Workshop

CONSRUCTION OF THE WINGS

CONSTRUCTION OF THE TAIL SURFACES

The first steps are identical to the begriming of the work on the wings and the gluing and sanding produces skins for the rudder-fin assembly and the stab-elevator. These skins are sanded and cut to the correct size for gluing to the foam cores.

The foam cores were prepared for the shin as shown below. The stabs will be removable so the tube and the servo mounts were set in place and the surface of the foam was sanded and dampened to prepare for the skins.

The tubes were glued in place with about 1/4" sticking out. This was done with Gorilla glue. With the prep done, the skins were glued on all four sides and weight placed on the shucks to be sure the stabs stay straight and set up well.

The rudder and fin were skinned in the same way as the wings and the stab. There are no holes or tubes in the rudder so I applied the skin to the foam core and applied lots of weight to hold it flat.

All the tail surfaces were then edge glued for leading and trailing edges.

The stabs were then laid out and the elevators cut from the stabs just as the ailerons were cut above. The edges were then glued up and allowed to dry

Next, the stabs and elevators were trimmed and rough shaped. The hinges were laid out and holes drilled before bevels were cut to allow 40 degrees of deflection for both elevators. The rough sanding was then competed and the first fill operation was done on the surfaces.

Second sanding and inspection was completed and the stabs are ready for the root caps and the process of mounting on the plane.

The next step was to set the stab tube liner in the fuse. The stabs were trimmed and the root caps cut from 1/8" material. The stabs were then put on the fuse and aligned in tramble and in flatness. The tramble was evaluated by noting the distance from the stab tip to the wing tip and setting the left and right to be the same. The stabs were then set parallel to the wings. When everything was straight, the stab tube liner was glued in place with epoxy.

After the epoxy was set up, the stab roots were fitted and glued on in the same way the wing roots were done. After they were dry, they were shaped and sanded to get close to the final shape. The attachment to the fuse is next and it began with the ply pads on the bottom of the stabs. . These ply plates were glued and pinned to the stabs as they will take a lot of force when Eddy it flying the plane.

While the glue was setting up I turned attention to the rudder. The rudder and fin are one part and it had had the edges glued on and rough sanding completed. I laid out the cut lines between the fin and rudder and cut in the correct locations. The balsa that forms the hinge bevels was then glued to the foam and allowed to dry. The rest of the edge wood was then glued on and the rudder and fine rough sanded to shape. The bevels and hinges were then added to the assembly and adjusted for max movement.

Next it was time to set the incidence of the stabs and complete the attachment of the stabs to the fuse. Since these will be removable, it will have brackets on the lower leading edges plus a bolt in the stab tube from the bottom of the stab. I set up the plane and put the measuring equipment on the wings and on one stab. The wings and stabs must be at the same incidence so I rechecked the wings, the datum line and set the stabs by putting a temporary block against the stabs to establish the incidence.

The bracket was then mounted to the ply plate in the stab and a ply reinforcement was glued into the fuse to ensure the bracket could be attached without movement.

With the stab in position, the bracket was mounted to the fuse with a 6 - 32 bolt and a blind nut. This will make removal of the stabs a snap to accomplish.Then there was a ply plate inset in the outside of the fuse so that the force of the bracket being tightened down will not crush the soft balsa side.

The final steps for mounting the stabs consisted of gluing the aluminum tube in the right half of the stab and using a hard point to bolt through the stab tube on the left side. The problem with bolts in the aluminum tube is that the thin wall can not be threaded enough to hold the 6 -32 bolt and they always strip out. My solution is the drill out the area and put in a hard point for the bolt and to set a blind nut in the bottom of the hard point so that the bolt will have good threads to tighten down. The bolt will then protrude into the stab tube and pin the tube in place. The hard point with the blind nut is shown below prior to being glued into the stab.

The hard point was glued in the hole with care that it is in contact with the stab tube liner that had been glued in earlier. Once it was dry, I sanded it flush and assembled the stabs with the fuse inverted. The brackets pulled the stabs in tight to the fuse and I drilled a small hole in the aluminum stab tube. I took it apart and drilled out the hole so that the bolt would just fit through.

Final assembly shown below had the brackets tight to hold the leading edge in place and the stab tube bolt in place to be doubly sure that the stab will not move around.

