Flite Fest 2017: Bugatti 100P

[willsonman]

Not a ton of time spent due to other obligations. I did get the other side of the wing prepped for the new landing gear. I removed the old gear and mounting spars. I measured very carefully to match the other side symmetrically. I also prepped the main ply pieces needed.


While I worked on the above, I was shooting some paint. I got primer on the spinners and got two coats of blue as well. Letting this all cure out overnight.


I also shot some black on the props. Just one side. As this is an enamel paint it requires a lot of time to cure but will be less prone to chipping or rubbing off. Also of note is that the information provided from the EAA shows that the props are Ratier brand. A french company but I've sourced the logo. In consult with Carl (Wilmracer), I'll inkjet print the logo onto waterslide decal paper, seal it, apply it, and seal it again onto the props.


Making good headway. Once the gear is done things should pick back up in terms of daily progress.

 

[Joker 53150]

Since you're painting the props you will have a nice way to balance them - with more paint. Some of the bigger wood props I use need a touch of weight so I like to use paint on the tips. It's scale, functional, and clean looking.

 

[willsonman]

Well, having balanced them already will help. I believe I can do some final balancing with the final clear coat.

 

[Mid7night]

Glad to see things still movin'. Seems like you're in the same late night build camp as me - work starts around 9pm, after kiddos are asleep and Wifey has been checked with, yeah?

View attachment 82326

Aperture Science! Haven't seen that logo in quite a while.

 

[willsonman]

Back in the day, I did case mods for computers. That was done for my original Portal mod back in 2007.
https://hardforum.com/threads/asec-company-issue-case.1244054/

Featured on Engadget:
https://www.engadget.com/2008/03/11/make-your-own-aperture-science-pc-workstation/

I actually start work at 5am so I can leave by 2pm and be home for when my kids get home from school. I can them help them with homework, if they need, or take care of other after school activities or help around the house. I'm usually in bed by 10pm. I usually get most of my work done in this afternoon time if the kids do not need my help.It works for us.

 

[willsonman]

I got the wing prepped for the new gear. Carved out the wheel well and did some dry fitting. I had prepped the ply pieces but ended up cutting the main ply piece wrong so I cut a new one and glued it and clamped it overnight. Shot some black paint on the back side of the props. Waterslide decal sheets ordered.

My 3D printer should arrive tomorrow or Saturday. So there's a bit of a distraction for you. As if that's not enough, I spent 2 hours laying down more flooring in the basement. Those who have been following me (stalking) know that over the last year we have been refinishing our basement. We are nearly done the large room and more flooring should be here for me to wrap up the big room. That means at some point I will have to empty my shop to lay down flooring there as well. The laundry room needs to have the old tiles removed first so that will be a pain but then I get to put in baseboards for the entire basement. Yay me.

 

[Joker 53150]

Don't worry, that new printer isn't going to consume every available second for the first week or two...! Once I dialed mine enough to trust it to print unattended my time freed up considerably.

 

[willsonman]

I did watch the assembly video and it seems like I can do it in about 2-3 hours. The real time hog will be teaching myself to model for 3D printing. I've been doing 3D modeling for years now but there are nuanced techniques I need to learn, which I am excited about. I've got PLA and ABS filament coming. I plan to do my own investigation into surface finishing so that I can make detailed cockpits and other fun details. More to come on that later and in another thread.

 

[PsyBorg]

Was just randomly watching videos and came across these two that might be of interest to people following this thread as well as you Wilsonman as the first has real photos of this in various stages of its life that you may not have seen.

The second confuses me though.. This plane never flew during the period it was designed to race in? Am I getting the story correct from this video?

 

[willsonman]

That is correct. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939 and Bugatti hid it in a Barn so that the Nazis would not use it as a weapon. Original never flew.

 

[Kerick]

Was just randomly watching videos and came across these two that might be of interest to people following this thread as well as you Wilsonman as the first has real photos of this in various stages of its life that you may not have seen.

The second confuses me though.. This plane never flew during the period it was designed to race in? Am I getting the story correct from this video?

I was saddened find out that the pilot (Scotty Wilson) in the above video, lost his life while flying that very plane www.flyingmag.com/pilot-killed-in-crash-bugatti-100p-replica

 

[willsonman]

Got the other retract MOSTLY installed. Only secured with two of the four screws but it was enough to get her back on her legs. You can see from these and comparing to Post #330 that the forward rake is not nearly what it was. The trade off is that the etracts themselves are more robust and therefore more reliable, as well as better fitting inside the wheel well, which is mostly in part to the offset oleos. It was a tough call to make but in the end I'm happy with the result. The center line of the wheels is forward of the LE of the wing but only just. That makes for a need for very smooth landings and just having to give her the goods on takeoff. With the contra motor, back-torque on takeoff will basically be a non-issue. I now need to fill in the gaping holes in the wing and move onto other things.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

It's coming along nicely. That blue looks awesome in contrast with the red.

