DHC-2 Beaver

[Geoff Peacock]

Some 'Engineering':

Still a little concerned about the suitability of my OS-40, I was on yet another visit to my local model shop when I spotted a glass display case with a few engines in it. Investigating further, I found a brand new Irvine .46 in there. Even better, it was an OS-built one with the new type carb fitted. “How much?” was the question. After the usual ‘sharp intake of breath’ I offered him a lesser amount "For cash" and soon walked out of the shop with my engine problem solved - or so I thought. All I needed now was a dustbin silencer to fit it and I was ‘ready to go’ (Ebay came up trumps a couple of weeks later).

I had previously made sure that either an Irvine .46 or .53 would fit inside the cowl - and it did - but as I wanted the exhaust to exit the cowl somewhere near to the ‘scale’ position, I would have to do some juggling. I found that the engine needed to be fitted at an angle of about 75º from vertical to achieve the right exit point for the exhaust, which meant moving the engine mount to a totally different position. To do this, short pieces of dowel were cut to plug the existing mounting holes in F1, glued in and filed flush - but how to fit the replacement captive nuts when I’d drilled their new holes? The heads would be inside the nose, trapped between F1 and F2 and completely hidden behind ply and balsa! The obvious answer was to cut the hole in F2 to take the tank: this would give me access to the back of F1 and allow fitting and gluing of the nuts.

The engine was bolted to the mount, offered up to the front of F1, then 'tacked' to F1 using strong double-sided tape.The cowl was then offered up to assess how near to central the crankshaft would be. From then on it was fiddle, measure, remove, replace, re-stick, re-fir the cowl, etc: this went on for hours until I was satisfied that everything was in the correct position, so F1 was marked out for the captive nut holes and the engine and mount removed, ready for drilling. All that was required now was to drill the holes and cut the tank hole in F2 so that I could glue the nuts in place.

Cutting that tank hole was NOT easy (or quick)! Having ascertained the new position for the tank, I marked out its profile on the back of F2, then chain-drilled right round the inside of the line with a Ø1/8”mm drill. Not too bad so far, but… I now had to ‘join up the dots’ as it were, by sawing from each hole into its neighbour - through 1/4” ply - and from inside the cabin. Drilling about 50 holes with a Dremel through what was effectively a wooden musical instrument was noisy enough, but when I eventually started to saw… what a racket! I honestly couldn’t put up with more than about 5 minutes of this before I had to stop - and that was the time it took to saw between just 2 holes. It was a long job, eventually achieved after trying various methods and tools - I ended up using just a short piece of 32 TPI hacksaw blade wrapped in layers of masking tape for a ‘handle’. The actual length of the cutting blade was limited by the space between F1 and F2 - just 3-1/2” - so short strokes were the order of the day. Then, after finally cutting all the way round and removing the unwanted piece of plywood, I realised that I couldn’t leave it with jagged edges, so… I had to file all the tops off! Aaaaagh! The whole process went on for three nights, each time working for about 2 hours before enough was enough and I had to stop. Of course, as soon as the job was done I found a pair of earplugs at the bottom of my tool-box! Fitting the captive nuts was relatively quick and easy after that, and they were quickly glued in place.

“And There’s More…”

The engine mount was bolted to F1 and the engine fitted to it. Oops… I hadn’t been thinking ahead - again! The rear face of the dustbin silencer fouled against F1. After measuring how much I needed to move the engine forward, I removed the mount, fitted two 1/4” square hardwood blocks behind it and re-fitted the engine and mount back onto F1… a 10-thou shim just slid between the offending components, so I’d got away with it… or had I? The prop driver now poked too far out from the front of the cowl by 1/4". Moving the cowl forward was the only option, but that would (and did) leave a gap between the rear of the cowl and F1, so I stuck 1/4” balsa strip all the way round the periphery of F1 and sanded it to blend in with the existing nose profile and thus close the gap… suddenly my Beaver really became a ‘long-nose version’.

[Broken Prop]

Nice work Geoff!

(By the way I like your sketches. very clear.......)

Pete

[Geoff Peacock]

Posted by Peter Ward on 06/04/2014 18:48:34:

Nice work Geoff!

(By the way I like your sketches. very clear.......)

Pete

Thanks Pete - having been a Technical Illustrator for many years was a big help.

This is probably why you see more drawings than photos on this blog - although my failing memory over using the camera didn't help one bit.

[Geoff Peacock]

And Even More!

