Hello:

I build a lot of planes. I probably put together one plane per month average. And most of the time I am assembling a prototype or some new thing and I have to develop the manuals and procedures, so I don't usually have a lot of time to make it neat or fancy. Also my planes get worked on a lot, so they must be easy to service.

I am assembling a new Giles, this one I plan to fly for a while since I really like the way a Giles flies. I thought that this time I would take you through the process, show the logic I use in deciding what to use and what goes where.

I also want to show that building a 35% or 40% plane is really no more complicated than a 50cc gasser. Much of the stuff you hear in the internet is meant to get you to buy things, often that you do not need. My goal here is to make this as simple as possible while remaining completely effective.

So here goes.

The first step is to get the engine mounted. Our new planes come with the firewall marked and an engine template, so all you need to do is line up the marks with on the firewall and the template and drill the mounting holes. We also sell a mounting kit that has the engine mounting spacers (standoffs, sort of, but more rigid and less expensive than machined standoffs) plus blind nuts and long socket head screws.

In this case this was the first plane of a new shipment so I needed to verify the location of the mark. As I expected it was off a little, so I mounted the engine once, found out how far it was off, then filled the holes and re-mounted it in the proper location.

Now that I have done this, you would know the correct location is UP 1/4" and to the left (viewing the plane) about 1/8". So make a new mark there and use that mark as your reference.

Also note the DA-100 template is marked along its side, not along the top. See photo.

I mounted the DA-100 ignition in the void behind the engine. The spacers are 1 3/4" deep which is plenty of room for the ignition.

I mount most things on foam and with zip-ties. Don't pull the zip-ties down real tight, that just increases shocks transferred to the ignition from vibration, instead leave them a little loose and surround the box on all sides so it can't slip out.

The firewall photo shows the initial mounting and then the revised location.

TF

I like your selection in standoffs. Especially where longer ones are concerned that makes for a very good vibration damper and greatly reduces twisting loads from engine torque.

are the marks on the firewall off on all 35% planes or just the 40% giles?

Yes, it's rock solid yet weigh almost nothing.

I make these things in 4 foot long strips. I cut a piece of lite ply the correct width for either a DA-100 or DA-85 (I do both) and then epoxy 3/4" square oak along each side.

Then when I need one for a customer or a plane I just set my table saw to the proper width (1 3/4" in this case) and slice off 2 pieces. They are exactly the same size and square, and I can cut to any width I want in about 2 minutes. I then use the template to mark the holes for drilling which is the most time consuming part.

TF

Just the Giles as far as I know.

TF

Next comes the canister installation. We sell ply canister mounts that have plenty of material around the perimiter. The job here is to trim the mount to the right size. It should mount to the rear of the landing gear plate and also glue to the underside of the canister tunnel top. Here are beforee and after photos, and the completed setup.

This uses KS 86-4 canisters and 90mm drop headers with a flex section.

The mount is supplied with a section of silicone tubing. You need to cut pieces about 3/4" long and slip them in so the fingers of the mount go inside the tubing, the muffler is then suspended in the silicone with room for air to circulate around it.

Exhaust holes are provided to let the hit air and exhaust out, just trim away the covering. With these open you should not need to cut any hoiles in the cowl at all.

These are rear exit cans and are a touch longer than the provided holes, I will trim the rear edge and also install some silicone extensions on the tips to direct exhaust out of the plane. They also need stops against the rear of the cans to keep them from moving backwards, this is often left out and the first flight ends up with the cans disconnected from the header.

After building so many planes I have learned to invest a little time in planning where to put everything. I know from experience that this plane will come out nose heavy, so I installed a little platform behind the canopy to mount the two A123 battery packs. I cut the corners off the leave a little window to route the wires.

I will be using 2 packs, one for just the receiver and the other will power the receiver and also the ignition. I have tested this in 2 planes and it works fine with my JR 2.4 ghz. radios.

I modified the battery packs and replaced the Cellpro charge jack with a standard JR receiver plug, and then added a long extension to carry power forward to the ignition. ON teh other pack I just left a servo connector there tro use when charging.

I made a little adapter for the Cellpro to charge through the charge jack on the ignition or through a standard servo extension. This is a little complicated to explain but is simple in practice.

