Acro Wot build advice

[Jonathan M]

Sorry to hear about the Challenger Neil. Any suspected reason why signal was lost? Fully charged TX and RX batteries? Battery lead connection? Poor RX antenna location - did you do a range test before first flight of the day?

[Neil Collett]

Posted by Jonathan M on 09/04/2018 21:58:16:
Sorry to hear about the Challenger Neil. Any suspected reason why signal was lost? Fully charged TX and RX batteries? Battery lead connection? Poor RX antenna location - did you do a range test before first flight of the day?

No range check before, which should have been done, so my bad, although the model was about 250ft away when it seemed to lose radio signal, which being fairly close I don't think it could be that, but you never know. I had put new batteries (4xAA) in the TX, I say new, but had been sitting in the garage for about 6 months, they were reading 5.8 Volts, but I'm wondering there could have been a voltage drop, enough to lose signal for a couple of seconds.

least likely is a wing servo wire got caught round the servo and stopped it.

I'm going to buy a lipo pack for my Spektrum DX6 as I don't trust AA batteries anymore.

[Jonathan M]

DX6 black or older DX6i? If the latter, then consider rechargeable Eneloop NiMh AA cells with a dedicated smart-charger from Component Shop.

Range check a minor hassle each time, but worth doing.

Acro Wot looks like its coming together smartly. 👌

[Neil Collett]

Posted by Jonathan M on 09/04/2018 22:19:18:
DX6 black or older DX6i? If the latter, then consider rechargeable Eneloop NiMh AA cells with a dedicated smart-charger from Component Shop.

Range check a minor hassle each time, but worth doing.

Acro Wot looks like its coming together smartly. 👌

Its the new DX6 - I can get a lipo pack from 4-max. Yes definitely going to be doing range checks from now on - have learnt my lesson.

[trebor]

Is it he early Dx6 version dsmx/dsm2 that only has 1 antenna ?

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by Neil Collett on 09/04/2018 22:09:09:

Posted by Jonathan M on 09/04/2018 21:58:16:
Sorry to hear about the Challenger Neil. Any suspected reason why signal was lost? Fully charged TX and RX batteries? Battery lead connection? Poor RX antenna location - did you do a range test before first flight of the day?

No range check before, which should have been done, so my bad, although the model was about 250ft away when it seemed to lose radio signal, which being fairly close I don't think it could be that, but you never know. I had put new batteries (4xAA) in the TX, I say new, but had been sitting in the garage for about 6 months, they were reading 5.8 Volts, but I'm wondering there could have been a voltage drop, enough to lose signal for a couple of seconds.

least likely is a wing servo wire got caught round the servo and stopped it.

I'm going to buy a lipo pack for my Spektrum DX6 as I don't trust AA batteries anrel

Keep it in mind Neil, rechargeable cells are 1.2v per cell total 4.8v

Where dry cells are 1.5v per cell total 6v

Old dry cells may be suspect, but fresh dry cells should last you the whole season

And totally reliable when the usual routine is followed

[Tim Flyer]

Probably a bit late here but one short cut I like is using the wing servo mounts made by Radio Active. They are plastic and hold the servos well and  are nicely faired on top . They cost £4.20 for a pair at RC World. They come in two sizes and the larger fits most standard servos nicely . All you need to do with those is cut a box in the foam. What I did on my LA 7 was to line the box with fibreglass ( you could just stiffen it with Poly C ) and put triangular strip in the corners to screw them down.

Edited By Timothy Harris 1 on 10/04/2018 09:14:28

[Neil Collett]

Ok so have done some more on the model, no thanks to the cold weather!

So sides just about done and ready to glue together:

I messed up a little with one of the fuselage spars and glued into the wrong place, (i'm sure the guys who have built one of these before will notice straight away) no massive problem, just had to file some down to allow the cot-pit deck to sit properly and then add another in the correct place.

Now glueing together - its very square so happy about that.

Also managed to get some hinging done - had to do it indoors, much to the disgust of the wife I'm really happy with them so far.

just a good old surgical knife and a ton of patience:

Don't love these hinges, find them too flimsy, I know they will hold fine, just like working with something a little more rigid and the metal ones are too expensive for this project.

1 Question on joining the wings (hopefully going to do next week when the weather is warmer) do you do one side first, wait for the first coat to dry and then add on the other side slightly overlapping at the leading edge?

Cheers

[Nigel R]

Glue together at root with pva or pu or epoxy or whatever.

When that is done it won't move while you're doing the bandage. One side or both together matters not which way.

