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


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Once I finish the wing I will move back onto the fuselage and my first task will be to sort out the rudder & elevator rods.
 
I have aleady pretty much decided to have the tail wheel operated by the rudder or, if that proves difficult, to have a fixed wheel or even a simple skid. The upshot of all this is that the hole that I cut into F4 probably won't be needed after all.
 
Preliminary measurements show that neither the elevator or rudder rods will pass through F4 either. Both will exit through the fuselage sides or roof a little way forward of F4.
 
Looking at the fuselage from above (ie in plan view) it is quite easy to mock up where the rods will run and I have already marked the top edge of the fuselage sides. However, viewing the side elevation of the fuselage, it is much more difficult to calculate (guess??) precisely where the rods will emerge.
 
I was originally planning to use simple piano wire push rods for rudder & elevator but I might chicken out and get some Sullivan type flexibles simply because they are more forgiving in terms of the positioning of the exit holes on the fuselage sides. What do you think Terry & James?
 
My colour scheme might offend the scale purists. It will be predominantly white with some red and/or orange trim (precise pattern as yet undetermined) to help with orientation in flight - remember I am still a very novice flyer so this kind of thing is especially important to me. Please dont shriek too loudly at my garish choices!
 
Cheers,
John

Edited By John Roberts 9 on 18/01/2012 19:42:39

Edited By John Roberts 9 on 18/01/2012 19:52:32

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Hi John - it's your model and your build you can do what you want colour wise. The important thing is you are building! I prefer a more scale approach but even so there will be details that I will not know so will have to hazard an educated guess e.g. What colour would the underside have been? What colour is the side stripe etc but my guess, provided I stay sensible is as good as anyone else's unless some documentation or WWII colour photo turns up! As there were only 16 built there's not much by way of research material but it's part of the allure isn't it.
 
Done a little bit tonight but will do more tomorrow! Don't forget we are an hour ahead of you in the UK so as the song goes "it's later than you think!"
 
Spent about 30 mins just marking out accurately (I hope!)) the limits of the planking:
 
 
Next I cut and glued two strips - one each side of the forward fuse from H1a to F1 to level up against the base of the cockpit hatch. By doing this the planking will be worked to the same levels from here on.
 
Then I fixed the first two upper planks one each side of the centre line. After chamfering equally on the sides to a tapered end at F1 (about 50% of the original thickness) they were spot glued with CA at F4 with short overhang into the cockpit area to allow for trimming later. I used aliphatic along the length of the planks and secured onto F1.
 
The plan shows the planks fixed to the outside of F1. I think Tim put his to the inside edge on his build. As my F1 was CNC'd undersize I had to opt for an external fixing. I also think that this will result in a better shape anyway. If you are building from the plan and cutting your own parts you can have the choice.
 

The saw blade and ruler are just weights to hold the forward lower levelling planks in place whilst drying.
 
Planking to be finished tomorrow - a dusty day ahead!
 
Keep building!
 
Terry
 
 

Edited By Terry Walters on 18/01/2012 21:42:29

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Hi all
I gave up on the IC route so filled the hole in the nose underside today, I will load some pics tomorrow. I ended up laying 1/4 by 3/4 slabs either side until the centre of a big block of 5/8 balsa would be proud enough in the centre to give the right profile. I thought it would be quicker than planking but it took an age of sawing and hacking to get it even reasonable and over 2 thirds of the big block ended up on the floor as shavings. I was very sorely tempted to go up to my big shed and use a 20 inch belt grinder on it at one point . Were I to do it again I would draw up a former below H1 and set it at 90 degrees to the frame and plank it as the top section.
I too am thinking along the lines of Sullivan snakes, (the red not the blue). I find them very reliable, they are not sensitive to temperature variation like some cheap ones . I find wire pull pull ones get snagged too easily although they do look very nice.
 
regards James
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Posted by Highlander on 18/01/2012 21:49:19: I was very sorely tempted to go up to my big shed and use a 20 inch belt grinder on it at one point .
 
 
Don't feel too bad about using 'full-size' tools, James - I took a Bosch orbital sander to my Black Magic vintage jobbie the other day - and very helpful it was, too - saved me about an hour of sanding!
 
Pete
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Iain: Nav lights? Without pictures it didn't happen . Only jerking your chain! I definately have seen them and they look great
 
Terry: The information on your approach to the fuselage planking is excellent. It is probably the job I am most concerned about so please keep the infos & photos flowing. Thanks.
 
