Willowlea

Heh Tony, chin up chuck! The site didn't fail because of anything you did or didn't do, it was a lovely site with very friendly peeps- it just had a lot of problems with the hackers and losing posts and you did a fantastic job when you took over. It's demise just happened to conicide, for me, with a time when I took a break, after 18months of struggling myself with my loss of confidence and self esteem. I stopped going on any forums for a while and was genuinely sad to see it was gone when I tried to log in again. I put away my funcub and went back to basics, doing something completely different- the Free flight models and have loved doing them. Maybe you could do the same? Build a model from scratch, there is nothing more rewarding and boosting than seeing something you create go from a bunch of balsa to a functioning model. Or maybe you could see if your club needs any instructers? Teaching others something you love can sometimes ignite that passion. If that doesn't appeal to you then try something completely different to aviation - something you have always wanted to try, that gets you fired up again; you don't have to give up the hobby just take a break for a bit. But stop beating yourself up over not having any mojo, that will make it worse (as you probably already know in your profession ) just go with the flow and it will come back eventually. And Stevo I've heard your drumming and it is fast but that's a good thing, still got that Pink Floyd mix and still think it is a shame you gave up! Maybe you could give Tony some drumming tips and he can take up being the first busking RC aviator

Okay, now today was frustrating because you really do need about 15 pairs of hands or the hire of an octopus to get the top wing on grrrr I found I had put a strut in the wrong way- they were not all in line, so had to modify that. And I found one of the wing pockets were not long enough to accomodate the strut! So had to do a repair job, it was too snug to remove from beneath the tissue so I made another piece that would slot over the top First I took away just the tissue on the panel above the pocket.That is a sob sob moment when you have just carefully spent hours covering it haha! then made a half of a pocket, with a bit cut out to slot over the top of the existing pocket- the one bit I will not miss on finishing thisbuild, teeny tiny bits of 1/16th wood for the pockets arrghhh! This was then glued in place and sanded down gently so it was it didn't stick up above the ribs then a new square of tissue added and glued, with the dope covering over the top So with that complete, could finish off the wings- and her she is, minus the U/C which I will reattach tomorrow At the moment it is weighing in at 17gs without the U/C. Okay so it is not perfect, but I am happy with it....and nearly there

Here you go John, hope this gives you an idea of the size

Now with hindsight I would have tested the dopes a bit more as even though I managed to get the tissue as wrinkleless as possible I found the next stage ( covering the whole of the tissue with a mixture of 70% thinners and 30% non shrinking dope ) seemed to add dints to the tissue that were defo not there before! I was very kindly given two tins of dope- one non shrinking and one shrinking but was warned that the age of them was unknown and the strength. Both tins were clear and looked fine and so far have worked brilliantly for sticking the tissue to the frame, however I did do a test with the shrinking dope on the test frame AFTER and found this to be much better at retaining the wrinkle free dint free covering. The concern with that though is it may be too harsh in shrinking on such a delicate framework. The solution is going to get my head together with Andy Sephton and try out a few different ways, different dopes and see whether mine has lost a bit of it's strength. But....for now am not too bothered, it is good enough for me for my first go at the Free Flight fly in at Manchester's Veladrome at the end of the month, and then I can do another Moving on, all tissue was covered on both sides with 70/30 thinners and dope and left pinned and clamped lightly to prevent warping over night. Then began the daunting task of putting it together ooooooo Now I did some research on line and came up with Mr Tim Hoopers ladder hehe- so hope you don't mind Mr Hooper but I pinched your idea and constructed my own ladder. Using offcuts of balsa and with the slats built into the wood and set at the dihedral of 3/8" which is roughly 9.5mms Then each wing starting from the bottom were set dry into the fuselage and checked for diheral and fit. Not perfect but it will do for my first one So far so good so glued in place. Slight alteration to the two wing struts closer to the fus. Found that the pockets were way out when putting together so there is a slight slant to each. Also decided rather than glueing them to the fus I would make smally slots so they can sit inside snugly and secure, seems to have worked phewwwww! And hurrahhhhhhhhhh nearly there. I cant do the top wings as they are still drying from the doping overnight. Believe it or not, the wing struts are actually straight- just dont look it in the pictures lol

Thanks guys. Yes it helps a lot, especially having lost my confidence completely 18months ago- with each little step get more confident in tackling the next bit and not so bothered about the mistakes....of which there have been quite a few Anyhooooo.......after a day of doping and spraying with water I finally finished the tissue covering. Fuzzled it up a couple of times, took the green tissue all the way to the nose DOH! Then realised it should be just to the slant. Also wasn't happy with my first covering so redid the top of the fus to get it as wrinkle free as possible.