The stabs and elevators were then medium sanded and alignment checked. A final fill was applied to any imperfections and they were allowed to dry.

Final sanding made them ready to cover

Covering the top of the stabs and elevators consisted of making a pattern for the colors that complimented the wing design and then making all 4 colored patterns for the 16 panels on the top surface and the 12 on the bottom. This tool a lot of time and the results can be seen below.

The rudder has been constructed and now it is time to set the control horn. The big servo has a 4" control arm on it and therefore there will be a 4" horn on the rudder and it must be very strong to withstand the knife edge loops Roger will be doing. I use a dual aluminum horn from SWB and it seemed to work well in the past. The construction begins with making a packet around the horn composed of 1/4 ply between the two horns and 1/8 ply on each side. The whole thing is glued and bolted together.

The position of the horn is determined by dry fitting it on the fuse and projecting a line from the servo through the nyrod and onto the rudder. I then cut a slot in the rudder to receive the horn.

Once the horn is fitted in the slot and check ted to be square and inset the proper distance, it was epoxied in place and allowed to dry.

Other wood was glued in and filler added to give a smooth finish for covering

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CONSTRUCTION OF THE FUSE

The fuse began with the sides that were stick built over the plans and I used a straight edge to be sure the balsa stayed straight as I build. I made two identical frames and then sheeted with edge glued 1/8 soft balsa.

The second step was to glue the wing tube reinforcement and the stab tube reinforcement in place on one of the sides. These were aligned visually and glued in place. After that The sides were set over the plans with the ply reinforcements down on the board. I used other plywood to support the sides and make them lay flat on the board.

Since I have found it important to build one left and one right, this was where I make sure that happens. The pre-built side that is down on the board is the left side of the fuse and I now place the second side on top and align it to the left side structure with some pins to hold in it position.

I then placed the tube reinforcements in position and put the tubes through the holes in both of the reinforcements. By setting the tubes square to the board in all directions, we can be sure the tubes will be straight as we assemble the fuse. I then had the structure done for the left and right sides and they were marked accordingly for future use.

Next the motor box was constructed and great care taken to make it square. Most of the reinforcements were glued up ahead of time and the lightning holes were made in advance.

The motor box was then set over the top view of the plane and positioned perfectly. The fuse sides were then positioned over the plans and squared with many speed squares to be sure the sides stayed straight and square. The sides were then secured to the motor box with six formers that bind it in place. Above you can see the three formers on the right side in position and secured with epoxy.

Below is a second view of the fuse sides and the motor box set over the plans. I glued the cross braces in place and allowed ample time to dry so that the new structure would not change shape.

The structure was then removed from the board and turned over to the top up configuration so that the other structure could be added.

The fire wall and landing gear were then reinforced with #8 sheet metal screws on all but the landing gear plate. Since this surface shows, it was doweled together with medium CA.

The engine we are using is a 3W 150 twin and I began the install by finding the thrust line and drawing it on the fire wall. I placed a vertical line on the fire wall at the center line of the plane. The plans call for 2.5 degrees of right thrust and now down thrust. In order for the spinner to end up in the center of the cowl, the right thrust will mean we need to change the location of the back of the motor to the left. ( all references to direction are standing behind the plane and looking at it right side up) I have calculated the distance to shift the motor based on the length of the motor and the 2.5 degree angle and it is 3/8".

I drew the new vertical line to the left of the center line and laid out the mounting holes for the engine. Since the engine needs to be shimmed ahead about 3/4" and it needs the right thrust, I constructed a ring that allowed the mounting of the engine and then tapered the ring from left to right to give the 2.5 degrees we wanted. I used the digital level to tell when the ring was cut correctly. The workbench was at 0 degrees and the mount is at the required angle.

I then located the ring on the center lines I drew on the firewall and attached it with just a bit of fast CA to hold it while I go on.

The alignment with the marks on the ring was very good so I drilled the holes and mounted the engine on the firewall.

I then inspected the choke and the throttle arms as they will need to be hooked up later. Next I bean the mounting of the landing gear. I drilled the landing gear on the drill press and then aligned the gear on the plane and drilled the holes in the landing gear plate. I used 6 - 32 bolts and blind nuts located in the 1/2" hardwood I glued into the corner of the landing gear area. this will make it very strong.

