Bit of nostalgia - 40 year old Cessna 172 rennovation

[Tim Ballinger]

I built this Cessna 172 back in 1973 then went off to university and never ever flew it. Many years stored in a loft has taken its toll. Heavy objects & mice in the main.

This is how it was..

It was built from an Eric Fearnley plan and based on an aircraft hangered at halfpenny green airfield , G-ATAF. I never did sort out the schoolboy error on the registration letters !

The fuselage has remained structurally sound but the wings l will probably have to rebuild. I have pretty much sorted the fuselage so will reprise that process in the next few posts

[Tim Ballinger]

I decidedSince coming back to RC modelling I decided to keep to electric power so my first thought was to make this an electric conversion. After several months of scheming I eventually decided it was not a practical thing to do and very ditched the whole project. However I found it very difficult to let go so decided to make an exception and go with the original 2 stroke design.

The original had an OS 40 which I gave away at some point so I had to find a new engine. The choice of 40 size 2 strokes does not seem that great anymore and rather risk a 2nd hand motor I went for a new ASP 40.

Mounted inverted so a suitable in cowl silencer. I still have the original brass example i brazed up years ago but not suitable for the ASP.

[Dwain Dibley.]

It will be good to see the end results Tim, I have refurbished a few oldies myself, including a 45 year old Lancer.

Interesting stuff Matey.

D.D.

[Peter Miller]

You are going to find that the ASP will be a heck of a lot more powerful than your old .40

[Tim Ballinger]

Peter,

Yes I was sort of expecting that. I nearly went for the 35 on that basis but for whatever reason the 40 was slightly cheaper and I sort of justified it by thinking I was bound to add weight during the refurb. Suspect I will not be using full throttle very much !

I have to say it runs beautifully ; I was almost seduced back to IC until I came to clean everything down after running.

I suspect I might have to build something else to suit the ASP 40 after I have scratched the nostalgia itch.

Tim

[Tim Ballinger]

The original had a tin soldered fuel tank behind the firewall and this was totally sealed in apart from the exit pipes and I had no idea which was which and in any case I did not fancy trying to use a tank which might well have been well gummed up by now.

The steerable nose wheel was underneath the tank and also sealed in. I wanted to replace the nose wheel with something with a bit more suspension than a simple wire coil so the decision was made to cut into the planking in the bay behind the firewall both top and bottom.

I found this quite painful as it committed me to redoing the paint job on the whole fuselage as I was never going to match it up properly. The tank still looked sound but I opened it up anyway. There was a little rust but nothing to really worry about. It was a made up tank because of the shape required which while having good width was short in length. Nowadays SLEC make a square tank which fits athwartships quite nicely so out with the old and in with the new. While i remember no running problems on the ground the old tank now looked a little high to me so I also strove to lower the tank a bit which also meant lowering the nose wheel tiller a couple of cm. I also redid the throttle run and the nose wheel steering as I was moving the servos further forward under the fake cockpit floor. ( servos are now much smaller and the old battery/rx bay suddenly had a lot more space.)

All that is now done but I will take some pics after the fact and add them to the next instalment.

Tim

[Rich too]

Nice one Tim, looking for2ard to the photos!

[Tim Ballinger]

Here is the old tank. Once it was out I was always going to replace it but in fact the condition was good , it probably just needed some alcohol through the pipes.

Then in there was my original homemade silencer complete with scourer insert! Now also a museum piece.

[Tim Ballinger]

The nosewheel was changed...

And the tiller moved from the back of the firewall to the front.

You can see I now have a hole as a sort of tank inspection facility but it is again now sealed in and will require keyhole surgery if the clunk needs attention. (I have run a couple of tankful through and all seems fine. We will see.)

I did not want the faff or finger snapping danger of an upside down glow clip so the leads you can see are for the on board glow system.

[Tim Ballinger]

There are 2 equipment bays ..

The front houses the side mounted throttle and nose wheel servos.

And also the on board glow electronics.Battery is further forward, essentially under the pilots feet. I made provision for charginging in situ as extraction is a bit of a faff through the cockpit.

Rx battery also slides in here. Originally these servos were in the aft space with somewhat longer control runs. (The nose wheel steering of course shared the rudder servo) . All this change made possible by the reduction in servo size in the last 40 years along side a corresponding decrease in battery (remember DEACS ?) and Rx size.

