bracesport
Legendary member
I am also looking forward to seeing how we are going to build the feathers? 2mm balsa with FG either side? 
Last edited:
GlassRat - Ridge Rat balsa conversion
- Thread starter thenated0g
- Start date
yeah i want to give that a try. On the one hand i have used this before and they are super strong. But on this plane it will be almost 3 times as much material (3 times wider than i have done before). I was thinking of putting some carbon tow across and that will stiffen it up. I am definitely going to try it out but if its not stiff enough i will do something else. The vertical stabilizer should be fine, but the horizontal stabilizer is really wide. And than some epoxy/filler to stick it all together and in the corners with some fb cloth on top.I am also looking forward to seeing how we are going to build the feathers? 2mm balsa with FG either side?
bracesport
Legendary member
@thenated0g - I don’t have any carbon tow but I do have some woven carbon tape that I will unravel to make some tow! 😆
I use this 12k stuff that is $0.11 a foot ($0.35 a yard). I just buy a bunch of it at a time and it last forever.
https://alofthobbies.com/carbon-tow-12k-filament.html
https://alofthobbies.com/carbon-tow-12k-filament.html
bracesport
Legendary member
I measured the horizontal stab at 450mm - indeed it is quite wide! 😆
Got this bad head cold that's going around so I haven't really got much done in a while. I did get all the fiber glass cut and all the mylar sheets cut and all the carbon t o w all cut and laid out so it's pretty much ready to go. I'm going to try doing red pigment on top and white pigment on the bottom so I got to make sure to keep all my color mixing stuff and roller separate try not to touch one then touch the other and get all the colors everywhere. one thing I'm going to try different on this vacuum bag job is I cut a little strip of plastic the length of the leading edge about a half inch wide and I bent it over and half so it almost looks like in some L stock. after I get the top and bottom mylars put on the foam I'm going to put this on the leading edge to try and give it a cleaner leading edge that I don't have to sand as much later from all the epoxy squeezing out that front gap.
bracesport
Legendary member
From the looks of this you are referring to the main wing - look after yourself - we too have the flu bug at the moment!
Thanks, yeah main wing. I looked up a couple calculators online supposedly there's a way to use the length and width and weight of cloth to figure out how much resin to use so I tried one of those and we'll see how close it gets.
That's was harder than I thought but it's in the bag. Was pretty hard keeping red and white epoxy from getting on everything. Chiffon cloth is definitely easier in that respect. Probably same color top and bottom is the way to go. I have a feeling the red will be really solid, but white pigment not so sure. Since it's white foam I'm keeping it around 5 inHg so it doesn't get crushed. As a comparison the blue foam on the booby I did at 19.
bracesport
Legendary member
Looking good - are you going to split the middle to have the small dihedral?
No it's flat. Started putting in the thin Corona servos in the wing.
bracesport
Legendary member
@thenated0g - you have been busy - it will be awesome in red - I will need to invest in some better servos shortly - I started another thread for a balsa build of the slopemaster - I have a problem Houston!
i have used corona's a couple times. My 2 go to servos are anything emax metal gear and the turnigy 51'ish gram big boys from hobbyking that are always on sale for $7. But i like these corona's as they are super thin for thin wings.
I have had @andrewrcnewton diy wing incidence video bookmarked for like a year and I'm finally needing one to get the wing and tail feathers aligned on n the glassrat. Some 1/8 ply from aloft hobbies, ca, level, and some balsa stock. Just needs a rubber band for tension.
bracesport
Legendary member
I am interested to see how this pans out!
stereodreieck86
Active member
Here is an easier, also free method, it is the most precise method to measure the EWD aka AoI.
http://www.rc-network.de/forum/content.php/392-Einstellwinkeldifferenz-(EWD)-messen
Btw: What's your opinion on covering with newspaper or kraftpaper ? Me and a few people on the RCGroups thread (Newspaper-glue covering improvement ) are totally hooked by how easy it is to apply and also very strong.
stereodreieck86
Active member
Measuring the EWD (Einstellwinkeldifferenz) has nothing to do with fuselage, you don't even need a level surface, you measure the EWD with your bench on a 45degree angle (but surface has to be straight). The only important thing are the four measurements taken from a straight surface.
The fuselage plays a role when it comes to the angle of the motor but that a different story and highly depends on the type of plane and style you like to fly.
BTW: Usually the angle on something like a Piper for the horizontal Stab is level to the surface and 0.5-1.5 for the main wing.
Here is my Question to englishspeaking community: Didn't you know about our method we utilize to measure the EWD? And are you familiar with measuring the EWD and what it does ?
The fuselage plays a role when it comes to the angle of the motor but that a different story and highly depends on the type of plane and style you like to fly.
BTW: Usually the angle on something like a Piper for the horizontal Stab is level to the surface and 0.5-1.5 for the main wing.
Here is my Question to englishspeaking community: Didn't you know about our method we utilize to measure the EWD? And are you familiar with measuring the EWD and what it does ?
Wildthing
Legendary member
Ok, I know about AOA but the EWD is a first for me, in the 6 years or so of building planes this is the first time I heard it mentioned.
Now my brain hurts
I only ever do zero incidence and so i just make sure the wing, and fuselage are all level.
That webpage calculator is probably more accurate but it seems super inconvenient for most building. It would take more time to do one of those measurements needed above than to clamp this on to a wing and be done. Plus having to measure the front and back while the wing floats in the air would require me to have the table surface completely flat and level, the fuselage matching that as well. than you would have to keep measuring the front and back repeatedly with every little adjustment until they match what the calculator kicks ou
With this meter with a analog or digital level i can setup my plane on any surface and know the wing, fuselage, and tail are "level" with zero incidence to each other. Clamp it onto a wing with another level perpendicular across the wing. And in about 30 seconds be done and let glue set.
If you were setting up to do a product run, make a bunch of the same plane than i think that calculator would be great for setting up Jigs to repeat a process.
That webpage calculator is probably more accurate but it seems super inconvenient for most building. It would take more time to do one of those measurements needed above than to clamp this on to a wing and be done. Plus having to measure the front and back while the wing floats in the air would require me to have the table surface completely flat and level, the fuselage matching that as well. than you would have to keep measuring the front and back repeatedly with every little adjustment until they match what the calculator kicks ou
With this meter with a analog or digital level i can setup my plane on any surface and know the wing, fuselage, and tail are "level" with zero incidence to each other. Clamp it onto a wing with another level perpendicular across the wing. And in about 30 seconds be done and let glue set.
If you were setting up to do a product run, make a bunch of the same plane than i think that calculator would be great for setting up Jigs to repeat a process.
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