Top Model Ideal - the build

[Peter Garsden]

I have a rather old and tired Easy Glider with a motor on it. I use it for light wind days when it avoids the walk of shame to the bottom of a long and steep fern crowded and dangerous hill. There is nothing wrong with it other than it being a very limited floater that doesn't match the performance of my Willow.

I decided I wanted something which has the speed of the Willow, but will fly in a gnat's whisper (that is better than the other word, which would probably be removed)

I spoke to T9 Hobbysport, and they recommended the Top Model Ideal which is a Hotliner - fast from a flat field but good thermal capability as well. It was reasonably priced at nearly £300 rather than the >£500 usually paid for F3F models, so I decided to go ahead.

I needed the accessories as well - brilliant plugs to retain the all moving tailplane halves, a suitable motor - not cheap at £155! and an ESC - sourced from Purple Power in England, a 4S 3200mah battery - also from 4-Max, a special plug to take all the wires into the fuselage from the 2 Flap and 2 Aileron servos, their recommendation of servos which are HS82 metal geared types, which are not as torquey as I normally go for - HS85MG but should be OK - the wing holes and servo supports are made for them, so I went along with the recommendation.

The site very helpfully produces all the accessories under the kit so you can see immediately, and buy what you need. I wish more sites offered this facility. See for yourself http://www.topmodelcz.cz/index.php?desktop_back=eshop&desktop=eshop&action=zbozi_detail&id=13817

The kit arrived about a month ago, but I was in the middle of my Tornado Lost Foam model, and I knew that I would get distracted if I opened it. I took it into the lounge and got moaned at because I was told it would make a noise - as if. It is top quality with beautifully covered made up tailplanes, veneer covered foam wings, and a very thin but strong fibreglass fuselage. I can see that carbon tape has been used at the wing saddle. I am not so sure about the strength of the rear fuselage boom but we will see. There isn't really any space to add stiffening - but maybe a slice of balsa - did that on my Voltij and it has helped considerably.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 21/04/2015 09:30:26

[Peter Garsden]

I have been thinking about strengthening the fuselage. I have seen so many broken booms to the rear of the wing, which has never happened on my Willow because it is so strong, that I am contemplating how to beef it up a bit without adding weight. I think I will

1. Add some carbon tape and epoxy resin up front to reinforce the front section of the fuselage. I fear that the motor will be a tight fit, so I must make sure to leave enough room.
2. Add some carbon tissue - not tried it yet and got some from Deluxe Materials - to the rear of the wing inside the fuselage. I will use two pieces and wet them out from the inside - or I might try a carbon sock - probably a bit OTT.
3. I might, as well put two pieces of 1/4 balsa about 100mm down the boom to give it some extra strength. As this is a hotliner thermal soarer weight might be an issue. With a 3.2metre wing span I don't think it will make that much difference.

[Andy Meade]

Wetted carbon sock over a latex balloon stuffed up her chuff then inflated?

[Matt Jones]

What he said Friend of mine did it very successfully with Carbon cloth and an inflated condom.

[Peter Garsden]

Brilliant tips chaps cheers.

Just looked again at the boom and it is lined with carbon tape on both sides so is stronger than I thought at first. So may be alright. Also carbon reinforcement in front of fuselage. May still do this, we will see.

Great idea though

[Peter Garsden]

So, contrary to my normal practise I started on the wings which consist of a long middle bit and two tips which join with carbon rods and multiplex plugs. First thing was to join the ailerons and flaps using two roles of tape. The top strip has backing and is clear but thick. Never seen it in England but this is a Czech kit. Bottom tape is like Diamond tape. Ailerons obviously move both ways, but when I came to the flaps I thought they had made a mistake because it was more or less flat ie with no chamfer to allow movement both ways. I then looked at the diagram - incidentally in credibly clever as there are no written instructions yet incredibly clear printed diagrams not even any photographs. - clearly the flaps are only intended to act as crow brakes - 60mm down, and for trimming - 5mm down for thermalling, and 2mm up for speed.So the kit was right, and the hinge had to be at the bottom not the top.

[Peter Garsden]

Superb quality kit this one. The Oracover is perfectly applied. The only problem is that the wings are covered in balsa instead of veneer so it marks really easily. How they managed to make upturned tips out of foam is a feat of science.

Anyway after applying the tape I had to cut the already formed holes for the servos, and the wing bolts as well as a larger hole for the central plug. Difficult to cut out circles in Oracover in a neat circle.

The kit recommends HS82mg which is good because they are cheap and strong. However the attachment is clever - preformed polyurethane foam with slots to hold the servo - also never seen these in Blightey. They were too big, however and had to be filed to shape - presumably to allow for larger or smaller servos.

[Peter Garsden]

I hope that the servos will stay in tight enough and not move. The plug recommended for the centre of the wing I have never seen before - a computer type plug with enough pins to take all the wires from the 4 servos in the wing - 12 wires, so it will be really easy to attach the wing.

The elevator servo is in the tail and moves the all moving tailplane. Again a bit of a fiddle.

So it is looking good so far. Should have this finished before too long.

[Peter Garsden]

So, time to solder wires in the wings which are foam cored with small holes not big enough for servo plugs so soldering wires is the option.

One can see above the template of balsa I made to protect the Oracover.

