mikeporterinmd
Still Learning
I finished one last night. With the stock F-pack motor and a battery on storage charge, props that come with the F-pack, it felt like this plane would go vertical. Will likely be a few days before I know for sure how it flies. No paint yet. Oddly, it came out at 215 grams. The spec sheet said 250 grams. I am not generally a light weight builder and I made at least two mistakes that caused me to use extra glue.
I found sliding the landing year into place fairly tricky. What seemed to happen is the steel rod cooled the hot glue very quickly and limited the time I had to move it. Josh used quite a lot of glue in the video, so perhaps that's the difference. In end, I probably have the same amount of glue used as I had to try this 2-3 times. Also, when I glued on the foam landing gear struts, the bottom swing plate on the fuselage ended up glued to the struts. I was able to force some glue in to get it attached to the wing, but still, not the nicest part of my build.
The wings with the camber gauges worked really, really well. Most other builds, I have something slip while trying to wipe glue, etc. This time, I was able to make an accurate wing with most of the excess glue removed. The tabbed tail assembly worked really nicely. The gauge for assembling the top wing also worked very well. The cheek plates, nose section, etc, all worked pretty well. There are some gaps around paper to foam, so I will likely iron the areas to produce sealed edges or possibly use white glue.
I'd seen enough posts about people having trouble getting the power pod in that I was careful to make the front section nice and tight. It was still hard to get the power pod in, but it's there. I used a small very low RPM drill to drill through all the foam and tape. It's unlikely it would nick the wires even if I hit one. I wrapped my power pod with extreme packing tape which is certainly thicker than regular packing tape and not "slippery".
When doing the poster board, it would be nice if they mentioned not worry about gluing the entire front section down to the edge as we are going to trim in line with the rear section. I know, it pays to watch a few steps ahead some times. I did, but I forgot.
Anyway, a fun build that took me two nights to get it to the point where it should fly, but not fully detailed.
Also, I have some of the DAL 6045 props I plan to try on here if the stock props prove prone to breakage.
Mike
I found sliding the landing year into place fairly tricky. What seemed to happen is the steel rod cooled the hot glue very quickly and limited the time I had to move it. Josh used quite a lot of glue in the video, so perhaps that's the difference. In end, I probably have the same amount of glue used as I had to try this 2-3 times. Also, when I glued on the foam landing gear struts, the bottom swing plate on the fuselage ended up glued to the struts. I was able to force some glue in to get it attached to the wing, but still, not the nicest part of my build.
The wings with the camber gauges worked really, really well. Most other builds, I have something slip while trying to wipe glue, etc. This time, I was able to make an accurate wing with most of the excess glue removed. The tabbed tail assembly worked really nicely. The gauge for assembling the top wing also worked very well. The cheek plates, nose section, etc, all worked pretty well. There are some gaps around paper to foam, so I will likely iron the areas to produce sealed edges or possibly use white glue.
I'd seen enough posts about people having trouble getting the power pod in that I was careful to make the front section nice and tight. It was still hard to get the power pod in, but it's there. I used a small very low RPM drill to drill through all the foam and tape. It's unlikely it would nick the wires even if I hit one. I wrapped my power pod with extreme packing tape which is certainly thicker than regular packing tape and not "slippery".
When doing the poster board, it would be nice if they mentioned not worry about gluing the entire front section down to the edge as we are going to trim in line with the rear section. I know, it pays to watch a few steps ahead some times. I did, but I forgot.
Anyway, a fun build that took me two nights to get it to the point where it should fly, but not fully detailed.
Also, I have some of the DAL 6045 props I plan to try on here if the stock props prove prone to breakage.
Mike
Neither did it really improve the performance. 
