Workshop

Concorde ---- second file -- see file one for the start of the build

This is the second part of the build. The latest entry is at the bottom of the file

1/11/12

The new brake valve arrived and the old system was removed from the plane. I made a platform for the brake valve and the small servo to operate the valve.

The new system was installed and the brake lines run to the main wheels. Everything was connected and checked for operation. The air system required adjustment and then the brakes were working fine.

1/25/12

We have word from the good folks at Team Aeroscale that the motors shipped yesterday from Germany and will be here in one week. This caused a flurry of scheduling and the plan is to take the plane to Lakeland Fla to the Jets over Fla event for the first flight.

This gives us 4 weeks to complete and test the plane and get the paint on it. The scheduling process is under way and we will soon have a plan to make this happen. I expect to have this project be our main focus in order to make the fly date.

1/27/12

The landing gears were done by Down And Locked and there iwas a problem with one gear staying down when the retract command was given. I discussed this problem with the folks at Down and Locked and we resolved the problem by checking the gears to be sure they were outfitted with a rubber gasket inside the mechinism. Then we decided to change the battery that drives these large motors and we feel that will resolve the problem.

I put the proper battery on order and we will run further tests to be sure the problem is resolved.

1/29/12

Spent the session working on gear doors. The last two moving gear doors are the nose gear small doors. These are the only doors that will remain open while the gear is down. I began with the hinges and put the doors on the fuse and adjusted so that they worked without automation

I then made bases for the servos that would drive the doors and linkage that would connect the doors to the servos.

I used the servo programmer to set up the servos and adjust their operation. This makes the adjustment work well and I had to reverse one of the servos. I made wires to go to the main equipment area and tested the operation

I plugged in the programmer for the landing gear computer and set up the gear doors so they worked as planned. This is a process that takes great care as the servos could damage the doors or the fuse if they were allowed to move too far in any direction. I set the end points and tested the system.

The last item was to be sure the steering function of the nose gear worked and did not collide with the linkage to drive the gear doors. After adjustment the system worked just fine.

1/30/12

The static hatches and doors were the focus of the session. There were hatches and doors surrounding the main gears that were mounted down. These doors were planned to be attached to the main landing gear struts, but the clearance between the struts and the motor pods in the gear down position did not allow room for the doors. I decided to make the doors static as that will not create any drag in flight.

The doors were blocked so that they could be mounted down

The mounts were done and checked for clearance

Next the brakes were checked and the lines run and tested to be sure the lines would clear the gear and that the brakes worked .

2/2/12

The nav light system was programed so that the lights operated according to scale.

2/3/12

The motors will arrive on 2/5 and so there are a few things that need to be done to prepare.

We have information that the test flight might be a few days before the start of the lakeland event so we needed to be able to get the plane in flight condition earlier than previously thought.

THE NEW PLAN

We will do all the instalation of needed equipment and then test the engines. The plane will then be taxi tested and everything checked afterward. If time permits, we will add the nav lights and landing lights to the plane and paint it. In order to make the test flight, we would fly it without the lights or paint.

The landing gear system got the new battery that was to eliminate our problems with the gears. Testing indicated the problem was not solved. Further investigation showed that the new battery was not the correct one so I ordered another. After the new - new battery is in i will test again to be sure we are complete on the retracts.

2/6 to 8/12

The motors arrived and we have been studying the plane and the motors to see if there is a way to use them. They are substantially larger than we expected and there are many problems lnvolved in trying to get them in the plane.

I am corresponding with the factory in Germany and it is taking time to work out the details of a solution to the dilemma. No solution is at hand so we have ordered new motors.

4/2 - 4 /12

New motors are in and the work has started to get them in the plane.

I removed the wings and cut hatches for the motor to fit through. Unlike gas motors, this EDF was placed 20" ahead of the trailing edge so that the thrust tube could be made and fit in place. The thrust tube is required to develop the power that will be needed to fly this large plane.

Next I designed and built the motor mounts and test fit them into the compartment. When glued in place, they will be straight and everything.

I test fit the motor in the mount and checked the alignment to be sure it was pointed in the correct direction

WARNING SCIENTIFIC CONTENT : In a twin engine jet plane, it is key to point each engine away from the center line a few degrees. The offset of the two engines cancelled the effect while they are both running. If one motor should stop the thrust in the remaining engine will help fly it in a straight line. Not everyone knows that about twin jets

The next issue was the location of the massive batteries to run the EDF's. The location of the batteries is determined by the CG of the plane. While I could not set the CG precisely, I moved the batteries around in the fuse to get it close enough to mount the batteries down in the plane.

The second issue is the length of the battery wires as I am limited to 60 mm of wire between the speed controls and the batteries. I was lucky to fine a place for the batteries that will work for the wire.

