VISTA v2 - a slippery pitcheron
- Thread starter bracesport
- Start date
bracesport
Legendary member
@Wildthing - is the CF and epoxy thin? Yes, it is about 0.5mm - the former is a 3D printed 0.8mm wall fuse - three or four sections, no internal structure - once I cut into the canopy area I will be able to show you the cross section.
bracesport
Legendary member
This is the epoxy I use - West’s 105
This is from a local website, but I think West’s is American or Canadian
This is from a local website, but I think West’s is American or Canadian
bracesport
Legendary member
I am pretty impressed after doing the sausage wrap for the first time - canopy step is good - surface needs a little tickle up but it is not half bad - dry fitted the tail and it is starting to look like a glider!
bracesport
Legendary member
Some wing progress too - I used a wire guide to cut the SWS spar shape through the wing - I have tape on one side of each CF strip and there are two CF strips glued into each wing - the tape is between the strips so I could epoxy the CF to each wing half and the tape allows the CF strips to slide against each other while bringing the halves together - once dry I will separate the wing halves, remove the tape and epoxy them together permanently.
Jackson T
Elite member
Gee, that thing looks amazing! Nice work @bracesport!
bracesport
Legendary member
@Wildthing @Jackson T - thanks guys , yes it is going well and quite exciting to work on something technical - I have the wing rods to add soon so I am thinking hard about how to do that! 
Boberticus
Active member
So Awesome. its insane how narrow those strips are, just enough weave to hold themselves together. did you go through any extra steps to get them cut that narrow or just some spray adhesive, scissors, and patience?
thats not prepreg right? you just wetted them out and have something sandwiched in for release? you gonna just mark it in place and remove and carve out the final spar? have any plans to make a mold for duplicates before installation?
This is such a weirdly cool and intricate build. lots of different skills necessary to pull something like this off.
thats not prepreg right? you just wetted them out and have something sandwiched in for release? you gonna just mark it in place and remove and carve out the final spar? have any plans to make a mold for duplicates before installation?
This is such a weirdly cool and intricate build. lots of different skills necessary to pull something like this off.
bracesport
Legendary member
@Boberticus - this CF weave is not pre-preg so I either spray glue it to a surface on in this case I stuck tape to one side to hold it together while cutting the strips - epoxy went on the foam side - CF strips were pressed onto the epoxy and the tape ended up back to back in the middle - next I will separate the wing halves again, remove the tape (and trim the excess), then epoxy down the middle of the spar.
Last edited:
Wildthing
Legendary member
Cool procedure
bracesport
Legendary member
@Wildthing - very manual, but cutting edge at the same time!
Last edited:
bracesport
Legendary member
The strips of CF adhered to the wing halves and with their backing tape removed I could easily epoxy the spar together - I will still need a little trimming on the top surface after glueing - I am also printing some end caps for the wings to help with aligning the wing tubes and rotor pins.
bracesport
Legendary member
Here are the wing tubes with magnets glueing into the stub ends - in principle the magnets will hold the wings onto the fuse/wing-rods - I have also glued the rotor pins into the wing cap ends and to assure their alignment they are glued across both end caps.
bracesport
Legendary member
@Boberticus - no plans to make any moulds at this point - the manual method is a trial for the design, but you never know it my fly well!
Apart from the wing finishing the next stage is to plan and print the wing rotor assembly for inside the fuse.
Apart from the wing finishing the next stage is to plan and print the wing rotor assembly for inside the fuse.
Wildthing
Legendary member
Very impressive work you doThe strips of CF adhered to the wing halves and with their backing tape removed I could easily epoxy the spar together - I will still need a little trimming on the top surface after glueing - I am also printing some end caps for the wings to help with aligning the wing tubes and rotor pins.
View attachment 173374 View attachment 173375 View attachment 173376 View attachment 173377
bracesport
Legendary member
This morning I cleared out the channels to epoxy in the wing tubes - the channel is deeper at the far end of the tube to create a small about of dihedral so the wings do not look drooped - I tacked in the wing tubes with 5min epoxy and checked they are about 10mm up at the tips when the wing rod is parallel to the bench - after that, I filled the void with epoxy and micro balloons.
Fingers crossed!
Fingers crossed!
Boberticus
Active member
how easy is it going to be to trim up the final bit of spar? can you cut it with a razorblade?
or are the wings going to be skinned and epoxied too, and that extra bit is for adhesion?
or are the wings going to be skinned and epoxied too, and that extra bit is for adhesion?
bracesport
Legendary member
@Boberticus - yes (trimmed) and sanded before sheeting.
bracesport
Legendary member
@Wildthing - I don't want to jinx it, but it is coming along quite well at the moment!
