Levanter

The rest of the fuselage was according to the plan and here is one of the stages. Here the internal supports for the undercarriage are clamped in place. The two carbon tubes can just be seen sticking out the back. The fairing around the mast support is partially fixed. The rails at the top are spot glued in place as a clamping aid. The rails stop the clamps from sliding off. Another slight variation was the mounting of the ESC. It was an experiment really but worked out quite well. The three holes at the front are for the motor wires and are sufficiently large to allow the bullet connectors to pass through. The slot is big enough to pass the battery connector so everything is dismountable which is one of main aim in every build. On final assembly the ESC was fixed with double sided tape and being right in the airflow, should get plenty of cooling. Levanter

An old thread I know, but it is mine and has to restart with a confessional. I had no idea it went right back to 2015 and what's more I had the temerity to label it a "quick build". So apologies all round and I do eventually get to finish all my Mass Builds. This years Grumpy Tigercub is likely to get finished this year and there is a bit of breathing space as it looks like the 2019 build will start a bit later than previously First to answer Richard and yes it was a slim bottle but I did make a plug and shrink it a little for a good fit. The neck of the bottle did well for the cowl. To begin with everything was quite conventional with the mast support and recesses for the servos. Like many I made the mast removable in the case of breakage and the holes in the backing plate are there to take the retaining bolts. Here is the mast laminated from three strips of spruce and the two retaining bolts. The mast is quite a tight sliding fit in the channel of the mast support so the bolts are in direct sheer and not doing very much work. I chose nylon to save a bit of weight. Checking the servos fit and these are the metal geared ones recommended by Richard. After that some quite big changes were made. I had some hollow square carbon tube that I thought would do nicely for the booms. Being hollow this led me to think about running a snake through one of the booms to work the rudders. It kind of got devised as I went along but the first hurdle was to get a linkage from the servo into the hollow tube. The rudder servo had to stay where drawn because there is not a lot of room in the cockpit and I was sure that would soon be used up. The rear end of the fuselage was arranged as a sandwich to neatly fit the carbon tubes. The brass tube acts as a locating peg for the carbon and also a lead-in to the snake. This is how the arrangement works and I think I first got the idea that the connection from a servo didn't have to initially point in the right direction from a Peter Miller plan for a throttle linkage where there is not enough room for a normal linkage very tight to a firewall. It took a couple of goes to get the wire bent correctly and when everything did finally line up, the wire was soldered into a hollow stud which then screwed into the snake inner. The piano wire borrows a bit of the hole cut for the servo wires but there was enough room and the servo wires were restrained to avoid chafing. A slightly different angle. Later on the snake outer is slid over the inner and is a snug fit in the square carbon tube. The booms do not taper in towards the tail and are parallel. I did not think that would matter too much. To be continued. Levanter

Posted by Tim Chambers on 09/10/2018 12:48:18: There are an awful lot of people out there happily using their minilathes to produce nice accurate work, blissfully unaware that the machine they are using is complete garbage, according to experts on internet forums. Buy a minilathe, but get it from one of the established suppliers advertising on the ME forum. I personally bought an Amadeal 210 lathe in the end after looking at minilathes and comparing prices. Very true for most hobbyists and many successful engineers. If repeatability is not a major requirement then it is easy to make matched parts and other dimensions do not matter if they are in fresh air. Ingenuity is rampant and time is rarely that important. Fabulous turning has been done on pillar drills. Levanter

Hello Percy I have the Proxxon drill press. It was one of the first things I bought along with the smaller table saw and the disc sander. These are my three most used tools by far. I would like the larger saw sometime as the tilting blade would be very useful as well as the extra blade depth. I also have (in the Proxxon range) Router Spindle moulder Bench grinder The most useful part I have made on the lathe is a tow release mechanism made in brass which also doubles as the nose weight in a Sophisticated Lady. Levanter

I have the Proxxon 400 with the milling attachment. It was second hand from Lancaster Model and Hobby world. I need to have something very small due to my workshop being the spare bedroom in our flat. I have a number of Proxxon tools like Percy and have had great service from them but a big plus for me with the lathe is that it came with a big box of accessories. Accessories are expensive and can eventually end up doubling the amount eventually paid. The general motto is that you can do small jobs on a big lathe but can't do big jobs on a small one. Ideally I would have liked a bigger lathe but do not have the space. There are a lot of good imported Chinese lathes for home workshop use but buy from a reputable dealer. If buying second-hand get someone along who knows their business. There are pages and pages of good advice on the model engineering forum as J2Wings suggested. Here is the link Levanter

