Willy Nillies
Elite member
Most excellent Ted! Glad you are having fun!!!
Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com
Sincerely,
Doug and Becky
WillyNillies.com
Willy Nillies Q-Tee Build
- Thread starter speedbirdted
- Start date
MrGoodwreck
New member
That looks great, and I know what the next WN build will be now.
A couple years back I picked up 2 Q-tee short kits from eliworm. I built one to keep "old school" with a Cox QRC, and a 2ch Cox/Sanwa radio system, and have not built up the second one yet.. ( was going to go electric, but to this day I still don't have any 2.4 radio's or gear, along with the new style electric motors)
I think I will steal your covering pattern, except with transparent dark green and tan.
A couple years back I picked up 2 Q-tee short kits from eliworm. I built one to keep "old school" with a Cox QRC, and a 2ch Cox/Sanwa radio system, and have not built up the second one yet.. ( was going to go electric, but to this day I still don't have any 2.4 radio's or gear, along with the new style electric motors)
I think I will steal your covering pattern, except with transparent dark green and tan.
Turbojoe
Elite member
Jim "eliworm" is local to me and after seeing his son and daughters flying the Q-Tee I had to have one. It just took me way too many years to finish such a simple build. Jim cuts really nice kits. The Q-Tee still sits with 6 other planes waiting for maiden but it's just too freaking hot to go outside.
Joe
Joe
MrGoodwreck
New member
Jim "eliworm" is local to me and after seeing his son and daughters flying the Q-Tee I had to have one. It just took me way too many years to finish such a simple build. Jim cuts really nice kits. The Q-Tee still sits with 6 other planes waiting for maiden but it's just too freaking hot to go outside.
Joe
I just looked at the old email, " couple years back" 2013
Jim is a great guy, and I enjoy'd his service, and his posts.
I hear ya on the weather, I'm in Washington State, but the "Family" has rental properties, and my wife's aunt owns large horse ranch in Tucson..
I'm from Southern California, so Im no slouch to HOT weather, but yup...
Its to hot to fly unless you go super early.
speedbirdted
Legendary member
The first Q-Tee I built was covered kind of like that. It was white with green accents. I only sort of miss it - it didn't fly terribly well since I built it stupid heavy and it was underpowered on a Golden Bee engine. But it taught me valuable lessons about what not to do when building airplanes
My initial idea for covering this was to have the yellow and tan colors reversed, with no stripe. Though I did some measuring and figured out pretty quickly that I didn't have enough tan film to cover that much of the plane, so I switched it to yellow, and did some test patches which is where I discovered that I really liked the look with the stripe. I thought having that much bright yellow on the plane would look kinda garish but I like how it came out.
I still want to try building another full-size Q-tee with a Cox engine on it though currently I have none available. With throttle control too, which I'll either do with a Tarno carb on a TD or a throttle sleeve. Cox Int. actually does sell a RC-ified engine though it's not really well set up enough to allow engine speeds low enough to actually land.
My initial idea for covering this was to have the yellow and tan colors reversed, with no stripe. Though I did some measuring and figured out pretty quickly that I didn't have enough tan film to cover that much of the plane, so I switched it to yellow, and did some test patches which is where I discovered that I really liked the look with the stripe. I thought having that much bright yellow on the plane would look kinda garish but I like how it came out.
I still want to try building another full-size Q-tee with a Cox engine on it though currently I have none available. With throttle control too, which I'll either do with a Tarno carb on a TD or a throttle sleeve. Cox Int. actually does sell a RC-ified engine though it's not really well set up enough to allow engine speeds low enough to actually land.
SlingShot
Maneuvering With Purpose
The original "S-Tee" had a suggested modification to make the wing without dihedral, add ailerons and power it with a TD 0.49.
