A first timers attempt at a Tony Nijhuis Sky 40 for beginners

[aidan mcatamney]

You will be out shooting Grouse Toto before you can say "Where's my Tam o Shanter " 

[aidan mcatamney]

If you hear the skirl of the pipes coming from the mountains Toto. It will be me playing the Flower of Scotland 

[toto]

OK ..... back in the shed.

 

and before going any further with the build itself ..... I have taken the advice of Caveman and removed the wax paper in favour of the supplied polythene. 

 

so ..... its out with this .....

 

 

 

I took the opportunity at this stage to centre the plan a little better on the board still keeping the tail plane element on the board ....

 

 

It only gained a couple of inches in terms of centralisation but it does work better.

 

 

I started laying the supplied polythene only to find out that the very generous people at SLEC had provided enough to cover the build board 4 times.

 

 

So I cut it to size and was left with more than enough for future tasks .... the wings etc  when the polythene will need changed out again when the plans are changed over.

 

 

and here is what is left. As I said it will provide a further 3 covers if required. You can also see just how transparent the finish is through to the plan.

 

 

and a close up ....

 

 

and whilst I am on ..... here is what arrived yesterday whilst I was swanning about in Dunkeld .....

 

 

My servo's of choice for the Sky 40. these servo's have previously come recommended from Steve at Kings Lynn Models and are currently working in my Arising Star with no issues.

 

 

 

and another one showing the type reference for those interested ....

 

 

Ok ...... I wanted to get the covering changed and out the way before I marched on and forgot. I also confirm that I will be using Superphatic wood glue as opposed to CA before I go any further forward.

 

Now ...... whilst I have covered some of the changes as recommended in previous posts ..... I'll now pick up on where I left off ..... Yes ...... some progress .

 

I had started trying to test fit the first parts of the build ( sections 1 - 4 ) the basic fuselage build. On doing so I discovered that the various formers which run horizontally between the two fuselage sides did not fit. Now ..... to emphasis at this point .... this is not ( in my opinion ) an early .... " here we go " moment. These are designed to be a relatively tight " friction " fit. They only require the minimum of sanding ..... we are talking a quick " pass " with a light graded sand paper in order to take off any " burr " fuzz " left over from the manufacturing process. ...... so go easy. I don't think that you want to sand these to the point that you have an easy fit .... or .... to the point where the parts " fall into place " as I believe that this " friction " fit adds greatly to the overall strength and the ability of the models frame to provide a rigid , self supporting finish ..... you have been warned ..... I just hope I heed my own warning.... 😄

 

so ....... the two sides .... marked left and right .... clearly .... in the destructions ...

 

 

and an example of some for the slots that need to be " cleared out " ....

 

 

and all the formers that need to be test fitted ... after sanding ..... to complete stages 1 to 4 in the instructions .....

 

 

There really is not many in order to get you to the stage of having an impressive looking structure at an early stage. 

 

I am off for my dinner for now. when I get back ..... I shall finish the sanding of the above and do some test fitting ... both sides of the fuselage before preparing to set glue to wood for the first time.

 

I mentioned that the above includes stages 1 to 4 of the build. I will clearly state when each of the stages has been completed as I work my way through these first 4 sections to allow the post to be tied back and referenced to the destructions.

 

see you all soon

 

toto    

 

[aidan mcatamney]

Good stuff Toto, your well organised,  better organised than me.  I went to the club hoping to get a few flights in today but nothing happened as the fuel tank burst at the bung flooding the plane and that was that. First time in 37 years, but a first time for everything.   I did get a video of Roberts maiden flight flown by Mathew and Bobs Bi plane which I hope to get edited sometime next week.  

[aidan mcatamney]

Roberts lovely new plane flown by Mathew today on its maiden flight . 

[aidan mcatamney]

Sam with his beautiful scale bi plane flown today by his nephew Bob at the flying field.  

[toto]

Both models look fantastic. I'll look forward to watching the videos when they become available. 

 

Sorry to hear of your fuel tank issues. I hope it's not had any negative effect on the overall condition of the model. Did you have the fuselage fuel proofed ?

 

I have found with the Arising Star that if you get fuel under the covering, it can be horrendous so check it out before it gets a chance to get a grip.

 

Fingers crossed for you buddy.

