FF2017 Int. Racers: Caudron C.460
- Thread starter rockyboy
- Start date
Build Instructions Continued
Time for a packing tape hinge to put the rudder in the vertical stabilizer
Bevel the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer, and clear out the gutter for the bamboo skewer reinforcement.
Cut the elevator halves out before folding and gluing the horizontal stab together.
Glue and fold the horizontal stab together and bevel the bottom front edge of the elevator pieces so they will move freely when attached.
I'm still thinking about various control rod ideas for the elevator, so I'm going to set this aside and work on the fuse next.
Glue in the fuselage side doublers over the wing saddle. Make sure to align the notch in the side doubler to the notch in the top plate so it will all fold over into itself. In future plan versions I'll add some dotted line printing to ensure this part goes in the right place.
Then remember the table is your friend - but get a right angle or square too - and do a B style joint on the fuse sides, where the side of the fuse sits beside the top plate.
Stand up the other side of the fuse, again being careful to be square with the alignment. Then bend in and glue the front part of the fuselage sides to line up with the sides of the nose.
And align and glue in the tail sides too.
And finally measure up your motor mount, install some blind or T nuts in the firewall, and then glue the firewall into the fuselage. I like using white gorilla glue for this so it foams up and holds onto more of the foam that just the narrow joint. It's helpful to use a couple dots of hot glue to hold it in place for the gorilla glue to foam up and dry without pushing the firewall out of alignment.
Now to the wings. Clear out the gutter and glue in the bamboo reinforcements in the wing tips - another great place for white gorilla glue with a strip of packing tape laid over the top to prevent it from foaming over.
Clear out the gutter for the plywood wing spar and the rectangle areas for the foam wing spar alignment tabs. Also bend the wing backwards and put in the bevel on both sides of the leading edge.
Fold and glue in the wing spars, being careful to keep the gutter space for the plywood spar free and clear. Then install the servos, servo wire extensions as needed, and tack glue in the wires so they don't move around during the main fold and glue step.
Time for a packing tape hinge to put the rudder in the vertical stabilizer
Bevel the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer, and clear out the gutter for the bamboo skewer reinforcement.
Cut the elevator halves out before folding and gluing the horizontal stab together.
Glue and fold the horizontal stab together and bevel the bottom front edge of the elevator pieces so they will move freely when attached.
I'm still thinking about various control rod ideas for the elevator, so I'm going to set this aside and work on the fuse next.
Glue in the fuselage side doublers over the wing saddle. Make sure to align the notch in the side doubler to the notch in the top plate so it will all fold over into itself. In future plan versions I'll add some dotted line printing to ensure this part goes in the right place.
Then remember the table is your friend - but get a right angle or square too - and do a B style joint on the fuse sides, where the side of the fuse sits beside the top plate.
Stand up the other side of the fuse, again being careful to be square with the alignment. Then bend in and glue the front part of the fuselage sides to line up with the sides of the nose.
And align and glue in the tail sides too.
And finally measure up your motor mount, install some blind or T nuts in the firewall, and then glue the firewall into the fuselage. I like using white gorilla glue for this so it foams up and holds onto more of the foam that just the narrow joint. It's helpful to use a couple dots of hot glue to hold it in place for the gorilla glue to foam up and dry without pushing the firewall out of alignment.
Now to the wings. Clear out the gutter and glue in the bamboo reinforcements in the wing tips - another great place for white gorilla glue with a strip of packing tape laid over the top to prevent it from foaming over.
Clear out the gutter for the plywood wing spar and the rectangle areas for the foam wing spar alignment tabs. Also bend the wing backwards and put in the bevel on both sides of the leading edge.
Fold and glue in the wing spars, being careful to keep the gutter space for the plywood spar free and clear. Then install the servos, servo wire extensions as needed, and tack glue in the wires so they don't move around during the main fold and glue step.
Still building...
Before installing the servos make sure they are centered - either hook them up to a receiver or use a servo tester.
