Martin Dance 1 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Hi, I enjoyed building the Ballerina last year. As a notoriously slow builder I found following others progress made me build quicker! Slow? well 31/2 years to build Peter Millers RF4 is slow! I am by nature a scratch builder, start with a heap of materials, drawings sharp scalpel blades etc and I'm off...slowly! I've been building models since I was 12 and now HMG pays my wages! I thought I would start with the tail group because it is easy and I'm considering closed loop linkage for the rudder so having the tail group to hand should help with the positioning with the holes for the closed loop wires. Nicked the laminated LE idea using 6 lams of 1/16th balsa around a MDF former. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Hi Martin, welcome aboard, good weight on your tail plane and your formers n fuzz cut out already John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 Today's efforts were aimed to get the top wing looking ummmm more wing like! The first photo shows most ribs in position, but importantly there holding the rear spar in place whilst the glue sets. The next photo shows the wing at close of play. With all the top wing ribs in place and the top spar glued in place. The LE and TE are for tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 15, 2017 Author Share Posted February 15, 2017 Today's efforts were aimed to get the top wing looking ummmm more wing like! The first photo shows most ribs in position, but importantly there holding the rear spar in place whilst the glue sets. The next photo shows the wing at close of play. With all the top wing ribs in place and the top spar glued in place. The LE and TE are for tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 Doesn't look like slow building to me Martin, quite the opposite. Laminated tips seem to be catching on . Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Hofman Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 You are going fast Martin. And your stabilizer looks very good too. How do you plan to make he pull-pull rudder horn? Lucas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hi @ Tim and Lucas, my rapid progress is an illusion! I like building wings so I tend to make rapid progress. So at the moment progress is Hare like. When I start the fuselage I will slow to a tortoises pace and then covering will be carried out at a snails pace, finally installation and linkages U/C etc will be done at a Sloth's pace! The rudder horn for the closed loop system will be made from 1mm epoxy/glass sheet, as indeed will the horns linking the upper and lower ailerons. I have used ply for horns on slower models but I'm not convinced they're adequate in this application. The gluing area will be roughened before applying epoxy. One of the reasons for doing the tail group first was to make the positioning of the rudder servo easier and the position of the holes in the fuselage for the control wires easier to determine. This in turn will impact on the elevator servo position and the choice of elevator linkage all moments for endless Sloth speed work! One point I should have made in an earlier post is my decision to use 3mm threaded inserts to retain the bolts holding the upper wing to the cabane. I found some online a year or so back but I failed to bookmark the site, but here is a photo. Finally tonight a photo of the upper wing this evening now requires the tips and the ailerons shaped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Nice wing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Hofman Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 This is stimulating Martin! The weather is foggy and -4 degrees here so top sheeting will be applied this afternoon. The inserts look nice, do you skrew them in the ply under the sheeting? Regard, lucas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Hi Lucas, yes,they have sort of a thread more of a fine spiral ridge than a thread. What I did was to run a nut onto an M3 machine screw then screw the machine screw into the insert and then screw it into the plywood piece as on the plan. I used 4mm birch ply on my wing. The core diameter of the insert allows a 4.5mm hole to be drilled leaving just enough material for the thread on the insert to bite on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Is it a left hand thread ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Tim, No its a right hand thread, but calling it a thread is overstating it, it is more a spiral ridge than a fully formed thread, a little epoxy or cyano will ensure they won't easily come out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Remembered where you got them yet ? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Threaded inserts http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/threaded_inserts.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Thanks Dennis, a proper fixings emporium! Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 A little more progress, but first I have failed to remember/ find the source of the 3mm inserts. looked at my ebay history, nothing, looked at my Paypal history but it only goes back to the start of 2016. I'm pretty certain I bought them in 2015. Modelfixings only go down to 4mm inserts. A recent search on Google finds plenty of 3mm inserts but not the same as I bought originally, annoying because I could do with some more. Any way next photo shows top wing with the nearly complete tips in place and the ailerons tacked in place and roughly shaped. By the way Lucas how did you form your tips? I toyed with laminating but decided against it. I seem to have a bit of an issue at the trailing edge/aileron interface trying to ensure there is enough material to produce a flat surface to line up with the aileron. Another week, another wing! the start of the lower wing. One thing I should have spotted is that the innermost LR2 rib needs to be cut in order to fit the dihedral brace. a little surgery needed here. Any one spotted how much dihedral this wing has before I start drawing all over my plan. Finally the last two photos remind me to have a tidy up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 With regard to the inserts I also noted they did not seem to make a 3mm. Also noted Lyndsy used 4mm on the original. Might just stick with the T nuts. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 More progress on the lower wings, the first photo shows the leading edge sheeting in place, the second shows the pitot head in place, I'm tending to build telemetry into new builds. Air speed is useful but it does need a talking Tx, the first model I installed an ASI was quite small and cruised around at about 70mph or so I didn't have a talking TX then and you cannot look down at the screen with a small model at speed One small error I have noticed whilst building the wings concerns the lower spar spacing on the wing rib drawings does not line up with the wing drawing. My ribs placed the rear spar about 1/16" forward of the position on the drawing. No big deal. One explanation could be movement in the paper. I'm working from photo copies of the original plan and there is a tiny difference between the right way round wing drawing and the mirror image copy. Finally the main construction of the lower wing finished with the glue setting on the last piece of sheeting and the cap strips. By the way I found a source of M3 threaded inserts whilst looking for something else and they look better than the ones I bought originally. The supplier is Nexus model supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Mine never matched either Martin, air speed indicator eh, you a boy racer then John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 No John, the ASI dates from when I bought my DX8 which has telemetry. I bought at the time a range of sensors as much out of curiosity as anything else. I have a 40g G force sensor which has never experienced anything above 3g! well it is in an Anzani Longster, free plan four years or so ago. Altimeter is useful in that it shows that 400' is not an unreasonable altitude limit for most types of models, not thermal gliders of course. All of these sensors you can read from the screen whilst flying or set up a warning, the Longster had a warning set at 2G! However you can't read the ASI whilst flying anything remotely quick, you need a friend to read out your airspeed. So the introduction of voice alerts makes telemetry much more practical. One guy I fly with has an ASI fitted because he has a habit of trying to fly the approach too slowly so its an aid to keeping the approach speed above the stall speed, no boy racing going on here, on the other hand!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted March 2, 2017 Author Share Posted March 2, 2017 Well, slower progress this week. Both wings are structurally complete but LE's to be shaped and sanded as do the tips. The tail group is also in the same state so I've just started the fuselage as they clearly need something to keep them apart/together and in formation Not wishing to start a weight race with you Lucas but here are the weights of my wings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 A bit more done to the fuselage. Decided to leave the stringers off until I have brought the tail end together and thinned the top longerons from F5. Also decided to adopt the only the tops of the formers approach for F6-F8 but have used some 1/4 X1/8 to stiffen the fuselage sides. Also made the cabane struts so I could give myself a boost by assembling the wings and fuselage sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Ah bit of bench flying, looks good John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Ballinger Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I like bench flying, there aught to be a special club for it. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Dance 1 Posted March 9, 2017 Author Share Posted March 9, 2017 After a bit of 'bench flying' got a bit more done. The photo show the stringers in place. I decided having read of one builder having problems bringing the tail together to make a couple of changes. The first was to thin the top longeron to 1/4 X 1/8 from the original 1/4 sq from behind F5 and to leave the fuselage side stringers off until after gluing the stern post in place. This certainly helped but the downside is that it is more difficult to position the side stringers. Swings and roundabouts I guess. F2 is in place with 2 degrees right and down thrust added and the offset of the motor centre applied. Edited By Martin Dance 1 on 09/03/2017 13:41:55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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