Tim Hooper Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Iain, That looks great! Really distinctive!tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Hi Iain - very snazzy - and you've got that cowl looking the biz. Well I been naughty! I considered all the options with the lower glazing panel and had to admit that none of the easier options would deliver the correct look and the bottom panel would be at an angle - on the original it is straight. Sooooo..................... Yep! I cut that planking off the hatch section!! All that work wiped out! I should be having therapy! However, that's the hard part, starting! Now all I have to do is put it back together! First, the elliptical former was replaced by a triangular section as above. Then a logitudinal support was fixed between H2 and 3 to provide the 'ridge line'. Next a second triangular former further forward to ensure the panels to be fitted will lay flat up to this point. Also H2 had a ply strip added to make up for the lost wood on cutting out. In addition I put a further triangular support under, but just forward of the bottom glazing rail to support the new panel at that point. A good old paper pattern was cut (above) and balsa sheet panels made (below). I then drew cut lines to provide simple planking (Cheating? Be fair I did a really complex job last time!) This is how it went on the first side. Just what I was aiming for - a larger and flat bottom glazing panel - a flat panel in front that merges with the round section near the cowl. Just the other one to do but busy this w/e so will have to wait! A big decision but worth it. The slightly lower roof line by using the CNC upper rear sides left the canopy a little 'squashed' shape and what I like about the prototype is the larger ugly 30's canopy which I have now got. OK so I'm mad - who cares! -7C here! TerryEdited By Terry Walters on 03/02/2012 08:36:04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Hello Thats looking great Iain...................no sneaking off to 'maiden' it without me being around to watch . I have come to a conclusion that you must be a vampire btw..............there is no other way to explain how you manage to fly most days and build a model in double quick time AND get some sleep too!!! Terry, your decision to hack off the front and start again is a brave one. Version 1 already looked spot on to my eye but I do understand that when something isn't just as you want it, if you don't correct it then it will irritate you for ever more. No building for me today - I have had to tidy up & clear everything away because we have important visitors. Fuselage roof might get some attention this evening though . Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Hale Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Terry I see what you mean about the canopy, what a builder, you really are a perfectionist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Terry, how you have the patience to do that beggars belief I would have just hacked a hole in the base and built from below. Off topic , but I believe you have one, My Fun Cub on short finals this afternoon, -6c and the only aircraft that will ROG over frozen sheep poo. cheers , James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 The fuselage continues to slowly come together. This is the underside showing the air vent and the hole for the rudder operated tail wheel. Upper fuselage sides and roof fitted. I have stolen Terry's excellent idea of marking up the roof with lines to help with the profiling process. Despite Terry's earlier warning I forgot to put a temporary spacing block into the fuselage ends which allowed the gap between them to close more than I would have liked when the roof was glued in place. This isn't a massive problem, easily remedied by glueing some 1/32nd basla in place. This will be planed, sanded & blended in to give the correct profile. I also made the exit hole for the rudder control rod. Getting the correct position for this was awkward to say the least because it has to pass through the thick balsa roof at a very shallow angle and then through the top part of F4. All of this needs to be done accurately so that the carbon rod has a straight 'line of sight' to the servo. Unlike the elevator exit hole which can easily be tidied up with a plastic slot (made by SLEC) the rudder one will be more of a challenge to beautify! Any good ideas? Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 John, It was the thickness of the cabin roof that made me plump for a closed loop system. The wires don't have to follow a dead straight course in order to function acceptably. Terry, Nice work on the hatch/windscreen. I confess that I agonised for quite a time on this, and in the end, expediency ruled the day! Good building, mate! John, Nice work on the rudder-driven tailwheel. By far the simplest solution! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Great work going on out there, I am afraid I am falling behind but I did some work on the tail. Tim has done a very accurate outline of Tilmans design but I felt it looked a little to ARTF'ish when I covered it . With this in mind I built a differant rudder with scale rib spacing and I am quite pleased with the result. It weighs just about the same as the original on the plan. As you can see I am building G-ACJL, this was the only scale colour scheme I thought would be visible easily on typical grey Scottish summer days.Cheers ,James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Hello, Great looking rudder James. Probably a fair bit stronger & robust too? I might follow suit because I intend to have my tailwheel rudder-driven so the extra strength could be helpful. I will have a ponder! My fuselage roof is now complete and the cabin / hatch removed.............sawing it free was frightening & satisfying in equal measure. I have added a little extra strength to the cabin too. Next job is tea & biscuits whilst the glue on the cabin dries. Then I will install the remaining glazing bars. Indoor flying tonight so fitting the glazing panels will be a job for tomorrow. Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Hi guys - been away for the w/e - in UK to share your little bit of cold spell. Got back here yesterday to find that we had -15C while we were away and plenty of snow too! Thankfully our farmer neighbours had cleared the track up to our house or we would've been stuck in the valley Last night we were down to -10C and already this evening we are down to -5C and the wind chill makes it seems a lot worse! SWMBO and me are wearing clothing for four people between us! We don't have double glazing or Central heating so outside the main rooms it's a bit cold! Thanks for all the support re the Courier nose panels - much appreciated I know I'm mad really. James - what a beautiful place to fly! I use my FC out the back and fly off the track - apart from the power foamie gliders its the only a/c I can fly there so I really like it for that. I can fly out the garden but that's much more likely to have an 'African' landing - in the bush! Really like what you've done with the rudder. I not sure whether I said early on in the build that the rudder/elevators were 'flat' looking and that I intended to do something to give them 'shape'. Your choice of colour scheme will be great to see so far, including Tim's we've got about four of the 16 a/c covered - any others out there? Need another 12! John - Fuse looking good and well done for sorting out the rudder rod. I'm going with a pull/pull system so got to try to get the openings at the right angle and direction to ensure there's no friction on the cable - that will be a challenge! Also the linking with the tailwheel will be 'interesting'! Best of luck with the glazing bars tonight! Too cold in the wokshop upstairs for me to work at the moment - hopefully tomorrow! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Braving the cold with my little oil filled rad I managed to get a bit done today!! Firstly I finished off the 'new' shape panels in front of the cockpit. The above pic distorts the shape of the fuse /cockpit - it needs to opened to see it properly. Right now that's done we can move on! Taking the plunge I decided to do something I had been stalling on and got to work on the pull/pull rudder cable exits! I considered how to get the runs exactly right and then went ahead and used a flexible well tried technique called guess-work! Using the hand held mini drill I put a pilot hole each side of the fuse roof at the point I estimated would be right to run the cables direct to the pull/pull rudder horn. Then a piece of suitable size piano wire was cut on the slant to provide a makeshift extra long drill bit to cut through the roof at the right angle following the pilot holes already in place. Cable outers were then placed into the holes and cut to length and to the angle of exit and were Gorilla Glued in place. Here's the view looking from the bottom of the fuse towards then tail - you can just see the inserted cable outers exiting the rear former. You need to be careful to make the angle shallow enough to ensure that you do not put the cable run through the tailplane. (I know what you are wondering and no I didn't. I got it right first time!) More follows............. Edited By Terry Walters on 08/02/2012 19:10:48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 ..........Here's the exit points of the pull/pull cables showing how the cable outer is recessed. The cables will be unsheathed from the servo to the beginning of the cable outers just before the rearmost former. This way anyfriction will be minimised. Just a check against the rudder horn as far as spacing is concerned. Not bad! Using the same tecnique as above (guess work again!) the elevator outer and inner were fitted. There will be a adjustable clevis on the elevator end of the control wire. The view from underneath. Soon I will have to consider how to do the tail wheel and it's linkage to the rudder servo. Hmmmmm! Finally I also did a bit of intial filling and sanding just because I could! Looks ok to P/O Fearless who is now looking forward to the wing being built soon! Now going to warm myself up! