RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Chin cowl. There are several ways to do this. I mounted it the same as the canopy. Cut two slots 1/8 inch from either edge just in front of the firewall, and then slipped the half circle ply pieces from the underside and added some CA to the back side to secure them. Cut slots in the chin cowl to correspond.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

A nice tool to make is a piece of 1/16 inch ply with a piece of 150 grit sandpaper glued to one side. This makes nice straight slots that look very clean.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Finally, I put a piece of 1/8 x1 x1/2 inch wide good quality ply on the inside front of the fusleage, and some light ply on the cowl side. I drilled the hole for the mounting screw, then put a piece of 1/4 inch hardwood triangle to fill the gap. Now, I put a small #4 washer between the triangle and the hole, so when I counter-sink the hole for the cap-head screw, it will rest against the washer that is inside and resist pulling through. I drill through again and then use a slightly larger bit to drill out the ply piece in the fuselage, mount the blind nut half way, then add a few drops of thick CA around the three prongs of the blind nut, then put the chin cowl on again and tighten up the screw all the way so the blind nut seats in the plywood plate. Done.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Rudder cable exits. I did a straight line measurement and from the rudder servo to the horn location its about 2 1/2 inches from the cutout at the rear fuselage. I marked two lines at this spot, cut a slot with the dremel, cleaned the slot hole with an exacto knife, cut a couple of nyrod inserts and glued them in. The nyrod inserts are important because they will keep the cables from wearing over time at the exit point. This alleviates an issue if you fly over 200 flights.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Use a small piece of 3/32 inch wire with a z bend on one end to help position the nyrod piece. This keeps it from popping into the fuselage, and also keeps your fingers free when you CA in the piece. Done!

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Don: When the Brio is ready for flight,do you have the square holes in the rear of the fuse covered in any way,in order to keep out fuel,etc?
If so,what do you use?


Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Dave

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

This is my first time to have a plane with plug in stabs. I'm a bit worried on how the Brio stabs are secured. The question is, can the stabs be secured by tigthening the adjusters? If so, can these tiny set screws of the adjusters hold it in place without slipping? What additional locking/securing method do you suggest? Thanks.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

With regard to the fuselage cutout holes, I leave them open. I have not had any issue with fuel getting into that area. With regard to the plug-in stabs, I also use #4 sheet metal screws that are tapped into the stab tube. Shown are some pictures of my current Brio in this regard. Plus a picture of the tailwheel assembly. I used 1/32 in ply as a re-inforcement for the tailwheel bracket, if you can see this in the picture.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Don,
Hows your CG with dual mini servos? If you were to choose which setup would you prefer? DEPS or Dual servos in the stabs.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Dual elevator servos is what I plan to set mine up with.

Finishing. Well, its been a bit of a learning curve to cover again. I've been spoiled by having my planes professionally finished, or flying an ARF for the last few years. I am covering with Ultracoat. With a few pointers from Dave Guerin, I've become very happy with the results. Here are the steps in the covering process.

Use a sanding block with some 220 then 400. I use the 220 to level out the surfaces, then the 400 provides a nice smooth surface to cover. The block is 1 1/2 inch by 3 inch by 9 inch balsa. The balso gives some which makes it nice, yet straight enough to be a good tool.

Starting from the back to the front. White piece goes on first, then the blue piece, then the yellow piece. Its good to cut templates first, and mark the balsa where you want the end points. Finally use a shart exacto knife. I've gone through about a half dozen so far as the dull quickly. But this is important to get nice clean lines. To trim the outboard end of the covering, I pull up the covering about a quarter inch past where I want to cut, put a piece of paper under, then use a straight edge to get a nice straight cut. The covering is overlapped between 3/32 and 1/8 inch. The top is covered first because the dark blue has to overlap the yellow from the bottom. Definitely don't want to overlap the yellow on anything dark, as it shows through.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

The overlaps beween the blue and yellow will be a 1/8 piece of white trim tape. That hides the overlap nicely. I am so very happy with the iron setup. Dave suggested using a sock. Its very thick and allows you to press down on the wing as hard as you want with no marking or scratching.