James: Some shots of the lower fuselage blockwork/planking would be very helpful also. Thanks. I will order a couple of flexible snake thingies later today. What is the difference between the red and the blue? Is the red a more lightweight version or is there something else I should know?
 
Cheers,
John
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Excellent work Gents!
 
FWIW the rudder on my Courier is wriggled by closed-loop wires that exit the fuselage through the roof. I thought it neater than a snake or push rod, but it's entirely up to yourselves!
 
kc , I do like your spar hold-downs - what a neat idea!
 
John, I concur on the LE sheeting on the centre-section. I knew that the conpound curve there could be an issue, which I why I went for flexible 1/32 sheeting damped with a little water. Still took lots of pins though!
 
tim
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James - I have just been looking at the photos in your album. The planking & blockwork at the front of the fuselage are fantastic. Great work.
 
The engine cowl and the finishing piece that sits on F1 both look superb. Please share your method / technique / materials used to achieve this so that I can steal all your good ideas!!
 
Not much progress on mine today. I made all the webs for both wings and have glued & pinned one side but I now need to patiently wait for the glue to really set properly before I can start the next phase of the washout process.
 
Cheers,
John

Edited By John Roberts 9 on 19/01/2012 20:18:37

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Right then - just back from aperos with the neighbours and here I am updating the blog!
 
Today was an interesting day if you can call planking interesting! The plan calls for 1/8" sheet to be cut into strip. Tim used 1/8"x 1/4" but the balsa pack contains no 1/8th sheet!   So - raiding the in-house stock produces 1/8" square - this is going to be a challenge.
 
So starting to cut lengths and trial fitting looks a bit like this:
 
 
I marked the top rear face with a dot and a number so that when sanding away to the required profile I don't sand the wrong faces!
 
Off we go! At first I could get a small clamp on the planks as they were added. As the width grew I continued to put aliphatic along the length and also spot glued the planks with CA to hold position without clamps! To be honest it was a bit messy!
 
 
This is the shape of the profile is was aiming for - the planks need to be tapered and chamfered.  A long job but no short cut! (No pun intended!)
 

This was about 2 hours work! At this point I stopped for lunch! The 12v  battery is holding the cockpit/hatch floor flat as the tension in the planks was raising and distorting it. It had got the stage where it was worrying me and that something was going to 'give'


Halfway! There's about 22 planks here - only another 22 to go?
 
 
In the above and below photos you will see that I have already cut the separation between nose section and hatch section on the planking done so far. I didn't want to do this but it did the job and eased the the tension and relaxed the the floor panel. The second half was then progressed and worked well.
 
 
Not pretty but done!

Time to clean the fingers of set CA!    No doubt with the magic sander will turn the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan!? It is light and strong.
 

More tomorrow I hope!
 
Terry
 

Edited By Terry Walters on 19/01/2012 21:08:28

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Hi all ,
Terry and John, thankyou for your kind words,I feel embarrassed posting with the pair of you, you both build so neatly and fastiduously while I follow the agricultural bodge route. Does everybody on this forum build to such high standards?
I am glad you found the photos,I only just had time to upload them from the laptop before I had to go out but whatever I try the laptop will not let me post so I have to use a differant computer for that. I will explain the pics in a minute.
John,before I forget, the Sullivan Golden Rods (red and yellow) are part #503, they are the ones for aircraft under 10lbs. The more I look at the plan though, with that very high rudder , that Tims solution is the neatest.
 
regards James.
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Sorry, my internet keeps playing up,it is sat up sat down and the snow and gales at the moment play havoc with it. You will see that I cut the hatch free, I was going to leave it as Tim suggested then I read Terry's bit about putting a spacer in between the 2 H1's and realised I had just jammed mine together with a bit of sellotape between them and lashed cyano all over the top. I had visions of completeing the canopy framing and then finding the whole thing stuck solid.
I temporarily fitted the motor so I could find out how far the prop adaptor stuck out and make a nose ring to fill the gap.


The ring is only held on with sellotape so does not fit very well. I made it out of a piece of Sycamore and it is mostly hollow, it weighs 5 grams. I should have made it before I shaped the bottom piece but it is easy enough to make another if the angle is wrong.


