redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Dennis, your a real professional and it shows not only in your work, but mainly in your after the sale customer service. Appreciate your patience with this rookie. Chic

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

It has been pouring down rain all day here, so the Avenger was calling to me. I worked alittle on the rudder and fin. I glued in the hinges to the fin side. Charlie wants about 2" of travel from the rudder and even with the mod to the fin, there is plenty of rudder travel. The hinge pin works just great if you follow Charlies' plan. Will be sheeting the fin with 1/16" next. Chic

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

I sheeted both sides of the fin. I sanded the rudder to fit quite well within the sides of the 1/4" sheeting extensions on both sides of the fin after considering the need for 2" of travel when hinged. I added carbon to the trailing edge of the rudder to cut down on hangar rash. All is going well. A fellow modeler is working on the center section of the wing and it looks good. Come on guys, tell him to show his work to all of us. His work looks good to me. Chic

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I think I hear an almost-finished BirdDog whimpering in the cold, damp corner of the workshop, begging to get finished

Of course, I got a lot of room to talk

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

You know I enjoyed that posting. Chic

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Yeah, let's see that center section! I have been laboring over mine for SEVERAL days (more like 1.5 weeks)... Every time I think I have the gear in a suitable location, I start second guessing and start measuring and remeasuring all over again.

Fitting the gear mounts in the absence of a wing panel (to serve as reference for dihedral/depth) is challenging. I am considering framing up the outer panels and mocking them up to the center section before I break out the methacrylate adhesive and permanently glue the gear rails in place. But in the absence of a complete and strongly constructed center section, this also seems challenging (i.e bad idea). Round and around I go!

Anyway, the plans also indicate the gear (at the axle) is to be 3/4" off the building surface. Mine are way higher (like 1 1/4 inches), and it looks like the gear have been engineered with more dihedral (approx. 8 degrees) than specified on the plans (6 degrees). This may self-correct when the struts are properly rotated to account for the swept-back installation angle, but again, it's hard to know without the outer panels. It's also been tricky to determine the placement of the swing arm (I'm sure there's more accurate nomenclature) mount beam... in some mock-ups, mine looks like it'll need to be VERY close to the wing tube. Lastly, many of these issues have also planted a seed of doubt as to my placement of the rear spar-shim. The instructions call for a 1/4 x 11/16" shim under the rear spar... I have positioned this shim so that the rear spar is hiked up 1/4" off the building surface. Maybe it's supposed to be 11/16" up off the building surface, although I hardly see how this could be as then the mains spar would not lie flat on the building surface. But, anything is possible I suppose... especially when I'm swimming in so much self-doubt!

Chic and Ken, let's see your center section!

regards,

Noah

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Noah, looks like we need to get Charlie into this discussion. I have not started on the wing yet so I'm going to be going to school off of you and Ted's build. I'll try to get Ted to show his work. Ken and I are building Bird Dog's together, maybe we can get him interested in building an Avenger after the DAWG. Charlie I know your reading this thread, so help us out - Please. Chic

dhal22

did the old thread on rc scale builder get to this point? the thread has been abandoned but there is still some info available.

http://www.rcscalebuilder.com/forum/...kellog+avenger

i hope this doesn't get edited.

david

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Yeah, but no pictures or detailed discussion by Hans regarding his retract installation. He only stated that Charlie says that the alignment and setting of the rails is critical... and that it took him (hans) a fair amount of time to ensure they were set properly. I think that he abandoned the build/thread just after he got the rails installed.

Maybe others out there will chime in with their hints and tricks.

Regards,

Noah

khodges

My Feedback: (1)

I'm afraid my center section wouldn't hold much in the way of landing gear, since I'm building an L-19 (high wing). I'm just poking at Chic because he's so fickle, falling out of love with his BirdDog and "going off" with another airplane build before he's finished the other one. I'm glad he can do it, though; I'd get confused if I tried that, and I'd have my L-19 dropping torpedoes, or having my TBF spotting for the field artillery.

dhal22

i've corresponded with hans, very nice guy. he still has the project sitting. he just went in another direction for awhile. hopefully he will return to the joys of rc someday.

david

dhal22

i also intended to say he might offer some ideas if he was asked. maybe the inquiries would stoke his building fires again.

david

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Wow, would really appreciate his information and input. He seems like a master builder. I am currently pondering his idea with regards to the pull-pull on the rudder. He cut a pulley and secured it to the bottom of the rudder just like the full scale. I'm searching now for such a pulley. How do you contact Hans?

Ken, my wife is laughing at us, she said to tell you that I am still in love with the DAWG because I still read the Niner Book almost every evening. Ken, I'll make a deal with ya. We maiden flight our DAWG's together when we "BOTH" finish them. I'll drive down to N.C., visit with my God Children and go flying with you. Heck, the torpedo is as long as the DAWG. Can't show my center section yet, I'm still on the tail feathers. I'm slower then the other Avenger builders. I'm going to learn a few things from them on each section of the build. Lucky me. Chic

dhal22

you should be able to contact him through his web site. and yes the rudder idea is a good one.

david

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

dhal22, just sent an email to Hans at his heavydatehobbies website and an email through rcscalebuilder. He is really into the horses now per his website. Be great to hear from him. Chic

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Got lots sorted out last night (thanks for the help, C!).

