flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Haven't had much free time this week, but I did add the balsa pieces that shape the front nose.


-mark

flyintexan

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Happy holidays....

With the fuse still flat on the workbench, the wing tube can be trial fitted along with the stabs. On this plane, the stabs will be set and glued after the fuse and stabs are finished seperately. I centered the wing tube in the fuse and did some careful measuring. I tacked the tube socket in place and then carefully test fit the wing panels. With the panels, on I did some measuring and checking to make sure the panels were parallel to the cockpit floor, and square to the length of the fuse. There were no surprises when checking, so the socket was glued in.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

One more critical item while the fuse is still flat and straight on the workbench..the vertical fin. You will have to let the very end of the fusebox hang off the work table to clear the tailpost that is attached to the verical fin. The fin can be glued in place.....measure twice!..or more.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Time to work on the bottom of the fuse. There are three simple sections to add to the bottom of the fuse....the chin cowl, the pipe tunnel section, and the aft bottom foam deck. In order to fit everything properly, I framed up the chin cowl and pipe tunnel assembly and dry fitted them to help position the bottom rear deck. The bottom rear deck will also need to have a cutout for the aft end of the pipe tunnel..so having the pipe tunnel assembly handy will make this much easier.

Start with the chin cowl parts and carefully assemble the frame work. No need to sheet it yet...sorry for the fuzzy pictures.

The pipe tunnel section can also be assembled without the final sheeting.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

With the chin and tunnel temporarily in place, the aft rear deck can be marked for the pipe tunnel cutout and fitted to the fuse. Glue in place with polyurethane glue.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

The pipe tunnel asembly can be glued on to the fusebox and sheeted later. There are laser cut pieces for the the sides and the bottom of this assembly. Don't forget to add one of the little lite ply donuts to the back side of PTF-1 to accept the pins from the aft end of the chin cowl. A little sanding and we have a pipe tunnel.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Time to sheet the chin cowl. Before sheeting, make sure you have added the little ply donuts at the back for the mounting pins. You can start with the 1/8" balsa sides. Sand the top edges of the side pieces flush with the curvature of the lite ply frame. If you want to sheet the bottom with a single piece, you may want to preform it. I choose to plank with small width pieces.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

The bottom of the vertical fin can be glued in place as shown. Sand a small flat area into the bottom rear deck. Carefully align the fin with the rest of the fuse. A small ply plate is provided for mounting the tailwheel later. Some filler and sanding will be required around the base of this piece.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

The bottom of the rudder should be capped with medium balsa. This should end up flush with the bottom of the vertical fin and tailwheel plate. The top of the rudder and vertical fin can also be capped with the provided balsa piece.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Back to the nose (I was waiting on a motor to perform the following...).

There are multiple ply rings in the kit to accomate the two most popular soft mounts. These rings can also be used as motor mount spacers if needed. The blind nuts can be installed in the ring/s (I use two rings...some may only want to use one) and free hand positioned behind the firewall. Feed the motor mount bolts thru with the mount and snug them up. Then mount the motor and check to make sure the prop shaft ends up where it is suppossed to (haven't had an issue yet). If all is well, then the ply rings can be glued to the back of the firewall.

With the motor in place, I then installed the F1 former in the nose. Notice I add some scrap 3/8" balsa between F1 and F2 (nose ring former). This is mainly done to fill in small gaps that exist in this area. The additional strength gain doesn't hurt either.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

I did get the landing gear mounted. If laid out early on, the landing gear can be carefully clamped to the landing gear plate. The plate already has through holes for 6-32 blind nuts, so just use these as drill guides. If the gear is not handy early on, there is a 1:1 scale PDF file for the gear template included on the CD. For best prop clearance, you will need the Bolly F3A Long for an electric setup. The Bolly F3A Electric will do fine for nitro.

You will also see that I did a bit of rough sanding around the nose. Some fill and final sanding and the nose section will be complete.

