EarlyBird

It has been a long time since I built a kit and the Mascot has been mentioned a view times on here, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and therefore bought the kit from DB sport and scale. This will be electric as I have the power train in stock. Upon opening the box I noticed the wing bands, which I don't like, so a few changes are going to be made to bring the design up to date with modern materials and methods. Would anyone else like to join in , please do as I do like to have company. Steve

As I thought thinking time of course has caused problems. This was going to be the donor plane. Having looked at the issues with this plane I decided to fix this up. I will use some of the parts, particularly the undercarriage, from the mighty barn stormer. Steve

Hi Jonathan, It will be a standard eight ounce tank with a petrol conversion. This is what I am using at the moment but I do have a 10 ounce tank however the way I fly the smaller tank will last for one hour flying time. I am quite happy to execute a couple of circuits and a successful landing and my day will be done. Steve

With the engine mount bolted in next is the fuel tank positioning. A bit of thinking time is required, unfortunately. Steve

Looks good with the engine in place. Steve

With 1/16 shim With 3/32 shim The 3/32 has my vote. Conveniently I can measure the offset at 2 degrees. Steve

Spoke too soon because on offering up the engine it looks like there is three and a half degrees of right offset. I was aiming for 2 degrees or two and a half degrees at the most. The firewall is not yet glued so I will shim it to reduce the offset. Steve

With the tail all glued up it's time to turn the model in the jig and test fit the firewall. It all looks okay so far. Steve

With the two sides joined it is now time for the fuselage jig. All of the cross members have been made and test fitted. As usual setting up the jig took longer than the rest of the process. Next is glue time again. Steve

The undercarriage mounting plates was the obvious choice. This and the former were glued in place making sure that the former were kept vertical. Once dried the second former was glued and the second side was added. I use a right angle at the tail to make sure that the two sides were in line if not I made adjustments so that they were in line. I must apologise for not taking more pictures of the process but I got carried away by a burst of enthusiasm. Steve

...... Means something I am led to believe but what no one seems to explain. Maybe @Rich Griffcould take this opportunity and enlighten us all, well me at least.

Thanks guys but weight is not something I had a problem with, until now and Christmas doesn't help with all the fattening treats. A new firewall has been made to suit the new location, the slots have all been cut in the ply doublers which have now been glued in place. Before I assemble the two sides I need to work out anything that will be easier to glue in place at this stage. I am thinking of servo tray and tank tray. Also I could make the undercarriage mounting plates. As with many designs there is a section of the fuselage that is parallel and I like to make any components that will hold the relevant formers at right angles, just makes life easier when trying to keep the right angles during the gluing process. Steve

Oh dear me after some thought I remember that I made exactly the same mistake with the Ohmen in that following suggestion that the model would be nose heavy I put the servos in the rear and reduced the length of the nose and that turned out to be a big mistake which I was about to repeat. Both sides have now met each other for the first trial fit. So that I can mark up the positions of the slots for the firewall. I can then cut them out prior to gluing them on, it's easier that way. Steve

That raised a smile John, remember this? These were originally in the tale of my giant stick and as advised, possibly by you, I moved them from the tail and installed in the fuselage exactly as you are now advising me and with the giant stick I was able to remove one pound of lead from under the engine. Although I like making mistakes because that's the way I learn it looks like I've already learned this lesson.🤣 Yes one of these servos in the tail would equate to something like 250 grams of weight at the front and obviously for two five hundred grams putting it this way makes it look a totally ridiculous idea. Back to the drawing board for me I think. Thanks everyone for your advice and you've probably just saved one model, well done. Steve

Both servos will fit beneath the tailplane. Just. Each servo weights 56 grams which should counter balance the added weight of the petrol engine, maybe too much though. Steve