All right....big hurricane is idling during the active (?) season; little hurricane suffered battle damage and needs some work; SBach suffered all summer from engine woes. Since I had often admired Jon Eastman's really cool screaming Flying Machine, i decided to build one, for a couple reasons.
I've often joked with Cool that I need a fun plane, something not too sophisticated (expensive). I also wanted to refresh myself on using my wing jig before I tackled the big Hurricane's tail and wing, so fun means built up (less expensive too).

I have an electric motor. Not a nuclear powered screamer like Jonathan's, but a basic Tower Pro that winds about 10 thou.

I ordered the plans, had a copy made, and started with the firewall (I did cut everything out first, same technique as the big hurri)

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hmmm, better try and shrink those pics    :P

cut out the fuse sides; the fuse is built on a board - front part of bottom is ply, the rest balsa. Being careful to keep everything straight, and square, on the "center line" you can see on the bottom, firewall is glued on, former behind wing area, former half way down, then sides glued to everything else......notice use of lots of squares, and lots of clamps,  to keep stuff square and straight....seems square and straight helps the plane fly gooder!!

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My gawd Sandy, what`s the world coming to...  You bolting an e-motor to plywood.  I`m blown away.   ;D

Think You`ll finish it time for maragree   ;D 

Motor needs venting through the firewall
Check how the air flows through the motor

Where did you get the plans from ?
Regards

al wrote on Oct 7^th, 2014 at 9:18pm:

My gawd Sandy, what`s the world coming to...  You bolting an e-motor to plywood.  I`m blown away.   ;D Think You`ll finish it time for maragree   ;D

Of Course  >:(  ahhhhhhh which year???  :D

waverider wrote on Oct 7^th, 2014 at 10:49pm:

Motor needs venting through the firewall Check how the air flows through the motor Where did you get the plans from ? Regards

Brian, the motor will be on stand-offs, about inch away from the firewall, and there will be "plastic spoon" ducting under the fuse so I doubt if air flow will be a major problem [smiley=thumbup.gif]. Of course, Jonathan needs a heavy water plant nearby to keep his motor cool...just sayin'   :crappyday

Plans were ordered from Don Muddleman (Middleman? Munchkin? Mustardman?) himself...

heat hurting motor or speed controller or batteries ????

"dad, they make them every day!"

al wrote on Oct 8^th, 2014 at 11:22am:

heat hurting motor or speed controller or batteries ???? "dad, they make them every day!"

[smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]


wonder who says that???

Excuse the delay, went to Margaree for Thanksgiving...... :Thanks

With the fuse framed up, time to put on the3 top sheeting and, using your preferred method, sand/smooth it out a bit...

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Then, because we do need it in a while, started the wing.......

I made 2 rib templates from masonite (lite ply works a treat), drilled them to fit a dowel (1/4 inch in this case was fine). I slide the 2 templates together and sanded them as a pair, then seperated them, put 17 pieces of 1/16 balsa (drilled to match the spacing of the dowels) between them, sanded the stack and cut out for the spars....

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Aaaaah, the memories this brings back from the days of pre-ARF.

Looking good, Sandy!

Steve Mosher wrote on Oct 15^th, 2014 at 7:02pm:

Aaaaah, the memories this brings back from the days of pre-ARF. Looking good, Sandy!

one thing I'm finding Steve....the plans call for mostly 1/16 balsa, and my fingers don't do 1/16 very well.....forgot how I guess...and by the time I take my glasses off (these are my reading glasses mind!!!) to try and see up close I can't see what I want to pick up..... >:( So it's put on glasses find what I want, take off glasses so i can see up close to put piece where it should go, need to put glasses on to find glue - CAN'T FIND FREAKIN GLASSES  :wallbash

Think the next one  will be more 3/16 or even 1/8 .......

OK, here's the wing jig.....This is a frame that clamps some aluminum rods at a fixed, user selectible spacing... put the wing plan on the bottom, secure it with tape, staples, lead, clamps - don't care as long as it doesn't move....slide the ribs on the rods. then clamp the rods on the end frames using squares and triangles and 123 blocks to square everything centered over the plan....check the centering, check the centering, square the end ribs, check the centering, glue the end ribs - you're committed now; this is your wing layout... :P

