Ryan's Daughter - 52" Sport model Model Airplane (short) Kit

[Shaul]

Attaching the wing to the fuselage

I chose to construct my own part to secure the wing instead the prescribed Wing Bolt Brackets.
I used a block of thick (1/2") balsa with a 2mm plywood attached to it.

I cut the block so it will fit tightly and put it deep enough into the fuselage so it will not interfere with the wing.
I made sure it is leveled and marked its location.
While the fuselage is lying up side down on the workbench I fit the wing in place as accurately as possible and drill a 4mm hole through the holes in WP1 and into the balsa block.
I remove the block.
Now I cut the 2mm piece of plywood and glue it to the balsa block.
Once dry, I drill through the plywood and attach two 4mm blind nuts.


I glue the block to its place. I spread glue from 3 directions. This has to be strong or the wings will disengage the fuselage in midair.

Once the glue is dry, the wings are attached to the fuselage using two 4mm plastic bolts (and disks).
Look how easy it is to place the model inverted on the workbench.

 

[Shaul]

Fitting Undercarriage (UC)

The UC is made of two separate pieces of 3.2mm music wire.
The pieces are not identical.
I used my friend Michael's expertise to have them bent for me. Thanks Michael!
Each UC is placed into its place in part R3 and is locked into this place (or rather sandwiched) with two R3A parts.

In order for this construction to be strong, I had to use two clamps to hold the R3A parts in place. This had required me to remove some of the sheeting.
Make sure you use the correct UC. It should point to the end of the wing.
I covered the part of the music wire embedded in R3 with 10 minute epoxy, put it in place, spread carpenter's glue over part R3A and close the sandwich. Hold it in place as in the picture below:

Note: Before you apply glue, make a dry run to verify you can place R3A as you should.
The dihedral brace might interfere.

Take a look at the wing:

This is how it looks now:

 

[Shaul]

Final Sheeting

Not much to say here. Drill a hall in the last piece of 1.5mm sheet and thread it on the UC.

 

[Shaul]

Fitting in the Ailerons

At this stage I fit the Ailerons but I do not glue them. Not yet. I use a 30mmX9mm aileron sticks and 3/4"X1" CA Hinges.

For each wing, cut the stick so they fit in place inside the trailing edges.
In the f.t.e. mark the locations of the four hinges: One approximately in line with the servo, one at the other end of the wing and two in between. make sure they are not interfering with the R parts.
You need 4 slits in the f.t.e. all on the same level half way between the bottom and top. Use a Balsa stripper if you have one.
Insert the hinges to the slits and mark their counterparts on the aileron.
Now cut four slits in the aileron, all on the same level half way between the bottom and top.
Slowly insert the hinges to the aileron. Make sure it is leveled with the t.e.


Location of internal hinge. Note that it is in line with the trailing edge:

Location of all 4 hinges. Note that they are all located between partitions:

Aileron must be in line with the trailing edge:

I prefer to postpone gluing until wing is covered. Sanding the wing and the ailerons will be much easier.

 

[rockyboy]

Looking good! Especially smart to locate a hinge inline with the servo too - will definitely help prevent the control surface from flexing.

I might recommend fitting the ailerons in a little closer to the trailing edge though to reduce the amount of airflow that can get between the wing surface and the control surface (which can start the dreaded flutter and lead to bad things). Of course you can also seal the gap with a strip of covering if you've glued them in with a wider gap than is good ( like I've done more than once! )

 

[Shaul]

Good input, @rockyboy !
I too thought it doesn't look so good but I did not think about flutter.
Since the gap is approximately 3.5mm I will use a strip of 2mm balsa to reduce it to 1-1.5mm.
Thanks.

 

[Shaul]

As per @rockyboy comment I added a 2mm shim to fill in the space between f.t.e and ailerons:

 

[rockyboy]

That looks great! Nice job shimming it up!

 

[Shaul]

We're getting very near the end.

Sanding the fuselage, the wings and the stabilizers is the next thing to do.
I used rough sand paper (100) to even uneven surfaces and to remove excess balsa. Then I smoothed these surfaces using grit 400 sandpaper.
I rounded the leading edge (only the upper part) leaving the bottom flat.
Then I rounded the edges of the stabilizers, the rudder and the elevator(s).
The f.t.e of the wing and the stabilizers was sanded a wedge shape to allow for free movement of the ailerons, rudder and elevators.

