g_boxwood

After GG set I could finally remove the upside-down fuse from the building board and start trimming the sheeting. I like how GG performed.

There's a detail picture about the hull interruption just past the step: this is to clear main gear cinematism; in the real thing gear doors seal the hull and the fuse sides well above waterline once the gear is up. Rather complex to do on the model.

From what you'll see next it won't be amphibious... too complicated. Land version will feature retracts, sea version will have retracts locked in the up position and lots of panels to seal the fuse here and there...

g_boxwood

NOSE GEAR INSTALLATION

Ok, I had to deal with it sooner or later...

Look at the plan: what you see doesn't exist. Basically the custom made unit has a length (axle to pivot point) of only 104 mm, ~ 4". Too short if you want it to shock absorb rough landings. Plus (or minus I should say) the unit doesn't retract, it is fixed. It steers anyway.

What to do then? I wanted a

1. steering,
2. shock-absorbing and
3. retracting nose gear unit.

2. comes from a Robostrut, 650 straight. Quite easy. I cut it as short as possible. Seemed enough... if only pivot point of the retract wasn't miles up.

1. and 3. come from the retract.

At first I didn't know what to use. I had to choose between the large unit rated for models up to 10 kilos and the small one rated for models up to 6 kilos. Ok, the CL-215 will weight a bit more than 6 kilos but after I got the large unit I knew I couldn't fit it... no way!

I made a mock-up of the gear well to experiment with retract installation.

g_boxwood

First try involved small retract with cut robostrut AND steering arm. Didn't fit.

I decide to remove the steering arm to save as much as 3/8" or 10 mm. Didn't fit again by a huge 1".

g_boxwood

Took a deep breath and cut former C20 (in the mock-up). Fitted. Obviously.

Restyled the mock-up to see how far the mod would have gone into the surrounding structure. Basically I'll have to move the lower part of former C20 30mm back to fit the unit.

Dunno what else to do. But it has some plusses. Will tell you as soon as I got this mod done on the real fuse.

g_boxwood

Time to mod the fuse.

I removed the diagonal cross-bracing that interfered with the new C20 former and draw lines to guide me through the material removal.

I removed all the wood that was in the way of retraction following exactly what I did in the mock-up.

It just takes patience and a firm but light hand.

g_boxwood

Then I added the new lower portion of bulkhead C20.

Finally the 2 vertical elements between new and old C20.

I think tomorrow I'll finish the mod by laminating the doublers on both sides of the gear well.

g_boxwood

Doubling the well took me more than expected. It was a heck of a job in the end that costed me some real sweat and a few blisters as well.

Basically I drew the doublers on the modified plans, cut the doublers and fitted each of them in place. Although the pairs were identical, each of them required different accomodations here and there to fit properly. It takes time.

In the pictures you can see the doublers; 'inside' means they'll fit the well from the... inside; you can guess by yourselves what 'outside' means.

The first fitted was the floor. It basically strengthens the lite-ply floor.

BTW, doublers are 1.5 mm birch-ply.

g_boxwood

Next came the most insane job ever done: I had to remove 1.5mm of material from bulkheads C20 and C20_new in the location shown in the pic; that is required to slide the 'outside' doublers in place. I had to cut through lite-ply and a 1/2" hardwood triangle stock...

I used every kind of saw blade and got the cuts done. That was insane, believe me!

I epoxied both the inside and outside doublers in place at the same time. I took care of the right and left well sides separately. It is enough if you work on one side at the time...

Obviously the job turned out as messy as usual when dealing with epoxy and large surfaces. Paper towels, rubbing alcohol and gloves are a must!

Kmot

My Feedback: (24)

Bravo, Giacomo!

You have heard the expression...? "Necessity is the mother of invention"

g_boxwood

Yes I heard that !

Pictured are the results of the doubling; a little messy as I mentioned but really strong. Next time I'll use thinner doubler, 1.5mm is a little bit overkill. Good to know.

Now I feel the two sections (cabin and nose) are better -merged- together: stresses from the nose gear are distribuited in the cabin section as well.

