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Danny's "poor mans Spitty"


Danny Fenton
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Hi Danny did you have to take some of F4/ F5 to get the wing into the fus deep enough ? i'm kind of happy with how it sits but it look's like the leading edge could do with going in a little but i have taken it out to the former F4 so no where to go . Hope this makes sense cheer's Danny . Good to see Chris over today , though did'nt have much time to say a lot

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Hi Danny

A bit of advise needed regarding the tail wheel installation please. Re pictures on page 27 is the brass tube fixed in the hardwood block ? I assume the piano wire leg itself must not move upwards or else there will be interference with the elevator pushrod - is the leg restrained at the lower end of the brass tube ?

Cheers

Martin

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Hi Andy, I took the wing in until it touched F4 and 5 but no further. It does indeed need to go in further but then the side profile would suffer. The plan is a compromise I am afraid.

Hi Martin, the piano wire is bent so it cannot travel upwards. Sometimes when you run bent piano wire in a tube as I have, the piano wire binds when loaded. If that had happened I would have soldered a small brass washer to the piano wire to act as a bearing surface against the tube. I was lucky this time and didn't need it. Yes the brass tube is a very tight fit in the hardwood block and epoxied. The horn is silver soldered to a collet and locks the piano wire from moving down. As you say upwards travel would impinge on the elevator pushrod. It was very tight back there!

tailwheel.jpg

The brass tube will obviously bend if not supported in the scale manner, so a length of basswood will be fitted to make the assembly more scale and to help support the brass tube.

Just in case..... the pic above shows the tailwheel facing 180 degrees, the aircraft was pushed backwards before this shot was taken

Cheers

Danny

 

 

Edited By Danny Fenton on 05/01/2015 16:08:04

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The full size tail-wheel is self castoring, yes. However the Chippy has brakes that operate via a lever and apportioned to each wheel via the rudder pedals (when at full travel I believe), you can steer using the brakes. I have built models with castoring tail wheels and will not do that again. A fixed tail wheel is better if you really can't get any steering controls to it.

Cheers

Danny

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Hi Danny I was going to have a floating tail wheel with a bias to run center i have a trainer with skid / or tail drager and find steering is relatively easy (ok goes the way i want 95% of the time) with throttle elevator and rudder control but have not done a floating wheel before are there any pitfalls i dont know about.

The majority of my flying has been done of grass and have not had the pleasure of the black stuff maybe this also helps keeping in a relatively straight line for take off

cheers Nige.

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Hi Nigel, I find that it requires lots of work on the sticks to taxi to the end of the runway to take off. Sometimes if there was the slightest wind the model would not turn across the wind. If you are happy walking the model to the threshold, pointing it into wind then walking back after landing then its no trouble. I like to taxi out and back. The Chipmunk may not be so bad as some because it has a fairly large rudder. But My Sea Fury was awful and had to be carried everywhere. I fitted a tailwheel and the ground handling is transformed.

I agree things are much better on grass, but still not as easy as with a steerable tailwheel.

These are just my opinions I know a few that use fixed or freewheeling tailwheels, and they are usually the ones holding everybody up at busy events while they cavort all over the place trying to get off the runway.

Cheers

Danny

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Finished the glassing on the fus and rubbed it back with some 240 grit W&D used dry. Just to knock it back. Cut through in a couple of areas so have just dabbed some resin over the spots. While that's drying, and avoiding that blessed wing leading/trailing edge joint I thought I would cover the rudder

rib stitching 8.jpg

Cheers

Danny

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Hi Martin thanks matey

Yes that's one piece of tape, I tape it all around the periphery making sure it's central. Then sort of sweeping the iron back and forward along the curve, increasing the angle with each pass, gradually it shrinks and flattens. The rudder was quite a tight radius but i managed it. The elevatars have also been done the same way.

rib stitching 9.jpg

This is the first stage....

Cheers

Danny

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Hi John, this radius is about the limit. Use the normal width strip not the wider, ie the same width as ribs
The torque rod sits about an 1/8 below rudder when rudder is fitted. But play in the torque arm allows it to lift a 1/4 inch. So once the rudder is attached, then the torque rod is coated in epoxy and lifted into a slot in the base of the rodder. I havent sharpend and bent the tip. I dont feel it needs it.
Cheers
Danny
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Okay chaps, I had hoped to finish the elevator tonight, one tip needs doing which I will film so you can see how easy it is to do But...... the "idiots lantern" and a pint of Guinness got the better of me. I have an early start tomorrow, so will see if I can get it done and edited tomorrow evening.

Cheers

Danny

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