VISTA v2 - a slippery pitcheron

[Wildthing]

For the fuse I used a 50mm braided CF tube as the wrap - this allowed me to get around the thickest part of the fuse an almost to the end of the tail - the tail diameter was just a tad to small to the braided tube to reduce down to - I opted to add a smaller 15mm braided tube to finish the job - there is some overlap which will require a bit of sanding.

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I think I should apply some of your technics to my combat planes, they just look bullet proof.

 

[bracesport]

@Wildthing - Fibreglass and Carbon Fibre are lots of fun - be careful, once you start, there may be no turning back!

 

[bracesport]

started cutting out the canopy hole - need to think about printing the canopy cover.

 

[Wildthing]

started cutting out the canopy hole - need to think about printing the canopy cover.

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So keeping with the theme what if you printed the mold for the canopy and did it also in cf or fiber glass?

 

[bracesport]

@Wildthing - I was thinking about doing that!

 

[Wildthing]

@Wildthing - I was thinking about doing that!

You have gone this far, why stop now

 

[bracesport]

Time to dry fit the rotor assembly - the great thing about this design is the interior of the fuse is 3D printed, so the 3D printed rotor assembly mates perfectly with the fuse - If I did this again I would put a ridge into the bottom of the fuse to mate with a slot in the rotor assembly for a 100% alignment!

 

[bracesport]

todays epoxy session was a bit better - I effectively pre-pregged the CF with epoxy wetting out both sides then rolling in the epoxy from the outside - after that I placed on the wing and trimmed the edges before bagging - we shall see eh!

 

[bracesport]

The wings turned out great (for a hand built job) - I dry fitted the rotor and wing rod with the slots all cut out and it looks good - working on the canopy as well (just a few tweaks to tidy the fit) - I think I will get it rigged up for a test flight before sanding and finishing.

Wings are 95g each!

 

[bracesport]

@jonoashton - this will be an interesting maiden!

 

[jonoashton]

Wow. I have missed all of this. For some reason Flitetest has stopped sending me notifications. Those wings look awesome !! Am I the test pilot ????

 

[jonoashton]

What vacuum pump set up are you using and what is the silver stuff that you are using for mylar ?? How heavy is she? This whole project is incredible !!

 

[bracesport]

@jonoashton - high praise thank you, and yes, ahem, you should be the test pilot!

The vacuum is a dirty old food vac unit but I just used the vac line directly to the bag - with a one way valve you can blip the vac every once and a while - the bag is a foil/plastic laminate (thiner than mylar so the surface is not as good as mylar I imagine).

Everything needs a sand, but I thought maybe to test fly first (this is a surprise one to add to our early Aug catchup)!

 

[Wildthing]

That there looks fantastic.

 

[Boberticus]

Spectacular build.

Is the white strip on the front of the wings just exposed foam? is it easier to just leave that gap than to try and smooth out any wrinkle that would form there in the bagging skinning/process?

I'd assume that its covered in epoxy now and pretty strong compared to regular foam

 

[bracesport]

@Boberticus - the white strip at the front has a fibreglass strip around the LE - I probably should have left the leading edges of the CF a little longer to pull around further, but it looks worse than it is - the trailing edges are knife sharp!

The wings are light and stiff, especially given the internal sine wave spar (SWS).

 

[The Hangar]

The wings turned out great (for a hand built job) - I dry fitted the rotor and wing rod with the slots all cut out and it looks good - working on the canopy as well (just a few tweaks to tidy the fit) - I think I will get it rigged up for a test flight before sanding and finishing.

Wings are 95g each!

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Wow, that looks so slick!!

 

[bracesport]

it is amazing to think it is DTFB in the wing!

 

[Jackson T]

Your plane looks absolutely stunning @bracesport! So pretty! By the way, have you been keeping track of the weight of epoxy vs the weight of CF or fiberglass for a given layup?

 

[bracesport]

@Jackson T - thanks man - on the epoxy question, I did not think to do that - wing halves are 95g - I plan to weigh things this week - I was not too worried about the weight as it is a sloper!