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SLEC Funfly Build


Aky208
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Posted by Aky208 on 13/08/2012 00:47:05:

Talking about covering. I have had a look around but there are soo many makes etc. does anyone have any advice on what ones are the best/easiest to use.

The green on mine is Solarfilm Supershrink Polyester (the yellow was some old stuff) and that worked very well, not very difficult to apply either.

CS

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all. Sorry for the recent absence. My daughter decided to surprise her mother and myself by popping out a week early!!! I did secretly hope to have had this build finished before the arrival, but the little one obviously had other plans. My new deadline is to have the build maidened before Christmas. But even then I feel that it will be an uphill struggle to accomplish this. I have no doubt, however, that this timescale will, once again, be adjusted.

Heyho, welcome to fatherhood, many would say.

you never know! Give it a few years and she could well be taking to the skies like her old man.

Happy flying.

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Congratulations too,

Mine still aint finished yet either, as you I have the "joys" of fatherhood excet mine`s 6 and doesnt sleep as much lol

I came to a bit of a slow down with all the sanding to be done, tail end, leading edges, cowl etc, its gotta be the part I dislike the most, but im past that now, just got to finish the cockpit off, final filling and sanding the whole airframe and i`m nearly ready to cover, made a start by covering the tail feathers and its looking ok so far, ill post some pics when its worth it

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Im nearly finished, ran out of covering to finish the ailerons off so waiting on arrival of more, and got to finish the rudder and aileron controls off, its got an os 40 fp engine, futaba s348 servo`s. I swapped the original spinner for an Irvine one I had lying about, and the wheels are a spare set off a dead Super Air

Im even quite impressed by my covering attempt, It should be quite easy to see anyway. The yellow and plain black is Solarfilm, and the chequered on the bottom is Oracover. Solarfilm seems to have gotten easier to apply as ive got older, or maybe i have more patience now lol, the the yellow isnt very opaque though !

funfly 001.jpg

funfly 002.jpg

funfly 003.jpg

funfly 004.jpg

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  • 1 year later...

It's been a while since I have looked at my RC collection, let alone this build. I never realised how much free time I had until I lost it.

But I feel a renewed effort to get back into the hobby I love and to complete this build. Hopefully bringing my child up in the same world of planes, trains and automobiles that my Dad did with me. So watch this space while I dust off my half complete model and get to work. smiley

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Hi Aky, just got back from maidening my Funfly, which I built during the winter period.

img_5017_s.jpg

Once trimmed it flew fine, just a couple of problems which need sorting out:

First - cracked a wing rib taking the wing out of the car at the flying site!! Being lightened they are quite delicate. Fortunately it's one right at the wing tip, and as I made a bit of a mess of the wing tips I'm going to re-cover them anyway, so I'll mend the rib at the same time - so ne real harm done.

Second - rather more worrying - I bought 5 HobbyKing Turnigy servos for this build, one each for rudder, elevators, throtttle and ailerons. They are type TGY S4505B, not their cheapest but nevertheless certainly at the budget end of the spectrum.

Of the five one packed up on first use. I put this down to bad luck and substituted a TowerPro MG90S for the throttle, and kept the TGY servos for the others. I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of complaning to HK!

On powering up at the flying field I noticed that the rudder was way off centre. I waggled the stick and the servo responded, but when returning to centre it buzzed a lot and then very slowly centred. There is no tightness in the control rod, so I adjusted the rudder to centralise it, and then, really against my better judgement, carried on.

Well, the plane flew fine, just needed the elevator adjusting for level flight, but I'm not convinced about the servos, so they will be going. I have used TowerPro SG-5010 servos in the past quite satisfactorily and will probably replace the TGY ones with them.

I think the CoG is too far forward at present but will wait until I've sorted the above before flying it further.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences when you've finished yours.

Cheers GDB

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, so taken the plunge with my beginner building skills and started on the Electric FunFly version. Not to bad so far, the kit had some bits missing, but SLEC sorted very quickly.

However I have reached the rear of the fuselage and part F23 which is a huge block of balsa that needs to be drastically cut and shaped to fit. Are there any tips for shaping F23 or is it just a case of attacking with a saw and tidy up with sandpaper.

