Willy Nillies Jr. Skylark 250 "BUILD ALONG"

[TooJung2Die]

Very nice looking build Joe. You can tell you've done this once or twice before. The bolt on wing is a nice touch. It's a much cleaner way to attach the wing for those that can avoid ground loops on take off and land it on the wheels.

 

[Turbojoe]

You can tell you've done this once or twice before.

Yeah, I've done it a few times but that doesn't mean I know what the hell I'm doing ...

No work on the plane at all today. I went down to my daughters place for my grandson's 9th birthday party all day. It's amazing how bad a bunch of 8, 9 and 10 years old's can wear out an old fart like me.

I think I'm going to hit the few mostly useless cookie cutter hobby shops we have to see if I can find a small clear canopy. They don't carry diddly for builders so I have to hope they have something from a bARF in stock. I have a box full of canopies but the smallest one is 6". WAY too big on this plane.

Joe

 

[Willy Nillies]

Believe it or not I've actually gotten some work done finally! Some final sanding and I should be ready to work on the covering. I may try to do the original red and black Goldberg theme. We'll see how that goes.

I did do some mods but nothing really crazy. I made the upper hatch full length with magnetic catch. Steerable nose wheel of course. That required cutting the "shelf" out of the area behind the firewall so the battery can be installed on its side rather than flat. It gives a LOT more room to work with. I hot glued the ESC to the opposite side of the compartment. The RX will likely end up just behind the servos for easy access to unplug aileron servos if wing is removed. Speaking of the wing I wasn't going to make it bolt on but it was just so easy that I went ahead and did it. I added a small 1/64" ply plate in the screw area for just a little added strength. I also went with the "Eaglet" style wing tips. I still had a few extra lengths of that ultra light/soft balsa triangle stock so why not? At the very tail of the fuse I added some scrap to fill in the area under the horizontal stab so there is extra glue surface. I did it on the Eaglet 250 as well.

Sorry Doug but I'm not a fan of the main landing gear. I was hoping to be able to install after covering the bottom of the wing. I realized that they are supposed to be installed during the wing build. I was able to cut/sand/shape the pieces to install to my completed wing though. I came very close to making my own main gear mounts but decided to go ahead with what was there. I just really hate having to work around something like landing gear in the way of trying to lay a wing flat or especially to cover. Most won't care. It's just a pet peeve of mine. I'd much rather be able to install the gear AFTER covering.

Joe
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Hey Joe!

Looks Great as always! The original Jr. Skylark was transparent orange silkspan with painted black trim. I know this without a doubt. My brother owns Carl Goldberg's original Jr. Skylark! AND Carl Goldbergs original Skylark 56 twin!

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

 

[TooJung2Die]

Have you ever tried heat shrinking a clear water bottle over a wood mold to make a bubble canopy?

 

[Turbojoe]

Thanks for the straight scoop on the PROPER colors Doug. All the pictures I find look like red and black but as we know online colors rarely if ever match the true color. The only orange I have is MonoKote and that stuff is way to heavy. Because the color scheme is complicated (for me) I'd kinda like to try Doculam and paint but I worry about the tape peeling paint off when pulled. I do have several rolls of the true 3M blue painters tape. I don't know if that's the best tape or not for something like this. I have the Doculam. I have the tape. I have a Paasche airbrush and I can get whatever type paint I need (as long as Walmart or Michael's carries it). I just don't have the know how.... I've never tried painting an R/C plane so it would be a first for me. Honestly I"m so close to being done with the Jr. Skylark that I'd rather just go black and "red" SolarFilm so I can get to fly her soon. I have many other projects that I can use as Doculam/painting Guinea pigs. 2Jung2Die seems to be our resident Doculam go to guy. I'll have to pick his brain a little later.

Having Carl Goldberg's original planes is a real treasure. I hope your brother has them hermetically sealed and never plans to fly them!

Joe

 

[TooJung2Die]

If you decide to airbrush acrylic paint on doculam make sure it's "multi-surface" acrylic. I found little bottles of Craft Smart at Michaels. I had to mask the bottom of the wing between colors on the Guillow's SE5A. I used blue masking tape and managed to peel it off without peeling off the paint.

 

[Turbojoe]

Have you ever tried heat shrinking a clear water bottle over a wood mold to make a bubble canopy?

Yep. I built myself a vacuum rig a few years back. I've had about a 25% success rate getting either PETG or Styrene to the proper temp for a good pull. Even less success with water/soda bottles. It gets REAL expensive REAL fast with my failure rate using the good stuff so haven't tried it in a while. I did make all the windows for my all Balsa Eaglet 50 and actually a few cowls for the MM Tyro 150, MM Sr. Switchback and the EVA. I just have too many temp related failures to pursue it much further. I do have a LOT of molds I've made from cowls and canopies that are hard to get or expensive to buy. With my failure rate it would be more expensive to make them myself.

Joe

 

[Turbojoe]

If you decide to airbrush acrylic paint on doculam make sure it's "multi-surface" acrylic. I found it at Michaels. I had to mask the bottom of the wing between colors on the Guillow's SE5A. I used blue masking tape and managed to peel it off without peeling off the paint.
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I don't know if there's a good Doculam thread here on FliteTest. There was a thread on RC Groups but like all of them it became so polluted as to become absolutely useless. (One of the many, many reasons I closed my RC Groups account.) How about starting a Doculam thread in the Balsa Builders and Breakers forum? I have a lot of Doculam but precious little knowledge of how to use and paint it. Your experience could benefit so many!

Joe

 

[rockyboy]

I don't know if there's a good Doculam thread here on FliteTest. There was a thread on RC Groups but like all of them it became so polluted as to become absolutely useless. (One of the many, many reasons I closed my RC Groups account.) How about starting a Doculam thread in the Balsa Builders and Breakers forum? I have a lot of Doculam but precious little knowledge of how to use and paint it. Your experience could benefit so many!

