Bokuda:
OK that´s 2. I´ll be seeing the supplier over the weekend and get a price. Do you want the cheeks as well?

Yes, cheeks too. Preferably molded into the cowl!

Let me know the price, please.

Dave

I would also be interested in these parts, but I won't have the fundage for ~2 wks. If that won't work out, cool...I'll work around it

I've been coerced by Bokuda to post a link to my site or post pictures here of my build of the T2k. This is my second plane, first 2 Meter plane, first bulid from plans and I'm photodocumenting everything I do as I go. I missed the rudder build as we did that over Bokuda's house, but everything else will be there. You can track progress at [link=http://www.terrellclan.com/modules/gallery/t2k]my site[/link].

There are some other miscellaneous pictures in there of my build area and some new sockets my friend and I put in to accomidate the new lights and tools. Hopefully this will help people who are discouraged from building for the first time...afterall, again, this is only my second plane!

If anyone is wondering, I use a combination of high output flourecent bulbs (like grow bulbs, check Home Depot) for the lights, they're very bright and have a pink-ish tinge in two and a green-ish tinge in the other two. It makes for very pleasant light while working on the stark white plans.

So far the bulid experience has been great, but I've just begun. I picked up a wing tube today and plan to start building the wing panels until I can get the rest of the parts for the stab.

So thats my two bits for now. I can post the pictures here if people would rather. I will be updating regularly with pictures as my brother is at sea in the Navy and likes to get updates

-Dave

PS: that is gatorade in the canister, keeps me hydrated in the dry basement ...

just tell me yer gonna go compete with it when you're done Dave!

Looking good. You'll love the T2k. But uh.....second plane? I'm wondering if I read that wrong...a trainer to one of these? Tell me there were more planes in between, or you'll have me biting my nails off!

-Mike

Bite away my friend! I do have a Tai Ji that I have flown ~4 times, and it'll get more time before this bad boy is in the air...this is my second build. My first build was a PT-40 kit (also documented on my site). I was misleading with the 'second plane,' sorry for that. But all-in-all its what I consider my second plane. The guy I bought the Tai Ji from doesn't understand me when I say I still don't consider it my plane. Aside from the low flight time, _I_ didn't build it, cover it and pour my own blood, sweat and tears into it. Maybe I'm crazy...uh, scratch that, I AM crazy [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

Oh, and yes, I do plan to compete with it...when its done and I'm ready...with the Tai Ji as my backup! Can't wait.

-Dave

Hey Mike, you just hit 600 posts with that one, congrats and thanks for contributing so much knowledge. I have followed your threads thoroughly and will be referring to everyones notes as I go...

WHEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!!! That was close.

Ok, better. If you can proficiently fly a Tai Ji (any size), then you can handle a T2K. Take off and in the air it's easier to fly than a trainer. landing it is a different story. You literally have to stall it onto the ground under control. Unless it's 12 lbs that is. Then it'll hit like a brick.

I know what you mean by "not my plane". I had a G Trick once. I hated it, my wife hated it, and when I finally did it in, we stripped it and then danced all over the pieces in the driveway. True story. My first and last ARF. I have been building my own for 30 years, and I see no reason not to do so from here on out. The ARF was an expensive mistake, but I learned one thing: I don't want an ARF Ever.

And I hear ya, my first pattern plane was a scratch built T2K. I won 8 out of 9 contests I entered with it. I only lost the first one, but it was a close second. The plane was only 9 days old. I never lost with it again. Jeez I wish I hadn't sold it.

Well good luck, welcome, and COMPETE DANGIT!!!!!

-Mike

Thankya thankya, and you are entirely welcome my friend.

Did I mention compete?

-Mike

Tonight I ran into my first frustration and large error. Without thinking I cut all the aileron ribs from the wing panel ribs before starting. UGH. I did learn some things I think might be helpful to others, as well I have some questions to ask.

I was working on the wing ribs and have my wing tube to work with. I cut the tube at the proper length and started to fit it in the ribs. Of course the 1" wing tube (um, the outer tube part) doesn't fit in the 1" hole I drilled and so I got out some sand paper. After a bit of tinkering I realized the perfect way to sand the hole out would be to tape sand paper to the end of the actual (inner) tube, really tightly. This allowed me to slip the tube into the 1" hole and then I just sat on a chair holding the wing rib while rolling the tube over my legs with my hand. It worked quite well! The root ribs that need to accept the tube are doing so nicely and the holes are still quite round.

