Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Yes, I have discovered the little sliding box myself and wondered if it might feature in a solution - but not having actually inverstigated (and so not being sure it would be the answer) I thought I'd let you discover it! Good to know it seems to all work out BEB PS Shiney isn't it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharpy1071 Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I to have one off these kits which I built and flown successfully. I used fishing trace for all of the wiring of surfaces. I also did away with the tail mounted servo and used a servo under the engine to operate the rudder and mounted a servo in the cockpit to operate the elevator as per full size using the using the outsize arms to push/pull the cable. It is noisy the site i use is very strict and they were not happy about the take off noise, but not to bad poodling around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 Posted by sharpy1071 on 10/06/2016 08:34:23: I also did away with the tail mounted servo and used a servo under the engine to operate the rudder and mounted a servo in the cockpit to operate the elevator as per full size using the using the outsize arms to push/pull the cable. I'd love to see a few pics on that set up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 We've been away for the last week - short holiday - so nothing got done until today! Today has been "let's all sort out the control surfaces" day. So, started by making up the elevator and rudder control links and cranks etc. This is the one area of the kit I can criticise, they provide screw down pushrod connectors for all control surfaces - I really don't like these, so I've replaced them all round with my standard 2mm end-threaded rod with clevises. Here is the elevator and rudder with rods in place,... Next up I sorted the mounts for the aileron servos,... And then install them in the unde surface of the lower wings,..... Finally I made up the control rods for the ailerons,... The only trouble some element today has been feeding the servo leads (elevator, rudder and both ailerons) through the wing and into the fuse - that took many many attempts and sorely tried my patience! Tonight its time to start a little artistic work,.... BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Well "artistic bit" underway. Here's Cubert Pendleton-Smythe (with twoo f's) first in as received condition,... And then following a little "attention" - he still needs "muckying up" a little bit but basically OK, Working on the dummy Gnome rotary engine at the moment,.... BEB Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 19/06/2016 17:11:08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 He's wearing the wrong hat for a Gnome, BEB.... Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Chuckle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Hi, well I had all these plans about how I was going to do loads each night last week and have this ready to fly this weekend,....Ha, fat chance! Far too much on in both work and family! Also both Wednesday and Thursday night were good flying weather - so I went flying, Wouldn't you? While I did go flying today (Saturday) it was blowing quite strong so I certainly wouldn't have maidened this anyway! (That's my excuse!) Beautification continues: here is the dummy rotary engine as supplied: Just plain shiny black plastic. And here it is "tarted up" a bit and then dirtied down! So that's ready to go. Next up we need to take a look at the cockpit. Being a pusher this model has no obvious frontal air inlet, Maxford have effectively solved this by making the cockpit hatch cover open bottomed. Here is what I mean. from the outside,.... And from the inside,.... There are cooling outlets at the back of the nacelle and we'll look at them later, for now we are focusing on this bit. The problem is two fold: firstly not much to fix the pilot too - but we can sort that - and secondly with this is place you will be able to see a whopping big bright blue Lipo battery underneath it. Now I'm no Danny Fenton - just in case you thought otherwise - Ha, as if! I apply the "squinting man at 30 yards and the model doing 30mph" test - I think a big bright blue battery will still be visible even then - we can't have that. But we can't seal off the only air intake either! So, here's the plan: 1. We are going to seal off the back bit because the pilot will block it anyway and we might as well have something substantial to glue him too,.... 2. We are going to take some wire mesh (Halfords sell this for body repairs - car bodies that is!) and place some over the rest of the inlet, like this,..... That is just CA'ed in place making sure it won't interfere with the hatch fit to the main nacelle. Now out with the matt black paint, and we paint all the inside, including the mesh, matt black,... It is often said that you should never paint anything on a model pure black - I'm sure that's wise! But in cases like this we can make an exception because we are not trying to model the inside of the cockpit we are actually simply trying to fool the eye into thinking its a dark hole - we sort of want to draw attention away from it, not too it. The black seems to do this. Here it is in place on the nacelle,... My hope is that the black mesh will just do enough to obscure the bright blue battery whilst at the same time still letting the air in. Let's hope so! The ESC I have chosen will be running well within it capacity so overheating should not be a big issue. Now turning to the other end of the nacelle, this is where the air will come out. Again its bare wood and we need to obscure it, so again out with the black,... And here is the dummy engine dry fitted just to check that everything sort of "blends in" back there,... I'm very happy with that. OK, next up is to fit the motor and the ESC etc. Maybe tomorrow, if I can find some time. The weather forecast says "rain" so flying is unlikely to interfere with my plans! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetenor Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Re Starting the engine.Is there room to use a starter in the space between the booms and wires. Tuning ? Set it and leave it Regards John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Its a modern model John - its electric! Hence the big bright blue Lipo BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Raining today - so no flyng .Once the family matters were dealt with I was able to spend an pleasant afternoon in the shed. First I completed the matt black painting of the inside of the battery compartment etc, Then I fitted the instrument panel, the Lewis Gun and Cuthbert Pendleton Smythe, Here is a three-quarter view showing Cuthbert fully focussed on the task in hand,.... And a "from behind" shot that shows the rather nice instrument panel and the way the black painted mesh takes its place and I'm confident will look so much better than a big bright blue Lipo! That done its time to turn our attention to installing some motive power. As Dave H suggested above the motor is mounted on (or in) a sliding fit box unit. Here is the motor just "dry fitted" to the front face (actually once in the model it will be the back face!) of the box,... The motor is a Turnigy SK3 3542-800 (ie 800kV) Now the Maxford instructions do recommend a specific motor of their supplying for this model and I satrted to wonder if I hadn't made a bit of an error is not getting it. You see you can fix the motor so its inside the box, or outside of the box (as above) whichever allows you to get the prop mounting the right clearance from the dummy engine and the wing trailing edges etc. It turned out that inside was a bit too short and outside a tad too long as the dummy engine couldn't "go home"! Mmmmm? I noticed that the motor body was very nearly able to pss through the dummy engine centre void, but not quite. So II hit on the idea of very slightly trimming the dummy engine so that the main body of the electirc motor could just pass through it - like this,... Now I think that looks excellent. I know its not accurate scale and all that - but the electric motor body does believably look like it could be part of a Gnome Rotary engine - don't you think? Here's a view from a more head-on angle,.... Cool, could have been made for it! So, what does it look like on the model?..... And with the prop in place?.... Well - I think thats a success! But of course this is a "dy fit" - so I took it all apart, screwed the motor to its mount and the mount to the box so all was secure. I will not fix the box just yet as I think it will be easier to install the ESC with the box slid out. Onward and Upward! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wesley Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 26/06/2016 19:47:16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wesley Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wesley Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I Love em ! I've built two. A third scale one that you may have seen flown at the shows by Ian Redshaw, and this electric version based on the Roach plan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 That's lovely Kevin - what size is that? BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetenor Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Posted by onetenor on 26/06/2016 01:39:30: Re Starting the engine.Is there room to use a starter in the space between the booms and wires. Tuning ? Set it and leave it Regards John Yep BEB I know but I was responding to someone Else's query regarding starting and adjusting a bit earlier in the thread l Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetenor Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 In fact your reply to Jon Harper BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Hi Onetenor - Ah - OK I understand now! Sorry, I was bit confused! Hi Tom, yes I suppose I could go scribbling on my Lipos! And yes the pens are cheap! But this was effectively "free" as I already had all the bits to do it in. Also I intend to use a 4s 4000mAh in this model - I have quite a few of them - I would be colouring in for days! Nice idea - but I stick with the mesh! Ok, bit of a boring night tonight. Just very routine stuff mainly. I soldered up the ESC - XT60 on the battery end and 3.5mm bullet-sockets on the motor end. I also soldered connectors onto a load of batterries while I had the larger iron out and hot. I find putting connectors on batterries a real chore - so I avoid it! That means that when I do come to do it there is a "queue" of loads of batterries to solder up . Anyway, I was a good boy and knuckled down to a solid session an got quite a few done. I also earned a few brownie points by soldering the frame of Mrs BEB's spare glasses where they had recently broken! A very neat repair though I say so myself! I'm not entirely sure it will be strong enough - I hope so. If not I may have to resort to silver solder - in which case I will have the take the lenses out! The only task performed on the model was to add the windscreen now the glue of the Lewis gun was dry,... Looks good I think - I'm sure Cuthbert will appreciate it on those cold days when we are out flying a mission or two! So a busy night - but not a lot to show. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Looks great BEB, bet it fly's real gracefully John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hopkin Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 BEB, have you fixed the wing outers permanently in place or left them removable? I have come to a grinding halt on mine as I don't want to glue the outers on but humming and haaaing about how to secure them etc etc if they stay separate.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 Thanks John. Hi Dave, well I too hummed and hahed about this one. If you don't glue them then all that will be holding them on is the rigging wire. In my experience wire has a habit of stretching! True, the wire has a spring at its start and they advise you to ensure this is extended to twice its non-loaded length - this is presumably to take up any slack as the wire beds in. But even so, it seems a bit precarious to me! Also, if the wing outers are held on by the wire then you are not going to take them off as a "routine operation" after each flyng session are you? Any derigging would be a fairly major undertaking. So this one is going to live its life fully rigged at all times. Its only 50" span so it'll easily fit in the car with the wings on. All this being the case, I have decided to glue the wing outers on. True that means they will never come off - but short of a aileron servo failure I can't see an occassion when I would want to take them off. If a servo does fail I'll "cross that bridge" then as it were. So far I have glued on the lower wing outers. I used epoxy, but not a large amount - I went for a few localised spots of glue. This was in the the (probably daft!) hope that this way if I really did have to take the wings off at some point in the future I might be able to cut through a few spots