Hammer F3F Another one Build Blog

[rob piec]

1: yes you need the wire inside. - you can use some vaseline at the ends so epoxy won't glue it to the sleeve

2: cling film - just to keep the fuss clean - this is what we do when building and works great. (you can use it also on a table - then put snake on it and apply epoxy with a brush - great working surface )

3: circles of balsa - I did try that before - end up taking them off and filled the fuss with expanding foam - never again .....

4: any filler will do Peter, We use aeroseal for everything with HAVEL epoxy (same as Blejzyk)

Clevises.

I solder the clevises. sometimes I use wire stoppers.

Wil take a few pictures of clevises and explain best way of glueing horns next

Always happy to help.

PS.

Peter -seems you didn't get my email I sent on 7.07 ?

please check spam box

[Peter Garsden]

Excellent Rob, thanks a lot. Very helpful Will check emails and come back to you.

What do you mean by wire stoppers - I can think of several types? Presumably the pictures will illustrate.

Have done a bit more - attached the tailplane from the top rather than the bottom. Used polyurethane resin not epoxy as it set quicker.

Next job is servo tray, then snakes.

[Peter Garsden]

Last night's job was to shape the nose former which holds in the balancing lead shot, so it was important it is a good fit. But how to draw the correct shape internally?

I decided to use my handy shaper for profiles, which has come in handy loads of times and is only very inexpensive.

[Peter Garsden]

Then, how to place it in position down the inner nose without getting it stuck and keep it straight?

I decided to use a large diameter wooden dowel, and a piece of double sided tape - I have loads of tabs which came with the radiator insulation I use for carrying bags

I then adopted the suggestion elsewhere to use gorilla glue, which has filled the gaps perfectly

[Peter Garsden]

This shows the cut outs in the fibreglass inner nose for the ballast tube, servos, and battery. The receiver snuggles up behind the battery nicely.

The switch is a pole type which feeds through the hole. Much better than the cheapo slider type - much more positive - again from T9 Hobby Sport.

The tube will be held in position with a cradle of fibreglass cloth

[Peter Garsden]

I have also beefed up the inner nose with some carbon tape - it is now much stiffer - probably belt and braces, but if you fly slope soarers you will know how heavily they land sometimes.

I have also put some carbon tape in the bottom of the fuselage under the wing - there is already carbon tape down the side of the fuselage which is good. I know Rob will say it's not needed but it doesn't add much weight, and adds a lot more strength.

Was going to use a long balloon to hold it in position but they hadn't arrived and I was too impatient to get on.

[Peter Garsden]

This photo shows how I first of all put all the slugs in the ballast tube, then found the balance point - 8 slugs made out of 19mm shower rail filled with lead over a floor tile (not on the kitchen floor!)

I then put masking tape round it and made a mark. I then lined that up with the c of g - 90mm from leading edge.

For those of you that don't know, the tube is filled with dummy wooden blanks when there is no lead in it. You then fill up from the middle outward in pairs, so the least ballast is two slugs at positions 4 and 5 eg.

Wood | Wood | Wood | Lead | Lead | Wood | Wood | Wood .

You then move outwards until you have all Lead.

[Trevor]

Some good ideas there Peter, keep them coming! Shame you didn't get to try the balloon trick. It strikes me that that could be an alternative to the magnets for sticking the snakes to the fuselage sides?

Trevor

[Peter Garsden]

Had one or two minor repairs to do following the PSSA weekend, so just got round to a job I was dreading - glueing in the plastic snakes. Rob gave some good guidance above, which I have followed, apart from the cling film because it should have been done from the beginning.

I have decided to rub down the fuselage with some fine wet and dry, then spray on some acrylic varnish to give it a glossy finish as it is a bit dull in finish. Or I might spray it fluorescent orange, not sure yet.

Have found some excellent cover for plans - some thin dust sheet. I think I got it from Wickes but I am not sure

[Peter Garsden]

So I used the magnet system together with elastic band clamps and a rod down the middle of the fuselage to direct the snake and keep it on the sides, maybe my magnets aren't strong enough.

I will be reinforcing at the front with some more epoxy finishing resin and fibreglass flakes as there is not enough glue on the snakes under the wing seat

[Peter Garsden]

Well back from holiday now and have got on with it. I have nearly finished the ballast tube. I have glued a piece of pine to the bottom of the tube support to hold the 4mm nut into which the retaining bolt will screw. Have also glued the tube to the support ready for final gluing up. I had to shave about 2mm off the tube to get it to sit with the c of g of the tube lined up with the c of g in the fuselage. Also had to pack the tube up with some white milliput epoxy putty to get it to sit at the right angle.

[Peter Garsden]

Have also covered the tailplane with some 25g fibreglass cloth ready for oracover covering. I have also reinforced the ends of the elevators with some fibreglass tape as thin as the wing bandage to make the screw holes for the horns stronger.

[Peter Garsden]

So many things have to be right and line up before you glue the inner nose cone to the ply servo plate and the ballast tube.

