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President Funfly rebuild


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As you can see the cowl and firewall have disintegrated It is also snapped clean in half at the Te of the wing and the remaining balsa feels more like matchwood than a viable airframe. Most of the liteply seems of an OK sort of condition. I wonder how old this thing actually is!
 
Peeling back the covering it looks like it has had a bit of a catastrophe in the area of F2 and has been grafted together again at some point in its history.
 
Still, I have a strong desire to resurrect this one  and even if I only use the tail feathers and the wing it will be a way to say thankyou to the gent who gave it to me to see it flying again.
 
 
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Posted by Stephen Grigg on 15/06/2009 21:03:11:
Not looking to promising does it Andy but it start as a load of bits so really its back to as it was therefore it could br rebuilt.Peter Millar should be along soon and he is your man
 Thanks Stephen, I kind of thought it was asking a bit too much especially with the whole cowl/firewall/f2 having vapourised......
 
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I have mad the decision to rebuilt but to try and use as much of the original as possible. You are welcome along for the ride and it might even tie in with Peter Millers articles if he want to help direct the proceedings....
 
People on here have been so helpful in the past guiding me past those obstacles of skill, knowledge and confidence.  Hopefully someone might take an interest in this one..
 
will start later this afternoon and pics will be coming soon after....

Edited By Andy Freeman on 16/06/2009 14:36:43

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So this is the progress so far. The liteply sides were simply beyond repair. They would have been more glue than anything else so a new set has to be made. 
 
Luckily i bought some ageas ago and never used it, so....
 
A bit of tracing and a bit of join the dots and this is what we have......Now off to the garage for tools that run on electricery.....
 
And when we return we have something thats starting to look as though it belongs.
 
First silly question of the blog...How best to remove all the not needed areas ie the lightening voids and the slots for locating the formers?
 
Better seen here......
 
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andrew-leave them in - youl'll prob need a bit of lead in the tail-i did when i fitted a 40 2st-so leave the lite-ply intact-it'll give you a bit more strength-save putting some lead on the model's tail.........
 
    ken anderson....
 
 then again you could salvage the hole's off your broken one - and use them.........'s..

Edited By ken anderson. on 17/06/2009 07:46:09

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Well after all that talk about holes, i felt I had to keep the original ones. How could I possibly throw those nicely made air gaps away? 
 

I shall have to take my chance with needing tail weight.  Its an old model and you said you used a 40 Ken. Did a 40 weigh more than a modern one? I had a OS 46 in this one before it died. I dont think it needed that much though. This time round i was thinking of an ASP 32 or 36. Might weigh a bit less????
 

Was unable to save these two formers. Ed had glued them very well. Therefore made two new ones. And the progress so far is....
 

More tommorow,,,,,
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Posted by Craig Carr on 17/06/2009 07:22:26:
Hi Andy, How thinks the liteply?  - you'd be suprised a fresh scalpel in your modllers knife will cut it with a few strokes!!..  Cut the cross grain lines first then the ones with the grain...  Craigy your fellow BVRMC'er
 hi Craig,
the problem i was having was that I had tacked two sides together with cyano. hence the magical appearance of two sides...The total thickness was therefore 6mm with grain running all over the place. No good for my scroll saw which does straight cuts obscenely quickly and nothing i had for the dremel was suitable either. the Routing bit was a joke, the circular saw was innnacurate and possibly lethal. ended up with the scalpel and a very small half round file...
There must be a tool like a fret saw but that is open jawed for this sort of job .....Anyone got a link as ita taking me longer to do the cutouts than anything else.
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Posted by Phil Wood - Moderator on 17/06/2009 23:23:21:
Posted by ken anderson. on 17/06/2009 20:05:46:
it's a well know secret in certain circle's that the hole's are only there to seperate the different bit's of wood-even more so with the fun fly type of model's-like what andy has here(keeping in topic in case phil,timbo or david or looking in)....'s..
 
  ken anderson.............
 Of course we look in, we're nosey....
 Is there not a side cutting drill for the bog standard rotary tool?..........you could cut out these holes and put them aside for safe keeping...
 
Polyphilla.

 There is a rotary cutting thing for it. A clumsy and evil thing..Dont ask me how I know that....

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What's the problem with a fretsaw?  I don't understand what you mean by 'open jawed'?
Loosen one end of the blade from the saw frame, drill a hole in one corner of the job, slip the blade through the hole, then clamp it back in the frame.  My saw has a jaw depth of about 12". 
Or are you talking about these new-fangled powered fretsaws?
This  is what I mean by fretsaw.
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Just thought of another tool you could use, but I'm not sure what they're called,  They're a wire hacksaw blade, about 1/16" diameter with cutting teeth all round, like a long thin rat tail file.  I've got a couple I use for cutting engine mounting plates, holes in bulkheads etc., as the blades cut 360 degrees you only need access from one side of the job, and can reach up to the height of the hacksaw frame.
Something like these

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 18/06/2009 14:27:09

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B&Q do list a 10" coping saw, the 'FatMax' for a tenner, but not a fretsaw.  Definitely a useful tool to add to your armoury, even the 10" reach would make life easier.  The only difference is that a coping saw allows you to set the blade at 90 degrees to the handle whereas a fret saw doesn't, so you cut across the job, turn the blade, then make the long cuts.  
Ooops, misread that, it's a 6" reach!

Edited By Bob Cotsford on 18/06/2009 14:33:40

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