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https://www.flashrc.com/3311-balise_signalement.html Other suppliers are available!

A small amount of progress this week. The lower wing skin is on, and some work has been done to open up the wing for the retracts. However, there is more work required yet on the retracts before I can close up the structure with the upper skin. After adding the skin, I carefully sanded out a circular wheel well: Tape wrapped around handy chewing gum container made the sanding 'drum'. And a quick test fit of the retract unit: All looks good so far. I've also managed to mount the unit 1/16" too deep, i.e. below the wing surface. So a couple of birch ply shims will be needed to raise the unit up a touch, no big deal to fix. There is also a little more sheeting to cut away around the retract unit / coil / leg, before I reach the full size of the well I created. If it looks too open I can build back up with some soft block.

This is the all moving tailplane horn which I cut from 1mm Aluminium and happened to have in stock from offcuts I had cadged from a local works. I photocopied the part from the plan, cut it out, and glued it with Pritt Stick to the metal, then used tin snips to cut the lines. I then drilled the holes with my pillar drill - checking of course the correct diameter from the tubing and wire I had bought from a local internet supplier, Macclesfield Models. Better to have the holes to small than too big because then you will have a sloppy tailplane, something AMT's are famous for.

This shoes how you attach the bottom fin rib ie Fin 4 by placing the fin up to the fuselage to get the angle right and protecting the joint from sticking with masking tape, as I am using cyano. The other ribs are attached with the trailing edge on the bench and engineer squares used to ensure they are upright. You can see that I have penned a middle line on the fin trailing edge to ensure that the fins, and the leading and trailing edge are parallel when viewed from front to back, The RCM&E mentions getting the LE and TE parrallel which I didn't understand at first as from the side they are askew.

What a mess? Well yes but it'll be reet when the Horseshoe Sander has attacked it. The nose P38 in particular was applied in 3 layers. Sadly the bottom layer is still not set as it has too little hardener in it. Not a lot I can do now, but I think it will be OK. The inside formers will of course be removed later, and the filler is great for sealing the gaps left by the plywood planking, which is very difficult to get accurate. I hope I have not put too much lead in the nose as now the c of g is between F3 and F4. Still a tailplane and fin to add so fingers crossed.

I would go for the epoxy method. It seals properly, doesn't come loose in flight, and lasts as long as you want it to. No special prep required. Wipe engine and silencer faces clean with meths or thinners. Make sure the screws are clean and oil the threads lightly inc the threads in the silencer. Spead a thin coat of epoxy on one surface and screw together. Wipe off any excess. When you want to remove silencer just remove the screws (hence the oiled threads) and give the silencer a sharp tap. Paper or gasket material silencer always compress and come loose resulting in a very messy ( metallic grey oil) model or fall off in the scrub and are lost forever. Good luck and keep IC going

hello tizdaz,have a go with clear silicone,if the mating surfaces are ok,you'll get a good seal...or try brown parcel paper gasket as well as the silicone... ken anderson....ne..1....silicone dept.

I quite like a bit of carve and sand. Very therapeutic.

I'm with Paul on this one. Pack the exhaust port to stop debris getting in, lap the face on the joint, wash out and clean up carefully. Repeat on silencer. Tiny smear of slow cure epoxy when reassembling. Most anywhere else on an engine, if needed, I'd make a real high tech one from oil soaked newspaper.

One of the best parts shaving the fuselage into shape.

Using a plane gives you less of a mess, whether shaping wood or foam.

Make your own. Plenty of good video`s on the tube. Gasket

High temperature gasket paper is cheap enough. E bay.

Sorry but nothing will last, use a piece of wet and dry 240 grit to resurface the cylinder and silencer then a thin smear of locktite over the joint.

I have used stiff card with a coat of varnish.

Hi guys, as per title, I'm trying to find a gasket for my Leo .46 Glow engine muffler (its basically same as the os .46 engine in terms of fitment). Only ones i can find are genuine OS gaskets (£15 for a pack of 3! ...no thanks!) ..surely there's cheaper ones around!? Anyone know of any UK retailer that sell them ? Or could i use something like this instead: https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/carplan-instant-gasket-38gm-549773891?gclid=CjwKCAjw0dKXBhBPEiwA2bmObeJKnCqN6JPa8V_WqQFWd2bG3TgAjmAXZDiYJqY1KTh1-iylymVXZRoCBXgQAvD_BwE ? Cheers!

Rust is the main cause of failure in model engines. The rust pits the surface and this focuses the stresses in the material during use leading to fatigue cracking and eventual failure. Extreme RPM and age will clearly not help, but rust is the usual issue. When it comes to the material spec i have no idea what it is. We gave our requirement to the spring company and they choose the material spec, number of coils, etc as they have the expertise to make that determination. I gave them specs like the number of cycles per second, operating temperature, life expectancy and they did the rest. They should last more than 10 million valve openings which is in excess of 50 hours running or 334 flights at an average of 6000rpm. Most last longer, but this is the minimum spec.

OK will do

Take a photo.

Thanks guys will have a go tomorrow , my brain is fried playing with planes too long today , thanks for all your help.

Just a little bit extra to help with what Gary has said using the picture below Slacken of the CENTRE screw on the servo arm (1), lift off servo arm and with the transmitter and model on and responding but stick centred, turn the arm so that it is at 90 degrees to the servo and refit to servo, replacing the screw. Slacken off the grub screw on the end of the servo arm (2) and adjust the two elevator halves by adjusting the pushrods (3) so that the elevators are level with the tail plane.

If its industrial electrical equipment then I have seen across the board significant drop in stock items and those that needed to be ordered go from 6 to 8 weeks to min 20 weeks after placement of order. IMO a number have obvious factors have conspired and the final "just in time" strategy thorough the supply chain has brought us to where we are. The idea that you don't need to hold stock (not you Jon) and you can just demand it from the distributor (who has done the same) to pull it from the supplier only works if there is more supply than demand (like the car industry). Now the boot is on the other foot and its time for the manufacturers of raw materials and parts to sell to the highest bidder. As for valve springs, yeah they are all just the same....what a load of tosh. We had 4 stroke methanol race engines and the push rod ones would rev out at about 8k at which point power dropped off and the valve gear started to "float" risking the piston hitting them. we also had single and twin over head cam versions which would rev higher but are more complex and weigh more so the advantage diminished. Worth pointing the cam timing was the same and set for useful power from 6k as its drive that was more useful than top end....until you get near the end of a long straight and someone has a spare 1 or 2k revs spare. My point is we picked up some special racing valve springs from the USA and there were two major benefits, firstly the engine would rev higher by about 2k with no other engine changes. Secondly racing engines need to be stripped and checked of with one of them is to check the valve springs have not relaxed pressure after the hammering racing had given them. All springs do this to some extend, but these USA springs did it far less and in fact they lasted much longer as a result. No idea what they were made of but I don't think you can just knock a set up yourself. Jon, thanks for letting us know the situation with your suppliers and from my view things will not get any better for some considerable period unless we go into a recession (which brings its own problems!). On the upside....any spare time for R&D on the engine side?

I did a mid wing with bolts that went from above. I made the cockpit area into a big hatch that attached separately using magnets. The wing went in first, then the cockpit. Worked well. Fair amount of extra work though.