Phil Cooke Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 With the mounting blocks drilled for the snake outer the inboard wing ribs could be relieved to accept the snake running to the centreline servo. Again I made a little sanding tool which helped shape the bottom of each slot, the tiny little scalpel saw was also a life saver in cutting down into the ribs without inducing too much physical load into the wing assembly (my ribs still don't have top spar of webbing!) Ribs 2 to 9 were slotted along the required path - the depth of slot was premarked to keep it all straight and smooth...(there are 2 marks I know, my first was in error and too low!) I kept the material removed from each rib which will help me recap them once its all glued up. The first snake outer is pressed fully into place but cant be glued yet, I will need to make up the internal pushrod before it is finished as the metal end fittings will mean access will be impossible once fitted. Finally the snake outer is cut away inside the ply box, allowing the pylon to drop away once the inner pushrod is clear. One downside to my method is that I couldn't simultaneously drill the pylon with the smaller reqired hole whilst machining the mounts (like John Hey did in his blog) - so another operation for me with the drill later on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Another week flies by...and a hectic one with work meaning no workshop time until today too! I've completed the pushrod and servo layout for the droptanks today which now means I can crack on with the wing construction. I mounted a trusty Hitec HS-85MG as close to the centreline as I could without cutting through the Rib 1 pairing, positioned by eye onto a pair of hardwood bearers where I thought the snake runs would exit. Any final adjustments can be made with a bit of pushrod bending later on. I then cut a couple of lengths of snake inner and made up the M2 metal ends. At the drop tank end I wound in on the thread for a couple of inches making the 'working' length of the inner nice and stiff where it runs in and out of the ply pylon mount. I 'domed' the end of the pushrod with a file and then further radiused the snake to ensure there could be no binding faces should there be any slight mis-alignment. At the other end I simply cut to length and exited the pushrods vertically for final adjustment later on. I need to choose a bigger servo arm and perhaps fabricate that a little to make the ideal angles with equal throws each side of the servo axis. The pushrod runs are nice and smooth and need just 1/2" of movement to take the tanks from 'locked' to the 'drop' position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 'Locked' - you can see the inner fully spanning the gap in the snake housing each side. And 'Drop'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Final configuration at the servo end. I found that Futaba servo arms fit the HiTec HS-85 spline very well so I was able to create the geometry I needed from a larger Futaba fitting - the ball links help take out a little rotational arcing evident with the stroke needed at this radius. It all seems to work very smoothly having now made a few minor adjustments on travel, pushrod length and angle. Time to glue it all up! The first photo shows the tip tanks 'locked'... ...and this is the resultant position when 'released' - there is no binding despite it looking like a clash in the photo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Great technical achievement, Phil. I will only presume that it means you can start the aileron torque rods very soon now. Not that I'm waiting for them, obviously... Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 Hi Chris, I wont be fitting the actual torque rods until after the top sheeting is added and the wing is removed from the jig, although the centrally mounted servos need to be added before that - soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 The snakes have been permanently fixed along their route through the ribs and the rib slots have been refilled and sanded back to profile. Chris had got me thinking a little about the torque rod installation so I positioned the bearers and set about making up some little balsa block doublers for the relevant sections - 4 off per side. Similar soft blocks were cut for the robart knuckle hinges I'm planning to use for the ailerons which protrude a good inch into the wing T/E. These still need to be sanded back to the rib profile in the shot below. Just the top spar and the webbing to add to the wings now before we can close it all up with the top sheeting... Edited By Phil Cooke on 12/01/2020 23:02:56 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 Another little job I needed to do before the top skins can be considered - I'm adding a 2mm carbon pin to the rear of the pylon just to aid 'anti-rotation' of the drop tank in flight - this required a little ply slot mounting into the lower skin to act as a location bearer. The slot enables the pylon to rotate and drop away better than a simple hole would do. Cut from 1/16th ply. and to be mounted roughly here on the lower skins... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 A bit more done on the wing assembly this afternoon which I think is now ready for a final sand prior to the top sheeting going on - finally! - it seems to have taken ages!! Top spars are all fitted and with them in position I added a couple of hardwood bearers for the central aileron servos. A couple of Hitec HS-65MG+ will do the job, as proven on the 2018 MB Hurricane. I've then added all the balsa shear webbing between the top and bottom spars, electing to add them just on the rear face of the spars and going up to 1/8" balsa (the plan shows 1/16" front and back) Assuming I haven't glued the wing to the jig with over zelous use of thin cyano through the lower skin (has anyone encountered any problems?) the wing will be removed from the jig now to enable the L/E, T/E and any other highspots to be sanded to the rib profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Great and extremely neat progress, Phil. I assume your servo supports have to be in one piece allowing an extra bracing at the wing junction. I'm building my wings as two separate items so far, can I split the bearers or is it advised to keep them united? Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 Splitting them will be no issue. I've joined my wings at R1 on the jig, so running them through one peice here made sense to me, but in no means do they act as wing joiners, just servo bearers. I will be using a 2" glass fibre bandage around the wing CL once the top skins and L/E and T/E are fixed - akin to a simple foam wing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Thanks for your answer and the bandage idea, Phil. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Very neat Phil. How do you get your photos so clean and dust free? Do you build and photograph in different areas or just clean up and vacuum for each photo? Or is it OCD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 Hi Phil , I had a couple of spots where the cyano got to the wing jig but nothing serious tough... unbelieveble clean build chief ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 I don't have a separate room for photos, but I do have a little spruce up before photos are taken on the bench, and I tend to do all but the smallest of sanding jobs outside or at the garage door as much as poss, not on the bench. Top skins added this evening after a final R/C check. Once trimmed and aligned at the root around the servo bays, the skins were pinned out along the top spar, the T/E was weighted down flat into the jig and the L/E was rolled over and battoned down along the sub L/E. Skins trimmed for the servo bays and the drop tank pushrod articulation. Edited By Phil Cooke on 20/01/2020 23:03:02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Hi Phil, Are you running the aileron pushrods trough slots in the fuse former ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 No not through slots, that would make fitting the wing too tricky! I'll simply cut away any clashing formers to the required depth once the fus is built - I cant see my fuselage plan (as its on the other side of my building board!) but from memory its only F5 that is concern!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Both wing skins attached and trimmed - impressed with how 'stiff' it feels - all trimmed up now and ready for the T/E, L/E and tips to be added. On the underside I could dress the slots for the drop tank pylons upto the ply features which lie hidden within. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Very neat, Phil. Superb progress again. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Good to get the jig off the board so I can read the plan again and recap what needs to be added where still on the wing... Leading Edges added in a short session tonight, cut from 10mm medium balsa sheet with the right taper. One odd thing with the wing - a function of the section profile and the sweep I think(?) is that sat flat on the bench (not on the jig) it sits back down on it's T/E and makes it appear that its built with no dihedral or washout - has anyone else noticed this? Of course when you check the L/E in this position it is raised - lower that with some weight at the front into an approximately correct incidence and the wing tips both rise to better visualise the correct dihedral - all set of course by the jig!! Spooked me for a second as I thought I'd built the wing flat! (and I'd never live that one down, would I Matt!?) Edited By Phil Cooke on 21/01/2020 22:53:29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Garsden Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Your post reminds me why I always get myself an extra copy of the plan so you can read what to do next! !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Smart work, Phil. Now that all you experts have ironed out the problems with the wing build, I may be tempted to start mine soon - soon be June! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 The ''flatness'' of the wing in the back got me wondering too Phil ! Funny what dihedral and a wing-section can do to our minds ! Wait till you offer the wing to the fuse !!It loos like the dihedral in the front is negative and changes towards the back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 hehe glad it's not just me it fooled then Dirk - we must have similar minds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon S Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Can’t believe you heathens cut up my nice plans!!!!!!!! Took Martin & I hours to HAND DRAW each one!!!! 😂😂😂�😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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