Securing holes were drilled through the cowl and into hard points glued to the nose: once fixed in place with servo screws everything seemed OK, but how did I provide access for a glow-start? As the engine is completely hidden within the cowl, I had to make a hole for it somewhere, along with a second hole for the needle valve to come through. The obvious place was directly above both, although I wasn’t too keen on this. I eventually fitted a remote connection for the glow-start inside the cowl, lower down on the opposite side to the engine - not quite so prominent - with the power lead running across the front of F1 to the glowplug and the earth lead connected direct to one of the engine mounting bolts. The glow-start access hole was then drilled through the cowl. At the same time, access for filling the fuel tank was made by fitting a remote fuelling valve in a similar fashion, also inside the cowl and above the glow-start connection. A hole was drilled through for the fuelling tube to pass through.

The glow start and fuelling valve were screwed to hardwood blocks which were then epoxied inside the cowl, leaving them both just below the cowl's outer surface, which left me with a cowl which was clear of ‘things’ sticking out of it. The needle valve extension would unfortunately be rather obvious, being right at the top front edge of the cowl, but I couldn’t see any alternative to that and would have to live with it. This photo of the finished cowl shows the result - the hole for the needle valve can just be see at the cowl's top/front.

[Geoff Peacock]

Bits & Bobs:

Right, where had I got to - and what else needed doing? There were still a lot of smaller jobs to be done, and of course the fuel tank needed fitting. For this I glued in a flat 1/4” balsa plate for it to sit on, stuck balsa sides and ends to it, lined it all with foam and added the tank. To hold it in place, I fabricated two pegs from 1/8” dowel, glued them to the back of F2 and simply used a strong elastic band which wrapped round them and over the tank to hold it in place. Job done, even though it does protrude into the pilot's seat.

What about fitting a scale instrument panel? I went back again to the internet, where there are plenty of photos to choose from. I selected one, set it up as a drawing template on the Mac’s screen, then enjoyed a quiet couple of hours drawing my own slightly simplified version.

It looked good on-screen, with each dial being an accurate representation, although at 1/8 scale some of the detail is lost. I also made the central control panel for throttle, mixture and propeller pitch which, after fitting a set of dummy levers, also looks good and is easily seen through the cabin windows. This is the finished product:

Instrument and control panels were made using water-slide transfers - and completed much later. The right-hand side of the dashboard will eventually have a battery monitor fitted.

Now to fit the battery. Fortunately, there was just the right amount of space alongside and beneath the tank - as long as the battery was a ‘square’ one. I had a ‘long’ 2,500mAh Vapex battery (4 cells in a row), so I cut through the shrink-wrap which held it together, folded two cells back against the other pair, re-soldered one of the connecting strips, then labelled and taped it all up again, making it 2 cells x 2 cells square. It rests comfortably wrapped in foam against the tank, just waiting for some current to flow - and as a bonus, it also helps to counter-balance the almost side-mounted engine.

Couldn’t have worked out better, although the tank has to be removed to get at the battery.

[Geoff Peacock]

More Bits & Bobs:

On top of the fuselage, there is a rather prominent - I'm not sure what it is exactly, other than it’s a red flashing beacon mounted on a short mast (see photo). Is it a taxiing beacon? No doubt someone on here will put me right sooner or later.

Some block balsa on a 1/32” ply base was quickly 'cobbled up' into something like the right shape: but how to do the beacon itself on top of the mast? I would have liked to fit a red flashing LED to indicate ‘Power ON’, but still haven’t got round to finding one, so for the time being it’s a little piece of LEGO, cadged from a friend and glued in place. Just the job.

 

Radio receiver. Another balsa plate, similar to the tank plate - with sides and foam lining - was glued to the cabin floor to hold the receiver in place, secured with Velcro straps. This is fitted directly in front of the three servos, hard up against the undercarriage block, behind and below the tank.

Now for a trip to the model shop. I needed all manner of accessories: red & white Solarfilm, Balsaloc, black Solartrim, paint, fuel-proofer, canopy glue, an aluminium spinner, wheels, fine sandpaper, the list was endless… and as usual, whilst there I found that there were ‘other things’ which I couldn’t resist spending my money on - as you do!