 

[Shaul]

Completing the hatch

I decided to join the two parts that cover the front part of the fuselage into a single hatch.
Then, I added magnets and a 2mm plywood tab to make sure it stays in place.

The tab at the rear is glued to cockpit balsa floor so it is parallel to the floor.
It will be inserted into the aperture I created in part F2A.



Then I glued small but powerful magnets to the hatch and to the fuselage.
I chose locations where both sides have plenty of balsa to carve into. It is also important to locate the magnets as far as possible from the motor.
So I drilled shallow 10mm holes in the fuselage so that the magnets are flush with the surface. Roughed the bottom surface of the magnets using a rough sandpaper and glued then into their place using a 10min epoxy cement.
Once dry, I placed the hatch magnets on the glued magnets, separated with saran wrap. Then I placed the hatch on top and pressed to that the magnets will imprint their location in the hatch balsa.
After removing the hatch I drilled a shallow 10mm hole for each imprint and filled it with epoxy. Placed it back in place and held it tight for an hour using a few elastic bands.

The end result was quite good:

 

[Shaul]

Horizontal & Vertical planes

Place 4 hinges for the elevator using the technique you used for the ailerons.

In order for the two elevator parts to operate in harmony, you need to join them together.
Create a joiner from a 2mm music string. The dimensions are taken from the drawings.
Bend the wire into the correct shape. It is important to try to make it as flat as possible.
You can see that I did not succeed - the upper arm is slightly raised.

Now mark on the elevator parts the location to insert the joiner.
Use a 2mm drill bit to drill a hole in each location. I did this manually as the balsa wood is very soft.

Assemble the elevator but do not glue its parts yet.

The elevator should operate correctly and its two parts should be on one plane. If it is not you can adjust the joiner or widen on of the holes in the elevator.

The rudder is done very similarly (it lacks a joiner):


EDIT:
Important: You will need a 3rd hinge at the bottom of the rudder.

 

[Shaul]

Here's a post that should not have been posted had I been more experienced.
If you take a look at the drawings that come with the kit you will notice a piece of balsa called "Dihedral Gauge". Well, I haven't and just ignored it.
It seems that it should be used to help you place the center-most wing partitions (ribs) in the correct angle so that they touch when you join the wings.
Here's a page that instruct you how to do it. Search for "gauge".

 

[TooJung2Die]

Here's a post that should not have been posted had I been more experienced.

Two of my favorite sayings:

• Experience is gained by making mistakes.
• The mark of a master craftsman is how well he hides his mistakes.

Everyone has made mistakes like that. It's only balsa, you'll figure out a solution.

 

[Shaul]

Completing the wings

Covering:
I first covered the bottom part which is flat and easy to work on. The only problems are the undercarriage music wires. I chose to cover the bottom using 4 sheets of covering film - for each side one sheet from tip to music wire and a second sheet from the music wire to the center.
The upper part was a bit tougher. I first covered the wing tips, which was quite difficult. Then I covered each wing from there to the holes I made for the servo wires. No need to cover the center part of the wing as it is attached to the fuselage.
Last thing to do was to cover the ailerons.

Hinges and controls:
Insert hinges into their places and align the ailerons. Don not glue the hinges yet.

Place the servos and the control horns. I used Servos HXT900 with which I've had good experience.

Don't forget to put a drop of locktite or CA on both threads.

Now separate the ailerons from the wing and glue the hinges to the aileron. I used a very thin layer of epoxy. Immediately afterwards I cleaned the hinge pin with alcohol so it will not lock in place.

Now glue the hinges to the wing, making sure they move freely.
This is how the wing looks now:

Wheels:
Make sure both undercarriage axes are of the same length and place 2 collars and a wheel on each side. Place the wheels symmetrically and as close to the edge as possible.

I used 60mm diameter wheels.

The wing is now ready!

 

[Shaul]

Push Rods

This must be done before starting to cover the fuselage.
I chose to leave the elevator and rudder servos as designed rather than moving them to the rear of the fuselage. This requires usage of push rods.
There are are many options to create push rods. I use Gold_n_Rod #503. They are reliable and flexible.

Place (do not glue) the horizontal stabilizer with the elevator attached to it and insert the push rod in place. You will notice that the push rod is flexed in a steep angle, applying a significant stress on the control horn.

