John Timmis
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Everything posted by John Timmis
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Hi folks Some progress has been made but with the temp in the workshop between 5 & 10 degrees through Jan its been slow. The photos show where we are today. The tail surfaces are ready to have the hinges fitted & then they can be finished. The fin LE was laminated from 4 x 1/16 balsa. The fuselage shells are both sheeted because I couldn't face all that planking again. It probably didn't save much time but the results seem ok & both shells are nice & rigid. The skins for the conical rear fuselage were glued up from tapered sections & then wrapped roud the frame & clamped. The ammonia trick was a big help here, I've not tried that before. The sheet sides on the lower shell were spliced at F8 where the taper starts. On the top shell, the inside of the cockpit walls wre lined with .4 mm ply as this area had proved prone to damage on the first build. A start has also been made on the motor / battery mount. Next up is a start on the wing. Cheers John.
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Hi folks Some progress has been made but with the temp in the workshop between 5 & 10 degrees through Jan its been slow. The photos show where we are today. The tail surfaces are ready to have the hinges fitted & then they can be finished. The fin LE was laminated from 4 x 1/16 balsa. The fuselage shells are both sheeted because I couldn't face all that planking again. It probably didn't save much time but the results seem ok & both shells are nice & rigid. The skins for the conical rear fuselage were glued up from tapered sections & then wrapped roud the frame & clamped. The ammonia trick was a big help here, I've not tried that before. The sheet sides on the lower shell were spliced at F8 where the taper starts. On the top shell, the inside of the cockpit walls wre lined with .4 mm ply as this area had proved prone to damage on the first build. A start has also been made on the motor / battery mount. Next up is a start on the wing. Cheers John.
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Thanks everyone. Thats sorted out that small point . Probably it didn't matter either way. I had assembled the wide ones to go in the rudder because they fitted the holes in the rudder post better than the holes in the tailplane spar. Thanks for the help. John
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Hi Just a quick question. I am assembling the fibreglass hinges for the rudder & elevator. I notice that 4 of the parts are very slightly wider than the other 8. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there a right & a wrong way to assemble these hinges? Cheers
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Hi folks Happy New Year to all Chippie builders & everyone else who follows the blog. The weekend weather was too wet to fly but at least I managed a couple of hrs in the workshop before I was driven out by the cold. Chippie no 2 has been started with the fin & rudder. I'm 3 months behind the rest of you so I need to catch up a bit. Still. experience & hindsight is a wonderful thing, & there is plenty of that here. Most of the build problems seem to be sorted now. I intend to have several building boards on the go at once so that progress can be made on several parts at the same time. At the last flying session a couple of spins were tried. Will try some more next time. At the moment all I can say is that it will spin nicely off a straight 1 g stall. Recovery is straightforward. More next time & some photos. Cheers John.
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I have the same problem
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M'mmm ------------- "Chips' are down now. Colin.
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Hi Danny, I like that a lot. A superb example of modelling. Cheers John
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Hi folks, Had 2 more fairly gentle flights this morning, Still 40% left in the battery. Managed to land & keep it upright on its wheels today so it can be done. Also found that it would taxi round quite well even with a fixed tailwheel. I thought some pictures of the battery bay might be of interest. The cowl is held on by 2 pegs at the rear together with 4 magnets on the bottom corners. It fits ok & is quite secure. The battery fits well back in its box. It is located by a balsa stop at the front & velcro underneath. A long balsa wedge goes on top to keep everything together. A velcro 'pigtail' under the battery makes it easy to remove. Cheers John.
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Hi Nigel, Welcome to the build. I think this is the part you are looking for. It was a 'Mercury' accessory which will be long gone by now. This Chippie is a project I started 30 odd years ago & wing joiner was there when I recovered it from the loft.You will find a modern alternative, though I think that the method Danny showed in his thread is a much better way to fit the wing & is the method I will use next time. Good luck Cheers John
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Hi folks Flew the Chippie again this morning. Had 5 or 6 flights now. The handling continues to be very benign. It will do enormous loops. The only problem has been that it always ends up on its nose at the end of the landing. It could be the rather long wet grass. It's not easy to get good photos in the air but these are the best so far. Still some more details to add but it's getting there. Cheers John.
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Thanks everone for the comments & encouragement . We did manage to get a few photos in the air but its not easy to shoot a silver plane against a grey sky, particularly when I'm trying to fly at least 3 mistakes high. Will try again on a better day. Meanwhile, I shall add a few simple details & finish off the paint scheme. It's only intended to be a ' stand 10' away & squint job' so it won't take too long. Then I can start catching up with the rest of you with building the next one. Onwards & upwards. Cheers John.
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Danny Yes please. That cockpit looks so real. This is like having a "Make it scale' column every day or two. Fabulous. Cheers John
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Hi folks, The chippie had its first flight this morning. Thanks for the good wishes. There was no drama at all. The weather was pretty grey, low cloud & poor viz. At least it wasn't too windy & no rain. Typical Nov really. The aim of this flight was quite simple: To prove it would fly, get it trimmed, try the flaps & get down in one piece, The motor is rated at 1150 watts & a 12x6 prop had brought the power down to just under this figure. No shortage of power then. Checks complete. Take off & climb out is brisk as expected. Throttle back to a reasonable speed & it's flying hands off already, not even a click of trim. Next try some shallow turns & then some steep turns. It all feels very solid. No nasty tendencies, responsive yet stable & quite docile. In fact very well mannered indeed. Next, gain some height & try the flaps. OK throttle down, flaps down. No detectable change in attitude, still flies hands off. Great. Keep the flaps down. Loose some height & into the circuit. Don't touch the flaps again. A bit more throttle to control the sink, round out & we are down in one piece. Brilliant. Only 5 min, can't wait to do it again & explore some more. The battery had 78% charge remaining. In the air, it will slow down nicely. I thought it really looked the part & fllew the way a chippie should fly. Keep at it chaps. You're in for a treat. Cheers John.
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