Workshop

11/3/10

The final steps were all completed and the plane is ready for Marty to come and do the rest of the work. I assembled the plane with locktite and did all the little things that still reamained in order to get it in the air.

 

11/2/10

The final steps in the build are all that remain and it will be done very soon. This day was spent on small things with a few large steps mixed in for good measure.

FINISHED WEIGHT -- The plane will be flown for 3D so wing loading is a prime thing . With the DA 170 for power it will be a beast in the vertical lines and hover with little effort. Others have been able to build this plane and fly it very happily at 41 or 42 pounds and I am one of those people having flown one at the 42 pound mark that was a joy to behold. I have read reports of people finishing well under 40 pounds and they seem to love the plane.

With all the parts in hand , I weighed them and totaled the plane up ready to fly with no gas and it is 37 pounds and 13.1 ounces. This includes the ballast added to the nose for CG reasons. As Marty flies this plane, he will likely adjust that ballast to get it as he wants. The weight will change and I think it will be reduced some.

CENTER OF GRAVETY --- The entire build has been concerned with the CG of the plane. The big motor is pretty light and so we have been carefull to keep the tail as light as possible. I set the batteries forward and assembled the plane for the first try at the CG.

Dennis at Carden would set the CG at 6 3/4 " back from the leading edge and the range is up to 7.5". The first measurement was at 7 3/4 back and that was a good result. I added ballast to the motor box and moved the CG to 6 3/4" as that is were reports say the 3D guys like the plane best. The ballast is in shot form so it will not be hard to adjust the CG

MOTOR TEST -- Next I removed the prop, spinner and cowl and then bolted the prop back to the motor. I made all the checks and put the wings on the plane for the motor test. I added a receiver of mine so I could control the throttle and gassed it up. The big DA came right to life and ran well on the Lawnboy and gas mixture. It ran for 16 minutes at various speeds and it idled at 2000 rpm on the first try. The head temperatures were 114 degrees and the mufflers were running at 101. I cooled the motor and ran it an additional 14 minutes to compete the first tank of gas. This is a strong motor that ran very well

The second tank was run 2 hours later and it ran for a total of 32 minutes with one rest period in the middle. The heating and cooling has been shown to be important in the run in of a new motor. I am very happy with the motor so far.

 

I then brought it back into the shop and went over everything on the plane to check for vibration damage. With this done, the final assembly is the next step.

 

11/1/10

The painted parts were delivered today and they look sensational. I set about putting them on the plane beginning with the wheel pants and the lower cowl

As you can see above, the wheel pants are very nice and the lower cowl alignment is very impressive. The paint shop was very slow on the plane but the work is high quality.

Next I put the cowl top in place and the top hatch was fitted . This is where the plane comes together and the work done begins to be worth it.

The first assembly was done and all parts bolted up as planned and all is well with the big Edge from the good folks at Carden.

Many small things remain to be done, but we are close to the first flight now.

10/30/10

The session was spent on the remaining little things that needed to be done. I sealed the gaps in the ailerons and elevators. The surfaces were checked and the monokote shrunk a second time. This is normal for monokote and the appearance improved.

The prop and spinner were mounted and checked for balance. We are close to running the engine for the first time.

I assembled the binder that will go with the plane. It will have all the info on the plane and the cost of the project.

The graphics package arrived today and it looks very good. We will put all of the graphics on the plane when Marty arrives.

 

10/29/10

The painted parts were not done today ( friday) as promised but will be done on Monday. I did see the parts that still need clear coat and they look really nice. This will be a good looking plane for sure.

 

I moved along with the other tasks that need to be done. First was the gluing in of lots and lots of hinges. The elevators had hinges in them and I glued in the rudder hinges and the ones on the ailerons.

I then glued al the movable surfaces to the main structure and checked everything for alignment and tight fit.

I then set all of the control links on the surfaces. I used locktite on all the joints and made a rough setting of the length of the control rods. All the arms will be set up when Marty arrives as he will have the transmitter.

 

The brown truck also brought a monster prop, so I drilled it and made preparations to put it on the plane.

 

 

10/27/10

The painted parts were returned to me in the white condition. I striped off the cowl and it was returned to the paint shop for the orange and black colors.

I began the hinging operation for the surfaces. There are many ways to do the hinges and I am sure many of them work just fine. My method is:

1) rough up the barrel of the hinges with 50 grit sandpaper so that the glue will hold better.

2) lube the hinge with Vaseline to be sure the glue will not freeze the hinge

3) Use a syringe to shoot gorilla glue in the hinge holes of the surfaces

4) insert the hinge and spin it a few times to get even coverage

5) orient the hinge so that it will move in the proper direction

6) inspect the hinges every 15 minutes to remove any glue that foams up from the hole

I put the hinges in the elevators and the glue set up well. I checked the hinges and all was well

 

10/24 and 25/10

The equipment is now ready to be installed while I wait on the paint shop to return the cowl and parts.

The servos are all in now and the receiver was wired and strapped in place. The wires were cabalized and tied down to prevent vibration damage.

The receiver has for small receivers that had to be placed around on the plane. They were mounted with two sided tape and pull ties were added to ensure they will keep their orientation.

 

 

10/22/10

The covering continued and was complete. With all the covering on the plane, I converted the shop and cleaned up all the equipment needed to cover. For me, covering creates the worst mess of all the operations. I set the plane together just to check it out and even without the painted parts, it looks good.

I then measured all the linkages and ordered the links. I do not usually use titanium links, but in this case I did because of the need to adjust them later. I do not have the ability to fire up the servos until I get Mariy's transmitter. This will require setting the arms and links at a later date.

The switches and gas filler were next to go on the plane and 2 charge ports will allow charging of all three batteries without taking the plane apart.