I also taped down the other wires so I would not catch them with the soldering iron.

The clips for the wires which hold them still whilst soldering grip too tightly so I am thinking of coating them in masking tape.

One can see my magnifying head set in the background which is brilliant for this sort of thing - plus reading glasses!

Also in right foreground are my wire strippers which are also brilliant.

The wire not being held gets very hot so I hold it with tweezers until it is solid

[Peter Garsden]

One can see where the multiplex plug fits into the end of the wing. For the first time, as recommended, the cut outs in the root rib already having been cut, I used Multiplex Plug Holders, which are also good. On my Voltij I used epoxy and microballoons which helps if they plugs are not quite square.

[Peter Garsden]

You can see in this photo how I bound the end of the wire together with masking tape which made it much easier to thread down the wing access hole. Because it is so easy to touch the oracover - you can see in this photo where I did so, I have made a balsa template.

[Peter Garsden]

Hot Tip - always solder your multiplex plugs connected, otherwise they melt and go out of shape.

Also don't forget to put your tubing on first!

I used 350 degrees celcius for this as one can solder instantly and with less infused heat.

[Peter Garsden]

This shows my trusty digital soldering (you have to get one as they are so quick and accurate).

Also flux in paste form to clean the iron first.

Also small snippers, solder tape absorber, and copper iron cleaner to get rid of unwanted excess solder

[Martyn K]

I find that using paste solder flux causes my expensive Weller bits to corrode rather rapidly. Certainly cleans the tip though

Martyn

[Peter Garsden]

Thanks for the warning Martyn. I inherited the flux paste from my Dad. It is years old. I also have a flux pen, which I bought. It is just that the paste is so easy to dip the tip into for cleaning. What sort of flux do you use?

I am dreading soldering the 16pin plug and socket for the centre connection. I just can't work out who you are meant to fix it as there are no instructions. How on earth is one meant to solder such short wires to such small connections? It is a tricky one. Has anyone any ideas? Is the female connector shown in the picture above meant to attach to the wing or be glued in position. If so, there is probably not enough room for the wires?

[Peter Garsden]

I have now finished the incredibly fiddly job of soldering the wires to the 15 pin plug which will make connecting up this model wing so easy. It is a type of plug I have never used before.

I used the plugs I cut off the HS82MG servos to plug into the receiver and solder to the male plug. I tested everything and amazingly it all worked - all 4 servos in the wing - result. When I did this with my Voltij, I managed to burn out 2 servos by getting the polarity wrong!

[Peter Garsden]

I had marked the wires with channel numbers to make sure the correct wires from the wing matched up with the correct channels in the receiver.

I also noted in the instructions, it said that the flap horns should be at a 45 degree angle. This is obviously because the flaps only move down for crow braking not up as ailerons, only 2 mms for speed trim or flaperons it is not clear.

[Peter Garsden]

I decided that I would strengthen the wire connections to the 15 pin plug and socket in that the wires would come in for some hammer. I decided to try out a method advocated by Pierre Rondel who is an international F3F pilot from France who writes a really good blog.

As F3F planes don't come with any instructions you have to look online for someone who has built one. He describes how he uses hot glue to make a clear seal for the 6 pin Multiplex plug which are usually at the root of the wings.

I needed 2 small pieces of Alumnium Sheet which I got as offcuts from our local engineering works this morning.

First you put a pool of hot glue on the edge of the sheet and press one side of the plug into it. and press it flat. You then put some more glue on top and press another piece of sheet over the top to flatten it. When dry you remove the metal leaving a flat clear plug.

[Peter Garsden]

I decided that as the fuselage was a bit flimsy at the front I would line it with some carbon tissue I had in a roll from Deluxe Materials. I mixed some epoxy resin, lined the fuselage and applied the tissue then recoated it, and it held in position. I also lined the canopy which also felt a bit flimsy. We will see how it turns out when it is dry.

[Peter Garsden]

[Peter Garsden]

Have now glued the fibreglass front motor former in position. It was very difficult to fit accurately at the right angle to fit a sloping round fuselage. I used Deluxe Materials Super Crylic which is a two pack acrylic flexible yet super strong adhesive for motor bearers, etc. It sets really quickly so is ideal. Hopefully it will hold the motor.

[Peter Garsden]

I have fitted the servo for the rudder to the fuselage using Aeropoxy which is like the old Araldite in that it takes 3 hours to harden and 24 hours to fully cure. It is ideal for fibreglass. Here I go again talking about glue, but I have found that normal epoxy just doesn't worry on stress areas for fibreglass.

[Peter Garsden]

Finally the elevator servo fits in the fin so as to avoid flexing of the control rod. The servos recommended are HS82mgs which I have used. I was considering using micro Savox servos I must admit, but firstly they wouldn't fit in the supports, and secondly there is a heavy motor in the nose so light servos may not fully counterbalance the mass, thus needed some lead. Thirdly HS82 servos are metal geared and inexpensive.

[Andy Meade]

Looks like a nice AFT bell-crank there Pete. Will you be bringing this along to the windless June PSSA meet?

[Peter Garsden]

Only if it is windless - I bought it so that I have a lightwind plane that is a bit more exciting than my Easy Glider, which is OK but a bit battered now.

But it isn't going to be windless so you may never see it?

Like you say, nice bell-crank - ooer missus.