Building the Nijhuis Lysander

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

Isn't the tail wheel meant to be sprung loaded and the bracket  horizontal or close to it?

[rookie jim]

I agree Mario, the winter is a good time for building if your workshop is warm. at the moment my garage /workshop is about -3C so not too inviting. Last week i was helping my grandson build his first (ARTF) and the epoxy resin and hardener woulddnt come out of the pots until i  put them in warm water.

 

I have therefore moved into the dining room while this cold weather is around otherwise i wont get anything done. Only problem is I will have to clear everything awayy when youngest  grandchildren visit ( 2 and 1 years old). I dont have to convince anyone else that its a good idea so its not too big a deal though I am not not sure where i will eat but i am sure i can find somewhere.!!

 

Also i think i could do with some advice from you guys

 

I am getting near finishing the fuselage first stage and thought i should perhaps fit the engine mount.. looking on the plans  if I read it correctly the small hole in the centre of F1 is the centre point around which to set in the engine mount. and the engine is inverted ?.

 

Fitting an SC 52 four stroke. It was on special offer in early december so i got it early. perhaps very early.

 

Also i noticed that on the plan it says to chamfer to shape the top of F1. is this for the seating of the sheeting?

 

 

Jim

 

[Terry Whiting]

Hello Jim,

 

Yes the chamfer on F1 & F2 give greater gluing areas, I extended the balsa sheet a little

beyond F2, then trimmed back when trial fitting the canopy. I have made my canopy removeable.

 

As I stated previously I didn't buy the wood pack so I can not say if the hole is centre.

 

The plane shows a hole which is 3.5mm to the right of the centre line, your engine mount should be  fitted central to that hole which will then bring the end of the crankshaft

central when the cowl is fitted.

The reason for off setting the mount is because the required side thrust was built in.

 

I have just to fit the fin,  then complete the rear end of the fuselage

Edited By Terry Whiting on 09/01/2010 10:53:01

[rookie jim]

hi terry,

thanks for the advice which as always is very helpful. i like the idea of extending the balsa beyond F2. i may try and make the canopy removeable but not sure. thats the sort of thing i have trouble with especially with the vac formed ones. on my previous model i struggled to get a good fit for the canopy. Part of the problem was getting some rigidity to the edges to enable a fix, and the other was getting the thing shaped properly to fix  it. 

 

On the lizzie i have had enough trouble doing the hatch; ended up taking it apart so will try  again. may make a caedboard template first.

 

Jim

[Terry Whiting]

Jim,

 

Cutting out the canopy is not really a problem, the sides are straight cuts so the only curvatures are the front and rear.  The formed glazing bars are a good guide, but cut leaving yourself a little wastage for final trimming.

 

I only stiffened the long side edges by using double sided Celotape and 6mm wide strips of 1/64" birch ply, these were stuck to the inside edges. Only 4 extremely small

self tap screws were required, 2 each side.

 

I have not bothered with the hatch as my servos will be fitted through the canopy opening  which makes for easy access.

 

Terry

[Allan Bennett]

I originally planned to cut the canopy just in front of the wing leading edge, and fix the rear part and have the front part removable for access to the receiver.  But in the end I decided it was easier to make the whole thing removable.  I've used M2 10mm round-headed hex-drive bolts.  Four each side are drilled and self-tapped into the formers F3, F4, F5, and F7 (M2 holes through the canopy, and M1.5 holes into the wood), and I've glued small platic strips inside the fuselage sides at the locations for the other two (front and rear lower corners) to bite into.

 

My servos are basically as per the plan, accessed through a hatch in the underside.

 

 

[Supermario]

Hi

Some time ago, due to is dificulty to post pictures, Terry send me some pictures of is Lizzie. I mail him back to thank the kindness and asking is permission to post those pictures in this thread. Terry mail box was full and he never received my mail.

Is a great injustice for all not see those pictures. Terry forgive me but .....you make the coments.

[Supermario]

Him Jim

As my Lizzie is done with the complete pack of vacuum formed, Cnc cut and all the rest from hobbystore, I post an image that shows the hole and the guidness lines of the firewall.

The red dashed line is the center axle of the fuselage

The hole is pointed by the green arrow

The blue dashed line is the center of the mounting and that, like Terry have said, gives you the side trust.

I hope I can help

Mário

[Supermario]

I know you guys soffer a lot with the cold in UK,

Here in Portugal is not so cold but, for precaucion, and Lizzie not get the foots freezed I put her shoes

Terry you may notice that I follow yours ideas and put in the canopy aluminium like you did.

Looks quite well

And a detail of the recente done tail wheel

 

Regards

Mário

Jim

The hole on the firewall is in the blue dashed line. Double click the picture to see it not distorced.

Edited By Supermario on 09/01/2010 23:29:52

[rookie jim]

hi mario

thanks for for the photo with the guide lines. very helpful.

 

your lizzie is very impressive too. what are you using to fix the engine mount. are you using blind nuts.(think thats what they are called. thery have spikes on which fix into the wood firewal)l . all the ARTF models i have seem to usethese.

 

jim

[Supermario]

Hi Jim

Yes, I use M4 blind nuts

The ply wood of the firewall is strong enough for them.

Is the simple and strong way to fix the engine mount.

The holes ( location of blind nuts ) depend on the engine mount you gonna use., you have to mesure and mark first and then drill.

Mário

Edited By Supermario on 10/01/2010 00:19:07

[Terry Whiting]

HI Mario,

 

What a wonderful surprise to see my Lyizzy pictures on site, thank you very much indeed.

 

I have followed many build blogs on the site, but Jim's blog has a club feel about it.

This really is what this hobby is about, it can pull  a group of total strangers together and create a true feeling of   esprit de corps.

