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Aero-naut A-10


Gary Binnie
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Hi all,

 

   I promised myself that I wouldn't build anything else until I'd flown all the builds from last year but I'm fed up with 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzles!

 

Aero-naut is a German company producing aircraft and boat kits and accessories, this design dates from the mid-1990s which is when I first saw it reviewed in another British model magazine.

 

Intended for two Speed 400 brushed motors with props or ducted fan as a buyable option the review model was built as a  PSS glider only, I'm planning on two brushless motors with props and hopefully will also be able to fly it on the slope (without props as they aren't allowed).

 

Another option is a fibreglass fuselage but it's on the pricey side.

 

I tend to take a lot of photos so I will spit them in to separate posts.

 

First set of photos is the box and contents.

 

         Cheers

 

              Gary

 

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Two sheets of plans, instructions in German and English and waterslide decals.

 

There is a very important addendum slip written in German only which basically says the sweepback of the right wing on the plan is different to the left, could be annoying to discover that later!!

 

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I had a GWS one with brushed motors and running on a AA NimH battery pack, it was quite underpowered and could barely maintain head height!!

 

That was my first foray in to electric flight, they souped the design up with brushless options later.

 

Temperature in the shed is reasonable now and I have heating so I will pop out to assess things, first job will be to label the parts with a pencil as suggested in the instructions.

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Teabreak!

 

Just been popping out Liteply parts for the fuselage and gathering together the strip etc.

 

The die cutting is very nice, just needed light thumbnail pressure to release the formers and then just a small tidy of the edges and slots.

 

One piece of balsa strip is 1 mm wider than it should be, just something for me to be aware of.

 

I made sure both 2.5 mm balsa sides were symmetrical with just light sanding to the edges then marked on positions of the formers from the plan (to the right side only at this stage).

 

I will dry fit (no glue) everything to check and to be sure in my mind how it's all supposed to go together. The English instructions are terrible, the German instructions are not much better (no line breaks or paragraphs) but they do help to unravel mysteries. The German instructions have part sheet diagrams for numbering and some small black and white assembly photos which help.

 

Despite being a 'schnellbaukasten' (quick build kit) it is quite complicated, it always tickles me when they put that word on the box!

 

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Edited by Gary Binnie
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Lunch break!

 

Spent some time last night looking at the plan and deciphering the instructions which gave me confidence today to start gluing things.

 

Some of the Liteply formers needed to be laminated with ply and the wing dowel holes drilling out.

 

The wing seat doubler had to be glued in stages as it wanted to spring away from its position.

 

Wherever possible I use weights (old motorbike batteries mostly) with a load spreader to avoid using pins when clamping longerons etc.

 

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Drilled for wing dowels to 4 mm then tickled to 4.2 mm to match the dowels!

 

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Clamping the top longeron using an aluminium bar and batteries.

 

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Clamping the wing seat doubler.

 

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On 23/02/2021 at 16:07, Gary Binnie said:

Sure will David, it's a bit smaller than my usual steeds, do you remember taking this photo?

 

Hopefully we will get a competition season, there will be quite a few new pilots and the rest of us are quite rusty so it will be fun!

 

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Of course, yes, I was struggling to remember. Fab day that was. 

Fingers crossed for you ?

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My fingers are crossed too! I flew one two-day F5J comp last year, we used 'GliderScore' which involves inputting pilots' scores (launch height, duration and landing bonus minus any penalties) through smart phones to a database in the cloud. The programme is used worldwide now. 

 

Here's a link to the main page for anyone who is interested.

 

All comp results are held. I can't link to the competition but here's a screenshot, I won the day before.

 

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Back to the A-10.

 

Glad to have you along Roy, if you need motor mounts I would order now in case of a drought in the future, I have one spare if you need it (long story why I ended up with three!).

 

Fairly sure that I've finished the first fuselage side without mistakes, the second one should be quicker.

 

When a side is finished there is a small cutting operation to open up the engine pylon slot, it should be parallel to the tailplane seat and the wing bottom is at 1° positive incidence (EWD - Einstellwinkeldifferenz, literally installation angle difference).

 

Engine pylon cut out measured and marked (12 mm above the centre of the centre longeron, this is the fuselage datum line).

 

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Pylon cutout with the tailplane seat to the right.

 

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Right side finished, must be careful not to make another right hand part!

 

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Second fuselage side just finished, it took longer than I thought considering I didn't need to do much thinking about it (could copy the first side).