 

10/21/10

The covering continued and the rudder fin, rudder and bottom of the fuse were al done.

The motor box had openings that needed to be covered in order to seal the front of the plane against air pressure in flight.

The landing gear and tail wheel assembly were mounted with locktite and the fuse was put back on its feet.

The rudder required some additional filling to develop the surface, so I began mounting the stabs and running the wiring up to the equipment compartment.

I ran all the wires to the aft section of the plane and secured the servos in the openings.

10/20/10

With the painted parts at the paint shop, I turned my attention to the covering on the rest of the plane. I sanded and checked the surface of the fuse and cleaned the shop as before. After the shop and the fuse were clean and dust free, I started covering with the turtle deck. It was done in orange and the trick to the turtle deck is to use more covering than you will need in order to take advantage of the shrinking properties of the covering. I used enough covering to reach to the bottom of the fuse and then shrank the covering to be free of wrinkles above the datum line. I then sealed the cut lines and cut the covering off to the final joint. This technique puts the wrinkles and distortion in the part of the covering that is cut off.

Next I added the white and the curve up to the rudder.

The black went on next and it looked pretty good

The rudder fin was the final part of the session and the rudder and belly were yet to do

 

10/19/10

I am pretty well done with the priming of the painted parts except for the wheel pants. So it was time to finish the wheel pants and the landing gear. I ground flat spots on the shafts for the wheel collars as this is the only way I know to be sure they will not dome off later on.

After the wheels were on and set up, I cut a slot in the inside of the pants and fitted them over the wheels. The two mounting holes were drilled in the landing gear as shown below. Once the pants were lined up and parallel with the ground, I drilled the holes through the pants.

Below, you can see the pants after priming and the two mounting holes have been fitted with blind nuts in the ply blocks glued to the inside of the fiberglass. With the 2 screws in place and the axle inserted in the outside block, this is a good structure.

I then assembled the SWB control horn with ply and bolts. I also set ball joints on the outside contact points. This assembly was then set in the rudder.

 

Next I disassembled the motor mounts and the mufflers and reassembled with locktite on all the bolts and high temp silicone on the muffler joints. Everything was tightened to final settings and the choke arm was fitted with a ball joint and an extender to make the linkage work through the cowl.

 

10/18/10

I began the session with sanding and inspection of the painted parts. I then primed all of them again and set them aside to dry.

Many small things were then done to get ready to cover the fuse and complete the preps for sending the parts to paint. The servo holes were cut for the rudder servos and adjustments made in the firewall to allow the mufflers to fit properly.

The landing gear was removed from the plane and the axils were installed in the gear. The wheel pants were then sanded and cut out to fit on the landing gear. I glued in the second block inside the pants. This block is on the outer end of the axles and it supports the outside of the wheel pant. Without this second block, the pants will not last and they will vibrate in flight.

The rudder was next and I put lite ply on the top and bottom. This is a little weight but it is to resist the bumps that the rudder is sure to get.

I measured the position of the servos in the fuse and projected a line for the linkage to lead to the control horn. I used an aluminum arm assembly by SWB and I built a package of 1/4 ply between the arms and 1/8 ply on each side. This was all glued and bolted together and the package was allowed to dry.

The rudder was cut on the band saw and the assembly was fitted into the slot so that the control points were even with the hinge line and square to the center line. When it was right, it was glued in position and the leading edge was filled in with a block of light balsa. This completed the rudder horn assembly.

 

 

 

10/17/10

The entire session was spent sanding and priming the painted parts

The upper deck was sanded and primed to see how close the surface was. The prime revealed other filling that needed to be done.

 

10/16/10

The canopy glue was dry so I removed all the tape and pins and inspected the area. Everything looked good so I roughed up the area and mixed some epoxy with lots of microbaloons and top coated the joint of the canopy and the balsa. Once that was dry I sanded the joint and got it flat but not very smooth.

I then did a final check assemble and confirmed all the joints were close to final position. Once the glass operation is done on the hatch, it will be hard to alter the shape.

I then got out the finishing resin and the 1/2 oz cloth and glassed the deck up to the canopy joint. This required some time to be completely dry. Once dry, I coated it with filler that will dry overnight and then be sanded mostly away.

I installed the throttle servo and hooked up the linkage to the motor. I soldered a wire extension on the servo to reach the receiver.

 

The gas system was next to be completed. I ran the lines to the motor the filler and the overboard. The overboard has a fitting on it to prevent leaks when not in flight. This is a fine idea as long as it is not left on while you are trying to run the motor as it will cause some strange behavior.

I mounted the ignition switch and extended the wires from the battery and the ignition module. This plane will have only the ignition switch on the side of the plane to turn off the motor.

 

 

10/15/10

It was time to address the canopy and the upper hatch assembly. This continues to be the most challenging part of the entire build because it requires so many steps and each one must be on the mark to have it come out well. The goal is to have the entire assembly painted and not be able to see the joint between the balsa top deck and the canopy material.

This session required the fitting of the canopy to the frame. I have made a gluing strip on all sides of the canopy and the trimming and fitting required lots of small changes and trial fitting to the plane. Once I was close, I bolted the upper hatch to the plane with wax paper in the joints and made sure it was in final position.

I then did the final fitting and glued the canopy to the frame with canopy glue. This requires at least 12 hours to set up so I put the fuse aside.

 

The servos will need extensions and I try not to have any plugs in the wiring that can be avoided. I make soldered extensions of the wire on the 4 aileron servos

I set the servos and re measured the linkage lengths to be sure they were correct

I then set the elevator servos and checked that linkage as well.

10/14/10

It was time to return to the painted parts. The body shop will do the painting but the prep and priming has to be done first. I began the session with the cockpit. I made the final adjustments to the hatch so that the canopy will fit properly and then masked off the area. The cockpit was painted with gray splatter paint.