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The wing mounting system is 4 1/4 x 20 nylon bolts; 2 of them are through square blocks glued to the spar and ribs, the other 2 through the trailing edge. The idea is, take the sheeted wing, secure it on the fuse, drill through the blocks (blind) into the mounts on the fuse.  :huhsign  The chances of me hitting the fuse blocks, AFTER finding the wing blocks under the sheeting, is NILL to NOTTA FREAKIN' CHANCE IN  :swear. So I drilled the wing blocks before I glued them in to the wing...
Shear webbing was installed, then re-check stuff is square, put the sheeting on bottom, drill the holes through the sheeting, sheet the other side and drill the holes again..... :woooweee

Keen observers will notice that the spar on top is somewhat larger than the 1/4 spar used on the bottom, being 1/4 x 1/2. I had 2 pieces of h/w stock. neither long enough for 2 spars, so I used 2 sizes.... :popcorn :Fun_bat  so what!!

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The wing mounting system is 4 1/4 x 20 nylon bolts; 2 of them are through square blocks glued to the spar and ribs, the other 2 through the trailing edge. The idea is, take the sheeted wing, secure it on the fuse, drill through the blocks (blind) into the mounts on the fuse.  Huh Sign  The chances of me hitting the fuse blocks, AFTER finding the wing blocks under the sheeting, is NILL to NOTTA FREAKIN' CHANCE IN  Swear Word. So I drilled the wing blocks before I glued them in to the wing...
Shear webbing was installed, then re-check stuff is square, put the sheeting on bottom, drill the holes through the sheeting, sheet the other side and drill the holes again..... Wooo Weee

Then I drew lines across the edges of the holes in the wing, past the width of the fuse...set the wing on the fuse, squared it, clamped it, got underneath and marked the "hole lines" on the fuse sides. From there it was "easy"  :excited to glue the wing hold down blocks in place, centered over the marks on the fuse sides.... :huhsign  Once the glue on the blocks dried so they were square in the fuse, clamp the fuse back in place and drill the blocks for tapping..

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Moment of truth......4 bolts through the bolt holes, wing bolted in place, no more 1/2 inch out of square from any reference point..... :That Was Close

BUT, I think I did screw up a bit...plans call for the wing center section to be wrapped with 4" wide, 6 oz.  fibre glass cloth and epoxy. Well, I had a length of cloth, 6" wide, finished both edges and fairly dense - don't know what it was for. I taped off the width, end tacked the strip of cloth, heated up some 30 minute epoxy and squeegeed it into the cloth..WRONG!!  :wallbash    When everything was dry, I think more of the epoxy stayed on the surface instead of being squoze through the cloth...shudda used resin in spite of the smell.
I'm not sure the cloth is attached to the balsa very well....so that's likely the fail spot on this one... :Ahoops

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Sandy, the fail spot will be that little dart sized hole the plane makes at impact! ;D ;D ;D

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But it should fly well to that point.......I think  :D

The "Canopy" is made up from 176 pieces, fitted together and glued (minor exaggeration but explains the lousy job I did)

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Looking at photo number 3, maybe you should replace your divets after a crash,and maybe a lighter aircraft.   

painter wrote on Nov 27^th, 2014 at 5:29pm:

Looking at photo number 3, maybe you should replace your divets after a crash,and maybe a lighter aircraft.

if you're referring to "crater99" noted by White Mikelaw above, that size crater gives us all something to try and achieve!!!!! I have seen a few come close  ;D

Craters are no fun.  You have to shred them and I mean literally shred them though the thorn trees to be really spectacular.  Turn a screaming tomcat into a balsa cloud so to speak.  In a split second!

Not mentioning any names, but I can still see it.  Spectacular.  ;D. Oh, to have had a camera in my hands that day.  ;D

Yes, the thorns....I also remember the Kougar going through the huge Elm tree at mach 3.2 and just the fuse coming out - to javelin itself into Alfred's field about 100 yards (that's almost 100 meters to you guys) further along.... ;D Ahhh, the good ole days... :'(

LOL, no cougar/elm tree incident I can recall, but I did see a King cobra use a set of power lines as a giant cheese grater :D

Glen wrote on Nov 28^th, 2014 at 4:04pm:

LOL, no cougar/elm tree incident I can recall, but I did see a King cobra use a set of power lines as a giant cheese grater :D

oh the Sig Kougar incident was long before you Glen..was at Neiforth field out of Milford (the field of the naked lady  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]on the runway). There was, in early days, a huge Elm tree off the North East end of runway #2 (coming in over the pond), roughly 197 homungies  :huhsignaway (that's pretty far). We used that tree as a turn beacon for that runway.....mostly/often/when we had to/until it fell down....

