Gary Manuel Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 My tail wheel has finally arrived after a long 3 months wait. Nothing to stop me finishing the model now. Tail wheel assembly screwed to the fuselage. A couple of M3 nuts and washers used to attach the springs on to the threaded pushrods. This allows the spring tension and wheel centring to be easily adjusted. I think the small hatch on one side is to give access in case you want to use captive nuts to secure the tailwheel. I used the supplied screws for the tailwheel, but added washers. The piano wire used for the rudder hinge can be seen in this photo. I'm happy with that. Tail section fitted so that I can start fitting CoG critical bits. Full movement of all surfaces is possible with no clearance issues. Edited By Gary Manuel on 13/03/2017 17:02:24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 That's a nice t/wheel Gary. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Seems OK. Descriptions says its good for up to 120cc. Best thing is it comes with 2 sets of springs - 2 long and 2 short. Unused short ones will replace one that fell off another model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Time to fit the prop and spinner. Spinner is this lovely 4.5" Carbon Fibre one from THIS extensive Hobbyking range. Well worth a look if you are after a quality low cost carbon spinner. They are supplied uncut and therefore suitable for any make of engine and any prop arrangement. They've added the red ones since I ordered mine or else I would have chosen one of them. The down-side to them being uncut is that you need to cut them yourself. They come with no instructions. Here's how I did it. First thing I did was to stick some masking take on the spinner and back plate to allow me to use a pen to mark them. Leading and trailing edges of the prop marked onto the back plate ......... .... and then transferred to the spinner. Cut lines drawn using the prop, and the marks on the leading and trailing edges as guides. Cutouts made using a Dremel Cutting Wheel followed by Grinding Wheel. Roughly trimmed to fit the prop. Masking tape removed and finely trimmed to fit. Job done. Edited By Gary Manuel on 15/03/2017 13:58:04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Great job Gary, looking forward to the maiden report.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Like the idea of how to cut the spinner prop recesses. Always had a problem with that job! Good one! As Rich says I look forward to the maiden report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich too Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 me too, I struggle with those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Yep well done there, is it pretty thick carbon ? some i've seen on small models are very thin, i would be petrified of cutting those myself. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Posted by john stones 1 on 15/03/2017 16:38:06: Yep well done there, is it pretty thick carbon ? some i've seen on small models are very thin, i would be petrified of cutting those myself. John It's pretty substantial John. Looks like it's up to the job. I must say, I'm impressed with them. I'll certainly be buying them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Posted by Rich2 on 15/03/2017 14:48:48: Great job Gary, looking forward to the maiden report.. Sorry Rich, but you're going to have to put up with my procrastinations for a while longer yet. As it was a nice day today, I assembled the model in the garden to make things easier for checking CoG. It's not an easy model to lift up in the air from table level. Far easier to lift it from the ground between splayed legs. Also helps to mark position of cut-outs for the electrics. It would be annoying to fit a switch to the fuselage only to find it's covered by the wing (I bet it's been done!). Here's a cut-out in the place where the fuel dot was originally fitted - I won't be using that. P.S. See the dodgy elongated hole in the cowl at top left of this photo. I'll be doing something about that before the maiden. There are similar holes at the front of the cowl on the same side too. Lite ply blocks added on the inside to give something for screws to bite into. AGM-J002 Power Switch / Fuel Dot fitted. Yes the same company that make DLE engine replicas Internal view. Spiral wrap cable protector added to all vulnerable wiring. In due course, I'll add a blob of hot glue where the spiral wrap passes the fuselage doublers and where the wiring meets the switch to provide vibration stress relief. This is the reason I assembled the model outdoors. It's pretty well balanced directly under the wing tube at the recommended 7.5" from leading edge with duplicated LiPo's, receiver and kill switch positioned like this. Looks like I did the right thing moving the rudder servos to the back end. I can take it back indoors now to finish off the electrics and tidy everything up. I will go over all the seams with a hot iron before adding stickers etc. I'll also test run the engine at home and run a couple of tanks of fuel through it before the maiden. Edited By Gary Manuel on 15/03/2017 19:31:42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Smith 1 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Quick question for you Gary. What size spiral wrap cable protector did you buy? I intend putting it on all servo wires and I know the last lot a bought was a bit of a tight fit. As I have observed, if a wire can rub on something it will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 Posted by Adrian Smith 1 on 17/03/2017 16:07:37: Quick question for you Gary. What size spiral wrap cable protector did you buy? I intend putting it on all servo wires and I know the last lot a bought was a bit of a tight fit. As I have observed, if a wire can rub on something it will! I use 6mm diameter for servo leads etc and 3mm diameter for single wires / satellite receivers etc. I also use 7mm split corrugated conduit for looms, where a few cables need to be tidied together. Try THIS for an example of the spiral wrap and THIS for the corrugated conduit. This photo has examples of all three types. Three satellites