ShrubSmacker Release

[texas dave]

She looks beautiful! Someday I'd like to build a sonex. How long did it take for you to build it?

I was working a full time job as a nurse when I built my Sonex. I fabricated every part from scratch except the cowling and canopy. For example, I pounded out all of these wing ribs one at a time. It took right at five years to complete the build and was well worth the effort. Flying an airplane I built by myself in my garage is an awesome experience.

 

[OliverW]

I was working a full time job as a nurse when I built my Sonex. I fabricated every part from scratch except the cowling and canopy. For example, I pounded out all of these wing ribs one at a time. It took right at five years and was well worth the effort. Flying an airplane I built by myself in my garage is an awesome experience.

View attachment 182267 View attachment 182268

That's not a long building time at all! I may have to look into building one someday when I'm older lol.

 

[texas dave]

I finished assembling and laminating my fuselage. I remove the paper and use my "special" laminating film from Wal-Mart. It makes the plane water proof, easier to paint, and a lot stronger. Virtually no weight added.

 

[Grifflyer]

I finished assembling and laminating my fuselage. I remove the paper and use my "special" laminating film from Wal-Mart. It makes the plane water proof, easier to paint, and a lot stronger. Virtually no weight added. View attachment 182305

I love the sheen it gives the foam!

 

[The Hangar]

I love the sheen it gives the foam!

Me too - it looks perfect on shrubby!

 

[FrankFly]

I finished assembling and laminating my fuselage. I remove the paper and use my "special" laminating film from Wal-Mart. It makes the plane water proof, easier to paint, and a lot stronger. Virtually no weight added. View attachment 182305

Clue me in. What is your "special" laminating film and how do you use it?

 

[texas dave]

Clue me in. What is your "special" laminating film and how do you use it?

Its actually Duck brand shelf liner. It's self-adhesive and very light weight. $5 for a 25 foot roll. I'm going to post a few photos to illustrate my fool proof method.

 

[texas dave]

I know this is probably common knowledge to most of you, but maybe someone could benefit from a tutorial on how I laminate my foamboard airplanes. You can laminate an entire foam board airplane for about one dollar.

1. I use Duck brand shelf liner and 3M 77 spray adhesive from Wal-Mart. The shelf liner is already self-adhesive, but the 3M gives it a even better grip. Apply just a very light mist of the spray adhesive to one side of the part and let it air dry for 15-20 minutes.

2. Tape the shelf liner to your work surface making sure it is completely flat. Pull back the backing paper.

3. Place the part to be laminated down on the sticky side of the shelf liner and press firmly.

4. Trim around the part with a razor blade or hobby knife. I leave enough material to wrap around leading edges or adjoining sides of the fuselage.

5. Go around just the edges with an iron set on low heat to make it look really nice.

 

[FrankFly]

I know this is probably common knowledge to most of you, but maybe someone could benefit from a tutorial on how I laminate my foamboard airplanes. You can laminate an entire foam board airplane for about one dollar.

Thank you so much, Dave. This might be the answer to some of the delaminating headaches I've been having with the dollar store (Adams) foam board. I don't know if I got a bad batch but several of my planes keep peeling apart. Especially problematic where you glue the vertical stab to the foam board and the paper you've glued to pulls off, for example. And, of course the control surface hinges peeling off. I've switched to WalMart (Ross) foam board which doesn't delaminate easily but weighs about 18% more which can result in a tail-heavy airframe.

 

[texas dave]

Thank you so much, Dave. This might be the answer to some of the delaminating headaches I've been having with the dollar store (Adams) foam board. I don't know if I got a bad batch but several of my planes keep peeling apart. Especially problematic where you glue the vertical stab to the foam board and the paper you've glued to pulls off, for example. And, of course the control surface hinges peeling off. I've switched to WalMart (Ross) foam board which doesn't delaminate easily but weighs about 18% more which can result in a tail-heavy airframe.

You're welcome. I've used the Ross board for some parts that need a little more rigidity. Yeah...the Dollar Tree board seems like the paper comes off really easily lately. I just go ahead and pull the paper off and do my lamination thing.

 

[texas dave]

Finished making my wing. Just ailerons...no flaps. I'm pretty new to RC so I'll wait until my flying skills are better to add flaps. Those of you with a sharp eye will notice I put a few degrees of dihedral in the wing. Also this build is from a 110% version of the plans. I'm really impressed with this design.

 

[Grifflyer]

Finished making my wing. Just ailerons...no flaps. I'm pretty new to RC so I'll wait until my flying skills are better to add flaps. Those of you with a sharp eye will notice I put a few degrees of dihedral in the wing. Also this build is from a 110% version of the plans. I'm really impressed with this design. View attachment 182448

Looks amazing! The dihedral helps stabilize the airframe quite a bit, it'll be a much more hands off aircraft that way

 

[The Hangar]

I know this is probably common knowledge to most of you, but maybe someone could benefit from a tutorial on how I laminate my foamboard airplanes. You can laminate an entire foam board airplane for about one dollar.

1. I use Duck brand shelf liner and 3M 77 spray adhesive from Wal-Mart. The shelf liner is already self-adhesive, but the 3M gives it a even better grip. Apply just a very light mist of the spray adhesive to one side of the part and let it air dry for 15-20 minutes.

2. Tape the shelf liner to your work surface making sure it is completely flat. Pull back the backing paper.

3. Place the part to be laminated down on the sticky side of the shelf liner and press firmly.

4. Trim around the part with a razor blade or hobby knife. I leave enough material to wrap around leading edges or adjoining sides of the fuselage.

5. Go around just the edges with an iron set on low heat to make it look really nice.

Great tips! I'll have to try that on my builds this winter since all the dampness really takes a toll on the airframe if it's made out of dtfb.

 

[texas dave]

Great tips! I'll have to try that on my builds this winter since all the dampness really takes a toll on the airframe if it's made out of dtfb.

Practice on a scrap piece of foam board. It's really pretty easy and is probably lighter than the paper.

 

[texas dave]

Starting to look like an airplane. Pretty much all I have left to do is make the power pod and install the motor. What a fun build!

 

[Grifflyer]

Starting to look like an airplane. Pretty much all I have left to do is make the power pod and install the motor. What a fun build!
View attachment 182584 View attachment 182586

Hooray!! I love the scheme, very simple yet it looks incredible!

 

[texas dave]

Hooray!! I love the scheme, very simple yet it looks incredible!

Thanks. I used this tape kit I found at Target.
https://www.target.com/p/scotch-3-4-34-x-125-34-colored-plastic-tape-assorted/-/A-13805465

 

[davidfrydman]

i am having a hard time finding a good motor for this plane on hobbyking because all the motors i find are for drones can anyone reccoment me a good motor and also can i scale just the wing down to like 90% or maybe the wing and tail but keep the fuselage the same.

thank you

 

[The Hangar]

i am having a hard time finding a good motor for this plane on hobbyking because all the motors i find are for drones can anyone reccoment me a good motor and also can i scale just the wing down to like 90% or maybe the wing and tail but keep the fuselage the same.

thank you

This one is pretty good as long as you don't use loctite on the shaft.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/secret-...407&indexName=hbk_live_magento_en_us_products

Honestly for the price I'd just get an A or F pack motor from FT. They are only $20 and high-quality motors. BTW quad motors will work, but I'd suggest getting a CCW since that's what most airplane motors are so it'll self-tighten the lock nut with standard props.

 

[texas dave]

I need some advice on choosing a prop for my 110% Shrubby. Please forgive my ignorance. I just got into RC airplanes about 4 months ago.

Motor: 2207 - 2300kv
ESC: 30A
Battery: 850 mah 3s