Sloping Off

[Tony Smith 7]

When foam models first came out, Silicone was recommended for gluing and for fixing servos. Does that still work with modern foams?

[Ian Jones]

Posted by stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 00:27:01:

once cured you can use a new snapoff blade and just cut the excess off .

 

Yep, worked a treat

 

Posted by stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 00:27:01:

I have to say WOW i've not seen a EPP leading edge EPS mix on a Chervon wing since the late 90's .

Not sure what price they are over there for that but maybe a good alternative is a windrider Bee which is a moulded EPP wing . Bit late now but save the info for latyer on

I’m hoping this will be only flying wing I’ll need – scale stuff next

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[stephen wenban]

Posted by Tony Smith 7 on 06/07/2011 13:36:40:
When foam models first came out, Silicone was recommended for gluing and for fixing servos. Does that still work with modern foams?

 

Tony the only thing I use silicone for is hinging.

I use the gorilla glue wrap the servo in cling wrap and stuff it into the servo well and put some weight on it to hold it during the foam up. Once dry you cut the excess foam remove the servo and clean up with a sharp knife your newly and perfectly shaped to the servo  potted servo well . Then you only need Fibre tape over the top to hold it in , it also makes for easy maintenance of the servo ,because you can just cut the tape and slide the servo out of its cosy bed

P.S. Silicone remains flexible and you dont want your servo moving all over the shop.

Edited By stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 22:08:33

Edited By stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 22:10:12

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Tony Smith 7 on 06/07/2011 13:36:40:
When foam models first came out, Silicone was recommended for gluing and for fixing servos. Does that still work with modern foams?

Interesting Tony - I like my servos well fixed , some the tape provided gives me the wobbles - and the servos.

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 06/07/2011 10:25:32:

And dont forget that a hot glue gun works fine on EPP as well.

After 5 years of a very hard life, my original WT has more of the stuff in and on it than foam!

Oh so many options Tim. Do have to "drip" the melted glue on, surely the glue gun tip would melt the foam. Confession time, I don't know the difference between foam & EPP or any of the other expnded stuff. Can't say I like working with any of it.

 

Okay, I think I covered today's post and speaking of covering, it's time to to sticking tape all over the JP-Si (Zagi) and that'll be in my next post (hopefully in few minutes).

 

Ian

 

Ah crossed with Stephen's post - I'll keep that in mind too. Whatever I do my servos will not come loose!

Edited By Ian Jones on 06/07/2011 22:35:28

[Ian Jones]

In the last instalment I had glued on the leading edges with Gorilla glue which had foamed out from between the surfaces being joined. This is intentional and is easily dealt with:

A similar situation occurred joining the wing halves and confident that I could get rid of any excess glue I was just a little more generous. I wish I hadn't been though:

It was a pig trying to cut off the excess and smooth down any proud remains without marking the foam. I didn't enjoy this bit - it reminded why I don't do foam .

 

Eventually, having done what I could with the centre line I started on the bullet tape:

The first tapes go cross ways to brace the wing as there's no internal wing brace. Next it's the top which I taped from the wing tips to 2" past the centre line for each wing half:

For the underneath I went for the tougher option and I taped from the wing tips to the opposite leading edge, again for each wing half:

By this time my scissors were getting pretty sticky, only one thing for it:

Meths rubbed on with a paer towel works a treat when it comes keeping the cutting faces & edges clean. I find lots of uses for the stuff. Anyway after that it's just a case of finishing off the underneath:

 

And there we have It . Oops no we don't . No, no, there's bullet tape to be added to the leading and trailing edges too. Ah well, since Ian has left the hangar that will have to be first job next time.

 

The bullet tape is amazing, even after just adding the bracing strips and then handling the wing I could feel that it was more solid. I'm making good progress now too and it even looks like I'm going to held up waiting for the new Rx which wasn't part of plan.

 

Oh, winglets/fins whatever - you chaps that have done this before - did you cover them with bullet tape and standard covering tape ?

