Building Brian Taylors Cessna 120

[Dwain Dibley.]

My part kit from Sarik arrived today. YAY.

I thought I would have a change from Warbirds, and get a civilian vibe going.

D.D.

I got a plan, some wooden bits, a fiberglass cowl, and a preformed screen.

The screen should save some cussing in the future. LOL

Also a big sheet of paper with the build article from the other magazine. !!

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 30/10/2018 23:07:06

[Dwain Dibley.]

It was designed for a .30. I will be going Electric (Of course), and attempting to add a little scale detail into the bargain. opening doors, cockpit detail, pilot etc.

D.D.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Something along these lines.

D.D.

[Tim Chambers]

I remember the first flight of the prototype, Brian had designed it to be an easy first step in to scale modelling.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Yes Tim, the build looks straight forward enough, giving plenty of time/room for embellishment, without having the worry of "will it fly", when it comes to a maiden carrying loads of work. LOL

D.D.

[Shane Sunday]

ive bookmarked this thread now and will be following along. i have the same kit perhaps this'll be the thing to spurn me on. looking forward to the build.

[David Davis]

I saw one fly on an OS 20 fourstroke up in Yorkshire years ago. It was very atmospheric. I'm subscribed.

[trebor]

Notification box ticked.

[J V R]

DD

I've had this kit under my bench for 10 years, this thread might just kick start me into building mine

[Geoff S]

Looks to be a very full and complete set of parts and even includes instructions. What can go wrong ?

OK so what's the power train going to be? For me that's always the first thought for an electric conversion. Well, that and how an I going to change the battery.

I'll be watching.

Geoff

[Charles Galloway]

I'm building one at the moment. Fus is glassed and I'm just finishing the wing ready to cover. I've also gone electric.

[barryt]

Lots of soiid balsa in this kit, which is unnecessary for an electric plane. Try to lighten it as much as you can. I cut an access panel under the cabin floor. The battery slides up and forward over the undercarriage mountings. The other mod I would recommend is to use spruce wing spars instead of the balsa indicated on the plan, Lots of scope for detailing. Good luck, i'm following your posts with interest.

[cymaz]

Dwain, how will you replicate the shiny fuselage

[Martian]

Subscribed ,love the Cessna

[Dwain Dibley.]

Well guys, I have only just started this model today. A whole five months after getting it, can't believe its been that long.

Apologies...........as I notice there are a few interested parties, who have the same model, and who have been patiently waiting for me to start...............I have rebuilt the kitchen in the mean time tho.

So to get the ball rolling I started with the engine bay, as mine will be electric I thought this was the area that will need the most alteration, but apart from a hatch, it all seems quite straight forward.

Barryt........ I think my hatch will be on top, however, having put the tank floor on a slope for my battery I can see how it could slide in from the bottom...

I will peruse 4-Max and see what I think will do the job.

I just like the silver/chrome look, I don't know if I will be able to replicate it....

Geoff, the parts are very Good, the only criticism would be that some of the laser cuts are not all the way through the ply parts, which can cause break outs if you don't spot them.

I will post some pics later.

D.D.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Pictures as promised......

The plan gives a clue as to how things go.

The tank bay as was, I have lowered the tank bay floor.

Another view.

And another.

Where the battery will go.

The fire wall clamped up. It is two pieces of ply, laminated, glued with Aliphatic. I used Cyano on the rest, but also ran a bead of aliphatic around the battery tray, top and bottom. The instructions suggest replacing the ply tray with balsa, but I kept the ply.

 

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 02/04/2019 00:54:30

[barryt]

Looking good Dwain.

Something else I should have mentioned earlier is that while scale air intakes are cut in the cowl, you need to arrange for venting of warm air out of the fuselage. This is not part of the plan. The air needs to flow over the motor, speed controller and battery before exiting, in my case, through some slots in the battery hatch cover.

I'm looking forward to some more pictures.

[Dwain Dibley.]

There is a cutout on the cowl on my plan Barry, designed for I.C. i know but defo on there. I have realised that there is no way a top hatch is possible....no room inbetween the cowl and the screen, only about an inch.

I need to get some undercarriage bought.

I have just made the rear fuselage formers from 3/16 sheet.

I also need to go to the LMS to get some more sheet for the rear fuz, I've got everything except 3/32.

