Ki-46 “Dinah”

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
Progress report #1

Long time coming, eh?
So I managed to solder some battery leads together to make a y-harness for my ESC's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but should I cut one of the negatives from the ESCs? I heard this keeps the Bec at the correct voltage, but I'm nervous to stick a blade where it shouldn't be.

And speaking of wires, some bad news. I tested out my soldering job, and both motors spun! But when I went to hook up some servos to test them, I realized: i only have the one servo harness, and not enough servo leads to make any more.

Hindsight, eh?

Back to the progress report, though. I am happy to report that I have the entire hatch glued and skinned. If anyone was confused about my little rant about the "small details", hopefully the following pictures will shed some light.
View attachment 148755
Here you can see the "extras" taped to the formers. This will make sure I get the right OUTSIDE radius of the skin peices.
View attachment 148756
The "extras" removed.
View attachment 148757
All skinned!

The tape is to make sure that the foam isn't eaten by the aerosols in the spraypaint. I'll be running some along the bottom so it doesn't eat at the foam along the sides. Added bonus, it'll mask the creases, making it look that much smoother.
Next, because I loose motivation quickly, I decided to glue the empennage together. I don't want to talk about how much it weighs (78g!!), But she looks smooth! nerdnic hit upon a gem of an idea when he designed the tapered edges. When I was folding the elevator over, the paper decided to split (guess I folded too far). So quickfix was to glue in some nylon hinges I had laying around. The tape you see is where I got a little too excited pulling foam out for a carbon fiber spar.
View attachment 148762

...but 78 grams! I'm already getting nervous about balance issues. I think I'll go back to the rest of the fuselage formers and cut out some lightening holes, for all the few grams that'll save.
The rudder was fun to work with, too. Because of the nature of skinning with foamcore, I had to glue some cheeks to the bottom of the rudder for the correct outline. I beveled the front for clearance, then carved a decent shape out of the extra foam.
View attachment 148766
I probably should have waited until after I skin the tail to carve the cheeks, but given that it'll only be soo thin, I don't think I'll notice it in the air too much, anyway.

So there you have it! First real update. Next progress report should have me glue up the rest of the fuselage, and install some electronics.
Great Documentation of the methods you use here! If this doesn't inspire others to give this a go... I'm not sure what would!
This looks tremendous. It looks as if you and Zephyr1 made the same plane from but took a different wing approach. That said, it don't matter, they are both are lookers.
@Zephyr1 - Great work too. Have you flown her? (with Curves like that, Dinah has to be a woman)
 

Robyle3

Active member
Thanks, haha. Most of my planes are one-shots because I have no method of documenting the plans. So if only to look back and remember that “curvy” planes are not unreachable with foam board, I chose a plane whose only straight line in the fuse was the one from the nose to the tail.
 

Robyle3

Active member
Progress report #4

A few days late, but I can't help posting about the fillets/fairings. I got curious and dug up some cutouts that are lying on the floor, and low and behold they were perfect for the top fairing! Bottom fairing was trickier, but after all the bevels were cut and they were glued on, they look amazing. Just that tiny detail changed it into a fast-looking bullet. Very proud.
*Purposefully doesn't mention how they aren't aligned*
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(While I'm building, I don't bother cleaning up until I know all my peices have been cut/bevelled, thus why I could search the scrap pile. It's also handy when you don't want to cut shims, just grab a price of scrap.)
 

Robyle3

Active member
Ok, haha, so this was a long time coming.

Progress report #5

I HAVENT FORGOTTEN THIS PROJECT. In fact, later today I'll be doing a write-up on the wings that I'll be finishing tonight. Then, all that will be left to construct will be the nacelles.
15789421714155657852291784161483.jpg


Bottom wing panels all scored and ready for formers. Am very proud of that compound bevel. I have to move the aileron servos closer to the actual ailerons because the main spar is in the way. Speaking of spars....

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Never again. Boys, that was difficult to cut. In order to have the cf tube nice'n snug, I had to attempt to cut a SLIVER of 3mm to 0 over almost 12 inches! I'm only missing about 10cm on each. But that spar will definitely hold. I'm getting motivation back, so look forward to another update soon!
 

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
Ok, haha, so this was a long time coming.

Progress report #5

I HAVENT FORGOTTEN THIS PROJECT. In fact, later today I'll be doing a write-up on the wings that I'll be finishing tonight. Then, all that will be left to construct will be the nacelles. View attachment 154445

Bottom wing panels all scored and ready for formers. Am very proud of that compound bevel. I have to move the aileron servos closer to the actual ailerons because the main spar is in the way. Speaking of spars....

View attachment 154446


Never again. Boys, that was difficult to cut. In order to have the cf tube nice'n snug, I had to attempt to cut a SLIVER of 3mm to 0 over almost 12 inches! I'm only missing about 10cm on each. But that spar will definitely hold. I'm getting motivation back, so look forward to another update soon!
Keep it up! This bird is looking great. Yes I are doing her justice.