The headers were next and they were mounted on the motor and the alignment checked with the inside of the fuse. The canisters need to be in a compartment alone to flow air beside the canisters and to limit the heat in the equipment area.

The alignment of the canisters will work well, but the diameter is not the same and therefore might present a problem in assembly. I will consult with the supplier and see what a solution might look like.

I purchased an adapter that will connect the header to the canister. With some creative clamping, I can get the canisters hooked up and working.

I then dry fit the canisters and put in the rails for the roof to the canister compartment. This will need some strength as the large fuel tank will set on this part of the fuse. The floor is 1/8 lite ply with 5/16" hardwood structure under it. The forward part of the compartment will not support any weight, so it is 1/8" balsa.

The canisters will require support so that they do not move around in flight. There are lots of ways to secure them without blocking the air flow through the canister compartment. I use a former with silicone pads to support the 150 degree canisters. The silicone is good to 500 degrees so we have a positive ability to hold the canisters. I also put additional holes in the former for air flow. It is then glued into the compartment and secured to the landing gear plate.

The tank will be secured to the roof of the canister compartment so I build the holding system before putting in the 1/8" ply floor under the tank. The tank is supported by two hardwood cross members and the velcro is secured to an additional hardwood rail running under the tank floor. The under side is shown below.

The floor of the tank compartment was then extended with balsa and triangle stock completed the structure. The tank restraining system was then painted and glued into the plane. The joints are double glued and the canister compartment was painted with resin to make it more temperature resistant. This is a thinned resin that will not add weight to the plane.

The image below shows the resin coated canister area

Next was the linkage to the throttle. I began with the quick clip to the throttle arm on the engine. This is located and set at such an angle so as to be very difficult to manage any connection to a servo.

THe shot above shows the threaded rod connected to the throttle arm. The rod passed through the firewall at a sharp angle and since I wanted a short rod with a positive metal connection to the servo, the servo had to be mounted at a sharp angle to the centerline of the plane. The shot below shows how the servo mount was set to allow the throttle to work properly.

The motor box top will be bolted in place after the servo is adjusted and centered. Also in the shot above you can see the fuel line run from the tank to the T connector for fill line and on to the engine through the fire wall.

The pull-pull system for the rudder was installed next by attaching the wires to the servo arm as shown below.

The wires were crossed to make the attachment to the rudder horn at a better angle. The wires were plotted to the 4" rudder horn and the holes through the rear of the fuse were drilled and lined with blue nyrod. The nyrod was glued in place and the opening in the fuse was filled and sanded back to the fuse sides

As can be seen above, the nyrod will prevent damage to the fuse or to the steel wire used for the rudder system. The rudder will have a great deal of through and the blue rod will see a lot of movement. The nyrod will be lubricated with WD-40 from time to time.

Next I made the skins for the remaining fuse parts. I wait to do this to avoid damage from being handled. the skins are edge glued just as with the wing and tail.

After the glue dried, I sanded the sheets and applied gorilla glue to the inside. The sheets were then glued up for the belly pan and for the turtle deck. These were allowed to dry for 12 hours to ensure they were stable for the next step.

The belly pan was then trimmed and a 1 inch strip of 1/8 balsa was glued on the bottom edge to mate up with the plane. The belly pan ends at the back of the motor box and it extends to a few inches short of the tail wheel bracket plate. I dry fit the pan and then made a tail wheel plate and mounted the tail wheel bracket to the plate.

Once the plate was in place the belly pan was glued to the bottom rail with white glue. The alignment of the pan is key so great care is taken to line up the edges.

The area from the end of the pan to the rear of the fuse is now built out of sticks to keep it light. I built it up and glued it for shaping at a later date

The area from the back of the motor box to the front of the fuse sides is called the cheek. The cheeks are foam and are now sanded to a good fit and the skin was glued up.

Once the skinned were dry, I started with the belly pan and prepped it for gluing to the bottom of the fuse frame. The 1/8 strip is shown below and it helps the belly pan stick to the frame.

Once it was fitted to the fuse, I taped and glued it as shown below

Also above you can see that the tail wheel plate was glued in place and I then used light balsa to build the area from the foam belly pan to the end of the fuse. This is done with attention to weight and to leave room for the tail wheel assembly to be bolted in place. Once it is shaped and sanded to a smooth finish it is ready to cover.