 

Late in the day I had a feeling about the 'oversize strip' I mentioned earlier and scoured the instructions, sure enough the strip (3 x 8 mm) was meant for the fin internal structure. That strip is part 33, the strip I was using was 2 and 3 (3 x 7 and 5 x 5). No harm done, looks to be more than enough, treading very carefully from now on!

 

The next job will be to make sure all the formers fit, drill holes in the rear ones for the elevator snake and then think about joining the sides.

 

1. While waiting for glue to dry I popped out some ply parts that needed laminating, these are the wing bolt nut plates.

 

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2. Once dry I trimmed them lightly and test fitted them with their former which needed just a small tickle with a file.

 

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3. On both sides I had to remove a small sliver of material from the Liteply wing seat doubler (marked in red) to allow the centre longeron to sit in the right place. Everything looked good against the plan so couldn't work out why this trim was needed.

 

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4 and 5. Stopped here for the day as a good natural break.

 

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Today went pretty much to plan though I didn't join the fuselage sides, preferring to let the glue dry completely overnight.

 

Discovered that a number with a circle round it on the plan is a note and not a part number, one less mystery.

 

While glue was drying I popped out more Liteply parts and built the core of the engine pylons which is a very simple balsa sheet/strip/balsa sheet sandwich. The tailplane is built the same way but only has a lower sheet skin.

 

Photos with captions:

 

1 and 2.  Deviated from the instructions (which Aero-naut say is allowed!) and drilled part 90 which is the wing part of the locating dowel former, it would have been very difficult to mark and drill this in situ, it had punch marks for the holes already but I spent a long time ensuring alignment taking into account the thickness of the plastic lower centre section (1 mm).

 

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3, 4 and 5. Added the four fuselage formers that are in the parallel section, they are only glued on the lower half of the fuselage side initially because of the cross section.

 

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6. Popped out and cleaned up more Liteply parts, it all helps to visualise the construction.

 

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7, 8 and 9. Engine pylon core, a simple structure. I transferred the plan on to the lower balsa sheet, added the strip then closed it up with the top sheet. It gets cut in half and joined at an angle. I modified it very slightly to increase the size of the motor cable tunnel as brushless motors have three wires instead of two and the wire gauge is thicker.

 

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10. Right fuselage side with the four formers, should add the left side tomorrow.

 

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Another productive day.

 

Fuselage sides joined from the wing seat forward.

 

Engine pylons progressed and joined.

 

1. After some head scratching the only way I could see to join the fuselage sides is with the first side flat on the plan, I have a SLEC jig but it wouldn't really help here. Took care to ensure all the formers were square and the front of the sides were level.

 

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2, 3 and 4. While the fuselage glue dried I progressed the engine pylons, marked the centres of the engines, laminated ply parts to make two engine mounts and drilled them for the plastic mounts. The ply parts have punched marks for the holes but I like to use the actual part as a jig if possible.

 

For sanding square edges I use an old MDF bookshelf (the black thing in the photos).

 

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5, 6, 7 and 8. Cut outs made in the leading edge for the ply mounts, as the brushless motors are shorter than the brushed motors the cut outs are much smaller than the plan. Created holes for the motor wires to pass through, dug out small patches of balsa for the nuts to sit in (these are glued to the mounts). 

 

Couldn't see any reason not to cut and join the halves so I did! A jig is provided for a total dihedral of 30­°, each half is chamfered 15° at the root (clever stuff!).

 

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9, 10 and 11. More fuselage side joining. Now off the plan, upside down and resting on two batteries with old table mats as load spreaders. The instructions seem to suggest adding the lower centre stringer and using that to check symmetry when adding the forward former, that worked well and I added the lower battery box rails (red arrows) which helped to stiffen it up.

 

The model was designed for NiMh batteries and I thought I ought to check that Lipos would fit, I will probably fly it on a standard 3S 2200 mAh pack which fits nicely, there's quite a weight reduction so the CG might need some thought.

 

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12, 13, 14 and 15. Popped out all the balsa wing ribs after numbering them with a pen, it's a good idea to do this at the nose of each rib which is usually hidden with 'D' box sheeting, especially on gliders with transparent covering. Some of the ribs have cut outs for hardwood landing gear blocks, I left them intact and added some glue.

 

Engine pylons finished to the point of adding them to the fuselage, they will eventually have rounded leading edge stock and trailing edge fillets adding.

 

Fuselage nose pulled in and clamped with load spreaders, could have done with an extra pair of hands! Left to dry overnight.