 

Toto

Edited October 7, 2023 by toto

[aidan mcatamney]

3 minutes ago, toto said:

Both models look fantastic. I'll look forward to watching the videos when they become available. 

 

Sorry to hear of your fuel tank issues. I hope it's not had any negative effect on the overall condition of the model. Did you have the fuselage fuel proofed ?

 

I have found with the Arising Star that of you get fuel under the covering, it can be horrendous so check it out before it gets a chance to get a grip.

 

Fingers crossed for you buddy.

 

Toto

Yes Toto,  I fuel proof all my planes to protect them.  The tank drained completely into the fuselage but all is OK as wood is coated with fuelproofer.  It was such a nice day for flying, but one of those things.  Will get videos done soon.   Cheers.  

[PDB]

22 minutes ago, toto said:

 

 

I have found with the Arising Star that if you get fuel under the covering, it can be horrendous so check it out before it gets a chance to get a grip.

 

Fingers crossed for you buddy.

 

Toto

At my club we have found the covering on Jumpers, Arising Stars and Boomerangs lifts, a coat of Aerokote over the edges of covering affected by exhaust gunk stops it.

 

https://deluxematerials.co.uk/products/aerokote-gloss

[Shaun Walsh]

On 05/10/2023 at 16:11, David Davis said:

I used to have a line manager whose surname was Verslhuis. She said that it rhymed with "choice." 

I worked with a guy whose surname was Anusone, work that one out!

[toto]

Thanks for that PDB ..... Noted for the future.

 

OK ...... I have done all the sanding and test fits that I need to do for the first 4 build installments ..... So 

 

What I am going to do is section by section ..... show the various steps along the way with each of the parts called for fitted ...... until we have the end result shown in the instructions at the end of section 4. 

 

Note ...... this is only a compete " dry fit " to test all the parts fit as they should prior to committing to gluing them together, this also lets me lay the assembly up against the plan and check for " true " . Once I have shown these sections complete .... I shall disassemble the parts and reassemble with glue.  

 

..Part 1 .. 

 

take the left fuselage side Part F1 and join to F2 and F3 ......... both F2 and F3 are handed so take care to get them the correct way around. You can't really get these wrong as the parts are not symmetrical but I'm mentioning it anyway as a check point.

 

 

Part 1 complete .....

 

part 2 ......

 

Now join parts F4 and F5 ..... noting that F5 is handed .....

 

Ok .... Part F4 which is the fuel tank tray goes in next ......

 

 

and everything fits like a glove .....

 

 

F5 then goes in. Now ... note that F5 is handed. this is the servos tray and you will note that the longer of the rectangular holes goes to the bottom which is the inside of the fuselage side F1. Again .... the slots and tabs don't allow you to get this wrong.

 

Part 2 is now complete .....

 

part 3 ......

 

This calls for you to fit the right hand side of the fuselage ........

 

 

job done ....

 

 

I weighed the front end down to let me align it with the plan properly to test for straight. I'm happy it is.

 

Part 3 ..... Now complete.

 

On to part 4 ....

 

Part 4 calls for parts F7 and F8 to be installed next. the destructions recommend not to glue at this stage .... which is ok as I am still dry test fitting at the moment.

 

It says F7 is handed ..... which it is ..... again you can't go wrong because one side has two tabs .... and the other 3.

 

here it is installed .....

 

 

and you can see the 3 slots and tabs I was talking about ....

 

 

The other side only has 2.

 

Now .......F8  is a bit cheeky as there is no mention of it being handed ..... but it is. 

 

 

here it is in place ....... a couple of things ..... first of all .... its not the best of parts as it is actually short in overall height. However , it ... to me .... obvious how you want to install it ............. which brings in the handed issue ......

 

 

as you can see .... there is a push rod route that runs through this ........

 

 

which must line up with this pushrod exit slot in the rear of the fuselage ..... as far as the length / height install issue goes ...... line up the hole in F8 to match the pushrod slot. nothing difficult but just be aware of it.

 

 

here we are at the end of Part 4.

 

 

and again. 

 

When laid over the plan ... there is a very slight alignment " bow " along its length ...... don't worry as this will be " pulled into place " and alignment recovered when you fit the Top fuselage and bottom fuselage cover sheets ..... at least my Icelandic mates did. 

 

So ......  

 

End of Part 4

 

OK ..... My next step will be to disassemble what's been done now that I know that all the parts fit as they should and start gluing them up in the same order.