I also installed a lite ply bulkhead to mount the receiver. This puts the receiver antennas up high which is where JR says to put them, with the satellite mounted in the bottom. Both switches will reach the receiver and the batteries without any wires hanging in the middle, very neat.

I mount the receiver on Velcro, this is plenty secure and as long as you don't tie it down with anything else it provides cushioning for the receiver to isoloate it from severe vibration.

Using two connections into the receiver like this is good for at least 12 amps in a burst, so a power box is definitely not necessary. Some of my testing has shown that some power boxes' internal circuitry actually limit the current to the servos.

TF

Doing the hatch involves exactly NOTHING. It's already done, except for installing a pilot if you so desire.

The 40% helmet head pilot we sell sits inside the hatch rails, a few dabs of silicone glue to hold it in place and it looks like this.

The panel is pre-installed. IMAC here we come.

Hooking up the ignition involved simply installing a switch in the pre-cut hole and hooking up to the power extension that I ran up the left side of the fuse.

I use these little plastic gizmos called cable stands, you can get them at any electronics store. Buy a bag of them, they are self adhesive and stick to wood very well. Then just use a zip-tie to hold cables in place and out of the way.

I use a choke servo instead of a kill switch, this is a great way to kill the engine in case the throttle linkage fails.

BTW with these switches I just use the litel hex head servo screws that I use for everything, I throw away the little mounting screws and backing plate that come with the switch.

wow tom at this rate its gonna be done by tonite

Tom,
If using a DA85 how would you route the one pipe and where would the exhaust tip come out. Do you have any pictures of your prototype that you had the DA85 on.

Also, with the DA85 does the cowl have to be cut to get proper clearance.

Thanks.

The one pipe goes right down the middle. If you have a rear exit canister you turn the muffler a little and it exits in ethe rear corner. With front exhaust it comes out,... wait for it..., in front! You have to cut the cowl to make an exit.

I must apologize, I failed to take a photo of the first one with a DA-85. In factr I don't have any photos of any plane with the DA-85, I will correct this asap.

The cowl does not need to be cut except to clear the cylinder head and to allow cooling air over the head fins.

TF

Tom,
If you needed any picture of the Giles with DA-85 let me know. I can take a picture and email to you ( I don't know how to post the picture in forum )

Pathapol

Here's a tip for posting pictures. If you have MS Office on your computer it makes things a lot easier, but it's not required.

Choose the picture you want to post. Now either "reply" to the last post or start a "fast reply". You can also go back and "edit" an old post. The first and last methods are the fastest way to obtain the note "upload more files?" at the bottom left of the post window. If you start a "fast reply" you will have to post it and return to it to "edit" to obtain that notation.

Now click "upload more files?" and it will take you to a new window where you can select different folders on your computer. Locate the folder that has the pictures you want to draw from and right click on the picture files. Select "Preview" so you can find the exact picture you want if you don't already have the file name. Once you have it, left click it and then click the "open" button at the bottom. That will place it in the "select file" part of the RCU upload tool. If it's a large file you may only be able to upload one at a time. If you have dial up and a large picture file you might never get it uploaded. Now click "OK" on the RCU file upload tool and wait for the file to upload. When it's done you will receive a message that the "files uploaded successfully". Now return to your post and click "OK" again to submit the post.

If you have MS Office you will have a couple of programs that are quite helpful for sizing and cropping images. MS Paint is the fastest and easiest for reducing the size of a picture. Right click on a picture and select "open with" from the drop down menu. Select "Paint". Now go to "Image" on the top bar and left click. Select "Stretch and Skew" from the drop down menu. Enter the size percentage you want the picture to be. Be sure to make both the "vertical" and "horizontal" the same number unless you intend to distort the picture. Now go to "File" on the top bar. Left click and select "Save As". Rename the picture file or place the resized picture in a "New Folder" If you put it back in the same folder without re-naming it the full size picture will be replaced with the smaller one and be lost forever.

If you have MS Office you will also have the MS Office Picture Manager. There are a lot of picture editing tools in that program, including "Crop" which let's you cut down a picture to just the parts you want to show. When you save the edited picture, do the "Save As">rename>new folder things again. When you close the picture the program will ask if you want to save the file. Click "No" or the original picture will be replaced with the edited picture. Upload to the internet in the same manner.

