L-19, 27% from Hostetler Plans, 116" span

[Joker 53150]

I have no idea which version it is, but can check if you've got some interest in adding a big bipe being to your hangar. It looks well built, but I'm not a fan of the lavender color. I only posted the one picture, but most of his basement is packed with RC planes. Wings off in one area, fuselages in another, boxes and misc parts everywhere. It's a glorious mess!

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

I doubt I'll have room for something that big at the flying field, let alone in the basement. It's an interesting color combo for sure.

 

[Joker 53150]

Updates have been slowing in coming, partly due to prepping the house for winter, partly due to finishing some other projects, and partly due to laziness. Lots of laziness, to be truthful.

Something with the build has been giving me major concern so I finally did something about it. If you look back at the pictures of the rudder you'll see that the grain of the sheeting is running the same direction as the rudder ribs. While the sheeting looked ok, in reality it was very flimsy between the ribs and was far from flat. No matter what I did to fill or sand it wasn't going to change things. Finally I did what needed to be done, and I removed all the rudder sheeting so I can run the grain vertically 90* from the ribs. Over the next couple days I hope to get it it all sorted out.

 

[jsknockoff]

Funny that you mention this, I'm having the same moral dilemma on my Four Star. The sheeting on the front of the fuse was very soft balsa and against my better judgement I used it anyways. It was only magnified by 1/4" sq. balsa stringers I used lengthwise for reinforcement due to almost half of it being removable for a top battery hatch. It's just bad enough that you can feel it when you take your hand over it and there is no way to use filler to smooth it out. I've decided to push on since it's a sport plane that I plan to fly very often and will most likely see some bumps and bruises anyways. If I were doing a giant scale build it would have been a no brainer, you made the right call.

 

[Joker 53150]

In my own defense, the sheet direction wasn't ALL my idea, I probably got the idea from looking at the plans. However, my lack of experience kept me from knowing better

 

[Joker 53150]

No pictures of it (yet), but the rudder is now re-sheeted with the grain going vertically, and it's substantially more rigid. Just some finish work on it and it'll be ready for 'glassing.

I decided now was a good time to start some limited sheeting on the fuselage. As I get ready to start the installation of the tail feathers, servos, and other components I've come to the conclusion that it just needed some extra strength to keep everything lined up. Not that it flexes much in skeletal form, but with some sheeting it'll better be able to handle being moved around a lot. The plan is to just do some sheeting on the sides from nose to tail.




I believe I've found the problems others on RC Groups have mentioned regarding the formers. In the second picture it's hard to see, but the sides on Former F5 appear to be too far in, by about 1/4". If I were to pull the sheeting in to the sides of the formers the fuselage would have an odd "dip" in both sides. Also, the top of Former F6 is more round than F5 and F7. I'll check the plans again and also look at some detailed pics of the Bird Dog before making any final changes, but at this time it looks like those formers just need to be filled out a bit.

 

[jsknockoff]

How thick is the sheeting you are using on the fuse?

 

[Joker 53150]

1/8" for all fuselage sheet.

 

[jsknockoff]

Did your set of plans come with a template sheet for cutting your own parts?

 

[Joker 53150]

All formers and such are shown on the plan pages, but evidently not all are 100% accurate.

 

[mjmccarron]

Enjoying your build! Off topic but is that a Navion in you profile picture? I've had 2 over the years (full scale) always wanted to model one.

Mike

 

[Joker 53150]

Enjoying your build! Off topic but is that a Navion in you profile picture? I've had 2 over the years (full scale) always wanted to model one.

Mike

Mike, it's a plane I built a couple years ago for a Model Airplane News "Build to Win" contest, that was awarded Honorable Mention. Builders in the contest started with what could best be described as a low-wing "Stick" design, and we all then finished it in our own style. Mine was done to look like the Navion, and was based on control line plans from the 60's.

I did a build-thread for it on the forum, HERE.

Sadly, it crashed on the maiden take-off and hasn't been repaired yet. It's fixable, and will eventually be done. In my opinion, the Navion is one of the best looking designs ever built, and one day I'd love to get a chance to fly in one. Got any plans to bring yours to the EAA any time soon?

 

[mjmccarron]

It's a cool looking stand off. My last real one was a Rangemaster N2473T. It was unfortunately destroyed two years ago by a subsequent owner but I have lots of pictures. I'm thinking of modifying my Walt Muciano plans from RCM into a Rangemaster. I'll definitely do a build thread if I do.

Keep up the good work on your L19. Looks great so far.

Mike

 

[Joker 53150]

The guy who drew the plans for this L-19 I'm building also offers a giant scale Navion, which is very tempting for a future build for me.

 

[Joker 53150]

Aaaaaaaaaand, the bottom and sides are sheeted. It's all roughly installed and glue just needs to cure so I can flip it over and start working on the guts and tail. First up will be setting up the horizontal stab and setting the incidence as shown on the plans. This will be my first go-around with an incidence meter.

 

[SlingShot]

He also got some of those small and large metal paper clips. The ones that are spring steel and shaped like triangles that have the folding arms on each side you squeeze to open them up by.

My Dad was using those clips in the 70's. Mostly to hold plywood I think.

 

[jsknockoff]

That's a lot of balsa! Looking good, I'm sure you can't wait to start sanding. I'm really curious to see how the L-19 flies when you're done. I have been eyeing some Hostetler plans for a little while now. The Champ is really calling me, but a Birddog is tempting too because it can be flown at warbird events. How scale do you plan to go?

 

[Joker 53150]

It feels like I'm deforresting a small nation with all the balsa! As far as scale goes, I'm not going crazy with it - nav lights, rivers, and maybe a few other scale items. I'm not going for a scale interior or stuff like that.

 

[Joker 53150]

I think it's time to start attaching the tail feathers so I can then work on the pull-pull rudder cables and elevator pushrods. When I was building the pieces I left extra material so it could be trimmed to fit. The saddle the horizontal stab sits on was left about 1/4" too large all the way around and is now being carved and sanded to get a good fit and the proper -2 degrees incidence. This is also my first go-around with an incidence meter. My dad gave me a Robart meter which works, but it doesn't seem to move as freely as it should so I'm instead relying on my iPhone's bubble meter which also shows angles to the 1/10th of a degree. When the fuselage is level at 0* I'll do final sanding to get the stab to -2*. After that's secure a little sheeting will be needed before the vertical stab goes on.

 

[Joker 53150]

It took a lot of fiddling around, but the horizontal and vertical stabs are now installed. They obviously need to be squared up and at the right angle. In this case, the horizontal stab needed to have a -2* incidence compared to the horizontal line through the body. According to the app on my iPhone it ended up at -1.8*, and I can live with that! The soda can is there for a size reference, and pay no attention to the mess on the shelves.






I still need to order pushrods for the elevators and do some additional work before I can finish planking the body, but in the meantime I can at least do some work on the cabin sides. The rear windows are really specifically shaped to this bird, and they were fairly easy to make.




I love the look of all the balsa sticks in the rear of the fuselage - it's very old-school and I'll be sorry to see it go when the top is planked. If you remember back to before I started planking the fuse I mentioned that some of the formers didn't seem right. It looks like F5 is the main issue. The sides were too narrow and required some filler pieces. Everything else seems to flow well so far, but I'll know more when I start planking the top.