Mike Bell
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Everything posted by Mike Bell
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Surely the noise of an engine can only bring them happiness and joy into another lock down day
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Hi Martin Always good to see different takes on assembly methods, I know what you mean about the ribs at the trailing edge, these used to drive me mad when building combat wings this way, but once glued and filleted they are up to the job. I think it may be wise to add some kind of brace across the trailing edge spruce strip where you cut it in the middle. This is effectively one of the spars so it's integrity could be quite important.. Mike
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Hi Maxg, I think weight saving is a likely reason, long tail moment and all that. I think it is also designed such that the film is attached at the LE, TE and centre sheet but above the ribs so that the ribs don't show. I daresay it will make for a nice smooth finish, I'll find out soon. I finally decided to glue the tail to the fuz before covering so I can get the triangular fin fillets in place and blended, but I can leave the fin off until the covering is done. Fillets roughly in place....... ......and faired in. Spent the last couple of days sanding, applying sanding sealer, sanding again etc. Was pretty pleased with the progress until I spotted my deliberate mistake. I forgot to fit the elevator joiner wire before finishing the fillets etc
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Hi Chris, you could just build a small frame around the servo to stick the film to, similar to below.
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Thanks for the pics Pete. Your z bend shock absorber for the nose leg push rod is a good point. I'm sure you used to be able to get servo savers for car steering servos, I might even still have one in the loft.
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My only regret with the decking is not weighing it before shaping. I was worried it would be a bit heavy but after coarse shaping and hollowing before gluing to the fuz it weighed 2 and one eighth of an ounce. Access to the tank is pretty good without having to cut a hatch and the rx will be mounted high up so shouldn't get fuel soaked if the worst happens. I got the Oracover yesterday so now I need to decide on the final scheme. Always the hardest bit of most builds.
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Haven't posted for a while but I have done bits and bobs including loads of shaping and sanding. Every time I sand the front of the fuz I decide I should take a bit more off the corners and end up sanding some more. I have also been pondering how to tackle the tail and fin assembly. Ideally I would like to cover separately the assemble but to get fairings and everything to blend in I really need to assemble and fettle which means a trickier covering job. So, in true tradition when faced with a decision, put it off and build another plane. I'm now most of the way through an Aero-Naut Pepper but I have a decision to make on that one as well so..... back to the Taurus. Servo mounting sorted for the steerable nose leg. I should be able to cover most of the servo to be less conspicuous. The hatch it's mounted in will be screwed in place to allow access. I cut the ailerons out of 3/8 balsa (they aren't included in the parts set for some reason) and when I started shaping them look what happened to one of them. There must have been a lot of internal stress in that tree. It started out flat and took the banana shape when I planed the section. I'll try the steamer before I bin it. Above the ailerons is the tail plane which is having fin fillets fitted before shaping. I'm still putting the decision off.
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So, the nose leg was fairly simple. A bit of rearranging with the suspension spring position allowed the top mount to be moved down out of the way of the engine. The leg is actually too long so I made another on the SLEC wire bender I had a rethink about the push rods for rudder and elevator. The engine is going to be heavier than the original so the model is likely to be nose heavy. That being the case I'm going to mount mini servos in the back of the fuz. This allows me to glue the top deck in place and complete the front end doublers. I got the wing joined too. There are no centre section braces shown on the plan but I decided to embed some carbon strip into the spars. They are half inch square at the centre section so there is plenty of meat to cut into. The picture shows the carbon strip prior to cutting the slot. There is a similar but shorter one embedded into the upper side as well.
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Been busy planing and hollowing. I don't suppose the hollowing out will make much difference weight wise but it is necessary at the front to allow the fuel tank to sit high enough. I'll tidy the hollowed bit out before fuel proofing and I won't glue the top deck on until the push rods are inserted. I think the nose leg issue is sorted, more later.
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Made up a pair of nut plates to fit to the underside of the engine bearers. These are 4mm steel with holes threaded M3. I was quite pleased when all the holes lined up nicely. The third hole is for a self tapper to help keep the plate in place. It will be epoxied as well. Here it is epoxied in place and the remaining side doubler glued in place. There is still space to add lock nuts as well if required. I was feeling quite please with this.......then I realized that the engine fouls the nose leg installation . I can't move the engine forward now, and don't want to anyway, so I'll have to look at installing the nose leg on the other side of the firewall. Have to think about that one.
