Tony Smith 7 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Another one following the build. Looking forward to hearing/seeing how she flies as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Ibbotson Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 Martian, thank you for your concern about the extra work. To me it was extra pleasure because I enjoy building and I corrected my error. Thanks. So down to work. The wing wiring was tidied up as well as making sure all servo's and connections worked. As they all worked . The top wing was now skinned with 3mm depron. The full wing was skinned and the wing vortex tips were glued in place using P.U glue for a smoother join when sanded down. The main wing was placed in position and the four wing bolts were drilled out. The rudder and elevator snakes were fitted using 'Tie' wraps and glued with 5min epoxy glue. The top rear deck was now able to be covered with 6mm depron. The rear stabiliser's were aligned with the main wing and using P.U glue was glued in place. Look at the gap between the rear wing and the main wing. The result to date, to me , is a nice looking partially built Islander. The next stage is the glassing of the plane. So it might be a little while till the next update, due to drying time. Have a relaxing Easter break and I will be back with more updates. Regards Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Price 2 Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 That is looking so good, Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Liking the BNI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Ibbotson Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 I was not happy with the fitting of the hatch to the fuzz . So 3mm depron was glued and sanded until a satisfactory fit was achieved. | The "nav" lights were then installed in there final position. Time now for a cautionary tale. I felt the need to look at the light show on the wing. So I connected an ESC & receiver and a lipo battery to produce a 4.8 volt supply for the nav lights. I had powered the lights previous to skinning the main wing and they worked fine. I don't have any photo's of what happened next as it was all a bit quick. The battery was connected and within milliseconds the battery was disconnected as it had reached a temperature that my hand could not stand as well as swelling in an alarming way. The battery was thrown out of the garage on to the concrete drive and left for over an hour to cool down. The ESC was so hot it had melted the plastic covering on the heat sink. I could not understand what had gone wrong, the ESC had been in use in another plane, the Rx had been in use in the same plane with no problems. The light came on and the penny dropped. I had converted from JST to XT 60 connectors on all batteries and ESC's. The fault has been found to be my incorrect connection of the ESC. I had soldered a positive wire to the negative terminal of the connector and neg to pos. This gave a direct short to the battery. In the words of Dell boy What a Pl****er. I have now looked and double checked all of my converted connectors. All I can say is check and double check. This has cost me a battery and an ESC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toni Reynaud Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 A lovely build. My first electric was an MFA Islander in 1982! It flew well. "All I can say is check and double check. This has cost me a battery and an ESC." Been there, done that. I know the feeling well and commiserate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Tayler Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Bad Luck, But don't forget " The man who never made a mistake never made anything". I shorted an old lipo two days ago, just a whisker of wire on a PCB. Don't they go quickley. Melted the wires in a trice. Fortunately the battery was old and apart from the wires no harm resulted. Your Islander looks lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Ibbotson Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 It's got to that part of the build where I am watching paint dry. The plane was painted twice with each coat sanded down using wet and dry (as before) then a fine polish with brasso and car polish to get a shine. Masking of the air frame was done and paint applied The windows were marked out using a card stencil Silver solar trim was cut and applied The windows were highlighted with black trim and marker pen The main wing was attached and out side pick's were taken A small breeze blew and she took a take of position. Is this a good omen Till the next time Thank you Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 I wish your landings just as graceful Edited By cymaz on 18/04/2016 06:22:58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wilson Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 What a pretty airplane. And what a jolly nice model. It has been a pleasure watching this come together, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 she is looking really good Chris and it's coming to life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Ibbotson Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Its that catch up time, again. As I'm close to the final part of the build I took the almost completed airframe to my (LMS) for scrutiny by (Electriflier and Pilot Chuckles) We/They looked at the build and saw a potential problem with the composite trailing edge of the main wing. A thickness of 9/10mm. This was a balsa trailing edge with a 3mm depron skin on both sides. The consensus opinion was that the air flow would just fall off and cause turbulence and degrade control. The other issue was could the small surface area of the aileron be effective to control the aircraft. The solution was to remove the aileron and replace with a solid balsa trailing edge. This would add 10mm to the wing cord and add a more ridged fixing for the elevator horns. After gluing, sanding and painting. A blind man on a galloping horse wouldn't/couldn't see the change. Would they. Now I've got my contra props (Thanks "Pilot Chuckle", LMS Rotherham). I thought it might be useful to give you some facts and figures of my build to date. Using the 8x5 contra props and a 4s 30c 3200mAh battery. I recorded 540 Watts at 17Amp per motor(well within limits of power draw of each motor). This should give a flight time of about 5.5 min on full power. The flying weight, including batteries is 4lb 12oz. I know I have plenty of power on tap to fly, which is nice. The big question I have to ask is how the extension of the trailing edge is going to affect the CofG location. Please advise. regards Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electriflier Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 The Maiden - Sunday 15th May. - Pilot: C Butterworth. Some photo's for you Chris. Congratulations! Chris and his pretty little Islander Told you it would fly! Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Excellent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Congratulations Chris looks really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Ibbotson Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 A big thank-you to Charles for doing the maiden and to Roy for the fab pictures. Thank-you to all who have followed this build. It's always encouraging to know people are following. So what have I learnt from this build? 1. Keep the PU glue joints clean, i.e. wipe excess glue off. I found I could save 50% weight by doing this. 2. Check and double check electrical connections for correct polarity after soldering joints. Cost me a ESC & battery. 3. You can PU glue blue foam and still (hot wire) cut the join. 4. Don't over engineer the structure. Keep it simple and accurate to fly. Since the maiden I've had a tidy up in hanger one. So what's next you may ask Watch this space. Till next time Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian101 Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Impressive build and a nice looking model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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