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Airspeed Courier - Tim Hooper's 1930's Classic Mini Airliner


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Cheers Terry
Yeah will do probably a wee bit away yet, But I am a Carpenter by trade so very interested in my own creations. Mainly windows, doors and some furniture. But i have learnt a good few skills in my time
 
Yeah some of the artf stuff looks real good, I am making a wot 4 e at the moment its going together pretty well. But I am thinking something more scale next, Cub, ces maybe see what happens.
 
Well have fun bud will be watching your blog
cheers
Rusty
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Posted by martyn sharp on 17/01/2012 07:12:48:

Hi Terry yes it is the TN Lancaster i,m about 3/4 through the fus but time is my problem still its nice to be back building again
yours is still looking good
 
 
Martyn
Best of luck with the Lanc -
 
Posted by Rusty C on 16/01/2012 21:45:41:
Cheers Terry
Yeah will do probably a wee bit away yet, But I am a Carpenter by trade so very interested in my own creations. Mainly windows, doors and some furniture. But i have learnt a good few skills in my time
 
Yeah some of the artf stuff looks real good, I am making a wot 4 e at the moment its going together pretty well. But I am thinking something more scale next, Cub, ces maybe see what happens.
 
Well have fun bud will be watching your blog
cheers
Rusty
Hi Rusty - you should build a Chippie!
 
You're obviously a long way along the road with your experience. There a lot of youngsters who have no idea how to even cut wood or use any hand tools. Shame really - I think my generation know because if you wanted things you had to build them! I remember my first trolley (soap box). Had to scrounge the main plank off a building site, pram wheels off my aunt cut wood to shape, hold the axles on with bent nails and in the absence of a drill bore a hole to connect the pivoting front wheels by burning a hole with a red hot poker! I think I was about 8/9 yrs old!
 
You'll be fine!
 
Terry
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Hello Terry,
 
Looks like a very nice, skillful build and I can't believe how quickly you are progressing. Very impressive!
 
I am also building an Airspeed Courier and I too have run into the same building issues that you mention above. Nothing serious but just enough to keep me on my toes and force me to use the few remaining brain cells . Personally I rather enjoy these little challenges which add to the build experience rather than detract from it.
 
I don't want to hijack your blog so thought it polite to ask whether you mind me posting a few observations and photos in this thread? I won't be at all offended if you prefer me to start another thread of my own...................I would hate your superior build to be infected & corrupted by my lesser offerings .
 
Cheers,
John
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Hi Robin,
 
There isn't much space in the wing for the aileron servos and I doubt that standard sized ones would fit.
 
I have chosen to use TowerPro MG90s metal geared micro servos. These fit well into the available space and should be plenty powerful enough. The Courier ailerons only have a small surface area and the recommended throws are very modest so you shouldn't need massively powerful servos (but I am happy to be contradicted if others know better!).
 
Good luck with the build.
 
Cheers,
John
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Posted by John Roberts 9 on 17/01/2012 15:10:56:

Hello Terry,
I don't want to hijack your blog so thought it polite to ask whether you mind me posting a few observations and photos in this thread? I won't be at all offended if you prefer me to start another thread of my own...................I would hate your superior build to be infected & corrupted by my lesser offerings .
 
Cheers,
John
 
Hi John - welcome on board! Where did you get the idea I was doing a 'superior etc' build!
I am certainly not the world's most experienced builder and I am doing the blog to discipline myself into thinking ahead with the build and maintaining momentum. Also to share my thoughts with others and encourage them to build. You are welcome to add, comment or illustrate anything that will improve world knowledge of building a TH's Courier. Do you know which a/c you are going to represent?
 
Posted by Robin Kearney on 17/01/2012 16:36:18:
Hi all, got a quickie
 
I'm pondering building the Courier and I just had a question about the servos, specifically the ones in the wings, is the consensus that 9g servos should be sufficient for the ailerons or should I put a standard sized pair in?
 
r.
 