 

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Not much done today, out and about for Covid jabs.

 

1 and 2. There's an amazing weight difference between NimH and Lipo, 500 g against 135. I might add side rails to the battery area as the Lipo could catch on formers.

 

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3. Picked an elevator servo and drilled the rear formers for the snake, I will use my own snake outer and inner as the kit part is a bit weedy. The pencil is pointing at a mystery hole!

 

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5 and 6. The instructions voice concern over the possibility of the 'starved horse'  effect with the rear upper sheeting, recommending that all the formers are in line before gluing. It's a fiddly job so I will attack it tomorrow. 

 

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Just caught on to this build.  I've always admired the A10 since a pair went through a thermal I was in a few hundred feet below me.

 

Like you, I experienced the original brushed motor/NiMH version which struggled to get out of ground effect but I did inherit another many years later with brushless motors and a LiPo which was horrendously noisy but performed rather well until the airframe eventually succumbed to the unequal struggle to keep the foam beads united.

 

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out and perhaps seeing a video of it in the air?

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If you saw one there was always another! Had a pair pass either side of me at 5,000 ft over Bicester, by the swerving I think they had seen me but quite late!

 

I used to fly gliders at Innsbruck in Austria, one year an A-10 and an RAF Chinook were the airshow, they took turns to fly figure eights North/South over the runway getting closer and closer to the mountains either side, impressive but dodgy.

 

The power system for this is going to be a bit trial and error, the prop diameter is limited to 6.5 inches, a 2830 outrunner fits nicely in the original mount but could/should use a larger propeller. A three bladed prop might be an option. I'm expecting it to be overpowered so cruising around on part throttle should be nice.

 

Aero-naut have a ducted fan set for this but I didn't look into it, I did consider other ducted fans but it would have needed major modifications.

 

Another option that I should have explained is the rudder, not required for the hand launch version so another weight saving and simpler building. 

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Was granted permission today to do some work in the house, yay!

 

I wanted to stock check the remaining kit parts to avoid a repeat of the earlier confusion and also wanted to pre-fit the wing parts, spent over six hours doing this and still not quite finished.

 

Stock check went well and was a useful exercise, I seem to be one sheet of 1.5 mm balsa short but have two blocks of balsa that don't appear to be needed. It's possible the kit was raided by a previous owner, I do that sometimes and I really shouldn't!!

 

All the wing ribs were present and correct, after opening the slots in both the ribs and spars it's pretty much self-jigging. There is a minor problem with the outer panel spars being slightly wider than the ribs.

 

The design features a single central aileron servo and a snake, an outdated idea forced by large servos and pre-computer radio transmitters. Each aileron will have its own servo which means running cables through the structure, better to add the holes now than realising later!

 

Pictures:

 

1. Stock check

 

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2. Centre wing panel, has a  factory slotted spar and is fully sheeted  top and bottom, one sheet missing and one of the five here is a slightly different thickness (will cause a step when the panels are joined unless it's sanded down).

 

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3. Outer wing panels, similar to the centre panel but not fully sheeted and have tapered spars, ribs use cap strips on the open bays.

 

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4. Mystery balsa blocks! I couldn't find them on the parts list and can't see anywhere to use them on the model.

 

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5. The right number of ribs, yay!

 

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6. Pre-fitting the centre panel, pencil is pointing at one of the two finger holes for hand launching, I will add a small cross brace to the Liteply reinforcing between the holes.

 

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7. Ye olde central aileron servo! The plan shows the wing dowels passing through the Liteply cross member (88) which would involve some accurate drilling, I'm just going to butt glue the ends when it comes to it.

 

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8. I drilled all the centre section ribs plus the two outer panel root ribs in a pinned together pack for the servo cable.

 

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9. Looks like it will work, not sure whether to thread some string through per ARTF practise or try and build the wing with the cable in place. There is a hole in the spar but they are overkill, two strips top and bottom with webs would be lighter and do the same job (but not as quick to build), swings and roundabouts.

 

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10 and 11. Last cheeky little problem to deal with is the outer spars are deeper than the ribs which would cause trouble with sheeting or cap strips. Probably just need to sand them down a bit. Amazing how much time I've done on this 'fettling' today.

 

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Another little job I did today was redrawing the right wing panel on the plan, it has too much sweep back.

 

I measured the leading edge sweep back at 8° and the trailing edge sweep forward at 3°, no idea if that is scale or not.

 

Will build the left panel first.

 

 

 

 

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