The aft bay..

Now houses the Rx and remaining two servos. These are actually sitting in the original servo tray that came with my original Horizon systems radio , seems those servos were the sam3 size as standard HD hitec’s

[Tim Ballinger]

The inside of the fuselage is actually cavernous but the equipment bays I made a tight squeeze because I wanted the inside to look like a real cockpit when viewed through the windows. The original acetate was both broken and yellow so I provided new glazing, the sides and rears being Easter egg containers.

The paintwork you see is the makeover to as near exactly the original as I could get. Can not say I really enjoyed rubbing all the old paint off and no matter how careful I of course damaged the original tissue covering. I nearly opted for glassing the whole fuselage but actually only did the front as far as the cabin door ( if there was one of course). Anyway primer and car spray seems to have worked ok. I have yet to fuel proof it. That will be airbrushed aerokote.

[Tim Ballinger]

Back in the day I was happy with scale sized wheels as I used to fly from a tarmac runway at a disused airfield at Perton near Wolverhampton . That was lost to housing in the early 70’s and is a major reason why I never maddened back then as our replacement field and small wheels did not really go together. As indeed they still don’t so I have now swallowed my pride and gone larger...

Which meant sleeping the axels as there was no way I was going to cannibalise the fuselage further so as to replace the main u/c.

[Tim Ballinger]

I really can not remember now but I am guessing MAP publications (the original plan source) must have offered a glass fibre cowl along with the plans. This I had of course fitted around the original OS 40. When I added the trimming required for the ASP there was not a lot left..

With tremendous foresight however and since fabrication was in my first year uni course I made a mould from the original and produced a spare. I still have the mould...

..and now a new cowl fitted to tha ASP and the new exhaust ( not as scale like as my original but hopefully quieter).

[Tim Ballinger]

I clearly had more patience then than now as I spent a fair amount of time noting specific features of the original aircraft although I can remember whether I took pictures or made notes. Whichever , I have no records now and the original aircraft changed ownership and colour schemes several times before being written off a few years ago now.

Fortunately all the detail I put in the cockpit seems to have survived and just needed a bit of TLC. My only addition has been a pilot and I almost gave up looking for a suitable scale ( and priced) full length civilian pilot before I found a 1/12 scale solution from fine scale models, an enterprise I had never managed to find previously. He is still a little small but I am quite pleased and as I had to assemble and paint I read Peter Millers latest article in RCM&E with some interest. I meant to take a picture before I fastenened his seat belt but managed to snap him in situ. Amazing what you can do with an iPhone.

That’s about where I am atm. Next job is to fuel proof the fuselage and finish the control runs. Then it will be about wing building.

[Martian]

Looking a fine refurb Tim

[Tim Ballinger]

Since my next job is fuel proofing, can anyone tell me whether it is best to fuel proof over decals or add them after. I have no experience as to what glow fuel does to modern vinyl decals.

Tim

[trevor wood 2]

Excellent rebuild, but don't forget, the captain sits on the left hand side of the cockpit!

[Tim Ballinger]

Trevor,

I left that for someone to spot and you get the prize . I did try and get him in the left hand seat but the cover for the glow battery is in the way of his feet which meant he had to sit too far back and could not reach the controls. Could have chopped his feet off I suppose but that seemed a bit cruel. Bottom line, he will have to fly from the right hand seat.

Tim

[Tim Ballinger]

Registration added correctly this time round. Remaining decals added and fuselage more or less finished.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Tim Ballinger]

Hope thats not an omen...

[Tim Ballinger]

Bit of a gap but built some new wings as the originals were past reclamation. Really do not remember building in washout all those years ago but clearly marked on the plan. Together withe thickness taper root to tip makes for an interesting aileron profile.

Final filling, sanding and covering to come . Still got to make some struts up.

Tim

[Josip Vrandecic -Mes]

Hi Mr.Tim ,It is immediately apparent that the expert has been restored...

[Tim Ballinger]

Hi Jos,

Thanks for the kind comment, we will see how expert after it’s maiden. I see from your bio you flew a Blanik as a youngster. I too solo’d on a Blanik before going on to instruct in them also. Ah so many memories and all good .

Tim

 

Edited By Tim Ballinger on 24/07/2018 18:07:40

[Tim Ballinger]

Getting closer...