McG 6969 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 ... auw... that's really bad luck, Ron. If it were me, I would ty to correct it as every time you'll have the plane in your hands later on, you'll look at the 'curves' if they 're still there... Not that experienced myself, but I learned that thin carbon rods ( 1 or 2 mm diameter) are unbelievable strong for their weight. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Unfortunately I’ve come to the same conclusion Chris, it will annoy me! Good idea about the carbon rods, they will have to be put in compression, so parallel to the ribs, but being black they won’t show too much. The alternative was to fit some carbon strip, edge on, against the LE. I’ve put the ailerons to one side until I get some inspiration, or help (like you have given me Chris) and have started to cover the tailplane which has made me feel better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Tailplane done! Then it was back to the aileron and stripping off the covering fro the second time Probably going to cut some more ribs to go in-between the existing ones, still got the laser cut sheets so should be able to use cut out as template. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Ron, I wonder whether laminating another sheet onto the front of the aileron leading edge would help? This could be 1.5mm balsa or 0.8 or even 0.4 mm ply, depending on how much scope you’ve got to sand back the trailing edge to get it back into alignment with the wing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Thanks Trevor. I think that adding something to the front would be problematic as the whole rib profile would then be out, I did think about adding to the back of the LE but still not sure if that would prevent bowing, unless it was, as mentioned above, a strip of carbon end on. I will probably sleep on it but at the moment am favouring another set of ribs mid point between the existing ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Having slept on it I think that I’ll cut off the LE and form a new one from solid balsa rather than the angled sheet. I know it will add weight but I think that it will be the best solution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Or maybe not! I’ve got another idea which I’m going to investigate first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 I decided to glue some 3/32" strip to the LE, notched into the ribs Which resulted in straight LE, the horse has been fed! (The patchy look on the TE is where I've still got to go over it with the iron and cloth) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Good solution!? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Glad for you it went OK now, Ron. Well done. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 First wing panel, under cambered, done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain Dibley. Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 Cosmic colour Maaan !! D.D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 No matter how careful you are something slips through the net courtesy of static! A bit that was of some concern for covering were the air brakes mainly because I’ve really got to do them in situ and the pivot edge sealing was difficult to get at. As you can see, there is a very small gap, to small for the covering iron to get to, but this is where my ‘special iron came in to play 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain Dibley. Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 Well Done Ron. What is that B.T.W, Your Eyebrow smoother ?? ? D.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 I knew it would come in handy one day ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 One inner wing section finished! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Cotsford Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 I really hate translucent films and undercambers, you've done a nice job there Ron, even with the odd bit of litter! No-one but you will notice it. And us of course, now that you've highlighted it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 11, 2021 Author Share Posted April 11, 2021 Thanks Bob. It’s been a long time since I last covered an undercambered wing so took a while to get my head around the sequence especially as there are 2 wing brace fixing points that stick out. The second inner section took a lot less time to do, mainly because a cut a paper pattern out first so I could then pre cut the holes for the fixing points. I am really annoyed by that bit of debris (bit of covering film) as it is firmly attached where it is and couldn’t be dislodged when I poked it with a snake inner. I have an idea about how to hide it but that will have to wait until later. On with the outer wing sections today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 13, 2021 Author Share Posted April 13, 2021 And the 2 outer wing panels have now been covered. A friend commented that covering those wings must be a bit like making a bed, he wasn’t far off the Mark. Glad that they’re out of the way as they took a lot of time to do. Looking at the covering off cuts I realised that I should have started with the outer wing panels and work down to the smaller pieces. This would have resulted in a lot less wastage. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain Dibley. Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Hindsight is a wonderful thing Ron. I keep all my off cuts in a bag, it sometimes pays off. D.D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 14, 2021 Author Share Posted April 14, 2021 I certainly won’t throw the off cuts away, there’s enough to cover a WOT4 sized ‘plane! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 16, 2021 Author Share Posted April 16, 2021 Time to sort out the wing to fuse fixings. The design is for 2 hooked screws fixed to the root ribs and then once the inner wing panels have been slid onto the joining plates a rubber band is used to hold the wings together. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to have nylon fixing bolts instead. The rear fixings were easy as there already were anti-rotation pin holes in both the root ribs and the mating ribs on the fuse. So in order to correctly line up the forward fixings I used the lathe to turn a point onto a 4mm bolt which was then screwed into the threaded hole I had formed pin the root rib. Then I pushed the inner wing panel into the fuse so the the pin formed a slight indent showing where to drill the hole for the fixing bolt. Then it was a simple matter of bolting the inner wing panels onto the fuse. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 (edited) I wanted to check the C of G so put the wings together and fitted them to the fuse. With a 3700Mah 4s up front it balanced ok. Edited April 19, 2021 by Ron Gray 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 I had a big problem covering the rudder, the transparent HK film really does shrink, a lot more than the solid colour stuff, and it twisted the rudder like a crisp. Second attempt, at a lower temperature, wasn’t much better so I added some diagonal braces to the structure then applied the film at an even lower temperature and this time it was OK. The fuselage wasn’t such an issue. So, finally, the covering is complete And the obligatory posed photos Now I did take it up to the field yesterday to fly it but the ESC packed up! Therefore the maiden flight awaits! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain Dibley. Posted April 25, 2021 Share Posted April 25, 2021 Shame about the ESC Ron, but what a Beauty. What a whopper too, now you have given it some scale mate. Well done. D.D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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