Workshop

July 23, 2009

This is the final day of building to get the plane ready for covering. Several items were completed.

All fuse pull-pull lines were checked and templates made to identify where the lines will pass through the covering. The kit provides leather grommets for the cuts in the covering and the templates will tell where to slit the covering and glue in the grommets so that the lines are straight and do not harm the covering.

The wings were checked and final sanded. The servo wires for the ailerons were run to the center of the wing and they will be run down to the fuse.

The switches and the fuel fill are planned to be in the belly door so that when the door is opened, the items will be easy to reach from in front of the plane. I discussed these items with George and we agreed. These things will be put in after the covering is done. The belly door and frame are metal and will go over the covering.

The top hood is metal and will go over the covering and be secured to the upper fuse structure with screws. This will be done in the final steps.

The fuel system was completed and the lines run to the tank, engine, filler and overboard discharge.

The cowl mount will also be completed after the covering is done.

July 21, 2009

Work began on the elevator construction and the c/f rod had the hinges attached and the brass tubes installed. The ribs were glued to the notched frame and to the c/f rod to form the elevators and I used great care to get the leading edge lined up with the stab, just as I did with the ailerons.

The stab was then mounted to the fuse with 2 posts on the leading edge and one screw through the center hinge mount. This allowed the stab to be placed straight and with the proper incidence for the plane. The stab can be removed as needed in the future.

I had already glued the control horns to the c/f rod so it was then time to rig the double pull-pull for the elevators. I put an adjustment on the servo end of the lines and tested the operation of the elevator.

I then added the struts to the under side of the stab and used the hinge mount bolts to secure it in place.

The batteries were then placed in the forward compartment and secured with velcro. I decided the switches could not be inside the compartment so some thinking revealed the easy solution which was to put the switches in the door so that they can be operated by reaching under the plane.

July 19, 2009

The first task was to mount the fuel tank. I constructed a frame that will hold the tank and will feature a padded base and velcro to hold the tank to the base. Since we might need to get at the tank, I designed it so that the lower board would be removed via the belly pan. The tank is therefore mounted with the framework above the tank and sufficient straps to hold it in place

The elevator was next and all the parts were assembled and checked for accuracy

July 16, 2009

The fuse continues to move along, the servo board was completed and mounted in the plane. The throttle and choke linkage were installed and adjusted using the servo programmer and they will work just fine.

The rudder was much straighter than before and I decided to let it set a day and see what it looks like. I am confident I can straighten it without building an new one.

I hooked up the pull-pull linkage to the rudder and I used adjustments on the servo end of the lines to allow for future adjustments to the cables.

I checked the elevator glue up done yesterday and I did not like the final shape of the lamination so I re cut the pattern and made a new glue-up that will fit to the plans much better.

July 15, 2009

The day began with the disassembly of the plane to be sure all the JB welded nuts stay in position. Everything checked out so I went on to the next step on the elevator.

The shot above shows the edge of the elevator that is made from 2 layers of ply and 3 layers of balsa. I soaked the wood in hot water and ammonia to make it easier to bend and then glued all the ply together with white glue. Once the glue was on all surfaces I gently bent the laminations to fit the cardboard shape. The tape was put in to hold the shape and the elevators were put aside to dry.

The motor was on the plane and the throttle and choke needed to be hooked up to the servos. The board was mounted in the plane and holes were drilled in the firewall that would allow the linkage to go to the servos the space it tight and the linkage was then constructed to fit each servo.

The board is inverted so that it can be seen from the belly of the plane through an access door. Below you see where the board is located. The gas tank will go on top of the board.

The Rudder was constructed and covered before the plane arrived at my shop and the covering apparently warped the rudder. This condition would not be good in the air so before I build a new one, I thought I would try to warp it in the opposite direction. I set the plane up and blocked the rudder in the other direction and sprayed water on it several times during the day.

I then made the hinges for the elevator and set up the carbon fiber rod and the brass rods. The control horns were then laminated and the elevator can be put together after the lamination dries overnight.

July 14, 2009

I began with a check of the JB weld and all was well.

The engine was mounted next as the linkage is ready to be done and all interior motor mount items are in place.

The fuse sides were then laminated and set up to go on the plane. These are the forward sides and there are two on each side. They were aligned and glued in place taking care to line up the struts and the fake motor intake.

