Don't just stand there, get one up!

[Martin McIntosh]

Hi Danny, yes I am going to Greenacres Fri. evening after a rapid repair of the Hurri canopy and a very bent oleo which I had not noticed. Van full of models again!

My Hurri uses just ali doors which are very successful being clamped with Terry clips flexibly held to the leg with Uhu Por which allows a lot of `give` when retracted and eliminates landing damage. See you and all of the other new and old friends there.

 

Martin

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Martin, I look forward to catching up tomorrow, not sure when i will make it over.

 

Have trimmed the glass fibre away from the lith outer skins. Had a minor problem in that I glassed over the ink on the inside of the alloy on one door. Needles to say it seperated almost as if I had planned it. So a quick smear of Gorilla glue restored harmony in the workshop.

I then made up some inner sections from blue foam, I looked up blue foam and couldn't add it as my newest friend

Once the foam was gently sanded to the same curve as the outer skins, they were epoxied and clamped

I then sanded the insides to the right sort of thickness. The hole near the top is to allow the allen bolt to pass through should I need to get the oleo of, or more likely to tighten it back up

The outside was given a light sand to key it a little bit

And this is the fit on the wing. I am applying a little pressure to lign it up but not much. If the door takes too much to make it lie flat, then it may restrict the gear from locking up.

 

Tally Ho!

[Tim Mackey]

Danny - how will you fix the covers to the legs - I made up some aluminium fixing blocks for the ones on my SA Spitfire, and they have held up well.

Also, does the foam fit neatly inside the perimeter of the wheel well. If so, will they not possibly foul if the leg gets ever so slightly misaligned on rough terrain /heavy landing.

( not that you land rough of course )

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Tim I will give the insides a coat of resin just to toughen them a little. I will attach them with discrete dollops of silicone sealant. That way they are removable either by me or Terra firma

Tally ho! Oh meant to say there is a clearance between the inner sections and the wells. You are quite right any bending of the oleo or piano joiner and they could snag. my models do tend to be a little fragile its the price I pay

Edited By Danny Fenton on 29/07/2011 18:47:24

[Tim Mackey]

Ah, better idea than mine me thinks - and no screws showing either.

[Dusty]

So many ways to skin a Spit aint there? A nice method Dan, Tim did your method add a significant ammount of weight?

 

Its nice to be back online again!

 

Phil sells/used to some gear door clips that clip onto oleos?

[Tim Mackey]

Hi again Dusty

Added a few grams thats all - so not significant at all - I used lithoplate to make the covers.

The bird has ended up a bit on the lardy side, but thats down to me adding boys toys like the flashing guns, landing lights, decent quality springairs, and onboard glo and battery etc. Thats not to mention the new paintcoat I gave it too. Doesnt affect performance on the .91 4t engine she still flys superbly.

Sorry Danny, hijack alert

[Danny Fenton]

Very nice Tim as you say many ways to skin a Spit. glad to have you join in
Cheers
Danny

[Tim Mackey]

Not even in the same league as you Danny

[Steve Adams]

Wow!!

 

Danny the attention to detail on your spit is simply awe inspiring! Bet you spent more hours on the finish than building it? Its that good it would make a good museum piece along side of the full size,if it still exists that is.I would be to scared myself to fly it,even though thats where iit belongs!

[Danny Fenton]

Tim yours gets flown, and that's how it should be, horses for courses

Hi Steve, thx for the comments, you are very kind but if you saw it in the flesh its not that good, all smoke and mirrors honestly

But I am chuffed with it, and your comments are very much appreciated, keeps me going.

I think there is as much in the finishing as in the building of the airframe. And we haven't finished yet. We still have exhausts to make, more stencils and then a walkway and weathering before we can get the bike clips out....... Still trying to find a venue for the maiden

Tally Ho!

[Tim Mackey]

How about chucking it off the Orme?

[Danny Fenton]

LOLOLOLOL that would be fine until it came to landing the thing.......

[Dusty]

Hi Danny,

As promised here are some pics of the DBSportandscale Spit Mk1a. Its taken me 3 months to get to this stage, alot more work to do! Motor is a Hacker A60-18M, will use a APC 21x13WE prop first and see how she flies, my mate has a similar motor and is making some moulds for 3 blade carbon props so we will see how they come out and perform.

I got my retracts custom made from FighterAces, I made my own wheel covers in the end .

Plenty of room for 10s/12s, the sound system amplifier fitted just about the esc, the esc is mounted flat to the firewall between the motor mount. I only managed to fit one speaker in the cowl, its just under the motor (I will get some better pics) however I am trying to think of where to fit the second speaker, any idea's? Problem with a narrow cowling!!

Maybe the second speaker could squeeze in the cockpit? Instrument panel is the 1/5th scale from Mick Reeves, had to trim it down as the DB Spit is 1/5.4 (17.5%) but it works for me! Notice the brass railing for the a functional sliding canopy.

Rudder and elevator trim tabs, no control horns on this model, the elevator control horn is central inside the fuselage. Rudder is pull/pull controlled, also the nav light on the tail is functional.

