i do rc aircraft as well as firearms. i'm just a regular man, with regular-man pay, so no $10,000 jets, but decent enough planes for me.
i could buy a ski kit and fly during the winter, but screw that, i usually build a new kit.
for what ever reason, i felt like posting a progressive build thread, and i'll add pics of progress from time to time.
estimated time to completion, about 5 weeks or so.
it's a common thing to build to get through the winter, so i know that there are others of you out there.
my plane will be a hog-bipe from sig, a saito 100 for power, jr radio gear, and an intrepid pilot brave enough to fly after the devestating crash he walked away from a few years ago.

i'll be needing some good plans:



the kit, $150, came with the usual assortment of flat balsa, sticks, and hardware:


the new saito 100, $289, is on the test stand, ready to get broken in:
 


the intrepid pilot, always at the ready,nerves of steel:


i had just gotten started when this little whim to post this struck, this is the bare bones fusalage:

updates to follow.....i get to go work on her for a bit, then my 12 nightshift.

overhead valves? that's pretty slick

sometimes i look at the time and wonder why it looks like so litlle done.
there's a bit more going on in between pictures, but it'd be ridiculous to show everything, so.....

the fuel tank and throttle cable are secured in place:


stringers put in place along formers:



flat balsa cracks easilly, so the sheets are measure cut, and soaked in hot water to make them pliable, then taped into position to somewhat achieve the final shape before gluing.
 


the four quadrants of sheeting glued in, and the cockpit opening cut out.

 
a little more on this, then it gets set aside to start on the top wing.
that pesky job of mine demands progress stop, till at least 7 tomorrow morning.

I love this kind of thread. Entertaining and informative.

Thanks Brain

joined the cabane pieces together with upper wing mounting plate and trial fit it into the slots in the fusilage:


also put the two linkage guide rods in:


now, i get to set the fusilage aside, clean up my mess, bring out the new plans, and move on to build the upper wing:

.

tomorrow night is a half shift, and i'll get some serious building in. hopefully knock that top wing out in one shot and get started on the bottom wing.

TAG!

the lesser joys of model building.
the wing ribs are supposed to be die cut, with a nice sharp precision-set of shaped cutters leaving a good outline that you just gently break away from the sheet of balsa. these ribs weren't cut all the way through, and it would have been a disaster to try and punch them out, so i spent a good hour and a half retracing the cuts with an exacto knife. 2 wings, 40 ribs.



and so it begins. the lower main spars and ribs are in place.
the totallity of the aircraft provides the strength, but the spars are the backbone of the wing, and the ribs provide the specific airfoil shape.

tag.


cool planes like this makes me drool..

Tagged casue I wanna se it crash! J/K

Cool thread, and good pictures.

So is it gonna be red and yellow with the Golden Knight? Monokote or coverall fabric?

Trade ya a case of Wolf  to frame me one up, i hate building doing it for other people kills this hobby.

Can see a Saito 125 or YS 110 on one

In the Saito pic is that a Dazzler or Uproar?

To bad the wing ribs weren't lazer cut like it looks like the fuselage formers were......

Looks good, the Saito 100 is a nice motor.

I have never built a plane that actually flies, but when I was in high school I build many of the aircraft of WWII.  This is a very well done, interesting thread so I am tagging it for progress.  I can't wait to see you fly it.
I see you are in NH.  I am from Groveton, NH.  Where are you?

"So is it gonna be red and yellow with the Golden Knight? Monokote or coverall fabric?"
monokote, and although my mancard training said that there are only 8 colors, i strayed and am going with maroon basecoat with cream trim scheme.

"  In the Saito pic is that a Dazzler or Uproar?"
it's a dazzler, with a fazor stuffed in right behind it. i'm really cramped down in my lower sanctum, so my planes get unceramoniously crammed in, hopefully not to the point of hangar rash.
i'll toss up a pic to show my little room, just no room left.

"I see you are in NH. I am from Groveton, NH. Where are you?"
groveton is pretty nice. i stayed a few days just into stark this last october, great country.
i'm way the hell down the bottom of the state, in Salem.

ok, i present the hobby room.
cramped, huh?