Original design lacked that integration but it wasn't a mistake: the way the fixed gear was designed provided what I reached through doubling for a fraction of the time and effort invested (not to mention weight and scale-look)! But it is fixed...

The retractable nose unit messed things up...

BTW, never told that but I'm not proud of having modified the hull that much to fit the gear; I hate what I was forced to do (less scale) but no other way to fit the retract...

g_boxwood

These are shots from above the cabin floor: they show how the doublers fit there.

I laminated some lite-ply on the outside of the doublers to thicken them up a bit; the -hole- will be closed with some sheeting later on.

g_boxwood

I finally got the hull done; all the lower portion of the formers are hard balsa except for C28 which is lite-ply as the upper portion; that's because it supports the wing holding plate.

C28 also is a little different from other lower formers to increase the -anchoring- surface.

Also planned are some vertical elements that better withstand compression stresses coming from the keel; the keel is stock, 3x10mm hardwood in my case, ~1/8"x3/8".

You can see I had to do some little more surgery to fit one of the vertical elements... but it was nothing compared to what I did [8D] [8D] !

That's it for the moment! I'll be back by mid August. Enjoy your holiday!

morino

HI i am from croatia i have a plans for cl-215 from a taylor brian 0.25 but i have magnified it and i am thinking of building it with 0.46 and wingspan 2,4 m at the moment i dont have a place to build and i will have it when my new house is finished,i have found bernards site and i am fascinated with it,and i am thinking of building the plane from his plans i wil study it tonight and then ask you a lot of qestions,for bernard i dont have a word becase site is great and cl-2165 looks like real one,i have bin on practice in high school in a place near zg where they service cl-215,415 and it is a really great plane worth every second of work.

grinder-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Little late but here is a pic of the full size nose gear set up.

Grinder.

grinder-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

The info i got from Bombardier is the nose wheel on the CL-415 is 6.5" x 9.8" And the main wheels are 14.9" x 16" in size.

Grinder.

grinder-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

10" wheels on the nose gear, 16" on the mains.

grinder.

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

There is a video of a friend's CL-215 on my page top left [link=http://rcalbum.machawk.net/]here[/link]. Not sure of the plan or details but it uses OS52s for power.

morino

JHON COULD YOU GIVE US a little bit mor information abut that plane i mean wingspan,engine,and from whose plan has it been done?

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

We'll be doing some flying tomorrow and I'll ask the pilot. I sort of think it might be from a Model Airplane News plan from some years back. The plan was called Mercator I believe even though it is obviously a 215.

Later: I took a look at the MAN site and found this plan which looks like it might be it:[link=http://www.rcstore.com/rs/general/detail.asp?catnum=fsp05801&catego=PL]CL-215[/link]


In fact I am sure it is as the one in the video even has the same number 35. There is one somewhere called the Mercator though. It may be smaller. I see that they call for two 25s but he is flying with OS52s. I think another one I saw used 40 size four stokes.

morino

i have blueprints for 0,25 cl-215 it has very simple construction but looks fragile to me.that friend of yours with what has he coated the plane?

morino

now i have watched my blue prints they are from steve gray and if that plane is steve gray design i am builiding it it doesnt look totaly autenthic but is much simple to make dan bernards i think.

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

I belive it is covered with Monokote. BTW the cowls are balsa.

morino

i asked that because the one that i see is from balsa and then covered with some cinde of net and then witj epoxy or something like that and then painted i asked why this net and this epoxy i think man said is needed?he said if you only put balsa and water proof color if balsa somewhere cracks a little bit you have wather in your plane and you cant get it out and it is hard to know where it came in.

morino

if you have noticed i like this steve plan but i have noticed that cabin top is too high than in the real cl-215,and if anyone has any idea how to make a door for water bombing waterproof ?jhon thanks for answers and sorry for bad english.

John Hawkins

My Feedback: (2)

Some use fiberglass on hull bottoms where damage is likely to occur. The sample plane I believe uses Coverite under Monokote. If the interior balsa is painted with Blasrite or something similar it will stop any leaked water from being absorbed by the balsa. It is best to avoid "sealed" compartments where water can get trapped. Sorry I don't have any information on water pick up.