D.D.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Progress Pics.

All the formers, theses are square with an added reinforcement, top and bottom. You have to allow for a mistake on the plan of 3/32. the lazer cut formers, top and bottom, are correct. The formers have to be 3/16 wider, as the sheeting is 3/32 NOT 3/16.

Cabin parts added.

Another view.

Triangle bracing added. Needed because it's all butt joints.

2nd lamination of 1/8 balsa to the side, other side still to do. you will notice i have added bottom former 2, and a length of 1/4 sq. I am contemplating an under carriage cover that will allow me to remove the U/C if necessary, there is no allowance for this on the plan. It is all built in, and I want to get to it, plus there has to a hatch there somewhere.

So far, so good, thinking ahead is a good idea with this build as there are a few ambiguous bits and some faux pas on the plan. Nothing to worry about really, as long as you read, read, and then read some more.

 

D.D.

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 03/04/2019 17:23:18

[McG 6969]

... subscription box ticked, DD.

[Dwain Dibley.]

Hey McG, How you doin buddy ??

I Have built the rear fuselage this evening, it was straight forward enough once the sides were cut out. I simply lined up the LHS on the plan, made sure it was upright at 90 degrees to the bench, lined up the formers and tacked them on, again making sure they were upright. Once all five were on, I used the laser cut rear fuz spacers to line up side two, dropped a rule along the front edges to check for square and tacked the formers on the RHS.

D.D.

This shows how the difference in the sheeting size and the subsequent extra width in the formers, all came good

All Five Formers.

The rear fuselage built up as described above. Notice the triangular spacers in the tail area.

Nice and square.

The obligatory mock up... 

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 03/04/2019 23:34:26

[maurice northcott]

Looking good Dwain ........ keep at it

mo

[Dwain Dibley.]

Thanks Mo......

I am going to the LMS in a bit to buy some things. Then it's thinking cap on to sort out the battery access. I am going to fit an isolator, this allows the ESC to be almost anywhere.

D.D.

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 04/04/2019 11:06:13

[Dwain Dibley.]

Well the trip to LMS was a success, I got 90% of what I went for.

The undercarriage is proving difficult to buy, I can only find .40 size, which although the model is designed around a .30, is not wide enough.

Still, I got wood, Glue and Wheels......

D.D.

The first job was to cut a groove for the window ply.

Nice new wood.

Next I added the top sheeting formers. These left exactly 3/32 each side for the sheeting.....Phew....

Next I checked the fit of the tail plane. All was well.

Next came the little side cheeks (number 2), and some 1/16 ply facing pieces.

Next was the undercarriage plate, even tho I don't have the legs. I also fitted the cowl fixing blocks. I added a balsa spacer for better adhesion on 2 sides and have since faced the outer face with balsa.

I felt a little reinforcement was needed.

Obvious.

I made a servo tray out of light ply, and made it removable.

C.A. in the screw holes, this sets the thread like concrete. As you can see I added wider rails.

The servo position looking from underneath, through what will be the battery hatch, this should allow for some detail in the cabin.Ignore the connector it is just on the servo arm from a previous incarnation. Next I need to make 2, maybe 3, more bottom formers and construct the hatch. I line it all with 1/32 ply to allow a smooth fit and it will be held with magnets.

 

 

Edited By Dwain Dibley. on 04/04/2019 20:19:27

[Dwain Dibley.]

I have a fuselage Boys......

It's a bit fiddly to get the rear end on, the way I did it was to make the 4 triangle braces from 1/4 sheet. I made sure they fitted nice and snug and attached them to the rear of former 5. This made it easy to attach the rear fuz to the front bit when it was standing on its nose. Remember to add the packing piece to take the angled former as the rear fuz butts up to this.

Anyway its all nice and straight considering there is no jig, and no real way to use one.

D.D.

The four Braces.

Below you can see the extra 4 formers I made from 3/16 balsa sheet. The two end ones that will form the hatch will be ply faced, so they slide in and out easily. The middle one is attached to the ply laser cut one supplied in the kit. The one on the left is now fixed to former 4a to form a fixing point for the side sheeting.

The hatch pieces.

I marked centre point on formers and checked for square.

Formers 5a and 5b going in, these are laminated.

The bottom 1/4 square stringer in place.