The dash panel was laminated to the dash and then glued to the front of the cockpit. This part is also the mounting surface for the canopy. I added the pilot to the floor of the cockpit. I have found success bolting the pilot in place so that it can be removed later without a hassle. This assembly was set aside to dry.

The two cowl halves were sanded a second time and the filler reduced to the level of the surface. These parts were then primed with white sandable primer and allowed to dry.

The landing gear skirts were sanded and primed and set aside.

The wheel pants had one block glued in place, and the surface was sanded and the joints were filled with red lead.

While the parts were drying I did the final fitting of the top of the equipment compartment. This is the plate made earlier and I cut out the sides to allow the ears of the top hatch to pass through. I fit the plate and tested with the top hatch. Once satisfied with the fit, I glued it in place in the fuse.

This improves the access to the equipment and did not cost any weight over the braces that are usually there. This is a really nice mod that will improve the usability of the plane and increase the strength.

Next I installed the fuel filler in ply so that it will last.

The receiver was velcroed to a plate and installed on the fuse supports.

10/13/10

With the wings neatly in the wing bags for now, the covering moved to the stabs and elevators. I drew a paper pattern and cut it out into color sections just like the wing was done.

I checked the fit and hinge lines and began the covering with the checker on the bottom of the stabs.

Once the bottom was done and checked out, I used the cut patterns to cover the upper side of the elevators and stabs. They came out very well as you can see below

 

Just for entertainment and to get a break from covering, I did a set together of the plane. It is big enough that it is hard to shoot a photo indoors.

10/12/10

Covering any plane takes time to do correctly and I find that speed is the problem for many people that have trouble getting the covering to look the way they want it to. Each of these wings will take me over 8 hours to do with all the trim and hinge cut outs.

I covered the aileron from the first wing and then started on the second wing. After covering the tops of the wings and ailerons, then I sealed the hinge openings with a soldering iron and fitted the whole thing together to be sure the ailerons worked the way we want.

 

10/11/10

The covering continued as I finished the bottom of the first wing and aileron.

I then placed the control horn and secured it in position. The top surface was then filled to cover the hole in the hard point and allowed to dry.

The second wing was covered on the bottom and the control horn was set up as before.

I then made a pattern for the top of the wing. I cut it into three parts as shown below

I test fit the first section to the wing to be sure things were set up right.

I then covered the wing with all three colors as shown below.

10/09/10

I started the session by cleaning the shop and final sanding the wings and stabs. I cleaned the shop a second time and used air pressure to blow off all the parts to be covered. I then left the shop for 30 min for the dust to settle. I cleaned the parts with alcohol three times and then used a tack cloth to remove the last of the dust. I then entered the shop and vacuumed the surfaces to get them free of dust. I covered the bench with a clean towel and warmed up the irons and heat gun.

There are as many ways to cover as there are people doing the covering. I will therefore not go into the things that work for me except to say that I am entertained by the constant banter about how there is something wrong with monokote or untrakote or 21st century covering. My experience is that the covering has never been the problem, but that I could trace each problem to things I did or did not do in the process of covering. I do this all the time and have applied hundreds of rolls of covering and I have never had a bad roll of covering from any of the makers.

I began with the bottom of the first wing and applied the black and white in a large checker pattern as shown below. If there is a universal problem with covering, it is cleanliness of the surface and of the roll of covering. I sand to 600 grit and then clean it a lot. I use the woodpecker on all surfaces and then cover

The painted parts include

Cowl upper and lower -- three colors

landing gear -- some colors to be decided

Wheel pants -- some colors to be decided

gear skirts - orange

top hatch and canopy assembly -- one color

various bolts and parts

 

All of these parts need to prepared and primed for the paint operation. I began with the cowl by washing it to get the mold release off of it and then sanding to get the shine off of the surface. I then inspected it for pin holes and filled them with spot putty and set it aside to dry.

 

 

 

10/06/10

The cowl was removed from the fuse and cleaned up from the glue operation of yesterday. I bolted the cowl back on the plane and placed a line of tape on the cowl near the intersection with the balsa. I then sanded the balsa to fit to the cowl. The tape protects the fiberglass and tells you when you are close to the right point. I sanded the upper hatch to match the shape of the cowl .

Once the cowl was lined up, I decided to do the first complete assembly to see how it wanted to fit together. There are always items that need to be adjusted when you try to put this big bird together the first time.

Above you see the plane with all the surfaces in place. This looks a lot closer to done than it really is. Everything fit together pretty well and I saw no major items that need to be improved. Lots of little things still need to be done before the covering can begin.

The canopy and the cockpit is the largest task remaining in the build and I am waiting for confirmation from Marty about the color and finish

I removed the cowl and sanded it and filled the pin holes in preparation for priming it

10/05/10

It was time to address the cowl and the process began with mounting the motor on the SWB mounting plate. It was bolted with 1/4 - 20 bolts and the position was calculated earlier to bet the spinner on center line. The 2.5 degrees right thrust was dialed in by the mounting plate.

The lower cowl had the hard points glued up yesterday so I taped the two halves together and drilled the holes for the button head bolts to hold the 2 halves together. I put blind nuts in the hard points and bolted the assembly together

Next I positioned the upper cowl plate so that it was just short of matching the upper deck surface. After the cowl is done, I will sand the balsa surface to match the cowl. The upper ring was bolted to the fuse using blind nuts as shown below

On the inside of the fuse, the 6-32 bolt will have a lot of stress on it and it will be removed for service quite a bit. A trick is to use another blind nut as a permanent washer. I drilled the blind nut out with a clearance drill for the bolt and set the blind nut on the inside of the fuse as shown below.

