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Simon's Ballerina


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  • 2 weeks later...

Here are a few finishing off pictures. Since the maiden and a few subsequent flights, all kept short due to worries about heat dissipation in the cowl, the weather has been terrible here. So I finally got around to adding the windshield and adding some ventilation in the cowl. Next time I have her down at the field I'll get a final complete picture for the completed gallery.

Meanwhile, here's the windshield. The fairing is thin chamois leather, dyed with Tamiya brown acrylic. I was going to add some bolts using the heads of dressmakers pins, but... there is only so much time and I have other projects to start!

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And here is how I addressed the cowl ventilation problem. After mulling it over for a while, I decided the best way was to make some dummy SE5-like exhausts (only so far, without the pipes). So I made a balsa plug the right kind of size and shape, covered it in clingfilm, and laminated some glass cloth onto it:

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a rough coat of primer to see where we are at in terms of finish:

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Then cut roughly to shape, primed, and repeated for the other side:

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After cutting a large slot on the underneath and painting they look like this. Sorry it's a bit dark, but hopefully you get the idea:

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Then onto the cowl. This bit was painful for me, but had to be done! Marking out:

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Slot cut (same other side). The raw balsa edges have since been painted so they are fairly invisible once the covers are fitted:

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and the final result looks like this - looks quite effective, I think, let's see if it makes a difference!

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that's it; hopefully will see some of you and your models at Greenacres!

Now I need another build project to get stuck into - got a couple of modifications to other aircraft to do and a couple of ARTFs to deal with, but nothing is as satisfying as a ground-up build like this.

Edited By Simon Feather on 01/05/2016 21:28:29

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looks really nice,i vented mine from behind the dash as its only tight fitting on the bottom edge,ive not not had a heating problem but its only flown in the cold,still waiting for spring/summer.at least our sites drying out.

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Very neat solution, Simon. And it fits perfectly to the cowl style.

I guess it will be effective as well as the prop wash is going to create a 'vacuum' in the cowl, enhancing the hot air extraction.

Happy building on... wink

Hakuna matata

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR HAE Control

 

Edited By McG 6969 on 02/05/2016 06:52:18

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