I've had this rare and no longer made kit for a while now, and seeing Jon Eastman's Tucano, that Rob gave him, we decided that we got to get these in the air this year. Preferably electric, and enough power to have decent aerobics as well as for those full bore speed passes. When will they make their appearance? Keep your eyes peeled!!!! :)

Fuse formers getting hysoled in place up in the nose. Stabs and rudder are sheeted and need to be shaped. I'll probably go with separate servos for each elevator and a pull pull set-up on the rudder.

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Awesome, Dan! I do love a good looking Tucano. ;)

mmm...electric..

Yep. Jon figures 4.5 - 5kw of power on 12 cells, so I'm in!!!!

More work today. Got to catch up to Jon. Stabs were a little short, so I added some balsa to the tips. Pattern for the cut outs were made and off to the bandsaw to release the elevators. Once they were clear, the cuts were sanded and I added the 1/4" facing strips. I'm using Gorilla brand wood glue and does it work well and fast.

Dan

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looking right some good there Danny......2 in the air, formation flying, ooh ooh ooh..

Looks like we will have a squadron this summer:-)

Thanks gentlemen.
The elevators are capped and sanded to shape. The trailing edge balsa has been added to the stabs and they are now joined by a common plank. I used gorilla glue on the center glue join. Once cured, I'll glass the center section for strength.

I hope to have the whole assembly glassed and glued into the fuse by the weekend. Soup not included.  ;D

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gotta luv those chunky clamps... >:(

Chunky clamps, they are awesome! When you are done with them, you can eat them.. ;D

Here is the stab almost done. I still need to insert the dowels for the elevator for the linkage support.

Dan

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Ohhhh! Looking nice Dan.

Bruce

The lower front cowl has some nice detail in it, and on the full size the have these NACA inlet ducts. The kit has the outlines in the glass work, but are not functional. They will be on mine.

Using new blades in my artist knife,I scored the outline and continued doing this until the cuts were through the glass. Edges are sanded clean and I put two strips of 1/64 ply in the cuts and glued the outer skin joint. Once this was cured, I pushed section inside to create the NACA duct and glued this to the ply strip. Once cured, the outside ply was sanded flush to the glass. Now to repeat this for the one on the other side.

Dan

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Dan,
Are you going to finish in the RAF Training Command colours?

Jack, yep, going to try to have it as close to the one in my first post. I've always like the toucan painted on the fin and rudder.

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Ok, I finished up the second NACA duct and trimmed the cowl. Some final tweaks, but she is close to primer. I'm going to do a front gear door on this since the strut cutout isn't done yet.

Stopped into Jon's today and sorted some stuff out regarding balance and cooling for the esc. Looks like he has his own work to do on his NACA inlets.

Dan

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I finished sanding the hinge line and cut the slots for the hinges. No problem getting decent throws out of the elevators. Mixed up some West Systems epoxy and did the first side of the glassing. It's been a while since the last time I did this, so I hope it turns out. I should be an expert by the time I get to the wings ;D

I should be able to clean up the edges and do the other side tomorrow.

Dan.

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Looking good man!  Nice choice in colours, it'll look great in the pits and easy to see in the air.

Thanks Al, but painting it is going to be fun.

This morning I cleaned up the extra cloth and sanded the edges and was able to glass the other sides. I'm off to BC for a couple weeks, so these will have cured nicely. All I'll have to do then is to glass the TE and the hinge line of the parts to have full glass coverage. Then everything gets a sanding before I put on a thinned second coat.

I did a final adjustment and sanded the rudder to shape. It will be glassed after I return home. Then it's time to get the wing done.

Dan

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so THIS one is pink and purple.. ;)

Black and yellow. :P

Danster wrote on Feb 17^th, 2013 at 6:55pm:

Black and yellow. :P

ahhh, my Ultimate colors..copy cat  >:(

Ok, finished with the stab. All parts have been cleaned up and are ready for a final sand prior to the application of primer.

Now time for the wings. I don't know what the hell they were thinking for the wheel cutouts! They are made for a 4" tire!!! I cut some foam and decided to fill the holes and cut new ones later, to match my struts and final wheel choice, suitable for 2 3/4" or 3". Gorilla glue to the rescue! ;D

A pain to be sure, but will be worth it later.

Dan

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looks like they set it up for my kinda landings...

You mean"tundra tires“ Sandy?  ;D

Ok, got the holes plugged and capped the inside of the servo pockets. Cores are sanded and ready for skinning. I have a couple patches of carbon fibre cloth that will be sandwiched between the foam and balsa sheeting to strengthen the new wheel openings and gear plates.

