Im covering the fuselage with Monokote dark red. Dont try to do too
big an area at a time. The compound curves make it a little more difficult.
I was encourage to use Ultracoat on this plane because of the compound
curves. I probably would have if I was buying all new covering for the job.
But I already had the white Monokote and got the Navy Blue from another
club member so I went with Monokote. It went on well with out any
serious problems.
Beauty shot...man I really like this plane. The canopy was placed on the
fuselage just for the photo op.
Back to work...cover the ailerons.
I ended up with a warped aileron. One piece of aileron stock I purchased
from Balsa USA was warped. I wet it and bent the warp out. It seemed fine
once it dried. When I went to cover it it was warped again although not
as bad. I tried to take the rest of the warp out with the covering.
That seemed to work.
When I took the plane out for its maiden flight it was warped again.
I flew it that way and it really didnt seem to be a problem.
But I know its there.
Not much to comment on. Just another boring covering job.
Note that the white panels on the wing fold around over the
leading edge. This turned out to be a great idea. These white areas
show up very well when the plane is on final approach.
Kind of like landing lights.
Ok...covering finished. Time to get it all together.
Inserting the fuel tank. Tank is a Dubro 14 ounce.
Wire landing gear. I bent this myself from 5/32 music wire.
If you are going to do this then invest in a K&S wire bender.
Having the proper tools make it a much easier job.
Also make sure that the axles of the wheels are far enough
forward if you are building as a tail dragger. My first set
had the wheels a bit too far back so the plane wanted to nose
over easily.
The plans show 2 1/2 inch wheels. If you are flying off grass
go for 3 inch wheels. I used 3 inch Dubro wheels.
Installation of the Sullivan tail wheel bracket and Dubro 1 inch
tail wheel. I mentioned earlier that there is a plywood reinforcement
with T nuts installed in it to provide a solid mount for the tail
wheel bracket.
Also note the triangle stock reinforcement between the stab and fuselage.
Dont omit this. I covered them before installation.
This is a Dubro antenna cowl. There is a nylon tube (old piece of
Sullivan pushrod) running from this cowl to the radio compartment.
Antenna exits this cowl and attaches to vertical fin. Its a nice arrangment.
Servo installation. As you can see there is plenty of room for the
radio equipment. Elevator servo is at the top. Throttle in the middle
and rudder at the bottom.
You can see the antenna tube just to the right of the former between the
servo wires.
I used standard Futaba S148 servos powered by a 5 cell 6 volt 1400mah
nicad pack purchased from Radical RC. Ive had excellent results.
You do not need big high torque servos in this plane..
Mounting the engine and spinner. Engine is an old ringed OS 61 SF.
This is the long stroke 61. Its swinging an APC 12 X 6 and is a perfect
match for this plane. The engine is mounted at 90 degrees. With the outlet
from the muffler pointing straight down very little oil gets on the plane.
The spinner is a Great Planes 3 inch.
I later removed the baffle from the muffler and moved up to an
APC 12 X 7.
At this point I put it all together to check the balance.
It was real close and only needed 1 ounce in the nose and 1/2
ounce in the left wing tip to balance.
After a few flights I removed 1/2 of the nose weight so ended up
with 1/2 ounce in the nose.
Seemed like a good time for a photo op.
Last order of business. Gluing the canopy on. I used Pacer 560
canopy glue. Black edging done with 1/4 inch wide striping tape.
I looked around for a suitable pilot figure. I had a few things
that would work OK for a 40 size plane but were too small for this.
Weather was looking good and I was anxious to get this thing in
the air so I went without a pilot.