The fuse is now rolled to upright and the wiring from the elevator servos to the receiver is put in place. Since the elevators are removable, there must be plugs at the aft end of the fuse and I make long extensions with heavy wire to prevent any problems in the future. I placed the wires in a tube as shown below.

The tube was then glued ito position in the fuse as this will be hard later on. It is glued using tabs and the wire can be positioned later.

The view below shows the tube in position and the wire pulled to the forward position.

In the shot above you can see the position of the rudder fin and the stab. I check this to be sure the turtle deck is hitting the correct position as this is a pain to correct later. The turtle deck was then fitted to the frame by making small adjustments to the top rail for a good fit. Because the turtle deck is skinned foam and the center of the foam block has been removed, the structure will tend to spring wider than the fuse. Since there is just 1/16 of skinning material, I am careful to get good alignment before I glue it onto the fuse. The best way to get the alignment right is to lightly glue on blocks so that they protrude above the fuse top rail. As shown below, the blocks are put on both sides and are used to control the turtle deck position.

Once everything was fitting, I glued on the turtle deck with white glue and used tape to hold it down to the upper rail.

The top hatch is trial fitted in the shot below, the construction of the hatches will begin very soon.

The turtle deck was then sanded and shaped and I turned my attention to the front of the plane. The cheek blocks went on and were then shaped and sanded to complete the shape of the intersection of the fuse and the bottom of the cowl.

The construction of the cowl began with the lower brackets that are ply. I mounted the black bracket that will mount to the side of the motor box and added a guide block for the wrench that will be used to remove the 6-32 bolt that will hold the cowl on the plane.

Once this was all set up, I positioned the lower cowl and marked the vertical position of the lower support bracket. The brackets were then mounted on the motor box and the lower cowl was dry fit to the plane.

The upper cowl was then dry fit to make the first check on the upper cowl and the upper deck hatch. While it was not perfect, it was close and so the process could continue.

With the lower bracket in place, the motor box bottom was cut out for the canisters and mounted in place. The panel was then reinforced and the canisters installed for the final time. The entire engine setup was completed before any further work was done on the cowl. Once the cowl is glued to the lower bracket, we will be unable to adjust the position.

I did the final checks on the lower cowl and glued it to the lower brackets. The lower cowl then got the reinforcements for the upper to lower joint. I cut and glued on strips of 1/4" ply that will receive the blind nuts. The ignition module was also mounted to ensure it would not interfere with the upper half of the cowl.

I then reinstalled the lower and began installing the upper cowl by screwing the brackets on the upper cowl support. The support was then bolted to the motor box in a position that would contact the inside of the upper cowl.

In the shot above you can see the upper support as well as 2 of the holes for the button head screws that will hold the upper to the lower.

Once the position was confirmed by checking the spinner alignment and the position of the upper hatch, the upper cowl was bolted to the lower and glued to the support shown above.

The bolts were then installed in the side of the cowl and the blind nuts were set in the ply liner. The position of the cowl is now determined and after it set up, I disassembled the cowl parts and reinforced all the glue joints.

The completion of the cowl allows the construction of the upper hatch and canopy area. The cowl was then sanded and Bondo used on any places that needed it. After quite a bit of sanding, the cowl was primed to see what the finish was. The landing gear and wheel plants were all processed the same way and the primer was sanded with 400 paper to see it they were ready for paint. They were not ----- more sanding and priming were needed.

We decided to make the front hatch separate from the canopy in the hopes that the front hatch would seldom need to be removed. I will mount the receiver board so that all plugs can be operated with only the canopy removed. The construction began with the top hatch and the gluing of a 1/4" balsa face on the front of the foam hatch. The rails were then glued on the bottom of the hatch and allowed to dry.

The rudder fin was next to be added to the fuse. It was dry fit and aligned to the fuse and then glued in place with epoxy.

Next the rudder faring was cut and installed. The block had already been skinned with 1/16" balsa and the block was cut to allow it to fit over the fin and down to the fin deck on the top of the fuse. Once the dry fit was OK the block was glued in with white glue and allowed to dry.

