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Mark's Rutland A4 Skyhawk


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Well I've had a little sleep and the fuselage sides, nose assembly and few former's in it have dried.To speed up radio fitting I've not put the middle, rear top or bottom balsas' on the fuselage so access is still good. Made a switch holder that's being positioned near F3 up against the wing seat and it's the same for the RX the other side up against F3, being careful not to block the battery tube. Made a servo mount for the elevator servo a Hitec MG65 for the side of the fuse same side and just behind the switch between F3 and F4. Sanded the tailplane with the elevator on it's hinges in situ, to keep the trailing edge good I taped a 3mm metal rod on the bench and sanded down to that.

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This mount is screwed on a ply plate on the wing seat balsa.

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Below - the 1.5mm ply plate to support balsa wing seat.

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There's a extra piece of ply on the left screw nudged up to the RX to keep it on the rail's.

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Using 40 grit ( surprise) on this sander pad, it really 'eats balsa and spits out dust' !! Maybe to the horror of others.

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Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 01/09/2016 16:17:04

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Spoke to Andy Meade around midday to ask what size is the pilot he had just popped in the post, 35 mm high and with a head that's 22 mm in diameter, so a little diversion to make the headrest, and found a old AA square battery and started cycling it, after a charge and on one test the battery lasted 50 minutes with 1 amp draw measured on my Futaba tester.

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Whilst stuff dries, the rear jet pipe shroud I've made isn't quite right, I'll make it again this time closer to what I need with the addition of a deeper flat piece to hide the elevator horn plus I can use this to attach to the fin / tail plane supports.

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I need up to 30 mm up from the shroud.

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Put a wider piece of balsa in the glass. 10 strips of brown paper per side.

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Plus a pattern piece to aid cutting out when dry.

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In front of the fan heater to dry, there is another one the other side on a drinking glass. 

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 01/09/2016 19:34:28

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The servo is in the body, wing bolt in place, needed a little sanding on the wing seat for a better fit for the wing and got the elevator rod in with supports.

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Bag covered the gear to keep the dust off and ready for a sanding the body later.

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Like other builders I found the lazer cut hole to big show made the pad a little smaller and made my own hole.

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Sanding day today to bring the fuselage into shape, however look what I found in the parts box.

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Bottom right of the picture is two little fillets that need to be glued to the fuselage sides prior to building, now you watch the weight go up with those in the model, I'll glue them in near to the trailing edge of the wing.

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I'm putting on some tape to guard against sanding the cockpit area to keep it sharp.

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Made a F9 ring to get the rear fuselage shape.

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Thanks Harry, watching others having to sand the aileron stock looked hard, so after measuring the wings panels stuck together I had enough material to include them ( ailreons) in the wing build. I have just been so surprise how well the little fillet fitted in, it's a well cut and together model Phil and Matt have designed.

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Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 02/09/2016 10:09:38

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Having some fun here turning plate pieces of balsa into a lovely rounded shape jet.

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To protect the this 1/16" - 1.5 mm balsa intake I've put tape over then whilst I sand the top balsa's down to it in a rounded fashion. 

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Just need to fill the gap next to the body top and make good. 

 

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 02/09/2016 18:09:04

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From 3 pieces of 1.5 mm balsa 100 mm wide for the bridge from wing to fuselage.

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The tape on the fuselage allows me to really sand away with my 40 grade grit sanding pad.

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Previously I'd left these corners of the fuselage when sanding the fuselage, the reason was because I wanted to blend it in the wing at this stage.  

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Using a smaller finger pad for the fine blending. I really enjoyed this bit it brings the model jet to life!

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I kept putting a ruler across the gap to get it level. Lovely.

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 02/09/2016 18:23:30

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 02/09/2016 18:25:58

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The cardboard chap is a very good likeness of you cheeky

How are you going to get the paint on and finished in time for next weekend - are we about to see a secret Kettle invention for drying paint quickly made from cardboard, sticky back plastic and connected to a car heating system !

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Look at the time  - | -  I've got up to work on my model.

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All sanded and filled. Coated with pva to a egg shell finish, I'll lightly rough finish top surface with a foam sanding pad dust off with the vacuum and ready for film covering.

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 06/09/2016 04:50:02

Edited By Mark Kettle 1 on 06/09/2016 04:50:58

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