Ady Hayward

Hi Jon, The engine nacelles have more than enough room for tanks etc. The design is just electric for now but with very little extra work could take ic engines for sure. The bays would need a fair amount of fuel proofer though. Adrian

Hi All, I’ve worked on a few bits and pieces left over before getting started on the engine mountings/ Nacelles. First was the Bottom decking where the foam/veneer section was glued to the fuselage and taped down until set then sanded to the fuselage profile. Next was the rudder to make it look more scale like and this was by running two strips of triangular balsa each side of the fin trailing edge so that the rudder leading edge radius rotates nicely within and gives that nice socket type join between fin and rudder. The picture also shows the closed loop tubes and rudder horn made from an X shape servo arm let into the rudder leading edge. The ¼” (6mm) plywood rear wing fixing was glued into the rear fuselage against the former and two support pieces were fixed in place each side. This was set so that the plate was parallel to the lower wing surface so that the rear wing bolt washer and head sits flat to the wing. The wing was then offered to the fuselage and aligned so it was straight and the rear fixing point was drilled through the wing perpendicular to the lower wing surface using a small drill to make a pilot hole. As the hole was on the centre line of the plate I then drilled the plate to accept a M6 T nut which was fixed in place using a steel M6 screw and penny washers. The hole in the wing trailing edge was drilled 6.5mm and the fit checked with a nylon M6x60 screw. Whilst the wing was in position the two front mounting points were drilled through to mark the positions on the wing leading edges. These points were drilled through the leading edge when the wing was off the fuselage. The two locating dowels were glued into the leading edge and the wing fixed back onto the fuselage so that the 15 minute epoxy would cure with the dowels in their correct positions. Needless to say all traces of surplus epoxy should be removed before refitting the wing. The nacelle took a bit of time to get a paper template to fit around the formers but when it was completed the ply shell was cut to shape and glued to the nacelle frame. The result looks nice with plenty of room for Lipos, ESC etc. I left plenty of overhang on each side to fix stiffeners and hinges for access hatches as necessary further on into the build. Adrian