The block was trimmed and the fillet was cut and filled in preparation for covering. The leading edge if the fin was shaped and aligned with the leading edge of the rudder. Final sanding brought the back of the fuse to condition to be covered.

With the cowl in place, the front upper hatch was fitted to the cowl. Below you see the front view showing the dowels and the plates that were glued to the front wall of the fuse. The plates were made and the hatch put in position before the plates were glued on the front wall. This makes finding the proper position easy and the spacing of the plates simple to do. Once the plates were glued on, I secured them with servo screws

The rear wall of the front hatch needed to be mounted down and I wanted to do it without making an additional hole in the side of the plane. I began by making a former of 1/4" ply that would be in position below the bottom of the hatch so that it could be bolted to the fuse. The ply part of the former would also hold pegs from the canopy section yet to be built. Below, you can see this combination balsa and ply former being glued to the foam rear of the hatch.

Once the former was dry it was trimmed and sanded to shape. I then constructed the structure that would fit in the fuse and allow the hatch to be bolted inside the fuse. Once this was done the hatch was secure and could then be shaped to match the fuse. the shot below shows the structure in the fuse with the blind nut to be sure this will last a long time.

The hatch was installed by pushing the pins in the lead end and then bolting the former to the structure in the fuse.

In the shot above you can see the bolt that is holding the hatch in place and the 1/4" front former that begins the construction of the canopy hatch.

Next I began construction of the canopy frame. I started with hard points for the side of the fuse that were made from 5/8" dowel material and drilled and glued into the fuse. Then I made ears that were bolted to the fuse and stood higher than the frame.

The ears were then glued to the back former and to some hard side rails. The side rails were also doweled to be sure they would not fail over many years of use and through many of Roger's preflight examinations.

Once The ears were in place, I built the frame that will hold the canopy and constructed the cockpit area from balsa. The open center section will be a trap door for the removal of the pilot and the general cleaning of the cockpit.

The design was to have pegs in the front wall and only two bolts holding the canopy. Once the frame was constructed, the shape of the fore ward wall prevented the pegs from going in place. After due time working on the idea I decided to change to 4 bolts holding the canopy hatch in place and the change was made by making 2 more hard points and installing them in the sides of the fuse at the front of the hatch

With the hard points in place, I made 2 more tabs for the hatch and glued and pegged them in place.

I put the hatch in position and drilled the tabs and installed blind nuts in the tabs as before. the hatch was then secured in place and the outer surfaces were sanded back so that they were 1/32 lower than the surrounding surfaces. Once the canopy is in place it will be flush with the rest of the fuse.

The next step was to build the trap door and be sure it was aligned properly. The shot below shows the trap door and the reinforcement so that I can later mount the pilot through the hard wood supports.

Once the cockpit was done, I fitted the dash panel to the dash and trimmed to fit properly. It will have the exposed edges covered by the painted surface ont he canopy.

The next step on the canopy was to tape off off the edged and paint the area with splatter paint.

Once the paint was dry the cockpit got the dash panel. It was glued in place with 4 servo screws as additional insurance it would not vibrate off in time.

The cockpit was then fitted to the fuse for the final time. The edges were recessed to allow for the thickness of the canopy and the hatch was bolted in place with wax paper to ensure we could get it apart later. The canopy was then glued to the frame and great care was taken to make good contact with the frame.

The shot above shows the setup of the canopy with blocks to be sure there was contact with the frame.

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The wheel pants also need to be done so that they can be put in paint. The work starts with the holes in the pants that will allow it to go over the shafts. The wheel shafts were cut to the proper length and the pants were lined with two ply blocks.

The blocks allow the shaft to pass through the inside one and the shaft ends in the outside block. They were glued in as shown above to be sure the alignment is as it should be. Below is another shot of the construction inside the pants.

The shot above shows the outside block and it was epoxied in place. The inside block is longer so that the bolts can be positioned to pass through the aluminum and hold the pants at the proper angle. The gear was then drilled for the positioning screws and the entire system was assembled on the plane and the plane was on its feed on a flat surface. The pants were aligned and the holes drilled through the gear and into the pants and the blocks.

As you can see above, the pants are on and the bolts are in place on the inside of the gear. next the pants were removed and sanded to remove any imperfections before priming.