 

Cheers, Ian

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 06/07/2011 23:01:28

[Tim Mackey]

Coming along well Ian - well soon have you up that big rock

I usually leave the winglets uncovered ( they are usually made of correx ).

BTW I like UHU Por for gluing foams, but like other contact adhesives, you only get one chance to line things up.

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 06/07/2011 23:10:56

[stephen wenban]

when sanding or doing anything on a glue joint I always run 2" wide masking tape over the foam to cover any area exposed to damage especially on EPS, its not so bad on EPP but I still cover it

Edited By stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 23:32:39

[Steve Houghton 1]

Looking good Ian. From what I've seen, most of these EPP wings seem to have similar construction, my Hawk and WT were the same and I've just ordered this evening a Windrider Beevolution. I'll be using UHU POR to join the wing halves on that.

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 06/07/2011 23:02:02:

Coming along well Ian - well soon have you up that big rock

I usually leave the winglets uncovered ( they are usually made of correx ).

BTW I like UHU Por for gluing foams, but like other contact adhesives, you only get one chance to line things up.

Edited By Tim Mackey - Administrator on 06/07/2011 23:10:56

Incovered winglets eh? I'm tempted to give them a splash of colour though.

 

UHU Por, I didn't think that set hard enough. Oh well.

 

Posted by stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 23:31:30:

when sanding or doing anything on a glue joint I always run 2" wide masking tape over the foam to cover any area exposed to damage especially on EPS, its not so bad on EPP but I still cover it

Edited By stephen wenban on 06/07/2011 23:32:39

Arrgghhhh! I've heard that before, wish I'd remembered it a few hours ago.

[Ian Jones]

Not a huge amount of progress today but it's appearance has improved. Feels tough too.

 

So, in the last previous build post I mentioned that I hadn't applied the bullet tape to the leading and trailing edges. Well I remembered that was outstanding so I did that first and then started adding the the coloured tape in a similar fashion as the bullet tape but stopping just past the centre line on the top & the underneath:

Continueing like this result in one wing half completed:

 

So it's then a case of repeating the same on the other wing half and again underneath to end up with:

At this point I had to go for an evening fly and then was forced to drink some murky brownish water so no more has JP-Si work has been done today.

 

Oh, this is embarrassing, I've done the same again . Next job then is to add yellow tape to the leading & trailing edges to complete covering the wing.

 

I've fairly happy with part of the assembly and so I'll be pleased to move on and look at getting the ailerons done tomorrow.

 

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/07/2011 00:39:52

[Wiltshire Flyer]

Looking very nice Ian! much better than my effort with that annoying ( i like to stick to myself" tape lol, or maybe it's the cack handed way i was doing it!

I have not used Bullet tape on my wing, only reason being i wanted to get started on it and forgot the Bullet tape, it feels pretty strong though, who knows i may live to regret my impatients.

My covering has creases in it.. many creases! but i am not too fussed how it looks, as long as it flies i'll be happy!

You are doing very well keep it up!

All the best DF.

[stephen wenban]

The biggest trap that most fall into is stretching the tape this is usually where the creases coming into it it can also warp the wing laying the tape down in a relaxed fashion gets the job done very easy ,to which it looks like Ian did do nice job Ian

[Tim Mackey]

Pedantic hat wearing time.

Elevons actually Ian, not ailerons

Looking good BTW, shame they never stay that way for long on the Orme

[kiwi g]

ORME , does that stand for ,,off ridge model eater..,, from what I can fathom from down under ,it also likes sticky buns ??

 

opps , nice job ian .

 

kiwi

Edited By kiwi g on 08/07/2011 10:57:43

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Dorset flyer on 08/07/2011 00:45:37:

Looking very nice Ian! much better than my effort with that annoying ( i like to stick to myself" tape lol, or maybe it's the cack handed way i was doing it!

I have not used Bullet tape on my wing, only reason being i wanted to get started on it and forgot the Bullet tape, it feels pretty strong though, who knows i may live to regret my impatients.