 

 




 


here's that dazzler. yeah, the covering is getting some sags, a little heatgun action at the start of flying season will square that away.


and this is where i sit now. leading edge and trailing edge sheeting is on.
the glue is dry, i'm heading back in to build.

well, i must have been on crack if i thought i'd get that wing knocked out in a night.
the progress was strait forward,though.
main spars
ribs
leading edge
trailing edge sheeting
webbing  
cap strips
braces
leading edge sheeting
wing tip additions




this kit had some good qualities to it to save on the tedious work, like sanding and shaping.
sometimes, the leading edge can just be some flat stock glued on the front of the ribs.
they may give you a guide, or just tell you to sand and shape to the proper shape.
this kit has  preshaped leading edges, and all the ailerons ,as well as flight control surfaces.
pic just shows  


sheeting is on, just adding the capstrips to the top of the ribs.
the difference in the grain of these to the ribs adds considerable strength, plus it gives a better surface for the covering to adhere to.


little fuzzy, but this is the trailing edge. just flat stock that needs to be shaped to match the rib contour. mmmmm, missed a small gap, totally no big deal.



i use to have to use a sanding bar to get that angle taken care of , but then i stepped up to a hand planer.
amazing how the longer you're in a hobby, the more little gadgets you end up getting.
they recently came out with a hand motorized planer. nice cutting drum, and does it save time.


i'll need to temporarilly install the ailerons to referance for some sanding out on the rear wing tips.
they said to tape them up, but it's easier to just hinge them up without glue.
you just find the center point along the rear edge, and the front edge of the ailerons, mark the location of the hinges, and then use your handy-dandy electric slot cutter to make a nice strait cut for the hinges.

another gadget to get the centerline.


the slot cutter, sure beats using an exacto knife.
it's only on the angle for pic sake, it goes in strait on.
 


the hinges are just flat plasticky fiberous tabs. they get pushed in to each surface halfway and glued.
no glue till later.
fitting the ailerons to guide me in shaping those blocks in the forground.


doesn't seem like much, but that's the upper wing.
i'm on page 21 out of 36....it'll come together more quickly towards the 3/4 mark.

tAG

read a thread over on RC UNIVERSE, where a guy said he went from box to field in 7 days......building whore!

i end up building as more of an unwinding after work, mostly just an hour or 3 here and there.

anyway, first pic is just showing some wedges used for making the trailing edge sheeting hold glue contact, because the directions have me gluing this length UP into position.
i work quick when i'm using 7-15 second glue.



the 2 servo mounting hatches go on the underneath of the lower wing. this is just showing a temporary placement to glue the mounting blocks on.
i know that there's light at the end of the tunnel when i get to touching servos.


the lower wing is built in half sections, becouse unlike the top wing, which is one flat length, the bottom has 3 degrees of dihedral angle on each side.
they give me a rib dihedral gauge,and a pre-angled main spar connecting brace.
i'll block up the end of the wing to ensure the correct angle.
those tubes are just rolled paper to help thread the servo wires through the covered wing later.


i won't have too much more to do to complete the bottom wing,sans covering.
here i've gotten some 30 minute epoxy on the two halves, and it's clamped up good, with the wing tip blocked up.

 
finish this up after work, and get started on the tail pieces next.
lower wing, 51  3/4 inches, the upper is 54 1/2.

lets see......added mounting bolt plates, center sheeting, and a strip of glass around the center joint.
this pic shows the wing dowels epoxied into position after wing allignment.

 
after the dowels in the leading edge, the rear bolt holes are drilled and tapped.
 


and then, i kicked my own ass.
the wing absolutely must have perfect allignment, and my top wing had one wing tip swept too far forward by a 1/4", the other tip too far to the rear the same 1/4".
i had to find the offending bolt hole, elongate it to get the correct allignment, the fill in the void....suck deal, but no biggie to deal with.
i won the allignment battle, and finally got the first glimpse of a bi-plane in the rough.
seeing as this is a gun forum, i tossed in an stg58 for size reference.
tail feathers get built next, covering before week end.

the horizontal stabilizer gets a traditional build, and then sheeted.
uzi sbr added for size reference.