FB3 There will be little bridges of un-lasered wood. Cut these carefully and the parts should just drop out. Levanter

My Grumpy Tigercub (standard size|) has twin OS FS 26s which Peter said will be fine. Part of this years Mass Build but distractions have slowed the build. Engines inverted. Must get back on to it. Levanter

Have two methods Choice 1. Grease proof oven paper if I am going to avoid cyano and the plan printing is nice and clear. I find it easy to handle and cut. Choice 2. Cling film. My clear backings from coverings are very rarely big enough to be useful so they generally get chucked. Levanter

Hi John| Welcome to the forum. It is the inner part that does the work. The outer part transfers the load to the wing structure so only needs to be as strong as the wing parts and well anchored. Almost certainly the glass fibre tube will be fit for purpose. Levanter

Methinks 600 is a tease! 1000 is the real target. Levanter

Here is a little snippet of a boat proving its worth. Levanter

Posted by J D 8 on 10/09/2018 09:07:12: I can not answer all your questions but I am surprised the BMFA has not replied, When was the question asked? As to what happens to club assets in the event of that club folding this should be covered in the club constitution. Mark didn't say the BMFA has not replied. He said the BMFA does not wish to offer any advice which is understandable as this would be a matter for professional legal advice. Sounds like a great opportunity but I would suggest the members consult a suitably experienced solicitor and decide which arrangement suits them best. Levanter

A few other details. I decided to sheet the top deck aft of the wing. This made some considerable difference to the stiffness and will help a bit with the framing for the glazing at the rear of the cockpit. I had a bit of grooved beech which will recess the piano wire of the undercarriage flush with the fuselage. I moved this to the forward side of the former to make it clear of the vertical wing supports. This meant I could glue it to the former as well as the fuselage sides. This will not affect the position of the wheels in relation to the balance point. It just means the piano wire will have a bit less rake. Marco suggests the model will look good with struts and I agree. This meant it would be useful to fit hard points in the fuselage and the wing so that's what happened. It was a piece of hardwood from the scrap box, not as hard as beech but plenty good enough to take a screw. At the tail end the post was made a bit wider to match that on the rudder which follows the profile of the fuselage. Instead of the little former with the piano wire for the tailwheel stitched in place I glued a triangular piece of ply between the lower longerons. This means that I will be able to fit the tailwheel after covering and it will be dismountable. Wherever possible I like to be able to unscrew fittings and equipment rather than build them in. Despite the decking and the ply insert, an early test balance with the OS LA 10, suggests that the model is heading to be quite nose heavy even with the servos rear mounted. I will have to keep an eye on this. Levanter

Here are a couple of pictures reproduced from Marco's website. I built the fuselage first and had some slight misgivings about the stick at the rear end just butting up against the solid fuselage sides. There are some large gussets but even so the connection relies on gluing on end grain. To get around this the longerons were extended as far as they could at the drawn angle effectively creating a splice and some continuity especially as this is where the fuselage is bent around to start the taper. Shown here And here. The gussets were not made separate and are a continuation of the fuselage sides. The V has a generous radius to help avoid splitting but anyway the V is prevented from splitting by the former and wing supports inside the fuselage. My little OS engine came with a glassed filled nylon mount which I decided I should use. This meant widening the nose a little from the plan. The sides came around in the fuselage jig but needed quite some force. Probably the sides would need wetting to get to the narrow nose on the plan which is all that's needed for the electric version. I did choose some medium hard balsa which was fairly crossed grain. I thought this might help prevent splitting as no doublers are used. This is what will be installed and goes in very nicely inverted. The spinner is a fraction bigger and helps disguise the slightly wider nose. Here is the nose former made from Liteply to give some strength in both directions. The slot will need to be widened slightly to fully uncover the carb. This is the underside of the nose and you can just see one of the triangular fillets behind the nose former on the right of the picture. The holes are drilled in the 3mm birch ply firewall for the engine mount. These will have bolts as supposed to blind nuts as I can get to both sides. 3mm is to thin for my M3 blind nuts without using doublers. The corner stringers were cut at 15mm centres to get the bend. I had a quick go first without the cuts but something would have let go for sure. I always put centrelines on every former as this makes everything so much easier lining up in the fuselage jig. To mark the line on the opposite face I drill through with a 0.3mm drill and this gives me a permanent reference if the line gets rubbed out. The squared off hole in the former is dimensioned to retain a 2 oz Sullivan tank. I got the dimensions from a web page and hope it works as I still have to order the tank (SMC have them in stock) This describes the significant changes to the fuselage. Levanter