Hi all,

I have started building the Tony Nijhuis Lightning from the recent free plans.

She will be built out of "6mm B&Q Depron" and a little carbon fibre rod.

As I start any build I'm unsure how it will finish, but I have a good feeling about this one as it is so simple.

Obviously I have to make a few changes to the plans to accomadate the depron but overall it should be the same plane.

I will paint it with emulsion of  halfords aerosol paint. 

 Andrew 

p.s.

Why the 6mm depron? That's all thats in the shed. 

Sounds like a plan - however, their is one serious problem with your build.

I see from the outset, during the " tidy the bench and get ready stage" photograph, you have a hot liquid receptacle, awaiting a refill from the missus BUT NO STICKY BUN!

How is a man supposed to work without a sticky bun !! The cucumber offered as a healthy option in the last piccy will just not substitute.

Good luck and keep postng the progress, this is a model I intend to do as soon as other projects are completed...which at my build rate will be winter probably ( 2009 )

Thanks all for the encouragment.

Tidy yes, but I have been warned many times about the epoxy on the work tops.....

 Be warned, this is a slow build.

Andrew 

I have made a little progress on the lightning.

The bulk of the fuesalage is finished.  She  comes in so far at a  whopping 3 oz .  I  stiffened the wing with 4mm carbon tube,

running it along  the leading edge of the wing to prevent damage.

The next stage is to put the spine and stabiliser on. then she's ready for sealing and spackling.   

It'll be interesting to compare the weight of your completed airframe with my crunchy one.

I spent a whopping 5 hours last Saturday on this and am awaiting some pushrods and the canopy to finish her off.

I'll weigh my otherwise completed (but servo/motorless) airframe tonight just to show you how much you're saving. My models are generally IC powered and a lot bigger so SWMBO and I have had a lot of fun throwing this back and forth in the livingroom - surprisingly it glides perfectly as it is just now!

Better tail on there Jamie too  

I always preferred the straight tail to the curved one on the Lightning.

Jamie it looks cool. I'd love to know the weight before any hard ware install to.

It looks a nice clean job. I think the balsa gives such a better quality finish. Superb.

Mine is a lovely glider to, my two young daughters ran after it after a test glide (glides are hard to resist ), I watched in horror as their feet danced around it .

What motor are you using? I have just had this one delivered. HXT 2445 (370L) 2900kv Brushless Inrunner.

https://www.unitedhobbies.com/UNITEDHOBBIES/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=4197

At 300 watts on a 4.7x4.7 on a 2200 3cell there's plenty enough power, to much really. but that's what the throttle is for.

Andrew

Heh heh

 The airframe took around 5 hours on Saturday. I started at around 9:30am and ran out of CA at lunchtime. Gill drove me to the model shop for more CA and we had some lunch in a pub. The build resumed around 2:30pm and the above photo was taken shortly after 5pm.

 I'm not a fast builder (I have many projects which have sat around for years) but this was really quick to put together. I used a table-top belt sander to finish the ply formers and all the fuselage shaping was done with a razor plane and some alu-oxide paper on a sanding block... really aggressive stuff that, beats balsa into submission in no time

I keep forgetting to weigh the thing - I'll do that tonight - I promise!!!

Anybody with some progress ?