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 ..........Here's the exit points of the pull/pull cables showing how the cable outer is recessed. The cables will be unsheathed from the servo to the beginning of the cable outers just before the rearmost former. This way any friction will be minimised. Just a check against the rudder horn as far as spacing is concerned. Not bad! Using the same tecnique as above (guess work again!) the elevator outer and inner were fitted. There will be an adjustable clevis on the elevator end of the control wire. The view from underneath. Soon I will have to consider how to do the tail wheel and it's linkage to the rudder servo. Hmmmmm! Finally I also did a bit of intial filling and sanding just because I could! Looks ok to P/O Fearless who is now looking forward to the wing being built soon! Now going to warm myself up! Terry Edited By Terry Walters on 08/02/2012 19:25:43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Well done, that man! I've the heaters on for several hours in the conservatory, and i still keep running back into the house on the slightest pretext..... The nose planking looks great. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Hale Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Well it appears that after a lot of tweaking and much staring into the distance I have a tail wheel driven off the rudder that functions. Can't say I've got it as elegant as I would have wished but there it is. Retracts and ailerons and the end is in sight. I am going to try and insert the glazing panels into the frames using small tags to locate them into slits, and also re paint the glazing bars black as I had done originally. Matches better with the other side windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Terry, all I can say is that you must have one heck of a 'good eye' to be able to accurately guesstimate the position of those rudder & elevator exits . Great job and they look super neat too!! Iain, you are so close to being finished now. Tailwheel looks fine to me. I can wait to see it fly. Have you thought of a name for it yet? Something in keeping with the distinctive colour scheme and glitzy coloured engine cylinders I hope . Not much progress to show on mine. The cabin / hatch construction is complete but I still have the glazing to do and I spent hours yesterday sanding down the engine nose ring. The wing fairings are on the agenda today................... probably. I have wrapped the four ply pieces around a tub of paint (with cling film and masking tape) to encourage them to take a curve which ought to making things a bit easier. Photos to follow later. Cheers, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 John, I was pleased with the end result- phew! Too cold to work upstairs at the moment so doing admin at the mo'. Just ordered the decals from Pyramids. Can't get the paint I need until I get back to UK (or someone else local goes back!) because its prohibited by the courier. Won't be finished completely until end March or April. Got plenty to do tho'. Best of luck with the fairings. I haven't built the wings yet so I can legitimately put that job off! You'll have to take the plunge soon with the glazing bars - it not a bad job and can be quite addictive! Good luck Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Hale Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Well here she is,just the glazing to complete. All avionics retracts etc working. looks like a chunk of lead required up front to get C G as recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 Hi Iain - very snazzy - good job with the covering. Nearly there now. How much weight are you looking at for the nose? I guess the lipo is as far forward as can be? It's still very cold here but hoping to be brave enough to get up there and do a bit this w/e. Just de- frosting the van to go and get a baguette! Only -10C today! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Glazing bars installed & painted and the first couple of pieces of 'glass' glued in place. I tried putting the glass in the frames, then behind the frames and eventually on the surface of the frames. In the end I settled on surface mounting using canopy glue. The two little dowls at the front plus one small but powerful neodymium magnet in the roof seem to hold the assembly neatly & securely in place. I am also well on the way to finishing the engine cowl. I decided in the end to make an inner ring from 1/64th ply for the cylinders to sit on. Trying to get the cylinders to sit neatly against the fuselage (which has compound curves in every direction) was beyond my ability / patience threshold!! The cone shaped outer cowl is also 1/64th ply. I hope that it will look OK once covered and finally fitted in place. More glazing to finish later and then onto the dreaded wing fairings which Iain tells me are a pig to fit. I have already re-made the the two upper fairings in 1/64th ply because the supplied 1/32nd pieces were looking very rigid and inflexible. Cheers, John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Gents, I had a look at the wing fairings on the first production kit, and made the remark that as supplied on my kit, the grain on the upper surface of the fairing was running in the wrong direction! It needs to run lengthwise, I used 1/32 balsa on mine. Intrigued to hear of some of you contemplating needing to add ballast in the nose. Mine (with a 3S 2700 pack up front) balances perfectly. Iain, your buildng looks impeccable! