunday.
This is the first production kit they have made and delay was only one week due to testing of the welds on the landing gear.
Build quality is excellent and Thomas and Andreas have incorporated some changes w.r.t. the SG version.
For example, the parts as shown in the left picture on post #40 have all been cut out.
Furthermore, the weight is very low, e.g. the front part weighs only 791 gramms.

Marc s virtual manual will certainly help me to build this kit.

Remco45

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Remco,

Good luck on the build, I am sure it will be fun and rewarding.
Appreciate the comments.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

As much as I want to take the p1ss I can't - nice work Mr S!! I knew you'd find a place for a hatch where there wasn't a place for a hatch :D

Spk soon.

Remco, start a new thread with a few pics!! My Futura is shipping at the moment and my Hawk is due early January.

M

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

So what do you want ;)

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Good to hear Remco,

Any chance of some shots to keep me excited? Maybe a Tomahawk thread?

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Yep, I agree!!

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

I'll try although i'm not much of a thread-poster, but first I have to finish my other project: a F104-G Starfighter.

Update: ok, the thread is up.
I've included some pictures of the delivery package.

Regards,

Remco45

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Nice project too.

A man who finishes one thing before moving to the next - Impressive, a skill I am yet to master.

Thanks for the Tomahawk thread.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

With the little time the holiday gives have managed a few hours on the build.

First job was to instal the locking cables for the two hatches, this I did with the same method I used on a BVM kit a while back. Two well scuffed snakes were tack glued to the edges of the two openings, extending forwards and out through two openings I cut in the fuselage under the two air scoop positions, then two further pieces of carbon tube were cut to fit into the gap across the hatch opening, once done the wire was inserted through holding the unglued carbon tube section across the hatch in place. I remounted the two hatches, scuffed and cleaned of with acetone the glueing areas, dabbed two small spots of 15 min thixo epoxy onto the carbon tubes, lowered the hatches onto these until flush and taped in place to dry.

Once the glue tack spots were dry, I removed the tape, then the wire securing rods and finally the hatch doors. Applied glue to the full lengths of each carbon tube and set aside to fully dry. Once dry applied some grey primer to the underside of each hatch.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Next came the formers to support the equipment panels that sit below the hatch openings.
I spent ages drawing and modifying various designs and eventually came up with a format I was happy with, using a thin quality ply with milled slots for the two carbon plates, a cut out for the starter exhaust unit and lightening holes.
I was showing them to a friend who came over to help with the fabrication of the ducting, who instantly spotted the mistake (thanks Rich!) the elevator push rod would foul on the plates [>:] so more tweaking. Finally ended up with two formers which did the job and did not get in the way!
The resulting rearmost former acts as a third support for the elevator push rod around its longest span point which is a good additional feature..

Mounted the carbon plates for alignment, levelled and tacked in with cyano and then finished off with Aeropoxy.

On to the second wing flap next.......

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

The ends of the rods used to open the hatches will sit in openings to the two air scoops on the fuselage behind the cockpit.
To get the rods in the right position I made two small plates to hold the snakes in the correct position so the wire exited in the corners of the scoops. So the snakes were not visible they are recessed a couple of inches inside the scoops - I will trim the wire once the model nears completion.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Started on the flap horn covers yesterday, 12 pieces in all to hollow out sufficiently to get them all to cover the horns and open and close without binding - what a fun job[:@]
On each wing there are three cover sets, two small ones and one bigger unit, I remember seeing some comments on threads about the correct way these need to be positioned, namely the larger one goes in the middle.

There involves a lot of filing and removing of material to get the fits close, but patience is the key here and take time, some of the carbide cutters (ball types) are very good here to help hollow out the saddle areas where the ball links are connected.
The two small outside flap covers once trimmed fitted well with the wing section, the centre larger unit was more tricky as the flap section seemed to be too short and if mounted flush on the flap surface would foul when swung open. I looked to remove some material from the wing cover to lower this but there is a row of moulded screws on this item close to the edge so sanding these down would have removed this detailing - I eventually raised the flap cover up with a few spacers and glued in place, once dry I will fill the gap to make good.

I found that cutting a thin section of 'L' shaped aluminium strip into three pieces was ideal for resting on the wing surface to achieve a consistent gap along the flap edge, taping where needed id seemed better than just using the eye.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

After a quick outing to get some metal servo arms for the ailerons and flap today I was able to mark up and mount the aileron linkage horns. Two glass board tabbed horns fit into slots cut into the aileron, I used the mill to cut the slots and Aeropoxied the horns in, tacking with cyano to hold in the correct position.

Once dry I will work out the optimum servo arm location for the linkage to achieve the correct throws.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Are you not concerned with the slop/play in the JR servo arm ( Due to the oversize hole compared to the clevis pin ) ?

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

I have not been able to do much work inside the main fuselage yet due to the 'project' running along side this build to fabricate a fully ducted system for this which hopefully will be available from Als Hobbies once this build has been completed. I need to make sure that the internal space is free to achieve the best ducting system layout.

Along with Rich we had a test run of the two ducts today to make sure they fitted and avoided any major component, all in all the results looked good, and along with a turbine bypass also under construction for a P200 the result should be a clean flying machine.

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

I plan on drilling my own hole to match the clevis pin and not using the JR pre drilled ones....

marcs

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Superb!
I cant wait now. I have been flying my Skygate hawk this weekend before it goes out to the customer and as much as I am loving it I think the bypass will just make it that much better. At the same time I am also flying the smaller SKymaster Hawk ( The larger 1/5 th scale version) and it just seems to have so much better speed retention. It almost feels a tad smoother to fly. With the Skygate I find that I have to treat 1/2 to 3/4 as idle , and thats with a P-180. Anything below that and the model just seems to brake so quickly and take a noticeable amount of time to build that speed up again.

RE: Skygate Hawk - build (virtual manual)
 

Great work Rich/Marc! When should I bring the TomaHawk fuselage round for a bypass system ;)