dirk tinck

Hi Chris ,the cloth i used on the frames was 225gr in total. 1x25 and 2x100gr

Hi Chris , it was great thanks ! I also visited my sis in Spain this weekend. I could be wrong but i think i saw you driving on the ring of Brussels when i drove back from Charleroi airport (Sunday , round 15 h) ...Could be wrong too...Either way ,i saw it too late to check. PS , feel free to drop in anytime ! Cheers , Dirk.

Hello again ! Sorry it took a while to post but work has been crazy lately... After a very relaxing vacation , i got back to work on the fouga build , finished all the flap and aileron hinges as well as the horns and opened up the servo and retract wells. Next task is fitting the retracts and wheels so that i can mesure the height of the plane , standing on its wheels. This is essential for the fitting of the nose retract later. So ! Retracts !! Luckily the retract mounting plates are in the right spot , just where i wanted them to be ! Fitting was easy but i had to be sure that , in this position , there is enough room to fit the gear doors (and their hinges) I made some test hinges out of aluminium sheet and found out that this is going to take some time to make it work !! After a few days i was happy with the test pieces. The hinge parts will be refined later. Now that i know everything can be fitted , i will secure the retracts to their mounting plates and mesure the height under the wing.

Thanks David !

Hi all ! After getting the aileron halves free from their moulds , i made up the internals to support the horn , hinge tube , additional hinge and side reinforcements The second foto shows the gap in the hinge tube to accept the third hinge point Closing the two halves is always very satisfying as it gives you a new part ! Drilling the holes for the hinge tubes in the wing is very time consuming as it determens the position of the aileron. I decided , when i designed the wings , that the aileron would need a third hinge point close to the horn. The position is provided in the wing. I made a support out of polyester board , dubbled up and fitted it in the wing and aileron. This system leaves a gap in the aileron but is often seen with hidden hinges. This was the last post before my vacation ! Happy holidays !! See you !!😎

Hi all , I decided to do a few more steps before the holidays ,plenty of time to prepair the gliders. I opened up the holes for the wing tube (in the fuselage )and fitted the wings fore some foto's. Its starting to look like a plane !! Sorry for the messy background , my garden plans are on hold due to refused permits , more time for airplanes ! I started the second flap and finished it thesame night , i'm getting swift in this ! Tomorrow i'll do the fitting in the wing , and maybe startup the aileron ?? See you !!

As you probably already got an idea of how to hinge the flaps and ailerons ?? yes ,with a hinge pin over the total lenght , one for flaps , one for ailerons. The only (and major) problem is : drilling the holes for the hinge tubes in the wing... I had to think this one over !! Special jobs require special tools , so i made a 60cm drill dia 5mm.(!) the first hole , on the inner side of the wing was easy : drilling from the outside To drill the second hole , i made a template on the first hole and used this to guide the long drill Exelent result ! Great step forward wich gives me peace of mind as i didn't know this hinge system would work when i made the wing plugs ! Next few weeks i have to prepair my gliders for a holiday in Switzerland !! Happy holidays !!

Hi all ! Finally found some time to close the first flap ! After glueing the horn , the hinge tube , and the balsa side reinforcements in , i spreaded some thickened resin over the edges and closed the two halves. I closed them ''in hand'' and not in the mould to make sure the edges corresponded 100%. Before i make the other five , i'll fit it in the wing and arrange the hinges.

Hi all ! Thanks for the reply's all ! It keeps me going !! The second wing is a fact and it's looking good ! I will test fit them on the fuse and do a bench flight later . That will be more interesting than just another wing to show ! In the mean time , i started to free the flaps and ailerons out of their mould. I'm starting with the right inner flap , and the first thing to do is fitting the hinge tube . Second is making the horn . I made a cardboard template before i copy it on polyesterboard. Tomorrow , after fitting the side reinforcements , i can close this one ! Five more to go !

