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Piper Twin Apache PA23 -150 74"


Danny Fenton
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I can't believe this, I have just been trawling t'net for a plan/kit of one of these after just having watched the beginning of Jurassic Park III which one of these appears in and me thinking that would make a cracking project, and hey presto I open my lappy and this is here! and looking very nice indeed.

Unfortunately my TurboCAD experience is very much in its infancy so not much chance of a scratch build/design, I'll just have to twist your arm for a copy of your plans wink 2

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Thanks guys, it should be fun. Spent ages learning a new version of turbocad last night/this morning as some of the parts have not been cut and I needed to scale and print them so I could cut them manually. Will try and get them cut today and crack on. Yes the hours spent on cad does mean it goes together quickly, but the time is still consumed at the other end of the project.
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Well the fuselage stringers were scaled, printed and cut out. These paper patterns were stuck to 1/8 lite ply with aerosol contact adhesive. If you apply it to the paper and not the wood, when it is peeled off the glue residue will be on the discarded paper and not the wood wink 2

scaled and printed.jpg

nose leg rails fitted.jpg

The noseleg rails were laminated with Titebond and fitted.

lower fuselage stringers fitted.jpg

the stringers fit very well, though possibly not as well as the cnc parts that Rob produced, but they are fine for the job. Need to print and cut the balsa bulkhead doublers next, scratch my head some more and then sheet the underside to lock the shape in smile p

Cheers

Danny

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Commenced the sheeting after I had pondered the RC access. I am going for a hatch under the fus along the leading edge area. This will allow access to the two servos (elev and rudder) and the Rx and the twin esc.

Sorry Ton its a deviation. I added some lite ply to transfer the loads around the opening.

lower access hatch defined.jpg

first of the sheeting.jpg

lower rear sheeting.jpg

Graham would cringe at the clutter good job this is just for the forum

Cheers

Danny

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A few scale details VA? that's the thin end of the wedge, you know what happens when I start thinking about details..... I may glass it and fly it in primer, there again for speed I may film cover it. Long way to go yet, lets see how it comes out wink 2

Yep Nikon camp me Martian wink 2

Cheers chaps good to have you along

Danny

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Hi CS its all that horrible lite ply stuff unfortunately and it does weigh more than I am happy with. We will have to see if the next one is cut from balsa.

To give you an idea, on the Nijhuis Spitfire I replaced all the lite ply ribs with balsa ones, it saved me the weight of all the servos in the wing smile o

It is nice to be working in wood again though, needed a balsa fix......did I really say I like planking.......bored with it now wink 2

Cheers

Danny

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Thanks chaps, you will notice the picture is not very large and I have shown the better side embarrassed

I have just about finished the planking for the underside, but I have a feeling the large spanned areas are too much and it will forever sag. I think I should have added extra stringers at least one at the corners or perhaps one at the start of the radius ie 8 stringers in total. We will see how it stands up to sanding, if the skin flexes too much I will think about having to rip it all off and start the sheeting again.....crying 2

Cheers

Danny

Sitting in Greece while we are freezing! now I am jealous crying 2

Edited By Danny Fenton on 15/10/2013 18:20:08

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Danny ,

The build looks great and what do you need to sand with such a smooth build, the sanding will be up to a minimum.

Did you sheet the rounded sections of the fuse already and did you set the strip already round over a tube or something like that.

What I always do of making one side of the strip a little wet like on the pic and than bend it around a tube or an Heinekenwink bottle .

You can even make a very sharp bend as I did on my FIAT .

Ton

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Hi Ton that is lovely sheeting my friend, much better than I could do that's for sure crying 2

The wood I am using is 3mm and the entire fus is one big curved submarine! Challenging is the word wink 2 As long as I can get it close (there is plenty of depth to sand) I will be okay, a layer of glass cloth to stabilise it and a little filler and it will hopefully be okay. At least the full size is not perfect either wink 2

Besides this is the concept model, I can always do another once the wrinkles are ironed out smile p

Cheers

Danny

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