Joe

I love this idea! I have a lot of interest in learning how to use this stuff, but I haven't bought a roll of it yet.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Your experience could benefit so many!

I'm not a document laminating film expert. I think I've used it on four airplanes. It was a long learning curve. A lot of film ended up in the trash. Maybe a thread where we can swap doculam experience here on FT would be useful to some. It isn't as easy to use as SolarFilm but its ultra-light weight and low cost make it an attractive alternative to traditional tissue paper and shrink films for some applications.

I have a lot of interest in learning how to use this stuff, but I haven't bought a roll of it yet.

You don't have to buy a whole roll to try it. Aloft Hobbies sells it by the foot. It's still cheap.
New Stuff / Laminating Films

 

[rockyboy]

You don't have to buy a whole roll to try it. Aloft Hobbies sells it by the foot. It's still cheap.
New Stuff / Laminating Films

Very cool! Thanks!

 

[Turbojoe]

I'm not a document laminating film expert. I think I've used it on four airplanes. It was a long learning curve.

Hey, don't sell yourself short. You may have "only" done four covering jobs with it but that's four more than me and I'll bet more than most everyone else here. Your insights could save us all a lot of grief.

For right now though I laid some of the SolarFilm red metal flake next to the black SolarFilm and it looks absolutely AMAZING! I've been trying to freehand the red/orange fuse mid section in card stock to cut the covering from and keep failing miserably. It looks so simple but I just can't seem to get the lines right by hand.

Thanks to Doug I never knew the original colors Carl Goldberg used were actually ORANGE and black and NOT red and black as they appear in online pictures (at least on my monitor). If I had any orange covering lighter than the roll of Monokote I have I would definitely do it as original. Many thanks to Doug for that R/C history lesson about the true original colors! I LOVE learning things like that.

Joe

 

[Turbojoe]

I have massive fear that I'll have a ton of issues trying to cover around the permanently installed main landing gear. I've cut and added balsa scrap in the MLG area to better hold the covering. I'm hoping that's enough to allow me to cover and finish without any re-do's. So sorry Doug but I couldn't possibly hate the need for permanent MLG installation BEFORE covering any more. I may need to fire up TinkerCad and the 3D printer to come up with another MLG mounting option......

Joe

 

[TooJung2Die]

It can be tricky having a wire sticking up through the middle of the panel you are trying to cover. I know how I'd tackle it so I'm interested to see how you solve the problem.

 

[Turbojoe]

It can be tricky having a wire sticking up through the middle of the panel you are trying to cover. I know how I'd tackle it so I'm interested to see how you solve the problem.

Pictured is my plan of attack. I covered the extra balsa "meat" I added to the LG area. It's still going to be a pain in the ass but I'll get it done. It's for sure I'll be working with TinkerCad and the 3D printer for an MLG mounting option for the next WN kit build.

Joe

 

[Willy Nillies]

Not trying to be a smart butt, but I think you guys are overthinking a little, possibly making it more difficult than it is.

We cut a piece of covering like normal to cover the wing half, then simply poke a hole in the covering with the landing gear wire and slide it down the wire to the wing and iron in place. Works very well and haven't had any problems.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

 

[Joker 53150]

I think I'd normally do it like Joe, with the extra "meat" for the covering to grab, purely because it's what I'm used to and it makes sense. On these small planes I guess I need to adjust my thinking as well!

 

[Piotrsko]

Not trying to be a smart butt, but I think you guys are overthinking a little, possibly making it more difficult than it is.

We cut a piece of covering like normal to cover the wing half, then simply poke a hole in the covering with the landing gear wire and slide it down the wire to the wing and iron in place. Works very well and haven't had any problems.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

Old school. I like old school solutions. AFAIK the orange in testors/AERO GLOSS dope was international orange the same color as the Golden State bridge in Sanfran which tends to look red.

 

[Turbojoe]

Not trying to be a smart butt, but I think you guys are overthinking a little, possibly making it more difficult than it is.

We cut a piece of covering like normal to cover the wing half, then simply poke a hole in the covering with the landing gear wire and slide it down the wire to the wing and iron in place. Works very well and haven't had any problems.

Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com

No problem Doug. I'm just an old dog set in my ways. It seems every time I poke a hole in covering it ends up being a big rip later on. I'm never in a huge hurry when building so if something takes a little longer or a little more work to avoid problems later it's not a big deal to me.

Joe

 

[Turbojoe]

OK, so here's a quick covering progress report. The fuse is pretty much done. While the original covering scheme looks really uncomplicated at this small size the curve radii are nearly impossible to reproduce (at least for me) using strips of covering material. What you see here is my 5th attempt with the white Solarfilm cut at 4 mm for striping. I had to finally call it good and just move on. From 25 feet away you won't be able to tell and if you can then just look the other way. I'm about 3/4 done with the wing and the larger area of metallic red and black together look amazing. A perfect color combo.

I'm having to stretch every millimeter of SolarFilm metallic red and black as I just don't have any more. No room for errors. I'm using up years old scrap pieces as it is. (I never throw ANYTHING R/C away!)

My life is controlled by my back problems and my back says that's it for today....... Hopefully I can finish up the wing tomorrow. Then I just need to trim out the tail feathers with black. Do final assembly and fly! Weather is rainy and crappy for the next day or so then need some dry out time. IF the weather cooperates then I'm hoping for maiden this weekend AND a second flight on the Eaglet 250 . My fingers, toes and eyes are crossed......

I've given up trying to find a clear 4" canopy from the local cookie cutter Horizon Hobby controlled LHS's. I can order from Sig but shipping will be 2-3 times the price of the canopy! I'm still working on it.......

Joe