Hello all ! First ,with a heavy heart , i need to express my condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Alex whitacker who sudden past away just now ...Even though we weren't friends for years i will miss this man.Whenever i was in the UK for flying or a show , he always came to me to say hi ! Once , i was driving to The Orme with no place to stay for the night , he offered me one .I'm very sorry now i didn't take that offer...It would have been a chance to get to now better ''our'' fotographer ALEX'' AL'' WHITACKER !! Bleu skies , calm waters and the perfect light would be the perfect reward for him. RIP Alex , I'll never forget you. Life goes on as they say so here's the report of glueing the first two wingshells together: I cleaned up the mould halves and the wingshells, gave them a coat of wax and a thin coat of pva to prevent the exess glue sticking to them. Pushed the shells back into their mould and blowed everything dustfree with compressed air ,ready to glue ! I made up 80 gr epoxy resin mixed with 40 gr hardener and a lot of cotton flakes and microballoons to get a non dripping glue and spreaded it with a tipless candy bag over the ribs and every touching point. Nothing left to do then closing the moulds and bolt them together. There is nothing more you can do now ,not even check the fit ,hate it !! After a night curing i opened the coffin again to find a perfect half fouga wing !After a good clean up i'm pleased with the result ! It weighed in at 1286 gr where i expected round 1500gr. clean seams too ! enjoy ! See you later for the second wing !

Sorry guys , something came up that kept me from the next step...Well , in a build like this , there is always something coming up !! I found that the space where the flaps and ailerons are coming needed some extra attention. The wings are ''open'' at the back to allow a very small gap between wing and moving parts. this means that the size of the woodwork in this area is crucial for a perfect fit. Anyways its fixed now and i ''dry''fitted the two wings (shells taped together )onto a alu joiner and the fit is perfect ! the trailing edge parts all line up in a straight line (no dihedral )exept for the '' build in'' washout Another small step but i'll sleep better now ! Tomorrow is cleaning up day , and no promisses now !!

Hi Danny , That's exactly what i did ! Great minds think thesame !

Note : the wiring tubes are made from plastic drinking straws taped together. Not the best solution as epoxy does not bind with them !! Neither does cyano ! Mayby paper straws are better but they don't slide in to one another...and are heavyer !

Hi all ! Another month has passed and the wing shells are about to being closed ! Sinds the last post i installed the wiring for servos , lighting , and retracts. This wing is ready to be closed after i dry-fitted the top shell (out of the mould). Before glueing the two halves together , i prepaired the second wing , thesame way , and made copies of all the parts needed for future wings. The second wing (R) I used some tape to protect the wiring from epoxy when closing the shells. The last test , to see if the ribs dont touch the top shell , or the gap between ribs and shell isn't too big (to much glue ),is done by placing a small plasticine ball between ribs and shell ,before dry fitting the top shell (in the mould ). After closing ,bolting together, and seperating the moulds again ,you can see how much the plasticine ball is crushed. In this case , the ball is reduced to aprox. 1mm , just fine !! This is done in several spots , just to be sure . Touching ribs make the wing surface bumpy ! Too much glue is ballast !! That's all for today , tomorrow is closing time !!

Hi all ! Thanks for the tip Ron ! Not much progress it seems but i'm going as fast as i can... This rib-fitting-reinforcing-designing the wing interior takes forever ! Most of it is now ready to copy as i want to keep the originals for the next wings. Most of the parts are interlocking wich means i made most of the parts twice !First without tabs to check the fit and then WITH the tabs ! Here's the result so far : Still left to do is the routing of the servo cables , add sheer webs , anti rotation pins and others... Stay tuned if you're not bored yet !?

Checked out the speedbrakes for the rbc kit and it looks very nice but my span is 2m 70 so too small...I'll try to find a 3D enthousiast to enlarge them Thanks for the info ! Meanwhile prepped the speedbrakes-bay and the aileron servo tray

The speed brakes are on the to do list and the room for them is prepaired . However it's possible i will add them after the first flights .Do you have a link for the 3D printed ones?Thanks ! Dirk.

