New to FT/MY Stuff

[cyclone3350]

The next step, was to start cutting out the necessary parts. For this, I cut out from the plans and glue them to poster board. After cutting to shape, I then tack them to the various materials with dabs of a glue stick, or for the larger patterns, a light spray of 3m 77. This holds the patterns down while tracing the outlines with an Xacto knife. Once done, just pry the patterns off. If the become a little too glued on, use a hair dryer or heat gun to soften the glue. Trust me, it is quick and works out well. For depron, rubbing alcohol will remove any unwanted residual glue. Here you will see the end result of the parts I cut from depron and made use of 1/32 balsa for double siding the front of the fuse and for a lightweight and stiff tail feathers. The wing ribs are 1/16 balsa and the spar along with the ailerons are 1/8 balsa.

 

[cyclone3350]

For gluing it al together, I use Sig Bond thinned (just a little) with water and applying directly to the balsa and placed onto the depron. The tail surfaces has the balsa sandwiched between the depron. Lay a piece of wax on a flat board, put the tail surfaces on top, another sheet of wax paper, and then place several books on top and let dry. The glue is water base which causes the wood to warp, but this will keep things straight. When dried,(4hrs-overnight) they will stay straight. The fuselage double siding is one piece of balsa over the inside section of the depron and then wax paper and weights. The servo tray and fuse formers are made from sausage/chicken packing trays. Yes, the Styrofoam kind. I use BobSmith foam safe ca for gluing the formers and the servo tray. The fuse looks complicated but it is two flat sides, one flat bottom and bend the depron over the top formers. For this, I taped drafting velum (tracing paper) over the top section to be covered, traced with a pencil and now you have your patterns.

 

[cyclone3350]

I built the wings by gluing the balsa ribs onto the balsa spar and glued first the bottom wing panel and then the top panel. A 3/8" x 1/4" balsa strip made for the leading edge and rounded off by sanding. The ailerons are cut from 1/8" balsa and later attached with a single strip of clear hinge tape running the entire length of each aileron. I used Dubro micro aileron system (DUB850) and mounted a single servo to the bottom. I couldn't find a construction picture of this wing, so I posted one of my Helio. It used Styrofoam ribs, but constructed the same way. BTW all the depron on this bird is 2mm.

 

[cyclone3350]

I wanted a steerable nose wheel, so I made one using 1/8" plastic main gear wire straps inserted a piece of brass tube. A servo horn was modified for a control link. This is mounted to the fire wall you see. The main gear are from something I had and crashed. This my pattern. Buy, fly, crash, cannibalize, create, build, fly, crash, and the cycle continues.

 

[cyclone3350]

Here are all the pieces. In the lower left corner is the battery hatch. It is made from meat tray foam and goes on the bottom behind the wing. It is held with a Dubro hatch latch (DUB925). Next to that is the top center section. This covers the receiver and is tape in place for if needed future access. The canopy is glued to that. Next to that is the bottom hatch for access to the ESC, it is also tape in place and made from meat tray foam. Collect those things when you can, they carve and sand nicely. I also used it for the wing tips and for the insert of the spinner. BTW, that is also part of the Guillow plastic set. The insert are those meat trays cut into circles, each one smaller than the next. Glue to each other using a bamboo skewer to keep it all centered. Attach the skewer to a dremel and sand lathe to shape. Insert into the spinner and cut out what you need to fit it over the prop. I just use some Foam Tac in spots to hold it to the prop. With a little practice you can get a perfectly centered spinner.

 

[cyclone3350]

Ok, dry fit the parts and off to do some painting.

 

[cyclone3350]

For painting, I brush on some Deluxe Materials Easy Coat. It seals the depron and acts as primer allowing the paint to stick better. Two coats with a little sanding. For paint, I use Plaid Folk art. Use the one with a wine glass symbol on the label. It is dishwasher durable. I thin with a reducer that is described on earlier decal making, and airbrush using the Paasche VL. Add some home made waterslide decals and fly. The set up used: E-flite Park 340. 6 x 4 prop. I had these 4.4 gram servos, but now I only use the micro Power HD-44 MG servos from VH. http://www.valuehobby.com/radio-systems-servos/servos/power-hd-dsm-44-digital-micro-servo.html The admiral 6ch dsm/dmx RX and a hobbywing 18a ESC.