The cowl was then fit up to the bulkhead and the upper alignment looked pretty good. The upper ring was sanded and shimmed to make the surface of the cowl line up to the upper hatch. This requires many repetitions of assembling the cowl and checking and then making an adjustment and rechecking.

The lower cowl rings were then positioned with a pin in the upper end and a bolt in the lower part. After the ring was in place, the same process was used to fit the ring to the cowl and to the side of the fuse. This takes lots of time and is the key to having the joints match. This is an appearance issue that should not be short cut.

Once the fit was satisfactory, I put wax paper behind the rings and applied hysol glue to the rings. This is the glue to use for bonding fiberglass to wood as epoxy just is not good enough to last with the vibration of the engine.

The cowl was then slid on the rings and checked for proper position. The glue takes 8 hours to dry so there is time to get it right. The sides and top had to match the fuse and the spinner had to line up to the front of the cowl. This is tedious and produces a nice looking cowling.

10/04/10

I began the day by planking the lower area of the fuse. I put the hole in the canister compartment for future use. I will simply cover over the area for now

I then completed the cockpit floor and made the instrument panel backing. The area will get painted and then the pilot will be mounted to the floor.you can see the canopy area and the intersection of the canopy and the front deck.

below is a shot of the joint and you can see that I made the instrument back panel slightly short of the surface of the top deck. This will allow the canopy to ge glued to the front panel and then blended to the balsa deck. After the canopy is glued in place, I will glass the top deck and then blend the glass into the canopy material.

next I glued the mounting blocks on the lower cowl. These will hold the blind nuts for the bolts to hold the upper to the lower cowl. This is done with hysol glue and it must dry overnight.

 

10/03/10

I began the day with a second sanding and inspection of the fuse. There are always spots that need work and I made improvements in several places.

I glued the front plates on the fuse. This is the former that will support the cowl so it needs to be in just the right place.

I then began the upper hatch by gluing blocks of 3/8 ply in position where the mounting ears will be located.

Next, I made the ears with blind nuts installed and I drilled the blocks with a clearance bit for the 8-32 bolts that will hold the hatch down.

The ears were then bolted to the inside of the fuse and the upper rails were placed in position on top of the upper truss. The ears were then glued to the upper rail

I then pinned the ears to the rail as a failure here would put the plane in jeopardy. The pinning will add a lot to the strength of the joints.

I added strength to the system with cross braces. When the structure looked good, I glued the front deck on the hatch frame and allowed the assembly to dry.

Once dry, I trimmed and rough shaped the front hatch to get an idea of where the rest of the structure ought to be installed.

Below, you see I took time to fit the parts together and see how to best assemble the cockpit without wasting weight. The pilot will be mounted on the floor and there will be an instrument panel.

The difficulty is the joint between the canopy and the balsa front deck. After inspection and some thought, I think the best outcome would be to cut the canopy material into the balsa deck and then glass the deck and blend it over the joint to make it invisible.

10/02/10

I worked on the inside of the fuse and put in all the gussets and other reinforcements needed. I then cut and fit the front of the turtle deck. The front former was fitted inside the planking and glued in place. This takes longer to do, but the planking covers the edge of the former and gives a much cleaner looking joint.

The covering arrived and lots of time was spent sanding the surface of the wings and stab in preparation for the beginning of the covering operation.

 

10/01/10

I first worked on the belly pan improving the joints and doing the first rough sanding for shape.

I turned the fuse over and began fitting the rudder to the plane.

I ran string through the wire tube so that the wires can be run after the fuse is built and covered.

Once the rudder fit properly, I set it up and beveled the hinge edges.

Once hinged and ready, I lined it up and used epoxy to attach it to the fuse.

We decided that the fuse equipment area should not have the cross supports that are shown in the plans. I constructed a plate that will be higher strength than the balsa supports and is 1.25 oz lighter than the normal system. It is thin ply that has had some time with the drill press and then c/f reinforcement to make it stiff enough for the fuse. It will be fitted and installed after the hatch cover is done.

After the epoxy on the rudder set up, I cut and fit the turtle deck tot he fuse. This requires lots of carefull fitting and lots of coffee and time. The result was a good fit and I installed it on the top of the fuse rails. This is the step that makes it look like a plane and it is exciting to see it begin to come together.

 

9/30/10

Due to glue dry time, this was a session full of odds and ends. I began with the balsa strips on the edges of the belly pans and the turtle deck. This glue up is likely not even necessary to the build, but it ensures a good bond with the fuse when the pans are glued in place. The panels were trimmed and then very soft 1/16" was white glued to the edges of each panel.

The Wing panels were then drawn on white paper and the colors were drawn to see what the wings were to look like. This takes time to do but the result is a cutting pattern for the covering. I decided to hold on the design to await word from the graphics guy on how the checker pattern in silver will be put on the wings.

Next, I opened and set up all the servos with the grommets and the servo arms. This takes time and this is as good a time to do it as any.

Once the glue was dry, I fitted the rear belly pan to the fuse and glued it in place. Tape was used to be sure the alignment was correct. This had to dry as any movement would be a problem.

I cut and fit the front belly pan and prepped it for installation on the plane.

I trimmed and sanded the turtle deck and added the strips on the bottom edge.

I then glued on the front belly pan after it was cut out for the motor box. This will require some sanding and filling to complete. I also glued blocks of very soft balsa around the tail wheel assembly and this will be shaped later on.

 

 

 

9/28/10

The stabs and elevators were completed and sanded to 220. They are now ready for final shape, sand and covering.

Next I checked the four remaining skins for defects and glued them to their respective parts using the same techniques as the wings and stabs. These are the two belly parts, the turtle deck and the front deck. They were each glued up and weights added to complete the skinning of the entire plane.

