Mark Stringer

A bit more done today .. but just the slog bit still! Sanded all of the depron I cut yesterday and have also cut the lite ply formers which will be the main bulkhead for the motor mount, front and rear wing mounts and the undercarriage mount. The spars have also now been cut to size and marked with the rib positions - along with the all important "R" so I know which are the root ends. The wing joiner / spar doubler also cut to size And finally for today the ribs have been sanded (sandwich method) and while sandwiched the spar cut outs have been done. That is it for today - not very exciting but I am now at a point to actually start building which isn't too bad after a couple of hours work.

I should have added that based on the plan I am using it will come out at 1040mm (41") span and be 600mm (23.6") long from nose to back of rudder. I have added 2 more depron parts so just 5 bits of lite ply to add

So briefly to the build .. plan printed out at 69% twice ... one to use as templates .. the bits marked out on 6mm depron ... so not much time spent on it all yet .. (I was 2 ribs short at this point .. but not much in the way of parts really) Parts all cut out using a utility knife .. so marking and cutting took less than an hour. I added the first leading and training edges to the above parts. These will be sanded while sandwiched to make sure everything is identical where it needs to be and then a slot cut top and bottom in the ribs for the spars (again while sandwiched). Apart from these pieces there will be a handful of small 3mm lite ply formers, 6mm x 3mm spruce spars and the wing will be skinned top and bottom with 3mm depron .. add a simple undercarriage, 4 x 9g servos, motor (thinking a 2212 at the moment), ESC and receiver and that will be about it. Another of my "Lunchtime builds" so updates a little at a time as and when I get around to doing it.

Many moons ago (1994 or 5?) when I was active with Ratby Aeroplanes I was sitting in the caravan on a Saturday evening of the Old Warden show dooling model things when I came up with a model that used a sharp but deep symmetrical wing section and had the engine thrust line, wing centre line and tail all on a straight axis. Once doodled I wanted it to be light and simple .. so sheet sides with ply doublers and just 5 rectangular formers for the body and then a big wing with a total of only 10 ribs .... Anyway, having build it and flown it I found it did everything from a walking pace to what, at the time, was pretty fast for me and very aerobatic and controllable .. this was pre-3D days remember! As it flew like a bat out of hell I did the RATby thing on it and named it the Rat Out Of Hell. So 20 years on the originals are still in nice condition but as I fly mainly electric these days I have intended to do a brushless electric and fancied delving into Depron .. so I thought it was time to have a go ... so here I go on my build. A couple of years ago I put it forward for the mass build and it did OK but didn't make the finals. At the time our very own Rich Harris drew the plans up for me in case they were needed - so that was handy as I have printed them out at 69% for this version (Thanks Rich ) Here is the original "Rat" - people during the mass build voting did say it was the ugliest model they had ever seen ... but I like it!! (Probably because I have flown it!!!!)

Not sure if dropbox is having issues but i can't see any of the pictures

Handy aircraft source i found ... here is the gummi: http://www.airframes.org/reg/gummi I get Hercules and Chinook at about 50ft with Tornado, Hawk and Tucano about the same. .. never fast enough with the camera though!! We are at about 800ft above sea level so often looking down on them - wonderful sight. ..will try and be quicker with the camera

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 09/07/2015 13:36:11: Posted by Mark Stringer on 09/07/2015 11:12:02: M5 J5 .. less than an hour from me! Small world and I've got a JW IV built from one of your kits, it even had some notes signed by you! Smaller world than you think. WOW! Signed special edition - LOL - maybe see you on Sunday

Send my best wishes to your dad, hope to be there Sunday weather permitting

M5 J5 .. less than an hour from me! Small world

Email the customer service is best - they are so different to our time zone that it will take 2 days or so but i have always been happy with them and everything resolved within 2 or 3 days

I, and my wife, use them a LOT If i need it quick i use the UK ( EU) warehouse, if not the China one. Had about 3 issues .. all resolved within a couple of days if i mail a picture. . Never had to send anything back, just replaced. Daily deals great for motors, servos etc

Man flu since last Thursday has put pay to any progress - especially sanding! This afternoon is the first time I have really had any energy for anything so sat quietly in shade and put a few bits together that I had prepared for the Spratom. The 5mm bolts that had their heads removed and bent to form axles, wheels, nose leg (steerable), mast screwed in place and boom screwed in place. Tail feathers then added - still needs the reinforcing strip added to hold the fin to the boom yet and rudder is taped in place just for show! But this gave the opportunity to do a side by side with the Atom to give an idea of size - so little progress really but a few photos all the same. So very little in it and I will most likely use the same blade size - which is good as I can test fly with the Atom blades then change to the 2 blade set afterwards. What IS different is the battery / ESC space - which is plenty more as I had hoped. That's it for now - more when I am feeling up to it

That side by side really makes it clear about the size. .. looks great. . sure it will be ready!