1/3-Scale Cessna 185 ~ by Gunny Bumburs at Aviation Concepts

[gunny11]

Some final details added after the model is covered. G-10 hinge cover plates and windows get glued on.

[gunny11]

The Balancing Act. I tested the CG between 25% to 27% and even further aft. This range of the C of G works out to be the best.
In the kit is 2 CG balancing root rib tool made out of 1/8" thick birch ply. Slip these on and hook a couple of S hooks in the holes and make a bridal out of sturdy rope. I used my John Deere garage which has a winch and hoisted it up off the ground.
I epoxied 1 pound of lead shot into the top and side pockets around the cooling baffles. Then I bolted or screwed weights on the sides of the engine box. Here I needed 2 1/2 pounds.

[gunny11]

Some people wanted to know about the lighting system I used on this bird...
The lighting system is from uniLIGHT. They are of excellent quality and made in Vienna Austria.
It's plug and play, but I always wind up custom making my own wire lengths.
For battery power I just used one A123 2500 mAh NoBS battery pack.
Included is a 4 channel controller that controls everything. Should be used on a 3 position switch; OFF - NAV & STROBES - LANDING LIGHTS. By changing end points on the TX will change the combinations of the strobes i.e single, double or triple flash rates, etc. and the rate of the beacon plus much more.

The main package that I started out with is the uniLIGHT PRO MEDIUM set (sku UNL-SETPRO-M2) $131.00

Unfortunately it comes with 1 landing light. So need to purchase an additional one. You'll need to order the set and see which one comes in your set, or have them open the box and verify what's in there and add a duplicate one.... It could be anyone of these:
(SPOT 22-040-WE) which is a pure white and this is whats in my cowl. (SPOT 22-040-WWE) which is a warm white or (SPOT224) $15.00 TO $21.00

I did not use the red beacon that came in the set because it was too large in diameter for the top of the fin. Instead I purchased a 4W PURE LIGHT RED (sku UNL-PURE040R) $15.00 Again, the beacon function is controlled by the included 4 channel controller.

I added a pure white tail cone light which is spliced into the nav lights. Here I purchased a 4W PURE LIGHT WHITE (sku UNL-PURE040W) $15.00

To cap off the beacon and tail cone lights I purchased extra clear lighting covers. (sku UNL-CAPSPRO) $10.00

Everything here was purchased from DREAMWORKSRC (dreamworks model products LLC)

[gunny11]

Some pictures of the lighting installed. They are all epoxied into place. Landing lights, wing tip nav & strobe lights, white tail cone light and top of fin red beacon. On the top of the fin I mixed up epoxy resin and micro balloons and molded it around the heat sink and blended it to the fin.

[gunny11]

Forgot to add that the clear lens caps are glued on with canopy glue.

[Tango Juliet]

What a beautifully engineered kit! And your building skills are enviable! It's excellent work like this that seduces me into thinking I've built enough kits over the years to be able to scratch build, only to find out later, I'm not as skilled as I believed I was. Thank you Gunny for producing such wonderful products!

[gunny11]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I strive for quality, not quantity... I try to do my best in everything that I make. I love to think and tinker and think outside the box.

[Tango Juliet]

Was there ever video of it flying? I saw mention of a video, but never saw it posted.

[gunny11]

Sorry, no video yet.

[gunny11]

we are back.. and the video is done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOejnDIYGGw

[gunny11]

So after having no luck with aftermarket landing gear manufactures aluminum or carbon fiber... I decided to purchase my own hydraulic press and design my own dies and ram to bend the main gear. I have a local source to do the water jet cutting. Very neat and extremely accurate. Thanks to my great friend Roy at Vailly Aviation for supplying the die design handbook. It worked out on the first try. With some simple positioning jigs everything is a breeze now. The gear is 5/16" thick 6061 T6 aluminum with the grain going in the right direction.

[stevekremer]

Very impressive Gunny

[lenb]

So let me get this right, you have two right blocks one on the left and one one the right....... Right?

[Sinkhappens86]

One says RT (Right), the other says R+, which is better than right. Do two rights make a wrong?

[gunny11]

LOL! Now your just messin' with me...

Your both wrong. RT and Rt. But I can make a right outta' a Left gear blank.

[gunny11]

some specs,,,

[gunny11]

Started on the web page for this big bird. For me its slow going but working on it.

[Tango Juliet]

Just an awesome airplane Gunny! Love the video too!

[gunny11]

Thanks Tango Juliet.

Was testing my work today on drooped wingtips vortex retarder style. This would be an aftermarket kit done just like the original wingtip in the kit. It can be done... I even amazed myself. It was harder to draw the 3/8" thick balsa rib sections (not the 3 tip cross sections) but wasn't that much difficult to shape the concave sections.

[Sinkhappens86]

Aw yeah, time to live that STOL life! They look awesome Gunny.