easier than if the whole surface was glued! Of course the glue isn't really structural as the wing tube provides the mechanical security. I haven't added the upper wing outers yet as I think fitting the motor/ESC and radio gear etc will be easier without it in place, but my intention is to glue it the same as the lower wing. BTW a quick dry fit of the upper wing outer suggests that the rear incidence pin on mine is slightly out of position and won't quite engage needing a little "fettling". Is your's the same? BEB Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 28/06/2016 09:03:29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wesley Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 H,i Sorry about the delay in answering. My DH2 in the photographs is based on the Mike Roach free plan from an old Scale Models magazine. His design was rudder elevator, but i added ailerons (all four of them), carbon fibre booms and a bit of scale detail. Both elevator and rudder are closed loop. The model spans aprox 37", flies on a RCM Direct 2212/10 motor with a 30 esc. And a 3cell 1600 lipo. It weighs 1lb 10oz. It flies very well, but has some interesting traits probably due to the fact there is no 'fuz'. Sometimes right aileron with left rudder being the order of the day ! Whilst watching your build. I have 'matted' many gloss rtf's and my successful way is to spray them with Spectra satin fuel proofer, with no preparation to the film. It seems to eat into the covering and does not flake off. Just an 'easy way out' tip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 Thanks Kevin - I'll remember that re the matting. Well tonight was more routine stuff, finishing off with some very unwelcome excitement. I've installed the ESC into the box to which the motor and dummy engine are mounted,... Its held in there with a bit of Velcro to stop it flopping around. Its important at this stage to check the direction of motor rotation is want we want - once the box is installed changing this will be very difficult - so let's get it right now! This box is then inserted into the rear orifice (what else can I call it?) and epoxied in. There is an option to screw it in which would make it more easily removable but frankly I am starting to get very concerned about the tail-heaviness of the whole thing - remember the motor is behind the CoG on this! So any way of saving weight back there is popular with me! So some carefully applied epoxy is lighter than wood blocks and screws. Here is the motor - now fixed in place,... Note: two prop nuts. A nut and a locking nut. I'm using a conventional tractor prop and rotating the engine backwards. This always raises the possibility of the prop nut loosening - hence the second nut. Next we feed all the servo leads and the ESC's battery connector forwards,... As you can see I've had to add a short extension to the ESC battery lead - just 60mm or so. The battery could just about have reached - but my sausage-like fingers couldn't! An extension will make life easier. Next up I connected the Rx and powered everything up. I checked all the control surfaces were moving and in the right direction. Problem,....the right aileron wasn't moving!!! Oh no! How could this happen? I checked the aileron servos before I installed them. I checked them again when I had fitted the extension leads and routed them. I checked a third time just before I glued the wings on? How could it not be working now??? Programming - it could be programming! I am running the two aileron servos simultaneously off separate channels. But for testing I had tested them one at a time, both connected to the same channel. Maybe I'd made a mistake in the programming? I checked - it looked fine. Using the PC simulator both aileron channels were moving. That wasn't what I was hoping to find. Its was starting to look more and more like the servo or the lead had gone faulty. How on earth was I never going to get this servo out? Well getting the physical servo out would be easy - its the lead I couldn't see me getting out - and getting a replacement in? Impossible! With a heavy heart I took hold of the Rx and started to think about disconnecting the servos,....hang on,....doh!!!! The right aileron servo plug is in the wrong way round!!!!! I have NEVER been so glad to spot that I had made a really basic error! I reinserted it the right way round,...turned back on, and all was well. Phew! Excitement like that I do not need! OK, so next up is fixing the upper wing outer panels and then onto,....the rigging! Onward and upward eventually! BEB Edited By Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator on 28/06/2016 23:44:04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted June 29, 2016 Author Share Posted June 29, 2016 So, time to finish off the radio installation. The Rx and its aerials need to be setlled in, doubke sided tape is our friend here,.... I'm trying a new idea with the battery plate. When I was doing the electrc cpnversion of the Black Horse Chipmunk I had an issue with the battery fixing. I was holding the battery down with velcro straps and stopping it sliding it back and forth with a velcro carpet. The problem was the battery was in a fairly tight space (isn't it always?) and it was hard to get a good enough grip to spearate the battery from the carpet. At the time someone suggested using non-slip rubber matting instead of a velcro carpet and then using just the velcro straps to hold the battery down onto that mat. Seemed a good idea - so I stored it away in the old memory banks only to bring it out here! You can see the matting in the picture above - its £4 for a roll 30cm wide and 150cm long from B&Q - should last a while! So, let's try the battery in place,.... Great. I gave that a jolly good shaking and rotating round - battery stayed in place fine! No problem. This looks promising. Now let's put the hatch in place,.... Hey, hey - looks good. The mesh works well I think. The battery only just visible if you really look in. On casual observation, in taxying or flight, no chance you'll see it! So, time to fit the upper wing outer panels with the outer interplane struts,... Looks good, and a rear view,... Time to start thinking seriously about the CoG. With the wings in place I did a quick check. With the battery well forward it about half an inch behind the main spar. Not too bad, but probably too far back. We might need the help of a little lead - lets hope not! We'll check properly tomorrow. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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