Making Transfers:

I have to say here and now that covering model aircraft is definitely NOT my greatest talent. To be honest, I was worried about making a start, not wanting to make a pig’s ear out of what to me looked rather good so far: I was proud of what I’d achieved. As usual, I took the coward's way out: I completed the artwork for the transfers instead (shown below) all on one A4 sheet. As well as the FLY CANADA logos, there were registration letters, the instrument panel with its gauges, ‘Beaver’ logos, which included a ‘60 Years of Beaver Aircraft’ badge and a ‘Pratt & Whitney - Dependable Engines’ shield.

Yes, the C-BJGP registration is my wife's and my initials. I hope there isn't a real aircraft flying round Canada with that same identification - or a company called Fly Canada!

The artwork was created on the Mac and printed onto Crafty Computer Paper (for waterslide transfers), using the laser printer at my local community library (they let me 'play' on it). This method of making your own transfers works rather well and I can recommend it to all modellers. For those thinking of having a go - there are two types of paper: one for laser printing and one for inkjet. The laser type have better definition, whilst the inkjet paper needs a couple of light coats of varnish 'drifiting' over it to seal the print and keep the water out, although it does work OK. I've used both and much prefer the quality of laser printed ones.

I've just realised that this information is a little 'out of step' with my order of posting, but never mind - the info still holds good.

[Geoff Peacock]

Missing picture of the beacon - I hope.

[Geoff Peacock]

Covering:

Now fully armed with Solarfilm, Solartrim, Solarlac and Balsaloc after my visit to the model shop, there was nothing else for it now but to make a start at covering - courage, mon brave!

Question: which bit was going to be easiest to start off with?

Answer: the rudder.

I had already decided that I would only do the white parts to begin with and leave the red and black for the time being - not because dark colours go better over light, but because there were some complex shapes to be done in red and I needed some practice. After a final sanding with fine glasspaper, followed by a wipe with a tack cloth, I cut a piece of Solarfilm (oversize) and plugged the iron in. My iron doesn’t have a temperature display, so I set it at what I thought would be ‘cool’ and tested it on a small piece, adjusting slightly to get what should have been the right amount of heat for tacking the covering.

Question: would it stick?

Answer: it did once I’d remembered to remove the backing film!

Having only a slightly curved surface, the rudder actually was quite easy to do, just tacking round the edges leaving as few wrinkles as possible, then sealing with the iron turned up. After that, it was just a matter of running the iron all over to shrink it. Everything went to plan - this was easier than I remembered. The other side of the rudder was covered, followed by the fin and strake, a similar and equally straightforward task which went well: my confidence was gaining.

Question: what’s going to be the most awkward bit to cover? Time to get something a little more difficult done.

Answer: the undercarriage fairings, with their complex compound curves, etc. With pieces of Solarfilm cut and the iron back to ‘cool’ away I went, tacking round the edges. Even my best attempt left quite a lot to be desired, with wrinkles apparent everywhere. Would it shrink enough to remove them all? Again, nothing ventured, etc., so with the iron hot I sealed the edges, then attempted to shrink out the wrinkles. Once finished I stripped it all off and started again! My earlier confidence had all but melted into oblivion by now, but not wanting to be beaten, I kept on trying until one leg was finished, looking more than reasonable, even if there was a tiny area of balsa showing through in one corner. I took the easy option and ‘disguised’ this later - with a touch of white paint. It was now approaching midnight, but as I felt to be ‘on a roll’ I kept going - with similar results, ending up with a second fairing which again was more than acceptable, even if it wasn’t perfect. At 2-15am I couldn’t resist fitting the wheels and plugging the completed undercarriage into the fuselage - just to see how it looked, of course.

All looked good: I was glad that I had made the undercarriage removable. I would never have achieved such results with the undercarriage if it had been glued permanently to the fuselage.

[Tony Richardson]

Don't know about a company but there is this **LINK** organization Geoff as for the registration couldn't find one to match. Love the color scheme and any Beaver with a Maple leaf looks good, they land and takeoff from our local harbour many times a day providing a service between here and Seattle/Vancouver as well as the whole coast of BC and the gulf islands, great aircraft, looking forward to some flying shots or hopefully a video.

[Geoff Peacock]

Thanks for that Tony. I couldn't find the C-BJGP registration either, but I probably should have done a search before 'inventing' the Fly Canada name. If they see it, let's hope they consider it to be free advertising!

My lifelong ambition to fly in a Beaver has a very remote chance of coming true - we have friends in the Toronto area, where Beavers also use the harbour airport. One day… perhaps, when we come over again, or will I only get to watch them take off - from on top of the CN Tower (me up there, not the Beavers)?