What should someone be using for covering on these models? Will the Cover Packs make me happy?
speedbirdted
Legendary member
You can use tons of materials on these airplanes. Ultracote, monokote, doculam, solite, solarfilm, parklite, tissue paper, silkspan, you name it; everyone's tried just about everything. Depends really on how much work you're willing to do
However, if you strive for light weight, solite, parklite, doculam or the covering packs Willy Nillies sells are probably your best bets. My personal preference is Solite; I covered my Eaglet 250 in it, though because I did a whole bunch of weight-adding modifications it ended up weighing like 230 grams. Still flies great though! Only problem is you can't really buy Solite anymore. There is an "equivalent" of sorts called Aerolite which I've never tried, so I can't speak for, but it better be worth it judging by the fact that it's nearly $50 a roll
Doculam is the other one that people seem to really like covering these in. It comes clear, so it needs painting (and it does NOT take paint well - you have to clean it with alcohol and scuff it to get anything to stick to it) and it adheres and shrinks at a much higher temperature than any of the other covering films. I don't have a huge amount of experience with it so that's all I can really say.
The main problems with coverings like Ultracote, Monokote and all the other similar off-brand materials sold as just generic model airplane covering film is not the added weight, but the shrinkage. Compared with the covering films that are touted as being super light, Monokote is actually not that catastrophically heavy. I covered the Q-tee entirely with monokote, and it flies great. However, one of the main reasons it flies as well as it does is because I was really, really attentive to the amount of heat and subsequent shrinkage I was putting onto the covering, particularly on the wing and tail sections. If overheated, the shrinkage of the covering easily has enough strength to warp and/or break components. This is useful though, as you can add warp that you do want, such as wing washout or even to a small degree, dihedral.
I already knew this bird was going to be a little on the heavy side with all the things I did with it though it actually came out lighter than I expected it to, at 195 grams. Though, most of the other Q-tees that have been much less overengineered have come out in the ~160 gram range.
SlingShot
Maneuvering With Purpose
Fuselage covering is done with the exception of the underside (because I need some way to put the gear on...) Unfortunately I couldn't get the curvature exactly right on the stripe on both sides. This is the better side
View attachment 172763
Now it's time to build some wheels. I wanted some WWI style wheels since that's what most Pietenpols have but sadly Williams Bros smallest wheels are 1 7/8" which is kind of useless. So I guess I have to do this the hard way...
These are the four halves, to make two wheels. I cut them from the lightest 3/16 balsa sheet I had.
View attachment 172762
Then mounted them to some dowels to put them in the poor man's wood lathe known as a drill press to turn them true and sand to shape. This creates craploads of sawdust, so keep a shop vac close by. At this stage I only round the edges and add the rough conical shape with 100 grit.
View attachment 172766
At this point I removed the dowel with acetone, added the aluminum tube axle and secured it with epoxy thinned with alcohol. Then I can mount it to my Dremel and use 600 to 1000 grit paper to really get it smooth and symmetrical. This is test fitting the O-ring tire. I'll secure it probably with canopy glue one I get some since CA would leave it all ugly and white. After this stage I further increased the angle of the cone shape to thin the outer edge of the wheel more so it doesn't stick out as much from the tire.
View attachment 172769
And here is a completed wheel, sans tire glued, next to a wheel in between being shaped with the drill press and finished with the Dremel. I just covered it with the same monokote I used on the fuselage, though I did consider painting it instead.
View attachment 172771
Tomorrow comes the fun part. Building some landing gear. Then it's maiden time!
Those wheels are legit.
rampage
Member
I'm about to start the build on mine and it's going to be interesting. Not my first kit build by any stretch of the imagination but my first without plans or a manual, so we'll see how this goes.
I saw you said yours had trouble turning? I'm wondering if it could use a couple more degrees of dihedral?
I saw you said yours had trouble turning? I'm wondering if it could use a couple more degrees of dihedral?
speedbirdted
Legendary member
It turned just fine, and was plenty stable, the problem was (is) the roll rate. The rudder pushes the tail pretty far out of coordination before it will actually start to roll. Not really that much of an actual problem, it's just ugly. Most of the time I end up making very wide turns, and then it looks fine.
Now that I look at it I don't think I applied the amount of dihedral you're supposed to. I think I'm about 1/2 degree off. It would be a lot of effort to split the wing and then redo it so I won't bother. It's not like it even gets flown enough to warrant it. As far as I can remember, it's had maybe 4 or 5 flights put on it in the almost 4 months it's existed now.