The plane was then assembled and the remaining struts that had loose nuts on them were assembled and JB weld was used to secure the nuts in place. This will make assembling the plane a simple matter of running the bolts in the nuts that are secured to the struts. The plane was then left to dry.

The equipment board was then cut out to accept 2 switches and 4 servos. This will be mounted in the plane at a later date and will hold all the equipment mentioned and the receiver and batteries for the system.

The elevator was then set up and the forms for the outside lamination were checked for shape and the parts were compared to the drawing for accuracy.

 

 

July 13, 2009

I returned to the plane and the schedule calls for the plane to begin the covering process on the 15th and there is much to do.

The wings needed to be complete and ready to cover along with the ailerons and that was the first thing to be done. The lower wing got the ribbon supports for the ribs and nuts were JB welded on the inside of the brackets that hold it to the fuse. These nuts will be hard to access once the covering is on the fuse. The lower wing was then sanded and made ready for covering.

The upper wing was sanded and checked. The servo wires were extended and the wing was complete and ready for covering. The wing was assembled to the struts and the nuts on the inside of the strut clips were jb welded in place and allowed to dry

Above you can see that the throttle and the choke needed to have extensions bolted and jb welded in place in order for the linkage to operate properly.

The fuse was next and the work began with fitting the equipment board to the area under the belly of the plane. The board was made and supports glued in place to make the board removable. It was set in such a way that the throttle, choke, elevator and rudder servos will all be on the board and the gas tank will be velcro ed to the back of the board.

Once this was done, the sides of the fuse were fitted to the structure.

 

July 2, 2009

I removed the bolts that hold the upper wing to the struts and moved the fuse into the shop for paint. George air brushed the green paint on the struts and the fuse was set aside to dry.

July 1, 2009

The JB weld was set up on the strut ends and I then mounted all the strut ends to the plane using J bolts and securing them to the ply strength members in the fuse.

Once complete, the main struts were then drilled and bolted to the top wing. This process takes time because I had to keep checking that the wing stayed in position.

The outer struts are called N struts because of their shape. The wings were no longer supported with the blocks and the straightness was then tuned by building the N struts and fitting them to the wing.

Once the struts were all done and incidence, tramble and flatness were checked, all the strut overlap points were jb welded together. This will make the plane easy to deal with as the front struts form a tripod and will be very secure.

Once the JB weld is dry I will strip the wings off and paint the struts. This will complete the wing assembly and the fuse construction can continue

June 29, 2009

With two struts in place, I next set the incidence of the upper wing by adjusting the support on the trailing edge. With the incidence set, I positioned the rear strut and set it's rough length.

There are 4 struts on each side and then there are more on the tips that will be addressed later. 3 of the 4 have wire ends that fit inside the aluminum strut. These were JB welded inside the struts and set in perfect position to dry. The drying process takes at least 12 hours so the plane was good for the rest of the day.

Once the strut connectors were done, the mounts to the plane could be addressed.

I then began the elevator construction by locating the many parts that make up the structure. It has a c/f and brass tube at the leading edge and lots of laminated ribs plus hinges. I laminated and shaped all the ribs and made a layout of the parts.

June 28, 2009

I started the day by building the second aileron servo system. It was completed and the wing was ready to go to the next step.

I mounted the lower wing, which was fitted by the previous builder and the wing went on without any problems. It is bolted to the frame in 4 places and a check of the tramble, flatness and center of the wing all revealed it was within tolerance.

The work began to set the upper wing with the long process of setting up the plane and the wing so that I could see where it belonged. Since I have a "flat table" I turned the plane to set the wings the long direction on the table. O propped the tail to zero incidence with the table and set the lower wing flat to the table. The landing gear was in the area of 1/2 degree from flat, so I just removed the variance and made the wing parallel to the table.

I then set the leading edge parallel to the edge of the table and the plane was indexed and lined up.

Next I constructed a set of props that supported the upper wing at the leading edge. These props were exactly the same height, under height so I could ship to the correct height and they were made to stand on their own. The wing was then set on the props and one additional prop was used to support the trailing edge of the wing. This setup was adjusted to get the wing on center and at the correct position over the edge of the cowl.

The center of the wing was marked on the leading edge and on the fuse. I used a straight edge adjusted to 90 degrees from the table plane and then adjusted the wing left and right to get it on center. The aft position was adjusted so that the leading edge contacted the red ruler. This put it in correct position.