Servo control horn screwed on before hot gluing into place. Do NOT use white gorilla glue to mount servos. The stuff leaks in through the seams in the case and glues them solid. Ask me how I know. :black_eyed:
With the servos in and cables glued down so they don't flop around, fold the wing over and press down a bit to mark where the servos hit the other side of the wing. Carve that spot out a bit so the wing can fold down flat.
Here's how I did the wing glue up. First, coat the top of the foam spar, the leading edge bevel, and the channel for the plywood spar with white gorilla glue. Then fold the wing over with the bottom side to the table about 3/4 of the way to closed. This should be enough so the two bottom pieces of the wing come together straight and the plywood spar can be slipped in. Add a little more white gorilla glue on top of the plywood spar once it's in place. Then use hot glue along the bottom wing trailing edge on one side of the wing at a time and hold firmly until dry. The hot glue will help hold everything in proper shape while the white gorilla glue foams up and holds everything on the inside. Keep in mind what I mentioned before about white gorilla glue and servos not mixing well - keep a good amount of space for foam expansion around the servos.
And here's the pretty underside of the wing. I'm leaving some white showing on the tips and trailing edge to help with orientation.
Cut a strip of blue from the extra trimmed off the fuselage to make a cover for the joint on the bottom of the wing. Squirt in white gorilla glue, add the blue strip, and then a strip of packing tape on top to keep it all in while expanding.
The wing tips needed a little hot glue and pressure to close up tightly.
And now it's starting to look like a plane. Wings not mounted yet, but soon.
Before installing the servos make sure they are centered - either hook them up to a receiver or use a servo tester.
Servo control horn screwed on before hot gluing into place. Do NOT use white gorilla glue to mount servos. The stuff leaks in through the seams in the case and glues them solid. Ask me how I know. :black_eyed:
With the servos in and cables glued down so they don't flop around, fold the wing over and press down a bit to mark where the servos hit the other side of the wing. Carve that spot out a bit so the wing can fold down flat.
Here's how I did the wing glue up. First, coat the top of the foam spar, the leading edge bevel, and the channel for the plywood spar with white gorilla glue. Then fold the wing over with the bottom side to the table about 3/4 of the way to closed. This should be enough so the two bottom pieces of the wing come together straight and the plywood spar can be slipped in. Add a little more white gorilla glue on top of the plywood spar once it's in place. Then use hot glue along the bottom wing trailing edge on one side of the wing at a time and hold firmly until dry. The hot glue will help hold everything in proper shape while the white gorilla glue foams up and holds everything on the inside. Keep in mind what I mentioned before about white gorilla glue and servos not mixing well - keep a good amount of space for foam expansion around the servos.
And here's the pretty underside of the wing. I'm leaving some white showing on the tips and trailing edge to help with orientation.
Cut a strip of blue from the extra trimmed off the fuselage to make a cover for the joint on the bottom of the wing. Squirt in white gorilla glue, add the blue strip, and then a strip of packing tape on top to keep it all in while expanding.
The wing tips needed a little hot glue and pressure to close up tightly.
And now it's starting to look like a plane. Wings not mounted yet, but soon.
Still building - but it really looks like a plane now!
Beveling time for the flaps and ailerons...
Packing tape hinges on the tops of the elevators...
And time to put the tail together. Hot glue on the inside back tip of the fuselage and the top where the horizontal stabilizer will sit. Future plan revision will include some alignment tabs back here.
And showing the pinch at the back of the fuselage, and how much of the vertical stabilizer extends to the back of the plane - part of it's distinctive look.
To get the incidence angle correct on the main wing, set the fuselage flat and level with the firewall and tail assembly hanging over the edge of your work bench. The bottom of the wing should be flat and level when settled into the saddle. For attachment technique, I ran a good bead of white gorilla glue on the fuselage doubler edge, and then a hot glue bead on the fuselage side - then gently pushed the wing in place. The hot glue holds everthing in place, and prevents any foam from leaking out onto the exposed wing surface. The foaming action creates a great, lightweight bond with additional surface area by squeezing out on the inside surfaces. Pictures to come once it's fully dry.
