knucklebutt

Landing Gear

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Denis,


That last picture with Lizzie on the gear says it all. Real nice job. Looking forward to a whole airframe picture and fully dressed.

I take it you still have to add the compression struts to the Landing gear yet.

knucklebutt

O.K. Gang gear is done

and a special thanks to STAN, for comming up with this idea (yeah!)

knucklebutt

Here's the breakdown of the gear. Most of the photos have notes on them so I dont need too much detail here. Any questions feel free to PM me.

Front gear 3/16 music wire
Rear 1/8

Struts are K & S airfoil Top/Bottom are 1/2" Middle is 3/8" your gonna have to sand the crap out of the middle section in order for it to slide freely in the 1/2" piece.

I used rubber grommets as metal to metal contact with aluminum can cause cracks, the rubber should dampen stress and vibrations.

reinforce the fuse attach area with ply.

again axles are not trimmed as the tires in the photos are not going to be used

knucklebutt

X

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Denis,

You Da Man. That gear is awesome. It looks better on the Lizzie than the Porter. I like the lower stance with the gear. The side picture of the fuse on the main gear and tail wheel shows this well.

I did not understand the one picture showing a 3/4 inch section epoxied on to the center tube. Also, did you completely fill the center section with epoxy and the dowel ?

I like it.

knucklebutt

Stan: yeah that pic is a little wierd huh ??? here's another pic that should explain what I was getting at, if not let me know. As for the center piece (3/8) I did fill the tube with epoxy. I first poured epoxy into the tube then slid the dowel into it and laid the piece on its side which allowed excess epoxy to run out. When dry (5 minute) I sanded the excess epoxy from each end.




Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Thanks Denis,


Now I get the picture. Good Job.

knucklebutt

Well gang: Building is done !!!!

all open areas have been covered with Coverite/Solartex, (Neutral) as I will paint Note: Coverite no longer sells the "Neutral" so i get mine from "Balsa USA" which they call "Solartex" its a;ll the same.

Actually the yellow has already been painted, will do the Blue in the next day or so. I am using exterior latex semi=gloss house paint. Great to work with, thinned 60% and sprayed. Only drawback is , it has to sit for about a week to "Gass" out. Which gives me pleny "O" time to cut out all my stencils for the markings.

knucklebutt

Just something I thought would give it more personality (dont know why !!!!)




Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Denis,


The covering is looking great. I like the door, it does add character. Now it looks like a 1930s passenger plane. Did you use anything special to thin the latex paint ?

Do you remember Perfect Paint ? A friend painted his full size van with it using a roller and it looked as good as if sprayed. Even if you used a brush as long as you keep

the brush moving and wet the paint dried with no brush marks.

Can't wait to see the paint.

knucklebutt

Stan

I am thinning the house paint with a mixture of distilled water and alcohol. About 20% alcohol to 80 of the water. The alcohol speeds up drying just a tad. And yes I used "perfect" paint through the 80s and early 90s. Ya cant get it anymore which put me on the path of the water based (Jerry Nelson Paints). Perfect certainly did get a great finish but due to the very long drying time I had to used a paint booth so bugs and dust wouldn't settle into the finish. Clean up was a hassle too.




Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Thanks Denis,

Can't wait to see the results.

knucklebutt

Still painting: just about done. Should be putting on the satin overcoat on thursday: Then thats it put it all back together and see if it flies


Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Alright Denis,

The icing on the cake. Looking at the wings, I thought the latex house paint would have been more glossy being you were using semi-gloss paint. Does the thinning of the paint reduce the gloss a lot ? In the picture it looks closer to a flat finish. Now I realize, when you spray on the satin overcoat it should have a more defined shine.
What type of spray gun are you using and who makes the paint ?

knucklebutt

You know I have a hard time distinguishing between Semi-Gloss::: Satin::: egg shell:::: those three always look the same to me. Now gloss and flat thats different. A long time ago I realized that Egg Shell/Satin looked better than flat !! on airplanes. The paint I use is Glidden exterior latex. The blue is "Satin" the yellow is "Semi-Gloss" they look the same to me. Dosent matter cause I'm gonna use a "Satin" clear which I get from "Warbird Colors" Its a two part mix that is fuel proof up to 15%. The gun is an auto touch up gun. I get the cheap ones from like home dept around 39-49 bucks. They work very well for models and last several years. Not even sure of the brand name !!!



Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Thanks Denis,

I can get Glidden here in New Jersey, but I prefer Bahr. I have not tried it on models yet but hope to do so this summer. I will look-up the "Warbird Colors" site you mentioned. The Lizzie is coming together. One nice thing with latex paint is any color can be matched. Isn't technology wonderful ?

So the maiden flight should be just around the corner.

knucklebutt

Stan


http://www.warbirdcolors.com/

if that helps. As for brand of paint, dont think it matters. The house paint tutorial from Roy Vallincourt recommended Behr paint. The paint guy at my local Home Dept recommended the Glidden.

here's the tutorial from Roy Vallincourt

http://www.houstonhobbies.com/tips/p...ying-latex.pdf

Denis

knucklebutt

Painting's done

Gonna take about a week to put together all the components. Flight maybee early next week maybee sooner




Denis

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Denis,


WOW. Nice, Don't shoot me but, that last picture looks like an ARF just taken out of the box and ready to assemble. LOL.
Who knows there may be a ship load on their way now.

Really Denis, Good Luck with the maiden. I have enjoyed this build-along a lot. Thanks for the link and paint article.

knucklebutt

ya know:: no matter how many times I measure and line stuff up, somehow this always seems to happen: we'll have to see what other parts dont line up Grrrrrrrr.

knucklebutt

alrigh just so you all can giggle at my goofs, here's more. First photo: I was rather pleased that i had the fore thought to place the Aileron extension through the wing prior to covering::

well that would have been great except they were installed backwards:

Luckily I was able to cut an area where the nacelles go and pull them out and turn them around (I needed the opening anyway for on board glow/throttle wires)

Gee whats next !!!

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Hay Denis,

Coming down to the home stretch. Now is the time to find the all the quarks before the maiden. I still say you did a fantastic job on this build.

I wish I could be there for the first flight. Take lots of pictures.

zipman

My Feedback: (22)

Tower to Twin Lizzie, Tower to Twin Lizzie, do you copy ?? What's happening Dennis? Your Lizzie fans miss you. On Vacation ???

I know, the weather must be great and you are out flying everyday. Shoot us an update. Thanks.

knucklebutt

Stan

I was expecting a post from you !!! Haa I actually have been working every day on this. The amount of wiring is exhausting. I even took today off from the flying field to attempt to finish this up. Hoping to at least fine tune the engines this afternoon (they have already been broken in)