John Olsen 1 Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Here are a few more photos...we did a trial assembly today and then took her out on the lawn for some photos. There is still much to be done, the cowling for instance needs some holes and slots made. I have installed the steel snakes and the controls are much more rigid now. But most of the engine and radio installation is done. I still need to make up a collector ring which will also act as the muffler. There is a standing joke around here that the cat would fit into the cockpit and that she intends to be aboard for the maiden flight. I think in practice that it would be over someones dead body, not necessarily the cats. Still, she did take the trouble to inspect her new plane.... The Spektrum DX8 gives some idea of the scale of things. Those wheels are 9 inches diameter and look enormous until you put them on the plane. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Easton Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Looking great Tim - Nice to see you building a Big-un. If your like me it will start of a whole new mania! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted May 13, 2012 Author Share Posted May 13, 2012 John, The Morane looks great, and I bet you're dying to hear the engine running! Coincidentally, I was at the Mayfly at Old Warden yesterday, and Rich Ginger was there with his 1/4 scale Morane. His sports a 3-cylinder radial Saito and sounds superb in the air - very impressive indeed! Ian, Nice to have you aboard! I've been resisting the biggies for all too long, yes? Right then, progress to date..... Both upper wing halves have been jacked up by 1/2" to give the required dihedral. The infill between the spars at the root ends has been slotted.... ...to allow the insertion of the brass joiner tubes..... ......followed by the ply dihedral braces. The whole caboodle has now been sliced in two (using Netty's jewellery saw). Two 5mm CF joiners can now be used to join the panels. If those joiners look a little flimsy for such a big wing, then it's best to remember that the model is going to be fully rigged, so those joiners are actually little more than glorified incidence pins! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 In one sense I am quite keen to try the engine, but on the other hand I am not too sure that it would be a good idea to do so until I have made up a collector ring-muffler setup. I have a feeling that it might be quite loud with just the stubs. I know I could have got a DLE or similar for about half the price, but having heard a Morane with a two stroke on You tube I felt it had to have something that sounded a bit better. That wing join looks a little better than the one on the Morane, which just has two stubs of dowel about half an inch long going into the ply rib. So it locatesthem but nothing much pulls them together. Still, there are plenty of struts under the wings. This new fangled monoplane idea does not save much in parasitic drag over a biplane! I guess the induced drag should be lower. The other thing I have not been brave enough to tackle yet is cutting the many slots and holes in the cowling. The instructions talk about using a hole saw, which would be a wonderful tool for messing it all up if anything goes wrong. I am going to take a look at my old chassis punches and see if they include the right sizes as they are less likely to wreck the whole thing, although even they might distort the relatively soft alloy. The CoG looks quite close so far, although no doubt when I cover the fuselage it will shift back a little. There is one more stringer to go on each side too. Still, it won't be miles out, which is good since I don't want to make her any heavier than is necessary. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Hi Again, Well, I got brave and had a look at the possibilities for making some holes in the cowling. My Chassis punches did include a suitable size, but would not be workable since the holes are on the curve. So they would distort the material. So a hole saw is the only way. I marked it all out and made a support block to go inside with a curve to match the compound. I predrilled a small pilot hole and then tried with the hole saw. This made a pretty acceptable job, although I will be doing a little bit more cleaning up with a file yet. I also made a narrow curved slot that is required. This is about 3 inches long and 5/16 wide just outside the main big hole in the centre. I have no idea what it was for in the original, the others are big enough to be for cooling. There is also supposed to be quite a big slot, 1.5 inches wide and about 11 long around the bottom third of the cowling. This looks to me like it would weaken things a lot so I am thinking about it overnight (Here in the antipodes.) It would make a good exit for cooling air, but I wonder if some sort of bridge across in the middle might make things stronger, if slightly less authentic. One thing I found is that a Black and Decker power file (the sort that uses a narrow belt) is very good for removing the daggy bits from the inside where you can't get at it with a file very well. It is cleaining up quite nicely really. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 Thanks for all the tips about piercing the cowl, John. It's something I'll have to deal with later on... Anyway, I've made a start on the lower wing. The kit has the lower wing as a one-piece item, permanantly joined in the middle. I've changed this to a 3-piece wing, with the small centre-section, built largely from scratch, destined to be bolted to the fuselage (after it's been built of course....) tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Nice one Tim, sorry I missed you today at Greenacres, wanted to see the Blackburn too, ah well... I have found that there are many ways to cut aluminium cowl but to me the safest, (perhaps not the quickest) is to chain drill holes and then file to final shape. Cheers Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted May 19, 2012 Author Share Posted May 19, 2012 Hi Dan, Yup, I was hoping to see you today, but I understand the pressures of being a story-hungry journalistic hack! Have a good day at Shawbury tomorrow! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted May 19, 2012 Share Posted May 19, 2012 Thanks Tim, Story hungry journalist hack who me??? Shawbury will be interesting, first chance I have had this year to meet up with my Northwest Warbirds gang. Should be good, shame about the crack of dawn start, especially on a Sunday. Apparently there are numbers on the clock BEFORE 11am on a Sunday Cheers Danny (off topic dept) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I think the two piece wing is a good idea. 80 inches is a big slab of wing to be managing to transport and store. One of my many projects is restoring a Sal Taibi "Powerhouse" that I built in the 60's. It originally had an 84 inch span by 14 inch chord wing, all in one piece. In the rebuild, I have put a join in the middle. As a teenager, I used to carry the assembled plane under one arm as I rode my bicycle to the local aerodrome, as there was no way I could carry it disassembled and no other way to get there. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Well, I just bought a little pilot for the Morane. Strictly he is underscale, he is 1/4 size when he should be 1/3. He looks Ok though... we just have to accept that some Frenchmen are smaller than others. Now I guess I will have to do a nice seat and a stick and a nice looking instrument panel. Has anyone got a photo of a Morane cockpit? I don't suppose there were lots of instruments. Maybe a switch or two, a tacho and maybe some sort of ASI..... Anyway, I have made a bit of progress with the radio and engine installation. I tried to make a ring for the exhaust collector tonight, all I can say is that I hope the second attempt goes better. I made four big holes in the bottom of the cowl too, these are the ones that should be a slot 11 inches long. I am just going to have the four holes and paint it black in between. The cowl itself will be be red. So now we need an update on your Nieuport Tim... regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Posted by John Olsen 1 on 29/05/2012 10:52:35: So now we need an update on your Nieuport Tim... Hi John! Not too much of interest recently. I've all but completed the lower wing which (surprise, surprise) is pretty similar to the upper one! I'll post pics when I sort out the joining system.... tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 So here we go again! The lower panels and centre-section have been brought to the same stage of completion. I then embedded the carbon joiners in between the wing spars, with the wing tips jigged up by a non-scale 3/16" to give a little dihedral. Not at all necessary but stops the wing looking saggy! A couple of facing ribs hide all the spar ends etc. So here're are the completed wings (with a 1 metre rule to give some scale). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 3, 2012 Author Share Posted June 3, 2012 All of which that, at long last, I've been able to make a start on the fuselage - Yippeeeeee!!!! Providentially, we have a house guest this weekend in the form of Netty's brother, Ian. Now Ian has a long career in metallurgy and metal-finishing, and soon found himself with the Nieuports ali cowl thrust into his hands! Starting with P60 wet-n-dry, he's spent all day in the work shop hand-sanding the cowl to get rid of all the machining marks, prior to being let loose on Netty's polishing wheel. Who's a lucky lad, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Well, I can see the attraction of getting someone else to sand up the cowl. I have done maybe 10% of mine so far. The Morane one is quite a bit bigger. It is certainly hard work. I probably won't use a polishing mop on mine, I think a good satin finish is actually better for paint to adhere to. It will need to be a proper etch primer. I might see if I can rope someone else in for that. Actually I have wondered if powder coating might be a good way to go, they can do a very durable finish with that these days. I found some good pictures of the AI on a web site, including the instrument panel. Two big dials and a switch or two, so no excuse for not fully detailing it I guess. I suppose they are altitude and airspeed. We had a near miracle here in Auckland for the long weekend (Queens Birthday.) Three days of calm and no rain...well, I think there was a shower last night. I think that is more good days in a row than we got all last summer. I got out to the flying field with my son on both the Saturday and the Sunday, had to devote today to a few essential tasks at home, but there was certainly a good chance to get some flying in. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Posted by John Olsen 1 on 04/06/2012 06:56:00: I probably won't use a polishing mop on mine, I think a good satin finish is actually better for paint to adhere to. It will need to be a proper etch primer. I might see if I can rope someone else in for that. Actually I have wondered if powder coating might be a good way to go, they can do a very durable finish with that these days. John, I've gone for the polished look as the cowl on the Nieuport will be left in bare metal. It has to be said that Ian has done a brilliant job on it! Can you powder coat Aluminium? Just a thought...... Anyway, more progress here today. The fusealge sides have been joined at the front end. After that I was able to screw and glue the 6mm ply motorbox in place. The 5S cell packs will be an easy fit within the box. The motor is slighlty offset, and I'm using packing washers to induce the side and down thrust. tim Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 28/06/2012 23:46:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABBIT Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hi Tim, being introduced to R.C. a couple of years ago,and starting with a couple of Foamies.I came accross your Airspeed Courrier build.Which for my first attempt went very well,then i checked out your Cygnet,and was well into build,[when] you came up with Clean Sweep.I thought it looked real stylish,so off the board came Cygnet,and on went Sweep.I'm pleased to say is now completed,and looks realy good.One problem though,can you ask Netty what she uses to print sweep decauls,I've tried to print onto Solartrim,but ink will not dry onto it,none of my local Print shops seem to know how to solve this.Is it a special paper,or printing process. Please help me Netty.Thankyou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Hiya Rabbit, Many thanks for the post. I've answered you via personal message. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Not much to show over the last few days - it seems there are other matters that take priority over the Nieuport! Anyway, I've been fettling the front, peripheral, formers to marry up with the slightly under-sized cowl. It looks as though the front of the motor may actually protrude a little too far out of the front of the cowl. Not a big problem as the cowl can alway be sited a little further forwads to suit, and the resulting gap at its rear filled in with a balsa 'ring'. What I really do need to get my head around is siting all three servos within the cowl, on the sides of the motor mount/box/thing. The twin elevator servos shouldn't be too much of an issue as they're going to be connected via snakes. The rudder servo is likely to be rigged up via a closed loop system, so ideally wants to be on the fuselage centreline. Not posssible with that big battery box in the way, so there may well be a couple of bellcranks involved to get thegeometry to work. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Hi Tim I had a similar problem on a Pupeteer regarding motor depth so went for the flatest I could find, a bit like these pattern motors you see nowadays. It was similar to this 6354, around 2300 watts but over propped, with a low cell count. How are you going to access your cells for charging?? Cheers Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Olsen 1 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 That cowl looks really good, maybe I will polish mine. So far it has been sanded all over to a satin finish, so I guess a bit more sanding and then a polish on the buffing mop would do it. Of course an engine turned finish would look good too. Decisions, decisions.... Does anyone have any good suggestions for how to do a nice rolled edging around the cockpit? This would have been leather, so I guess some of that modern thin leather look vinyl would be the story, but how do you get the nice rounded shape? We have two to do here, or I guess actually three, since the Etrich Taube that my son is working on has two cockpits. That one is 1/6 scale. I've put the throttle servo inside a similar engine mount box, along with the glow driver and its battery, but the rest of the servos and the receiver go just behind the original firewall. Well, apart from the aileron servos which are of course out in the wings. So far the CoG situation looks pretty promising, but then, the radial engine does represent quite a good lump of ballast. regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reno Racer Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 John, For the cockpit edging, you could use old car vacuum hose from a distrubutor or 1/2 fule tubing covered with leather or pvc leatherette. cut down the middle slide over the balsa cockpit edging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Danny (and others), Thanks for the info re; the motor. Actually, having the motor so far forward won't do the CG any harm, so we'll see how we get on, eh? As for accessing the batteries; well, since Day 1 I've sort of been resigned to having to split the cowl horizontally, so the the top half becomes the hatch. Not ideal, I know, but I really can't think of another method that will be practical. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 Much brain-bending (interspersed with the show at Weston Park and the full-sixed display at Cosford today) has seen the rudder linkage take some sort of shape at long last! I've made up the 1/8 ply servo mounts that flank the motor box - one on one side, two on't t'other - and test fitted the Hitec 635 unit for the rudder. There's a 3mm solid linkage taht runs rearwards from the servo arm to the arm of..... .....a 90° bellcrank, which is then connected to another T-shaped bellcrank within the fuselage, which eventually be hooked up to the rudder itself. It all looks very simple, admittedly, but has caused several hours of head-scratching here! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 It's getting pretty busy in the Nieuport's side fairings! Not only do we have the rudder linkage, but I've added the snakes (one each side) for the elevators too. As the rigging is going to be live and functional, I've built in some 1/4 ply crossbraces, to which will be screwed the aluminium mounting plates. These plates pass right through the fuselage so the flight loads will balance each other out. Hopefully.... Ontop of that lot goes the side sub-formers and stringers. Thge whole shebang will be sheeted over with 1/32 ply later. Overkill? Maybe. tim Edited By Tim Hooper on 21/06/2012 21:55:50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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