[Geoff Peacock]

The Wings:

Next day was wet and windy so I decided to stay home and cover at least the inner part of one wing, i.e. the white part which spanned the full width of the flaps (see below).

So… was it a ‘sheeted’ wing or ‘open structure’? In reality I suppose it was both, being sheeted from L/edge back to the main spar, then open as far as 1-1/4” from the T/edge, thus leaving an ‘open’ area which was 3” wide. How was I to tackle this? I simply treated it as a fully sheeted area, tacking round the edges, sealing, then shrinking with a very hot iron. To start off, I ironed a 1/4” strip of film along the wing/cabin roof joint which eventually did the job asked of it - hiding any slight gap that might be left if the covering shrank away from the wing root. The underside of this first wing was easy, but the top surface proved a little more difficult: there was one area between two ribs which simply refused to shrink enough to tighten the film. Undismayed, I left it as it was, thinking that after a bit more practice I might be able to rectify the problem (I finally managed to shrink this later - with a VERY hot iron). The corresponding part of the other wing was then covered without any problems. This left the cabin roof, with its multiple curves at the front. Surprisingly, all went well, although the occasional bubble popped up which needed treatment.

Time for a bit of practice with the red stuff now - but I had a decision to make yet again. Should I include the Canadian maple leaf (see above illustration) and just use a single piece of film, or iron the red on with a straight edge and apply the leaf later using Solartrim? I decided on the first option, thinking that if it didn’t work out I could do it again, but with the straight edge and Solartrim.

I did the underside first - and it worked, up to a point. Getting the bubbles out where the red leaf was stuck to the white was quite difficult, but the end result was acceptable (it was underneath - well away from prying eyes). I decided to use the Solartrim method for the next maple leaf on the other wing, applied separately. This was better - and easier - so that was the method I used from then on. Flaps and ailerons were covered next, one flap warping rather badly along its length as I covered the underside, but I managed to pull it straight again when covering the top. Tail-plane and elevators followed in a similar manner.

[Geoff Peacock]

Fuselage:

Time now to sit back, assess the fuselage and formulate a sequence for covering it. The fus. underside was first - a quick, easy job in white, followed by the top face, also white, but was a little awkward to fit round the fin and strake, but all ended well - and my confidence was boosted even more. Now to do the sides. The upper part of the fuselage sides would be covered in white first (to the dotted lines shown below), followed by the lower part (white again), which would have a straight line along its top edge, level with (but eventually overlapping) the lowest part of the red covering which would be applied last. This left an area of bare balsa where the red would be applied, hopefully ensuring better adhesion of the Solarfilm. It would also give me a white background for the FLY CANADA transfers.

Talking of film adhesion, I was a little concerned about the ability of Solarfilm to stick to the plywood cabin sides. “Use Balsaloc,” was the advice given, so I painted one side of the cabin with my newly purchased tin, then let it dry - which it did, with lumps and bumps everywhere! Should it have been thinned, or what? I sanded most of the lumps off, then carried on covering as normal, not even bothering to use it on the other side, although I gave the ply a good rub-down with glasspaper first. It all looks to be stuck down OK, so - anybody want an almost full tin of Balsaloc? Covering the reflex curves of the top plate of the tail cone was more than a little awkward, but I managed it.

Before using the red Solarfilm I cut templates out of thin card for each ‘shape’, then drew round them on the film backing before cutting to the exact size required, hoping that the film wouldn’t shrink too much and leave me with gaps at the overlaps. Happily, after tacking down and then sealing the edges, everything stayed where I’d stuck it and I ended up with a reasonable job after shrinking it all over. Dead chuffed again. Doing the red film where it passes under the nose end was a little tricky and involved quite a bit of pulling and stretching, but I felt that my technique was improving at a great rate and my confidence was really building back up. The only mistake I made was to try and cover the top of the nose (black) using Solartrim, which doesn’t enjoy being stretched round curves as much as film does. That bit’s a bit wrinkly to say the least and might even get re-covered sometime in the future. I really should have stripped off it straight away!

I now had a fuselage which was almost finished, with just the transfers to do next. The small ones were applied first as a trial run, followed by the FLY CANADA logos which, due to their fairly large size, became a little ‘stretchy’ when sliding them off the backing sheet. I had remembered beforehand to wet the area where they were to go, and they went on successfully by gently sliding them into place, followed by a little adjustment for position, then using a squeegee (credit card) and a damp cloth to press the edges down. The registration letters went on last.

