The G Guppy / E Guppy

[Stephen Jones]

Hello,  Its been some time since I posted anything new of my own design so here I go again.

 

Recently I flew one of my old models the Guppy.

A 45 inch .15 IC powered sports model.

Although the covering needed sticking down again and oil stains here and their I decided to fly it again at my new flying site and I really enjoyed flying again 😍

So I decided that this model deserves a revive.

Steve,

[Stephen Jones]

And So I have decided to do a little more styling and alter a few things along the way.

So I am thinking of building two of them the first one will be called the G Guppy as it will be powered by a .25 IC engine.

And the second one will be called the E Guppy as that one will be all Electric.

But basically the same model with a few minor changes.

I like the looks of this one even more.

Steve.

[Stephen Jones]

And so i have started the build lets face it we can not do any flying here in the UK with all this bad weather we have been getting for the past few months.

 

I have altered my Ribs, made them a bit thicker and lowered the building tabs.

All my ribs fit onto one sheet 0f Balsa 4x36 and 2.5mm thick.

 

 

These are semi-symmetrical and have wash out built in.

 

Steve.

 

[Stephen Jones]

I do not have a Lazar or CnC cutter but I do have a printer and a sharp knife 😉

 

So after cutting out all the Ribs i pin the to the building board over the top of my Wing Plan making sure all are positioned correctly and upright to the board I pushed my Pins through the ribs where the building tabs are to give better support and hold them straight.

 

Now my spars can be fitted.

At the same time i have slotted in my False leading and trailing edge.

Steve.

 

[Stephen Jones]

Once they have dried i un pin the wing from the board and fit the lower spars and once they have dried i turn the wing back over onto the building tabs and re pin the wing down and fit the webbing.

 

And once all that has dried i can fit the leading Edge.

 

And next is the false Trailing Edge.

 

 

Steve.

 

 

[Stephen Jones]

And this is where I am at as I am waiting for some wood to arrive.

 

 

Steve.

[Lindsay Todd]

Very neat build Stephen, glad to see you back at it, jeep up those quirky designs:)

Linds

[Stephen Jones]

23 minutes ago, Lindsay Todd said:

Very neat build Stephen, glad to see you back at it, jeep up those quirky designs:)

Linds

 

Thanks,

I have received my order from Slec very good service from them nicely packaged and very quick too.

Only one problem and that was my fault 😩

Leading edge and triangle stock too small, should have ordered double the size than I did. 😩

So will have to put a fresh order in soon, not stopped the build for now as I already had Leading edges in stock top sheeting now on one of the wings.

 

Steve.

[Stephen Jones]

Hello again done some more work on this today.

 

 

So here you can see I have placed some wing supports on the wing plan to lay the top side of the wing down.

 

 

Here you can see that I have started to remove the building tabs from the bottom of the wing.

 

 

All the building tabs have been removed and sanded the bottom of the wing to ensure all is true before adding the bottom wing skin which is made up from 1/16th Balsa sheet.

 

Steve.

[Stephen Jones]

 The wing skin is made up of 1/16th Balsa sheet 4 inch wide and if you cut one full sheet 4 x 36 diagonal you can use 1 and a half sheets of Balsa per wing side.

 

For those that have not done this before,

Here is how to join two sheets of 1/16th balsa to form one large wing skin.

Butt the two sheets together and weight them down so that they do not move.

 

 

Now stick them together with tape as above.

 

 

Turn over so that the gap between the two sheets are open that way you can run some super glue into the gap.

 

 

Now turn the sheets over so that you can close the gap up and quickly wide away any excess glue.

 

 

 

Peel of the tape and your done.

Steve

 

[Stephen Jones]

 

So now I can glue the wing skin to the bottom of the wing.

 

 

Pins are used to make sure that the leading edge is level by feeling where the ribs are and pushing down and pinning in place.

weight it down to make sure good contact with the glue that was run along all the ribs and spars ect a slow glue I find best as this allows me a bit of time to ensure all is in place and clamped down.

 

I have trimmed off the over hang of sheeting.

All that is needed now is the wing tips and Trailing edges.

 

Steve.

 

 

 

[Stephen Jones]

Some more work,

Made some Tuque rods.

 

Two wing panels needs Wing tips and Ailerons.

I am thinking of Glassing these wings.🤔

 

Steve

[Stephen Jones]

Hello again.

Both wings have now been finished,

 

Both look like this, I have to glue them both together then glass.

 

The Tail feathers are also finished.

 

Fin.

 

Tail plane and skid.

 

1/4 Balsa.

 

Steve.

[Richard Harris]

Neat work Stephen, are you aiming for a 3s 2200mah lipo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen Jones]

On 27/04/2024 at 20:16, Richard Harris said:

Neat work Stephen, are you aiming for a 3s 2200mah lipo?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Think you know my style more than most.

So for the E Guppy it will be a 4s Motor will be DYS 3530 1400Kv a power to weight ratio of 2-1 😉.

And for the G Guppy I will be using a .25.

With option for wheel's although I see them as extra weight and drag 😜.

 

Cheers Steve.

 

[Stephen Jones]

I am waiting for wood to arrive from Slec to continue my build's.

Steve 🤔