Gordon McConnell

Thanks Paul. ??

For the flaps gap with the wing, there is no gap on the top surface ( or bottom surface at hinges) as the clever designer (and his little helpers) have shaped the flap LE and hinge geometry to have a constant gap of zero mm during the 55 deg of travel??. Very smart, just like the real thing. I am wondering if the covering will cause the flap to foul the wing skin. We will see!

Jonathan, I had to cut Rib 2 as per Paul's post on the subject. The cut-out in the laser cut Rib 2 does not allow the flap to be installed as the torque shaft clashes with the rib. I extended the cut-out rearwards just enough to to be able to juggle the flap into position. Once I knew I could get the flap positioned and how wide the cut-out needed to be, I made a re-inforcing plate from 2mm ply to glue onto rib 2 to stiffen up around the cut-out.

Richard, Thanks very much for the insight on mounting the sound system. I have had a look at mounting it in the rear fuselage just aft of the wing and there is certainly enough room to fit the transducer on a 4” by 4” depron sheet replacing the balsa lower skin. I plan to wait to determine the CG location before making the final decision on location. Will pm you on the mesh. Meantime, getting on with the fuselage build, installing the instrument panel and figuring out how to fit the brave pilot.

Paul, very sensible advice, thank you. The transducer is quite heavy (I must weigh it) and will certainly move the CG forward if I instal it in the front fuselage. I will follow your advice and make provision for the sound system in the front and rear fuselage as retro-fit possibilities. Better to keep the options open until I find the likely CG location!

I am working on completing the nose section and considering how to instal the sound system. I am planning to mount the transducer (speaker) on a 2mm depron sheet. This will be screwed or bonded onto the lower side members which attach the bottom skin on the forward fuselage, just after the cowling. I am wondering what diameter of hole to cut in the bottom skin to allow the sound to exit. Does it need to be the same diameter as the transducer or larger. Will it work if the hole is covered in some sort of material similar to hi-fi speaker? Any advice very welcome.

Cool models Alan! You have been busy!

Alan, I found the same thing. Rather than touch the ply doubler, I rebated the 12mm cowl rail to allow it to sit down to the correct height and engage with the front former notch. Seems to have worked out ok. Gordon

Hi Jon, I removed the U/C legs from the retract units with the unit extended. The wire is held in by two grub screws in the side of the retract block that swivels to retract the gear. Don't try to bend the wire with it installed in the retract unit or worse, in the wing! You will cause some damage that way. Once the wire is out (see Paul's photo above) you can grip the end in a vice and gently bend the wire by hand in the plane of the spring loop to realign it. I tried to centralise the leg in the wheel bay. I did not have to bend mine very much to get it sitting perfectly. You then insert it back in the retract unit and tighten up the grub screws. Some trial and error might be needed to get it just right. My trailing edge is not as neat as Eric's one. The upper and lower skins are overlapped on mine which make the trailing edge a little thicker. Maybe more robust to damage but there will be no performance penalty at this scale! Hope that helps. Gordon

Paul, Great! Thanks for the photos. I wondered how the panel would fit, now it’s clear that cutting the support back and going through the ‘floor’ will do the job. I like the colour scheme on your B model. Paint and weathering looks excellent. I have a lot to do before attempting the covering and painting. Thanks again.

This time with the photos!This

I am at the stage of fitting to front fuselage planking and the cockpit arch. I am unsure how to configure the coaming arch and the instrument panel wooden part to suit Glynns instrument panel supplied with the kit. Any advice would be much appreciated. No doubt I am missing something simple! IMG_8702.HEICIMG_8701.HEIC

Good advice Gary. It is always better to design in some redundancy to prevent a single failure causing a catastrophic event. Thanks.

Looks terrific Paul. Excellent finish and a good choice of colour scheme. You and Eric are setting the standard! I have installed the flap servos in the same orientation to avoid having to reverse one of them. I will be using 22AWG wire but not aware of what the current limit is for this gauge.

Combining the power lines was in fact my original question. Is there any downside to combining them all on one wire from the receiver?