Using the picture sizing tools let's you reduce pictures to a smaller size and permits posting more pictures in less time on the internet. I like to reduce 2.4 meg pictures down to 35% so it still has high resolution but posts faster. On those cold, rainy days when you don't have anything to do, playing with some of the programs that you've never bothered with can end up a lot of fun.

This step completes the engine installation. I used servos on throttole and choke, had to make a new little lever for the DA-100 choke shaft as usual. I used JR DS821 servos because I had them left from my X9303 radio.

Since it's easier to install the landing gear without the cans in place this is a good time for that. I redrilled the holes with a 3/16" drill because they were a little small.

I installed the carbon-fiber tailwheel upgrade just for fun. I am planning to see how it handles as a castering tailwheel, not attached to the rudder. I did this on a 73" Edge and it worked quite well, if it works here that just simplifies the installation.

I'm interested in finding out how that tail wheel works out now that RC Blimp is gone. Free castering should be a great idea, especially on grass fields.

Tom and/or Pat. I am really interestd in this plane and watching the build thread with great interest. My thouhgts are towards a DA85 with the canaster exaust, mostly because I would love to try an 85 and the cost and weight savings are so great. I am however having some real problems picturing the heat exhaust for the engine (on either the 100 or 85). I have always been led to believe by "the experts" that the engine exhaust area should be greater than 2-3 times larger than the cowl intake area. I know how the air enters the cowl and from reading other posts understand it should exit out the canister tunnel. But how does it get out after you install the canisters and block the rest of the tunnel with the mount. With your setup as pictured above will it still be necessary to cut an exaust opening in the cowl or will enough air get to the back openings to provide adequate cooling. Sorry if this is a stupid quesiton.

Pretty easily actually.

Tom had the cowl designed so it drops down below the bottom of the fuselage a little bit. It remains open at that point. It's design will create a nice low pressue zone that will assist drawing the heat from both the engine compartment and the header dump openings. The picture gives the general idea about how the cowl fits and remains open.

I added the louvered vent on mine, I'm using mufflers and wanted more exit area and won't have the benefit of the large cannister exit openings.

Thanks Pat. Didn't know the scope was there. That is a pretty cool feature. I also like your louvered vent. Functional and adds some class!!!!!!

Good luck on the maden Wednesday.

Here some picture of Giles with DA-85.

Giles DA-85 with KS 95 canister

DA-85 with cowl remove show KS-95 canister installed.

Wildhare 40% Giles fuselage compare to WH 28% Edge V1 fuselage.

Thank you Pat for instruction on upload the pictures.

Pathapol

You're welcome. I see they worked ok

OK I am basically done. I put on the elevators/stabs, installed the ruder servo and the pull-pull. I did a test balance first and the CG is at the fro0nt edge of the wing tube, so I elected not to put a servo in back.

The pushrods on elevator are only 1 1/2 inches long and less than an inch is exposed so I decided that the fiberglass tube sleeve was unnecessary.

With the control horns out from the rudder center 1 1/2" the cables just clear the edge of the elevators. It's close but it clears.

Tomorrow I will do the clean up, tie down all the servo extensions and make everything neat, I should have finished photos tomorrow and hope to do the maiden on Thursday.

Altogether I think I spent about 6-7 hours on it. By far the most time consuming part is installing the engine. Even though mounting it is easy, doing the canisters, ignition mount, throttle and choke servo linkages, etc. took me probably half the time I spent on the plane. An 85 single is easier, a lot less to do.

BTW I am using a JR 921 2.4 ghz. receiver and I discovered a neat feature. All through the build when I would turn on the plane's power sometimes all the lights would come on steady, other times they would all blink. Very puzzling. And if they were on steady and I turned the plane off and on then they would blink.

I finally figured out that blinking lights are telling me it thinks it had a reboot from a power failure. If you turn on the transmitter first the receiver thinks it just came back from a brownout reboot and blinks to alert you to the fact. But if you power up the plane first, then the transmitter, the lighst are steady as they should be. Neat feature, check your plane after a flight to see if it's blinking, if it is then you have battery problems.