Going Batty

[Chris North 3]

Unfortunately, the elevator linkage wasn’t the only problem I had this week.

As had been very kindly pointed out by pointed out by Dennis – thanks again Dennis - I had installed the receiver the wrong way around and so took this out to rotate it. Unfortunately, I did not account for the superior holding power of the 3M foam tape I had secured it down with, and a chunk of the wing sheeting came with it! Not a big issue as I can simply laminate a new section over the top but rather annoying as I am trying to reduce the number of jobs to do, not increase them!

Perhaps it does give me an opportunity though as I had orientated the receiver sideways so I could access the gyro potentiometers. Perhaps I could replace the cover sheeting and then install the receiver on a plate which would allow it to be easily removed to adjust the gyro. Or I could use a small piece if velco this time instead of foam tape….

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Put a dogleg in the wire exiting at rear so it meets the horn better, you can gain a bit of length by turning the servo around, if it's still too short another piece of wire or put a solder adaptor on to gain a bit of length ?

John

[Dwain Dibley.]

Or cross the rods over so the lines are straighter....

I forgot to do this in a junior 60 once and there was considerable binding on the pushrods. This did not affect the flying but probably put extra strain on the servos.

Nice neat work and a good looking model...Re the tape... we live and learn Dood !!

D.D.

[Gary Manuel]

Posted by Dwain Dibley. on 09/03/2017 11:05:04:

Or cross the rods over so the lines are straighter....

Plus 1 for this solution. You should finish up with two nearly straight runs.

[Chris North 3]

I had hoped that today would a report on the maiden of Batty but unfortunately circumstances conspired against me; while away for work last weekend I managed to pick up a shocker of a head cold which meant no work on Batty during the week. Luckily I was feeling a lot better on Saturday and so I managed to make some progress in getting her flight ready.

The last time we talked I had run into some problems with the elevator control run. As Dwain & John had pointed out, if I crossed the snakes instead of running them straight, then the runs would be much smoother unfortunately, I had made the exit holes in fuselage before installing the control horns and so they had been a bit of guess work. Of course I had cyano’d the snakes where they exited the fuselage but it was now obvious that these were not particularly level with the control horns which meant I had vertical as well as horizontal bend issues.

Now whether it was the after effects of the decongestion medication I’d been taking all week or a subconscious desire to delay the maiden, I decided that it was better to remove the elevator linkage and fix it properly; so with reckless abandon, the linkage was removed and the box knife and straight edge were used to cut a slot around the elevator snake to release it from the fuselage.

Inserting a new snake through the slot soon showed that using the existing guide hole in the rear former was still going to give problems and so a new guide hole was needed. Given that the rear former was a good 2-3 inches behind the main hatch opening, there was no way I was going to be able to access it to drill a new hole. While I would normally think for an hour, trying to find a way around the problem, this time I simply grabbed the saw and removed the top of the fuselage to give access to the rear former. Definitely the medication!

Slot cut to release elevator snake and a slight modification to the fuselage!

Access to the rear former

[Chris North 3]

With the top removed I now had much better access and could get the drill into position to drill a new hole. So, looking down the fuselage, I eyeballed the new hole location to give as straight a run as possible. While not perfect due to the location of the exit slot, it is much better than before.

In for a penny, in for a pound! So while I had the top off I though it made sense to fix the rudder linkage to give this a much smoother run too.

With the runs now working properly, I installed some fixing points in the fuselage using scrap balsa before regluing the top back on. The top is a pretty good fit but I went ahead and added some filler to the joins just to help hide these before painting.

Scrap balsa was then cut to fit the exit slots and was glued in place to secure the snakes before being sanded back to match the fuselage.

Fixing points:

Top back on:

[Chris North 3]

With the top back in place I removed the old foam tape (and balsa shards!) from the receiver and then cut a simple patch from 1.5mm sheet which was then cyano’d in place.

The receiver was moved in to the correct orientation and aligned such that I could still access the gyro potentiometers. I did think about using velco this time but just used a small piece of foam tape instead. With this complete I went ahead and tidied up the wiring to avoid snags.

Sheeting patch in place:

Wiring tidied up:

[Chris North 3]

Next problem was how to attach the hatches.

As had been mentioned in Lindsay’s build blog, the aft hatch shouldn’t need to be opened very often once the gyro is set and so I decided to screw this down. Some backing plates were cut from 2mm ply and glued inside the fuselage opening to give the hatch something to screw into. Some spare servo securing screws were used to secure the hatch which gives a couple of mm capture into the ply which hopefully should be plenty.

Rear Hatch lugs :

Hatch in place:

For the battery hatch I planned to use a locating lug at the rear and a catch at the front however I had cut the hatch ends vertically and so had no clearance to install the hatch at an angle to locate the rear lug. So instead of making things hard for myself I simply decided to use a spare servo arm as a catch at both the front and back. I will see how this goes and if I don’t like it I will see about installing a spring catch at the rear.