Graham, Thanks very much for the answer. When I realised that I had 5 servo connections to make through the connector, I had thought of buying a 15-pin connector. However, I had already bought a bag of 9-pin plugs and sockets from RS! So I will likely use two of the 9-pin D-sub connectors. It adds weight unfortunately.

Re previous post: there are actual the U/C servos to add with there Y lead so 5 separate servo connections. It looks like I will have to use 2 D-sun connectors after all!

Paul, I have decided to follow you and use a D-sub connector to provide the interface with the wing. I think you have only 3 servo connections in the 9 pin connector. Presumably you have a Y lead for the flap servos. I would like to be able to connect the two flap servos (installed as on your model) separately to the receiver so that I have the facility of servo reversing and fine tuning the throws on the servos to adjust for any mismatch in the linkage geometry. I was thinking of using a common pin for the servo supplies so that I could get 4 servo connections on the 9 pin. Would you see a problem with this? Alternatively I could use 2 D-sub connectors. Gordon

Nice work Eric. Looking very good with the weathering. Sadly we seem to have lost some posts on the subject during the transistion to the new site. Only one foot making an appearance?

Woops!!!! Don’t know how that happened!! Sorry guys.

Posted by Eric Robson on 30/01/2021 21:10:20: Gordon, I tried some laminating film on the elevator and the radiator scoop but did not do any more due to being unhappy with the scoop .it kept wrinkling so I used brown paper. I have primered the tail end today and the elevator is far better than the paper covering. I will persevere with it on my next build . Richard , I am hearing to many saab stories lately. Eric, thanks for sharing. I am really undecided on the covering. I think I might find the brown paper easier than the laminating film. I do have some white Solartex which I could use but it may be too heavy. All my past models have been Solarfilm or Solartex. Got some time to think about further - still working on the wings! 😄😄

Posted by Eric Robson on 30/01/2021 21:10:20: Gordon, I tried some laminating film on the elevator and the radiator scoop but did not do any more due to being unhappy with the scoop .it kept wrinkling so I used brown paper. I have primered the tail end today and the elevator is far better than the paper covering. I will persevere with it on my next build . Richard , I am hearing to many saab stories lately. Eric, thanks for sharing. I am really undecided on the covering. I think I might find the brown paper easier than the laminating film. I do have some white Solartex which I could use but it may be too heavy. All my past models have been Solarfilm or Solartex. Got some time to think about further - still working on the wings! 😄😄

Posted by Eric Robson on 30/01/2021 21:10:20: Gordon, I tried some laminating film on the elevator and the radiator scoop but did not do any more due to being unhappy with the scoop .it kept wrinkling so I used brown paper. I have primered the tail end today and the elevator is far better than the paper covering. I will persevere with it on my next build . Richard , I am hearing to many saab stories lately. Eric, thanks for sharing. I am really undecided on the covering. I think I might find the brown paper easier than the laminating film. I do have some white Solartex which I could use but it may be too heavy. All my past models have been Solarfilm or Solartex. Got some time to think about further - still working on the wings! 😄😄

Posted by Eric Robson on 30/01/2021 21:10:20: Gordon, I tried some laminating film on the elevator and the radiator scoop but did not do any more due to being unhappy with the scoop .it kept wrinkling so I used brown paper. I have primered the tail end today and the elevator is far better than the paper covering. I will persevere with it on my next build . Richard , I am hearing to many saab stories lately. Eric, thanks for sharing. I am really undecided on the covering. I think I might find the brown paper easier than the laminating film. I do have some white Solartex which I could use but it may be too heavy. All my past models have been Solarfilm or Solartex. Got some time to think about further - still working on the wings! 😄😄

Posted by Eric Robson on 30/01/2021 21:10:20: Gordon, I tried some laminating film on the elevator and the radiator scoop but did not do any more due to being unhappy with the scoop .it kept wrinkling so I used brown paper. I have primered the tail end today and the elevator is far better than the paper covering. I will persevere with it on my next build . Richard , I am hearing to many saab stories lately. Eric, thanks for sharing. I am really undecided on the covering. I think I might find the brown paper easier than the laminating film. I do have some white Solartex which I could use but it may be too heavy. All my past models have been Solarfilm or Solartex. Got some time to think about further - still working on the wings! 😄😄