I constructed the balsa platform for the rudder fin and test fit the rudder to the fuse. The rudder and fine were then beveled and hinged to get ready to attach it to the fuse.

9/27/10

The stabs were mounted to the fuse using the brackets. The first step was to put a ply doubler on the inside of the fuse sides behind the location of the brackets. The bracket was then positioned and the balsa was removed under the location. This will allow the bracket to be bolted securely to the fuse doubler without crushing the balsa and changing the location. Blind nuts were used to secure the bolts

 

The brackets were then attached to the hard points in the stabs. This serves to hold the stabs at the correct incidence and to hold them against the fuse. You can see the hard points in the stab and the attachment of the bracket. Once this was done, the block shown below was removed.

One last attachment is a bolt that is placed into the stab tube and was made from hard points as shown below. The bolt runs through the dowel and into a blind nut which holds the bolt as it passes through a hole in the phenolic tube and the stab tube. This is done because the tube is C/F and will not hold the bolt on its own. The bolt then holds the stab tight against the fuse sides.

Below is the finished stab with the hard point installed. THe next task was to draw the cut lines on the stabs and on the rudder. These were drawn and checked before cutting.

The cutting was done in the shucks and on a band saw just as it was on the wings.

I then glued all the balsa on the leading and trailing edges and on the tips. They were then allowed to dry.

Above you can see the assemblies after trimming and rough shaping. I then drew the lines for the hinging operation and cut the angles in the joint as I did with the ailerons. Below you can see the finished stabs and elevators. Hard points were installed for the control hours just as they were on the ailerons. Just a few more adjustments and some sanding and they will be ready for the covering.

9/26/10

The trimmed stabs and rudder had the leading and trailing edges were then cut and glued in place

After the glue was dry the balsa was rough shaped with a flat gouge and the ends trimmed and sanded.

I then assembled the phenolic tube and the stab tube with the stabs in position. I glued the 1/8" root cap in place and checked the stab for a clean fit to the fuse. I also adjusted the stab tube to eliminate the tramble in the stabs. Tramble is measured from the tip of the stabs to the sing tips and the distance was set to be the same on both sides.

The second direction to be checked is to be flat with the wings. I adjusted the stab tube so that all of these measures were correct.

With everything lined up correctly, I glued in the stab tube. Marty expects to leave the stabs in position at all times even though they are removable. Since they will not be removed by Marty, the lightest and strongest install is to glue the stab tube in the fuse and slide the stabs on over the tube. This complicates the covering a little, but it gives the strongest installation and saves a little weight. With the light DA 170 up front, I am concerned to save weight in the tail so we can avoid a CG problem later on.

With the tube in position, it was time to work on the incidence of the stabs. The incidence should be 0 degrees compared to the wings and the datum line. I set up the fixture on the stab and set the digital level to 0 on the datum line I used for the wings. I then adjusted the incidence to read 0 and glued a small block to the leading edge to position the stabs.

Below is another view of the stab and you can just see the block at the leading edge of the stab against the fuse side. This allowed me to position the stab correctly while I am making the bracket mounts.

While the glue was drying earlier in the day I set up the gas tank mounts and ran the plumbing inside the tank.The tanks sits on some foam pads to avoid foaming the gas and it is securely in position with velcro straps. This system is simple and reliable.

9/25/10

The skins for all the remaining foam parts were then stripped and sanded on both sides. They were inspected and the best side marked to be sure they were facing the correct direction. After several hours the skins were all ready for the next step.

The stabs were next to be done and I glued c/f strips on the counterbalance in much the same way as the aileron tips were reinforced.

The stabs and the rudder were then skinned with weight applied to be sure the parts were straight. The glue was allowed to dry and the parts were removed from the shucks.

The stabs were then trimmed and rough sanded.

The servo bas were cut and the servos were tested in the opening.

Next I filed the space between the phenolic tube and the fuse sides. This was done by forming a dam and using epoxy and mocrobaloons to fill the areas.

The top of the equipment compartment would normally have 3/8 cross members much like the rest of the fuse. I will use a lite ply frame aroung the area to carry the load and not block the area of hte fuse. I began by fitting the sheet in the opening.

9/24/10

I began with the skins for the rest of the plane. I used the same process as with the wings and edge glued all the remaining sheets for the tail surfaces and the fuse parts. This took quite a while to accomplish and it is key that each joint be lined up so that the surface of the finished plane is correct.

Once the skins were all setting up, I began on the stab foams. I marked the halves for top and left and right side. These are symmetrical so it is just important to designate which will be where. I then cut the phenolic tubes and glued some 1/16 balsa to the ends to stop glue intrusion. The tubes and the ply supports were glued in with epoxy and allowed to set up.

Next, I cut the servo pockets and glued in the hard points. I put the lower hard point in contact with the ply support for more strength. I then cut the servo wire tracks in the foam and let the whole thing dry.

Once the glue was dry, I sanded the wood parts flat and sanded the foam surface to be sure it was smooth.

9/23/10

The session began with the glue up of the other wing root. It was allowed to dry and then I removed it from the fuse and trimmed the root caps to match the shape of the wing.

Next, I set the fuse in flight position and slid the wings into position. I used the digital level to set the wings at zero degrees incidence to the datum line ( top of the fuse truss).

Once the wings were set I used CA to place a block under the trailing edge of the wing. This gives a position to the wings and allows the positioning of the interior reinforcement plates.

Next I made the posts that will be the rotation pins and the holding bolts. These are 5/8 dowels that had been drilled in the center for the 1/4 - 20 bolts

Here is the trick to prevent any future problems with the posts. I use a carriage bolt set in the pin and oriented to face to the fuse. The harder you tighten the bolt the more it holds. I then epoxied the bolts inside the pegs.