These kits are a breeze to put together. I think trying to work off a plan building one of these would just be annoying. They're almost completely self jigging and you could be asleep and still build one. I need to do another, but I've had no time to really build anything.
Now that I look at it I don't think I applied the amount of dihedral you're supposed to. I think I'm about 1/2 degree off. It would be a lot of effort to split the wing and then redo it so I won't bother. It's not like it even gets flown enough to warrant it. As far as I can remember, it's had maybe 4 or 5 flights put on it in the almost 4 months it's existed now.
These kits are a breeze to put together. I think trying to work off a plan building one of these would just be annoying. They're almost completely self jigging and you could be asleep and still build one. I need to do another, but I've had no time to really build anything.
rampage
Member
Well, we're under way. I hope you don't mind me using your build thread? I didn't really see the point in starting another when there's a perfectly good - and very informative - post right here!
For not having any idea where anything goes I think it's coming along pretty good so far. The only thing that's kind of sketchy to me so far is the the pylon for the wing. I figured out which strut goes where but 2 of the 4 broke while test-fitting and one of the wing saddles also broke. When all is said and done I'm going to epoxy the whole rig together so it shouldn't be much of an issue but still, I think both the vertical and lateral portions could be a bit beefier. The ply delaminated and they simply came apart.
Also I'm dumb and forgot to thread in the blind nuts for the motor before I put the top sheeting on. Don't be dumb like me. I had to cut the sheeting back off but I think it's looking okay so far.
Battery hatch is KISS. Just a servo horn. Nothing fancy. Should work well enough.
For not having any idea where anything goes I think it's coming along pretty good so far. The only thing that's kind of sketchy to me so far is the the pylon for the wing. I figured out which strut goes where but 2 of the 4 broke while test-fitting and one of the wing saddles also broke. When all is said and done I'm going to epoxy the whole rig together so it shouldn't be much of an issue but still, I think both the vertical and lateral portions could be a bit beefier. The ply delaminated and they simply came apart.
Also I'm dumb and forgot to thread in the blind nuts for the motor before I put the top sheeting on. Don't be dumb like me. I had to cut the sheeting back off but I think it's looking okay so far.
Battery hatch is KISS. Just a servo horn. Nothing fancy. Should work well enough.
Attachments
TooJung2Die
Master member
On both Willy Nillies kits I built the first step to build the fuselage was attaching the landing gear wire to the fuselage bulkhead. Are you planning on modifying the landing gear so it goes in later?
rampage
Member
The landing gear appears to have a slot-and-peg style thing going on. There was a bulkhead with a triangle etched into it and there were 2 triangle-shaped pieces of balsa that matched the etch. I glued them to the bulkhead and then glued another bulkhead atop those. The gear fits into the socket and a final triangle-shaped wedge will push down into the socket to hold the gear in place.
It all seems to fit together well so I can only assume that's how it was meant to be.
It all seems to fit together well so I can only assume that's how it was meant to be.
speedbirdted
Legendary member
Epoxy is not needed to rebuild the cabane struts. Thin CA will do the job just fine, and be lighter. I would imagine they are not a difficult part to scratch build either, should that be easier. Did you break them by trying to insert the dowels that go across between them? I almost did that but decided to just ream out the hole slightly so they would fit without binding as badly.
Usually, the gear wire is secured to its bulkhead before it goes into the fuselage. Doing it this way probably won't cause anything bad if you rethink the steps correctly, and it might also make the fuselage easier to handle during building with no gear wires stuck out the bottom. I wouldn't really know - on so far every Willy Nillies build I've done I ended up abandoning the standard gear setup and doing something custom
Did you put the controller under the turtle deck before you glued it? I almost got caught out by that. For the turtle deck itself on my build I ended up using lighter balsa because I found it worked better when I rounded it off around the motor mount. Plus I wanted to use one continuous piece and the included one wasn't long enough.
