pandissix

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Probably a fake photo or some form of experimental? But shows some RLM options and cross style.

invertmast

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That would be the Horten H-VII.. which was overall RLM-02

BobH

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I just gotta see this baby fly thomas!!

invertmast

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invertmast

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DISASTER!!!!!!!!!!!













JUST KIDDING!

Here ya go...

bottom:


Inlet lips:


Top:



Looking in the inlet with the halves bolted back together:



The plug came out 99% perfect. There are only 2 little places about 1/4" long each where the inlet block-off plates are that where damaged (body filler chipped out). Otherwise, the plug is exactly like how it was before it was molded, which is great, cause now I can use it as a paint test piece lol

After the mold was split, we test fit the master templates. Granted no composite skin is layed up yet, but it told us the templates are pretty dang close to being perfect. Just a little fine tuning to do to them, and then we need do all the lightning holes, etc and they are done. But we can't do this till the skins are layed up and.

Carry through spars. These are 3/16" aircraft ply, and will have another 3/16" doubler around the tube tube sockets. The sockets will also be epoxied and glassed to these spars.


Here is a shot of the landing gear plate support structure. Again, all 3/16" aircraft ply. The Landing gear plate will be 3/16" ply as well and will probably have a layer of glass or carbon on one side. These parts will all be interlocking so they key together and the plate will slot into the ribs. This entire structure will also be over a carbon re-inforcement panel in the composite skins.



And then we sprayed some green paint on the top of the wings.. only 3oz used for both wing panels and elevons.. still need to paint the top of the flaps:



This Friday/Saturday I'm going to try and mold the canopy frame, main gear doors and the vacuum form canopy plug..

Ram-bro

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You aint Funny man.........but congrats just the same

invertmast

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hahaha its supposed to be nice this friday and saturday, so i'll probably separate the horten and f-14 molds and wash them all, as I'm going to do some F-14 layups sometime next year as well... not to mention i need to pull the radial off the FW-190 and install a DLE-55 instead, and put the radial on the geeBee... wayyy to much to do..

kwblake

invertmast

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LOL... sorry Kevin [8D]

kwblake

I'll get over it. Maybe, another beer.

Ram-bro

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no he aint Kevin

invertmast

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And i've got plenty more opportunities to screw with you guys to [>:] lol

invertmast

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And if your curious how heavy the outer wing panels are:

kwblake

Thanks, I've got plenty more beer.

invertmast

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Wings panels are 4.2lbs right now minus 3 servo's and a bunch of extension wire. So i suspect each wing panel will be about 5lbs when completed..

I applied the RLM-82 color on top of the 81 green from yesterday. I also waxed and buffed the plug around the canopy frame and the main gear doors in prep for making those molds tomorrow and Saturday:

invertmast

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Canopy frame mold is layed up. Gotta do the main gear doors and the vacuum form plug and tooling will be done. Those items will be done tomorrow:

JoshuaDA10

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Man you make it look easy!!

Beautiful work!

invertmast

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Busy day.. and its still done over yet:

Got up early this morning, fired up the heater in the shop to knock off the chill and sprayed the PVA over the main gear door area's. Then I popped the canopy frame mold off the plug, trimmed it, washed it, re-waxed it and then sprayed the PVA on it..
Then I took a few hours to bring in some firewood for this upcoming week and washed all the wax and PVA off the center section molds. I then took the Frekote PMC cleaner and cleaned the molds. They are ready for the mold sealer and mold release. I'll probably do that next week sometime. I also need to pickup some primer so I can prime the molds as well:

By the time all that was done, I mixed up some surface resin and put that in the clear canopy area of the canopy mold and over the main gear doors:


Same picture from a different angle showing the cleaned molds in the background and the Eurosport, which I had to pull the turbine out of for Maintenance. I also had to repair a JR servo as well during this entire process. lol


Couple hours later, the Main gear door mold is done. This mold is thicker than the rest of them since its very flat and doesn't have any curves or angles to add much strength.


The vacuum form plug was also done. All the green stuff is an epoxy tooling dough. This stuff is awesome to work with and doesn't build allot of heat when it is globbed in large quantities in a small area.