Not much info on how to mount the battery, I assume that the wings have to be removed - I didn't really want to go down that road but try to use the tank hatch somehow - perhaps trying something like that used in the CF Wot4 balsa kit electric conversion, where the LiPo is mounted in a sloping position.

Also, does anybody have experience of motors beyond what SLEC recommend - the AXI is certainly much to expensive. I intend to use a 4S3200

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Hi Caveman, that's a very nice model you have there, you have done a great job with her. certainly inspiring me to get mine finished. Are you sure its the servo that was causing the problem with the rudder? I had a similar problem and it turned out to be my DX6 rudder pot sending dodgy signals to the Rx. Horizon Hobby did a swift job of fixing it for me.

Hi Redex, I'm not really sure on what the electric substitute would be, I have decided to go down the noisy route and am still trying to decide what noise maker to purchase for this model. As to the battery location, is there any scope of having a hatch on the underside of the servo tray? I haven't looked at mine in a while and can't rem how much room there is under there.

So far I haven't done much more to the model except de-dust it and make sure I still have all the bits.

Edited By Aky208 on 14/03/2014 15:57:23

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Hi Aky208, thanks for your comments.

In order to confirm that the problem is with the servo, I've just retrieved the FunFly from the hangar (loft) and tested the servo using a servo tester (thereby by-passing both tx and rx) and the problem is just as bad! I've also double checked to ensure there is no tightness in the snake and it's free and easy. So I can conclude that that the servo is the problem. I've now no confidence in them, so will replace them all.

With regards the noise maker, I've got an Irvine 46 in mine.

img_4974_s.jpg

I think SLEC recommend from 30 upwards.

I have suspended by rx battery, HK 5 cell 6V, under the servo tray. I was able to do this as I made an error and put the tray in upside down!! Now, as luck would have it, when the HK servo for the throttle died I substituted it with a Towerpro MG90S side mounted. This left the while of the from portion of the underside of the tray free - see photo.

img_5052_s.jpg

As you can see it's held in place with a tie wrap, AND, as futher luck would have it, it balances the plane perfectly, without the need for any additional weight!!

Hi Redex, yes F23 has to be worked to the correct shape. I used a razor plane followed by sanding to final shape. Make up dummy tail feathers, as per the instructions, glue both F23s to the fuselage, and then, leaving the dummy pieces in place, Here's mine.....

img_4967_s.jpg

img_4968_s.jpg

If I were you I'd fashion a way to change the battery through the top front tank hatch. Take it from me you wouldn't want to have to remove the wing to change the battery. The wing is held by a nylon bolt....

img_5002_s.jpg

The bolt is under the 'canopy' which is held in place by a small screw (I did think about changing this for a magnet, but, as I'm ic and will only remove the wing once per session I didn't bother), a bit of a faff

Hope that helps.

Cheers GDB

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Hi Caveman many thanks for the pictures - can I just ask did you glue F23 to the fuselage and then shape it to fit, or did you shape F23 first and then glue to fuselage. I agree, from your pictures removing the wing to change LiPo is a non starter.

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Hi Redex,

I fixed the F23 pieces first, with CA glue, then shaped them with a razor plane + sanding. Do ensure that the pieces are supported while doing this, with scrap pieces of balsa of the right thickness.

As the balsa blocks are fairly soft shaping them is quite easy and doesn't place much strain on the glued joint.

Cheers GDB

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Thanks Caveman I'll give it a go.

Hi Dean, Yes it is the specific electric funfly, I think the hatch system looks OK, although I have not started it yet, it was just the mounting of the actual LiPo within the fuselage I am not to sure about.

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For the electric FunFly version, does anybody know if any side/down thrust needs to be added, or it it just assumed that the electric motor mount kit when attached to the fuselage, takes care of whatever, if any, thrust required. There seems to be no specific mention of this in the build instructions.

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Hi Redex, I've just had a look at mine and there's no down or sidethrust.

Mine's IC and the engine mount is fixed direct to the firewall.

As the plane isn't bothered what's turning the propeller, I can only assume that down/side thrust isn't necessary.

Cheers GDB

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