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Tony Nijhuis Hawk - Build Log


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Posted by Geoff Gardiner on 02/05/2020 00:41:57:

Hi Dan,

It would be good to have someone else building the Hawk.

Did you ever get around to finishing the Spitfire that you started a few years ago?

It got further than the pictures on that blog, but is not finished. Without giving you my life story, I had a daughter and moved to the US, so I’ve been a little distracted! I’ve now got myself a workspace sorted out and with the quarantine situation, a little more time on my hands.

i did make it to Florida jets before everything really kicked off, which was great!

some of the spitfire wood got damaged in the move over, so I’ve ordered replacements and I’m waiting for those to arrive. I then spotted your build, hence the inspiration, so thank you for that!

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What are those things you are using to keep the wing ribs vertical? They look like they are easier than messing around with squares?

ive got the two fuselage sides stuck together and the doublers in place. I just need to do the triangular stock and then start on the formers.

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Thanks! They don’t ship here, but I’ve ordered some to my folks house so they can ship them when they next send something .

If you are sure you don’t mind I can post some photos here. I know this ones completely off topic, but I suspect most people here are jet fans. This was as they flew over my house yesterday as part of the ‘America Strong’ flypasts.

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5ec645f1-2a5a-47bb-bb98-bc944f911a81.jpegPosted by Geoff Gardiner on 05/05/2020 20:36:59:

Looking very neat Dan.

yes

how are you getting on Geoff? Any recent progress?

i got a bit further and am about to join the fuselage sides, but realised the f3 is actually a little bent in the top corner so doesn’t sit straight where it should. Not sure the photos make it clear. Can I just bend it to the right place and glue / clamp it in place with the build jig, or am I going to cause twisting if I do?

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I glued F6 in place earlier this morning and clamped the other formers so they were in the right place, just to make sure I could, and it looks ok...

The design around F6 makes it easy to put the fuselage sides together, which I was grateful for. I remember that being much more tricky on the spitfire!

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Wow, looks like you've made some good progress! Hoping you are right on the twisting. I took the plunge and glued it earlier. I'll leave it overnight on the jig.

Looks like I had the same problem Mark had, with an insufficient amount of the triangle stock in the kit. Did you find the same thing? He mentioned using 1/2 inch stock for the front top. I do have some of that myself but I was slightly concerned about throwing out the alignment for F1 if I use that...

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Have you decided how you are going to power it yet? I could be slightly mad, but I wondered if one of the smaller turbines, say the KingTech K-45G3 might actually be a good option for this?

i can’t help wondering if that setup might be less weight but with the same thrust vs an edf with Lipo’s, and having read some of the comment on wing loading on other threads, it got me thinking.

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Weight is something that I am concerned about as my builds always seem to come in over the target weight.

I have two options available to me - both Dr MadThrust edf's. One is for 8s and the other 10s. I will see how the weight ends up before I decide but it will probably be the lighter 8s setup that I use.

I'd love a turbine but a bit out of my price range. You will have to factor in the weight of all the associated gubbins - ECU, pumps, fuel etc. If it all comes in about the 4.5kg mark then, why not nerd

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I have now got both wing halves built and to the point where they need to be joined together.

I was very careful with the dihedral angle when gluing up W1 and the wing brace. However, when I offer the wings up I am getting too much dihedral. With one wing flat on the building board I am getting 55mm at W10 instead of 40mm.

Did any of you chaps, that have built the Hawk, have similar issues?

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Sorry Geoff, I’m not sure. Have you thought about dropping Tony an email? He’s usually pretty helpful...

After some thought I gave up on the turbine idea, the primary reason being I figured it might’ve a pain to get in and out for the 25 hour maintenance cycle. I’m sure someone that’s a better builder than me could have figured it out, but I’m going to carry on walking before running for now.

I ordered a Schubeler fan, which is lighter and offers 4.8kg of thrust. Every little helps I guess. It was tricky to find one in stock over here, but the guy I bought it from was an ex A-10 pilot. Interesting guy!

ordered my servos etc, and also installed f1 and f9, and cut out replacements for f4 and f5 that were wide enough.

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