Usually, the gear wire is secured to its bulkhead before it goes into the fuselage. Doing it this way probably won't cause anything bad if you rethink the steps correctly, and it might also make the fuselage easier to handle during building with no gear wires stuck out the bottom. I wouldn't really know - on so far every Willy Nillies build I've done I ended up abandoning the standard gear setup and doing something custom
Did you put the controller under the turtle deck before you glued it? I almost got caught out by that. For the turtle deck itself on my build I ended up using lighter balsa because I found it worked better when I rounded it off around the motor mount. Plus I wanted to use one continuous piece and the included one wasn't long enough.
TooJung2Die
Master member
I understand exactly what you are describing. That's a clever way of assembling the landing gear. I put it all together before assembling the fuselage but your way will work too. 😎👍
rampage
Member
Epoxy is not needed to rebuild the cabane struts. Thin CA will do the job just fine, and be lighter. I would imagine they are not a difficult part to scratch build either, should that be easier. Did you break them by trying to insert the dowels that go across between them? I almost did that but decided to just ream out the hole slightly so they would fit without binding as badly.
Usually, the gear wire is secured to its bulkhead before it goes into the fuselage. Doing it this way probably won't cause anything bad if you rethink the steps correctly, and it might also make the fuselage easier to handle during building with no gear wires stuck out the bottom. I wouldn't really know - on so far every Willy Nillies build I've done I ended up abandoning the standard gear setup and doing something custom
Did you put the controller under the turtle deck before you glued it? I almost got caught out by that. For the turtle deck itself on my build I ended up using lighter balsa because I found it worked better when I rounded it off around the motor mount. Plus I wanted to use one continuous piece and the included one wasn't long enough.
Yeah the struts broke while inserting the dowels. I should've reamed them out a bit but I didn't want to screw up their "self-jigging" properties by making the fit too loose. I didn't expect the ply to delaminate and fall apart. But yeah it won't be a problem. I'm going to mount them to the fuselage tonight, I want to cover the deck first to make getting to it with the iron a little bit easier without having to squeeze it between the cabane struts.
I'm just going to put the ESC in the battery compartment for ease of access. Probably just double-sticky-taped to the side of the fuselage.
As for the landing gear, I was familiar with this particular technique from a couple of different models. I built a Steven's Aeromodel Cessna 180 a couple of years ago and it's landing gear had the same kind of slot-and-plug construction and I also assembled a Twin Otter ARF a number of years ago that had the same thing going on, except instead of gluing in the 'plug' it was held in with a bunch of M3 bolts. I can't complain, it works! I actually flipped the bulkhead around and placed the 'sandwiching' bulkhead forward instead of aft. This shifted the gear just a tiny bit forward but I was concerned that the gear might be a little too far aft anyway just from a quick visual inspection. So I used a piece of scrap ply to fill in the 'gap' this created, which also served as a handy hardpoint to mount the battery hatch latch - aka, sanded-down servo horn.
I'm glad you understood it because as I was typing it I was thinking "This guy's going to have no freaking clue what I'm talking about.". Lol.
rampage
Member
I got the wing built. That was an adventure with absolutely nothing but speedbirdted's excellent photos for guidance. It took me over an hour to realize that the leading edge and trailing edge were the same.. Like speedbirdted I opted to skip the sheer webbing, only doing it between the first set of ribs under the sheeting. I think it came out pretty decently!
I kind of screwed up and forgot to angle Rib 1 on both halves of the wing inward a bit to account for dihedral. Easily fixed though. I also glued in some scrap balsa along the leading edge of the wing center section and shaped it. I did the same on the trailing edge.
All in all, pretty happy so far!
I kind of screwed up and forgot to angle Rib 1 on both halves of the wing inward a bit to account for dihedral. Easily fixed though. I also glued in some scrap balsa along the leading edge of the wing center section and shaped it. I did the same on the trailing edge.
All in all, pretty happy so far!
Attachments
speedbirdted
Legendary member
Looks great! But what's that big silver B-25 lookin thing in the background?
TooJung2Die
Master member
Looking good!