The cowl ring is supposed to be like the one on Kilo 4047, I do like that exposed exhaust collector ring that is such a prominent feature . I will knock one up like Tims tommorrow to see what that looks like as having had a rummage in the greenhouse earlier I found the correct size plant pot,(now without plants in it.) I see it does look a bit odd in the photos as it is just hanging on that bit of ply but it was made for a bit of light relief and took less than half an hour,
 
regards James
 
 
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Thanks for the updates gentlemen, fascinating as ever.
 
Terry, I do admire your patience in so carefully shaping and laying all those 1/8th strips - I would need to lie down in a dark room for a couple of days after doing that!! It already looks great and with a bit of filling and sanding I have no doubt it will be absolutely spot on. Excellent work .
 
James, you flatter my workmanship. It is amazing the sins that can be hidden with soft focus and a little judicious airbrushwork . Your cowl and nose ring look superb btw. I assume that as you used sycamore that you were able to turn the pieces on a wood lathe? Whatever method you used I am very envious.
 
I still haven't made my mind up about on how best to operate the rudder & elevator. Like most blokes I can only do one thing at once (well, according to SWMBO anyway) and my attention is directed towards completing the wing atm. I think I have most options covered though ranging from carbon rods, piano wire, flexible snakes and wire trace - at least one of those should fit the bill.
 
Keep up the good work.
 
Cheers,
John
 
 
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First shot shows all the webs glued in place on the left hand side of the wing. Note the little balsa washout jig under the far left wing tip.
 

Next shot is of the 1/32 balsa sheet pinned, glued and slowly drying. This piece of balsa was a little reluctant to take a curve so I treated it to a light water spray, pinned it in place for a couple of hours and allowed it to dry slowly. Glueing it down was consequently quite simple but looking at the photo it still needed lots of pins!
 

Final shot is of the right hand wing with the balsa sheet pinned but not glued. No water spray necessary on this side - 24 hours pinned in this position should allow the balsa enough time to 'set' into the necessary contour. I will need to reposition the wing to enable me to 'rinse & repeat' the process needed to permanently set the washout.
 

Cheers,
John
 
 
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Well - continuing my build blog here she is after a short back and sides and a light buff up! I am so pleased to have done this bit - there will be some filling and final sanding but don't you think she scrubs up well? I think I was definitely right to part cut the front planks at the hatch join as the stress being generated was too great on the hatch floor. I leave the rest uncut until it's time to do so!
 

Then I spent ages deciding exactly where and how to cut the rear overhang of the planking to the correct line. Trying to transfer it from the plan and the lines I had drawn on the hatch floor proved difficult so in the end I did by eye and was relieved when it turned out OK. I also had a look at Tim's original build again and that helped me to confirm that I was in the right area! The cutting was done with a jewellers' saw - very thin blade and well worth the small iinvestment made by SWMBO who isn't yet aware I have used it - (this may be my last night's entry ever!)
 
 
 
Then I thought I had better do something else as a treat so I had a go at the upper side panels. They went on quite well so long as you are spot on with lining everything up so it's spot on. Two things to note:
 
Firstly that , although had also chamfered the bottom edges of the side panels to sit on the bottom panels at the right angle for the 'lean in', the effect of this is to increase the actual width (on the angle) across the bottom edge of the top panels so they protrude a little beyond the bottom panel on which they are sat. So whether the chamfering is worth doing or not I don't know - seems you rob Peter to pay Paul! Anyway P/O Fearless has taken possesion of the fuse!
 

Secondly I realised that the roof block of the fuse would not sit flat on the top of the upper side panels because of their angle. So, despite the fact that I had mixed feelings about the need to have done it on the join between the upper and lower sides, I knew it would improve the contact area of the roof by flattening the top edges of the upper sides and ensuring that the top edges of F3 and F4 were also level and at the right angle to accept the roof block.
 

Also been fettling my PZ Me109 (or should I say the remaining parts thereof) on and off during the day today while 'things' dried on the Courier. The Me 109 has only ever made one take-off and no planned and safe landings i.e. crashed heavily on maiden due to a Tx/Rx glitch and nearly wrote it off completely - that was over 6 months ago - some where in my photo albums there's a picture of me carrying it back from the scene of the accident! So hopefully she will fly again soon!
 