This is the slow but accurate approach and there are many faster ways to set up the wing. I like knowing it is right on the money.

Above you see the final indexing of the plane and the wing. The struts were then fitted begriming with the front lower strut and the height was adjusted so that the strut ( which was pre made) fit on both sides. It was then bolted in place on the fuse and on the wing attachment point. the second strut was then fitted as you can see above. The third strut completes the tripod in the front of the fuse. There are many other struts to add, but that will be for another day.

June 27, 2009

The session began with assembling of the ailerons. the hinges and the control horns made the aileron hard to assemble because the leading edge would not lay flat on the board. I blocked the leading edge up high enough that there was clearance under the hinges and control horn. I then blocked up the trailing edge and assembled the inboard 1/2 of the aileron.

The odd thing about this wing is that the tips have a curve on them and the outboard tip of the aileron follows that curve and will not be build flat on the board. I built the first part of the aileron and then hinged it to the wing and glued in the support for the leading edge of the aileron at the tip. This set the angle of the tip and allowed the construction to continue

 

The aileron was then fitted to the wing and the position of the control horn was marked on the trailing edge of the wing as it needed to be cut to allow clearance when the aileron is up or down.

This adjustment was made and the ailerons were attached to the wing and checked for proper operation.

All was well, so I continued with the wing by looking at the servo mounts for the ailerons.

This plane has ailerons only on the top wing and no flaps so there is a need to make two servo bays in the wings and set up for pull-pull links to the ailerons.

The process began with a base plate put in place to accept the servo plate that will be removable. Lots of people just put in the servo and cover over it, but my luck is not that good so I put in a hatch and servo plate.

The shot below shows the servo plate in position and screwed to the base.

Next I framed the opening and hatch cover so that it is on the bottom of the wing and will allow us to get in to the servo if the need be. The pull-pull will be set up after covering the wing

Below you can see the finished hatch before sanding and final shape.

The final step of the session was to paint the ailerons. This was done and the paint left to dry overnight.

June 21, 2009

With the upper wing work moving along, I began the ailerons with the construction of the hinges for left and right sides. The hinges are straps that were bent around the dowel for the leading edge of the aileron. A short length of brass tubing lines the strap and slides over the dowel ( after lots of sanding). The strap and the brass tube were then aligned and soldered together followed by filing to make them look scale. The hinges then pivot on the dowel smoothly and were then retained with brass rings on each side of each hinge. The rings were drilled and pinned through the dowels and hold each hinge in position. This will prevent the ailerons from moving left and right in flight.

Next the aileron ribs were laminated with two layers of balsa and one of lite ply. All the ribs were the rounded so that they would appear to be made of round stock and the ailerons were ready to assemble.

This took up the 5 hour work session due to the detailed nature of the work and the need for precision. With hand made metal hinges, you have to take lots of time to be sure they are straight and look scale.

June 17, 2009

I decided to finish the parts one at a time and started with the upper wing.

The leading edge is 1/16 lite ply and it is cut by the kit maker. It is in 4 sheets and they are supposed to line up with the ribs and are zig-zaged to glue to the spar in the gap of each rib. The wing becomes thinner at the tips so this material is a complicated shape. I started with the center sections and glued them in place after soaking in warm water and ammonia for 10 to 15 minutes. After cutting and fitting the sections, they ware all glued in place and the leading edge came out just fine

Next I constructed the tips and attached them to the wing. This is not a big thing but the alignment is important as the full scale plane had a strange shape to the tips and that needs to be copied on the wing.

Once that was done, I made the trailing edge of the wing and added it to the end of the ribs. This will be the hinge line for the ailerons so it is made from hard wood.

As you can see above, the trailing edge is aligned with the ribs and made straight by changing the length of the ribs. The tip ends at the trailing edge because the ailerons wrap around the tip. This step was completed and the hinges prepared for the ailerons.

Above you see the large top wing with the leading and trailing edges in place.

June 16, 2009

I began with an inventory of the plane and made a list of the things to do. the lower wing is done and ready for covering. All other parts of the plane needs some work. There were several spots that were damage as they arrived in the shop so I began by repairing those places and storing the completed lower wing.

The other parts will be done one at a time and then the plane must be assembled and the wing incidence set. finally the equipment will be installed.