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Watching these builds has been very enjoyable, all the more because it shows how different methods can all achieve a successful end result. Looking forwards to seeing some maiden flights in the Spring! Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Walters Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Posted by Tim Hooper on 11/02/2012 18:17:34:Gents, I had a look at the wing fairings on the first production kit, and made the remark that as supplied on my kit, the grain on the upper surface of the fairing was running in the wrong direction! It needs to run lengthwise, I used 1/32 balsa on mine. Intrigued to hear of some of you contemplating needing to add ballast in the nose. Mine (with a 3S 2700 pack up front) balances perfectly. tim Hi Tim, Just checked my ply fairings in the CNC kit and they are made the right way! However they do seem a little 'firm'. 1/32 balsa may yet be substituted! I have 3S 2700s waiting for this a/c so we will see how the COG is when finished. Don't know what lipos Iain is using. Hi John, Well done with the glazing bars and the inner ring for the cowl. I have been pondering how to fix every thing and I think I'm going to put a balsa plug itno the top and bottom of the 'cylinders' so they will 1) be easier to glue and 2) they can be more easily shaped to fit the contours. We'll see how that goes shortly! Anyway - this w/e was an admin w/e (admin = '6 Nations Rugby!) in the main and getting some orders together for this a/c and the next two in the production line (next is a Puppeteer Mk2 and after that, maybe next Winter, the BT Hurricane Mk1 - got the plan and the short kit - mouldings on order and wood order about ready to be sent!) However - re the Courier: Managed to cover all the glazing bars and the inside of the fuse in the cabin area with sanding sealer and paint the hatch floor and 'instrument panel' area black. Also sealed and painted the front cowl ring silver on the outside and black inside. Then, as I don't need the fuse plan to be fixed to board anymore, I cleared the decks for the wing plan and set the ribs out in pairs etc ready to roll. Will carry on with the fuse at the same time as I build the wing. Looking forward to it! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Roberts 9 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Hello, I have spent the last couple of days fitting the wing fairings, adding an extra nose ring to the fuselage (so that the spinner, when fitted, will fit closely to the fuselage) and various other sanding & finish jobs prior to covering with Oracover. The wing fairings were, as expected, a little awkward. I am glad I opted for 1/64th ply instead of the supplied 1/32nd stuff. The lower fairing pieces were easy to fit & glue with cyana because the curve is gentle and not compound. I fitted the wing in place & covered it with a layer of polythene to protect it from the inevitable runs & drips of cyano and just held the lower fairing in place whilst applying a few drops of glue. The upper pieces proved to be much more of a challenge! I found that gently steaming the ply and then holding it to the required concave shape with rubber bands whilst it dried out worked pretty well. This took quite a few attempts to gently persuade the ply to accept the required profile but, with patience, I managed to get the 2 upper fairing pieces shaped. Glueing it in place was still, erm, interesting....................an extra 20 fingers would have come in handy . Cyano was the only option (I used thicker stuff which at least gives 10 seconds to finely position the component before it sets) because I couldn't find any reliable way of clamping the piece in place whilst a longer setting adhesive went off. Somehow I even manged to avoid glueing myself to the airframe. I also added small balsa blocks to the forward ends of the fairing which can be sanded to profile to give a neat finish. I also managed to finish glazing the cockpit which is a relief. Whilst I have really enjoyed building the Courier I have to confess that getting those stupid little bits of clear plastic into place was not a lot of fun. The end result looks OK (the picture flatters the reality!) and will probably improve a bit once I remove all the excess glue and trim the plastic in a couple of areas where the fit is less than average. Next up is bending the undercarriage legs (thanks Iain and then onward & upward with the covering. Cheers, John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Well done John! The Courier was the very first time I'd attempted to build wing fairings, so I share your pain. Just remember, when it all starts to get too much, that if this hobby was easy it would be called 'golf'....... tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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