 
 
i wish i was smart enough to get one of these el cheapo scroll saws about 8 models ago.
this thing is a godsend, like right here, trimming off the sheeting like a hot knife through buttah.
someday i'll break down and get a real sanding station to go with it.

Where's the Rubber Band to wind up to make the prop work?

Tag...

Nice work man.
~Dg84

Tag.  Lookin' good!

Quoted: Where's the Rubber Band to wind up to make the prop work?

would you believe that engine. back about pic 4, is rated for 1.8 hp?
it'll never really do that, but it'll be close.
gotta go to work; i can read the thread,  but not see any pics hosted on ar15, and not reply....but at least mcuzi.com gets me in.

The Saito 4 strokes are nice engines. Any experience with the RCV engines? I'm thinking about using one of the RCV 120 SP's to power a project of mine.

only a 6hr half shift tonight, thought i'd have a beer or two and build before bed.
i got the horizontal stabilizer epoxied in place. it's like the wings in importance, and needs to be true on all 3 axis'.
here it is clamped up. a sight from behind ensures trueness to back up the measurements.

and,yes, before i get called on it, that is the ever popular AR15.com     "have a nice cup of shut the fuck up"     pic on the wall in the background.

now that the horizontal stabilizer is permanently attached, it's a great time to check the incidences of it and the wings.
first, you break out the incidence meter, which is just a self-centering beam, with a floating lazer in the rear, and a scale in the front. zero it on the horizontal stab, and then check the wings in relation to it.
it's best to fix any fuck-ups now, before any covering.
i mostly lucked out. the bottom wing is dead nuts, and the top is at minus .25 degrees.  
for only a 1/4 degree, i'll live with it.


next, i got the vertical stabiler epoxied in, nice and true, and then temporarilly hinged up the 4 ailerons, elevator, and rudder....just to scope it out.
i have a couple of blocks to shape up to transition the fuse along the two stabs to the rear, but this is about 95% of the real contruction from that pile of sticks and flat balsa.
an NDM-86 is tossed in as a size referance.


and one last bit of business before hitting the rack.

DoubleARon
"The Saito 4 strokes are nice engines. Any experience with the RCV engines? I'm thinking about using one of the RCV 120 SP's to power a project of mine."
 
sorry, i only have OS and SAITO, i know nothing of those RCV, other than i think they are a geared engine.

Not to high-jack you thread...but I like to fly too...I haven't try actually building an entire plane...I do wish I had the time though... Here's my Seagull Models Spacewalker II...what a great flyer...in the works is the H9 P-51...

Ahhh, looking good!!!

the wing ribs are supposed to be die cut, with a nice sharp precision-set of shaped cutters leaving a good outline that you just gently break away from the sheet of balsa. these ribs weren't cut all the way through, and it would have been a disaster to try and punch them out, so i spent a good hour and a half retracing the cuts with an exacto knife. 2 wings, 40 ribs.



This is what happens when the die cutting blades get dull in production.  An old trick, sand the back side of the sheet, and the parts will pop out.  But sometimes you just have to cut them out.

A helpful hint... when you mount the fuel tank make sure it is not touching any wood, that it is floated on foam or isolated with blobs of silicone.  Vibration, over time, will rub a hole in a tank where wood or motor mount screws touch it.  Also, if it is possible for the tank to slide forward, perhaps from a not so good landing and nose over, the fuel lines can get crimped.  Make sure the tank can't shift.

Another thing, some tanks, on the inside, just have a long piece of silicone tubing and the fuel pickup weight out on the end.  From a hard landing and noseover that weight can go forward and get tangled up in the vent and fill lines.  So, I fixed this problem years ago by soldering a long piece of 1/8" brass tubing to the pickup weight.  You will find the weight is drilled so that the tubing can slip into it.  After you solder the tubing to the weight make sure it is clear inside, not filled with solder, by passing a piece of control rod through it.  Then attached this weight and tube to the tank stopper tube with a piece of fuel tubing.  Now the weight can flop up and down, sideways, but can't loop around forward.