The work board is very simple and makes the covering job easier. Just using some cardboard to protect the work surface with a couple of good straight edges allows nice cuts and lots of room to work.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Hope you washed that sock first Don!
Greg

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Could somebody please for the love of God, loan Don a half decent camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

I laughed so hard I can't keep the mouse steady. The sock. Many of the best looking planes, including two of the last three years' National Champions have won with planes that were professionally covered using a sock. It really works better than just about anything I've seen. Superior to any hot-sock, mit, cotton balls and heat gun...Well, here's the story. It's a new sock. My wife bought me a pack of a dozen for Christmas. Now, I'm not sure how she'll take to me using my Christmas present this way. I've kind of started to burn up the first one, but I've got a lot more. I hope to only use a few in this process; maybe she won't notice them gone... that is until tonight when she poked her head into the shop and started to cry. Not literally but I thought she was kidding until I heard her and my daughter upstairs. Not about the sock but I am using blue instead of metallic Plum. How in the world would you figure that? She remembers from like, I don't know, 10 years ago when I was picking colors for the Jekyll, then the plane after that. What was that called? It was like a Jekyll II but with double tapered wing? It got me in the finals at the team selections in 1999 and a TOC invite. Hmmm. It was yellow and it had purple on it. Hmmm.. there was another plane that was like it under a different name. Sequel. Is that right? Let me go check. Well, I think it was a Sequel. Any way, she remembers discussing color schemes with me and I asked her what she wanted in terms of color. She said purple. Now that was like 8 years ago or something like that. How can she remember a detail like that when I can't even remember the name of the plane. She also said that was the color on the Focus from 4 years ago. It sat in my basement for a year until I dragged it out in the spring of 03 to put the gear in it and get it flying. Well, a month and a half later I won the NATS with that plane. This is a very serious issue. Blue vs Purple. I'm torn.

Camera- I'm using a really nice keychain camera. Its only 2 inches by 3 inches in size and runs off of a AAA battery. Its nice because its very convenient and its fast in terms of downloading on to the computer. If anyone has a digital camera that you would like to donate to me, mail it to me. I'll give you my address off-line. But it has to download quickly to the computer and have small file sizes so they are easy to upload to RCU.

Everything is OK now, I think. She tells me now that its ok, and she gives me permission to use blue on the plane rather than Plum. Ok, side-story complete. Now, what was that about a sock?

No report tonight. I'm still recovering (but not literally).

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Tailwheel bracket mounting. Three steps to help assure strong and long living tailwheel bracket, even when flying in grass with crosswind landings.

Step 1 is to cut a 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch piece of thin carbon fiber sheet or 1/32 inch ply. Next file flat the bottom fuselage where the tailwheel bracket is mounted. Next is to CA the piece in place, then drill the two mounting holes for the wood (or sheet metal) screws to thread into.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Baby socks work really well over the head of the iron. They are just the right size.
Greg

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Don,
I have just finished installing the stab and it is slightly more flexible than on my other airplanes. There is no former right in front of the stab preventing the flexing of the fuse. Have you added a former or you do not see this as being a concern?
Olivier

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

I have the answer to my question: with the rudder post in place the stab is just fine :D

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Olivier,

I was wondering what happened to you. Are you going to be able to make some contests this season? I too, will have a Brio flying this season.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Joe,

I got a new job, moved to PA and had another kid. I have been spending a lot of time with my kids (3 and 5) and have not flown my Larimar anymore than 25 flights or so a year. I am looking forward to fly the Brio, looks like it is going to be a great flying airplane, but it is unlikely that I will have the time to be contest ready this season. I want to stop by at a contest or two to check things out. Hope to see you then.

Olivier

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Stab finishing.

To get a good reference point on the stab tips, with regard to final sanding, draw a center line at the root. Use a ruler and center the elevator tip. Sand the tip of the stab to match the elevator position.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

To strengthen the tips for resistance to hangar rash, sand 1/32 inch down on the TE of the tip, cut a piece of 1/32 inch strip and glue on the TE.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

Don or someone, do you drill holes then in the fuse to get access to the landing gear area for mounting purposes? Looks like that is the ONLY way really...But want to see if there is other options someone has come up with...Charlie

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

I don't have holes in the lower fuse for the current Brio, but with the new ones they will have the holes for easier access. Particularly since the landing gear is mounted on the bottom of the plate it allows blind nuts on the top of the plate.

Covering the Stab. Ultracote is very easy to work with in terms of covering. The tips are easy to cover with no wrinkles. The material stretches very well around the tips and then trims nicely. Again, using the sock which still allows enough heat to flow through without scratching the covering or making indents.

RE: BRIO Construction by the numbers
 

I didn't do what Don is goiing to do(use blindnuts on landing gear). I used nylon insert locknuts and made up my own roughly 3/4" fender washers out of aluminum plate. I saved .6 ozs over readily available steel fender washers that you can get from your local hardware store by making my own washers. It's amazing what a little weight savings here and there will do. I am still waiting from my new spinner to arrive before I finalize the location of my switch harness and battery pack. Final projected weight of my composite Brio will easily be somewhere between 10 and 10-1/4 lbs. This is a great weight considering my Temptation which is smaller weighs in at 10lbs-2ozs.