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Looking good :)

Thanks Al.

Wing sheeting was sanded and cleaned. Each side was given a scrape coat of west systems epoxy and laid up in the wing saddles. Only used 3 oz of epoxy for all four sides. Everything lined up pretty good so I locked it all down with probably 300lbs of weight. Now they have to sit for 24 hours to cure. Then on to leading and trailing edge sections.

Dan

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The wings turned out pretty good. I cleaned up the edges and gave the skins a slight sanding. A little filler will take care of some low spots. Glued up the the leading and trailing edge pieces with... you got it, Gorilla white glue! 3M tape is what I prefer to use because after wiping down the skins, it grips real good.
Next up is the sanding and shaping so I can glue on the wing tip blocks.

Dan.

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Off with the tape. Leading and trailing edges sanded to shape. I sanded the sheeting as well so I can fill in the low spots. Filler is just Elmers wood filler. Sands pretty easy. Like the stabs, the wings are too short because the stupid cores were not cut properly.  >:(. I had to add a 1/2" balsa piece just to make up the length, so when I finally glue the wing tip on, it will be correct.

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My kit of parts did not include the plastic exhaust stacks or the cockpit floor, which is an integral part of the strength for the fuselage. So while the work on the wings was being done, I made up a ply cockpit floor and lightened the crap out of it. Scuffed up the fuse and hysoled it in place.

I got the patterns for the exhaust stacks from getting the profiles copied from Jon's set. I glued up some balsa blocks and carved up a set of stacks. I think they turned out pretty good. They are getting a few coats of clear to harden the balsa. I'll hollow out them to a small degree to give them depth.

I also did not get any plastic parts to make the instrument panel sections. So, again, using patterns from Jon's set, I fabricated mine from balsa and 1/64 ply and they weigh next to nothing. Primed and a coat of flat black and all they need is a photo of the instruments.

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Mmmmm I like the goodies behind the parts! :P
The parts look very nice also.

Its nice to see a thread showing a foam wing again.  Nice job.

What sort of retracts are you gong to use?

Yak Man wrote on Mar 12^th, 2013 at 5:31am:

Mmmmm I like the goodies behind the parts! :P The parts look very nice also.

raisin tea biscuits and hot cross buns.....super

MkIX wrote on Mar 12^th, 2013 at 7:43am:

Its nice to see a thread showing a foam wing again.  Nice job. What sort of retracts are you gong to use?

The retracts are going to be from Robart. 550RS series, air up air down. The nose is a 105deg 558RS series . All can accommodate 3/8" or 7/16" robostruts. The front one will be their forked strut.

Goodies almost gone Al!

Work has slowed me down along with this head cold. I did cut the fuselage canopy section off and cleaned up the edges. My instrument panel sections fit pretty good and that means I have to fabricate the seats to go with them some time as well. I sanded the primer on the fuse and applied some Bondo filler in a couple places.

My retracts are on their way so that means I will be able to at least get the nose section and door sorted out. Work on the wing is also a little slow and I'll need to buckle down and get it done in order to get to the painting stage.

Dan

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A short update. Got my retract parts from Robart so now I can finalize the nose retract mount and can organize the main ones in the wings.

Speaking of wings, I managed to get the leading edge glued on and sanded, sanded the wing root for the proper dihedral, marked and cut out the aileronsand flaps sections. The original design called to cap these with 1/4" balsa but since I planned to use pin hinges, I made the cuts for 3/8" balsa caps. Even this is not deep enough for a solid pin hinge, so I inserted 1/2" blocks into the foam before I cap them. Some pics show when I did the wing side. Same procedure on the aileron/flap sections.

Dan

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By the way, Gorilla glue works great in this application and foams up and fills any gaps around the balsa blocks in the foam. Once cured and sanded, the 3/8" caps will lock everything together.

Dan

Wing caps getting glued on, this time with Gorilla Glue wood glue.

Also a prelude to the Margaree dinner menu..... slow cooker beef stew!!!  ;)

Dan.

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Nice job Dan, did you say you would have it ready for Margaree? ::)

Jon took his Tucano up for the maiden flight yesterday.  Fantastic airplane!  no graphics on it yet but a super paint job by Todd!

video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ef3XKz5rc&feature=youtu.be

and while you're at it take a look at his hangar 9 me-109.  Spitfires at the warbird meet need to be looking over their shoulders!  LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttm2CUP0qOM&feature=youtu.be

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