Something I do, and it really helps... since you monocoted, after you are finished covering, on the under side, flex the aileron and elevator halves down, and iron a 1/2" wide strip Vee'd down in the gap.  Sealing the ailerons, especially, will help get even roll rates both ways, and increase the effectiveness of the control surfaces.  I have seen many planes, after sealing the gaps, total control surface movement could be reduced 1/3 to 1/2 and still get the same roll rate or elevator authority.

Everything looks good!

(I've flown R/C for about 35 years.)

Tagged casue I wanna se it crash! J/K

A$$HOLE!!!  

ETA:

Here's one of mine:



My own design.  The canopy was a Wing Manufacturing "Starfighter" canopy.

The engines pictures are some very old Enya .40BBTV, but this plane now has a pair of Thunder Tiger .46's that are about 75% more powerful.  Wingspan is 74".  7 servos...  one on each aileron out in the wing panels, with just a short rod out to the aileron.  No bellcranks.  This is much more precise.  Two throttle servos, one in each nacelle behind the fuel tank, and again, a short cable out to the throttle.  Two elevator servos, one on each half.  And one servo for nosegear steering and rudder.  A 1000 mah battery pack for all that.

Yes, it will fly on one engine, but you need to throttle back to about 50% power so that you can turn both ways.

It'll do nice rolls, loops, outside loops from the top, stall turns, and I have done 10 rotation spins.  Will climb vertically at half throttle.  A lot of fun.

And no, UH_SALT_RIFLE, haven't crashed it!

Quoted:
Ahhh, looking good!!!

the wing ribs are supposed to be die cut, with a nice sharp precision-set of shaped cutters leaving a good outline that you just gently break away from the sheet of balsa. these ribs weren't cut all the way through, and it would have been a disaster to try and punch them out, so i spent a good hour and a half retracing the cuts with an exacto knife. 2 wings, 40 ribs.



This is what happens when the die cutting blades get dull in production.  An old trick, sand the back side of the sheet, and the parts will pop out.  But sometimes you just have to cut them out.

A helpful hint... when you mount the fuel tank make sure it is not touching any wood, that it is floated on foam or isolated with blobs of silicone.  Vibration, over time, will rub a hole in a tank where wood or motor mount screws touch it.  Also, if it is possible for the tank to slide forward, perhaps from a not so good landing and nose over, the fuel lines can get crimped.  Make sure the tank can't shift.

Another thing, some tanks, on the inside, just have a long piece of silicone tubing and the fuel pickup weight out on the end.  From a hard landing and noseover that weight can go forward and get tangled up in the vent and fill lines.  So, I fixed this problem years ago by soldering a long piece of 1/8" brass tubing to the pickup weight.  You will find the weight is drilled so that the tubing can slip into it.  After you solder the tubing to the weight make sure it is clear inside, not filled with solder, by passing a piece of control rod through it.  Then attached this weight and tube to the tank stopper tube with a piece of fuel tubing.  Now the weight can flop up and down, sideways, but can't loop around forward.

Something I do, and it really helps... since you monocoted, after you are finished covering, on the under side, flex the aileron and elevator halves down, and iron a 1/2" wide strip Vee'd down in the gap.  Sealing the ailerons, especially, will help get even roll rates both ways, and increase the effectiveness of the control surfaces.  I have seen many planes, after sealing the gaps, total control surface movement could be reduced 1/3 to 1/2 and still get the same roll rate or elevator authority.

Everything looks good!

(I've flown R/C for about 35 years.)

Tagged casue I wanna se it crash! J/K

A$$HOLE!!!  

the tank is well cushioned on the bottom/sides/and front,and isn't touching any wood.  i only needed a couple of tiny pieces of foam for the top gap. i tried to find that balance of just enough foam, because too much, and it'll start allowing vibration to be transfered.
i've never gotten foamy fuel, and don't want to start now.
i have had the clunk get jammed into the front of the tank after a.....um......quick stop before. i've always been able to just give it a quick shake to the rear, and it went back to the rear of the tank.
i've put in brass tubing before, but the number of occurances is so small, that i blew that idea off this time.
sealing the hinge gap is always a good idea, but i'm guilty of not doing that if i end up with a thin and uniform gap. i may do it on this one anyway, seeing as it takes so little time to do it.
a smooth and uninterupted airflow is a good thing.
i'll fly it reguardless, but i am a tad apprehensive about it.
i'm not in a club, and fly off a short and uneven runway. i fly towards trees on take off, and need to yank and bank it out.....not ideal for a maiden flight, but it'll have to do.
i can fly my .40 sized super sportster off of it, so it should be ok.
well, a shower and off to work....building by 0100 hrs.