Yes , the weight, allways the enemy! I will be happy with anything under 12kg . With the motor now in the fan i will have arround 10kg of thrust. I saw the fouga of Jörg Rehm on YouTube weighing in at 17kg with 30cm more span and it fly's perfect. Hé has the stronger motor in thesame fan but then the ampèrage goes through the roof !!(200 amps)

Hi H ! It will be powered with a single Schubeler 128mm fan on 12 or 14 s

So , wingribs ! How can you make wingribs for a moulded wing ?!?! There's no way you can mesure it with normal tools . You could close up the two shells , glue them together and cut the wing up in pieces at the location where you want a rib but that's to much work lost. To transfer the inside shape of a rib to wood or paper , i use a special comb , often used to transfer cutting lines on floor tiles It prooves to be very accurate and ideal for the job. You can only transfer one side at a time (upper and lower shell )and the bring the two lines together on paper. This is now done for every rib i want (10pieces) The paper ribs are then cut out and glued onto the wood. I used poplar ply 4mm wich is light but not as strong as birch ply. Birch is very hard to get here and the price is going trough the roof !! The wood is then cut with my old (1997) bandsaw The rbs cut this way fit extreme well with very little sanding needed ! After the fit , i made the holes for the tube and prepaired a spar for the outer part of the wing. wheather this is all strong enough , i have to guess and would be happy with comment of any kind ! Tomorrow i'll prepaire the space for the wing air brakes aileron servo , and wing tip tube. I hope these ribs will fit the second wing so i don't have to go through all this again !That will prove that the wings are symetric to one another !

Hi all ! The wing shells are done now as are the twelve , yes twelve shells for ailerons and flaps ! Next thing to do is to make the internal construction to support the wing tube , retracts , servos , hinges... To support a wing tube , we need ...a wing tube ! I made it myself arround the wing joiner tube , the same way i made the rudder tubes. First , you wrap a layer of plastic arround the joiner to prevent the tube sticking to the joiner. Next comes a glass cloth tube over the plastic , then all you have to do is to bring on the resin and soak the fabric , done. To get the"sock" nice arround the the joiner , jou have to pull it straight and let dry. Next days (weeks) i'll be cutting wood to make ribs and reinforcments

Hi all ! The third wing shell is in the bag !! One more to go...tomorrow

Hi all ! I jumped in this mad challenge and had a lot of fun ! The model was build whitin the time limit , but for finishing i needed another 48 h i think ! (wich was allowed i believe ) The paint was still sticky when we got on the Orme ! All the hard and nerve wrecking work was forgotten when i saw her take the skies ! Unexpected (draggy wing with the inlets closed ) she flew extreme well !! Big thanks to the PSSA for organizing the event and everyone that helped throwing her off the cliffs and for sorting out the CG problems at the fist attempt to fly her... I had a really good time with some good friends !! Video's on my FB page

Hi guy's ! Sorry for not posting anything for a month , but i was really , really busy ! I put the fouga build on hold for some 2 or 3 weeks to take part on the 48 h build with the PSSA gang. It was a total succes and flew very well last weekend on the Orme in Wales ! Thanks Phil Cooke for the foto's ! To think it was just an insulation sheet 3 weeks ago !! The airframe was built in about 48 h but the finishing took just as much time i think...For the ones who do not recognize the model , it's a F2H-2 Navy Banshee from the fifties ! That's all behind us now so i can return to the shop and go on with the fouga wings ! After painting the moulds for the wing shells and ailerons and flaps , everything is ready to start laminating. see you in a couple of day's !!

Finally i can start making the wings ! For me , the most important parts of the airframe ! Got the wing moulds from under the dust and gave them a good clean-up . I removed all the sharp edges not to damage the vacuum bag. As you can see , the shape of the moulds on the backside , is too complicate to keep the vacuum bag free from damage. For this reason i made foam blocks to fill the space between the reinforcements. The blocks are made from 2K liquid foam (PU-foam)and cut to mesure after. At this time i also taped some magnets in place to hold down the airex later For more vacuum bag protection , sharp edges are taped. The moulds are now ready to be waxed and protected with pva demoulding film. Stay tuned the next days , it will be interesting !