I marked the location of the pins from the fuse and drilled for the dowels. I then glued the pins into the root being sure to engage the root cap for added strength. This is a tried and true system for planes this size.

After the glue set up I slid the wings back on the tube and let the bolt mark the fuse sides by sliding them on the tube and setting on the blocks I put in earlier. I drilled the fuse sides and slid the wings on to the root with the bolts through the sides.

Next I set the incidence by putting the trailing edge back on the block. I glued the ply reinforcement to the inside of the fuse so that it would go over the bolts. I tightened the nuts on the bolts and let the wings set up. Above is a shot of the final position of one of the bolts. This is a clean but light way to make the wings stay put. I locate the bolts in places that are easy to get to as two bolts that size is overkill as far as holding the wings on the plane and ease of assembly is important to every pilot.

For extra insurance that the lading edge will not move in flight, I added a pin to secure it to the fuse. Above you can see one wing with the retaining system in place. The bolts will have a lock nut run down on it and the socket wrench will make the job very easy to do.

 

The session ended with the wings complete and fitted to the fuse. The next step for the wings will be final sanding and covering.

 

 

 

9/22/10

With the fuse framed it was time to mate the wings to the fuse. This operation happens in two parts and the first is to make the joint to the fuse. The second part is to set the incidence of each wing panel.

I began by extending the width of the root caps. I edge glued additional material to the root cap as shown below

Once the root cap was done I set up the first wing panel by positioning the fuse on its side and putting wax paper between the root cap and the fuse side. as shown below, I then inserted the wing tube and put the wing in position. Gravity and some additional weight forced the wing down on the root cap and the fuse side. I inspected the joint and found it very close to perfect.

I have learned that sanding the root causes more problems that it fixes so I now make the joint by putting shims between the root cap and the foam. In this way, the root cap is flush against the fuse sidle and the wing tube holds the alignment of the joint.

In this case there was one shim of 1/64 balsa under the trailing edge to make the joint work out perfectly. I used white glue so that the joint will be sandable. I let the joint dry for 8 hours to ensure it would be stable.

I also received the motor mount ring from SWB and set it in position on the fire wall. I drew lines to find the center of the firewall and then moved the mount 5/16" to the plane's left. This is to allow for the 2.5 degrees of right thrust that the motor mount will add to the thrust line of the motor. The ring comes with the right thrust machined in and some holes to position it to the firewall. I lined up the ring and used servo screws to hold it in position on the plane.

Once the ring was in position I drilled for the 1/4 - 20 bolts that will hold the motor to the firewall. I then redrilled the back of the firewall and installed blind nuts as shown below.

You can see above that the blind nuts are in and the motor is ready to be mounted. I will wait to mount the motor as it makes the fuse noticeably heavier.

 

9/20/10

I checked the fuse sides and added the stab tube support plates to the 2 sides. I cut holes in the plates for weight.

I reassembled the dir fit parts and it was time to check the tramble of the wing tube. Tramble is the two wing tips being square to the fuse. If there is tramble then one tip is ahead of the other and this complicates flying the plane. I use a string to the end of the tube and then check the other side. The distance from the rear center to the wing tube was the same without adjustment and this confirms that the fuse sides were identical and the fuse is straight over the planes.

The second measure I cared about before assembly of the fuse is the flatness of the wings. I set the level on the cross bar shown below and set the level to 0. I then read the wing tube and it was also 0. This says the tube is correct within .1 degrees and the assembly could continue. At this point there had been no glue applied to the structure, it is just clamped in place.

Below you can see that I had cut some of the lower cross supports ( they are really the upper supports since the fuse was inverted). These are pinned in place to prevent movement.

I began assembly with the formers on the front of the fuse. These connect the fuse sides to the motor box and epoxy was used to glue them in.

I the put in the two other formers from the sides to the motor box. Great care was taken to be sure everything was square and on the lines on the plans.

The rear supports glue to the back of the motor box. There is no good way to clamp these two formers so I used servo screws to be sure they were pulled in tightly to the box. After the glue was dry, I removed the screws.

The lower 3/8 square braces were then glued in place as sown below.

I then put in the upper braces and was careful to be sure the sides remained square to the board.

after checking the wing tube I glued in the phenolic tube with CA and later I reglued with Hysol glue. THis ensures the tube will not move.

I then made the tail wheel bracket and mounted the tail wheel to the plate. I added a block to the under side of the plate and drilled for the rod . This will help the rod survive a hard landing.

Once the glue was set I bolted the landing gear on the fuse and removed it from the building board. I slipped the wings on to get an estimate of the fit to the fuse. The oints look very good and almost no adjustment will be required to have the wings fit up to the fuse.

We are at less than 1.5 weeks and the plane is up on its feet for the first time.

9/18 and 19/10

I began with the truss sides, and sanded them flat. I then laminated enough of the 1/8 skins to cover the sides. This edge lamination was done the same way as the wing panels explained below. Once done, I had the skins and the sides ready to mate.

I had to take care to cut a nice round hole in the skins where the wing tube will pass through and this takes some figuring. The inside ply doubler has the proper hole but since the sides are divergent at this point on the fuse, the hole is 9/16 ahead of the hole in the ply. I laminated the skins to the sides with white glue and allowed it to dry with weight on them to be sure they stayed flat.

I then trimmed the skins and beveled the front to match the f2 angle on the motor box. This made the sides ready for assembly.

I began the motor box with the doublers on the sides of the box

Next I began the construction with the first former and the firewall assembled to one side and set square to the side.

I added the equipment compartment floor and the rear of the box.

I then assembled the remaining side. All these joints were done with Epoxy and great care was taken to be sure the glue had good coverage but did not run out of the joints. As much as 8 ounces of excess glue can be added here, and that would not help make the weight goals.

