The Annual Dark Nights Fix-up.

[leccyflyer]

As it happens I managed to find another couple of peanut butter tubs, which I can cut a little longer than the first ones and maybe do away with the separate strip of plastic for the cowl flaps. My issue at the moment is trying to design and print the oil coolers. I've managed to make a nice shape, but the wing section is so thick that the diameter needs to be too large to accommodate the wing. My 3D design chops don't extend to make it taper enough. I might just give up and carve them from balsa, as on the plan.

 

Edited November 21, 2024 by leccyflyer

[J D 8 - Moderator]

 Checking out Magister on previous page. Would those with a better understanding of electric power than me like to comment on the performance/power output of motor in pic. Model has a span of Forty inch's and I recon the all up weight will be around 2lb 

[leccyflyer]

For a model like the Magister the AXI 2808/24 with a 3s1p lipo and something like a 9x5" prop should be giving you something like 220-250w (18-20amps@12v), so better than 100w/lb for a 2lb model, so a decent choice of power system for nice scale flight, throttled back a bit.

[J D 8 - Moderator]

     Thanks for the info, good to know. There is no cooling duct into the fuselage. Better open up the marked area on cowl front as in Gypsy engine style I recon, exit can be open cockpit. Speed controller fixed in behind F1 bulkhead and hard to get to/see but is of a type that has a heatsink. Will test set up on watt meter once I have RX in place.

[payneib]

The ugliest Acrowot XL is starting to look a little pretty. 

[GrumpyGnome]

Looking good - and not a BMFA Sticker in sight! Yet.............................

[payneib]

Took a break from sorting the kids rooms to get the side trims on. Officially filing this job under, "things I did not enjoy". In the interest of saving on covering I'm going to try and do horizontal strips on the rudder, using the big pile of offcuts. 

[payneib]

Got the tail feathers finished today, after several weeks of festive upheaval keeping me off it. I was going to glue the hinges today, but that'll have to wait until after Christmas now - I need to get the dinning room cleared. 

 

Left to do:

Cowl to paint, canopy to fit, fancy polishing work on the U/C and spinner, new control horns, new pull/pull on the rudder, and the new tail wheel to fit. Then hopefully I've enough covering left for the wings. 

[Learner]

23 minutes ago, payneib said:

Got the tail feathers finished today, after several weeks of festive upheaval keeping me off it. I was going to glue the hinges today, but that'll have to wait until after Christmas now - I need to get the dinning room cleared. 

 

Left to do:

Cowl to paint, canopy to fit, fancy polishing work on the U/C and spinner, new control horns, new pull/pull on the rudder, and the new tail wheel to fit. Then hopefully I've enough covering left for the wings. 

Dont forget Pilots head before fitting canopy.

Looking good though.

Edited December 23, 2024 by Learner

[leccyflyer]

Finally managed to get the wee oil coolers for the Deacon Beaufighter designed and printed so that they actually fit! It took four complete redesigns before i got something I was happy with. The thick wing section on the Deacon plan was consistently defeating me . ending up with a much larger diameter opening, as I just could not get the taper right, After much trial and error I've got something that more of less fits. The air intakes were not quite as tricky, but I discarded the vacforms that I'd made years ago, as they were both different, Very happy with the new ones- sure they aren't perfect, but they will do.

 

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The observer/gunnery cupola has been more of a challenge, but with a bit of lateral thinking and reworking of a file for a pasta scoop from Thingiverse, I think I'm getting there., Will know in the morning when it comes off the printer and fire up the vac-former.  In the meantime it's been design and print some wee brackets to fix the 3D printed Bristol Hercules dummy engines inside the cowls, This 3D design and print stuff is addictive.

 

The fuselage covering is completed. Laminating film on the control surfaces and lightweight tissue with Eze Dope for the rest. Have still got the wing to cover, before starting painting.

 

OI course, in the spirit of Dark Nights Fix-ups, I fell for the progress killer of simultaneously starting to finish the wee 30" span Model Designs FW190 at the same time, with maximum faffage in trying to get the single central aileron servo in the wing. Got that very fiddly job done, only to find that the servo had stopped working. All finally fixed now, just need to hunt out a motor before gluing the nose on. Pictures to follow in due course.

[martin collins 1]

Here is my winter fix up project, Flair Baronette, cheap Evilbay buy with a dodgy paint job. I am converting it to electric on 4s, motor mount installed this evening, old servos removed and sheet ply put on the top of the soft balsa servo bearers that were in it. The elevator hinges will need cutting off as they are not secured properly and the elevator joiner has excessive slop on one side, the model was fitted with a 2 stroke engine hence the cut out for the silencer down the side of the model, this has been filled with soft balsa this evening ready for re shaping. Broken cowl mounts will also be replaced, once all these jobs are done i will probably test fly it before painting then re balance as the paint will add weight to the tail end. 

[payneib]

It's been a while, but I've finally managed to snag 5 minutes to myself. Tail hinges are all glued, tail wheel is on, radio switch is remounted, canopy is on. I just want to mix up a little bit laminating epoxy tonight, to seal round the edges of the covering on the firewall, then hopefully I can cut and colour the cowl in a day tomorrow. Bolt the wheels back on and chuck it back in the garage whilst I do the wings. 

 

 

[payneib]

Cowl cut and coloured. Pink doesn't quite match because I gave it too many coats and it darkened out slightly, I'll not lose any sleep over it. Unfortunately I finished too late to get the gloss coat on, so that'll have to wait until next weekend now. 