There are 7 parts that will be painted ( 2 cowl parts - 2 wheel pants - landing gear - top hatch was covered with solartex - and the canopy will need paint around the edges). These parts were prepared for paint by priming and filling pin holes and priming and sanding and priming and inspecting and red lead and sanding and ........ you get the idea. The process takes several full days to get the surfaces right. The paint is PPG automotive paint that is base coat and clear coat. This gives a fine finish and one that will last through most any abuse you can give it. This is the top of the paint quality scale and I am proud to have it on the plane.

The parts were sent to paint and I will mask for the colors after the white base is on the parts.

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INSTALLATION OF THE EQUIPMENT

The first step was to prep the big rudder servo for the plane. This is a fine servo with only one bad habit. In the summer they will tend to overheat and reduce power. We have found that with some ventilation, this problem will be alleviated. Below is the photo of the servo as it arrived.

It is a big powerful servo and it will be the best thing for the rudder. The shot below shows the vent holes.

Once the servo was processed, I made a mounting board out of carbon fiber and 1/8" ply. I made a package of epoxy and wood and c/f to form a very strong board that could take the 3000 oz in of force the servo can apply to the mount. I constructed the air wild arm that was adjusted to have no offset and a 4" distance between the pull-pull attachments. The entire truss was assembled and lock tite was put on each bolt to be sure it would not come loose later.

I then constructed a mount for the plane that will support the board and then glued the mount and the board into the plane being sure to center the assembly.

Once the servo is powered up I will get a better idea about further reinforcement that might be needed to handle 3,000 oz in of force on the plane. After the rudder is secured on the plane, I will set up the pull-pull system.

Next the wings were covered and needed the servos in order to continue with the wing construction. I do not use extensions in the wings as they can unplug in flight and each plug represents a voltage loss. I make up the wires by soldering heavy wire and using shrink tubing to harden the joints. All 4 aileron servos were wired and mounted in the wings.

The same process was used to mount the two elevator servos in the stabs and run the wires.

Above you can see the smart fly board is located so that the plugs will be easy to set in the board and so that the board can be seen with only the canopy off of the plane. This location will not get in the way of hooking up the wings and will make it easy to check the power into the board.

Below is a shot of the nose area with the wiring and hardware mounted in final position.

The shot below shows the installation of the switches in the front section of the plane. The switches are backed with 1/8" ply to be sure they will stay in position for many years.

There are 2 main switches on the left side of the fuse and one ignition switch on the right side. The battery systems were hard wired from the switch locations to the fly board without any connectors to give problems later. The board was powered up and the receiver was bound to a spektrum transmitter for bench testing. The big rudder servo was powered up with some lipo batteries and the entire system came alive with no problems at all.

The rudder control horn was centered and locktite was used to secure the servo screws. The battery will come out of the plane for charging and is therefore put in beside the servo using velcro. The throttle servo was wired without extensions and it too operated without any problems.

The plug that will operate the battery for the rudder servo was fitted to the plane and this was the last hole to be cut prior to covering the fuse.

The covering complete, it was time to set up the equipment. Below is a shot of the central compartment with the receiver on and the wires run to the active parts of the plane. The rudder servo is hooked up to the rudder and working

The rudder is fast and turns to the full rated throw designed by Carden.

The elevators were hinged and aligned to give the prescribed throw

The switches and the fuel fill were set up as shown below. There are two switches on the right side and the ignition indicator light and they were all put in place.

Since these planes tend to be tail heavy, the batteries were mounted on the motor box top and then could be adjusted once the CG is checked. The wires were run and the electronics were complete for the first try at the check lists.

Elevators were set up with linkage and then mounted on the plane. The clearance between the rudder and the elevators was checked and adjusted so there was not interference. The tail wheel was added and the tiller arm was attached to the under side of the rudder. This completed the setup of the tail section

The wings were hinged and the linkage constructed. The servo programmer was used to ensure the servos were matched and that the throw on the ailerons was enough for Roger.

The engine test was next and we put the wings on the plane and removed the cowl so we could see the motor and make changes. The test was a success and the big mill came to life and ran very well with enough power to convince us al it will be a hovering fool. Now I would like to tell you that it started up on the first try but I can not. We had some issues to resolve and then we began an epic flipping session and had some trouble getting it to pull fuel from the tank. There was a little carb repairing going on.....

