Tim Hooper Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 The devil's in the detail, Linds...... tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin van der Maat Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Good evening Linds, Very nice design. I think it will be a pleasure to fly. Best regards, Edwin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Edwin, I certainly hope so. Well the struts are now made up and its time to start more serious work of covering. I have decided to go for silver solartex to the wings , tail, elevator fin and rudder, the same to the fuselage extending over the stringers and about 6mm onto the sheeted areas. I then plan to use Delux Materials polyresin (bit like poly C) and glass cloth for the forward area. Partly because I plan to give the front a simulated metal surface with a few panel lines and partly because I want some practice with it for future scale model and see how it works out so should be interesting! Hope to start the covering this evening so some pics later. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 Quick update, struts test fitted then drilled for M3 bolts. Now time to get some covering started using silver solartex begining with the fin and tailplane. I marked a line on both parts were they fit within the fuselage, offset this by 3mm and used this as a guide for the film so that the joints will be hidden. Completed the rudder also keeping the joints on the leading edge and minimum overlap to the trailing edge. Quick test fit. The most difficult part was always going to be the top wing. To avoid unsightly joints a single piece of film was used for the bottom and another for the top. The bottom was applied first, some measuring and sharp scalpel needed to cut slots for strut fixings. Gussets cut in the radius cut out centre region to keep coverage tidy. The top surface was a little easier but again care needed with the centre cut out. Pleased this bit is out the way now. more soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Bennett Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 lovely looking model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanyak Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hurry, we all are waiting for the plan . Very fine work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 1, 2013 Author Share Posted February 1, 2013 Ok time for some more updates and some more covering but first starting by making up the 2mm piano wire elevator connection rod. Bottom wing now covered starting with the underside done in a single piece of solartex, the cut outs are for the aileron servo boxes. As the top surface has the metal fixings for the struts I though I would show the way I get a neat joint around these starting by ironing a small piece around the fixing with a scalpel cut slot. This means when you come to add the top wing covering you can reduce the risk of not getting a perfect joint around this area without it showing up. One half of the fuselage has been covered to about six mm around the stringered areas, I have also covered the rear underside which I did first. A quick assembly just to see how she looks. The front area will be a glass cloth poly resin finish, this will overlap the covering. Tomorrow I hope to finish the solartex and get the ailerons made up and possibly get the horns fixed and maybe even a servo or two in place. more soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 2, 2013 Author Share Posted February 2, 2013 Oops looks like I forgot to add the last photo more soon Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 Well just a quick update, spent much of the afternoon fighting the plite of the self sealing hinge slot, you know the thing, cut the slot for the hinges, test fit, all ok, apply glue and slot instantly disapears. Four times this happened this afternoon arrrgghh! Anyway finally got the tail plane , elevators, fin and rudder all assembled and hinged plus the horns fitted. Also hinged the top ailerons, then ran out of hinges- see first sentence! Back to the model shop for hinges tomorrow then. more soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 8, 2013 Author Share Posted February 8, 2013 Time for another very quick update. The ailerons have now been made from 30m trailing edge stock, sanded covered and hinged to the wing. Control horns have been added to the underside of the lower wing ailerons and the interplane aileron pivot points have been made up from 2mm ply drilled and glued into slots cut into the ailerons, top surface for the bottom and underside for the top. Set at the trailing edge they give a more positive slop free linkage. Well next job is to start the covering on the forward fuselage and also fit the aileron servo's in the lower wing. More soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 More lousy weather so cracked on with getting the covering started on the front of the fuselage. I have decided to use light weight glass cloth and Delux Materials Eze-Kote acylic finishing resin. Pretty easy to apply, first coat went on straight onto the balsa to seal the surface a little, then laid on the glass cloth and applied a further 3 coates. I laid the glass cloth over the top of the battery access hatch and then cut this free later. After the first few coats I trimed the cloth to size. I then added about 10% talc powder to a fourth coat and sanded, this had then effectively filled the weave in the cloth. A further coat and light sand and the surface was ready fo a coat of spray fill primer (white) so time to mask of the fuselage to protect the solartex allowing for a small overlap. Spraying on a day like today is probably not very wise however using a build up primer most of this will be sanded back to prepare the surface for some detail and final paint finish so a couple of small runs are not a problem luckily. The finish shows up some imperfections in the surface that I can remove with a little filler, fortunately only a couple of small areas so a light sand and can start to detail the surface for some panels prior to the final paint finish. More soon. Linds Edited By Lindsay Todd on 10/02/2013 00:46:07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 Another modeller taking advantage of the rubbish weather! Looks good Linds. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 A few nore bits and pieces done so quick update Aileron servo mounts made up from 1.5mm ply, tri section hard balsa with 1.5mm ply facing to fix the screws. Ply plates added to wing boxes then items screwed into position. I will cover later with silver solartex and add wire control rods. Next job was to start putting some detail to the front end by creating some panels and panel lines. This was done by masking off some key areas using up to three layers for some panels, adding some 1mm wide trim tape for small seam lines and then spraying a further coat of filler primer. I will the remove some of the masking tape add some other and spray some other small areas to complete. Following this I will add some hinge and small access panels from vinyl and she will be ready for the top coat paint. All good fun, I rather like this stage as it all starts to come together. More soon. Linds Edited By Lindsay Todd on 12/02/2013 23:04:10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 Time for a further update. A further coat of primer to define some of the panels masked off around the nose and she is pretty much ready for the top coat. Ford Nordic Blue is the colour I am going with and aim to base the scheme on a Bucker Jungman photo hopefully with some Olympic rings logo. Anyway top coat is courtesy of a Halfords Spray can which I must say went on rather nicely dispite the cold temperatures. Next job was to deal with the fixing of the forward access battery hatch, this locates around the centre top fuselage longeron and fixed with a pair of neo magnets let into the fuselage side that correspond with some flathead screws in the cover. Using screws allows me to set the height easily to get a firm fix to the magnets then a little cyno to lock the position. A small wire hand rail makes access easy. The dummy top hinge is a length of single strand servo wire scored with a scalpel and glued in place prior to the final primer coat. Final job for the day was to bend up a 4mm piano wire uc axel centre strut. This was simply done with a 1:1 drawing and a vice bend, check, bend, check etc. It has enough flex to fit within the aluminium legs and will then be fixed centrally with a saddle clamp. Next job is to paint up the wing struts and then work on the windscreen by making up no doubt a number of card templates until I fix on the final design. Also added the cooling slots just visible before final prime coat. Will add some further detail to the finish with panel rivets etc later. More soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouncebounce crunch Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Lindsay a Very nice model as usual, I am sure there will be plenty of fans with this one. I also noticed you nicked the ply from your grannies sock drawer for the servo mounts. I have used an old guitar -1dollar Oz or 65p from a recyclers, just to get a bit of cheap ply. Only problem is the gloss side, but it can be hidden. Very nice, and as usual photos showing how it is done goes a long way to getting others to have a go. top shelf and aged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangental Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I've just spent 10 minutes thoroughly enjoying Lindsay's build log, making mental notes, comparing techniques, learning new ones, marvelling at his patient attention to detail, but all I'm going to take from this is a mental picture of his granny's sock drawer with neat holes in it! Thank you BBC! Tangey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 LOL nice one BBC, not grannies sock draw quite but I have had that sheet of ply for some years, sometimes our family motto of 'one day that'll come in handy' actually pays off! Glad you enjoyed the blog Tangy, you never stop learning in this hobby, we have so many great builders and designers on this forum, its a real asset. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 Time for another quick update, been working on the windscreen, again a case of many attempts before i settled on the final design. The initial trials were drawn up 1:1 scale and framed out with the intention of infilling with sheet but when finished just didn't work so it was back to the good old cereal packet and cut out a few test pieces. I finally settled on a design, cut this out from 1mm sheet acetate then with rc modellers glue attatched some wooden frames using a few fast food coffee mixing sticks, used of course. The final unit is then screwed and glued with rc modellers glue. I have also used a mahogany varnish on the instrument panel which is now ready to recieve some instrument faces and then be fixed in place. I'll add some varnish to the frame around the windscreen to add a little contrast. Next is probably a start on the servo installation within the fuz. more soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Well decided to add a bit more detail work to the front fuselage by use of soldering irons. The first is using a 20watt point tip iron and a steel ruler was to run the iron down the panel edges across the paint, obviously not over the solartex areas but the result is that it burns a depression in the paint surafce and a nice straight edge to define the pannels. With the panels now defined I moved to a 40watt iron armed with a length of 3mm dia brass tube, I bent the tube at 90 degrees as it just aids handling so that it can be held againts the surface and burn a series of rings in the paint to create a reasonable result for flush or flush fixings along the panel lines, you can of course also add a flat to the centre but I have not bothered with going this far yet on this model but the effect is quite pleasing and seems to add some character. At this stage the finish is still to clean and even so I will age the panels and the seems a little to simulate some wear and tear. More soon. Linds Edited By Lindsay Todd on 27/02/2013 21:58:13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Decided it was time to get some more work done on the radio instalation so set about fixing a pair of ply rails across the fuselage as far forward and low as I could fix them to accomodate to standard size servos for rudder and elevator. Connections are via snakes so all pretty simple stuff really wich is usually a good sign of reliability. Back to some more detailing for the instrument panel. I found some instruments over the internet and scaled to size and printed. the rear of the instrument panel then had a clear plastic sheet glued in place with rc modellers glue and when dry then glued the instruments to the clear sheet again with rc modellers glue. I will later paint the inset in the cockpit more completely and add some switches and legends to the panel but the test fit looked fine. More soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Looking forward to seeing this one at Wallsall! tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Me too! and your Citabria Pro. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riverlandgirl. Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Very nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Todd Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Well decided to give her her name today thanks to my vinyl cutter, also got the windscreen varnished and connected up the ailerons so we are now getting towards the end I guess. More soon. Linds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hooper Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Classy! I like the muted colour scheme - almost monochromatic. So what's the LD stand for? tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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