I'll try to make real progress the remainder of this week and this weekend. I'll post some pictures towards the end of the week, too.

Regards,

Noah

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

I second the atta boy for "C". Chic

dhal22

that he is. his recent significant other is the culprit i think. not that there's anything wrong with a spouse and other interests, i just hated to lose the thread.

david

Heavy Date

Well i had to drop by and see what was going on here after that email.
It has been a long time since I did anything on the TBM, but I'll try to remember.
I just put a 1/4" stick under the rear spare and it worked fine. As I recal the center section plans only showed the gear leg on one side. I scanned the plan section, reversed it and printed it out. Then cut it along the centerline and taped it to the plan on the table to give me a view of the gearleg on the other side.
Then I mounted the gear, measured the distance from the table which came out perfect, then pushed the axles through until the touched the table. From there I just moved the gear around until the axle was sitting in the proper place on the plan. Then made up some shims to strengthen wevrything on the gear mounts and used the slowest curing epoxy I could fine to glue it all in place. The slower the cure time, the stronger the bond will be. 5 minute stuff turns to rubber on a hot day. Stay away from it anyplace you need strength.
The rudder on the TBF/TBM has a pulley on the bottom of it and 2 cable guides on the fuse. The pulley was drilled in the center and had another small hole for pinning to the rudder The center hole was for the hinge wire to run up through.
The things to watch out for are the servo arm and the pulley must be the same diameter or one side will have slack and the other will bind when moved. Servo city has chain drive servo arms and that was what I planned to use. Then a small length of chain connected to the pull pull wires running back to the rudder.

As for the Horses, well I am VERY deep into them. Not just any old horses, but wild Mustangs. I am doing Cowboy Mounted Shooting now with my Mustang and also doing trail rides and promoting the Wild Mustangs to the horse world. They have had a bad reputation for years that is total BS! Mustangs are smart, tough, and about the best horses I have ever worked with.
I am now VP of the US Wild Horse and Burro Assoc. and a very active volunteer at Mustang adoptions.
I lost total interest in R/C when all the ARFs and park flyers hit the scene. Ruined it for me. No builders and guys whining about a $100.00 ARF falling apart on them. That and having to carry a years worth of work home in a trash bag once in awhile got old. So far I have not had to carry any of our horses home in a trash bag. Plus they are living things and partners, so for me anyways, the money spent on Mustangs is more enjoyable than spending it on planes.
Take care gang.
Hans Now known as Wild Horse Hans
P.S Thanks for the comment on my being a master builder, but man you are way off! The guys over at RCscalebuilder are the real masters. I was at best a hanger on.

dhal22

good to hear from you hans. hope you didn't mind me mentioning your build thread over on rcsb.

david

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Wild Horse Hans, your modesty is admirable. I know a builder when I see one's work. So very glad to have you jump in when you can to help steer us scale building rookies. I for one really appreciate your stepping in when ever you wish. When I was pylon racing, my team was know by two names, Redtail Racing or Mustang Racing. The mustangs were wild but only because my pylon racing Q40's were doing 170+ mph everytime I fired one of them up. Many thanks, don't forget to come back soon. Chic

Heavy Date

Chic,
I see you are from VA. If you want to talk with a real master builder look up flydoc. He is in fairfax VA and I think flys at PGRC. His work is not only very good, but fantastic! He has not done the TBM/TBF, but his advice and knowledge is worth gold.
Hans

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Wild Horse Hans, I also fly at PGRC. Is this Doctor an Eye Doctor. If so, I know this gentleman. Have picked his head before, your right about his stuff. I guess we are about 40 min away from each other. Will follow your lead for sure. Chic

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Wild Horse Hans, went to Servocity to check on the sprocket and chain for the rudder. Would you suggest the plastic or metal chain and what is the length of chain you would suggest for the application. How would you connect the chain to the pull/pull cable? Thanks for the help. Chic

Heavy Date

Yea that's him.
For the servocity stuff I was going to use a metal chain about 6 inches long. The nice thing about using that set up is you do not have to worry about what size sprocket you use as it is true around the center just as the pulley on the rudder end. It will act as a sort of gear reduction though. If the sprocket is half the size of the rudder pulley then it would be a 2 to 1 reduction. Not that it will put more force on, but the smaller sprocket would have to move twice as far to move the pulley the same amount. To connect it to the pull pull, I had really not thought that far, but may have used a loop of cable through the chain hole and then run the cable through the pull pull adjusters. Just a thought. Sevrvo city may even have something for just that application.