And then there was some wiring checking, some plug inspecting, some gas shooting in the plug holes, a small amount of wondering if it should be returned to wherever it came....

Above you can see proof that there was some requesting of intervention from a higher power.

At last there was the team carb repair competition which Ed and Roger won easily. I was heading to the Jack Daniel's when Ed gave it the ole trusty " lets put it all back together and choke it a lot to be SURE it has gas and see what happens".

We did that and turned the flipping over to Roger who said some things under his breath that sounded like golf words to me. The motor knew when it was about to be unbolted and sent to a land far away so it decided enough fun had been enjoyed and started and ran just fine.

As usual, there are adjustments that I will make to the throttle and the gas systems, but it was a big success and we can now go on to the final assembly and the transportation to its new home.

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Assembly of the plane

The first meaningful assembly consisted of the wings and stabs. The wings have the incidence set and all the anti-rotation pins and bolts in final position. The wings need final shaping, addition of the control horns and sanding and they are ready for covering. The stab roots are on and the elevators are hinged. The stab incidence will be set soon and after the stab tube bolts are put in and the control horns added, they will be ready for covering

The surfaces are far ahead of the fuse construction and I find that to be the best way to get the precise mounting of all the surfaces prior to closing up the fuse.

the structure of the fuse is built and the turtle deck and belly pan are not structural members. I will complete the surfaces and get the pull-pull system for the rudder before completing the fuse.

And so the first assembly was a success and all the surfaces checked out as straight and the wing incidences were less than a tenth of a degree from identical.

Below is the second assembly test with the wings done and the fuse building complete. The front deck, the cowl and the canopy area will all be painted to be sure the color match properly

In the shot above the canopy is complete except for the pilot and the paint to cover the edges. The front deck and cowl are primed and ready for paint. The landing gear and wheel pants were primed and all 7 parts were sent to paint.

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FINAL ASSEMBLY

The tail section was done first and all mechanical issues were addressed. The tail section then got some graphics along with the turtle deck and the fuse sides.

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Next the wings got some graphics as seen below

Once the graphics were on, I began assembly of the front end in preparation for the engine test. This is done without the cowl on the plane as that allows me to check out the engine and be sure we do not have a dead stick on the first flight. The prop and spinner were drilled and mounted on the plane.

Assembly continues with the painted parts. Cowl was fitted on and stripes will be applied. Upper hatch and canopy were fitted and bolted in. The pilot was put it place and it looks more like Eddy than it does Roger --- Why is that????

The Throttle servo decided it would not be on the first flight so we will change it and run the engine test before the front end is sealed up and a quart of locktite is applied.

The engine test was a success and one of the few problems we saw was that the throttle linkage had some play in it. I decided to eliminate the play and that meant removing the carb, the header on one side, all the motor bolts and the motor box top. After the dismantling was done, the carb was off of the plane and the throttle arm was found to be cracked and not ok to use.

I made a doubler for the arm and fitted it to the assembly as shown below.

The arm was then reassembled to the carb and the carb mounted on the engine. The ball joint was then hooked to new linkage for the throttle and adjusted so that it would reach the servo. The hole in the firewall was re cut to let the link move freely through the entire span of the movement.

Once this was done, the entire front end was reassembled and the servo was fired up to be sure it worked as planned. This completed the change to the throttle and the response to the stick should be as we wanted.

Next I began to set the cowl and made adjustments as I went. the equipment is now mounted down so there were clearance issues that took time to clear up. The assembly was completed and the center of gravity check explained below was run on the plane. Some shots are shown below as this is the first time the plane has been completely assembled in a ready to fly configuration.

Mighty nice looking and these things can really fly with the best pilots in the world. The process of setting the CG caused the plane to be assembled and re-assembled a few times and once the settings were done, I did the final assembly.

Final assembly includes

• Checking alignment of all parts
• All bolts and screws have locktite and are set at the correct tightness
• inspection to confirm all bolts are in place (attention to servo screws and linkage)
• Cleaning the airplane outside and inside to get free of the building dust and dirt
• Confirmation that all the pins, bolts, plugs work to assemble the plane at the field
• Every electrical connection is checked and keepers on each one
• Prop bolts set at the proper tightness
• Inspection of the fuel system for proper keepers and attachments
• Charge all batteries on the plane

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