[martin collins 1]

Nearly ready to test fly now, couple of small jobs to fiddle with tonight and then Baron Von Spottydog will be taken to the strip on Wednesday for a test flight. Balance looks slightly nose heavy which i am fine with for the first flight, once the model gets repainted it should put the balance a bit more rearward. Running it on a 4s Lipo, i may have got away with a 3s and larger prop but we will see, feels a bit porky with the 4s 4000mah in, the airframe itself feels ok, it does have three wings so we will see once it is in the air.

[leccyflyer]

Finally got to the painting stage on the wee Deacon Beaufighter,  In the end I decided to go with glasscloth and EzeCote for the wings, to give a bit of protection, since she'll be landing on the nacelles. The fuselage is tissue and EzeDope, whilst the tail surfaces are laminating film, so a bit of a mixture. Paint is B&Q Valspar sample pots, thinned and with a dash of Floetrol and went on very nicely in no time.

 

 

 

Final fettling on the peanut butter jar cowls was a bit fiddly, but all worked out in the end. I left the painting until after that stage, so that I could see the anchoring points through the clear plastic. 3D printed air intakes and hand crafter Porcupine exhaust stacks are yet to be fixed onto the cowls.

 

 

[Murat Kece 1]

Looking good Leccy.. 👏

[martin collins 1]

Baronette successfully test flown today, now the weather needs to warm a few degrees so i can get a scale scheme painted on it.

[David Davis]

I suppose this counts.

 

I regularly participate in an annual competition La Coupe Des Barons. I have two Barons, one in British and one in Ukrainian markings, picture below. Last year I broke the Ukrainian Baron's wing in practice. I have buit a new wing for "Boris." Rather than use the standard construction I have used carbon fibre for the leading edge, carbon fibre tow to reinforce the main spars, depron wing ribs, a built-up trailing edge and balsa sheet between the leading edge and the spars. Pictures of the standard wing and my own design below. The standard wing is the second picture. I have recycled the centre section from a damaged Baron.

 

 

Edited February 6 by David Davis

[leccyflyer]

Was working towards a maiden flight for the Wee Beaufighter on Sunday, the 80th anniversary of Black Friday and that meant getting the markings applied this evening or tomorrow, Had got most of the painting done by close of play yesterday and got the cowls, exhaust stacks and air intakes all together by this morning, before moving on to vacforming the clear cupola and masking the canopy for painting. The cupola turned out just right, which was a big relief. Also sorted out the flight battery and hatch retention and all was going well.

 

Then this afternoon returning from an appointment in town my car went u/s, with the rear brakes stuck on. Luckily was just around the corner from the garage and they were able to get them freed and the pads replaced in about an hour on a busy Friday afternoon. They said that should be fine to get me home, but to monitor it and bring it back first thing on Monday if it was getting hot, as the brake caliper had been stuck, but they had freed it up. Drove home, broke out the infra red thermometer to get an accurate reading on the brake discs - 220 degrees C  So that's me grounded and starting the airbrushing of the roundels, fin flashes, squadron codes and serials  tomorrow, but now with no prospect of a maiden flight on Sunday.

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

Must have been glowing like an F1 car.......

[leccyflyer]

It was a bit warm- you could feel and smell the heat.  Luckily the pad had worn through just about a mile from the garage, so it was metal to metal, but the disc had not been damaged at all. I had the front brakes done just before Christmas, but the rear brakes were okay at the time.

[martin collins 1]

Having got my Baronette airworthy and now just waiting for warmer weather to paint it i have pulled out another Dark nights fix up model, this is a 50" span Fokker DVII. I bought it about 6 years ago at a local Swapmeet, it was pretty grubby then and even more so now as it has been hanging in my barns since purchase as it looks good but needs sorting out to make it useable again. Obviously not a Flair one being too small and it looks like the nose might have been extended, it certainly needs shortening to make it more scale. I haven`t pulled it apart yet to see what is involved in shortening it, i may just leave the nose as is as i`m hoping to pick up a larger Flair one to put my Laser 70 in to, certainly i will be aiming to just make the current covering good as i love the lozenge finish. It will get replacement servos, tank and probably a 48 or 52 four stroke engine, hopefully in the air in the next couple of weeks. Will take some better pictures once it is outside for clean up and dismantling.

Edited February 8 by martin collins 1

[martin collins 1]

The old Fokker is now ready to test fly, it has cleaned up quite nicely, i have left the cowling off in case the slow running needle needs a tweak, as mentioned i bought this at a local swapmeet 6 years ago, yesterday evening i went onto the Facebook page of the club that ran that swapmeet on the off chance that someone might remember the model. Paul Hazelgrove responded on the Fenland Model Flying club page that he had owned it for a number of years before selling it at the swapmeet, he had purchased it from a club mate and `flew it like he stole it` before a mishap meant repairs were required during which he found major fuel soaking on the fuselage so he measured all the parts out and rebuilt it before flying it again till he sold it to me. It is nice to get some history and chat to a previous owner of a model, he said it spent more time being flown inverted than the right way up, looking forward to getting it in the air if this damn mizzly weather finally blows through.

[martin collins 1]

Pilot now added, hopefully the skies will be clear of rain for a sortie tomorrow 🤞, will add the scarf this evening.

Edited February 12 by martin collins 1

[payneib]

3 hours ago, martin collins 1 said:

Pilot now added, hopefully the skies will be clear of rain for a sortie tomorrow 🤞, will add the scarf this evening.

He's got to have a scarf! The bigger and draggier the better! It's the most important part!