My covering has creases in it.. many creases! but i am not too fussed how it looks, as long as it flies i'll be happy!

You are doing very well keep it up!

All the best DF.

It looks okay on the photos but I have managed to make sure a get some creases in . An annoying thing is that I seemed to have gone into full moult whilst applying the tape, which I only noticed when I spotted the hairs through the tape after I'd stuck it down.

 

Bullet tape? I've been warned that may times that I'm going to smack it into rocks that it seems I had to use. Hopefully you will find something nicer to land on.

Hah! another co-incidence, whilst you were posting the above I was posting on your Si-480 thread.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, I think we all like some of that.

 

Ian

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by kiwi g on 08/07/2011 10:56:54:

ORME , does that stand for ,,off ridge model eater..,, from what I can fathom from down under ,it also likes sticky buns ??

 

opps , nice job ian .

 

kiwi

Edited By kiwi g on 08/07/2011 10:57:43

 

Yup, thats it Graham

[Ian Jones]

Posted by stephen wenban on 08/07/2011 02:47:36:
The biggest trap that most fall into is stretching the tape this is usually where the creases coming into it it can also warp the wing laying the tape down in a relaxed fashion gets the job done very easy ,to which it looks like Ian did do nice job Ian

Thanks Stephen.

 

I'm no expert but it turns out that I seem to have done as you said in that I did lay the tape in place so that it was touching the surface rather than sticking to it . Then I gently smoothed it out from the middle of the overlap forwards & outwards. Like this if a wave developed in front of my finger it was easy to lift up the tape and re-lay it. It's not without it's creases and occasional hairs trapped under the tape but on the whole I'm happy with it. Still wish I'd made a better job of cleaning up the excess glue from the wing join though. (I'm probably being too fussy).

 

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 08/07/2011 10:47:41:

Pedantic hat wearing time.

Elevons actually Ian, not ailerons

Looking good BTW, shame they never stay that way for long on the Orme

Hah, yes Tim, Elevons, I stand corrected.

 

Do I need to bring repair tape with me to the "off ridge model eater" ? (ta for that Kiwi)

 

Hey DF, looking back at your photos I can't see any creases worthy of concern - looks great. Hmm might put some read on mine for colour contrast.

 

Ian

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/07/2011 11:45:51

[Steve Houghton 1]

Looking good Ian. One thing I have found to get a smoother finish and flatten any wrinkles out is to rub the covering tape all over with a spare bit of foam, works a treat.

 

Did you wipe over the bullet tape with Meths before you laid the packing tape on?

 

My Windrider Beevolution has arrived . I'm so excited Just have to finally decide how I'm going to cover mine.

 

Looking forward to your next episode.

[Tim Mackey]

Posted by Ian Jones on 08/07/2011 11:29:26:

Posted by stephen wenban on 08/07/2011 02:47:36:
The biggest trap that most fall into is stretching the tape this is usually where the creases coming into it it can also warp the wing laying the tape down in a relaxed fashion gets the job done very easy ,to which it looks like Ian did do nice job Ian

Thanks Stephen.

 

I'm no expert but it turns out that I seem to have done as you said in that I did lay the tape in place so that it was touching the surface rather than sticking to it . Then I gently smoothed it out from the middle of the overlap forwards & outwards. Like this if a wave developed in front of my finger it was easy to lift up the tape and re-lay it. It's not without it's creases and occasional hairs trapped under the tape but on the whole I'm happy with it. Still wish I'd made a better job of cleaning up the excess glue from the wing join though. (I'm probably being too fussy).

 

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 08/07/2011 10:47:41:

Pedantic hat wearing time.

Elevons actually Ian, not ailerons

Looking good BTW, shame they never stay that way for long on the Orme

Hah, yes Tim, Elevons, I stand corrected.

 

Do I need to bring repair tape with me to the "off ridge model eater" ? (ta for that Kiwi)

 

Ian

 

Definately

[Ian Jones]

Posted by Steve Houghton 1 on 08/07/2011 11:39:16:

Looking good Ian. One thing I have found to get a smoother finish and flatten any wrinkles out is to rub the covering tape all over with a spare bit of foam, works a treat.