 

[cyclone3350]

Some other examples of Guillows plastic cowls put to use,. The parts are from the Super Cub 95, 16" P-40, and the Cherokee 140.

 

[cyclone3350]

I will discuss how I convert balsa plans to my foam projects. I will use the Complex Storch ( FT Simple Storch's evil twin) as an example. First off, I am very old school and do things the long way on a drafting board. I am sure you can still use some of my ideas more efficiently using CAD or other software programs. I down loaded this plan from outerzone onto a thumb drive and had a printer produce a couple of copies. This was a 45" WS and I had it enlarged to 63" for 1/9th scale. Using drafting velum, I traced the outlines of the various parts. I basically build this the same way as the simple Storch using these patterns. From here, I glued the patterns to poster board, cut to shape, and now I have a nice guide for my Xacto knife to follow. I won't get into too much detail on the build itself. Just a couple of ideas to throw out there.

 

[cyclone3350]

The big deference on the complex Storch is the addition of the green house and the cowl. In the first pic in the upper right hand corner is the front windscreen. The long rectangle pieces with the diagonal end next to the main former are glued to the sides. In the lower left, are the side and bottom of the side glassing. The rest should give you an idea as to how it all went together.

 

[slowjo]

I will discuss how I convert balsa plans to my foam projects. I will use the Complex Storch ( FT Simple Storch's evil twin) as an example. First off, I am very old school and do things the long way on a drafting board. I am sure you can still use some of my ideas more efficiently using CAD or other software programs. I down loaded this plan from outerzone onto a thumb drive and had a printer produce a couple of copies. This was a 45" WS and I had it enlarged to 63" for 1/9th scale. Using drafting velum, I traced the outlines of the various parts. I basically build this the same way as the simple Storch using these patterns. From here, I glued the patterns to poster board, cut to shape, and now I have a nice guide for my Xacto knife to follow. I won't get into too much detail on the build itself. Just a couple of ideas to throw out there.

really nice work

 

[cyclone3350]

To finish off the glassing, I made these frame out of poster board and glued them over the glass structure. I saved the cut outs and used them for patterns to cut the glass panels from Monokote trim sheets. I applied these after painting.

 

[cyclone3350]

The cowl was an adventure. Once I installed the battery tray and motor mount, I add formers to the sides and enclosed with poster board. For the motor cowl itself, I used 1/2" pink foam for the facing and another one on the rear that attaches to the face of the motor mount. I also wrapped poster board around those two formers. The top over the battery tray is built this way and both of these pieces are held in place by magnets. The top section lifts up for access to the battery. Here are what parts look like from the patterns and how it ended up.

 

[cyclone3350]

For the wing I added a step down to the center section. I did this by making the center box spar shorter in height the outer wing panels. I added 1/64" ply for added strength. This did not prove to be enough as 1/32' would have been better. The wing is one piece and held by front dowels and on the rear with nylon bolts. I made sure the struts were sufficient enough to the hold the wings together during flight.

 

[cyclone3350]

This is DTFB and Minwax was used before painting. I used Tamiya paints to match the splinter camo and Monokote trim sheets, cut to shape out of the various colors, made all the markings except for the silver infantry badge on the side. That was made from water slide decals. BTW the Storch C model did not have the rear gunner's glass which what this one represents.

 

[cyclone3350]

really nice work

Thanks SlowJo!

 

[cyclone3350]

This will be my last blast from the past for a while. Over the last couple of days , my orders for my next projects has arrived. The first one is the Banana Hobby 79" P-40 modified to 18% and will be detailed out to the max. I had 3 view drawings enlarge to 18% and matched the pieces to see how close they are. Yeah!, almost everything is close to matching. Well except for the wings. They will need to widen and lengthened. The aileron is too long and the flaps too short. The plan is to leave most of it foam and then glassed. The control surfaces will be balsa built up and fabric covered.

 

[cyclone3350]

And now for something completely off the scales and probably just crazy. Project #2 will be to take factory drawings of a 1965 Champion 7ECA Citabria at 1/4 scale and use the CF rods to make a tubed space frame fuselage. Wish me luck.

 

[cyclone3350]

Here is an update on a test I did for making the 7ECA Citabria.

 

[The Hangar]

Awesome projects man, I’ll be following.