David Gilder Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I have often marvelled at the sight of the Emirates A380 passing over our house twice daily on its way either into or out of Manchester Airport. So Christmas before last, my wonderful partner in crime and life bought me the HK A380 (ARTF). How chuffed was I when I opened the box on Christmas day!! Well, Its all well and good if you have a bowling green or tarmac to fly off as the wheels are also scaled down.. This has meant that until now, it has sat waiting its fate! So here I go.... I'm converting it to PSS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 Stage 1. Remove all the electronics and Ducted Fans! There is nothing more I hate than cutting into a lovely shape but alas this was required for the nacelles in order to remove the Ducted Fans. Here you can see the 4 (now empty) nacelles... These will be glued back together with a blanking plate inside each one. 4 open nacelles would inevitably create a heck of a lot of drag! After this, I removed all the wiring from the wing roots which included the 4 ESC's! The motors were run up previously to check they worked but are now of no use to me! If your interested, £30 for the lot +p&p! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 David That all seems a bit drastic! I too watch it climbing out of Manchester but conventional under slung EDF jets are out for me as I too do not have a bowling green to fly from! How well will those foam jet pods survive as a PSS? Look forward to seeing the finished article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 Simon. It may seem drastic but I hate having dead weight! All those Fans, ESC's and wiring weighed in at 541g. Over half a kilo of weight in / hanging on the wings! That's weight that is better had as bigger battery to fly longer! The nacelles will be held on with magnets, so that they knock off on landing. This is something I have seen on other PSS models with underwing nacelles and it works well. Anyway. I then removed all the u/c mounting points from the wings and nose... (Stanley blade for size comparison!) So as you can see.. Those wheels really are not big!! This obviously left some hollows where they had been glued in so these have all now been filled with ultralight filler and are drying overnight. As you can see in the pic above of the nose area, This section is held on with magnets and is the access point to the battery bay. That's it for today. Will try and do a little each day as I hope to have it ready to maiden at the PSSA meet in August on the Lleyn Peninsula in North Wales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 How have I missed this thread?! Will be nice to see an airliner again on the slopes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly P Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Excellent Dave, and we will have to talk about those ESC's and EDFs. Olly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Olly, Bit late I'm afraid... Sold them!! Yes Andy. Another A380 on the slopes!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly P Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 No Worries - given how many projects I'm not woking on at the moment they'd have sat doing nothing for a while anyway! Going to try to get away from work shortly and might actually get some time in the shed this afternoon, will be able to do some modelling AND some garden DIY work.... at least that is what I'll tell SWMBO. Keep us up to date Dave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Back with you all again now!! Sorry its been a while since an update but to be honest, there wasn't much to update due to work and family events! Got back to it today though so here we are..... On the power version, the ailerons are relatively small and I deemed not really suitable for a PSS model, so off they came and the cut outs extended. They now finish just inboard of the outermost engine pylon points so an increase of 50% in length! That should give a more authorative control surface area! The cut outs: So having cut out the extra, it was time to join the original foam aileron to the extra 50% part! No? Okay. I didn't think so either!! Out with the balsa and the first new aileron cut and shaped! (will do the other tomorrow!) Much better!! Now the nacelles.. We left them earlier having been sliced open in order to extract the fans and motors.. These open areas inside now needed to be blanked off so after a few minutes with the fret saw and sander I had 4 inserts. These fit nicely onto a ridge moulded inside the nacelles! Also on the pylons, the holes left from the wiring channels have been filled with light weight filler. The engine nacelles will be fitted with 2 magnets each so that under normal conditions they will stay in place but can knock off on landing! So here's a picture of 2 nacelles with the blanking plates installed and hot glued back together.. That's about it really... Oh, Apart from the fact I have removed the design transfer from the fin and rear of the fuselage as I plan on a different scheme! Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of that part but I'm sure you don't need one! Will update again as soon as able! Edited By David Gilder on 27/07/2015 19:01:23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 David In terms of drag I suspect you would do better to leave the nacelles completely open and just paint the inside surfaces black. The combined area of those four big turbo fan nacelles must be equivalent to a significant portion of the fuselage cross section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Jones Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Tricky one Simon. I suspect you may be right with such short nacelles. I did a back with an EDF Hunter converted to PSS one afternoon, flights with the intakes open and the air flowing through and some with the intakes blanked off. Same day, same conditions. The blanked off set-up flew much better, increased penetration and a more constant speed, the theory being that long ducting creates significant drag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Garsden Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Looking forward to seeing you finish it in time. Reckon if you don't go to bed you will make it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Simon - It may be that the short length of the nacelles would make them a minor issue with airflow, however, I decided to block them. I can always get the out later on if they dont appear to be helping! Peter - 1.5 weeks.... Tight but possible!! Love night shifts!!! Back at it after a sleep tomorrow morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Nice one Dave - if you are leaving the nacelles blocked off do make sure you print some nice Trent 900 fan discs off to stick to them - that will make them look very realistic when viewed from the front! Like this; **LINK** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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