Cessna 182 Balsa Build

[Joker 53150]

Most of us have probably seen the TV show/movie "Jackass", where people do some pretty dumb things - things that normal people would never do.

Building Chinese balsa kits is my own personal Jackass.

I've done a few of them now, and I bang my head against the wall each time. Horrible instructions, no build support, spotty laser cutting quality, poor balsa selection, etc.

But I keep coming back for more, even after building very well designed balsa kits (that actually come with good instructions). Why? Who knows, it's a sickness.

So I finished up a very quick balsa build, the Mountain Models Dandy, a few days ago and felt the need to make more balsa dust. I could finish a couple other kits, or I could fire up a new kit - the new kit won.

This time it's the Cessna 182 balsa kit from Hobby King. It's a good park-flier size bird, and I really like the look of the 182, so this morning I started in on it.

Without a doubt, these instructions are worse than any of the Chinese kits I've built. The fit of the parts ranges from perfect to "not even close".

This won't be a typical build thread like I've done in the past, as I really can't recommend this kit to anybody unless they've got a bit of building experience, and if they've got experience they wouldn't need my thread. Consider this more of a review.

Pics and info to follow.

*** Check Post #51 for a link to a dropbox containing GOOD instructions for this plane, thanks to Mindstorm888! ***

 

[JohnRambozo]

And hilarity ensues.

 

[Joker 53150]

GAME ON! Day 1, removing all the parts from the balsa trees. Usually you leave the parts on the trees until you know you need them, but the laser cutting was TOO good at times here meaning the parts were falling out without any effort. To keep from damaging them I removed all parts and separated them the best I could - wing parts in one stack, fuselage in another, and unidentified parts in the biggest stack.

Here's what I'm hoping to build:




These are the high quality pictures Hobby King puts on their website. Makes me wonder if anybody ever finished this kit!

 

[Joker 53150]

Let's start the insanity with the "instructions" included with the kit. As mentioned, these are probably the worst instructions I've ever seen, even compared to horrible instructions with the Hobby King Red Swan and Sun Bird kits.

Here is the limited "text" instructions. Useless. My 16 year old got a kick out of reading it, so I guess it wasn't completely useless...




Along with the text are some color pictures! However, notice my thumb for size reference on the pictures. 28 postage stamp size pictures. If they were larger they'd have been somewhat useful, but at this size I had to use a magnifying glass to see any detail. It helped, but was kind of a pain.




This sheet was actually not too bad, although I don't read Chinese and it wasn't full size, and didn't include any real detail other than the rib numbering.




On to the build, I did things a bit differently than on most kits. Since I didn't know where a lot of the parts went I decided to start building the nose, wing, and fuselage all at the same time. The idea was that I could start using up a lot of the bigger parts early on, to clear up space on the bench. As the big structures came together I could find where the unidentified parts went, and see how the assemblies were supposed to fit together. A big example of this is how the wing is supposed to attach to the fuselage. They don't explain it at all, and there are a lot of parts needed to make it happen.

The nose cone was the first assembly to be made. Notice it's got some old-school design, using a series of stringers to form the outside structure. This will then be sheeted with thin balsa.




Fuselage sides were next. Notice that the sides are etched showing where the fuselage formers go. Well, most of the spots are marked....




I know what "F25" is, but what the hell is under it? Another former, or is that a pushrod hole? The instructions were obviously no help, so I'll figure it out as I go along.




Same question as above... Although I figured this one out with the help of the magnifying glass and the fantastic instructions. Was that too much sarcasm?




The fuselage starts to take shape. I really need more of these small bar clamps, they are incredibly handy!

 

[Joker 53150]

Interesting... I just noticed the last line of text on the "instructions" says the take-off weight is 220 grams, and empty weight is 200 grams. Anybody got a 20 gram 1300-2200mAh battery? And I'll be surprised if I can fit more than a 1500 in the battery box, much less a 2200.

