Lil' Poke

Silverdog

Member
Anyone ever built a Great Planes Lil' Poke? The little brother to the "Slow Poke".



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No, but I like it already! I have the Slow Poke Sport 40 waiting in the queue. I have a Saito four stroke 50 that will be perfect! Your loooks like a great little plane!
 

Silverdog

Member
Actually I'm cheating! I started this bird prior to my last move. Just pulled it out of a blue storage bin and wanted to finish it!
 

Silverdog

Member
A few more photos of the tail section. The horizontal stab pictured here was a casualty in the last move. Will need to build a new one. And the tail feathers need more strength/rigidity. The balsa sticks supplied were less than the quality that I find on other Great Planes kits.

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Silverdog

Member
No, but I like it already! I have the Slow Poke Sport 40 waiting in the queue. I have a Saito four stroke 50 that will be perfect! Your loooks like a great little plane!

I want a 40 kit. I have the .15 size waiting patiently in the box within the confines of my dungeon of a shop. It's just waiting for the light of day!:p
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
With a tail design like that one thing I always wanted to try is making the curved outside edges from thin strips laminated together. In theory it should result in a nice curve and also be plenty strong. Sanding to shape may be a problem with all the glue, however...
 

wilmracer

I build things that fly (sometimes)
Mentor
With a tail design like that one thing I always wanted to try is making the curved outside edges from thin strips laminated together. In theory it should result in a nice curve and also be plenty strong. Sanding to shape may be a problem with all the glue, however...

I've used that technique for giving a hard edge to foam wingtips as well as. Pretty sure I used tightbond to laminate the soaked, pliable balsa strips and sanding wasn't a problem. Epoxy or CA results may vary. GG would almost certainly be a PITA.
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
I've used that technique for giving a hard edge to foam wingtips as well as. Pretty sure I used tightbond to laminate the soaked, pliable balsa strips and sanding wasn't a problem. Epoxy or CA results may vary. GG would almost certainly be a PITA.

Maybe a thinned down TiteBond would be the ticket, I'll have to try that out some day. It certainly wouldn't take much glue on the thin layers of balsa.
 
If you are bowing shapes, regular Titebond sands quite well, without thinning. That’s a technique Mr. Tritle frequently employs. Bowed outlines are quite strong.
 

Silverdog

Member
Sounds like I'm gonna give the "bow technique" a try. As small as this plane is, I was considering balsa sheet with holes for lightening the load.
 

Silverdog

Member
To accomplish the bow in the balsa sticks should I just soak the sticks with titebond or use the ammonia trick and then saturate with glue to hold the shape?
 

Silverdog

Member
Just went back and reviewed the prior posts and caught the portion about "Thin Strips Laminated". I'm kind of pumped to try it out. Looks like a visit to the hobby store a coming for balsa!
 

Joker 53150

Mmmmmmm, balsa.
Mentor
I've seen a few different ways of doing it, but for thin strips some warm water should work well enough.
 
Here's how I bow outlines. I make a template from the plans, out of dollar tree foam board (paper removed). Be sure the shape is size of the inside of the desired outline and if you are bowing thicker sections you can use two layers of foam board. I never use sticks thicker than 1/16" or you risk kinking. I have a 4 foot long 1 inch PVC tube, with a cap, that I use for soaking. I always try to leave at least 2 inches extra on each end. For really light planes, two strips works and if you want it beefier, you can use 3 or even 4. I line up the sticks and use medium CA to glue one end of the sticks together. You don't need more than about a half inch bonded. I also try to select wood that is not too hard; really hard balsa is more prone to kinking and cracking. I soak the wood for at least 30 minutes, and I start with hot water. At the 30 minute mark I pull the sticks and check pliability. If they still seem resistant to bending, I give then another 15 minutes. If after an hour they are still stiff, I break out the Windex with ammonia. A shot of ammonia on the outside of each strip does wonders. Also, be sure the form is extended past the shape so you have a place initially tape the sticks to the foam. Tape the bonded end first since the sticks need to slide on each other as you bend them around the form. I'll usually pull one layer around at a time and tape the opposite end. Then, with the other sticks not bent yet, I put a thin layer of wood glue (I use Titebond II) on the stick previously bowed. The next stick is then pulled over the first stick and I remove the tape from the end and tape down both layers together. I repeat this until all layers are bent. As I pull the last layer around I really work to get rid of any gaps between the wood and add additional strips of tape as I go, to firmly hold the strips together, and to the foam. The fact that the wood is wet gives a little more open time on the glue and you can work the part a little more. Now, here's the cool part, or rather the hot part. I know it seems like this is time consuming, but once you get the hang of it goes pretty quick. Back to the hot part. I take the form, with the wood taped down, and put it in the microwave (when the wife isn't looking), and nuke it for about 10 seconds, let it cool, repeat until the wood is dry. Unless the section is really thick, it usually takes around a minute to get it dry and ready to remove from the form. If you nuke it too long, the foam melts to the wood and it's a real pain to get it off the foam. I'll snap some pictures of a some finished parts and edit this post to add them.

EDIT: These are the tail feathers for an Arctic Tern, build from the old RCM plans. Notice that these are SIX layers thick. This is one of the first things I bowed. Yes, it's been this way for years.... These pieces were actually bowed around pins on the table. This was before I discovered the foam method. The pins leave dents, where the foam and tape method leaves no marks. These tail feathers are REALLY over built. knowing what I know now about bowing, I probably would have adjusted my form to use half as many layers on both the horizontal and the rudder. This arrangement is stout, a Masonry Bavarian Outhouse comes to mind....

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Also of note, the horizontal and elevator were bent in one piece and they sawed apart after the internal framing was added.
This close up shows the dents from the pins.

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The Arctic Tern was an old glow design, so it's pretty overbuilt for electric. I have it almost all framed out, but kind of ran out of steam when I started to realize how fast it was going to have to fly... I'll probably still finish it, but I am also building another one, using the RCM plans for the basic outline, but framing it as a lighter stick frame more suitable to electric power.

In contrast, here are the tail feathers for the Cessna 195 I am building for the forum BBA.

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The 195 is a larger plane, but will weigh much less and fly much slower.
 
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Silverdog

Member
Many thanks guys! I'll get back to it on Friday. Work and Grandkids have me tied up till then! Everyone have a great week and remember to celebrate "Friday the 13th" and go fly!
 

Silverdog

Member
Came in Friday night and pulled out the plans and snapped a few photo's. Have a sink and a washing machine to fix and then I'm back at it.

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