mightypeesh Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Hi Ladies and Gents. After the demise of my much loved Pushy Cat a couple of weeks ago I had got the plan out to build another one. This is the biggest bit that is left. Whilst looking amongst my plans for it I came across some three views of the DH Vampire which I had printed off a while ago but had done nothing with. I have always loved the Vampire and have hankered after building one for a while, so out came the french curves, rulers and squares and a plan was drawn up over the drawings. It is the same wingspan as the PC and I am going to try to keep the weight similar too, as well as the same power train. I know the PC is slimmer and more streamlined, but she did have more speed than I knew what to do with so I think this will be plenty quick enough. The wings and tail will be similar construction from 6mm balsa with torque rods in the wings for the ailerons and the elevator servo under the tail. I would like to thicken the tail booms up a bit from an aestetic point of view so I am intending to laminate light balsa and depron to make them and give them some form. The fusalage had me scratching my head a bit. I do not want a slab sided slightly curved shape as I think the whole essence of the Vampire stems from its slightly portly look. To this end I am going to make 1.5mm ply formers sandwiched with 50mm polystyrene and shaped, and then given a glass skin to help make it more ding proof. I am not sure whether it is worth putting rudders on the tail as this was the only thing I missed on the PushyCat - what do you think? Ok. Here we go. Wings from 6mm soft balsa with medium tips, shaped in usual stylely with razor plane and sanding block. slots for 3mm ply spars and ailerons cut out Cutting slots for torque rods using drill bit as a rebating tool, finish with sand paper. nice and neat. Grease up torque rod, place in groove and carfully place epoxy along slot without disturbing grease, and smooth level. wiggle when set and if you have managed not to glue them to the wings then they will move without slop. Not bad for a few hours work. Wings set with 10mm dihedral at tips and glued with epoxy. I will put a glass strip down the join when dry. Thats all for now. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 Hi folks. Bit more done today. Bog standard tail 3/16 booms with spruce reinforcement as per PC clad with 3mm depron each side and a bit of shaping and sanding tis done. A bit more refining then I can get onto the interesting bit - the fuselage. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Bennett Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 bootifull just bootiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly boy3 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Love it, Love it, can,t wait for the fuz. LoL Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Ah good to see you getting stuck in Simon, do you fit rudders ? well the real pushy vamp had them so why not John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 14, 2015 Author Share Posted May 14, 2015 I cannot sit around sulking when its raining outside! Onwards and upwards etc - I may have some DSMX rx's on order though...... Still not sure whether or not rudders will add anything to this type of airframe, but like I said I did miss them on the PC - every time I walked to the strip with it I would give the rudder an extra wiggle on the sticks and momentarily wonder why they did not move.... Joking aside there always seems to be a cross wind going on at the clubs I belong to so they would be useful. My concern is adding weight to the tail, bearing in mind the shortness of the nose - I think the balance is going to be border line at best and if I can get away without ballast in the nose then it might be worth forgoing the extra weight of the servo and pushrods etc. Cheers, Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 14/05/2015 21:27:05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 Made a start on the fuse today. 1.5mm lite ply sandwiched with 50mmish EPS. Good old fashioned pencil and paper.. foam stuff from wickes Lots of lovely bits and pieces.. Workshop kitten has got a bit bigger. He has turned into the 'ginger devil', bless his cottons...... He sits with his head in the lamps like a sunbed frying his brain cell. Cheers, Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 15/05/2015 21:52:43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 I new you were a careful builder.....but come on a Cat scan John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 17, 2015 Author Share Posted May 17, 2015 Hi Ladies and Gents. Had a pause on the fusalage to make up a new hand held hot wire cutter to use for the polystyrene parts and to sort out a power supply for it as the 12v dc one I have used for cutting wings before is far too much for these small bits - and I am too tight to spend good money on stuff from Mapins! Bit of dowelling, brass rod and a bit of the hardest balsa I have ever come across to hold it apart. The springyness of the dowell is enough to keep the nichrome wire taught. the squiggly bit is a button to push on to complete the circuit to switch it on. With its 'big brother' made from the finest bits of scrap I could lay my hands on. The power supply that I have used was in my big box of old electrical adaptors that I keep. No idea what it was for originally but it is marked as Maplins and is a 24v 1200mA AC/AC mains power thingy. It is wired with an old lighting dimmer switch, which means that I can control the output between 0 and 24 volts - or in this case the temperature of the wire (about half way is good) When using hot wires always set the temp as low as possible and turn it up until you can get a nice clean cut with hardly any smoke. If it is smoking away or glowing it is too hot - and the smoke is bad for you so use a ventilated area just in case. You get the idea. I will obviously shape properly after I have the whole thing together. The new cutter works brilliantly, well please - and no money spent. Bonus! Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 18, 2015 Author Share Posted May 18, 2015 Hi folks. got onto the foam cutting and shaping today. The rear end with packing pieces to leave the wing gap. Amazing how it looks almost exactly nothing like a Vampire at this point! sanded down to the formers and a the space for the cockpit hacked out and a bit of 1.5mm balsa let in. I am going to use the top as a jig for the bottom to ensure the clamshells match. all packed up and pinned down to keep it all square, and a bit of balsa tacked in for the wing gap. not too sad for a first go at making a fuse this way. The flat inside the bottom of F1 runs through and is the location for the lipo tray. I am now going to make up a nose from 12mm soft balsa and then have a look at how the back is going to work out . Cheers chaps, Simon Ps. A picture of Pippin the workshop cat with his head stuck up the lampshade chilled out and toasting himself - just for you Steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Balsa block roughly carved up, and a compulsory 'slotted together' shot. AUW is 195gms at the moment - I am aiming for 800gms or less for the finished model, but I think it will be tight. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve owen Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Posted by mightypeesh on 18/05/2015 15:37:58: Hi folks. got onto the foam cutting and shaping today. The rear end with packing pieces to leave the wing gap. Amazing how it looks almost exactly nothing like a Vampire at this point! sanded down to the formers and a the space for the cockpit hacked out and a bit of 1.5mm balsa let in. I am going to use the top as a jig for the bottom to ensure the clamshells match. all packed up and pinned down to keep it all square, and a bit of balsa tacked in for the wing gap. not too sad for a first go at making a fuse this way. The flat inside the bottom of F1 runs through and is the location for the lipo tray. I am now going to make up a nose from 12mm soft balsa and then have a look at how the back is going to work out . Cheers chaps, Simon Ps. A picture of Pippin the workshop cat with his head stuck up the lampshade chilled out and toasting himself - just for you Steve. le chat with tete stuck in lumiair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Bit more done Standard torque rod set up. The block of foam at the back is where the motor will go and is attached to the firewall mounting plate. When it is glassed over I will use acetone to dissolve the foam and leave a recess for installation. Well thats the plan anyway! The shape is getting abit more refined now, sorting out access hatches before glassing. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Okydoke, time to sort the fuse out before I can glass. Hollowed ot the nose block... This is a very handy sanding block. It is a foot scrubbing thing which i nicked off of my wife when I saw it! It's really handy for those awkward little concave shapes and is made of some sort of hard foam. Lined out the cockpit to sharpen it up.. Grooved out a recess for a battery strap which was glued in and then sheeted over with some balsa. drilled out small centre holes for the hatch locating posts and popped a couple of small screws in.... ...to tranfer the centres. Backed it up with some soft balsa to make it more solid.... ...then used some scraps of carbon rod to make a couple of posts. Not looking too sad. I also fitted a canopy catch to the back of the hatch. I use magnets usually, but the do not seem to hold the bigger ones so well. Cheers chaps Simon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Jones Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Hi , What size is the motor you are planning on using . The one one pictured looks a beast ? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Price 2 Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Looking good. Very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Thanks chaps. The motor is a HK prodrive 28-36 2200kv outrunner, with a Turnigy 50amp esc which came out of my pushycat. You did not so much launch it as let it go and watch her go vertical. And as for low passes - wow! The AUW was about 750gms as I remember, and this I reckon will be about 800. If she flies half as nice as the PC then I will be very happy. Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 21, 2015 Author Share Posted May 21, 2015 Ok, light coating of light weight filler Might be building a boat! Lightweight 25gsm glass cloth Cut to shape and masking taped in place. it helps to have an assistant her as the stuff is really hard to keep in place. Any bits that you need to keep epoxy free mask up before tacking in place. All the rest of the stuff needed. Have a look at the Jan 2011 issue for Tony Nijhuis's great article on glassing. Has not let me down! A good set of scales is essential though. Mix equal quantities of A and B and mix well. Use a foam roller to apply the epoxy over the cloth - much easier than messing about trying to spread it with brushes and bits of card. I used 50gms of resin in total for all bits. Chuck everything that is sticky straight away. The foam washing up pads I cut up to make little dabbers to push bits into place without it lifting off again. Half an hour later and looking great. Keep an eye on it as it starts to go off - any lifting bits can be tapped down at this point. Oh and I added another couple of layers to the tail section as I am removing the foam there and need it to be stiffer. Cheers folks, Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 21/05/2015 19:48:14 Edited By mightypeesh on 21/05/2015 20:00:09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Onwards and