 

I won't put you through the drudgery of following the gluing process but I will start of the next part ( part 5 ) beginning with the glued assembley. I may be back with that complete tonight .... depending how I get on.

 

Meanwhile .... any questions, comments etc ..... please feel free to jump in. 

 

Now ..... where is my mate John Smith.

 

toto

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[toto]

Mods .... don't know what's causing these repeat images at the end of the post .... can you delete them please.

 

cheers

 

toto

[toto]

Ok ..... I stripped her back down and started rebuilding and gluing as I went along using Superphatic glue ..... and clamps.

 

 

stripped back down and only steps 1 , 2  and 3 glued in place. Step 4 for formers F7 and F8 were only dry fitted for now as it mentions in the destructions. 

 

these will be glued in place later once the tail pieces F9 and F10  and the top and bottom fuselage coverings 9 F16, F21 and F23 are done. this allows for the overall straightening of the fuselage to be achieved against the plan drawing. the whole of the rear fuselage will be glued and clamped accordingly. ...... You will understand it more clearly as the build progresses.

 

 

some clamps in place .....

 

 

and more ......

 

 

and again .....

 

I also took the opportunity to run more glue along the joints once clamped ......

 

 

and again ...... just for illustration.

 

 

there is no call for adding more glue. Once you glue the edges of each of the mating parts ...... you could maybe call it a day after that .... but .... this is my way.

 

I'm going to allow the glue to go off until tomorrow now before continuing from part 5 onwards.

 

There has been a little bit of double work with the very rear of the fuselage supports but this is mainly a test / dry fit exercise. it does not take long and gives you the confidence that the whole thing is coming together properly before letting yourself loose with the glue. 

 

the reasoning behind NOT gluing the formers F7 and F8  ( if it hasn't sunk in by now ) will explain itself as we move forward.

 

That's me for tonight ....... as far as the build goes anyway. I hope its been interesting as I am certainly enjoying the journey. If there are any newbies out there tuning in ...... this is mainly for you so if you are currently watching from the sidelines ...... and wondering ...... please feel easy to chime in with any questions ..... no question is the wrong question.

 

as for the experienced hands ......... let the sunami begin .....😄

 

cheers all

 

until tomorrow

 

toto

 

 

[Andy Stephenson]

On 05/10/2023 at 16:00, Phil Green said:

Sorry I dont mean to be rude, but how do you pronounce Tony's surname 'Nijhuis' ? 

 

Phil,

In case this didn't get answered further up the thread*, for the record, Tony pronounces it Ny-house, as near as I can put it phonetically.

 

*TL/DR

Edited October 8, 2023 by Andy Stephenson

[toto]

OK .... back in the shed .....

 

and picking up on where I left off ...... the end of part 4. 

 

Well .... I have a confession to make ..... yes ... already

 

The destruction say in Part 4   that parts F7 ......

 

 

and F8 ....

 

 

are only " dry fitted " for now ..... and that is what I have done .... great. But ...... yes there is a But ... I should have fitted F9 and F10 and glued these into place to allow to dry out for today. ... I didn't. No big deal but the potential to slow down and hinder the ability to work on the model from Part 5 onwards as it means letting the Superphatic glue time to dry.

 

So ..... I use some discretion here and ....... decided to use some of this .....

 

 

and this .......

 

 

in order to dispense with the drying time and allow me to continue as planned.

 

 

So F9 gets glued in place ......and .....

 

 

so does F10 .........

 

Now ..... Part 4 is officially complete .... apologies.

 

A note for Caveman ..... The CA is now firmly back in its drawer .... 😄

 

Moving on Part 5

 

So to kick of part 5 the destructions call for the nose leg angled spacer to be glued to the back of F11 ( Firewall ). Now ... to locate the Nose leg angled firewall ( which is un-numbered ) you have to look in the accessory parts bag. 

 

 

and here it is. I have drawn a line down the middle to enable me to centre it accurately onto the firewall ( F11 )

 

 

Once stuck to the firewall ( F11 ) with Superphatic glue, you bore through the four pre-drilled holes in the firewall and through the Nose leg angled spacer.

 

Please note ... the spacer goes to the rear of the firewall with the " thick end " to the top. I have not shown the holes bored here .... forgot to take the picture but the Destructions show this clearly. .... apologies.

