Richard Gordon-Davis 3 Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Hi fellow flyers. I am a newbie to this site and I have a question please. Has anyone ever built the Nigel Hawes 30" Tucano out of 5mm depron and is it possible? I live in new Zealand and balsa tends to warp here... so I was thinking of building it out of Depron. Many thanks in advance for any comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Not seen one Richard, is it possible ? i see no reason why you couldn't with the right modifications. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 I can't see you going wrong with it Richard. I haven't done it in Depron, although I have built the 45" balsa design. It should be simple to do, perhaps a bit of balsa here and there for toughness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Its a one-piece "shaped plank" wing with a pretty conventional fuselage design - so I, while I have little personal experience of Depron, from what I have seen I would have thought it would work very well - maybe a carbon wing-stiffener inset in? BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers Bowlan Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 It doesn't take very much carbon to transform a piece of 'floppy' foam. The bendy tail booms of my EPO Durafly Vampire were transformed by cutting slots along their length and inserting carbon strips just 8 x .5mm. A few drops of cyano and job done, with negligible weight gain. Likewise I reinforced a thin EPS glider wing with diagonal carbon 'wires' .5mm dia. Just a shallow incision with a model knife and push the carbon into the crack. Just make sure the wing is on a flat surface as once the (foam safe) cyano has gone off the wing won't torsionally flex at all anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 The other way and the one that I've been using is to glue on a balsa leading edge. (If you're not bothered about a few gms. trailing edge as well, but at 30" it's less important). That also makes it more ding-proof. If you glue 3mm balsa onto the tailplane and fin trailing edges and elevator and rudder (if you're using one) leading edges, you'll make them as stiff as you need as well as providing a better anchor for furry hinges. Although with built-up wings, I've used this composite approach on my XB42 and Super Marauder builds and they came out really well. You don't need to add a lot of balsa to Depron to make a big difference to toughness. Either way works, but for this one That would be my choice. Just to show how contrary I can be, when I built my 45" Tucano, on which I think the wings were 10 mm balsa, I glued on 5mm diameter carbon fibre tube to the leading edges to improve the ding resistance even further and improve the profile. It works a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 There is always more that one way to skin a rabbit Colin! Which is one of the beauties of this hobby - multiple approaches are possible - all of which will do the job, with different "side benefits" in each case. You pays yer money, etc. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Spot on BEB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gordon-Davis 3 Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 Wow thank you gentlemen for all your comments.... I will give it a go and then post some feedback as I believe that this could lead onto something new for us modelers to explore Many thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Here's the 45" span original. I reckon it would be easy and very rewarding to convert it to a Depron build. This one's already over-powered and lunatic, make it lighter and you'd need your bicycle clips on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gordon-Davis 3 Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 Gosh Colin you done a fantastic job on that Tucano... It looks stunning mate, what power plant are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Nigel's design does make up well, and the Tucano is a fine looking aeroplane - here's my take on it to whet your appetite fiurther to get on with a Depron version,.... Do keep us informed about ow it goes if you do decide to go ahead! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gordon-Davis 3 Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 Oh man I'm so out of my league when I see what beautiful jobs you guys have made with these planes! I must admit to love having a nice piece of balsa wood on a building board and foam just does not evoke the same emotion.... But hey it's convenient , cheaper and more accessable...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Here's another one of mine with wheels on, I'm nervous about hand-launching. Power is a 3542 1250 KV 45A motor with 60A esc. With a 10x7 prop it was showing 670W at start up! While the esc got hot it kept going, but might explain why the motor burned out eventually and needs replacing! The plane is still pristine though. BEB's shows the black scheme now used by RAF Tucanos, which looks great. Mine is fictitious. The RAF painted one Tucano in a 1940 B o B Spitfire scheme as a tribute. I thought what a good idea if they had commemorated the last use of the Seafire by painting one in the scheme of an FR47 flying off HMS Triumph in the Korean War in 1950. They hadn't done that, so I did. You could do a Depron build simply by making most of it straight off the plan, just by substituting Depron for the wood. Put in 1/16" balsa or 1/64" ply doublers in the fuselage up front and stiffen the wings with balsa or carbon as suggested earlier. Why not do the 45" version instead? Depron is cheap and dead easy to work with. With the weight down probably to 2lbs/900gms or so you'd have a great performance with 250/300W and a 3S 2200 Lipo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron evans Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Richard. I've used light weight glass cloth and water based poly on depron,it stiffens the structure considerably and makes for a long lasting model with little weight gain. Plenty of info on the net. Ron Edited By ron evans on 15/01/2017 18:46:24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Ron's dead right.Here's the Super Marauder in Depron covered with Ezekote water based poly with glass-cloth. Reduced the all in weight by 30% compared to the all wood original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron evans Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Good looking model Colin....looks as though it should be sat on a yank carrier in the late fifties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 That was my thought Ron, to make it look like something between the Skyraider and A7 Corsair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Yes, another vote for light-weight glass cloth and water based resin. That Tucano of mind above was actually done that way; PolyC over 9oz cloth - albeit in that case on balsa. But agree, it could work very well on Depron. And its dead easy to use. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron evans Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 BEB, did the balsa tend to warp with the water based poly....did you cover both sides of the wing a the same time. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Hi Ron, I took the precaution of using sanding sealer on the wood before applying the PolyC; result - no problems, no warps. It really was a pretty painless experience. You do need some patience though - more so than with epoxy resins - I think there was about 10 thin coats on the Tucano to get that that finish IFRC. BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron evans Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Thanks BEB, good finish too. Ron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gordon-Davis 3 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 Thanks gents, now we are getting into the direction that I was hoping it would go! Some great advice all round with the benefit of expertise. The only reason that I thought of the smaller Tucano was that I was dubious of the strength of Delton in the larger one, that and I have already built the 30" out of balsa in the past.... Great design Mr Hawes!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leighfield Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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