Hi Robin and welcome - snap! I am using MG90s all round! I have used on quite a few a/c and very pleased with them for value for money etc.
 
Terry
 
 

Edited By Terry Walters on 17/01/2012 17:37:02

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Hi all,
 
Sorry Terry I should have asked like John as well, and Tim I promise no more whingeing about the free plan and my lack of understanding. I managed to plank the nose but the cockpit coaming has not been fitted and I have just given it a rough sand until after I separate the hatch , is that correct or should I fill and finish before I separate the hatch?
 
James


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Thanks Terry
 
Your photos speak volumes about the quality of your build which looks absolutely excellent. Accept the compliment & be proud!!!
 
There is no point in me repeating what Terry has said already about a few of the CNC parts not being absolutely correct. The best advice I can give is to assume nothing, triple check everything and try to think through the implications of installing each component before using glue.
 
My wing seat for example has ended up being a tad narrower than I would like because, as Terry has already pointed out, the triangular balsa stock is just a bit bigger than on the plan (something I hadn't checked) and which subsequently forced a small compromise on me in order to avoid the wing fouling on the seat.

I also put some supports along each side of the battery tray to avoid it flexing and bashing into the centre section of the wing. Probably overkill but it makes me feel better.

I also wasn't keen on mounting the motor directly onto the plywood F1 and even thought about using an aluminium engine cage (which allows simple adjustment of side/down thrust. Eventually I abandoned the idea and just followed Tim's plan. I am sure it will be fine.
 
The only other fuelage mods were to make a decent size hole in F4 which I can see being helpful when it comes to the rudder & tailwheel and I gave H1 an little more support which I think will avoid a breakage when I get to the planking stage.

I will compose a separate posting about the wing construction next.
 
Cheers,
John
 
 
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Hi James - that all looks good to me - I would be pleased with that as a result. What glue did you use on the planking. Did you angle and taper every piece?
 
I'm not building tonight - good afternoon 's flying and sausage and mash has done for me! Just lipo charging and telly I think!
 
What have you done underneath?
 
Terry
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Yeah I know Terry I have to work with alot of useless youngsters .... Here me at 26 lol.
Will definitely get a build blog before to long
Cheers
Rusty
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Construction of the wing is quite fiddly and time consuming. This is especially so if, like me, your building board isn't long enough to accommodate the whole wing. My solution was to build up about 85% of the wing and then unpin it, shuffle it & the plan across a bit, then finish off the last 15%.
 
This process worked fine and my wing seems accurate and true. I have separated and rejoined the wing as per Tim's instructions and my next job is to build in the washout. Once again I will have to do one side and then unpin and reposition the wing & plan and repeat the washout process on the other side.

So, what else have I done differently? Well the biggest change concerns the 1/32 balsa sheet which will cover about 70% of the upper and lower wing surfaces. Rather than run the sheeting over the leading edge I have decided to butt the sheet up against the back of the leading edge. This require pretty accurate cutting of the sheet but I am hoping for a neater & more aesthetically pleasing finish.
 
These shots shows most of the sheet parts which I have cut using cardboard templates. I found that I only needed one template to make the upper and lower sheets for both left & right halves of the wing.

I decided to make small 'boxes' out of polystyrene which fit inside the wing to tidy up where the wheels will sit when retracted. I think you can see this (just) in the shot above.
 
Speaking of retracts, if you decide to use the Eflite ones then remember to open out the precut wiring slots in the wing ribs, including the plywood ones, before assembly because the female connectors are too big to pass through otherwise. Access is very tight if you try to do it after assembly....................guess how I know .
 
Although I am not yet at the covering stage I am thinking of putting thin strips of 1/32 balsa (about 5mm wide) along the rear exposed edges of all the wing ribs. This will be fiddly to do but doing should ensure that the solarfilm/oracover will be able to adhere to the complete wing structure for maximum strength & integrity. Without this cunning little dodge the 'step down' caused by the balsa sheeting on the forward sections of the wing will probably mean that the covering isn't actually stuck to some of the rearward part of each rib.
 