Next I put in the landing gear and the top of the motor box.

The motor box was completed with the 1/8" pegs in all the reinforced joints. This will increase the strength of the joints and not add weight as the wood is drilled out and then the pin is glued in place.

 

Below you can see the first dry fit of the motor box and the fuse sides. The dry fit went well and some minor adjustments were made. The wing tube was placed in the center of the fuse and the tramble check indicated the fuse sides were in the correct position.

9/17/10

I would normally build the motor box first, but I am waiting for a motor mount and so I began with the truss sides. The trusses are very large (80") and they took every inch of my flat board to lay out. I put the side view down on the board and covered with wax paper followed by an 8' straight edge clamped down to the plans at exactly the bottom edge of the truss. This is key to the straightness of the fuse so a lot of time was taken to make it right

I then located all the materials and laminated the top and bottom longerons so that they would go the entire length of the fuse sides. I pinned the bottom longeron to the board against the straight edge and used thin CA to glue up the middle structure of the first side.

Next, the top longerons went on the structure

It is key that each joint be a dead fit. The CA will not fill gaps and the strength will suffer if the joints are not tight. The use of thin CA is one of the main techniques to make the plane light.

We will use a push - pull system on the rudder so I framed in the rudder servo in the tail of the plane.

This is view of the finished first side with all the braces in place. The second side was done in the same manner.

 

 

9/16/10

I sanded off the hard points in the ailerons and then used a fostner bit to recess the head of the control horn bolt. You can see below that the top side of the aileron is flush and the hard point will accept the 10-32 bolt . After the bolt is in place, I will cover over the hard point and it will be invisible giving a strong control horn for the big servos.

Next I sanded the wings and ailerons to 220 grit and inspected all the surfaces as well as the hinging and throws on the ailerons. After due time the wings were done except for the root cap that will be done as the wings are mated to the fuse. The wings came out very well.

Wing weight after consruction and before final sanding was

Right wing 50.1 oz -- and the Left wing is 50.4 oz

Present weight is

Right wing 47.4 oz -- and the Left wing is 47.6 oz

I was very happy with these weights and they are due to the bagging and the judicious use of glue in the wing skins. We are on track to make the weight targets.

The rest of the session was spent on gathering the materials for the motor box and the fuse truss sides.

 

9/15/10

The session began with the untaping and trimming of the aileron leading edges and the wing trailing edges. This was done with a flat gouge and sandpaper. The entire wing got the first surface check and no flaws were found after the second sanding.

I then drew the center line on the flat surfaces and drew the hinge layout on the ailerons and wing. This is the easiest way to be sure the hinges will match exactly. The lines were then checked for accuracy and set up for drilling the hinges. I like to get the hinges in and lined up before I bevel the leading and trailing edges.

The drilling was then done on both wings and the hinges were inserted to be sure the alignment was perfect in all cases.

The bevels were then cut and adjusted to give full deflection of the ailerons and a good clean joint where the surfaces meet. The bevel must be set up to be a constant angle and disregard the thickness of the wing. If this is not done, the aileron joint will be closed at one end and open at the other. The photos below show the alignment of the aileron after adjustment.

 

I then cut out the servo openings following the drawing I made earlier. This let to the layout of the control arm mounts in the ailerons.

After calculating the position of the hard mounts, I drilled holes for the 5/8 dowels and checked them for square. After the mounts are in the ailerons, I will drill for the bolt.

Below you see the hard mount glued into the aileron. Note that the dowel is glued to the foam, the sheeting and it is trilled into the leading edge material of the aileron and that will give it ample strength.

 

 

9/14/10

The wings were removed from the shucks and The leading and trailing edges were roughed in. The final shape is left to just before covering so that it will not be damaged. Once the trimming and shaping were done the wings looked very nice.

I then drew the aileron cut lines on the wings.. There are lots of ways to make these cuts and I tend to tape a steel straight edge to the wing lined up with the cut line and run it through the band saw. I am careful to keep the blade against the straight edge and that gives a nice cut.

The cuts were made with the wings in the shucks to be sure the cut was square. You can see below that the wings are cut very straight and with a little sanding, I was ready for the next glue session.

As you can see, I taped wood to the cut lines and used yellow glue to make the joints sandable and protect the foam. These joints were allowed to dry overnight.

9/13/10

The session began with the 4 wing skins completed the day before. I removed all the tape and sanded the sheets. I use an orbital palm sander and I count the strokes over the wood to be sure the thinning of the wood is even on all the areas. I take the weight of the panels and that guides me on the sanding.

panel -----------first weight --------- after first sanding

1 -------------------6.7 oz----------------- 5.5

2 ------------------7.8 ----------------------6.5

3 -------------------7.6 ---------------------6.0

4 -------------------6.5 --------------------5.6

As you can see the sanding removed about 20% of the wood and further sanding will get it to 50% from the original weight.

Once the panels were sanded and I cleaned off the piles of dust, I began to lay out the wing panels on the bottom side of the wing foams

In the shot above you can see the 2 wing panels and the marker location of the ailerons and of the servo bays. We are using the HV servos so only 2 are needed to run the big ailerons. I marked all the locations on the wing before cutting the holes.

You can see the layout of the servo and the linkage and the center of the servo was 3 7/8" up from the hinge line of the ailerons. I made a drawing so that I can find the holes after the skin in on the wing.

I used some heat cutting wires to make the servo bays and the hard wood servo mounts. These were installed first so that the skin could be glued to the servo mounts and increase the strength.

Below you can see the first hot wire and template used to cut the hole for the body of the servo.

next I cut the tracks for the hard mounts and that was done with a second wire and template.

