cyclone3350
Master member
Great job on the airbrushing
Love it!!!!More progress today. Built the wing, installed the servos..... even managed to screw up the flaps so they work JUST like the ailerons. No big deal I have a 4 channel receiver and a 10 channel one so guess which one is going into this build haha. The nice thing is I will be able to set the ailerons up with offset throws to help with stalls soon as I learn the correct way to do it... All that in a later post I am sure.
Anyways I primed it just after lunch and let it sit til after dinner before I broke out the air brush and used up the black paint I had mixed for the lading gear to get an idea on what pattern I wanted to paint it. So enough talk here is what I did today.
To start a little bit of teaching / tootin my own horn here.. This is how I do rounding of foam. I tried the table edge thing and I am way to spastic to NOT put at least one crinkle or ridge in the foam from looking down at such an angle I occasionally twitch from pressure on my neck issues. I place the foam flat on a soft flat surface. In my current set up that happens to be an $8 yoga mat cut in half and placed on the folding table work bench I have. In the direction I want the bend to go I put the rolling pin down on the foam and then take a roughly 4in x 10in piece of balsa ply from a box of tangerines I got at some point (HINT FREE Balsa ply firewalls and control horns with every box) and put that flat under where I want the bend to be.
Putting pressure on the rolling pin to hold the foam down with one hand I use the other hand to lift up on the foam and press that onto the rolling pin. Once there is a curve I move the rolling pin a bit and repeat until I get the shape I need. 99% of the time you get no wrinkles, creases, or finger print indentations in your foam but have a perfect arch to suit your needs. Works great for round fuselages too. You just over bend the foam and make sure you put extra pressure with the plywood at the ends where you will be gluing so you have no flat spots from an unbent end.
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And here is the result of this particular bend.
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Once I shape the foam and add any inner parts before gluing I will take an emery board and make all the joints mate best I can. Most of the time it is really easy to get really great joins. Same thing for control surface bevels. I do the razor blade cut to get close then shape to nice even and flat surface. I also go around the ENTIRE part with a sanding block and finish with the emery board to make it perfectly flat.
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Once all that was done I mounted the servos after centering and testing for smoothness. I came across one that didn't want to keep a good connection so I changed that out before mounting and will see what that issue is and use it in the fuselage where I have easier access incase further problems happen.
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Here is my mistake in plain sight. I should have caught it right when I took this picture.... SOOOO dumb. At least I added a few dabs of hot glue to hold the wires secure so if the wings get knocked off they don't stretch the wires or have less chance separating the extensions in a crash. Like them tiny holes to get the wires thru. No large chunk taken out of the structural part of the foam to weaken it. (at least that's how it is supposed to work in my head)
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I took two pieces of dowel and stuck them in the holes where the wires came thru and wrapped the wires up against them in aluminum foild to make a handle and to protect the wires from paint n such.
EDIT Oh yeah.. almost forgot BEFORE priming I brush white Gorilla Wood Glue on all the uncovered edges as well as any exposed foam where the paper has been peeled of on the outside. This allows you to paint without melting foam. ALSO if you coat your exposed hot glue you can get paint to cover that nicely too.
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Here is the completed wing from the top.
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As you see these were taken just before priming. I didn't get any shots of the wing in just primer but here is what my pattern idea is so far. Seeing the black against the reddish primer makes me wonder if I want to change up and go like a Brandywine and Black instead of the Cream and Black I have started.
Cue the windoze Tada sound and...
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I couldn't get low enough to show it but the wheel hubs have been painted the same red as is on the cowl.
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So there she is as she sits this evening. tomorrows agenda is to better mix the Cream to match the nose and repaint the fuselage and get the wing in Cream as well. Once that gets done I think I will add balsa spars along the top inside where the wing sits over the side windows and actually cut out side windows and do the clear plastic container trick. then finally it gets radio gear, servos, control horns and then its off to program the radio for it all. That will have a video I think once I work out what I want and or need to do.
Love itWell... I THINK I am done with the kit build. Now its down to electronics and set up.
I did all the edges by hand with a brush to clean them up. Took about 6 hours on an off as i could only hold a straight line all tensed up like that a few minutes at a time before twitches started. There are several not so perfect spots but at this point trying to fix them would only cause more damage as shaky and spastic I get trying fine motor skill efforts.