 

Part 5 complete

 

Part 6

 

We now glue ... or in my case Epoxy the firewall into place using 30 minute epoxy. Please note that the firewall is handed. you will see a hole ( the odd one out ) which takes the pushrod for the throttle servo push rod. this should be to the top right as you look down the fuselage from the rear.

 

  

 

or the top left when looking from the front as above.

 

Part 6 complete

 

Part 7

 

OK .... we march on and the next step is to take the left ( F13 ) and the right ( F12 ) reinforcers and glue them in place ..... Note as above ... they are handed.

 

 

F12 above and F13 below ...

 

 

again .... using Superphatic glue.

 

Part 7 complete 

 

Part 8

 

The next task is to take 2 x reinforcers both numbered F14 ( bot handed ) and glue them into position as below ....

 

 

the again .....

 

 

and the right hand side ....

 

 

part 8 complete

 

Now Part 9  is for the installation of the servo tray doubler F15. this part is handed and is obvious which way it should be glued into position as the hole sizes between the plate ... and the servo mounting plate F5 .... should match up.

 

 

apply some glue ....

 

 

and place on top of servo plate F5 making sure the corresponding holes match in size and both parts line up exactly. 

 

 

Once this is complete .......

 

Part 9 complete.

 

Thats me for the moment ...... I'll be back with Part 10  shortly

 

cheers

 

toto

 

 

 

[toto]

Real issues with the repetition of images .... can't see whats causing this 

 

toto

[aidan mcatamney]

3 minutes ago, toto said:

OK .... back in the shed .....

 

and picking up on where I left off ...... the end of part 4. 

 

Well .... I have a confession to make ..... yes ... already

 

The destruction say in Part 4   that parts F7 ......

 

 

and F8 ....

 

 

are only " dry fitted " for now ..... and that is what I have done .... great. But ...... yes there is a But ... I should have fitted F9 and F10 and glued these into place to allow to dry out for today. ... I didn't. No big deal but the potential to slow down and hinder the ability to work on the model from Part 5 onwards as it means letting the Superphatic glue time to dry.

 

So ..... I use some discretion here and ....... decided to use some of this .....

 

 

and this .......

 

 

in order to dispense with the drying time and allow me to continue as planned.

 

 

So F9 gets glued in place ......and .....

 

 

so does F10 .........

 

Now ..... Part 4 is officially complete .... apologies.

 

A note for Caveman ..... The CA is now firmly back in its drawer .... 😄

 

Moving on Part 5

 

So to kick of part 5 the destructions call for the nose leg angled spacer to be glued to the back of F11 ( Firewall ). Now ... to locate the Nose leg angled firewall ( which is un-numbered ) you have to look in the accessory parts bag. 

 

 

and here it is. I have drawn a line down the middle to enable me to centre it accurately onto the firewall ( F11 )

 

 

Once stuck to the firewall ( F11 ) with Superphatic glue, you bore through the four pre-drilled holes in the firewall and through the Nose leg angled spacer.

 

Please note ... the spacer goes to the rear of the firewall with the " thick end " to the top. I have not shown the holes bored here .... forgot to take the picture but the Destructions show this clearly. .... apologies.

 

Part 5 complete

 

Part 6

 

We now glue ... or in my case Epoxy the firewall into place using 30 minute epoxy. Please note that the firewall is handed. you will see a hole ( the odd one out ) which takes the pushrod for the throttle servo push rod. this should be to the top right as you look down the fuselage from the rear.

 

  

 

or the top left when looking from the front as above.

 

Part 6 complete

 

Part 7

 

OK .... we march on and the next step is to take the left ( F13 ) and the right ( F12 ) reinforcers and glue them in place ..... Note as above ... they are handed.

 

 

F12 above and F13 below ...

 

 

again .... using Superphatic glue.

 

Part 7 complete 

 

Part 8

 

The next task is to take 2 x reinforcers both numbered F14 ( bot handed ) and glue them into position as below ....

 

 

the again .....

 

 

and the right hand side ....

 

 

part 8 complete

 

Now Part 9  is for the installation of the servo tray doubler F15. this part is handed and is obvious which way it should be glued into position as the hole sizes between the plate ... and the servo mounting plate F5 .... should match up.

 

 

apply some glue ....

 

 

and place on top of servo plate F5 making sure the corresponding holes match in size and both parts line up exactly. 

 

 

Once this is complete .......