[Geoff Peacock]

Fin, Rudder & Wing Struts
The red Solartrim maple leaf for the fin & rudder (in two parts) came next, cut round templates again. This maple leaf was an even larger item, and was fiddly to say the least. Advice given (again) was to peel it from the backing paper under water - to stop it curling up and sticking to itself. The fiddly bit was lining up the ‘fin’ part with the ‘rudder’ part, at the same time creating an overlap which would reach round the edges and into the hinge gap between them - these just had to line up with each other, although I have to admit to adding a tiny touch of paint (both red and white) to achieve the right result.
That was the fuselage done and dusted.

Eventually, we got a fine day with no wind, so I took the completed aluminium wing struts into the garden, hung them on the washing line and sprayed them all over with white primer. Note that no washing was mistreated during this operation! After a couple of coats, the white didn’t appear to be too far away from a match with the white covering, so I left them as they were, just adding red ends using matching Solarlac - intended for painting the cowl. This was when I discovered that Solarlac doesn’t seem to like being applied with a brush. It wasn’t too bad on these smaller items, but I couldn’t see me brushing it on to a large area like the cowl without leaving streaks and/or brush-marks. Looks like another decision is in the offing sometime soon! The outer ends of the struts hook over an ‘L’-shaped aluminium bracket under each wing, with the inner ends secured by 3mm 'wing-bolts' which screw into blind nuts glued into the cabin sides. There is no mention on the plan to say whether they are load-bearing struts or not, but either way I’m sure they will do the job. At this point, I also fitted the covers for the flap pushrod exit under each wing. These are simply pieces of 1/16” ply sheet with a hole at each corner for the screws and a clearance slot for the pushrod itself. To cover the slot, I cyanoed the conical/curved parts cut from small servo mounts, as used on the ailerons.

What did I do next? You got it - I put it all together, just for another look. The photo shows where I had now got to, and boy was I chuffed: it really did look like a Beaver now. I was so pleased with ‘my’ design that I sent a couple of photos to Neil Aird at dhc-2.com, hoping for his approval! I secretly hoped that he just might feature it on the website, and although he replied to my email with favourable comments there was no such gesture forthcoming.

Ah well, I tried.

[Geoff Peacock]

Windows & Windscreen:

Fitting the 'glass' windows almost deserves an article to themselves! Yet again I chose the easiest first, these being the large windows in the rear passenger doors. Fortunately, access from inside the cabin was easy with such a large space to work in, plus the ply outer skin left a large re-bated area in which to stick the clear gel - bought at my local art shop. I made paper templates for the various shapes and cut round them carefully. Taking the advice to use canopy glue I was fairly happy with the results, doing both sides in quick time, followed by cutting and fitting the windows for the front doors. The round porthole was another matter! Access was almost non-existent - the hole being immediately behind the cabin half-bulkhead, leaving only a very small area to apply the glue at that point. Having bought more than enough clear gel for the whole job, I was happy to keep on cutting new pieces out and re-sticking them in until I got things to my liking - but both windows took more than a few tries to achieve this.

With all the side-windows done I had now reached the part I had been dreading - gluing the windscreen in place. The top edge of the screen has a quite sharp bend in it (3/8” radius) at its outside edge, whilst the corresponding bottom edge had a radius of about 1-1/4”. Other than those, all edges were straight, so should be easy. Weighing the job up in my mind for quite some time, I considered that the best way forward would be to glue just the ‘outside’ upright part of the frame/window (first glue), wait until the glue was fully set (overnight), then gluing around the two radii and along the top, bottom and central upright edges at one fell swoop (second glue). That was the plan. The illustration below show this more clearly.

Did it work…? Er, eventually is my only answer. The first problem was discovered the morning after the first glue. As soon as I bent the gel round the radii, the glue came unstuck! I thought canopy glue was supposed to be ‘the bees knees’ for a job like this - or was I simply asking it to do too much? To give it the benefit of the doubt, I was prepared to give it another go, but this time I tried to ‘pre-bend’ the gel using a heat gun. Scorched fingers and bad language followed, but I eventually got an approximate curve into a piece of gel at the umpteenth attempt. That evening I glued this piece on, just as before. The next day? The same result, I’m afraid, so it looks as if I also have an almost full tube of canopy glue up for grabs - to go with the tin of Balsaloc!

