Jim Newberry - Nuviation Ltd.

Morning Percy. I intend to sell plans, sets of cut parts, strip wood packs and moulded cowls either seperately or as part kits. If there is sufficient interest I may then start selling complete kits, but I want to see how the plans and parts sell before I get too carried away!

Thanks Percy, too kind, as ever! Anyone thinking of building the enlarged version might be interested to know that my dad is planning on putting a 17cc petrol engine in his and I am very much looking forward to seeing how it works out! There is a certain amount of family honour at stake as Dad is currently further along with his Tiger than I am but, while he reads this blog, he doesn't post. My order of Oracover arrived today from SMC and, while it is exactly what I ordered, it appears that I ordered too dark a shade and I will have to decide whether to send it back or save it for the next project (in which many hours have been invested in CAD drawings...) I have made a promise to SWMBO that we start offering plans for sale this year so I need to pull my finger out and get this finished and flown!

Not really much of an update as I've been at work for a few days but I thought I might as well add this picture anyway, since it harks back to a post on page 2. I managed to get into the workshop for a few minutes this evening and fitted the two serves in the fuselage. I had been concerned that I wouldn't be able to reach the screw heads because of the mounting plate for the wing bolts. In the event, a ball headed hex driver reached with no problem at all. When I get around to selling plans and parts I'll tweak the positions so that it's not an issue.

Thanks Percy. Yes there is a striking similarity between the two!

It's been a while since I last added anything to this blog - I have been doing some building but a combination of work and family holidays have restricted progress for a while so there hasn't been a great deal to write about. Anyway, I have been out in the workshop over the last few days and here are the results. I have built the belly pan for the wing centre section - the sharp corners will be rounded off when I do the overall sanding and finishing prior to covering. This morning I have been making a battery box and loosely fitting the cowl. You can probably see in one of the pictures that I had to relieve the forward part of the hatch to fit the 5s battery. I have also made an adaptor to allow the M10 thread of the motor shaft to meet the M4 thread of the aluminium spinner. I know the cowl is off centre - that's not its final position, just a loose fit! I have ordered the covering from SMC and my decals arrived from Pyramid models just yesterday so I hope to start covering next week when I get back from work.

I got home from work this afternoon and quickly nipped out to the workshop to check on things now that the epoxy on the wing joint has cured. I have trimmed off the excess bandage and couldn't resist putting all the bits together just to check the fit of the wing and the fuselage. Happily, they slid together with a satisfyingly snug fit and the wing bolts passed straight through the corresponding cutouts in the centre section and into the blind nuts in the fuselage (the drawings all lined up in TurboCad but of course there's no substitute for actually putting it all together as there's always that nagging suspicion that a millimetre or so of inaccuracy makes all the difference!) Anyway, here it all is.

You're not wrong Percy - 80% done, 80% still to go! I didn't get around to putting it all together for a picture so that'll have to wait. Now I am at work for a few days and then it's half term next week (when I'm off work but won't be able to get into the workshop very much) so there will only be limited progress for the next ten days or so. Still, it gives me a chance to think about colour schemes.

I'm safe - she doesn't read this!

Wing Joining Day. For me, this is the day when the model starts to come together. Up until now it has been a collection of sub assemblies which I know will eventually form a whole model but which require an effort of imagination to picture them actually coalescing into a flying machine. Wing Joining Day is the tipping point where, suddenly, I have a model aeroplane that just needs assembling, not building. I was very pleased to find that the dihedral braces slid into position without any need to cut slots in the wing skins. A light coating of aliphatic resin and a bit of jigging had everything set in position while I took the dog for his morning walk. One thing I have found since building the new workshop is that the combination of heating and dehumidifying leads to dramatically improved setting times for aliphatic and similar glues - in my old draughty single garage, a wood joint made with aliphatic would take many hours to harden but not any more! Also, I found that my questionable building skills led to some work being required to achieve a good fit between the three wing sections. In some areas I had to trim a bit from the joint, in others I had to add a sliver of balsa to fill a gap but we got there in the end! If you look closely at the pictures below you will be able to see where I have added material. It is worth mentioning that I have reduced the dihedral compared to the original design. Time may yet prove me wrong but I felt the original had a little too much. Anyway, here are the pictures of today's progress... It is one of those jobs where you need to get all the bits together before you start. Then, you need to make sure you won't be disturbed halfway through! Once the wings have been joined with the dihedral braces in place, cut two lengths of fibreglass bandage to size, leaving approximately 1" overhang at the trailing edges. Lay the bandage in place, with approximately half the width on either side of the joint line (as you can see, I nudged the bandages outboard a little, to clear the holes in the upper skin where the aileron servo wires and wing bolts will pass), and clip the tails with clothes pegs. Use a soft pencil to mark the outer edges of the bandage on the balsa wing skin and then move the bandages out of the way. Mix up some slow setting epoxy (at least 30 minute epoxy but slower if you have any doubt about your ability to complete the next stage in time) and paint or smear it between the pencil lines. Now position the wing so that it is pointing vertically upwards - in other words, as if it were fitted to a model in a vertical climb. Lay the bandage over the two stripes of epoxy, smoothing it out as you work downwards, and refit the clothes pegs. The picture above shows us at this stage. You will see that, while some portions of the bandage have clearly soaked up the underlying epoxy, some have not. The picture above shows us halfway through the next step. Once the first layer of epoxy has set, mix up another batch and paint it over the bandage, making sure that it is all thoroughly wetted through. It is easy to see when a particular section is properly covered as it will change in appearance from what you can see on the right to that shown on the left. Both sides done and the wing has been returned to its vertical orientation to set overnight. Once I cut the excess free at the trailing edge I will probably find the clothes pegs are permanently glued shut and will be thrown away, however (to take a tip from SWMBO's cooking), you can't make an omelette without burning down the kitchen.

Thanks Percy, it's nice to be at the stage where all major components are complete and ready to be assembled to make a model! All being well, I hope to have a complete model ready for a bare bones picture by the weekend. I've done some more bits of shaping today and tomorrow is "Wing Joining Day" which I always view as a major milestone in a model build.

Every now and then, at work, I have what I call a "niff naff and trivia day" whereby lots of little jobs get done without any significant progress being made. Today has been a niff naff and trivia day in the shed with lots of sanding and shaping taking place, hinge blocks being glued into place and general fettling going on. It doesn't really feel as though I've made much progress towards having a completed model, but all these things need doing. First up, here are a pair of wingtips, one sanded and shaped, one not quite there. Next, reinforcement blocks have been added to the aileron bay and the aileron itself, ready to accept the Robart hinges I'll be using. I had planned on using fluffy mylar hinges - and I think they would have worked - but the sundries drawer yielded a dearth of mylar and a surfeit of Robarts, so Robarts it shall be.