23 replies to this topic

[M J W J]

I've got a bit more done.

 

First I finished off the rib capping.

 

Then I started to glue in the webbing. I had to miss the ones where the clamps were for the time being. Each piece is a different length so each has to made to fit individually which takes time.

 

 

Tonight after doing a small amount of sanding on the other side I turned the wing over. I have glued in the webbing where the clamps were on the one side.

 

 

I only just have enough 1/16th balsa to build the wing so need to do things in a particular order to make sure that I have enough to complete it. The missing webbing bits on the other side will be glued in at a later date.

Edited by M J W J, 03 August 2014 - 08:37 PM.

[M J W J]

Another update.

 

I cut and glued in the front capping on the one side. This was tricker than the underside of the wing as I had to notch it to fit round the wing locating dowels. The usual array of clamps and pins were used to hold everything in place.

 

 

Next I glued in the missing webbing pieces on the other wing and a piece in the middle to join the two front capping pieces together.

 

 

And finally the front capping on the other side of the wing. Again this had to be notched round the wing locating dowel.

 

 

The next job is to look at the aileron (the wing's control surfaces that make a plane roll for those who don't know) servo mount. This will sit underneath the wing capping. The servo can't be mounted to the capping as it isn't strong enough.

[M J W J]

Didn't realise that I haven't updated this for a few days but I have done a fair bit since the last update.

 

I made the servo mount out of some 1/8th light ply.

(proof a servo does fit in it)

 

So the top of this would sit flush with the top of the capping (which is made from 1/16th balsa) I had to notch the two ribs that the servo mount glued to.

 

The servo mount was then glued in place

 

Some 3/8th triangular balsa reinforcements were added underneath (no picture sorry) and the start of the capping on top was fitted. The trialing edge and aileron control horns were fitted as well.

 

I tried to make the capping one piece to fit over the top of the aileron horn mounts but it wouldn't sit flush, so I cut notches into it. I will fill these notches in afterwards and sand it all flush.

 

The trailing edge capping and rib capping was glued in place on the one wing.

 

...and the the trailing edge capping on the other wing.

 

I only had one piece of 1/6th balsa wood left which I needed to make some of the fuselage formers from and the rest of the rib cappings. As the formers were the bigger items these were cut first.

 

Finally the other side of the wing could have its rib capping pieces made and fitted.

 

Tomorrow I will finally be able to release the wing from the build table since I started working on the top side. The wing still requires work such as the wing tips being built and a few other bits and pieces but once I have sanded the leading edge and corrected a small mistake to the trailing edge I will be able to start building up the fuselage.

 

[M J W J]

Right time for an update

I glued the parts for the rudder fin together. I just need to sand the edge where it hinges, into a 90 degree point. I also need to add the reinforcements for where the control horns will attach.



Next was the parts for the tail. These had to be glued in place one by one. The two inner pieces have an airfoil profile so the outer edge was all glued together and then the inner pieces afterwards.



Finally was the tail plane. I first glued the outer edges together, then the inner parts in two stages.





I need to do a load of sanding work on the wing next before I can cut the sides out. Looks like I am short of a couple of bits of triangular section balsa wood too, so I need to get them before I can build the fuselage up

 

[M J W J]

Its been a while since I updated this. Not a lot has been done unfortunately as a few things have come up (trying to buy a house is one of them), but it has progressed a little bit.

 

First of all I glued in the reinforcement pieces to the rudder and elevator. This is where the control horns fit. If you fitted them directly to the balsa wood it would just crush it as you put the controls in to fly it.

 

 

I also marked out and cut the two sides. Well almost cut the sides out. I still need to sand the wing's leading edge to shape and cut the wing seat out. The tail plane seat gets cut out once the two sides of the fuselage is joined together to ensure they line up perfectly. The side of the plane is over 4" wide so an extra piece has to be glued and joined onto the top at the front of the fuselage sides. I have purposely made it too long so it can be trimmed along with the wing seat.

 

 

I then glued in some of the reinforcement pieces that make up the sides.

 

 

I then glued in the 1/4" x 1/4" triangular reinforcement strip along the bottom edge.

 

 

I didn't have any 1/4" x 1/4" triangular so ended up sanding the edge of a 1/4" sheet to shape and then trimming it off. I've only had time to do enough for one side.