And look at that beauty! Very much plane shaped now. I'm leaving it sitting on a plastic trash bag to dry in case the white gorilla glue foams out somewhere overnight.
Next up - front cowling and turtle deck.
Beveling time for the flaps and ailerons...
Packing tape hinges on the tops of the elevators...
And time to put the tail together. Hot glue on the inside back tip of the fuselage and the top where the horizontal stabilizer will sit. Future plan revision will include some alignment tabs back here.
And showing the pinch at the back of the fuselage, and how much of the vertical stabilizer extends to the back of the plane - part of it's distinctive look.
To get the incidence angle correct on the main wing, set the fuselage flat and level with the firewall and tail assembly hanging over the edge of your work bench. The bottom of the wing should be flat and level when settled into the saddle. For attachment technique, I ran a good bead of white gorilla glue on the fuselage doubler edge, and then a hot glue bead on the fuselage side - then gently pushed the wing in place. The hot glue holds everthing in place, and prevents any foam from leaking out onto the exposed wing surface. The foaming action creates a great, lightweight bond with additional surface area by squeezing out on the inside surfaces. Pictures to come once it's fully dry.
And look at that beauty! Very much plane shaped now. I'm leaving it sitting on a plastic trash bag to dry in case the white gorilla glue foams out somewhere overnight.
Next up - front cowling and turtle deck.
More building...
Time to work on the turtledeck - line up all the formers and glue them in (but glue them in sitting on a table, not sitting on the plane like this picture - don't want to glue it to the top of the fuselage).
The very back of the turtledeck base needs an alignment notch where it fits up to the rudder. Notch missing on v11 of the plans, will be included on the next release.
Another view of the alignment notch at the rudder.
And here's the front fuselage former that is actually glued into the fuselage top plate. A permanent cowling cover will be added to the fuselage after the motor mounting alignment is confirmed, and then the removable turtledeck will be covered. These two formers are where the parts meet up.
Time to work on the turtledeck - line up all the formers and glue them in (but glue them in sitting on a table, not sitting on the plane like this picture - don't want to glue it to the top of the fuselage).
The very back of the turtledeck base needs an alignment notch where it fits up to the rudder. Notch missing on v11 of the plans, will be included on the next release.
Another view of the alignment notch at the rudder.
And here's the front fuselage former that is actually glued into the fuselage top plate. A permanent cowling cover will be added to the fuselage after the motor mounting alignment is confirmed, and then the removable turtledeck will be covered. These two formers are where the parts meet up.
Building a cowling
Mounting the motor to make sure everything clears (and it's easier to install the extensions before the cowling goes one). I do hope this motor will have enough 'oomph' - it worked great on the 39" wingspan model, but this one will be a little heaver at 43" and with more detail added. Will absolutely take some all up weight calculations when it's all done and rethink the motor selection at that time.
So the firewall was a little too low for my liking for the cowling - so I added a layer of foam.
And then wrapped some foam over the top and traced out the shape to make a proper top cowling piece.
That piece was traced and cut out of the oversized blue decal print space, and then attached to the foam.
And then glued it all in place. I didn't like the little white stripe peaking through at the join, so I covered that with another slice cut from the big blue printed decal as well - it's a little shiny there now, but looks much better!
Looking pretty sharp! Need to order a slightly bigger blue spinner though...
For the turtle deck I'm experimenting with stuff other than foam - this will all be covered with poster board and paper decal, but first I'm adding a long strip of bamboo for strength along the top to resist bending in half when being handled.
Mounting the motor to make sure everything clears (and it's easier to install the extensions before the cowling goes one). I do hope this motor will have enough 'oomph' - it worked great on the 39" wingspan model, but this one will be a little heaver at 43" and with more detail added. Will absolutely take some all up weight calculations when it's all done and rethink the motor selection at that time.
So the firewall was a little too low for my liking for the cowling - so I added a layer of foam.
And then wrapped some foam over the top and traced out the shape to make a proper top cowling piece.
That piece was traced and cut out of the oversized blue decal print space, and then attached to the foam.
