Monster sized Fock-Wulf FW-42

[rockyboy]

Carved and sanded the leading edge on the left panel tonight. Looking at this I think I will put a thin balsa end cap on too. That's going to be a very visible part of the plane when she's on the ground, and no sense having it be a messy uneven surface or doing 6 coats of filler to get it level.

I did get the brass tubes to create the holes for the vertical fuselage reinforcement dowels too. Lacking free time to work on her lately though

 

[rockyboy]

Very distracted the last couple weeks preparing to rent out half the house, so not much RC time other than installing a beverage and ice cream fridge in the workshop. So that's nice

I hate losing workshop space but at least it's for a good cause.

 

[PsyBorg]

What.. glue and fiberglass not sticky enough you have to add icecream to the mix .

Actually Im off to my freezer for an icecream sammach.. still hot n muggy yet this evening here.

 

[rockyboy]

Finally getting back to some work on airplanes now that the 'honey do' around the house list is in better shape.

Adding vertical dowel supports that will connect a plywood plate underneath the fuselage to the plywood reinforcement place in the center wing section here. Drilling out the holes in the fuselage with a sharpened brass tube, then adding gorilla glue and sticking the dowel in place. Once it's dry, cut the dowel off flush and start on the next one.

Soon I'll get to glue the plywood plate into place under the fuselage, and add some threaded brass inserts into the top of the dowels so I can screw the wing section into place.

Why am I doing this you may ask?

Landing.

I'd like to land more than once.

Since the nose gear is installed in the fuselage, and the main landing gear is in the center wing section, and she's going to weigh 20ish pounds with the batteries in the fuselage, there will be a lot of forces trying to rip the wing off the fuselage when she lands - or even hits some nasty bumps on a rolling takeoff.

 

[foamtest]

It's nice to see this thread alive again!

 

[rockyboy]

It's nice to see this thread alive again!

I agree!

 

[rockyboy]

Little more progress... I need to get a picture of the wing mounting but it is roughly in place and working. Not pretty yet, but functional. Meantime here are some pics of the other progress....

Balsa end caps on the outer wing panels

Hot wired off the tail angle for easier landing and takeoff... Messy and thank goodness foam is easy to repair.

Cap put on the tail angle...

Trimmed the new tail piece and screwed in the bottom plate...

And did a little experimental sanding and spackle on one side of the fuse

 

[FoamyDM]

Glad to see you are still Chugging along with this! keep it up. It's looking good.
I fly at a giant scale club and I have a longer term goal to build a Giant Scale E-plane! This gives me a number of techniques to use when I get there.

 

[rockyboy]

Thanks! I'm accepting that I've become a slow builder - or maybe it's just this project...

Anyway, before dinner I did a quick sand and was happy with how smooth it turned out. So on to spackling the bottom. Next up is a sand and spackle of the side...

 

[Tench745]

Big projects take some big motivation to see them through. Keep it up, Yay rah!

 

[PsyBorg]

Start in to shape up nicely. Wont be long til your doing glass work now.

Are you planning to glass the inner channel as well for added strength?

 

[rockyboy]

Big projects take some big motivation to see them through. Keep it up, Yay rah!

Thanks - it's definitely a marathon

Start in to shape up nicely. Wont be long til your doing glass work now.

Are you planning to glass the inner channel as well for added strength?

Glass soon!

I hadn't even thought of putting a layer of glass inside the fuse - great idea! Thanks!

 

[rockyboy]

Bolted the center wing in place last night and glued on the rear fuselage turtledeck. With the wing off it's very easy to get access to the insides back there for the turret work, so not worried about permanently mounting this piece now.

Here's the part where I need some help coming up with ideas though.

The wing is held on by 6 nylon 1/4-20 machine screws. Since I couldn't find 4" long ones anywhere, I went with ones that are 2" long which means the tops are recessed down into the wing. Since the wing is hollow anyway, this worked out OK up to this point. I cut a hole down through the top of the wing and glued in some spacers made from dowels to keep the screw lined up with the nut in the fuselage and not flopping all over the place.

Now the problem - the holes left in the top of the wing are fugly, and I'm not sure how I want to deal with them. I'm sort of leaning towards fiberglassing over the top and then drilling a hole just big enough to put the screwdriver through so I can operate the screws. This will give a better looking top surface, keep the screws from falling out and getting lost in transit, but if I break a screw on landing/crashing I'll need to cut the hole bigger to replace the screw. Chances are if I hit hard enough to break a screw I've got plenty of other work to do anyway.

Another idea I'm not sure how to "operationalize" is making plugs of some sort. Just not sure how to hold them in - magnets would work if I switched to metal screws instead of nylon, but then I lose the advantages of a planned failure point.

 

[jaredstrees]

If you glassed over them will you have enough room to back them out enough to remove the wing?

 

[rockyboy]

If you glassed over them will you have enough room to back them out enough to remove the wing?

Yeah, when the screw is fully backed out of the fuselage nut, the top of the screw is still below the top of the wing.

 

[jaredstrees]

Could you just createe a removable panel for access? Held down by magnets? Seems that trying to get a screwdriver onto those screws through a tiny hole would be a bit fiddly.

 

[rockyboy]

Could you just createe a removable panel for access? Held down by magnets? Seems that trying to get a screwdriver onto those screws through a tiny hole would be a bit fiddly.

Hmm.. doing it as a larger panel that covered the whole top might be easier indeed. Could use magnets or smaller easier to get to screws that way. Thanks for the idea!

 

[PsyBorg]

Servo hatch style access with square covers held by screws or magnets. Maybe even just use a stiff plastic flap that is glassed in.

I use those I'd card lamination packs for things like this. I can mail the stiff sides as I have many from using the flexible sticky side to cover battery packs in for better protection.

 

[wilmracer]

Every time I hold a pack of Tic-Tacs I think to myself that those snap open/closed lids would look and work great installed as small panels to hide retention bolts or other stuff. I've never actually tried it and I don't know how long the plastic hinging would hold up, but its a thought. You'd need one for each bolt, so you'd have fresh breath for weeks as an added bonus.

 

[unrauv]

Wow rockyboy nice plane! Lots of carving and sanding to come.