Finally I also decided to 'box in' the ailerons becuase they seemed a bit flimsy and easily twisted/distorted to me.

Feel free to look at my photo album which has quite a few more shots. Happy also to answer any queries/questions you might have.
 
I will post again once I have made a bit more progress.
 
Cheers,
John
 
 
 
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Hi Terry,
I cut and tapered as well as chamfered each plank, they were then fitted one either side at a time until 3 high then I fitted a centre one so I had a radius guide. As the 1/8 sheet that I cut the strips from was a tad stiff if I had to do it again I would have liked another former in front of H1 to make a smoother curve. I used ZAP medium CA for glue and a permagrit block and Davis plane. I will remove a lot of the bottom sheet when the hatch comes off. I notice on your build you have cut your hatch base flush with the outside of the fus, this may make it more awkward for you to fit the lower plank with an even curve and you will also have to notch the lower plank.
 
The underside of mine has just got 2 5/8 curved blocks crossgrain rough shaped and the centre is open as although I have fitted a leccy mount I still cannot get my head away from a dear little OS 32 exhausting into a scale collector ring
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Hi John
very nice build as well. I made a really stupid mistake building the wings on a short board because I was too lazy to tidy up the bombsite that passes for my shed. I shuffled the little washout tab off the end of the board before the glue had set and ended up with a wing with washout on one side only. I spent the whole time building the next wing moaning to myself about not tidying and the time I could have saved etc The shed is still a bombsite. I also butted up the te sheet on wing 2 but it shows on the free plan that the ribs are supposed to be cut so that portion behind the spars is flush with the leading edge sheet.
 
regards James
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Posted by Highlander on 17/01/2012 21:25:49:
Hi John
very nice build as well. I made a really stupid mistake building the wings on a short board because I was too lazy to tidy up the bombsite that passes for my shed. I shuffled the little washout tab off the end of the board before the glue had set and ended up with a wing with washout on one side only. I spent the whole time building the next wing moaning to myself about not tidying and the time I could have saved etc The shed is still a bombsite. I also butted up the te sheet on wing 2 but it shows on the free plan that the ribs are supposed to be cut so that portion behind the spars is flush with the leading edge sheet.
 
regards James
 
 
Hello James,
 
I can't even start to imagine how annoying that must have been. Full respect to you for building another wing...............I think mine would have been at the bottom of the wheelie bin had it been me .
 
Interesting that the free plan shows the rear part of the spars cut flush with the leading edge sheet. I bought the CNC pack and, unless I am completely missing something (entirely possible btw!), the supplied ribs do not take this into account.
 
I guess it would be possible to very carefully feather the back edge of the sheet but I would probably make a horlicks of such a delicate little job so, for the moment at least, my plan is to use the 5mm strips. Mind you, that plan might change any time right up to the moment I glue on the first strip and I still have a few hours work to do on the wing before I am at that point of no return.
 
Great job on the nose planking. You have given me a standard to aspire to . Do you have any more shots of the underside of the nose area please? I am still mulling over how best to do it.
 
Cheers,
John
 
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Fascinating stuff gents!

The reinforcing strips along each side of the battery tray look very good indeed!

Seems the ribs have been cut without allowing for the LE skins, yes? A good idea to capitalise on the situation and fit those aft capstrips as well.

I decided not to cut the hatch free until after the upper rear fuselage sides and cockpit framing had been fitted, but that was just my own preference.
 
Keep it coming, guys.
 
tim
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Hi Tim,
 
Good to see that you are keeping an eye on us .
 
You are correct in thinking that the ribs haven't been cut to allow for the leading edge skins. Fitting the capstrips (great descriptive word Tim, I was struggling to come up with something to simply describe what I meant) will easily resolve the problem though. Not difficult to do, it just needs a bit of time and care to do it neatly.
 
