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Chris McG F-86 Sabre Dog build blog


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Posted by john stones 1 on 23/09/2020 00:44:02:

Been busy of late, not missed a post yet though, i'm expecting a top class paint job on this, don't let me down.

Hope Iris n the little fella are well. heart

Thank you for the kind wishes John. As Chris mentioned very busy with work and if not work with my hobby (drawing). Don't forget your predictions for the Russian GP... smiley

Chris, keep up the good work and if you see Gaston, say hello to him from me... I kind a miss him! Don't take it the wrong way, I am sure that what you are writing here is innovating en full of useful information, but as you know I am far from technical and I just love watching your pictures. They are even better with Gaston in it.

Keep on building!

Hakuna mata,

Iris

BRU - BE/ CTR Cheers Control

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Thanks for your kind comments, my dear. And, of course, you too, John. yes

As the Russian GP quali was quite early today, I had a session at La Grotte afterwards.

Finalizing the wing/fuselage joining with the help of a Kevlar thread pinned at F10 and a small weight to keep it equally tensioned at the LE of rib R13 on both sides.

I must be lucky here but my measurements were within 0,3mm. Close enough for me, I guess.

1573_wingfixing01_900.jpg

I left the pentagonal ply 10mm deeper as to include the wing part and not only the TE stock.

IIRC, Phil did it this way, but Dirk did the other way around, having the trapezoidal part at the bottom of the wing… I don’t think it really matters??? Does it?

1576_wingfixing02_900.jpg

Probably a very ‘common’ step for most of the builders, but for me, joining the wing to the fuse was a real milestone in my Dog build. smiley

Hakuna matata & stay safe all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Alignment Control

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Thank you both, gents. yes

Of course you can use what ever you desire, David. But of course, it's completely at your own risk. No warranty involved whatsoever... wink

Well, I'm not the only one then, Phil. But you're right, I remember now the same kind of feeling I had when I installed my Ultralight Storch wing including the controls - ailerons/flaperons - the first time ever...

Cheers

Chris

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Hi to all,

Time to build-up that belly pan, then.

First thing that scared me a bit was referring to Phil’s measurements with 90mm at the front and 100mm at the back. Totally fine at the front with 92mm, but I had nearly 112mm at the back… surprise

Sjeesh… where did it went wrong? What did I do?

Nothing, in fact. I only forgot that I enlarged my fuse formers starting ‘heavily’ at the TE of the wing… Panic session over… smiley

1580_bellypan01_900.jpg

I split the first layer in two sections along the centerline, bevelling the center join slightly to conform with the dihedral of the wing.

I used Deluxe Superphatic here as it is very thin, adheres perfectly to glass epoxy and cures quite quickly.

This allowed to continue the layering of the belly. Having a lot of balsa off-cuts since I started the Dog, I opted to use those for the sake of the possible forthcoming balsa ‘problem’.

1594_bellypan03_900.jpg

Quite a time since I had a proper Graupner hedgehog anyhow. But now a bit of a sanding session awaiting again… frown

Hakuna matata & stay cool all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Cut-Offs Control

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Hello there,

With the pins removed, I had a better view of what was next.

As the back of the belly pan is quite thick, I thought of having the wing screws’ heads ‘buried’ in.

With a drill-through from the top and a hand powered flat wood drill from the bottom, it was easy to get down to the original ply plate.

1596_bellypan04_900.jpg

I guess it will not only protect the screw heads from the ground, but will supposedly offer a ‘cleaner’ view of the Dog’s belly when/if ever it gets airborne. wink

I wanted to have a first rough sanding allowing for a better idea of the shape of the fairings to be done later on.

1602_bellypan06_900.jpg

Even without squinting too much, I thought that it was looking a lot like the face of Lion King… surprise

But then the balsa dust might have possibly reached my already senile neurons…

Hakuna matata & stay fine all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Dog King Control

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Thanks for the detail on the battery box latch Chris (and all the other stuff!). I was also wondering what people have been doing to secure their batteries.

Re your comment about lack of blog activity, I'm new to this so haven't wanted to create unnecessary repetition in my blog or unwanted comments/questions in other's blogs. Still trying to work out the protocols...

Craig

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Thank you for commenting, gents.

Glad someone else sees the Lion as well, Martian. wink

My first pic looks indeed like sporting a nose guard, John.

Could it be that J.R.Kipling was a descendant of the Wessex Kings dynasty some moons ago??? ... surprise

You're mostly welcome, Craig. For the latch info or for comments/questions in this thread.

That's what a Mass build is all about, I thought. I can only regret that many builders stopped very early with their thread or even never started one... sad

No progress to the Dog though as Iris is having some issues concerning the US 're-organisation' of her job. And the Lady needs some support at the moment.

Cheers

Chris

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Hello again,

Beside assisting the LotH with her employment issues, I went to have a go at the wing seat.

I opened up the gap from wing to fuselage side following Dirks method of 'gradual' sanding back till I got an opening of 3mm.

After Sellotaping the wing, I filled up the gap with a 3mm wet 'stringer', let it dry and glued it in.

The Dog - of course - has very different fillets/fairings at the wing seat than the standard F-86. In fact there are less fairings along the wing seat with quite smaller ones at the TE.

I guess I'll just have to sleep on it before attacking the other side... indecision

Hakuna matata & stay safe please

Chris

BRU -BE / CTR Seating Control

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Hi to all still there,

After a night of pondering, I thought of just going ahead with the second fuse side as I need to reinforce that part of the fuselage anyhow.