And then glued it all in place. I didn't like the little white stripe peaking through at the join, so I covered that with another slice cut from the big blue printed decal as well - it's a little shiny there now, but looks much better!
Looking pretty sharp! Need to order a slightly bigger blue spinner though...
For the turtle deck I'm experimenting with stuff other than foam - this will all be covered with poster board and paper decal, but first I'm adding a long strip of bamboo for strength along the top to resist bending in half when being handled.
Getting closer.... but still building...
She's pretty big! As I was tearing out servos from the first prototype, I set the wing on top of the current build. Quite a difference in impact between ~33" and ~44"
Time to put on the bottom cowling once the engine mounts are confirmed lined up correctly.
And slip in the electronics / battery deck. It rests on the top of the fuse doublers - I just did a force fit for now, will add a dab of glue once I get all the wiring in place.
To keep the front of the turtledeck in place, I embedded a couple 2" bamboo skewer lengths with a hot glue smear. They poke nicely into the former on the plane and keep the cover down tightly. I'll add a couple magnets in the back in a bit to finish the hold downs.
Adding a couple very thin rattan/bamboo strips to help form the shape of the turtledeck before the paper goes on top, and to give it a little extra strength to hold up to handling. On the first prototype, it wanted to fold up on me after a while.
And a close up of the former strips added at the back. Time for paper / poster board covering next...
She's pretty big! As I was tearing out servos from the first prototype, I set the wing on top of the current build. Quite a difference in impact between ~33" and ~44"
Time to put on the bottom cowling once the engine mounts are confirmed lined up correctly.
And slip in the electronics / battery deck. It rests on the top of the fuse doublers - I just did a force fit for now, will add a dab of glue once I get all the wiring in place.
To keep the front of the turtledeck in place, I embedded a couple 2" bamboo skewer lengths with a hot glue smear. They poke nicely into the former on the plane and keep the cover down tightly. I'll add a couple magnets in the back in a bit to finish the hold downs.
Adding a couple very thin rattan/bamboo strips to help form the shape of the turtledeck before the paper goes on top, and to give it a little extra strength to hold up to handling. On the first prototype, it wanted to fold up on me after a while.
And a close up of the former strips added at the back. Time for paper / poster board covering next...
HilldaFlyer
Well-known member
Approaching a balsa build with formers and skewers.
Looks really great - and may you have way more success than I did for the maiden.
Looks really great - and may you have way more success than I did for the maiden.
Thanks guys - my biggest concern now is the power plant. I'll be weighing once I finish up the build and electronics install, and then taking a hard look at the motor and prop combo. Really don't want to have it just follow a ballistic arc from launch from lack of thrust. And I'm kicking myself for not getting a final weight measurement on the first prototype for comparison.
Almost done with the build...
Covering the rear turtledeck first. More art than science - and more arts and crafts than fine art.
Looks better the further back you stand.
And here's the rest of the covering complete!
Look at that big beautiful plane! At least she looks beautiful to me!
One more night of build work to get the control rods and electronics in, and then time for a final weight check and some motor calculations.
Ready to start the betting pool on maiden flight results.
Covering the rear turtledeck first. More art than science - and more arts and crafts than fine art.
Looks better the further back you stand.
And here's the rest of the covering complete!
Look at that big beautiful plane! At least she looks beautiful to me!
One more night of build work to get the control rods and electronics in, and then time for a final weight check and some motor calculations.
Ready to start the betting pool on maiden flight results.
AircPirateNinsei
airc-pirates.com
Nice build, nice decals, nice plane! :applause:
The end (of the build) is near!
Thanks guys! Appreciate the kind words.
Tonight's work was all about finishing the control rod hookups and wiring up the electronics. This is how I dealt with the split elevator - split control rod! The bulkhead with a small hole for the rod is essential to keeping the alignment of both elevator sides correct - if the rod is allowed to flex sideways, one of the elevator halves goes further up than the other.