Also, whilst I am thinking about it, can I mention that I used 1/16th ply for the servo plates rather than the recommended 1/32 ply which, when I tried it, produced a rather 'floppery-doppery' mounting. Mind you, I have tended to beef up quite a few of the joints throughout the build with bracing pieces & supports. I am still very conscious of the weight but, as a novice flyer, I wanted to build in a bit of extra insurance until I can perfect my landing technique.
 
Cheers,
John
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Excellent build blog! Makes me one to build one too......
 
I see you plan to use plasterboard for the wing board, so you might want to try the trick I use to hold the spars to the board. I screw into the plasterboard and use a little tab of ply with a spacer fractionally thinner than the spar so it just nips the spar when the screw is tightened. Spacer is glued to the ply to save fiddling with loose parts. Proper plasterboard screws or ordinary chipboard screws work well. The tabs are alongside the spar and the screws do not go though spar of course.
Make sure the srew head is accesible after LE sheeting etc so you can withdraw the screw to release the wing when built. These are so much better than using pins which tend to come loose when you press the other end of the spar.
Actually instead of making each 'tab' seperately I made the 'tabs' in a strip of 4 or 5 and sawed them apart after the glue had dried. I made some for 1/4 inch spars and at the same time some for 3/16 etc. Of course this would work with a wood building board too but it seems sacriledge to deface a proper board ( just like cutting into the bench as my school woodwork master taught us by dire penalties for offenders! )
 
The tiny hole in the plasterboard could be filled afterwards for the next model but it's not really necessary. But it's worth pressing down the raised plaster around the screwhole to make the board truly flat again.
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A picture is worth a thousand words so I made a couple of these spar ' tabs' or holddowns whatever they are, in about 10 minutes just for the photo ( that's why they are a little rough! )
 
The photo shows a spar held down with the tab, another tab ready to fit and a strip of tabs glued, drilled and ready to saw apart.
Just make sure the screw is short enough so it does not penetrate into your workbench.

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Apart from what seemed like an interminably long trip to Tesco most of today has been spent fixing the remaining sheeting to the upper and lower centre wing section.
 
The underside required only one piece fixing just behind the leading edge - the other two lower sheets were already in place. The only complication here was to accurately cut the sheet around the appertures for the two retracts.
The upper section was a little more complicated and in the end I used 5 pieces of balsa in total. It probably would have been possible to do it with just 3 pieces but I found that the section behind the leading edge back to the spars is a compound curve. The 1/32nd balsa is pretty flexible but I just couldn't achieve a neat, flat & uniform finish using just a single piece. Cutting the section behind the LE into 3 pieces made the job much easier because, even without the compound curve issue, there is an awful lot to position, glue and pin. Breaking the job down into 3 smaller manageable chunks worked well for me.

Note also that the wires for the servos & retracts exit from the wing cavity at the rear and front respectively. I almost made the mistake of positioning the exit holes closer to the centre of the wing adjacent to the spars but then I realised that the battery tray will sit very close to or even touch this part of the wing when the model is assembled.
 
Cheers,
John


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HI Guys - Hoping to be back on the build this eve.
 
Highlander/James: Phew! Am I glad I bought a piece of plasterboard for the wing build - 2.5 metres long and 60cm wide! But still got the fuse to finish!
 
There's some good guidance coming out here which I appreciate as well as those other builders out there 'lurking'! I need to work out soon how I am going to put the rudder and elevator rods in and at what point - F4 will need some working round too.
 
I note the issue with the CNC ribs not being recessed for the ply and I think capping strips will be best. I had thought of doing something similar with the fin, rudder, tailplane and elevators to emulate the structure which is lost with the current flat construction.
 
As I shall be painting a camouflage scheme on mine so I also have to think about what covering! Solartex - good for painting but I think will be too heavy when finished. Solarfilm is better but more difficult to apply. I am tempted to try something else other than film - any ideas? Nylon? Glass? Tissue?
 
What about 1/10 scale pilots?
 
Get yer thinking caps on!
 
Terry
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