I then cut all the slots in the elevons and flaps for the control horns:


Then made up this nifty little jig to ensure both elevon control horns are aft of the LE and at the same measurement below the hinge line. Essentially, you just tape it to the bottom of the elevon w/ the ledge against the LE, then stick a drill bit in the hole of the jig and the hole control arm. Leave the epoxy holding the control arm in place to cure, then remove and do the other:


Then I epoxied in the control arms in one of the Elevon's, and then all of the flaps:

invertmast

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Well... Since both Elevon control arms were epoxied into place, there was no reason not to go ahead and hinge the elevons and flaps...Sooooo, thats what I did.. I still have the inner most flap to do on the right wing panel. Now to get that flap hinged and all the elevon and flap servo mounts built, servo's installed, linkages setup, winter camo done, extensions made up.... yea, still allot to do!

glazier808

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Man what a slacker....


LOL

Casey

invertmast

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LOL.. yea I should really get to work and get this thing done! What sucks, is the bank account is about to slow this project down allot.. there's over $400 in just servo extension wire, connectors, mounts and linkages!

glazier808

My Feedback: (1)

Ouch! And at Xmas...

I just need to glue on the center section and I'll be ready to balance the FW...I know I'm gonna need a little more weight at the firewall. Hopefully, not a lot .
Can I ask you how much throw you have on your controls please. Mine came with no reference.
Thanks,

Casey

invertmast

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Yea, luckily most of the X-mas shopping is done..

Not sure on the exact control surface deflections, but I believe the ailerons were around 1" up/down maybe 1 1/8" max. the elevator was about the same, and the rudder was about 1 1/2" either side. Its not allot. elevator and aileron is plenty, I wish i had a bit more rudder, but the concealed linkage prohibits that. Flaps drop about 65-70* i believe.

speaking of 190's... Now that i've got the cowling and wheel-pants for the Gee-Bee i've got to convert the DLE to 1/4-32 spark plugs and install it on the 190. The 1/4-32 plug should allow me to nearly conceal the entire engine in the cowling

invertmast

My Feedback: (23)

Hinged the last flap:


Then pulled the canopy vac. form out of the canopy frame mold. then I trimmed it, forgot to get a picture of that though:


Then popped the gear door mold off the center section:


Then trimmed it and washed off the PVA/wax. Then waxed it and the canopy frame mold, then sprayed the PVA on them:


Then while that dried, I made up the templates for the center section tip ribs (these are a special high-strength foam that will be laminated with the molded section) and for the Main landing gear Upper strut door:


Then I sprayed the silver paint in the canopy and main landing gear door molds (these are metal parts on the real one, so they are painted in the mold to replicate aluminum parts). I'll probably flite-metal these parts on my model:



Then while the paint dried, I made up 3 sets of center section foam parts. I still need to cut out the wing tube holes and split them lengthwise along the same plane as the parting planes:



And then I layed up a canopy frame and some main landing gear doors. First parts get popped out of the molds tomorrow.. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! only 3 months since the start

invertmast

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First parts out of the mold:




While they look good, the layup schedule needs a bit of refinement.

Canopy frame:
Over-all I am happy with the frame. It is a bit more flexible than I want and its pretty thin. I can fix both by a 2nd layer of carbon cloth and a 3rd of fiberglass, but at the expense of more weight.. If the canopy is made functional/removable a G-10 frame will enhance the strength of it immensely! Soo... I'll actually do a combination of things. Once, i'll reduce the amount of carbon I used by putting overlapping "strips" where just the frame is, so I eliminate much of the waste where the carbon will be removed due to the clear canopy. This overlapping of fabrics will add some thickness in the corners and more strength where it is needed, and either a Glass/balsa laminate or G-10 frame will be made up (probably glass and balsa.. again to save weight).

Main Gear Doors:
The upper-strut doors are perfect. roughly 1/8" thick and plenty strong! The wheel door covers are not though. Once i started doing the layup on the main doors I realized I should of done the foam or balsa sandwhich on them as well. the doors are stiff currently (due to the CF) but have no strength what so ever.. So since the doors are ready for a secondary bonding (due to the peel-ply), I'll cut the strut doors loose, trim the wheel door covers to shape and then PVA the gear door mold and place the door covers back into the mold while the PVA is wet. As the wet pva dries, it will effectively attach the door parts back to the mold. Then i'll go ahead and laminate the foam door material. This should strengthen the doors plenty, as long as I can heat up the foam to get it to conform to the curve of the door edges.