The Craftsmanship-Fu is STRONG with this one!

I am MOST impressed.  Very good looking work, Sir!  

OK, we need an update on the project...

not too much done this week. had to bury grandpa, only his age of 95 gave me solace, and also had to get some continueing education hours to be allowed to renew my trade license.

i'm up to the covering job.
these are the the items used:
covering iron, small trim iron for those hard to reach areas, a heatgun, and a temp gauge, along with the covering rolls themselves.
the covering has a heat activated adhesive, and is also shrinkable.
 


the base color is all that is done till later.
you do have to develope a knack for using this stuff, but it's not rocket science.
clean the living shit out of the wood, trace out the shape, remove the protective backing, and get ironing.
always have an overlapping seam for the next piece to catch, allow the front to go back around towards the rear a bit, so the wind won't screw with it, and trim the rear flush, again, to avoid the wind wanting to pull it up.
cutting out an aileron piece:


relief-cuts help at some of the corners, and then trimming the pieces up nice and neat:

 
i get a sacraficial copy of the plans made when i first get a new kit, these are able to be cut out as needed to build on, and at this stage, become templates for the covering.
most of the plane gets done like this, but there are some spots that are difficult, such as a curved and tapering transition piece along the two stabilizers. in this area, you fit in some easier to deal with small strips, and then it's back to large shapes of covering:

 
i'll work with a heatgun later to smoothen any minor imperfections and to tighten everything up, prior to the actual trim covering being applied.
another look at the back:

and then i got the tail pieces out of the way.
these are the stabilizers, aileron servo hatches, the 4 ailerons,elevator, and rudder.....all the smaller pieces to deal with.
the rest of the fuselage and the wings are done in really large covering pieces.

work will be making it difficult to get back to this, till wednesday night anyway.

edit to add a step i forgot i had done last week.
prior to covering, i located all the control horn mounting positions, and marked them on the ailerons/elevator/rudder.
i drilled them out, sent in a screw to establish threads, hardened the holes with thin CA glue, and chased the threads again. as i cover one side, i push a t-pin through to mark these locations for later.

Ahhhh nothing like the smell of moneykote in the morning, just started covering my MoJo 60.

Tag, Im acquiring a taste for R/C flight as we speak.

looks like a lot of fun, it'd piss me off and sadden me if/when it crashes if I spent that much time and energy to build it

Warning, once your wife sees you Monocoting, an she picks up the instructions, reads them... she'll want to try her hand at it.  She'll probably do a better job covering than you do.

Save scraps and bits.  After about 4 planes you'll have enough to do one in multicolors!  I saw one spectacular scheme done by a guy who begged scraps off other fliers.

Red and tan... classic!!!

i've figured out that it's a lot easier to mount the control horns before attaching the control surfaces to the plane. it allows you to really bare down on the screws to catch the plastic.
these come white, but i'm painting all metal and these horns black.
 

 
i got the fuselage covered, and fuel proofed the engine compartment, as well as the exposed cockpit area. i also mounted the cabanes for the last time, they double nicely as a carry handle.


and i got the top wing done. i'm sweating whether i'll have enough covering left to get the bottom wing done, but i have an overtime shift to work tonight before i can get to it and find out.
.

i'm running behind my initial estimation, but it's coming along good enough.
hinges, and then trim covering.
the trim will be 10 different sizes, 32 pieces total, freehand design into templates.

Great build.  But alas, I have gone over to the dark side and given up on fueled planes now that electrics are so advanced.  Yes, there is a higher up front cost with the batteries, chargers and of course, the motor and controller but with fuel at $20+ a gallon, the savings over time completely offset the greater expense.