Now onto my question. On W-4 and W-5, W-T-F, the hole for the wing tube overlaps the spars! And thats without sanding it out to the point where the tube will fit in. Whats up with that? Grrr, now aside from having to redo those ribs so I can build the wing properly I was quite frustrated while looking at the plans for the wing tube. Any help appreciated guys. Hopefully I'll have actual progress tomorrow night.

Oh yea...compete, right...just after I have some good days of buliding [:@]

-Dave

Hi Mike,

How do you mount the "Hyde mount" to the firewall? How do you adjust it sideway? (It will develop a bevel if you move it or that isn't matter?)

Regards
Attila

Allright Dave, this is tricky. w-4 will be very close, but they don't overlap. Just VERY close. Cut the holes as exact as you can get them.

W5 will have to be 2 pieces. It sucks, and it makes alignment tricky, but that's where a bar sander comes into play. Just take your time there. You'll also have to put a slight circular shape into teh spars. Take the inner wing tube piece and wrap the end with some sticky back sandpaper. Then just stick it through the holes and gently turn it to sand the spars to where they don't bulge. It sounds harder than it is. Then when you glue the wing tube into place, glue the front and rear pieces of W5 then. Just take car that it ends up being in the right position. IF you mess up and it's off a little, sand down the protruding edge to match the rest of the wing with a bar sander, then CA another piece of 1/8" balsa to the side of the edge that's short. Then bar sand that side, and voila, fixed. Don't be afraid to use wood shims like that, it doesn't weigh much unless you do it in many places. Besides if someone sees the inside of your wing, you've had a bad day and I don't think you'd care at that time.

As for the hyde mount, well I've never had to move one. It takes about 3 1/2 degrees of right and about 2 of down. Although if you dial your wing adjusters closer to 0, you can get away with less down thrust and your down lines will be better. It's all a trade off and once you're committed, you're committed.

-Mike

Thanks Mike. I hadn't seen it mentioned before and figured there must be something dumb about it (no offense to the designer). I was sanding W-4 out and the top part by the spar broke on its own because it was so thin. I think today when I'm redoing the ribs if it breaks again I won't be so concerned. But when I finally got to looking at W-5 and the wing tube hole I was quite p1ss3d off at the whole concept of having a split rib. Hopefully today I'll have some progress done on the wings. I have one single 8411 to mock up the wings with so I should be good there.

Did I mention to ya'll that I'm also keeping very close tabs on the cost of this plane? I'm doing the poor man's 2-Meter build. I know going with 8411's isn't exactly the poor man's 2-meter, but its likely that I will sit and wait for 8411's to become avail. on some auction site at good prices or something, perhaps need to be rebuilt. I'm attempting to get everything as cheap as possible not only to save my wallet, but also to show that 2-meters can be done at not-so-huge a cost to the builder. Any cost saving tricks 'n' tips are quite welcome I certainly hope I can achieve the goal. A friend already managed to get me a G2300 for under $100 NIB, I was quite lucky. I don't consider the radio one of the expenses since a 2-Meter isn't likely a first plane for people, but the electronics will be included in the budget...build tools also aren't considered (am I suppoesd to include my scroll saw as an expense? I dont' think so).

So far the tally is small, but cheap:

Plans, 3x copied at Staples - $48 (one to keep safe, one to build on and one to cut for templates)
Engine, 2-stroke g2300 - $95 shipped
Wood, hopefully all I'll need- $127 shipped
Wing tube - $20 LHS

I think based on just your forum signature, Mike, that you'll like this approach. I'm sure we're not alone

-Dave

I'm a paperboy now.
After trying the paper for sheeting the wings I don't think I will ever go back to using obechi veneer or balsa for my foam wings again. I like it that much. The paper for the wing weighted 68gr so even with the tube and sockets it is actually lighter than some of my .60 size wings.
I used 52gr of epoxy so I'm still using too much I think and need to find exactly the right amount to use so I can get it right every time.

Well Mike, I got the rib installed right and have some photos to post...

I'm going to have a lot of sanding to do on that leading edge. I think next time I'll put the cap strip on, then sheet, sand and _THEN_ put on the leading edge and sand that. Its a great method, I just for some reason didn't do it and now I'm stuck with doing it on both wing halves.

Yup, my finger after joining the pieces for the sheeting...