This failure now raised a second problem: what to use that would stick the gel to balsa permanently, round a sharp curve? Cyano would probably do the job, if I had some which was ‘non-fogging’, but I hadn’t - and the model shop was to far away to go for just that. What else was there? Rummaging around in the murky depths of my workshop, I came across a rather old (at least 4 years) tube of contact adhesive. Was it worth a try? It couldn’t be any worse than the canopy glue had been, but I had to test it first. Quickly knocking up a couple of balsa sticks and balsa block filed to a sharp radius, I stuck a piece of gel to it and left it for 48 hours. After that I simply applied glue to both surfaces round the curve, bent the gel round it and taped it all together. After another two days wait I removed the tape and… it had stuck: in fact I couldn’t prise it apart without the wood splintering. Success was mine!

[Geoff Peacock]

That was how I managed the windscreen glazing, but not before the third problem reared its ugly head. Applying the glue to a test piece was easy - but doing the same thing onto the actual windscreen frame was a different kettle of fish. There was no large area of balsa or gel to which I could apply the glue, and getting it to flow out of the tube in a thin continuous ‘bead’ was proving difficult, to say the least. The last thing I wanted was to see smears of excess glue round edges of the windscreen. With the ‘first glue’ successful, I simply used the sharp end of a cocktail stick to get the glue in the right place (on both surfaces, gel and frame), picking it up and applying it as quickly as I could from a ‘pool’ of rapidly setting glue. This was then spread thinly using a cocktail stick with a flattened end and left to go touch-dry, before the gel was bent round the frame and taped securely in place.

I left that tape on for almost a week before plucking up the courage to remove it. It did stick successfully, the only fault being that there was a slight inward bow in the flat part of the windscreen. I can live with that: the only time you can see it is when the light is exactly in the wrong place. Job done.

[Geoff Peacock]

Mere Details:

Light relief time again, just enjoying myself by ‘fiddling about’ and making a few small parts which needed to be fitted in order to add ‘scale appeal’ to the model.

Firstly, steps for the passenger doors were required, which were made from nothing more than bent piano wire soldered together and 1/32” ply added for the footboards, all fixed in place using cyano.

Secondly, two steps each side which provide access for the pilot/co-pilot, positioned on each undercarriage leg, were made and fitted next, using a similar method.

The Beaver has distinctive secondary cooling outlets aft of the rear of the cowl which are again important to ‘the look’ of the aircraft, so I measured up for these, made a template and cut two from a piece of litho plate. After pondering on a method of fixing these, I went back to find the contact adhesive and used just that, sticking them direct to the Solarfilm covering, bending the front edge round F1 and gluing to that as well. They take no stress load, so should be OK - and they do seem to be well stuck on. Needless to say, these did not feature on the plan.

[Area 51]

Looking extremely nice Sir, time for some air under those wings.. I am sure she will "do you proud"

[Geoff Peacock]

Nearing the End - But…

I was now approaching a ‘systems test’, so with everything connected up I checked it all over at least twice (even though none of the wing hinges were yet glued in), plugged the battery in and switched the transmitter and receiver ON. Luckily I’d had the foresight to disconnect all the quick-links first, as I soon discovered that most of the controls seemed to need reversing at the transmitter - the flaps would have tried to go UP! You got it - I had set the transmitter for the wrong choice of aircraft. Once the Tx was set correctly, the quick-links were re-connected and things began to happen.

With everything now waggling in the right direction, adjustment of all controls followed until everything seemed to be right - in fact operating the flaps was more than right - it was brilliant. I had fitted a servo-slow into the circuit, which made watching the flaps gently droop through 45º seem extremely life-like. One minor problem, however, was that my transmitter (Sanwa RD6000 Sport) only had a two-position switch for operating the flaps, and I really needed three if it was to be to scale, i.e. one position for 'normal, a second one for take-off (15º down) and a third one for landing (45º down). It took some time before I overcame this, even though it was simply done by mixing the ‘flap’ control with the ‘gear’ control (not needed on a Beaver). So, the ‘flap’ switch gave me the take-off setting and the ‘gear’ switch gave me full flap for landing. Lastly, I set a little exponential for rudder and elevators, mixed a small amount of rudder with the ailerons, and adjusted the end-points and throttle cut on the engine servo.

