Nigel R Posted January 5, 2022 Author Share Posted January 5, 2022 Ha! Found another job that wasn't on the list. Some restraints to prevent the contents of the task bay going walkabout: And another job not on the list, getting the power switch mounted: Added treblers to the wing saddle, too. Other jobs not on the list include the tail wheel mount, fuel proofing the tank bay, figuring out the rx install... 80% done... 80% remaining... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 (edited) Not much to show for the last week! ☹️ Anyway. Every airplane needs some legs: Those screws will need a bit of tidying up, on the inside. Cutting down in length. Maybe a small circle of ply to help take the thread. Plus I need to start sloshing some fuelproofer around in the tank area. The gear plate is quite large - I'm planning on using the front half of the plate to attach a spreader bar, to keep the fuselages aligned and whatnot, when the wing is detached. I also made up some small legs to go at the back: Small steps, but, at least I'm moving forwards. Work is busy at the moment, and all the rest of the family have birthdays in January! Edited January 12, 2022 by Nigel R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan M Posted January 12, 2022 Share Posted January 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Nigel R said: The gear plate is quite large - I'm planning on using the front half of the plate to attach a spreader bar, to keep the fuselages aligned and whatnot, when the wing is detached. Lateral thinking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 12, 2022 Author Share Posted January 12, 2022 groan! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 24, 2022 Author Share Posted January 24, 2022 (edited) Bit by bit... Fuel proofing in the tank bay, some internal reinforcement, and I was happy to stick in the throttle cables and close up the bottom of the fuselage, before more fuel proofing. Time to put a cowl on them. First some lumps of thick soft sheet. Build up the inside corners, and fill in where the engine isn't going to go. And a bit of carving. Looks very untidy at this point, particularly around the edges of the big engine access hole, but it is still short a couple of bits of block to allow me to make it look nicer, and of course final shaping is yet to be done. Another evening of carve / sand should do it, I think. It's turned out very tight around the engine / engine mount / throttle. I probably could have drawn the nose 1/4" taller which would have given a tickle more clearance. Or, making the front deck rounded over might have given that extra space. Never mind. The engines fit (just). Edited January 24, 2022 by Nigel R 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 25, 2022 Author Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) Got a bit more time in with the sanding blocks. Smoother... Baby's bum... Need to fettle that cutout to make it fit around needle valve and so forth. Could use more clearance around the prop driver, too. Edited January 25, 2022 by Nigel R 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 (edited) On the fuselage jobs, I finished off the tail end charlies. Made the fin support blocks: Sanded the front deck slab - rounded off a bit more - and cleaned up the resultant change in shaping / sanding on the cowling, then sort of kind of partly fit one of the canopies to see how that was shaping up: Lines from the side have come out pretty good, I think, all seems to flow quite nicely: Back to the flying surfaces now. I have some ailerons to sort out and some wing panels to join up. Edited January 31, 2022 by Nigel R 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 (edited) Gosh, been a month since posting an update! Been a busy month at work and we've had the dreaded covid isolation with the associated home schooling(which finished about two days before covid isolation stopped being a thing). Despite that, I've made a little headway, with some of the last jobs on the woodwork being wrapped up now. Final (he says) fuselage job - I bent up several tail wheels, then decided I couldn't be bothered with dealing with connecting two of them to the rudders, and then replaced them with some really bare bones simple tailskids: I made the controls at the tail end, and hinged them. They still need a bit of shaping at the tips. These have my usual overengineered hard points for the control horns (ply/balsa/ply sandwich, scarfed to a reasonably solid LE strip), and in the case of the elevator there are two of them, not for two control horns but to providing two 'joiners' where the rudder cutout has made a big hole: Ailerons cut off and wings are joined: That is suddenly starting to feel quite big and unwieldy in my small workshop area. And lastly these gave me a little trouble. As is customary, I made two right hand torque rods, and then had to spend ages bending one round to form the left hand rod ? : Next, wing tips and shaping, and aileron servos. Then for some fun rigging the thing together. Edited March 7, 2022 by Nigel R 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted March 14, 2022 Author Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) Ailerons hinged, beveled, electronic bits that move added to the wing: Wingtips added and shaped, tail tips shaped, some shape put into the fuselage underside. Then I made engine noises while it sat on the bench for 5 minutes: Time now for a little more fuelproofer inside the cowls, some filler in any dings and scrapes, and then covering. Edited March 14, 2022 by Nigel R 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyGnome Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Did you manage to make the nice 'thrum' noise that multi-engines have? Impressive sound - and building! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 Thanks gg ? Kind a yom-yom-yom-yom-yom on top of a rrrrrrrrrrr... rrryomrrryomrrryomyomrrr? I think the actual thing will sound better! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Walby Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 Hi, Hope you don't mind me asking, but how close are the fuselages, just my Extra Slim Twin is quite close and I get an interaction between the props from a sound perspective...doesn't effect vertical performance though. Just wondering if the turbulent air over the elevator would cause issues especially at close to stall? Great looking model there ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 Chris, thank you ? Prop to prop gap is just under 14". Planning on using 10"x8" props, which gives near 4" gap. I suppose twins always have a degree of odd interactions with noise and airflow near the prop tips - even a single fuselage type has the fuselage side close up to the prop tips. I guess if it all goes complete pear shaped at noise check time I can go electric (perish the thought). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted April 27, 2022 Author Share Posted April 27, 2022 Some progress - mostly in plastic. Not my favourite part of building! But. Almost everything together, and mostly what is left is decoration and final parts of the gear install. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted May 23, 2022 Author Share Posted May 23, 2022 (edited) Crikey, it's been a month since I updated this log. not too much more to do, just a few tidy ups really. Edited May 23, 2022 by Nigel R 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 First class job Nigel, looking good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torsten Spitzner Posted May 24, 2022 Share Posted May 24, 2022 Love it. Great looking twin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 Thank you chaps Looking forward to getting this one in the air now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 Nice covering job. Simple scheme but very effective. Its got twin fs40's right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 Thanks Jon ? Yes, twin FS40s, in Surpass flavour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 Nice. I am still mulling over making a square dh comet out of a galaxy mystic as my converted pulse 125 is starting to fall to bits. I have also been toying with stealing the unstarted pilot twin ace from my dad and slapping my 2 saito 45 special's in that along with a few mods like retracts and flaps. So many ideas, so little space ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted May 25, 2022 Author Share Posted May 25, 2022 Twin Ace is a nice design - nearly went that route for the previous twin. Pilot did another design called Shooting Star which is virtually a single engine version that has been on the bucket list for a while. A kit bash twin Mystic (or Phoenix, I guess) would be fun. 70s or 80s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon H Posted May 25, 2022 Share Posted May 25, 2022 I had a twin ace before. It was a bit of a wreck and i patched it back together in my mid teens as my first multi engine model with some clapped out 25fp's in it. It taught me a lot about multi engine flying, engine tuning and a variety of other things so i have fond memories of it. Either of the galaxy models would be a great kitbash and i would probably go twin 80's for maximum go fast ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel R Posted July 8, 2022 Author Share Posted July 8, 2022 Flight report... Just got back from noise test and maiden flight. Overall - really happy! Noise test = pass 🍾 Front on, prop reading, was highest, at 81dB, so, quite close, but not over, so that's ok. Right side next highest at 78dB. The other two were lower. Interestingly (or not, maybe) the exhaust was the lowest. RPM was 10k dead on, both sides, APC 10x8. Maiden flight = pass 🍾 Short and sweet to shakedown the airframe as much as anything else. Take off was easy, dab of right rudder to correct the swing and she was airbourne in short order. I stayed up for just a few circuits - all drama free and performed nicely. Nothing even out of trim! Did several low passes to gauge landing and how she bleeds off speed, then brought it in for a fuss free arrival. Before the flight, I was wondering, with it being quite slick, she would slow down for landing, but the test flight showed that even in very calm conditions she will be easy to bring in. Rate of descent is quite controllable with a tickle of throttle. Overall she seems well behaved. After flight checks = fail 😡 The starboard engine install has developed a leak in the carb fuel line, between completing the ground runs to set up throttles / idles (where it was all fine and dandy) and the end of first flight. I'm going to have to pull the tank and check / fix the plumbing. I could see bubbles being drawn up the tube to the carb while it was running. And the cowling was very messy, as was the fuselage underside just rear of the cowl, a lot of mess was making its way through the oil drain hole. Suggests to me the line is punctured outside of the tank, but getting a replacement length of tube in there will be a tank out job. After I've fixed the tank I'll be back to start checking out aerobatic capabilities. Lastly. She sounds brilliant in flight - you just can't beat a twin for presence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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