So thats it for now, I'll see how it comes out tomorrow. Luckily I called Bokuda before doing the sheeting. I had, in hand, 30 minute epoxy while on the phone with him. He warned and suggested I get 2-3hr epoxy for the working time and thank god I did! It took far longer then I thought to get everything prepared for the sheeting, but with that 3hr epoxy I had plenty of time. I think its actually setting up now I'll post the final result pics tomorrow.

PS: I edited to upload the pics instead of having them linked from my site...that way if my site doesn't last as long as RCU there won't be broken links [:-]

-Dave

That has to be the most interesting way I've ever seen to sheet a wing.

I can't wait to see how it comes out!

-Mike

Hi,

I've started to build the fuselage. I framed it up, glued the ribs and made the fuselage floor. Now I have a huge what's it to move around my house , if we wish to eat -> to the bedroom, if I want to work on it -> to the hall. My next project will be a biger house or just a workshop (I don't have any [&o] ) I don't decided yet.

It worked out quite well, I'm happy with the results.

Theres a very small gap in the leading edge, I'm not too concerned about it since I thought it'd be worse. Other then that, all the ribs were glued very well to the sheeting without any gap. The magazines make a nice, even pressure on the wing and I didn't have it in me to put pins all over the thing. Next is the ailerons and servo box. I'm still a bit concerned about doing the ailerons as I don't think I have a whole concept of exactly how its done. I have marked the positions on each of the ribs, then I cut out that piece and glue in the trailing edge hinge block and the aileron hinge block? Then sand down the aileron leading edge at the planned angle...I hope thats right, cause thats how I think its supposed to work.

After this wing is done completely I'll do the other side, then back to the h.stab to finish that up as well.
I have a sh*t ton of sanding to do [&:]

-Dave

Heh...sanding. Don't feel bad, I stay covered in dust. I'm sanding the plugs for my new plane, I swear I'm taking 3-4 showers a day. My shop looks like hell itself.

On the bright side, my new plane is pretty much done except for the glass parts. Now we get to see if this mold making thing is over-rated or not. I'll let ya know. With any luck I'll have some pre-finish sneak peeks for you guys in the next couple weeks. It's different. Current. VERY modern I'd say. I have a hard time believing it's 90% wood and foam, and yet it was so easy. But good grief this thing is getting me excited!

Sorry to ramble, I got off track there

But I'm glad that worked out. pins work the best, but it's difficult to find the ribs, and at first it does make you cringe to stick all those holes in your wing. But in truth the plane doesn't care, I haven't snapped a wing yet, and I'm playing with high energy reverse avalanches. (I better knock on wood!) That C/F spar takes all the flight load and preads it through the tube. That's why that stupid W-5 isn't really all that stupid structurally, it's just a pain to do correctly. I seem to always get it off line a little and have to do some shimming and sanding. But the wings come out light and really strong, so it's worth it.

Make some dust!

-Mike

Hey, we're dying to see the new plane - start a new thread for it!!

I couldn´t agree more.

/Erik

Soon, soon. I have molds to make, and then I'll put it together and post a pic or three. Assuming the molds turn out ok.

-Mike

Ok, here's a sneak peek at the new toy. I'm sure you'll either love it or hate it, but I figured what the heck.

It will be a while before it's finished, and then I want to do some hard flight testing and tweaking to get it as good as possible. But so far, so good. The first one will have retracts (no I'm not crazy, just testing something) and then another will have Matt's fixed gear. The design will very easily accept both.

The basic structure is all wood and foam, and the canopy, cowl and belly pan will be glass/carbon. The Tempest flies great and is a good temporary solution to a large problem, and I intend to solve a big one with this new plane. Easier to build, and no limitations due to design and materials. It also builds a little lighter in general, although this very first one won't be light. It's a prototype and I used all of my worst wood, and will have a lot of filler etc....so it won't be super light. It will be legal though, and the lighter the better. Actually the fuse is MUCH lighter than the Tempest with good wood at this point.

Well enjoy.

-Mike

Damn partner that looks great! congrats, I hope it flys as well as I'm sure it gonna look.

Hi Mike ,
YOUR pattern airplane looks fantastic fantastic!
I'm up to my --in projects but a new pattern ship is a must for Spring 05;so I'm building the Typhoon 2000 thanks to Scott..
Here is a shot of my 20 year old Tiger Tail that started it all with regards to Evolving from the 1971 Nationals winning Tiger Tail, then the Tiger Tail IV, the Tar Baby then the Typhoon, Typhoon 2000 and NOW your terrific modifications creating "some thing new indeed."

This is for Newbie: on that finger deal full of super glue. try using a piece of masking tape of your finger first. MattK