To make it more fun, the weight of the un-sheeted fuselage, rudder, and one unfinished wing is about 160 grams so far. It still needs the other wing, the horizontal surfaces, sheeting, motor, ESC, servos, covering, landing gear, etc. I should be over their target weight of 220 grams just by adding the other wing!

This thing might be too heavy to fly well. If that's the case it'll be finished as a static display model.

 

[Joker 53150]

On to the wing! Most of the ribs just fell out of the balsa, and many were laying lose in the package when I received it. Only one was broken, but it was a quick/easy fix. When I sorted the ribs I found that about half of the ribs included a 3rd cut out piece. I'm not sure why, but suspect a lack of quality control. Good thing there were extras, as a few of the ribs were cut with the balsa grain running 90 degrees in the wrong direction. I picked the best 2 out of 3 and moved on.




It took a while to figure out where everything went, and having three wing spars certainly didn't help. All parts suspected of being for the wing were sorted into two stacks, one for the left wing and one for the right. This helped make sure I had accounted for everything. Studying the pictures with the magnifying glass helped as well.




As with the rest of the wing, figuring out how to make the ailerons was a time-consuming task. All the parts were mocked-up dry and after I was at least 95% certain I wasn't missing anything I added the glue.




It's a strange design, but all tail surfaces are made from three pieces of balsa laminated together. This forms pockets for the included hinges. Interesting, but probably heavier than it really needs to be.




The fuselage is taking shape. The vertical stabilizer is just sitting in place, not laminated together yet.




The battery box is interesting as well. The Hobby King site says this plane can use up to a 2200 mAh battery. I test fit a few batteries and found that 1500 was about the limit, and that's only if I can get the wires to fit through the hole. Also, I'm not sure how they envisioned securing the hatch. It looks like screw holes at each corner, and the kit includes a lot of screws, but I certainly will find a better method. The flat bottom piece that "F13" is pointing to was missing in the kit. I'm pretty sure I didn't throw it away by accident as I checked my scrap and garbage can. Not a big deal, there was enough left over material to cut a replacement.




And that was enough fun for day 1 of the build!

 

[JohnRambozo]

You made some real progress. Its more like a 3D puzzle than a kit. Nice job.

 

[Joker 53150]

For one day's work it was more than I expected to do. Today goes more slowly as the sheeting and detail work starts.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Looks great so far. I'm very interested in how this turns out because I'm thinking about buying that kit/puzzle.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Wow, and it took me two years to get to this point on a profile CL model.

 

[Joker 53150]

Looks great so far. I'm very interested in how this turns out because I'm thinking about buying that kit/puzzle.

Start stocking up on whiskey now!

 

[Joker 53150]

Wow, and it took me two years to get to this point on a profile CL model.

Maybe it's the lack of instructions, I probably skipped a whole bunch of stuff!

 

[Joker 53150]

This part of the build really confused the hell out of me, and the crappy instructions gave me zero help. I knew the parts had something to do with attaching the wing to the fuselage, but that's it. As I got the build far enough along I realized how it was supposed to work, so the parts were all glued into place. It'll still need a little sanding, but that'll be done later. The idea is that the wing has three tabs on the center leading edge which fit into these three holes.




Cowl stringers are getting installed in preparation for sheeting. They have a little curve to them, so I'm gluing one edge down first and will then force the other end into place for glue tomorrow. Sheeting will follow.




The bottom behind the cowl is also getting sheeted. Overall, the sheet sizes included are relatively close to the needed size, but there will be gaps that need to be filled. Then again, I'm going to cover the plane with film so the small gaps won't be visible.




This is the hardware that comes with the kit. I have no idea what the large blue screws are for... Same with a lot of the other nuts & bolts.




Last up are the pre-bent aileron torque-tube rods and steerable nosewheel hardware. I'm glad the aileron wires are pre-bent, as having to figure it out on my own would have been difficult. The nosewheel steering hardware looks like it should work fairly well, although test fitting it to the firewall showed me that it'll take a little work re-drilling holes in the correct spots.




