DC3/C47 2 meters / 6,5 foot twin electric plane

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Perhaps using gift wrapping tissue paper applied with white glue might smooth out the surface without adding too much weight.

I'm going with 1/4 oz fiberglass on my current big build and it's really very lightweight - I've just had to learn to use a gift card to really squeeze out the epoxy so the weave is showing through. But it does require a pretty flat surface to start with. And it's not too expensive on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/272878069574
 
Thank you rockyboy!
I was thinking to use either this lightweight fibreglass or verry thin fabric.
The problem is that the foam i´m using sucks in the Epoxy.

Tomorrow i´ll try to use the shrinking foil again but i´m going to cut the foil into smaller strips.
The main problem will be the heat of my smoothing iron which melds the foam.
It´s a pretty good iron with a temperature sensor, a digital heat controll and a display but the minimum temperature it can reach is 100 degrees celsius (212 degrees fahrenheit) and that´s pretty much for working with shrinking foil. :(

An other idea would be to seal the surfase of the foam (idk which stuff i can use for this) and then cover it with fabric or fibreglass but that would probably go verry heavy and expensive.

Have a nice day (or evening)!
Jetcrafter2000
 
Hi guys!

I´ve made some progress in the past few days.
First i finnished the secound wing.

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And i finished the first enginenacell.

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I reinforced the mainjoints with fibreglass.

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And fitted it into the wing.

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Next i´ll cover it and glue it to the wing.

See you!
Jetcrafter2000
 

foamtest

Toothpick glider kid
Super cool, I can't wait till this bird is all painted and ready to fly! It feels like I have been watching this build forever lol
 

DamoRC

Elite member
Mentor
Jes it´s the fifth month of building right now but it´s the result which counts, not the time :)
And i can´t wait for the maiden too!

I need to find out where you guys buy your patience from, my current level would not be up to this task.

Like the fiberglass reinforcement idea.

DamoRC
 
Hi guys!
in the meantime i´ve made some progress.
I started with the secound wing connection.
But there i recognised that my leadingedge of my wing is angled up for approx. 5°.

(Picture comming soon)

The onely way to fix that is to cut off the whole leadingedge and glue it on with the right angle. :(
I decided to onely cut of the first 3 thirds of the ledingedge because at the wingtip the angle is right again.

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I also attached the Landinggear to the enginenacell.

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That´s it until yet.

See you!
Jetcrafter2000
 
Hi guys!
Here´s the progress i´ve made over the weekend.
First i build a holding for the ESC.

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Then i fixed the ESC with a peace of Velcro tape.

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In the inside of the enginenacell will be a airsream so the cooling of the ESC is cooled.

Next i put a cap onto the bombbay so the content doesn´t drop into the fuselage if i fly a steep turn, a looping or inverted.

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I also fixed the secound wing connection.

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And i started with the secoung enginenacell.

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The Next steps will be to build the enginenacell and to glue the inner wings to the fuselage.

Have a nice day!
Jetcrafter2000
 
Today i build the secound enginenacell and tomorrow i´l install the cowlflaps.

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A few days ago i tryed out to cover a fuselage dummy with paper.
I saw this in the F100 build but i decided to use a newspaper couse it´s pretty light.
But i ended up with a pretty heavy and not verry good looking surface (I pained it and it looked a bit like a fleece).
So now i´m searching for a light and paintable material with which i can cover my fuselage without adding too much weight.
Do you have any suggestions for me? (under 80g/m² )

See you!
Jetcrafter2000
 
Hi guys!
I glued on one of the inner wings.

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And i put in the cables.

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I also finnished the secound enginenacell (in the video from the last post).
And i glued on the leadingedge of the secound wing, which was placed in an wrong angle.

I still have no clue how i can make the outer surface paintable and smooth and at the same time as light as possible!

Please let me know if you have any ideas.

Bye!
Jetcrafter2000
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
A couple things to think about on the smooth / paintable side. I'm using DAP Lightweight Fast and Final Spackle sanded smooth. 3M also has a Patch Plus Lightweight Spackle that I haven't tried yet, but Wilsonman reports that it sands easier.

I've also got a can of Evercoat Lightweight Body Filler I plan to try soon, but I've been cautioned to try it on a scrap first as the two part poly resins might eat unsealed foam. I've seen people get great results with this stuff on big balsa sheeted wings though.

Then cause I want to prevent hanger rash I've been covering that with 3/4 oz fiberglass and epoxy. The fiberglass is definitely not necessary, but a nice touch. Another top coat option is to use a watered down white-glue mixture and painter's masking paper (you can find rolls of it cheap in the hardware stores paint aisle). I don't think this provides as much strength for the weight, but it's easier to work with.

And for another idea, you can always skip the paint - just sand it down and then apply a low temp iron on covering like the Hobby King line
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/workbench-hardware/hardware-accessories/covering-film.html - Wilmracer used this to put a great finish on his C.460 Caudron build - not sure if he did a filler coat under the covering though.
 
Thanks!
The problem is that i want to keep the added weight under 100 gramms!
The sparcle is to heavy for that but the covering film is the the idea i like the most.
I already tryed using covering film but it buckled up in the curves.
It´s probably fixable with using smaller strips of covering film.
The foil should also be able to overdraw little scraches.

Jetcrafter2000
 
Hi guys!
In the last few days i corrected the leadingedge of the secound wing.

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And i glued on the secound inner wing.

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And here you can see how HUGE this thing is.
The carbonfibre rod in the front is 1 meter long (39,4 inch).
After the glue has has dryed i was able to set up everything.

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Next step will be to finnish the enginenacells.

Cheers!
Jetcrafter2000