I might be regretting later that I didn’t use a thin ply layer for the wing seat before building up the gap. The Great Flyer knows, but unfortunately, I don’t… blush

When the fuselage sides are joined to both F14s and the fairings added, the plan is to glass it all in one go with the fuse halves. I expect it will give it sufficient strength after that. Fingers crossed… indecision

Sorry, but no pics as the camera is in better hands at the moment.

Hakuna matata & stay careful please

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Crossing Fingers Control

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Posted by McG 6969 on 03/10/2020 18:34:54:

Hello again,

Beside assisting the LotH with her employment issues, I went to have a go at the wing seat.

I opened up the gap from wing to fuselage side following Dirks method of 'gradual' sanding back till I got an opening of 3mm.

After Sellotaping the wing, I filled up the gap with a 3mm wet 'stringer', let it dry and glued it in.

The Dog - of course - has very different fillets/fairings at the wing seat than the standard F-86. In fact there are less fairings along the wing seat with quite smaller ones at the TE.

I guess I'll just have to sleep on it before attacking the other side... indecision

Hakuna matata & stay safe please

Chris

BRU -BE / CTR Seating Control

The LoTH is thanking you a lot for your help heart

I also see the lion. But then again, I see lots of things all over the place...

My sound system on my desk looks like a guy staring at me with open mouth hahaha....

This being said, great job Chris!

I am like Falty Towers Manuel from Barcelona: "I know nothing"... about building model planes but I know you and as usual, your approach is well thought of and worked out until the tiniest detail... I know I sometimes tease you with this 'authistic' approach as I call it, but let's face it, sometimes I wish I would be a bit more like you...

Keep up the good work!

Hakuna and LoT(h)s more,

- Iris

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Thanks for the kind words, lady. kiss

I must say that your 'sound system' guy looks quite 'cute' staring at you...

As soon as it will be possible, I'll concentrate on the Dog again. That wing seat Aliphatic glue must be well cured now.

I've got myself a new 'toy' as well now in the shape of a Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D printer. Still a lot to read, to build up and try to understand.

But I'll get slowly into it, combining it with the Dog... angel

Cheers & stay careful, gents

Chris

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Hello again,

I must admit I’ve been a bit distracted by my new toy. Assembling of the Ender 3 has been quite straight forward but I’m still in a bit of a fight with that Cura slicer app… cool

Back to the Dog then.

Both fuselage strips were indeed totally cured.

1606_wingseat01_900.jpg

Next is to fill in the cross-grained bits to join the planking with F14 on both sides.

Nothing complicated but a lot of measuring hence a lot slower than normal planking… frown

Hakuna matata & stay safe all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Cura Control

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Hello out there,

I thought naively that one session at La Grotte would get this job cleared.

Nope… I needed two full sessions, being very probably a ‘very slow’ apprentice… blush

1611_wingseat02_900.jpg

The port side has been roughly sanded while the starboard one will be next when the Aliphatic is dry.

1613_wingseat03_900.jpg

Apologies for the pics being slightly out of focus, but I guess the poor light gave a quite narrow depth of field. Are we really getting some autumn/winter weather now? …

Hakuna matata & stay very careful all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Slow Apprentice Control

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Hi there,

I made a start at the LE fairings for the Dog.

Looking at build pics from other forumites seemed to be a waste of time as the Dog’s fuselage formers are ‘fatter’ than the F-86 ones.

Also, my belly pan is different for the same reasons… ppfff… frown

I’ll get there in the end but spending two sessions now in La Grotte with nothing to show isn’t really motivating.

While the first glued bits were prepared, glued and drying, I made a start to draw up the Sauce application and painting jig for the wing - trying to copycat Phil’s version - until I realized that I haven’t any proper wood to build it…

Some days, really… crying

Hakuna matata & stay careful

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Motivation Control

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Hello again,

I’m still struggling with the wing LE fairings as everything is so different. frown

The different fuse and belly pan made me decide to have the front of the fairing slightly built up at the bottom of the fuse.

1618_le_fairings01_900.jpg

It seems to correspond with the few pics I have from the underside of the Dog.

The wing side fairings were started with a 0,8mm ply plate, left to dry and built up afterwards with cut-offs of aileron stock.

We’ll get there in the end but this all seems sóó slow… but one thing ‘s for sure, sometimes Sellotape is an even better friend than Google… wink

The good news is that I found some old bits of wood thanks to a very friendly and helpful neighbour. yes

Hakuna matata & stay safe, gents

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Build Up Control

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Hi out there,

Not much progress to show, but here’s a better view of the LE fairing without pins.

1622_le_fairing02_900.jpg

It still looks very crude but there’s still a lot of wood to be removed before it fits the shape of the wing. Lots of secure sanding here but taking it slowly as I really don’t want to start this over again… blush

I started to make the wing jig as well. The old bits of wood aren’t really the right shape/dimensions and are totally dried out, but I’ll manage to ‘bodge’ it using glue instead of nails/screws, I hope. angel

Hakuna matata & stay careful all

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Jig Wood Control

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Thank you both for visiting and certainly for commenting, gents. yes

It really helps my mojo in these 'darker' days...

I decided to 'waste' a session to my wing jig. I'm convinced that it will be very helpful in time of bringing up Fred's Sauce and for final painting later.

It just looks sóó 'agricultural' that even a primitive neolithic tribe should have done a lot better... blush

I'll very probably have to give it a lick of camo paint before showing it to the universe. frown

Cheers cocktail & keep careful, guys

Chris

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