 

I think I will also have to modify the bottom edge of the fuselage at the rear. The plans show a tail wheel that is mounted on a piece of wire that acts as the hinge of the rudder. The piece of wire also connects into the rudder so as the rudder turns the tail wheel moves with it. This is perfectly normal for RC and full size planes. The issue I have with this is that there is no give between the wheel and the rudder. When flying off grass this set up would be fine but not when you fly off a tarmac runway that has loads of little potholes and joints in it, they tend to grab hold of the tail wheel unexpectedly.

 

The solution is to mount the wheel and put a spring between it and the rudder. This means as the rudder moves the wheel moves with it but if it hits something (crack, pothole, stone, etc) the spring stretches rather than the rudder being wrenched to one side, pulling the control wires and stripping the gears in the servo that controls it.

 

Again the above is fine but it only works if the rudder goes all the way down to the bottom of the fuselage. On the alco frolic it doesn't. Hmmm... I need to think about this one for a bit.

[M J W J]

Time for another update.

 

I made another piece of 1/4" x 1/4" triangular section and glued it to the bottom edge of the other side. This got both sides to the same stage

 

 

I then began to glue in the re-reinforcement bits that double up the thickness of the sides towards the front.

 

 

 

I have one more piece on either side to glue in (you can just see the pencil lines where the last piece is to be up to) and then I can cut the section out where the wing mounts.

 

 

 

 

 

[bluemini17]

This is fantastic, my dad used to buy me the paper plans and a few sheets of balsa etc at the age of 12. I found this more fun than the plastic airfix kits. Out came the pin board and my mums sewing kit for the pins    I used gum paper and 'dope' to build the wing and fuselage coverings, as a kid i didnt have the skills to used balsa coverings, I also used a rubber band to power the prop

 

keep up the good work,

 

David

[M J W J]

Its been a while since I updated this. I got distracted by a mini which I think is a perfectly valid excuse. I really need to update my mini build diary as well at some point too.

 

After getting both fuselage sides built up the next step was to cut out the wing seats. I made a cardboard template that fitted the wind and then traced round it to get the wing seat in the correct position.

 

Once both sides we cut to shape I fettled the formers a bit so they all fitted and marked the position on the sides. This will allow me to line them up more easily when the I finish gluing the two fuselage sides together. With the formers fitted I glued formers 2 and 3 in place. These are the same width so this part of the fuselage is square. I've seen people try and glue them all in place in one go and end up with a twisted fuselage. Doing it this way I have seamed to have better results.

 

 

With the formers glued to one side I could then glue the other side to it. Measuring corner to corner ensures that the fuselage is square and not twisted.

 

And this is where I am up to date. Next job is to pull the rear of the fuselage together and fit the remaining two formers in place and the bulkhead.

[M J W J]

Update time.

 

My next job was going to be to pull the back of the fuselage together but when I tried to do this I noticed the rearward former flexed and bowed inwards. This would have prevent the wings from fitting afterwards if I had continued so I had to come up with a plan to prevent this.

 

To help prevent the former from bowing I have started to build up the under side of the plane but before I could do this I had to build and glue in the bulk head. This was made from 2 1/8" light ply plates glued together. It was then marked and drilled for the motor to be mounted. I removed the motor and its mount from the bulkhead and glued it in.

 

 

Some reinforcements were then added to the bulkhead.

 

 

Once the bulkhead was glued in the undercarriage mounting plate could be made and fitted. The plans show a single 1/4" thick medium balsa wood piece, to which the undercarriage attaches using self tapping screws. I'm never a fan of attaching an undercarriage to a plane this way as the screws have a tendency to pull out over time no matter how gentle you are landing the thing. It may have worked on the original that was flown off grass but tarmac which I fly off of, tends to knock undercarriages around a bit more so a different method needed to be used.

 

My solution is to laminate two pieces of 1/8" light ply together and use some captive nuts and bolt to hold the undercarriage on. The picture shows only the first piece.

 

 

The second will be glued in from the other side. Doing it this way increases the gluing area making a stronger mounting plate. The new plate has to be made to fit between the side so glue will be applied to the edges. Making the undercarriage plate this way also effectively lowers the plane a bit on its wheels but as the undercarriage I will be using is about 3/4" taller than is needed this isn't an issue. It also means that the rest of the underside can be made from 1/8" balsa which is lighter than the 1/4" specified on the plans. This reduction in weight helps as I have just added a heavier light ply (I realise that is an oxymoron) undercarriage mounting plate. As with most of the hardware in this plane, the clips, bolts and undercarriage are all parts I have lying around.

 

Once made the undercarriage plate was then glued on along with the 1/8" balsa underside.