EarlyBird Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 Bottom sheet glued then shaped the top of the leading edge. Placed the washout wedges under the trailing edge. Dampened the top sheet and now drying in place. Tomorrow glue it in place and also the remaining top sheet. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted September 27, 2020 Author Share Posted September 27, 2020 A good day today. Glued the top leading edge sheet. Fitted and glued the top sheeting. Made and glued the cap strips up to the aileron. Tomorrow finish off the cap strips then the leading edge. One wing nearly done? Amazing how much can be achieved on a cold wet windy day. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted September 28, 2020 Author Share Posted September 28, 2020 Finished off the cap strips and that is it not a lot but I have the best excuse, I went flying and I am going again tomorrow but will finish the leading edge first. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fun Flyer Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 Looking very good EarlyBird. Have a good day's flying tomorrow. I was flying my RF4 again yesterday. Its quite lively in the air. I think I expected it to be more sedate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted September 29, 2020 Author Share Posted September 29, 2020 Thanks FF, I have just lifted it from the board to work on the leading edge my initial thoughts are how light it is and that the wash out wedges have done their job. Looks like good flying weather today but my main reason for going is to swap onions for apples, does that make it a swap meet? We had a swap meet planned for October but it has been cancelled now as we are all keeping each other safe. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Just a little tip that applies to all model builds. When fitting wing spars into tight slots in the ribs it makes life a lot easier if you just sand paper the sharp corners off the spar where they go into the ribs. It just takes that sharpness off that can dig into the rib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted September 29, 2020 Author Share Posted September 29, 2020 Excellent tip and timing Peter. Leading edge cap strip fitted to the first wing. Started the second wing and went flying, also swapped onions for apples. So a good day. Almost forgot I topped up my sun tan. Unbelievable perfect flying weather. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Here in the east the weather was lousy until abut 4.30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted September 30, 2020 Author Share Posted September 30, 2020 Cold wet and windy today ideal for making progress in the workshop. Second wing is coming along ribs are fitted to the spars with bottom sheeting and caps, all dry fit as usual. Just the aileron to dry fit then it is glue time again. That will be tomorrow. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 Aileron dry fit completed. but no glue Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 Glue time for the second wing Including the top spar Tomorrow shear webs and leading edge sheeting, all being well, I hope. The weather here in North Lincolnshire is helping with the build, cold wet and windy which is keeping me out of the garden. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fun Flyer Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Looking very good EB. When I joined the two wings together I was taken aback by the overall wingspan. I had built the fuselage first, I always do as it encourages me to build the wings to make it fly, and it looked out of proportion to the wing. Of course it wasn't.!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 Thanks FF. I was going to build the fuselage first but having read Peter and your build logs I realised that to finish the fuselage fairing the wings are needed. Yes the wings do look big so I made a six foot building board to accommodate the wing joining. Now here is a test question what did I do wrong? I am looking at the fuselage and thinking of ways to lighten the tail. What did you do and how much weight was required in the nose. I have also decided to move F1 as far forward as possible just to help with the balance. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fun Flyer Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 You're making great progress. I didn't actually do anything to lighten the tail and just went with the design. Someone on here did suggest a built up tail but I thought that was too much work and could be too fragile. However it did mean that it took quite a bit of nose weight to balance the model. Currently there's 315gm fitted, most of it in the cowl. This is how I avoided moving F1 forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 FF 315gm! you have convinced me to experiment with a built up tail and moving F1 forward. I like you motor mount it looks easier than the ply cube that I made on my Ballerina build. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EarlyBird Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 A bit of progress yesterday. Shear webs have to be individually cut and fitted due to the wing tapering. Aileron spars planed and sanded to size. All dry fit as usual. I am wondering if I am making life harder for myself by trying to be too accurate. As you can see there are no gaps between the webs and the ribs. Would it cause a problem if I undersized the webs, which would be far quicker? Time for some more glue Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brokenenglish Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Surely the motor mount shown above could be built up as a robust ply cube, maybe even enlarged as necessary, and used as a ballast box. Edited By brokenenglish on 04/10/2020 07:51:25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 @EB - don't be tempted to undersize the webs, they really should be a very good fit to the ribs. Danny Fenton has something on his thread about this, cut 2 pieces, butt them up to the ribs then trim in the middle to join them. Very time consuming but ensures that the strength is there by having the tight fit to the ribs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Well I hate to upset the perfectionists but mine don't always touch the ribs at either or even both ends. The wing is still stiff enough and I can tell you that one of my models, "Dancing Girl" fitted with an OS Wankle engine and an Eagle Tree G meter tested that to the limit I put it into a long terminal velocity vertical dive and applied full elevator. The G meter read 24.8G which meant that the wings were taking a load of 95lbs. I think they were strong enough!!!! Oh and due to my sequence of building I never get any warps in them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 I'm the wrong sort of engineer to have a professional view on this but my understanding is that the webs perform two functions. Firstly, as their name implies, they impart shear strength to the spar, partly by preventing the upper or lower spar from buckling between the ribs under compression. Secondly, they improve the torsional rigidity of the wing by closing off off the leading edge D box. It seems to me that neither of these functions would be seriously compromised by a less than perfect fit to the ribs. Trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Trevor, I agree although there probably is a slight loss of torsional ridgity my wings are certainly stiff enough in torsion and, as proven above, in compression Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 I believe that the reason we see very little difference is because, in most cases, the wings are very much over engineered, design wise. in all probability a simple piece of 1/4 x 1/4 glued vertically mid point between the spars would be sufficient! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 I also don’t believe it being a perfectionist when one makes sure that pieces touch when forming a join. Let’s face it it’s a join, otherwise it would be called a gap! 😂😂😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Ah, but what do you call it when ‘it fits where it touches’? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 I believe that is known as a joint with a bit of a gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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