John Timmis

Hi. re the wing servos. The photo I posted yesterday shows how I fitted them in. John

HI folks As I'm solartexing the wing I thought Iwould post a couple of photos. The servos are standard Futaba. A false bottom, of light ply, was fitted to the bottom of the servo bay. This gives a level surface on which to mount the servos. The sheeting on the wing center section was left until the fuselage shells were made.Tthe sheeting was then added at the same time as the wing fairings. Cheers John.

Hi folks, At the beginning I said that this one was definitely stand off scale. There always seems to be a danger of getting too involved in the detail. So, it's back to the basics & get this one finished & in the air asap. Finish on this one will be all Solartex. Quick & easy, looks good from a distance. I've not added the extended rudder or the fuselage strakes so it will be an early Chippy. RAF training colour scheme: silver all over with yellow training patches. Just the wings left to cover now then its off to the field. All the details can be added later. A trial assembly showed the cg to be spot on. Weight before any covering was 6lb 8oz, so I expect to finish up around about 7lb AUW. Once this one is flown, I can start on Chippy no 2 & catch up with the rest of you. Danny, your building board must be on fire. Cheers John.

Hi folks, Thanks for the comments. The seat would be an ideal candidate for vac forming. However, it only takes about 10 min to lay up the moulding & is very easy to do. For those who want to try it, the photos show the items you will need & some of the process. Firstly you need to make a pattern. This can be wood, pink foam or anything else you can shape. It needs to be smooth & well finished because any imperfections on the pattern will show on the finished moulding. I first used this technique to make the inlet ducts for an EDF Vampire. The patterns were made from pink foam & covered in solar film. My home made disc sander makes it very easy & quick to make wooden patterns. The pattern needs to have some taper or you won't get the moulding off. Give it a couple of coats of dope then wax polish (not silicone wax). Paint the pattern with epoxy resin using an old brush (not a good brush because it will be thrown away afterwards). For the layup I used 3 layers of 25 gm glass cloth. Lay the first piece of ctloth on the pattern & lay it down using a stippling action with the brush. Add the other 2 layers straight away. Make sure you have worked out any air bubbles. Areas where the resin has not wetted the cloth will appear white but will turn translucent when properly layed down. The moulding needs to be removed from the pattern while it is still in the 'Green' state. Say after 5/6 hours. In this state the moulding is very flexible & rubbery. I have a thin, flexible steel rule that I use to help separate the moulding from the pattern. Unfortunately it does not reach the sides of the seat. The next bit seems a bit drastic but works ok. Get hold of a corner & just peel it of the pattern. You will turn the moulding inside out when you do this. Never fear, push it back into shape & slip it back onto the pattern. Let it cure overnight & then trimm the edges to size. Job done. It's much quicker tho do than write about it. Give it a go. Cheers John Sorry, I can't upload the photos in the right order.

I"ve used 3s & 4s, the later in ducted fans, probably for the last 2 years. They are great so far. Just bought 6s for the Chippie but it"s untried as yet.

Hi folks, Thanks for the comments. The engine was fun to do . It's a first attempt for me so this was a good time to have a go. It feels as if I have just been fiddling about this week, but I think I'm slowly getting there. I'm not sure if I'm a week behind everone else or 35 yrs in front. Alex asked, 'Would I do it differently next time?' I expect to make some changes. I'm happy with the way this is working out but I'm in it to learn from others. I like Dannys hinge shrouds. I'm not a big fan of planking so I'm thinking about sheeting the fuselage. We will see but hopefully lessons can be learned. Although this is only intended to be a stand off scale model certain details have to be included. I have just moulded a seat which will go a long way to filling up the large rear cockpit, that together with some intruments & maybe a seat harness should make it look believable. By the time the pilot is sittng comfortably in the front seat there won't be much room for anything else.

Hi folks, The motor installation is just about finished now so here are a few more photos. Because the battery is buried deep in the fuselage I have built in a duct to help keep things cool. The intention is for air to flow through the duct into the battery compartment, forward past the battery & esc then out. We will see if it works. Actually all the components should be working well within their capacity so all should be well. I spent a happy couple of hours making up a dummy Gypsy Major to fill up the hole in the cowling. Not 100% scale but I think it looks the part from 10'. It's only bits of plywood, wire & tubing. Very satisfying. Next job is to fix some magnets to retain the upper cowl. Cheers John.

Here are the missing photos. John