Ok, now i have a permanent dust cloud around me, i swear i look like Pigpen now walking around!!

Moving on.... other things i started this weekend included the PLANKING OF THE CANOPY!!!... shake , fear, shake, cry.. fear..

well, guess what, mark has put together some laser cut pieces that make this MUCH easier... now, by no means does it just fall into place like the rest of the plane, but it gives you a place to start if you have never done this kind of building before... that is the class i fall into.. NO CLASS.. hahahaha anyhow..
check it out

What you see below are the tested combination to GET R DUN!

1. Fuel
2. Couple of Critics
3. Parts

Ok, a few more shots of the canopy a day or so later.. finsihing it up

I planked it out, then taped it off on al seams, and.. using poly glue mixed with some lighter than air stuff that if i mentioned i would be shot on sight... actually, i cant remember the name an i am not going out to find out, but... what it does is thicken the glue so it doesnt run and allows it to sand easier but does not affect anything else.

SO... after taping up the canopy, i brushed it into all the joints and around the stringers to firm up the canopy. As you see it now, WITH the tape.. it weighs around 3.9 oz.

i imagine it will end up around 6 with covering and the top fin built on.

Chuck,

The "magic" substance you are referring to is Cabosil. It is a viscosity modifier only. It does nothing to lighten or make easier to sand, it only keeps it from running...It can be mixed with Epoxy or Polyurethane glue to a mayonaise-like consistency to get it to stay where you put it.

Canopy looks pretty good...Now get back to work....let's see some real progress on this thing now that you have the sheeted parts. First contest is approaching rapidly.

Remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...

Richard

Richard, it makes it easier to sand cause it didnt run down the side of the fuse and foam up in places it wasnt supposed to be, hahahaha..

Anyhow, thanks for chiming in! Moving forward, here is some work on he wings and then it is back to sanding..

Cabosil is used to thicken epoxy up without making it weaker. They're small solid balls, and so the epoxy doesn't get any less dense.

Microballoons or Q-cell is different in that they're small hollow spheres, and do reduce the density of the mixture. They also make it easier to sand as well.

Tell me, when you picked up the bag, did it have weight or just feel empty?

Chuck,

I was happy to see that the canopy planks actually fit with only minor adjustments. I just couldn't easily model the flat patterns for each of the planks, so they had to be modeled in short sections, then re-assembled to make full length, flattened planks. Once you have all the sheeting nicely secured, you can cut away some the ply structure on the canopy base and inside on the formers. Your "prototype" kit, like mine has more ply than it needs in the canopy frame and base.

Once you get the wing caps sanded flush you will want to slip them onto the fuse. Tape them in place and use a pencil to trace the curve of the fuse side onto the top of the wing panel. Cut the root material away and lightly sand. Trial fit again to the fuse side. Adjust if necessary, then you can glue on the root rib with the mounting studs. This should give you a real nice fit of the wing to the fuse. You can see in the pic that the curve is very slight until you get toward the trailing edge. Here, the fuselage begins to taper toward the tail and the root rib surface has to move inward to fit correctly.

Keep up the good work.


-Mark

O, its been driving me nuts, i had to throw the parts on the plane and see were i stand right now so.. (sorry for no pictures but batts died)

With the bare fuse, firewall in place, landing gear block in place, chin cowl, canopy.. (full fuse only) i still have sanding to do in some places and final sanding in others...

The current weight is 30.1 oz.

This so far is on target i think. hehehe... who knows, i have a lot of covering to do but will be weighing parts all along the way once i get past final sanding so we have a good idea what happens to the structure weight wise for others to guage off of.

More tonight... with pictures.

Chuck

CHuckie....son,

I have done the planking thing like this before and just used thin c/a. Glue one strip on each side and work to the top just tacking in place. Keep the canopy flat on the table to prevent building in a warp. With this type of piece(canopy) you have access from the under side to finish off the gluing with the thin c/a. Lighter then urethane and a little faster.

FWIW....

Dad

EEEYAH GADS.....I quoted myself.

Wayne,

The actual planking was done with CA, tacking the planks down at the formers, working from back to front, alternating sides. The Polyurethane glue was used later to help secure the planking along the stringers to provide 100% glue down to the stringers. The thickening agent was used to prevent any runout of the glue through the plank seams that would spoil the exterior surface.

The really neat part of this process, that is not obvious in the pictures, is the incredible work that Mark did to produce the plank shapes that are laser cut in the kit. Each plank piece is fully modelled in 3D and then stretched flat to produde the complex, flat shape that lays down perfectly along each stringer when applied to the canopy frame. This leaves only the seams to be smoothed out to produce the overall canopy shape. The complexity of the canopy shape makes it appear to be an impossibility for the average builder to produce from wood, but the engineering behind the kit makes it easily within the reach of mortals (and Chuck too...)

Richard

umm, thanks i think.. hahaha, i have NEVER done planking and managed through it, anyone who has a bit of experience would greatly appreciate the amount of work that was saved by the precut pieces.

