Gary Manuel

Isn't it good practice to change passwords regularly regardless - especially to sites holding sensitive information? (not that I do) If you suspected that someone had looked over your shoulder and knew your password, you would change it. This is similar, but it's no good changing it if they are still looking over your shoulder, which is what it's like if the bug has not been removed yet.

Should go down well with kids at open days. Imagine if it was also a toffee bomber

Will, That's exactly the scheme I have in mind (including the eyes) and is in fact, part of the reason I went for this kit. I already have the orange, blue and white covering ready for it. I think it will make a great Dusty.

Hi Alan I guess I have been lucky with the kit. I must admin though that I didn't put much effort into checking the sizing / edges. I just removed the residual tabs where it was cut from the sheet. Some of the edges were'nt truely square, but there arent that many butt joints where it make a difference - hopefully. Scroll saw is nothing special. It was very cheap when I bought it - about £50 I think. Its a Titan SF16G (16 inch 85 Watt 1400 rpm 6 1/2 inch coping saw blades). It looks almost identical to this, with a different badge **LINK**

The next part of the wing construction is to face the control surfaces as they are open where they were separated from the wing at this point. The idea is to cut 12mm from the leading edge of the surface, then glue a 12mm solid balsa leading edge on, and shape it back to the original wing profile. The designer uses a band saw with adjustable fence to cut the 12mm off. I only have a scroll saw, so I had to make the most of what I've got. Scroll saw with blade in at 90 degrees (feed wood in from right to left). Couple of bits of scrap to extend the base and act as give something to clamp a home made fence. Fence clamped in place lifts the trailing edge up to give the right angle of cut and with a depth gauge to allow exactly 12mm to be removed from the control surfaces. Like this - half way through the cut. This is the cut surface and the bit that was removed. And here's the 12mm balsa leading edge added.

That's it for today. Hope to post more pictures and maybe catch up to where I'm up to tomorrow.     Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:48:31 Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:49:00

And another view There is space to add a 6mm facing to the front of the cowl, still leaving 3mm gap to the prop driver Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:48:47

Cowl shape just about there. Still a bit more work to do on it but its taking shape.

Cowl partly made

Engine fitted back in to help with cowl measurements. Stringers in cowl slots. Accurately aligned by tacking with cyano.

The cowl will slide into the 3mm gap - like this.

Close up it looks like this

While the wings drying, lets do the cowl Triple laminated lite ply strips made up and glued to the engine box with a 3mm gap.

Leading edge trimmed and 12mm balsa strip added

When dry, a razer saw blade (without the handle) was used to separate the aeleron and flaps from the wing using the small gaps as a guide. Note that the end facing is already in place on the released control surfaces. The designer recommends using a band saw for this. I didn't for 2 reasons 1. I only have a scroll saw. 2. I'm not that brave Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:34:31

Top trailing edge sheeted taped, clamped and weighted- again there is a 1mm or so gap between sheeting and rear spar. Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:29:33

Note the extra short rib with a samll gap between the proper ring and the small pen mark on the sheet to mark the position of the gap between them. This gap, and the 1mm gap between the trailing edge sheeting and spar will later be used to guide a saw blade to form the aelerons and flaps. Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:27:05

This is where I calculate that the wing bolts will be. Hopefully, the hole I drill will pass straight through the centre of these blocks

Just a bit more work on the wings. The odd looking trailing edge is sheeted, leaving a gap of 1mm or so between the sheet and the spruce spar.

The Hitec with the long arms will be for the rudder. The other one will be for the tow release (if I decide to use it as a tug).

Thought better of it and decided to go for full length pull-pull system with the servo mounted in the cabin. Edited By Gary Manuel on 08/04/2014 23:17:50

I did think about putting it here instead and having a long wire pull / pull rudder control

The designer recommends setting this servo box into the fuselage top here. The triangle behind is the tail fin strake. The idea is that the servo fits into the box, with the servo arms just clear of the tail. The strake is then just tacked on over the top of the servo arms, with a small slot cut into it to give clearance. Problem is that if you ever need to get to the servo, you need to take the strake off first. I don't like this.

cabin area cleaned up a bit. I will fill / sand the joins later.

The hatch tongue locates under the front and is held in by two magnets at the rear. I'll add a fake aerial or something to act as a handle later.