 

 Terry

[rookie jim]

All,

When i started this my first ever  blog i wasnt sure what would become of it but i am thrilled you all like it. Terry is right it does have a feel of a club and as i contribute probably less than most except when i get stuck that feeling is all down to you.

 

Finally got the hatch made. not too bad not perfect, i think i will try and fix it with a couple of small dowells and a spring catch.

 

I have made the holes for the engine mount and will attach that later today after i watch the football. Ipswich are on Sky( i have a season ticket ) so its too good an opportunity to miss especially as the pub is just down the road.

 

good building

 

Jim

Edited By rookie jim on 10/01/2010 12:15:02

[rookie jim]

Hi all.

I thought i was doing so well, hatch completed and covering F1 to F4 but i may have hit a problem.

 

I have some digital calipers which i think measures pretty accurately. I measured them against a metal rule and they seemed correct. I have used these to pick the  balsa sheets and they have measured the sheets as 3.2mm or 2.8 mm, both oversized for the figures quoted in the plan. I have used the 2.8mm for the sheeting and hatch by mistake rather than go for the 3.2mm ones. Do you think i should  leave it or take it off and start again. This probably explains why the longerons are slightly proud of the sheeting. I suppose i could sand the longerons down and graduate them to a closer fit to the sheeting.

 

If you remember my longerons seemed to be slightly larger and i planed them down to fit as suggested by Terry. whether its me or the wood in the woodpack isnt very accurate i dont know.

 

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

 

Jim

[Terry Whiting]

Jim,

 

I wouldn't plane or sand the stringers to the level of your present hatch, as it will show when covered. 

 

Just make  thin packer strips from scrap sheet, when satisfied the hatch fits flush either glue the packers to the formers or the hatch. 

 

I quite often set my razor plane at it most coarse cut and use the shaving for packing

purposes, very handy when you find a rib which is a fraction low when checking with a staight edge,

A few strips of shaving would most probably do the trick with your hatch. . 

 

Terry

[Alan Dorrell]

Hi Jim,

 

What of course you have is balsa in imperial measurements. 1/8" = 3.2 mm and 3/32" = 2.8 mm. With balsa and such small figures it should not be much of a problem.

 

I could tell a legion of tales about metric conversion but it would digress from the thread.

 

Cheers. Alan.

[rookie jim]

Terry,

Thanks for the advice. all sorted.

 

Alan

I  am just about ok with metric if everything is metric but when its imperial and metric thats a step too far. if the wood is imperial that probably explains why the longerons were oversized and i had to plane them down.

 

seeing as i got the wood as part of the set from hobby store i feel like making a complaint

 

by the way where is your toot blog and how are you getting on with your lizzie

 

 

jim

[Alan Dorrell]

Hi Jim,

 

First I must correct an error. Yes, 3.2 mm = 1/8", but I realised after that 2.8 mm is a very odd size actually equalling 7/64".  Strictly, 2.4 mm = 3/32". Got that off my chest.

 

My Toot blog comes under Building Blogs (I think). Any way, you'll find it.

 

I'm not attempting to start my Lizzie yet though it's very tempting. I've got this half built Puss Moth I want to finish next. It is 3ch. but I want to add ailerons so I've got to do some redesigning. Also, I always intended it to be leccy. Then, at our swap meet last month I picked up a complete train, motor, esc and lipo just the right size and certainly the right price (dead cheap). Then it willbe the Lizzy. About August I should think when I'm watching the rain and howling winds of our typical British summertime.

 

Incidentally, studying the Lizzy build is giving me the direction to go for the centre section of the Moth, a real crib. Thanks TN.

 

Cheers. Alan.

[John Laverick]

Terry,

 

posted the Alumimium to you yesterday, I sent you a large piece so you can have a couple of attempts should you bodge it up the first time,

 

John

[Terry Whiting]

John,

 

Thank you very much, will be looking out for Postman Pat.

 I hope it hasn't deprived you of your stock, as Mario is kindly sending me a laser cut U/C.

Did you remembered to included your home address?.

 

Regards  Terry

[rookie jim]

Hi,

I have now cut out the fin and need to shape it . I have an idea of the shape to make the front edge and top from the photographs you have posted. I am just wondering how far in to start tghe shaping. i assume its probably 2 cm in but i cant see anything on the plan. the magazine just mentionsshaping to profile. If you have done the fin how did you tackle this.

 

Its probably obvious but i am not seeing it.

 

Jim.

[Supermario]

Hi Jim

Due to my dificultie to express myself in english I post a drawing that

I think can be helpful.

A fin should have the shape show on " symetrical airfoil" but if we do

exactly this the moving part became to thin.

Thats why I put something that is more like we do and more easy to build and not far

from the real one.

About measures, if is 2 cm or 3 or another, use your sensibility to stay near of the real look.

Regards

Mário

[Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage]

What i did for the tail was i imagined an aerofoil like the one mario pictured, then imagined where it would meet the surface wood at the sides and drew a feint pencil line along there, i then razor planed and sanded a chamfer onto this leaving the front 9mm wide. If it is the first time you are razor planing, test it out on a scrap bit of wood, dont plane up into the grain, always do it down into and with the grain. I then just sanded it out to give it a smooth aerofoil section then voila!

[Terry Whiting]

John,

 

 Received it this afternoon,  great stuff.  

 

Terry 

[rookie jim]

Mario, Peter

 

Thanks for the advice. I have taken your suggestion peter and did a test on a piece of scrap. Doesnt seem too bad so lets hope i do it ok on the real thing . sods law says it will probably not  but here goes.

 

 Mario. your explanation was easy to understand and  really helped. In fact it was  better than my description of the problem. The diagrams were very useful. Not sure whether you are familair with sods law sometimes called murphy's law ( British term). Basically it means that if anything can go wrong, it will.

 

 

Jim