The question then became how to hold 7 lbs of batteries in the plane considering the fuse is just a shell and could not hold that much weight during flight. I started with hard wood rails in the top of the fuse (it is inverted in the shots below). I then made formers for the front and back of the battery compartment. As you can see below, the dry fit holds the batteries in pretty well.

I glued the rails and partitions in place and added weight on the assembly to be sure it was tight to the fuse while the Hysol set up.

After it was dry, I added cross braces to hold the rear set of batteries in place. These will have to slide into position from the front as there is a landing gear assembly above the battery packs when the plane is assembled.

I hysoled the motor mount partitions in place taking care that they were parallel with the datum line of the fuse.

Next the mounts for the motors were set in the frames and glued inplace.

The hatches in the motor area were then all lined with Bass wood to allow the hatches to be bolted on for paint. This will ensure the screws are all painted with the plane.

The speed controls handle the power from the batteries to the EDF motors and they generate a large quantity of heat as they run. For that reason, I hysoled mounting rails to the area just ahead of the EDF so that they will get lots of air. The mounts were allowed to dry

The motors were then removed as then will installed after paint and the speed controls will be set at that time

Due to the CG issues, the main motor battereis had to be monted where the equipment board was planned. The board had to be moved to a position aft of the batteries and the switches that extend through the fuse. The board was remounted on rails and then the wiring was adjusted to reach the new location. After all t he wiring was redone, the functions were tested to be sure all was well.

The new batteries were ordered for the reciever and for the retracts as the customer will only use Nimh batteries and that is a fact we were unaware of before now.

When the batteries arrived, I charged them up and mounted the receiver batteries on the board. The battery for the retracts is a 4200 7.2v Nimh and it was hooked up and the system came to life. Cycle tests indicated the main gears were not working correctly so I discussed the situation with Ron Word from Down and Locked. I packaged the landing gears and returned them for adjustments. The time the repair will take will be OK since the plane will be in paint for over a week.

4/16/12

I began to prepare the plane for paint. I put on all the hatches so that the screws will be painted. The plane will be painted with the wings off of the fuse and some of the assemblies removed from the fuse. I made all of them ready while I waited for the light system.

The lights have been on order for the plane and they were delayed because they were custom made for the plane.

4/17/12

Final prep for paint is the order of the day. I disassembled the wings and mounted the hatches. I cleaned the surfaces and checked for additional gluing on the joints. I made improvements on the hatches.

The nozzles were fitted to the wings and then I glued the blocks to the inside of the assemblies. These blocks will be used to mount the nozzles to the motor boxes after paint.

4/18/12

All the hatches were bolted in place so that the paint will cover the joints and bolts. I adjusted the fuse so that it can be manipulated for paint.

I took the plane to the paint shop and we are planning that it will take about 1.5 weeks to do all the body work and paint the plane.

There will be in the area of one to two weeks of work after paint and then we will be ready for the first flight

5/2/12

The painting process began on the fuse and I was there to check out the process and to look at the layout of the colors. If you are not up to date on the way this is done. They started with the red stripes and shot that color.

They taped off the red stripes and painted the blue on the tail. The red stripes are taped off below and the blue areas are being taped off.

Then they painted the thing white over the tape and the fuse. The paint dries in about 20 minutes so the steps can happen one after another.

Once the white was dry, they removed all the tape and that is the payoff for all the hours of work.

After it set up there were small items that were repainted and then the clear coat went on the shine up the surface. These guys are so good at what they do and the plane looks very nice. There were several areas that needed body work before they could paint and they had all that done before I arrived on painting day. This was interesting to watch and what a fine product we ended up with. The wings and hatches are one or 2 colors and will all be done next week.

5/17

Back from the Joe Nall and work restarted on the plane. The entire plane is painted and we are ready to do the install of the equipment and the final graphics on the plane..

All the parts were checked and small imperfections in the paint were corrected.

5/18/12

The wings were first and the landing gears were bolted back in the plane and checked for proper operation. The gears were retrofitted by Down and Locked and they work great.

The custom motors were hooked to the speed control and the first issue was the length of the wire between the speed control and the massive batteries. The distance to the fuse from the wings exceeds the wire length specified by the speed control guys. I purchased capacitors to add to the circuit that will allow us to extend the wires. I began by using CA to glue the capacitors together.

I then soldered the leads together and then to the wires leading to the batteries. After it was all fitted together, I used tape to be sure the wires remained discrete.

The leads were then soldered to the wire that would lead to the batteries. I left the leads a little long as the batteries might change position in order to hit the CG.

I test fit the motor, speed control and wires into the space on the first wing and everything looked fine.

Based on the discussion with Ali, I needed to change the wiring on the surfaces at the trailing edge of the wings. The outer surface will be ailerons and the two inner ones will be elevator. I made the wiring changes and ran them in the wing.

The thrust tubes were next and I cut some clear plastic material and made a test fit of the tube in the plane.

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