Once or twice we used it as a colander...

The thorns referred to by Al, were Hawthorns, and they lined the road parallel to runway #1. Various aircraft were shredded thereby, including the Tomcat. My favorite was when Donnie Blackburn put his Cherokee into the top of the bushes...."No problem" he says, and walks into the bushes and disappears....much branch shaking and rattling later, a hand comes up and picks up the Cherokee, and everything emerges from the Hawthorns, Donnie proudly holding the plane in the air. Only problem was Donnie was a bleeder (hemopheliac) and was oozing from his elbow to his knees......we screamed, he laughed....

Those were the days :)

MkIX wrote on Nov 28^th, 2014 at 7:36pm:

Those were the days :)

Of course, I also remember, at Nieforth Field, a student diligently tooling around with his Falcon 56, when suddenly the wing broke right at the joint...held on with a redundancy of elastic bands (of the #64 variety) one half of the wing folded up while the other half remained relatively level. The student, realizing something was probably wrong, did kill his throttle. The Falcon fluttered down, much like a Maple wing of spring fame, and landed on it's wheels, on the road up the hill by the tractor, with the engine still idling along.....

However..... :hijacked   ::) another time and another place....

Well, Jonathan takes his wing off to replace the battery; and let the reactor cool down a bit I believe, but I WANTED a hatch up front.....

Yes, Yes, Yes, I know Dubro  sells a hatch latch for about $4.00, so do other companies. BUT, I was in the shop, it was Sunday, AND we used to make the darn things ourselves about 157 years ago, before the advent of ARF's,  didn't we Al???

So, some wire, 2 washers, 2 small nuts (absolutely no comment required Glen) some yellow pushrod guide, and a spring from a very old ball point pen...

Bit measuring, bit of bending, bit of soldering (everlasting thanks to goddess Who Solders), some Hysol, and Voi La (French I think, stands for "Whudda thoughtit)

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Nice Pictures and Explanation Fingers.

Bruce

that's why you were so chipper at the indoor wednesday sandy.  You finally got one to work.   ;D

It does work right?  ;D

al wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 5:24pm:

that's why you were so chipper at the indoor wednesday sandy.  You finally got one to work.   ;D It does work right?  ;D

shur do Unca Bob  :first    about 4 rare earth magnets would likely add some security, but then I'd have to pry the darn thing off.....

That looks right some pretty Sandy.
I woulda went with the dubro latch myself, but then again I'm not retarded, I mean retired. ;D

Glen wrote on Dec 4^th, 2014 at 7:19pm:

That looks right some pretty Sandy. I woulda went with the dubro latch myself, but then again I'm not retarded, I mean retired. ;D

. :boxing

:o

I was tired once, had a nap and got over it....

I'm tired again, so that's

RETIRED   :egyptian :Rock

OK, motor mount time..I wanted the mass of the motor to be about where the engine mass would be with a glow engine  :huhsign...dicked around with standoffs of different depth. Since what I had was 1 1/4" 4x40 bolts, that was my limiter. Had some aluminum - too long. finally found some Teflon stock that's about 3/4" thick on the finished sides, so each one would be the same length as the others....cut off 4 pieces, drilled them on the finished sides, yes I shouldn't have sold my lathe but I did so shupp!! then turned the pieces on the drill press with a chisel... motor mounted, with lots of air flow around it for Brian... :Raa Raa

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very ingenious!  nice job!

al wrote on Dec 16^th, 2014 at 10:30pm:

very ingenious!  nice job!

Well, I figured if I tried to cut dowels, like Jon did, I'd get 4 different lengths. This way I'm using the molded size of the Teflon....worked.

Yep, different lengths, so you let on you planned it that way, use the shorter ones on the right side, instant right thrust. Lol

except I'd do it upside down and get left/up thrust....see, gotta stay ahead of the thought process  :swear

OK, got some landing gear from LHS. John could have got in the one specified n the plans, but it was a metal  (!) gear. Knowing my proclivity for less than greasy landings, I opted for the Dubro gear john had in stock - nice strong nylon..just about the same size too.

