A brief update: I have no idea what I'm doing.
I managed to get the turtledeck and bow deck sheeted. The bow was done in four pieces, the turtledeck had two pieces for the basic deck, but the bubble bit had to be strip planked.
I have never strip planked before, and let me tell you, using Titebond makes it an exercise in patience. You eyeball, you amonia soak, you bend, you trim, you glue, you pin, and then you wait. The first two or three rows of planks took about three days. I had to go on one plank at a time because of the curves they had to conform to, and I only have so many pins/clamps. Usually I would do a plank in the morning and a plank before bed. Maybe one mid-day if I wasn't busy. After the first few rows I could do both sides at once, and the last three rows I was able to do in one go the curves smoothed out.
I managed to devise a tail boom which is temporarily fitted in place, and mocked up a wing pylon to see what I wanted to do with it. The sheeting on one side of the pylon has been left off for now. And there ends the bits of the build I have figured out.
Okay, with that out of the way I can explain my dilemma.
I am a big fan of scale, so by choosing an airplane I have never seen from more than a hundred feet away I started off at a disadvantage. I decided to build in 1:12 scale, making the wingspan only slightly larger than 33". Add onto that trying to cram in retractable gear, flaps, ailerons, elevator, rudder and a removable wing and you get some idea of the challenge I've given myself. Have I mentioned I've never built a balsa plane for RC before?
The problems I am running into are these:
I don't want to add any more weight or complexity than I have to. I want one servo for the ailerons, one for the flaps. I want my wing removable. I want the gear to appear to operate like those of the prototype but on only one servo. I don't know how to tie in the pylon to the main structure of the hull or turtledeck.
The pylon (to look scale) is about 1/4" wide, ie not enough room to route wires internally and external wires ruin the scale appearance.
Solutions I think I have devised:
I'll have a servo mounted in the hull with and extension running up to the center section. This extension will run two flex-cable pushrods for the ailerons. Somewhere between servo and center section I will have to devise a disconnect for the linkage to allow the wing to be removed.
Flaps, I don't have a solution for, yet.
I think I will rebuild the pylon with identical structure to the one above, but substituting 1/16" ply for the sides instead of balsa. the 1/8" ply piece of the center section will slip down between the ply sides and be secured with pins of some sort. (Perhaps just use the balsa one I have and glass it when I do the hull....? Hmm...) I'm still not sure how to tie the pylon into the turtledeck, but I'm thinking pins or dowels and epoxy will be strong enough.
I have no solution for the wire problem.
I knew I bit off more than I could chew when I started. We'll see how it goes.