Took it outside as the sun was setting behind the big hill not far from where I live. This made for some beautiful bright shots with fall shadows and leaves and a tiny bit of wind.
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Took a short video while I was out there as well... and as always Bills Law struck and the video was totally out of focus the entire time. I guess bending low with the angle of the sun made it struggle to get a focus before I started moving around it. So... back outside I went. this time over to where I fly my quads from with the table out in the waning sunlight as the parking lot was pretty much all shadow at that point.
Well... I THINK I am done with the kit build. Now its down to electronics and set up.
I did all the edges by hand with a brush to clean them up. Took about 6 hours on an off as i could only hold a straight line all tensed up like that a few minutes at a time before twitches started. There are several not so perfect spots but at this point trying to fix them would only cause more damage as shaky and spastic I get trying fine motor skill efforts.
Took it outside as the sun was setting behind the big hill not far from where I live. This made for some beautiful bright shots with fall shadows and leaves and a tiny bit of wind.
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Took a short video while I was out there as well... and as always Bills Law struck and the video was totally out of focus the entire time. I guess bending low with the angle of the sun made it struggle to get a focus before I started moving around it. So... back outside I went. this time over to where I fly my quads from with the table out in the waning sunlight as the parking lot was pretty much all shadow at that point.
I thought you were gonna paint this red??
So did I till you posted the Cream colored one. I blamez YOO!!!
@PsyBorg this is my all up weight 744g
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And this was the dry way the first time I built it
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Thanks for this and all the other tips you’ve given me I am definitely going to make this an option on the plansOk here is how I did the side windows. Hopefully you guys get some ideas and see how easy it is and maybe dress up your birds with windows.
First thing is to make a template so you can see what they will look like as well as make them repeatable for either side. It can be with foam or card stock but make it stiff enough to be able to trace it onto your aircraft.
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Next trace it out and make all your straight cut with a razor blade. Then take an Xacto knife and saw cut any rounded corners best you can. Once that is done take a half round file and lightly shape the rounded corners. Then take a flat emery board and make the straight edges clean and flat.
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Once your edges are clean and straight take a razor blade and cut from the top down into the side of the fuselage. I do about 2/3 the width of the foam with the shorter side to the outer edge of the foam. You want the window closer to the out side then in. take your time with light shallow cuts you don't want to grab the foam and bunch it up.
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Now that you have cut the entire length of where your windows are down into the top of their opening it is time to slide down into any center frames again slow slicing motion keeping to the outer part of the skin.
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Next I will turn the razor blade over and start cutting the lower parts of each corner upwards to meet any cuts already done from the top. Keep in mind you only need about 1 to 2 mm around the outer edges along and front , rear, or bottom of your windows.
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Now that all of the cuts have been done around your window openings its time to cut the actual windows. For large windows and windscreens I use the top flat sections of fruit containers like blueberries or strawberries. They have large sections and tend to be fairly thick plastic. Its free and recycling is always good. For these smaller side windows however I use the clear plastic backing I saved from the business card laminating pack that I use the sticky part to wrap my batteries in to protect them better.
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Depending on your window sizes you may get several filled in by a single sheet of this backing. If not cut to size as needed. In this case I was lucky enough the larger size was big enough to do one side by cutting the front two length wise and using the cut away section side ways for the smaller rear window.
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The only thing left to do is trim them to fit completely hidden in the slots you cut and then glue them in with white gorilla wood glue. This not only dries to look like original window sealant on a real window but also the over lap keeps the paper around the edges sealed in and not able to peel away.
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Later at some point when I finish painting the graphic I want I will edge the windows with black paint to hide the ugliness of the cuts and exposed foam.
So thus kiddies concludes the how Mr. Bill built @mayan DGA-6 "Mr. Mulligan" foam board design. Next phase will be flight testing once I get some time in on the tiny trainer I am nearly finished building so I don't simply explode this one on its maiden voyage. I hope there was at least one trick to making your builds better show during this process so you too can level up your quality of details in the builds you may want to look better or showcase some day.
Just finished up my last build, the ft stick. This one is next, I’ve been looking at the parts already. If I’m lucky I’ll have a little bit of time to start on it tonight.
Good Question. I am not working on the project ATM. It is behind the P-61 project Kilroy07 "accidentally" sent. but It is next in line. I am Looking forward to sitting and getting some quality build table time.