To relieve the stress, I reduced the thickness of the balsa around the push rod aperture:

First, at the rear (A), I made a deep tunnel in the balsa using a rounded file. Then, using a drill, I made a similar tunnel in the internal part of the front of the aperture (B).

The push rod sleeves (Red tubes) need anchoring on both ends to prevent them from flexing under stress. This is done by roughing the sleeve surface at the anchoring point and gluing it to the fuselage.
At the rear, I glued the sleeve to the aperture.
At front, there was nothing to glue them to so I added a lateral balsa bar and glued them to it:
View from the bottom:
View from the side:

This is how it looks now (View from the bottom):

 

[slowjo]

beautiful build

 

[Shaul]

Horizontal Stabilizer (H.S.)

You may want to wait with this step until after the coating of the fuselage.

Coat the H.S. and remove the area that will be inside the fuselage. This is where you are going to glue the H.S. to the fuselage.

Now glue it to the fuselage so it is centered and level. I used Carpenter's glue.

 

[Shaul]

Coating the fuselage

I coat the fuselage using one color, red. All surfaces are well sanded (Grit 400) and cleaned using alcohol 75%.
I start at the rear going slowly to the front. Every section is covered from top up.
I really regret I did not wait with the stabilizer. It added unnecessary difficulties.

1. Bottom of the rear part. In two phases: (A) rear the (B) front:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Coating the sides of the rear part of fuselage:
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Coating the top (of the rear):
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Now I coat the bottom, just in front of the wings:
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. And the sides of the cockpit until the end (not including the cowling):
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Coating the cowling was a delicate task, you can see it from the bottom:
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Coating the hatch was even trickier:
   1. The pilot's part was cut only after the coating.
   2. The front curvy area was done last. You can see the arrow pointing at the seam line.
      
      
      
      
8. That's it. I'm quite happy with the outcome:
   
   

 

[Shaul]

Vertical Stabilizer (Fin)

In the drawings you will find the following part: "Soft balsa each side of fin"
I created these parts from two short triangular rods (actually, not so soft). They give the fin a stable base with which you glue it to its recess in the fuselage.

After gluing the rods to the fin, I marked the extra material to be removed:

Removed it and rounded all edges then sanded everything, preparing it for coating:

Now I coated the fin and I am ready to glue it in place.
Note that it is extremely important to glue it perpendicular to the H.S. so I used a laser-beam level.
First, I calibrated the laser to the HS:

Then made sure the fin is set correctly:

If it is not perpendicular, carefully sand the correct side at the fuselage side until fin is in position.
Once satisfied, glue fin in place:

I will later complete the coating of the fin-support.

 

[Shaul]

Completing the Tail

Elevator:
Comprised of two parts that should be in line, on the same level, symmetrical and moving together. To achieve these goals you will have to glue the 2mm metal joiner correctly.
Assuming you have already drilled a hole in each elevator part, you will have to strip the coating and carve a shallow ditch in the balsa from the hole to the (internal) edge of the elevator part.

Prepare the joiner by roughing its surface using a file. Apply epoxy to the joiner and to the ditch and glue the joiner into place. Make sure the two parts of the elevator are in line and flat.

Insert the 4 hinges and apply a drop of thin CA on each one of the hinges. The joiner serves as a spacer.

Rudder:
Insert the hinges to the rudder and put it in place. Make sure that the notch is in position so that the rudder does not interfere with the elevator joiner. Note that I have mistakenly used only 2 hinges to connect the rudder to the vertical stabilizer. You should add a third one connecting the rudder to the fuselage below the horizontal stabilizer. Once hinges in place, apply a drop of CA on each one of them.

Controls:
Attach the control horns and the control rods. You might find that when the rudder and the elevator are in their extreme positions they interfere with each other. This should later be attended to by setting an end point to these controls using the transmitter.

You are practically done. The following picture shows the controls from below. Note that the rudder is off set due to lack of the third hinge.
This will be corrected.

3rd Rudder hinge
As I wrote, I had to add a third hinge to the rudder.

I removed the rudder's control horn.
I cut a deep slot in the bottom of both rudder and fuselage. Then I inserted a 3rd hinge as deep as I could.

Then, I cut it so it won't interfere with the tail wheel and secure it in place by the control horn screws.

Finally, I assembled a tail wheel which is not included in the original design.