You can see the clean cut made by the hot wire and there was no fitting to be done to glue in the mounts. Next was the wire tunnel to the wing root that was cut by a third hot wire shown below.

The final step was to epoxy in the hard mounts and trim the mounts to be sure they were flush with the surface of the foam.

I then cut the phenolic tubes to fit in the wing socket already cut by Carden. The tube had balsa glued over the end to prevent glue from getting inside the tube. It was then epoxied into the wing and weights were placed on top of the shucks to be sure the surfaces were flat and straight as the glue set up.

I then glued the tube extensions in place so that they were glued to the top and bottom of the phenolic tube and extended out several inches to spread the load on the wings. These extenders were trimmed flat so that they would be glued to the skin and increase the structure without adding measurable weight to the wing.

Next I got out the vacuumed bagger and set it up to use on the wings. It consists of a 60" wide roll of nylon bag that can be adjusted to any length I might need. The bag is reusable and this one has had lots of use. The rod at the bottom of the picture is the seal that sets the length of the bag.

Once the skins are glued and on the foams, the shucks are placed in the bag and the vacuumed is turned on to squeeze the wing. I use some felt between the foam and the inside of the bag so that it can slide as the air pressure is reduced. The little EZ vac can draw enough air out to crush the wing so I am careful to run it only to build up pressure on the wing and then turn it off. If you let the thing run you would come out with a pancake.

Once the bag is down to pressure, I put a flat sheet of MDF on top of the shuck which is sitting on a slate pool table, and add 300 lbs of weight to the top. I do that to be sure the wing is flat as the air will not make it flat, only squeeze it .

Once the whole thing is set up, there is no way to photograph it as it looks like a pile of cement blocks an a very nice pool table.

The wing foams were sanded smooth and water was sprayed on the surface to activate the gorilla glue.

The tips of the ailerons were reinforced with some carbon fiber strips to reduce aileron flutter. These strips were laid in the glue on the wood skin and then added to the foam. The whole mess was glued up on both sides at once and the foam was pinned to the skin to prevent sliding after the air was on and the weight applied. I have found this to be a required step to prevent the skin from moving as much as several inches out of line.

Above you can see the wing after the glue dried and the trimming was done.

 

Time for more weights as I know Marty is interested in the numbers

condition ----------------------------------------------------------Left wing ----------------- Right wing

Raw foam as it came out of the box -----------------------------18.5 oz --------------- 18.87

Phenolic tube, extensions and servo mounts----------------- 22 ---------------------22.4

Skinned but untrimmed --------------------------------------------- 44.8 ------------------- 45.1

Trimmed up panel -----------------------------------------------------43 ---------------------43.1

 

I added the leading and trailing edge before the end of the long session. The work was done in about 13 hours. and both wings ended at the same place. I like to keep the wings on the same steps to make them as close to identical as I can. The wings are dead straight and the weights are very close to the expected numbers for this point in the process.

The next session will be a short one but I hope to get the ailerons cut out and the wood glued on the leading and trailing edges.

9/12/10

I opened the boxes and that is a treat that everyone should have........ A new kit full of Carden's fine wood and box after box of wood that needed to be turned into a plane. It even smelled good.

 

I set about inventorying the contents of the kit and checking everything to be sure there is nothing damaged in transit. I have built many Cardens and the quality is the best I have ever seen in each kit. This one was no different, I could spend lots of time explaining how Dennis prepares the wood and the design to make the plane come out correctly. This is the best of the best.

 

After all the inventory was done, I changed the building surfaces in the shop to the ultra smooth ones. This consists of a screw down top to the big building table that has never had glue used on it and is flat and smooth. The second building bench is designed to have luanne doors used as building surfaces. The doors cost less than 20 at Home Depot and I selected a new surface to begin the building.

The first thing I did on the plane was to begin making the skins for the wings. This consisted of edge gluing the wood into sheets big enough to cover the wing foams. There are several ways to skin wings and while they are all just fine, I have a process that get them done to my standards.

The materials I use are shown below. White glue, a sharp gouge, a glue application device,220 sandpaper and paper towels

The wings were more than the 48" length of the 1/16' balsa sheets, so I began by cutting some of the sheets into 12" lengths and taping them to the end of 16 of the sheets. I use a long straight edge to be sure things are aligned. The tape held the joint in position. I use tape a lot (about 15 rolls on each plane)

The process I used is described later in the build and the result was 16 sheets set out to dry for 2 hours minimum. I use yellow glue because it sands just fine and many other glues (like CA) would show through the final surface.

Once the sheets were dry it was time to make skins for the wings. The process for that began with the drawing of the sheet layout that Dennis put in the instruction book. It is easy to follow and the sheets were taped up and cut to match the diagram. Below you can see the first wing skin taped up so that tape covers each joint.

Next I inverted the skin and opened each joint in turn using the tape as a hinge. I have a glue shooter I got at the Woodcraft store and I fill it with glue and shoot it on the edge of the wood. The trick is to use as small a line of glue as you can.

The sheet is then pulled up on the table and the joint closed. The glue will run out of the joint and you will get the idea about how little glue you really need to get this job done. Once it was on the table, I used the flat gouge to remove all the excess glue.

I then sanded the area for the purpose of creating some sanding dust and getting it in the glue joint. This will make the joints easier to sand and that is a good thing.

Once all the joints were done and flat, I taped across the grain and added weight to hold the panel flat while it dried.

 

After 2 to 3 hours the panel was removed and the next panel was treated the same way. All 4 wing skins were glued and allowed to dry overnight before the next steps were taken.

This edge gluing was done on all the skin parts of the plane and therefore I will not show the process again in this file. If you would like more detail on the process of shins, look in the build article section at one of the other Carden builds were it is covered more thoroughly.