Did the canopy turn out alright? I know some glues can be a pain to work with.

New panel got printed last night, turned out awesome.

 

[willsonman]

Yes! The blue looks even better in-person. I'm really liking it. Yes, the canopy turned out fine. The glue cured out just fine. I need to do some touch up with some heat but should be fairly minor.

Taking some lessons in how to properly model for 3D printing I made a new sketch for the instrument panel in Fusion. Jeremiah, from the forum, and Sponz Sr. have been independently printing to work out bugs. Jeremiah's print is the grey one, printed flat. Sponz printed the part flat and vertically. These are both on the Anet A8 printer. Some really great progress. in the parts so far.

 

[willsonman]

As stated before, a long weekend full of lots of different things.

I did manage to fill the voids from the previous landing gear installation with foam. This needs to be re-shaped but is a minor affair. I used gorilla glue at the base to fill gaps and then used Titebond on the sides so that I have a better sanding experience. I did this Friday afternoon and just let it cure out over the weekend. I took time on Saturday to clean up the build area as there was foam and saw dust everywhere.



The 3D printer was built. There were a few build hiccups. A couple of pieces of acrylic were not entirely square when assembled so I took time to file them so that everything would assemble perfectly. I'll not go into detail about my dummy bone-head mistake but I will mention that a new control board has been ordered. :black_eyed:

 

[Joker 53150]

Nice printer, it looks very familiar! It took a few days of printing to finish up all the "upgrades" to make it even better (frame braces, new spool holder, belt tensioners, cable chains, etc) but mine is cruising along nicely. Starting at 9 last night I began printing a 1/4-ish scale pilot for my big Pietenpol, and as of 5:30 this morning it was 91% done and looking GREAT! I found that by turning the print speed down slightly and also lowering the slice thickness I'm able to get better detail than I had hoped for.

 

[Revere]

Do you use acetone to smooth out the print ridges or a different technique?
Acetone vapour is good for large areas but needs to be watched very carefully or the printed item melts into a blobby mess and can blur detailed areas. Using acetone on a brush is also good, especially for detailed areas but can leave brushmarks on larger areas.
Would love to find a better solution that works for both tight detailed areas and more open large areas.

 

[willsonman]

I plan on experimenting with acetone and my prints for smooth finishes. Overall, PLA does not react as well to this compared to ABS. Some fiddling will be in order to get it right.

 

[willsonman]

It may not look like much but it was quite tricky to mock up the mold for the tail cone. I used the small pieces of foam cut from the H-stabs to make the root. I had to insert an odd piece of foam on each side to fill the void and get the angle right. Then, careful sculpting to shape the transition to the cone from the V-stab. The foam pieces were tacked together with super 77 spray glue. Since this will all just get melted out once the glass is applied, there was no need to use any other glue and wait. The image below shows the transition of the V-stab as well as the root of the right-side H-stab. XT60 connector for size reference. Obviously, I slathered it with spackle to start filling some voids and prep for some final shaping.


Here you can see the front end face on. I will apply some white DTFB to the face to allow a transition between the cone and the fuselage. I want to do final shaping and test fitting against the Y-spar before I add this.


I've run out of large pieces of 1/16 balsa sheet so I need to pick up more to create the wheel wells before I move onto the wing filets. The LHS should have some, so I just need to stop by on my way home from work sometime. I'll also need this balsa to line the battery hatch, when I get there.

Once I get the tail cone completed I will be able to move onto the battery hatch. Cutting this off will give me access to run the control rods for the tail, determine servo mounting points, wing servo wire routing, and overall final fitting of electronics.

Also still to do is the flap and aileron servos and making the control links internal for a more scale appearance. Obviously this involves the hinges as well.

So, there is still a LOT left to do but its coming together.

 

[willsonman]

The tail cone was sanded and some final shaping done for better fitting on the tail. After that, I added two layers of foam board to the base for the glass to have overhang so that it can be screwed into the Y-spar. Final spackle is curing over night.

I went back to the printed views and cut out the shapes for the wing root leading and trailing edges. The leading edge was cut from 1/2" foam so I will not have to build it up as much when I do the filet. The trailing edge is foam board again with the paper removed. What the picture below does not show is that I cut out the final hole in the LE part for the wheels to fit. Some additional fitting of the oleos is in order but its going to fit just fine. The filet will rely heavily on TLAR as it will have to be sculpted freehand. The leading edge in particular has so many compound curves that to form it from foam sheet would prove difficult and time consuming. Not to mention the end result would be weak and prone to rash and damage. I'm fairly confident that the bottom of the wing will be much easier than the top.


I'll probably get on the glass next for the tail cone and H-stabs. I should probably just mix up some extra resin and knock out the carbon tow for the nose while I'm at it. I've got a pot time of 60 minutes with the hardener I use so I can knock out this large chunk of glass work in one session.