And then we have the immediate payoff in the ease of starting the motor!  And not having to fuel-proof the model.  And not having to deslime the airplane after a day at the field.

Yes, you could easily electrify that plane.  With Li-poly batteries, you would not lose any performance.

Tag, don't know anything about planes, but this build is very interesting.  

fuck....i thought i was being judicial in my covering usage, but, alas, i failed to have enough to cover the bottom wing. shit.
well, untill i can get another roll (about a week), i'll just have to skip along to another area.
i figure that i'll need to get the wheel pants/ landing gear done at some point, why not now.
these halves needed to be painted, the bottoms opened up to accept the wheels, epoxied together, the mounting plates put in, and holes/notch drilled.


done deal.


next, i'll go find my tail feather hinge slots that are now hidden under the covering, and get them cut open.
i'll get the hinges in, and epoxy in the tailwheel assembly.

i'm out of time, but in the morning, after work, i'll get the elevator and rudder permanently hinged up.
radio gear and linkages soon to follow.

tag

neato!  makes me miss my planes.  

Quoted: not too much done this week. had to bury grandpa, only his age of 95 gave me solace, and also had to get some continueing education hours to be allowed to renew my trade license.

If I may ask; What is your trade - or what do you do to cause the IRS to bleed you...

It kinda puts hobby skills inperspective.

Cool man! I didn't know Harley made such small engines!

tag for the rest of this project.
I love watching a kit like this go together.

I need to get bak flying these things. I got a few ARF's and helo's I haven't flown in about 1.5 years.

Just got bored with it, starting shooting more.

Tag.

What kind of glue do you use?  I tried building one several years ago and tried using CA for it.  It was one of those tiny, static display tissue-paper covered ones.  It fell apart when I touched it.

I would LOVE to have about a 72 inch wingspan Piper Cub hanging from the ceiling in my "man room", uncovered.  

What about thinnned epoxy?

Quoted: I love this kind of thread. Entertaining and informative. Thanks Brain

+1

origionally from profGAB101:

If I may ask; What is your trade - or what do you do to cause the IRS to bleed you...

It kinda puts hobby skills inperspective.

the high-falutin' title is stationary steam engineer. i spent entirely too many years around large boilers and a nasty environment at trash to energy plants, but i now have a relatively tit job in a powerhouse for a biopharmacuiticle company.
i basically boil water, put the steam in a pipe, and also spin a couple of wheels with generators on them.

 
origionally from  peteCO:
 
What kind of glue do you use? I tried building one several years ago and tried using CA for it. It was one of those tiny, static display tissue-paper covered ones. It fell apart when I touched it.


i use mostly slow CA, the fast sometimes, the accelerator as needed, and 6,12,and 30 minute epoxies.


so......this mornings' building was sponsored by budweiser.
i put some epoxy in the hole for the tail wheel arm, and then got the elevatoer, rudder, and both top wing ailerons permanently hinged in.
it's nearly impossible to not have a hinge-gap, if you expect to get any kind of deflection, but gaps are bad.
this looks nasty, mostly because of shadow, but even though i couldn't slip a 1/8" piece of balsa into the gap i have to take care of it.
the high pressure air beneath the wing wants to get through that gap, and it will, and that will somewhat spoil the smooth airflow above the area, and diminish control surface effectiveness.


the fix is to simply iron in a long strip of covering. i rarely use the trim iron, but i appreciate having it for this.


now that looks a lot better, dusty, but better.
i did this for the elevator also.




i changed my mind, and think i'll get cracking on the trim next. i have a rough idea of what i want, but i'll be taking measurements and winging it untill things work out enough to make templates.
i can see that taking two days to get done.
for now, i know i'll be needing servoes soon, and a charged battery to power them, to get them to nuetral for linkage set-up, so....i get to break out the new radio.
$275 for those that are curious. it's a nice entry level computer radio, and comes with all you need for the guts, 4 servoes, a receiver, battery pack, and switch harness/charging jack.
the radio holds the memory for ten aircraft.


last thing for this morning is to cycle the battery a couple of times to get it topped off so-to-speak.

Sweet thread.  Feel free to post more pics!!!!!