All problems now solved, except…

having just successfully set everything up, my transmitter went on the blink again, just as it had done earlier - the red wire had broken again! Unfortunately, the wire was now too short to effect the same repair as last time, so… send it somewhere for a ‘proper’ repair, or just whack it onto Ebay for sale as ’spares or repairs’ and convert myself to 2.4GHz ? Funds, or a lack of them, will dictate this shortly. I know which way I want to go.

[Geoff Peacock]

What’s Left?

Now April 12 and only a few minor bits & bobs to finish everything off.

• apply fuel-proofing around the engine bay and some varnish to protect the transfers and keep them stuck down
• fit a battery monitor to the instrument panel
• get a transmitter which works reliably
• set the engine up and get it fully run-in
• test everything… then re-test (just to be sure)
• Last of all…
  … the Beaver’s maiden flight (weather dependent)!

So, that’s it. Five years and four months to complete what was originally meant to be an eighteen-month project. A said I work slowly and sporadically.

Jobs I’d Still Like To Do:

• fit an additional servo for tailwheel steering
• fit navigation lights, landing lights and a flashing LED in the roof beacon
• make a life-like cabin interior, with a pilot in place
• re-cover the top of the nose where I’d used black Solartrim

None of these jobs are in desperate need of attention - in fact they may not get done at all.

For those of you who have been following this - thank you for sticking with me. I hope you've enjoyed my 'journey' into Beaverland. I'll post more as soon as the maiden flight has been made, but with Easter getting in the way and the gardening season arriving (at last) it might not be imminent. I'll leave you with another few pics which like all the previous photos (I've just noticed), don't have the wing struts fitted!

[Glenn Stratton]

Hi Geoff, I haven't gone back and reread the red wire post, but could you not just add a piece of wire to extend it before re soldering?

[Geoff Peacock]

Posted by Glenn Stratton on 16/04/2014 22:38:41:

Hi Geoff, …could you not just add a piece of wire to extend it before re soldering?

Very possible Glenn, although my concerns about doing that are:

1. Will it break yet again in another place? It does appear that the whole wire is suspect and really needs replacing completely, but I can't get at the other end without stripping a lot of other 'gubbins' away first - possibly beyond my capabilities.
2. Should it break again in-flight, would I be liable for any damage caused, i.e. would my BMFA insurance cover me after I had 'fiddled' with the Tx?
3. What is the condition of the other wires to both gimbals - might they be as bad and follow suit in the future - particularly when flying?
4. Can I really trust it from now on, whatever action I take?
5. I really want to go 2.4 Gig!!!

Perhaps someone on the forum could advise me on the best way forward. It would be a pity to just abandon the Tx, as I really like it and have got used to using it, plus all my Rx's and almost all my servos are Sanwa - I'm happiest when using everything from the same manufacturer.

[Tony Richardson]

Not worth the risk Geoff, bin it and bite the bullet for a 2.4 tranny, you certainly wont regret it as much as losing that lovely Beaver.

[Glenn Stratton]

Geoff, having read your reply, time to give in to the urge and like Tony says, it's time to go 2.4!

Have fun choosing, unless you've already got your eye on a particular Tx!

You've created a lovely model, enjoyed your blog and wish you good luck with the maiden!

[Geoff Peacock]

Thanks Tony & Glenn,

Your advice is not only the sensible approach, it's also the way I want to go. I could, of course, get it professionally repaired, but I would probably still feel a little uneasy when using it, so it looks like the great God Ebay will be seeing some Sanwa stuff soon (unless anyone on here feels the need). Selling the tranny for spares/repair, along with some good Rx's should help towards funding a 2.4 Gig set-up.

So the search is on, but I must do some research first, mainly to find out what works with what - and vice versa. I'm not at all well up on 2.4 - never felt the need until now - so any hints and tips would be welcome. What's the word on a Turnigy 9X? Anybody got one? The price is appealing… and I am a cheapskate Yorkshireman after all.

I need to do this soonish: the Beaver's maiden will have to wait until I get the replacement. Tony's comment (bin it and bite the bullet for a 2.4 tranny, you certainly wont regret it as much as losing that lovely Beaver) really struck home!

[Tony Richardson]

Geoff I believe Sanwa is branded Airtronics this side of the pond? if so search the net for same and I am sure you will find the product suitable the rx's are not too expensive and the tranny's are very resonable ( at least this side of the pond ). I am a JR person myself purely because that is what was available here on the is.lsland at that time plus I can also use Spectrum Rx's the choice is yours and it is wide enjoy the hunt