Terry
 
 
 

Edited By Terry Walters on 20/01/2012 21:10:20

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Posted by Pete B on 20/01/2012 21:20:12:
Getting on well there, Terry. You can have the pleasure of the 109 this time - much easier to fly than the Fournier!

Pete
 
I suppose you noticed the RF4 cowl at the back of the bench - still got that to do!
 
Keep putting off decisions re linkages etc but they are approaching fast! I like the idea of a closed loop rudder and I think I will go with that. Have to work out how to connect the tail wheel - again I can follow Tim's rod and heat shrink link if I can't think of anything better.
 
For the elevator I pretty well decided on bamboo or hard balsa rods.
 
Thought about moving the servos further forward to make them accessible in the event of a failure but they would intrude into the wing seat so they will stay where they are.
 
Want to get the roof on so I can do all those lovely canopy frames then onto the wing!
 
Terry
 

 
 
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Terry, that planking looks terrific, a just reward for your patience with all those little sticks.
I made the plant pot cowl today as per the plan and in defferance to those who do not have machine tools just used a hand drill and a mandrel. I am quite pleased with the result although it still requires a bit of fettling this is the one I will use on the model.

I will now have to get back to my most unfavourite part of building, fitting servos and wiring,(perhaps I should stick to free flight).
 
regards James.
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Hi James - that cowl looks brilliant! Good job I don't know where you live or I might be tempted to pop round when you are out and 'borrow' it!
 
If there was a prize for the neatest build you are certainly a front runner - what glues are you using?
 
I'm still concerned about the difficult access to the rudder/elev servos once the roof is on - I'm going to have a look at whether there is any advantage in extending the cut for the hatch rearwards. I would have to make sure the side panels are rigid enough forward of that point. Hmmmmmm?
 
Also the angle from the servos that the cables will run could maybe reduced a bit by raising the rear edge of the servo mounts. That way they will pull in a more direct line. Still thinking!
 
Terry
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Terry,
 
You're right in thinkig that access to the servos is a little bit awkward when the roof is added. I have a specially shortened screwdriver that does the job. It's a fiddle, but possible.
 
Has to be said that both of the models featured on this thread look absolutely stunning!
 
tim
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Looks like we've all had the weekend off doesn't it!
 
Thanks for your advice and encouragement Tim - much appreciated.

I've been reconstructing my PZ Me 109e and its finished!! I'm christening it "Der Phönix" (The Phoenix) because it has risen from the ashes to fly again (hopefully for a it longer this time as it crashed on its maiden back in Spring 2011! Keep you posted.
 
 

Re the Courier - some thinking time, Tim's helpful comments and some mocking up re servos have helped me decide to:
 
1) Leave the servos where they are on the plan.
 
2) Raise the rudder servo above current level by about 1/4" and even more upwards at the rear - this will do two things:
a) prevent the long two ended servo arm for the pull pull cables fouling on the elevator servo,and:
b) provide a straight line pull to the rudder pull/pull horn. I think the tail wheel steering rod will manage ok.
 
3) Keep the roof/hatch join where it is on the plan and get Tim to out here and fit/adjust the servos!
Back on the job tomorrow!
 
Terry
 

Edited By Terry Walters on 22/01/2012 19:43:45

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Well apart from a little filling, sanding and fettling I think that I have finished the construction of the wing and ailerons.
Adding the capping pieces to the top and bottom of the ribs took ages but I think the end product, especially once the covering has been applied, ought to justify the time spent. (Ailerons just temporarily taped in position in the photo).
 

There are a few more shots in my album btw.
 
More fuselage work tomorrow for me. I look forward to seeing your updates on servos & linkages Terry. Keep up the good work
 
Cheers,
John
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Posted by John Roberts 9 on 22/01/2012 21:26:15:

Well apart from a little filling, sanding and fettling I think that I have finished the construction of the wing and ailerons.
Cheers,
John


That's a mighty fine looking wing you got there John! If I pay the postage.......................
 
Capping strips are now 'de rigeur' from hereon then!
 
Posted by Pete B on 22/01/2012 21:18:17:
"Who, me?" Nah, I was only carrying his Tx............

Pete
 
There's me reducing the quality of the pics and not making any reference to anyone else being 'involved' and you go and tell everyone!
 
Seriously Pete had nothing to do with the end result - I even trusted him with my Fun Cub on the buddy box recently! No def a TxRx glitch.
 
Terry
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