upwards. Although I have glassed the fuse I am going to tissue the wings and other bits. I have not used Ezedope before... But I need not have worried. I did end up with a few wrinkles though. Bit of sanding will sort that out. Meanwhile the fuse had another very thin coating of epoxy with a roller - and then a rub down and coat of primer. Bit bumpy, but when I looked at the surface of the Sea Vampire at the Fleet Air Arm Museum it was not exactly smooth! I am not going to go nuts on a perfect surface, and although the formers are not scale I think they look ok peeking through the covering. I am going to do a bit of cheaty riviting and stuff so it should look good. State of play so far. wing joint glassed everything covered - wrinkles sanded out (I think I prefer glassing) Making a start on the buck for the canopy. The way I work is maybe a bit convoluted but it works for me. I like to break down compound shapes such as the Vampire canopy into sections and you have complete control over the sections. First tape up with low tack tape and mark out... Then work out the sections and angles.... Spot tack in place with your favoured adhesive - remember you need to pull it off at some point so do not go mad! I use a 1ml syringe to place kicker exactly were it is needed - I hate those spray things - it just goes in your lungs. Fill out the gaps with scraps.... and squodge in some car body filler. Use your best Amex gold card to level off the surface.... And it starts to come together. Cheers, folks Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 22/05/2015 20:12:00 Edited By mightypeesh on 22/05/2015 20:14:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Nice work Simon it's looking good John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve owen Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Posted by mightypeesh on 22/05/2015 20:10:38: Onwards and upwards. Although I have glassed the fuse I am going to tissue the wings and other bits. I have not used Ezedope before... But I need not have worried. I did end up with a few wrinkles though. Bit of sanding will sort that out. Meanwhile the fuse had another very thin coating of epoxy with a roller - and then a rub down and coat of primer. Bit bumpy, but when I looked at the surface of the Sea Vampire at the Fleet Air Arm Museum it was not exactly smooth! I am not going to go nuts on a perfect surface, and although the formers are not scale I think they look ok peeking through the covering. I am going to do a bit of cheaty riviting and stuff so it should look good. State of play so far. wing joint glassed everything covered - wrinkles sanded out (I think I prefer glassing) Making a start on the buck for the canopy. The way I work is maybe a bit convoluted but it works for me. I like to break down compound shapes such as the Vampire canopy into sections and you have complete control over the sections. First tape up with low tack tape and mark out... Then work out the sections and angles.... Spot tack in place with your favoured adhesive - remember you need to pull it off at some point so do not go mad! I use a 1ml syringe to place kicker exactly were it is needed - I hate those spray things - it just goes in your lungs. Fill out the gaps with scraps.... and squodge in some car body filler. Use your best Amex gold card to level off the surface.... And it starts to come together. Cheers, folks Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 22/05/2015 20:12:00 Edited By mightypeesh on 22/05/2015 20:14:00 looking very good you dont need to borrow my bread knife after all, looking forward to see it fly i know it will be good and maybee we could do some formation at pent late evening when the sun is on our back's good luck si hope to see you tues cheers steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 23, 2015 Author Share Posted May 23, 2015 Cheers chaps. I am enjoying this build a lot. Steve, I think you are pushing the ' ""quote' button rathe than using the 'reply box' below as you keep repeating my posts with your own! There is a section called 'sand box' in the forums bit in which to practice on the various buttons. I might still need your bread knife to do the final trimming as I have not mounted the motor yet! See you next week, Cheers, Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 23/05/2015 11:58:07 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Right on with the canopy. Rough out a balsa block slightly under size. Mix up more body filler and paste it on like icing a cake. Quick tip on using body filler - you have a few windows of opportunity as it goes off to make shaping it easier. Firstly a few minutes in it will go what i call 'cheesy' when it starts to harden - at this point you can slice it with a scapel and get a really clean cut. A short while after this it hardens a little bit more so then you can rough it down using a course abrasive - once again without much effort. Once it hardens off you can go onto the finer grits. Whilst waiting I hollowed out the tail for the motor to go in. Looking good. With the parts stuck together I mounted them onto a block and gave them a coat of sanding sealer. After a quick going over with T-Cut and a polish it comes up lovely and shiney ready for forming. Please note the glass with residues of a hop based bevarage was only used for medicinal purposes during the latter stages of the polishing process. Cheers, Simon Edited By mightypeesh on 24/05/2015 08:10:21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypeesh Posted May 24, 2015 Author Share Posted May 24, 2015 Fitted the motor and esc... glued up the tail booms.. and epoxied on the wing... It seems to weigh over 6 kilo's now! I cannot work out where the extra weight has come from? Cheers, Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted May 24, 2015 Share Posted May 24, 2015 Very nice Simon. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.