 

Did you wipe over the bullet tape with Meths before you laid the packing tape on?

 

My Windrider Beevolution has arrived . I'm so excited Just have to finally decide how I'm going to cover mine.

 

Looking forward to your next episode.

Ta Steve, a foam finger eh? Meths, 'ulp , no I didn't. I didn't even think of it and it's not mentioned anywhere - it must be a good idea though.

 

Good luck with your Beevolution.

 

Ian

[Steve Houghton 1]

Wiping the bullet tape with meths or acetone removes the release agent and allows the packing tape to stick better.

[Ian Jones]

 

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 08/07/2011 10:47:41:

Pedantic hat wearing time.

Elevons actually Ian, not ailerons

Looking good BTW, shame they never stay that way for long on the Orme

Hah, yes Tim, Elevons, I stand corrected.

 

Do I need to bring repair tape with me to the "off ridge model eater" ? (ta for that Kiwi)

 

Ian

 

Definately

 

Ooher .

Any other essentials a flat field power pilot might not have thought of?

 

IAn

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/07/2011 12:41:36

[Tim Mackey]

Thats actually a very good question Ian and Im going to respond HERE

[Ian Jones]

I think I'm up to date with the posts - apologies if I missed anyone.

 

So elevating to the next level we have, erm, elevons . Groan, I'll try and do better next time!

 

Right, having remembered to add the final tapes to the leading and trailing edges it's time to make holes in all my hard work .

 

The JP-Si slope soarer is a little different this respect to the JP-Si 480 as it doesn't have to accomodate an engine and has no central pod so if you think you've spoted some differences between mine and Dorset Flyers models you'd be right:

 

 

 

So having hacked at the covering and pressed the re cutting into the mouldings it indeed time to move on to the ail, oops, elevons. The instructions say to make sure the ends of the corrugated corex are covered so I decided to do that first then just do a wrap around job on the rest of each elevon:

 

Taking great care not to pick up any dust etc from the work bench I picked up this elevon and touched it on the fleece I was wearing. Duh!

 

Anyway it all worked out with a few wrinkles and bits under the covering but I suppose it could have been worse:

At this point I put the baking potatoes in the oven and the did a bit more then cut up some salad, then did a bit more. Then I pan fried some trout fillets.

 

What ! No those aren't may marbles on the floor, I'm telling you all this to explain I was over tasked and that is why I forget to photograph the hinging process. So here they are suddenly done:

Note the gap at the wing tips. 5mm actually, seems alot but I've gone along with the instructions. Thta's hwat they are there for.

 

Great so now I can check out the fit of the battery, servos and Rx. Curses, haven't got the Rx yet. I also wanted to fit an on/off switch & charging socket but looking at all the wires and cuts into the wing being the only place for them I've gone off the idea:

 

Okay, the wobbly bits are on. I'll borrow a receiver from another project and move on to the next stage.

 

Posted by Tim Mackey - Administrator on 08/07/2011 12:42:55:
Thats actually a very good question Ian and Im going to respond HERE

Yep keeping an eye on that.

 

 

Ian

 

 

[Wiltshire Flyer]

 

Hey DF, looking back at your photos I can't see any creases worthy of concern - looks great. Hmm might put some read on mine for colour contrast.

Ian

Edited By Ian Jones on 08/07/2011 11:45:51

 

Hi Ian, maybe the photo's are hiding alot of it lol, but thanks for the compliment

Yes there is a slight difference between our models but not much, mind you the instructions for mine are the sameas the instructions for yours so some pics of the radio gear layout confused me for a second! a sheet of A4 is supplied in mine detailing the centre pod and radio set up.

Yours is looking very tidy mate, nice job! Did you read the box of yours? on mine it says "buy today fly tomorrow" i don't think that is easily possible unless you start at 6am finishing at the witching hour!