Using the stock holes, I drilled for mounting, then decided I didn't like the hole location - too close to the edges of the ply plate. Using a brad tip bit, I drilled 4 new holes, removed the old lock nuts and reinstalled the gear. And I epoxied some 1/4" skewers into the old holes..Brutey thing, but we are talking about my landings here.... :moon

In the course of all this, I had reason to examine the whole subject of CA debonder. NOT because I stuck a forefinger in a nostril, NOT because I had a hand glued to the inside of a pocket (both have happened, but not necessarily to me!!)  :Naaah I did however discover that "some how" some CA seemingly got on a bolt/nut combination, and the two did not want to separate. It was evening, LHS was closed, I had stopped using nail polish, and its remover some years ago, so! Then, in a fit of inspiration i went to the paint/junk shelf, found an old tube of MEK (resin kicker) and applied 1 drop to the bolt. Next morning, CA was debonded and bolt removed... Voila, as the Belgians say!!  :Raa Raa

When using MEK for anything, be very careful. If it gets in your eye it WILL cause immediate and non reversible damage - usually complete loss of sight.. :swear

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Don't they put those bow legged landing gears on those hi falutin patterny planes?

Yeh they do, also on skale airobatik things.....I think because so many of those type flyers can't land worth a poop.....
Lots of spring to the bow things, almost as much as a Coyote Recurve Hunting Bow... :swear

whitey wrote on Nov 26^th, 2014 at 4:32pm:

Sandy, the fail spot will be that little dart sized hole the plane makes at impact! ;D ;D ;D

Fingers wrote on Nov 27^th, 2014 at 8:25pm:

painter wrote on Nov 27th, 2014 at 5:29pm: Looking at photo number 3, maybe you should replace your divets after a crash,and maybe a lighter aircraft.    this is the last time i use spectrum gear :( if you're referring to "crater99" noted by White Mikelaw above, that size crater gives us all something to try and achieve!!!!! I have seen a few come close  ;D

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what are the emergency conditions Brian - doesn't look like avelanche weather  :-/

Well, these seem like decent colours for the machine. Black and chrome trim as well. Might be bright enough to see it...

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Oh dear!!!

It's been neigh on 40 years since I've tried to cover anything with plastic - now I remember why! Very thin balsa construction, crippled fingers, 2 brands of plastic each requiring a different temperature, old iron that can't find either temperature  :shots

The fuse is certainly going to be interesting.. :-/

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The fuse in your brain or, the aircraft fuse ??????

blew the fuse in my brain quite a while ago........ >:(

How long have you been building this  :o

year and a bit Jack. Hate the construction - wing is mostly 1/16 balsa. Fingers doesn't do 1/16 balsa. Sides are 3/32 balsa.  3/32!! Why not just add a tad and make it 1/8!!! >:(

when i do the next one everything will be 1/8 so there's room to sand a bit....and when I say sand a bit I really mean sand a freaking lot

And Monokote..didn't like monokote when it first came out, still don't.  Can never get the temperature right...

Trying to keep the colours somewhat muted. My usual colour schemes attract attention and comments for some reason....

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Well, was gonna start putting in servos, which requires power to a receiver, so decided I'd put the ESC in the fuse then run everything through it blah blah blah.

Can't find my perfectly good 60amp esc!!!!!!!!!!!. Crap it's bitchin to get old and forgetful.

Keep going Sandy... All the more reason to keep persevering.  :-?

Fingers wrote on Apr 20^th, 2016 at 7:07pm:

Trying to keep the colours somewhat muted. My usual colour schemes attract attention and comments for some reason....

hmmmm needs more pink.

Ben Lann wrote on May 30^th, 2016 at 12:06pm:

Fingers wrote on Apr 20th, 2016 at 7:07pm: Trying to keep the colours somewhat muted. My usual colour schemes attract attention and comments for some reason.... hmmmm needs more pink.

Yes! Yes it does Ben. And since the cowl, rudder and elevators are pink, more is on it's way  :D

Well, the thing does fly..............took it out a while back, and it flew nicely, but after about 2 minutes the motor began to sound like a tractor, of the Massey Ferguson type. I landed, took the cowl off, and the motor was too hot to touch. Battery also..
After things had cooled, tried a new pack once - prop just rocked a bit so I shut everything down.   Got home, motor is toast (nice NIB Rimfire .32 - bought a while back so no warranty). Was able to scrounge another .32 ( older and used) so flew yesterday, under the watchful eyes of Don and Colin. Plane flies nicely, but with the older used motor putting out about 1/2 the watts of the new rimfire performance was casual at best. But it flies.
New motor on order....anxiously awaiting...

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Well, acquired some 4s packs so going to resurrect this thing for the spring. 14x10E thin APC prop is giving 880 watts and 60 amps. Don't know if I put on smaller prop or not, but do have to get a larger ESC. 60A I  have is too close.