Did not picture the 8mm hole in the pine wood block to house the nut for the locking dowel plug at the end of the ballast tube. I covered the bolt with Vaseline to stop epoxy getting onto the threads which worked fine. I screwed it up and it held fine whilst it set.

So this morning I mixed up some standard Araldite - I hope it is as good as Aeropoxy, it is certainly a lot cheaper and looks the same. The drying time to set is about 3 hours and to cure 24 hours so it is better than 30 min epoxy. I spread it inside the fuselage only to stop it going onto the inner nose and causing a bind for the fit of the outer nose cone. It recommends drilling 4 x 4mm holes to act as a key for the glue and to rough up with sandpaper, the glued surfaces.

I also had to get the snakes through the holes in the cone, and clamp up the plyplate to the inner cone floor. Quite a phaff!

[Peter Garsden]

In the picture above you can see the tool my father made up, which is so handy. It is a cut down old fashioned kitchen knife, which I used to wick some glue into the holes round the snakes after they had been pushed through. If I did it before hand then glue would have gone down the holes in the snakes as they were pushed through the holes. Obviously they will be cut short.

I also had to line up the balance point of the ballast tube with the c of g at the same time. In all the confusion I forgot to glue the bottom of the ballast tube at the end. As my support is so comprehensive I don't think it will matter.

[Peter Garsden]

To make sure the inner nose cone is in t he right position the instructions recommend using tape to hold it whilst it sets, and to offer the outer cone up to make sure it is in the correct position. I used clear fibreglass tape so I could see the join.

[Peter Garsden]

You know what I forgot - to feed the loom leads before fitting the nose cone - d'oh - have worked out I can feed some cord through with a long thin piece of lead I have with a loop on one end, followed by the wire and plug - hopefully.

[Peter Garsden]

Made up the loom wires from the wing seating to the receiver with a plug for the receiver on one end and a mulltiplex 6 pin on the other. I did my own plugs with stripper and soldering iron. Gets easier the more you do it.

Used the Pierre Rondel method of applying hot glue to seal the wire connection them press it between two bits of aluminium. Excellent.

The wires threaded through really easily. The wings threading will not be as easy

[Peter Garsden]

Finally got round to making progress. I decided to cover the wings with white film then trim with flourescent orange and black. Should look good. I am going to spray the fuselage fluorescent orange to match as otherwise I fear the all white model will disappear against the Sky as my Top Model Ideal does.

So, I had some White Oracover, which I have never used before. It is thicker than Solarfilm but went on so much easier because of its lack of wrinkle ability, and its ability to be pulled up and replaced without taking the colour with it.

I didn't have enough Oracover for 2 wings so did the other in Solarfilm. Remarkably the colour is the same.

I then needed to thread wire down the minute holes in the foam. I first of all glued black thread with cyano to a length of 2mm steel wire and pulled it through.

I then attached the thread to the wire with masking tape and pulled it through - Voila

[onetenor]

I do not follow the comment about using stripper and a soldering iron for making plugs can you illustrate and /or explain because i'm phick. Thanks v m John

[Peter Garsden]

John, sorry for the delay. As to making up your own plugs, I can recommend Tim Mackey's You Tube Video, which is what I used before I started. You need a decent soldering iron - I use a digital version, which is brilliant, some crimping pliers, and wire strippers, hence the strippers.

I found that you need to buy the right type of crimpers, and the rest was practise. I still make mistakes and have to throw the brass bits away.

This is the link to the video - **LINK**

[Peter Garsden]

I applied the fluorescent orange Solarfilm and black Solartrim to the wing tips, whilst first making a cardboard template. I reversed the colours underneath so one can see which way up it is in the air.

[Peter Garsden]

I applied the fluorescent orange Solarfilm and black Solartrim to the wing tips, whilst first making a cardboard template. I reversed the colours underneath so one can see which way up it is in the air.

[Peter Garsden]

Just can't work out why the last post duplicated. Anyway have spent this afternoon painfully airbrushing the fuselage fluorescent orange. Will now give it a coat of gloss acrylic lacquer before the paint peels off.

[Matt Jones]

That looks really nice Peter

[Peter Garsden]

Oh Matt thank you for that, but what an afternoon it's been. After spending hours trying to airbrush the fuselage in Valejo Fluorescent Orange with an airbrush with a really narrow spread then putting acrylic varnish over the top to give a nice gloss, I was horrified to find that it went like rubber and started peeling off like latex. I went into Macclesfield and bought a Tamya can of hot orange, which isn't fluorescent at all and doesn't match the wings. The finish was not good enough anyway. When I started to flat it down it was like putty, so I just scraped it off with a knife and started again. The Tamya can, although the wrong colour orange seemed to stick - so I am leaving it.

Thought I would photograph the way I have attached the tail horns. I had a problem because the plastic keepers were too large diameter to clip into the metal wire, but would be secured on the plastic outers. It was worrying me, but seems OK.