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

The cheeks go together quickly and simply tab into slots on the fuse sides. The center spar of the cheek is made of lite ply. Small, fragile, balsa ribs tab onto this piece. It will be sheeted with light 1/16" balsa. These will be installed on the plane later, during finishing.

Sorry I do not have more pictures of this assembly, just went together too fast without having the camera within reach..

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

You may recall, the wing panels were still lacking the root ribs. I installed the wing panel on the fuse without the root and used a pencil to trace the fuse side profile along the top of the wing. I simply hold a pencil against the side of the fuse and drag it from T.E. to the L.E. Make sure you are about to remove the same amount of material from each panel....try to keep your wing panels as identical as possible...for obvious reasons. I cut along this line, but not thru the wing tube sleeve. I hand cut my way around that, leaving about 1/8" sticking out from the foam to engage the wing tube hole in the lite ply root rib.

Don't forget to add the wing bolts to the back side of the root rib. You will also want to glue a piece of hard balsa behind the adjuster hole. Relieve the foam in these three areas and glue the root rib on.

maustin

My Feedback: (7)

Hi Mark,
What your target weight on this plane with the OS140 ? I assume you will go with a painted fuse and film on wings and stab.


maustin [8D]

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Mike,

The target weight is 6lbs. 3oz....not sure we'll make it though. More likely will be 10lbs. 6oz. with painted fuse and monokote wings. This aircraft is spoken for by someone else. With that in mind, it may be finished completely in monokote, in which case I would assume it will be lighter.

With all the major components completed, it is time we assembled this thing. We are still lacking aileron servo pockets, and hardpoints for all control horns....otherwise it is ready for finishing. Weight of airframe with landing gear legs, canopy and chin mounted, and DEPS is 66oz (includes the fins that are not installed yet).

You may notice the top line profile along the canopy and down to the nose is bit higher than usual. I wanted to try this new shape...about 1-1/2" higher at the front canopy former...we'll see how it flys sometime this Spring.

Enjoy your new plane John.


Regards,
Mark

jlkonn

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Mark,
I like the new profile better!
Oh...
And congratulations!!!!!!!!

JLK

maustin

My Feedback: (7)

I agree - like the new profile !!

Nice weight too, should handle wind nicely.



maustin

4u2nv-RCU

My Feedback: (28)

Mark has been kind enough to build this plane for me and I am honored as he does such outstanding work! The plane is awesome and will be ready for the Temple Contest come this spring. I cant thank Mr. Hunt enough and would also like to wish him well in his new role as D6 VP.

Anthony-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

Tell us more about this new profile. Dropped the fin off the top of the canopy and made the canopy taller?

RC_Pattern_Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

The Fins are still in the design and not dropped. The height of the canopy at the front is taller and so the nose rises higher to meet the canopy.

Chuck Hochhalter
Pentathlon #2

mmattockx

It is taller where the instrument panel sits in a full scale plane, or where the firewall meets the fuse if that is a better reference for you. Take a look at Mark's avatar to see how the original front end was and then compare to the new one.

Mark

flyintexan

My Feedback: (1)

Mark is correct..and to clarify, here are two more pics. I think color scheme (canopy scheme) could make a significant visual difference between the two profiles.


Thanks again,
Mark

astropuppy

My Feedback: (23)

ya left me hanging. Is there an end to this story; or, is the end the EVO beginning?

RC_Pattern_Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

I have the pleasure of completeing this fine airframe.

Changes to be made:

Remove pipe tunnel and lighten fuse for electric setup.
Remove original firewall and install custom designed firewall by Mark Hunt.
Purchase new Bolly Long style gear set.
Purchase Yak wheel pants.

With what I have nearby this is where I am at after 24 hours.....

RC_Pattern_Flyer

My Feedback: (1)

Left wing bottom is covered, hard point going in the aileron and it will be sanded and covered tomorrow night.

Really excited about this plane!

Canopy has been fiberglassed and will get a fill coat tomorrow.

More to come.

Chuck