Tom Foreman Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Hi Dusty, yeah its the Jepe stuff, your right about the sandpaper, still too flexible at the moment, but at least it is dry. Noticed a few wrinkles this morning, so its not perfect but not bad for a first try, what method do you use? I've seen people attach clips to the cloth to pull it down smooth at the edges, all I did was brush it on. Just glued the fins on now and have added some scrap foam at the rear to fair in the fins. Then more sanding and spackling before I glass the top. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Hi Tom, I use tiny blobs of CA to tack the cloth to the surface, then you stretch it back whilst you apply the epoxy, this way the cloth is'nt going all over the place with the brush! Its a nightmare of a job! Once its all dry, sand it then spray it with some primer, once that is dry fill the honey combs and then you know what comes next! Some more sanding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Tom, Maybe this will be of some use here Have a quick browse you might pick up some tips to make life easier? Dusty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Halton Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Cool! Saw Kevin Saunders Mirage from FlyFly/JEPE. at BickleyExtremely good performer,I have a video on YouTube. Tom, this should go great,your build is looking good! Matt Edited By Matt Halton on 02/01/2010 12:53:47 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Thanks for the link Dusty, I think I've been doing it the hard way, I wrapped the glass cloth around the edges while it was still wet. From the article I assume you just wet the excess cloth and wait for it to cure before trimming and then sand back the edges, is this correct? Cheers Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Hi Matt, think I saw your video on You Tube (might even linked to it somewhere around here) very nice Mirage. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Tom ya give it a go and see how it comes out, I guess you need to try all the tricks until you hit the one that you are best at! If some of the excess is wet it be easier to cut and sand, as well as you wont be pulling on the tips allowing the cloth to tangle and string itself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Well still finishing the fins before glassing the top, here is how its looking at the moment. Fins glued on with scrap foam added to the rear roots to help fair them in to the body. Foam sanded back and spackled, ready for final sanding. Fin glue joint hidden with spackle, ready for sanding back to the foam. Well, will have to leave it to go off, might get to finish the glassing later tonight. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Looking good Tom! Not much left to do now, sand her down and paint, ready for air combat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted January 2, 2010 Author Share Posted January 2, 2010 Sorry Dusty got distracted and melted down some lead to make ballast for an M60 slope soarer instead, want to go flying tomorrow, the Raptor will have to wait another day, I see you and the guys have been busy designing under carriage mountings in the other thread, good luck with that Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Well thought I better try and finish this thing so here goes Cut out ailerons. Chamfer aileron Face aileron with lite ply, should have used 1/64 but all I had was 1/32 oh well. Face off false trailing edge. Mask up leaving just a 2 - 3mm gap for the silicone hinge. Mask aileron into neutral position leaving a 2 - 3mm gap for a thin bead of silicone, using a caulking gun, bathroom silicone sealant and a very thin nozzle (used one off a cyano bottle) lay down a thin bead of silicone, finish off with a pointy stick (cut down matchstick). Takes a couple of goes to get it right, but you end up with a perfect hinge that any mouldie glider would be proud of You can add wiper seals as well, but I'm not bothering Linkages next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Nice to see its back on the bench Tom Interesting hinge method! i would pay attention to these as with the mirage I have had a elevon come loose after some hard beat ups! Will be intersted to to see the roll rate with this too and if any differential will be needed for smooth rolls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Hi Dusty, been playing with Gliders, MTBing and getting married, but enough of the excuses, I forgot to add the rest of the glassing photos from earlier this year (January ) so here they are Glassing and rubbing down, enough to put anyone off building model aeroplanes, hope Jepe's new Poly-C method is a lot easier Roll rate should be good, Jepe's F22 that I saw flying rolled OK, the stock jet relys on the tailerons for roll rate so the ailerons are going to be much better, wonder if I should still have the tailerons as well? Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 More aeromodelling fun, linkages were a nightmare, top tip wrap the servo plugs in tape before you glass, hardened epoxy is a pain to remove Linkages done Close up of taileron linkage, gave up trying to drill a hole in the bolt and went to the model shop looking for somthing else, managed to use these strip aileron horns instead, much easier. Aileron linkage close up, couldn't find any small screws for the horns so ended up filing down the heads of servo screws down instead, not fun Needs a hook and a paint job, can't decide whether to do Jepe's mod on raising the ailerons and wing tips to give it some extra up trim (I guess its nearly a delta) would be nice to just get the CoG rearward instead, at the moment with the battery fully back the CoG is rearward of Jepe's recommendation so I might be able to get away with it, what do you think? Guess I will have to e-mail Jepe again Jepe says it needs a ton of up trim to fly! Tom PS - off to relax now, planning on doing a Summer Solstice MTB ride across High Street in the Lakes tonight, Dusk to Dawn MTB riding! Better go and charge the lights! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 Wing tips cut on bottom of wing and re-glued using polyurethane glue to add 3mm uptrim to match ailerons Gouging out fuse to accept piano wire hook and plywood plate Hook and plate epoxied into fuse. Have done a quick CoG test and this bird has ended up a bit tail heavy, will have to mount the battery up front to get it to balance, its annoying because I could have gone for a bigger battery, 5 Ah rather than the 4 Ah I went for, at the time I was worried about it being nose heavy (after the Sniper) and the 30C 6s1p 4 Ah battery was roughly the same weight of the 25C 6s1p 4.5 Ah one Jepe used. Of course I'm not running a separate RX battery up front like Jepe did and I forgot about that, live and learn, the ESC has a switch mode BEC so I should be OK, fingers crossed. Planning on just priming the model tomorrow and then try a test flight this weekend, before commiting to a proper paint job, just in case it doesn't fly Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Well it flies! Looked a bit cumbersome on the bungee, but it took off like a love sick Angel, far too much up-trim, needed 50% down trim to tame, very fast and elegent, roll rate was a bit slow, but soon corrected by adding more throw, rolls very fast and axial, flies inverted OK, loops are very large and can wander a little, first landing was perfect. Bleed all the speed off by going a long way out, then cut throttle to almost nothing and get the nose up to slow her down. Subsequent landings were a bit too fast, the large size of this jet makes it difficult to judge its speed. Knocked up 5 flights in all, of 5 mins duration + landing circuit. The Turnigy batteries provide plenty of power, but seem lacking in capacity as I am only putting 2.5 Ah back into a 4 Ah battery, maybe they will get better with use, or maybe I should buy more expensive brand Paint job next, in time for Middle Wallop next weekend. Thanks for watching! Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 Nice one Tom, Nice neat job! What was the AUW? What colours are you going to paint it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 2.222Kg, White with red and blue trim on top, blue on bottom, kind of an F16 Thunderbirds inspired scheme, will add more weight I guess How is the Mirage flying these days or are you busy packing for your move abroad? Cheers Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Forgot to add she has unlimited vertical and the Jepe fan is whisper quiet, she flies quite happily on half throttle, but then she should with 290 W/lb on tap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Video Cheers Tom Edited By Tom Foreman on 27/06/2010 00:12:13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted July 2, 2010 Author Share Posted July 2, 2010 Well it won't win any awards for painting but its been a great learning experience for the next one Finished - ish! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Hi Tom, Great job, she looks pretty! I will have a look at the vid now. I think you have converted me to getting one of these! Yes the Mirage is flying on rails still, getting some war wounds but still looks the bizz. Just got the lipos for the Hawk so will get her airborne asap! Will probably take a trip to the Jepe factory again later this month I hope... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted July 2, 2010 Author Share Posted July 2, 2010 Jepe should be launching his F22 production kit very soon, will be a lot less sanding for you if you decide to get one That grey canopy was bugging me so have just been spraying it blue, getting very last minute this model as I am off to Middle Wallop with it tomorrow, unfortunately Jepe won't be able to make it this year, hasn't finished his new 8S1p Mirage yet. Tom PS - Good luck with the Hawk, are you going to give it a nose job, the stock one looks a bit ugly to me. I still have a little 70mm fan West Wings hawk to finish as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted July 6, 2010 Author Share Posted July 6, 2010 Fly by at Middle Wallop, this is where the model was purchased from a year ago, its quite poetic that it came back transformed from a pile of foam to a great flying jet. Jepe informs me that he has revamped the kit to make it a lot easier to build so if you want one, tell him I sent you Cheers Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Foreman Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 Another video of her in her new livery Video2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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