 

Glad this has got a 2 peice wing!! The weight before glassing with everything fitted was 7.5kg, yet to weigh again, but I expect the flying weight tobe between 10-11kg when complete.

 

Cheers

 

Dusty

[Danny Fenton]

Wow Dusty that looks fabulous. That's really good going to get so much done in just three months too, well done.

 

I look forward to seeing it in paint and hearing about the test flight.

 

Have you decided on a scheme? Cannot remember if you said

 

Cheers

Danny

[Dusty]

Hi Danny thanks,

 

Another guy had his DB Spit flying within 3 months, the kit is very good and comes together fast. The hardest part I found was making the wing fairings, managed to get one perfect and the other is about 2mm higher so I have had to fill the gap with some balsa.

 

Anyway re. the soun system; is it ok to discuss it on the thread or would you prefer another method? I need to scratch your brain!

 

I will probably finnish her off as JZ-E (AR213) as I read this is the only flying Mk1a in the world? Still light years away from finnishing off, you know, filler, sand, filler, sand, that bit is not perect so sand some more!! About 180 or so man hours to this stage...

 

Cheers

 

Dusty

[Tim Mackey]

Would the speakers fit in the wing underside - thats where I fancy trying to fit them next time I use my sound system.

Looks great Dusty

[Danny Fenton]

Hi Dusty, I have no problems about chatting about sound systems on this thread, I am with Tim, the wings have to be the best place. John Ranson on his 83" electric BT Spit placed a 4" speaker under each radiator (MkIX Twin radiators) and then another 8" in the centre section. Phil Clark did likewise when he did a 1/4 scale electric MkI, that was also modelled on AR213, which as you know is perfectly restored, wont need any weathering on that one

How are you allowing the sound out of the cowl, lots of holes? Mesh?

 

Cheers

Danny

 

[Dusty]

Thanks Tim,

 

I was wanting to fit the speakers into the wing, however I avoided this idea when construction began, the way the wing was built involved rib braces to achieve the washout at the wing tip, I figured if I cut holes into the wing this would 1. cut the braces and have a weak and bent wing 2. the wings are very heavy as is, even if the speakers did fit in the wing they would be behind the c of g 3. obstruct the in housed control linkages etc.

 

I will get some pics and show you, if thats ok with Danny?

 

Cheers

[Danny Fenton]

Absolutely, will be great to see. As you know that's where the build times suddenly grow.... Deviate from the plan lord knows how much time I lost hiding everything
Cheers
Danny

[Dusty]

Hi Danny,

 

Thanks mate, I put the plans away a while ago after constructing the skeleton of the wings and airframe, noted the c of g and control movements and now all that is left is to my hearts content?

 

Ok so this is one of the 10cm speakers mounted to the cowl, there is no gap between the speaker and the inside of the cowl, I have filled this area in, the speaker is mounted to the cowl in esance!

 

Opened up the exhaust stacks to let air and sound out? The air bit I know will work as for the sound I am a virgin on this matter!

 

An inside view of the exhaust outlets

 

Another shot of the underside of the cowl from spinner towards tail, I just dont know if one speaker will hack it?

[Dusty]

Ok so proposed idea, any other ideas or education would be appriciated for the 2nd speaker.

 

Second speaker

 

Proposed location, I know its poo, only other place I can think of putting it is forward of the windshield to the front armour section and making a mesh grill to cover the speaker so it does not look odd but hardly scale? Who cares if it works and gives the effect in the air... ??

 

Here is the left wing panel with the "gull" wing towards the rear, notice the split flaps that section into two,

 

A close up of the flap retaining system, a small piece of carbon holds the "springy" flap joiner in place,this allows easy removal and maintenance of the flap, the end of the flap towards the wing tip is retained into the trailing edge of a wing spar by a short peice of steel wire. The "fisheye" wire things, whatever you want to call them slide inside a nylon tube affixed to the inside of the flaps, this allows the flaps to open up when deployed and accomadate the "gull" type wing, when retracted the flaps are flush.

 

Inboard flap, this is not seen when the wing is joined and fitted to the fuz...

 

 

Fitting the nav light in the port wing.

 

 

[Tim Mackey]

I had just the one speaker on my Camel - and it was "only just about good enough" - and that was completely exposed under the front fus section. You need the speaker to be mounted on a baffle board to work effectively - the larger the panel ( board ) the better, which I why I still think the best place is the wing.

I fear the sound from the exhaust stacks will be poor.

When I decide which model I am going to use the system on next, I am definately gonna try two speakers, and use the wing underside as the baffle boards. What sounds reasonable static, on the ground /bench, all but disappears to nothing when in the air.

You need loads of power, the biggest amp you can get, and to drive two decent speakers.

[Tim Mackey]

We ought to really have another thread if this theme is to continue

[Dusty]

Tim I wont comment on here, if you would like another thread on this subject then let it be, the gods have spoken .. Can you use your magic and make one appear using extracts from what we have been discussing  so far on this thread? Just so we dont have to start from point one again... Feel free to delete this too as not to clutter Dans thread!

 

Edited By Dusty on 31/07/2011 19:12:45