And here is the rudder control rod on the bottom of the screen punching through the bulkhead as well. Since I'm reusing the hardware and electronics from the (smaller) prototype, I needed to extend the control rods a good bit. Connected the pieces back to each other with shrink wrap tube and CA glue.
This thing has so much room in the battery compartment compared to anything else I've flown The blue box in the middle of the bay is the gyro - hot glued to be solidly attached to the airframe, and as close to right on top of the COG and in the thrust line as I could make it.
And here's the receiver a bit further back. The dual antenna's are glued to the fuse at right angles to each other for better reception.
With a 3S2000 thrown in, she tips the scale at 34 ounces.
Right now it has a Keda TR2837/14 1070kv motor in it, and with a 10x6 it should pull 35.85oz thrust at 48.4mph pitch speed. With a 10x6x3 Dr Kiwi says I should be getting a little more grunt at 39.79oz thrust but down a little to 44.5mhp pitch speed. His comments on the 10x8 resonating badly on the bench don't sound like something I want to put in the air.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11865913&postcount=32
So any opinions out there on the appropriateness of this motor setup for this plane? With a 1:1 or better thrust to weight ratio, I think I'll be able to successfully fly at least - if I can get up to speed quickly enough from hand launch to generate enough lift - perhaps a touch of flaps during takeoff? That did seem helpful on the prototype.
Appreciate any input here. Would like to avoid creating a pretty blue lawn dart. :black_eyed:
Thanks!
Thanks guys! Appreciate the kind words.
Tonight's work was all about finishing the control rod hookups and wiring up the electronics. This is how I dealt with the split elevator - split control rod! The bulkhead with a small hole for the rod is essential to keeping the alignment of both elevator sides correct - if the rod is allowed to flex sideways, one of the elevator halves goes further up than the other.
And here is the rudder control rod on the bottom of the screen punching through the bulkhead as well. Since I'm reusing the hardware and electronics from the (smaller) prototype, I needed to extend the control rods a good bit. Connected the pieces back to each other with shrink wrap tube and CA glue.
This thing has so much room in the battery compartment compared to anything else I've flown
The blue box in the middle of the bay is the gyro - hot glued to be solidly attached to the airframe, and as close to right on top of the COG and in the thrust line as I could make it.
And here's the receiver a bit further back. The dual antenna's are glued to the fuse at right angles to each other for better reception.
With a 3S2000 thrown in, she tips the scale at 34 ounces.
Right now it has a Keda TR2837/14 1070kv motor in it, and with a 10x6 it should pull 35.85oz thrust at 48.4mph pitch speed. With a 10x6x3 Dr Kiwi says I should be getting a little more grunt at 39.79oz thrust but down a little to 44.5mhp pitch speed. His comments on the 10x8 resonating badly on the bench don't sound like something I want to put in the air.
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11865913&postcount=32
So any opinions out there on the appropriateness of this motor setup for this plane? With a 1:1 or better thrust to weight ratio, I think I'll be able to successfully fly at least - if I can get up to speed quickly enough from hand launch to generate enough lift - perhaps a touch of flaps during takeoff? That did seem helpful on the prototype.
Appreciate any input here. Would like to avoid creating a pretty blue lawn dart. :black_eyed:
Thanks!
Did you know if you plug in the battery balance port backwards into a FrSky mini voltage sensor, it will let the magic smoke out of your fancy telemetry capable receiver?
Well, now you do.
And so do I.
Well that sucks :black_eyed:
She is looking great! I think you'll be fine as long as you get someone to give her a good solid hand launch. With that much power you'll have to ease into it but she looks like she should do fine. Let me know when you're planning to get out for a maiden and I'll see if I can get a pass to sneak out
Let me know when you're planning to get out for a maiden and I'll see if I can get a pass to sneak out
That would be really helpful! It'll be a couple weeks (looking at weather, daughter's volleyball schedule, and shipping time for my new receiver
)
Thanks for the tip! At some point I'm going to write up a 'series of things to do on a maiden flight' to gather all these bits of wisdom together. I keep trying to talk one of the podcasts or FT episodes into doing it as topic too...
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