Battery Hatch :

[Chris North 3]

Since I still had a bit of spare time I thought I’d make a start on the painting.

For the body I used some black acrylic poster paint which waterproof is waterproof when dry. This was simply applied with a small brush and is very quick drying, giving a nice matt finish. Its looking good already but I will give this a slight sand back before applying a second coat. I’ll then decide whether to leave it black or to try to add some grey and white highlights to get a fur like effect.

As for the wings I’m still undecided between trying to paint them or to print out a transfer.

First Coat:

[Chris North 3]

While there is still more decorating required (the eyes will make a big difference), Batty is now essentially flight ready. All of the controls are installed and running smoothly so I just need to check the CoG and set up the transmitter to make sure all the control throws are as suggested.

So hopefully things will stay on track for flight this weekend.

[Chris North 3]

Well this week was the final push to maiden.

The first coat of paint gave a good base colour so this was given a very light sanding and a second coat applied. I thought that poster paint would be a bit soft but this waterproof version is actually quite good and provides a nice matt finish. Unfortunately, I did not have any varnish and so the body is simply two coats of paint for now. I contemplated painting a design on the wings as well but since this is not critical for the maiden I decided to leave this until after I know it flies!

For the eyes I followed Lindsay’s design although I haven’t bother with any lights at this stage. I was probably overthinking it but, to make sure the eyes were the same, I attached a pencil to a block of wood and then, with both the wood and the ball on the desk, I slowly turned the ball to scribe a cutting line. By cutting a small hole with I knife I could then ease the blade into the ball and around the cut line. No real problems here other than making sure the knife did not run off course and being careful when cutting through the ping pong ball seam which needs more pressure to cut than the rest of the ball. With this done the balls – sorry, eyes – were attached using general purpose strong adhesive which gave a good bond and dried clear. The finishing touch was to add the pupils with a black marker which would have been much easier had I done it before I glued them on!

Last thing was to install a battery, reattach the hatch and to check the CoG. The build guide gives recommended fwd and rear CoG locations measured from the front of the wing so, to make life easier at the field, I marked these positions on the underside of the wing using a permanent marker. Batty proved to be a little bit tail heavy at these locations and so a 10g weight was added to the inside of the front former.

So with that done there was only one thing left to do.....wait for the weekend....

[Chris North 3]

…which eventually arrived.

Batty waiting to go

Now, while I have been flying for around 2 and half years, I am strictly a weekend pilot and have only maidened a couple of cheap and cheerful home built foam board planes. So, with six months of balsa and hard work on the on the line, I decided it would be much better to get my flying mentor and local model shop owner, Jeffery, to attempt the first flight.

Did it fly? – Well, take a look and see what you think…

GOING BATTY

[Chris North 3]

Batty was still a little tail heavy however this was soon trimmed out and didn’t stop Jeffery putting it through its paces. As can be seen in the video, it was very capable at performing all of the standard maneuvers.

With a new battery installed and placed as far forward as possible, it was my turn and while my flying is not a patch on Jeffery’s, I had a blast. The reactions were quite quick and so I may need to turn the control throws down a little while I get used to it. This is my first balsa model and so it took a little to get used to how differently it flies to my foam trainer. It certainly had no bad vices as long as I remembered to keep the speed up…which nearly caught me out on landing…nearly!

So all-in-all I’m chuffed to bits and have been grinning like a Cheshire cat all weekend.

Jeffery and I after a successful maiden

[Chris North 3]

Batty is now back in the workshop where I will touch up the paint on the belly and apply a matt varnish to help with future wear. I will also apply some Velcro to the battery bay to help hold the battery in place as the straps I installed are a little bit wide.

Other than that I think the black body and white wings is quite neat and so I’m not sure I’ll be adding any other markings for now.

Although the Orange receiver I’m using has a gyro, I had it turned off for the first flights. With Batty safely back on the bench I will now set this up and hopefully this will help to take some of the nervousness out of the landings in future.

Well I can’t believe it has taken me 6 months to finish but I am happy with the quality and have had great fun with the build. Thanks to Lindsay for creating such a funky plan, RCM& E for giving it away for free and to all those of you that have followed along and offered support and suggestions along the way, it has really been appreciated.

Lastly, thanks to Jeffery for taking on the maiden and showing what Batty can do. Hopefully I can learn to make it do the same!

Jeffery with Batty

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Well done Chris + Jeffrey

John

[Bob Cotsford]

Good innit, when you see something you built from virgin wood taking to the air. Traumatic, but very satisfying. Well done Chris.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Brilliant...Well Done Chris.....and Well Done Jeffery on the flying front, it's always a stressful time when you maiden someones model.

D.D.