OK, back to life back to reality.. back to the sanding blocks...... cough cough wheez... more beer please.

Later!

OK, more sanding done... i have used 3 rolls of masking tape... grin..

Here is a good look at the canopy as it takes shape... almost done there, and also a few shots of the stabs on but not glued in place!

things are going together nicely...


I did the nose a little diferently also than mark, i like the look and it should help get air past the motor.

OK.. so, had to weigh some parts, i am trying to determine if i am going to glass and paint or monokote the fuse.. looking like we get to PAINT.

Here they are:

Each wing sanded and ready to hinge, no servo box in yet: 270g or 9.5 ounces
Each stab sanded and ready to hinge, no servo box in yet: 55g or 1.9 ounces
Fuse with Rudder, canopy, chin cowl, wing tube and landing gear struts: 1038g or 36.3 ounces or 2.27 lbs

trying to remember everything to add in etc, i think i come up with under 10 lbs before ANYTHING is covered or painted.

So, keeping that in mind i think the following:

Total covering weight in stabs: 1.5
Total covering weight in wings: 4 oz
Total painted fuse weight added: 2.5 oz

So.. add some graphics as well 2 oz???

Total flying weight prediction: 10 lbs 10 oz (crossing fingers.. i hope so)

More pics later when i get her assembled.

Chuck

To paint or not to paint…

Hi Chuck,

Not sure if this will help, but here are my numbers for comparisons. I glassed and primed all parts using Don’s process described in his DVD.

All wood airframe.....57oz
Finish thru primer.....11

Power system..........75
Everything else........22

Left for color/clear....11

Plane is at the painter’s; I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

You’ve got some very light wings there, nice job! I could sure use those extra two ounces right about now.

My numbers were not as good as described on the DVD. I guess like everything in this hobby, more practice is needed!
Wing panel 300g, glassed 349g, primed 370g

I wish i could take credit for the wings, mark has had some grat luck at the foam supplier i beleve and also his coring via the CNC cut panels help tremendously. The, using the poly glue and vacumn bagging the whole thing realy ties it all together, caps and leading and trainling edges all dne in contest grade balsa, lightened rot ribs and aluminum tuds round the whoe thing out. great setup honestly.

Thanks, i really am geting excited at seeing how everything is finsihing out, better than i expected and even better than i hoped, if that makes sense.

OK, so i had to put it together and also took a moment to weigh the model, what you dont see is that i was using an alum wing tube when i took this weight.

as seen, basically ready to paint and cover, just nee some more sanding, leading edge etc.

so, drum roll.....

1828 grams or 64.8 ounces or 4.03 lbs

Yippee.. hehe a great start.

Enjoy

Looks really good Chuck, keep it up... The weight is awesome. I have no doubt that you would be just fine with your outrunner setup.

Ya know, it's weird, but being somewhat of a finned plane guy myself and being around Mark's Pentathlon so much, somehow it just does not look right without the fins on it.

Git-er-dun

Richard

The weight is looking good Chuckie.

BTW... where are the Blue Bonnets in your field? Looks like a lot of weeds. oops... sorry, didnt mean to let the weed thing out.



WG

Chuck, you're leaving us hanging now you know...

My Pentathlon kit is supposed to arrive on the 29th. Can't wait to have a look at all the nice pieces and smell the balsa.


Mark

Mark,

I have permission to begin building another Pentathlon.....so I will be starting on one of the production kit versions soon. With a few kits out there now, I thought this would be a good time to try doing a detailed, step by step thread.

Hope your kit arrives in good order.


-Mark

Looking good Chuck!!

I'll have to call you sometime. Take care buddy.

Great timing, Mark. The kit arrived today, one day early (!) and in perfect condition (no footprints or anything from UPS...). Christmas in March!

It looks fantastic and the quality of the foam cutting is superlative. Man are those BIG boxes for a kit... Now I need to find room and time all together to build the thing. I haven't ordered the engine yet, but it is still the Brillelli 46GT unless Dick Hanson convinces me to spend the extra for a ZDZ FAI40. I look forward to your build thread and will be following it religiously for my build. I am in uncharted territory for this one, it's by far the largest plane I have built so far, first gasser, first true pattern plane... Chuck is making it look simple even for me.

Whoo Hoo, this rocks! Between this kit and Mike Hester's Black Magic kits, it's a GREAT time to be rolling your own 2M plane.


Mark

Permission...HA!!! You have my utmost gratitude. I know Martin would have done an outstanding job but who better to build the plane than its creator!! I really must have done something good somewhere to have you building this plane for me!!

Shut up John.

hehehe, running your damn mouth, "Look at me, i get planes from the creator, look at me, woo woo...."

jerk.. hehhee, John, keep doing what you are doing and if you figure out what your doing let me know so i can do it too.

er, something like that.

Should be ready to go to the body shop this weekend and get pretty! Cant wait.

Chuck

Mark,

I am glad the kit got to you in good condition. I was a bit worried about the foam parts.

Mark