Pinned hinges are good. Not sure why you would want metal hinges for any model this size?

[Former Member]

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[Neil Collett]

Many thanks for the advice Percy, I checked the tail end and lined up perfectly so lucky there I guess. I would like a building jig, going to have to do something heath robinson style on the work bench.

I do have the dupro hinge slotter and really didn't like it when I built my last model (challenger), just found it compressed the wood rather then making a slot, I may be doing something wrong.

[trebor]

I just use a scalpel blade attached flat onto a bit of 3 ply, then use tape to raise blade to centre line for cutting slot. Attach a bit of ply to the wing edge with clamps then slide the flat mounted blade along the line, nice shallow cuts to start with till correct depth. Then I use some stiff sandpaper pushed into the cut to open out the slot for the hinge. I gave up with those slot cutting jigs.

[Levanter]

Neil

Nail files and nail boards are perfect for opening up pinned hinge slots.

​Levanter

[Neil Collett]

Hi All,

so I'm about to glue the ply cover that holds the undercarriadge, top front balsa block and front wing attachment ply plate, this would mean once the wing is seated in the correct position, there is no way to mark where the wing dowels will be to drill into the LE of the wing, as no access to the front of the wing mount plate. Am I missing something obvious here?

I'm thinking of completing the wing then seating before any of the above steps, but could this introduce issues with slight warping from glueing in the panels thus creating a wing seating problem further down the road? I hope that makes sense.

Cheers

[Neil Collett]

Posted by Levanter on 14/04/2018 11:45:52:

Neil

Nail files and nail boards are perfect for opening up pinned hinge slots.

​Levanter

Yes love this idea, have already grabbed the wife's, I'm sure she wont mind

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Nigel R]

The Dubro slotters are spot on for nylon pinned hinges. They make just the right width/height slot with minimal messing about.

But.

The points of the prongs will need dressing with a dremel to make sure the point is central. They are stamped out of plate steel I think, or at least mine looks like it was, and the point is in the wrong place. With that tidied up they work brilliantly.

The naff plastic jig bits they give you, on the other hand, are fit only for the bin.

Bit of a tangent, but if you use polyprop hinges (or the flocked cyano hinges), a careful prod with a regular #2 knife blade is enough.

[Nigel R]

Oh, and what Percy said. Join the wings and get the wing saddle / dowels / bolts sorted out before you do the U/C mount - leave the fuselage open and make life easy for yourself.

[Neil Collett]

Thanks Percy/Nigel for the advice, have left the front open until I can glue the wings together, just waiting for it to be a little warmer.

I've come into another problem, I'v managed to get a small twist in the airframe, it's about 1mm off, it was worse but managed to straighten a little when glueing the top balsa panel - pic:

I will try and pull out a little more when glueing the bottom panel on, but don't think it will move much now, as very stiff. Should I worry about it?

Cheers

[Keith Berriman]

Niel .it is disolutioning to get to this stage and frame out of square but you can cope with this and build the fin and elevator vertical and horizontal when you are ready

[Neil Collett]

Ok so got the top layer of glass completed - 1 question about filling the weave, do I need to add more resin, as in will this add more strength or can I use a lightweight filler to smooth out?

Starting on the tailplane next:

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[ken anderson.]

hello Neil, I take you are putting an ic engine in the Wot...the ones I have built ,I have fuel proofed the entire fuel tank bay with either wing resin of left over epoxy...before fitting the top deck. Also the undercarriage mount,i add a bit of left over wing tape inside to reinforce the wood mount...it saves you in the long run/life of the model....... your wing tape weave...put some light filler in ,smooth it off.and then cover it with some masking tape(if you are covering with film) this will be sound base for the film to stick to-as it doesn't like sticking to resin....

 

ken Anderson...ne...1....Wot dept.

Edited By ken anderson. on 18/04/2018 09:11:13

[Neil Collett]

Thanks percy for the Hinge Glue recommendation, definitely getting some of that, hated using epoxy before.

And Ken took your advice and used some lightweight filler and then covered with masking tape, made it simple and very happy with it.

I'm actually converting to electric, I'm waiting on a LiPo to arrive to measure and create a hatch in the bottom ply cover, really don't want to be taking off the wing every time.

Front holes drilled and about to glue in the wing retaining ply member, not sure whether to leave glueing in the dowels into the wing before or after covering!

thanks again all, your advice is really appreciated.

[Nigel R]

Dowels after covering.

I'd hold on until you have the lipo tray sorted out before you put the front top deck on, too.