 

Part 9 complete.

 

Thats me for the moment ...... I'll be back with Part 10  shortly

 

cheers

 

toto

 

 

 

Thats coming along very nicely Toto.

[EarlyBird]

15 minutes ago, toto said:

Real issues with the repetition of images .... can't see whats causing this 

 

toto

You have time to delete them

 

[toto]

I have tried before but it does not let me delete them.

 

it deletes when you edit but when you go back to the post after that .... they re-appear. I've tried it many times.

 

cheers

 

toto 

[EarlyBird]

17 minutes ago, toto said:

I have tried before but it does not let me delete them.

 

it deletes when you edit but when you go back to the post after that .... they re-appear. I've tried it many times.

 

cheers

 

toto 

When you import the photos they all appear at the bottom. Each one has a cross in the top right corner which is used to delete. The last three photos were imported but not used in the text and by default are appended on the end.

 

Steve

[toto]

Thanks for that Earlybird. I wasn't aware that happened.

 

Cheers

 

Toto

[toto]

OK ..... back and now on

 

Part 10 

 

 part 10 calls for parts F16 and F17 ...... the undercarriage reinforcers to be fitted either side of the underneath of the servo compartment. these are handed.

 

You will see the troughs where the undercarriage steel rods fit down through.

 

 

 

glue applied awaiting to be installed .....

 

 

It goes in here .....

 

 

like so ...... 

 

the marks you can see is where there are holes in the fuselage floor to take the steel undercarriage. These marks should match up with where the entry to the troughs on F17 are. They are not symmetrical so each one must be identified with its corresponding fuselage side. It is easy done.

 

 

I did manage to snap one ... they are fragile. However .... a bit of glue .....

 

 

and then once glued to the fuselage side ... you just need to take care to judge the trough for straight by eye.

 

 

and then glue and clamp it into position.

 

here is an image of the troughs matching with the holes on the undercarriage ....

 

 

Part 10 complete

 

On to part 11

 

Part 11  requires parts F18 of which there are 2 ( wing seat doublers ) to be fitted inside the fuselage wing seat on either side of the fuselage. these are not handed.

 

here they are ....

 

 

easily glued and clamped into place ....

 

 

and ....

 

 

and ....

 

 

Part 11 Completed ...

 

Part 12 ..... 

 

Part 12 calls for the installation of the top rear decking ( F16 )

 

Note ***** In the Destructions .... the pictorial description calls if F19 it is as detailed in the parts drawing reference .... F16.

 

Again .... easily enough done but maybe just a little gentle sanding of the Slots and tabs to get a nice clean fitting ....

 

 

 

 

 

F16 is handed ... There is a long slot for the Rudder control which must be on the top left hand side as you look down the fuselage from the rear.

 

Part 12 completed.

 

Part 13

 

Part 13 calls for F20 to be fitted. This is the rear windscreen of the " Cab " which is actually an extension of F16 fitted in step 12. It is not handed  and will fit either way.

 

 

There it is fitted...

 

Part 13 Completed ...

 

Part 14 .......

 

Part 14 calls for the fitting of the bottom rear decking .... F21 in the destructions ....

 

 

and there we have it glued and clamped in place. as usual .... slots and tabs require a slight sanding for a good fit.

 

Part 14 completed

 

that is where I am up to for now ...... I'm off to see whats next

 

cheers for now

 

toto

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by toto

[toto]

Here are two or three shots after the de-clamping just to give a clearer idea .....

 

 

and ..... not a banana umongst them .... 😄

 

 

the extreme back end where the tail feather slots in looks a little ski whiff but this will straighten out once the tail feathers have been inserted. There is just a slight twist there. Nothing to be too concerned about I think.

 

 

 

and from the front.

 

With the exception of the front underside decking F23, the rest of the components to be fitted are just fiddly parts which will come next.

 

Meanwhile ..... my best mate John Smith is calling me ..... I'll be back

 

toto

[aidan mcatamney]

Thats a nice workshop you have Toto.  I spotted the Frankinstar in the distance.  

[Learner]

Try not to get to far ahead and think about your fit out.

You may find things easier to do before putting everything together.

For example I might have drilled for servo screws before glueing mounting plate in fus as although there seems plenty of room it could be easier to do it flat on the bench. Plan your control runs before you enclose fuselage too much etc.

Dont glue something and regret it later.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Learner