With all that done, it's starting to look like a plane! The sheeting and some sanding will really complete it.




This ends day 2 of the build.

 

[OttoPilot]

I'll have to remember to brush up on my Mandarin if I ever want to build one of these kits.

Looks like you're having a good go at it though despite the poor instructions.

 

[Joker 53150]

I think I'm learning how the Chinese think, the more of their kits I build.

Just a thought, but if the crap printed instructions are to save money, why not just have them online? Some companies like Alien Aircraft require you to download and print your own. They can be easily updated at any time which is nice.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I think I'm learning how the Chinese think, the more of their kits I build.

Okay, Adam builds a Japanese model in this video, but it's very useful advise.

 

[Joker 53150]

Good find, I saw that video a while back and it really holds true building these kits.

 

[mindstorm88]

Hi Joker, I'm thinking to buy this kit too, and would like to know which motor and propeler would be good for it ??

Thanks

Newbie

 

[Joker 53150]

Hi Joker, I'm thinking to buy this kit too, and would like to know which motor and propeler would be good for it ??

Thanks

Newbie

Quite honestly, at this time I have no idea! I went with one of their recommended motors, but I don't know if it'll be powerful enough based on the weight. Once it's more complete I'll weigh it and be able to better pick a motor.

 

[Joker 53150]

Time to make some more balsa dust! First up for the weekend fun was sheeting the removable cowl. It wasn't difficult to do, but it took a while because of the curves. After finally figuring out where each of the 4 pieces of sheeting went I would glue them down on the sides only, and then let the glue cure. After it cured I would bend each piece and clamp it down along the way to keep the sheet secure to the internal structure. A little filler and sanding and it's done.




This is another "mystery" part with the kit - it took me a while to figure out what the X7s were for, and what the holes in the removable cowl were for. Turns out they work together, a detail that would have been nice to put in the instructions! I think they plan on the builder just running a screw into the X7 from outside the cowl, but that wouldn't be a good long-term solution. Instead I'll glue a blind nut inside X7 so I can run a white nylon bolt through the cowl to hold it in place. Hopefully it lines up properly....




This is the stock engine mount mocked up and just held in place. It fits well enough, but I don't think it will be positioned properly for a motor so I'm probably just going to use motor stand-offs instead. That will give me more flexibility in motor size and position.




As with sheeting elsewhere on this plane, there are small gaps that will be dealt with later. The sheets included are pretty close, but not quite close enough. Sometimes you need to trim them a little to fit and other times they are slightly undersized.




The stringers went on top and bottom without any issues, and the kit included about 50% more than needed which was a surprise. I tried to use every little scrap expecting to come up short.






Moving to the tail... The vertical stabilizer is odd in that it's got thin sheet sandwiched by light plywood. The ply is cut (I assume) to lighten it. However, the horizontal stab, rudder, and elevator are all balsa with no plywood. All 4 surfaces are made by sandwiching a thin balsa sheet between two thicker sheets of balsa or ply. The thin inner piece is cut to make a hinge pocket, and holes are laser cut to pin the hinge.




Giving credit where due, the laser cutouts for the hinges are dead-on accurate, as long as you cut a little clearance room for the barrel of the hinge. Using these marks brings the control surface into line nicely with the stabilizer, creating a gap that is just about perfect. Notice the laser cuts on the rudder for the control horn, a nice touch. Too bad the horn included in the kit is a completely different style! I made sure these stayed in place with a little glue and I'll cut recesses for the Flite Test horns, which will work well on this bird.




Last up for now, I'm doing the top sheeting. As with the other sheeting done so far, this is far from perfect creating the need to fill gaps. The included balsa is also a bit stiffer than I'd choose. In hind-sight, I should have used the included parts as templates and cut new ones. The sheet around the rear window didn't curve as gracefully as I had hoped, but some filler will ease the curve nicely.