fitted, which are arranged to cover the X, Y and Z axes. Receiver wiring protected and tidied up a bit. The duplicated battery bullet leads will be disconnected for storage and charging. This type of receiver draws a small current even when the fail-safe switch is in the OFF position and will eventually flatten the batteries if they are left connected. Receiver batteries mounted on heavy duty velcro and secured with a tie wrap. The balance leads can be accessed through the wing servo holes for charging. Wing servo cables hot glued in place adjacent to the appropriate side. No chance of getting them crossed. Tank fitted on foam and secured with tie wraps. Other wiring hot glued to the fuselage bottom and sides. Slots between the fuselage bottom and the exhaust tunnel covered with thin ply strips. This is an attempt to confine the engine / silencer cooling air flow to the tunnel as best as I can. Kill switch LED mounted underneath the ignition switch / fuel dot. Fail-safe switch mounted above the rear of the wing. Edited By Gary Manuel on 17/03/2017 17:55:42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Engine has been started - wooohooo! No problem starting or keeping running. Sounds sweet. Just going to do a few heat / cooling cycles with the cowl OFF, then I'll try it with cowl on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Ever so slowly running out of jobs and excuses .....maiden soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Posted by cymaz on 18/03/2017 15:06:50: Ever so slowly running out of jobs and excuses .....maiden soon Yep - just need field to dry out and a bit of decent weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 It's OK buying these big models, but even the largest wing bags from our favourite supplier are not quite big enough. A bit of nylon stapping and velcro strips glued to each end (one on the top, and his sticky mate on the bottom). A couple of offcuts of old foil radiator insulation and some duck (duct?) tape made to fit the root of the wing ...... ........ but just small enough to fit inside the wing bag. The velco strap holds the extension in place. The original wing bags have not been modified in any way and can be reused on a smaller wing if necessary. There is one bag for each wing. This is because one bag needs to hold the very long wing tube. The other will hold the tail tube and the two tailplane halves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iqon Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 It`s not like you to do a bodge job...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 Posted by iqon on 18/03/2017 16:57:49: It`s not like you to do a bodge job...... I don't consider this bodging. I just can't justify spending a lot of money on custom wing bags that just do the same job as my bespoke 2 piece ones. Anyway ...... I took the fuselage without wings and tailplane up to the field today to give the engine a good running / setting up without disturbing the neighbours. I never thought about restraining the model without the tailplane but I managed to use my transmitter neck strap. I ran a good litre of fuel through, a few minutes of tickover followed by a minute or so of varying medium to full throttle, then back to tickover for a few minutes. It ran faultlessly, showing no signs of overheating. I tweaked the needles a bit to give a good top end and transition between low / high / low. I then fitted the cowl and had another go. Again, no signs of overheating after running another half litre through. There is a very noticeable flow of warm air blowing out of the tunnel exit, even at tickover, so it looks as though I've got the baffling and air circulation right. Very satisfied with the way things went. Next time I start the engine should be for the maiden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Canisters were very good as well Gary, sounds quieter than some 30's i've heard Still not convinced about the Tardis though John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Tardis will have to stay I'm afraid. Our strategy on cars is to get lowest cost per annum we can - buy one a few years old and run it till something starts to go wrong. So far, this A-Class hasn't put a foot (wheel?) wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iqon Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Well done, looks nice, flies nice, no vices by looks of it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Yes - maiden took place today. Absolutely faultless. Needed NO trimming. Not even 1 click of anything. Fast passes sound absolutely awesome with twin MTW canisters. Flies hands off in normal flight and inverted. Only plane I've ever had that's done this on the first flight. Tracks like it's on rails in all conditions. I think it may just be my new favourite plane. Had about 6 flights in total - first 4 were 12 minutes each. Last 2 ended prematurely in dead-sticks from inverted flight for some reason. Engine struggled to pick up from tickover at the bottom of bunts and died on both occasions. Glide and dead-stick landings were no drama at all. I suspended further flight till I have a think about why it did this. Maybe the manoeuvres were just too much for a barely run in engine. It would be rude not to have another go tomorrow to find out. Edited By Gary Manuel on 25/03/2017 19:58:35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Gary, congratulations on a great maiden. All your hard work has paid off. The dead sticks are when inverted? It might be that the clunk is not moving around the tank as quickly as it should. Or maybe the clunk is getting into the tank corner for some reason? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Worth checking the clunk, but I doubt whether it's that. I'll let you know what it was when I find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Yep it flew very nicely, most impressive thing was the noise or lack of it,cans totally change the tone of the noise as well as quieten, petrol models lose flying sites ? no they don't. Wants some Decals on now especially on the rudder John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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