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Putting 1/64" ply on stuff. The end caps were fitted first. Just drill the holes then trace around the root end and cut with a scissors. The iron set on 'hot' was used to put a little curve at the end of the ply before gluing it. A paper pattern was made for the big parts. After they were cut wood glue was put on the structure and the part was placed onto it then pulled back off. The glue itself acts as an indicator where more glue is needed. After the extra glue put down this was allowed to dry. The iron was used to put the ply onto the structure. Bass is used for the LE. The stabilator was placed onto a sheet of Bass and its LE was traced then cut with a band saw. Some 'roughing-in' of the shape was done with the LEs free hand then these were stained. After the stain dries they will get glued to the stabilators, get finish sanded and re-stained. This same process will apply to the fin and rudder.
Gotta get to work! -
Computers are creepy! Don't ask me why that one picture isn't like the others.
The elevator drive pin is free floating so that is the reason the tubes are flattened on their ends. The joiner rod tubes have a little music wire retainer epoxied at their ends. Magnets will get epoxied into the joiner rod's ends to aid in retaining the stabilators. They are a snug fit on the joiner but ... might as well add a little insurance with the magnets pulling toward those retainers!
More to come!Leave a comment:
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Now that the first clam shell halves of the stabilators are built it's time to put the joiner rod tubes into them. The joiner rod itself was used for alignment as well as some proper packing while the epoxy cured then the elevator drive pin tubes were let into them taking care for alignment. Ya don't want one stabilator with a different incidence than the other! This was done with the stabilator halves on the fuselage. When the epoxy cured for these they were removed from the fuselage so the other clam shell halves could be built onto them. The main and nose spars were added then the ribs followed. When the glue dried these were sanded fair so that the false LE could be added. I weighted these down on a granite surface while the wood glue dried. The other large gussets were added to support the drive pin tubes and 'in-fill' of balsa was glued between the ribs then sanded fair. This will give the ply a landing for glue. That's all that's left to do with the fin/rudder and stabilators... add the ply! I'll show that when it gets done. It'll be a little tricky!
Last edited by ARUP; 01-28-2018, 11:28 PM.Leave a comment:
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The right and left 'half' elevators are built. The third and final layer of 1/64" ply gets put onto the TE before the other half ribs can be glued onto the structures. Before putting the half ribs onto them the aluminum tubes for the CF joiner rod will get let into the structures. The structures will be on a jig to maintain frontal view symmetry.
Off to work!Leave a comment:
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Jeremy- you should put the Decathlon re-build in the 'Tow Planes' forum!
Most of the time today was spent making the TE from laminates of 1/64" ply then sanding these laminates fair. The inboard and outboard sections were done first. Then these parts were pinned to the plan and paper templates were made to fit between them so that ply could be cut and glued to join them all together as a unit. After sanding one was put on the board so the a false LE and balsa spar with ribs could be fitted and glued. When this fragile assembly is dry it will get pulled off the board and sanded so the ribs are fair relative to each other. Then loose ribs will get abutted to the ones on the structure and get sanded close to the proper shape so that 3 more elevator halves can be fabricated. I'm itching to start the wings but the tail feathers have a bit of work to go, yet!
Godnat!Leave a comment:
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Got my fix, for now anyway!
I'm just working on the Decathlon after it's little incident in Huntsville, new tail is made and covered and wings are stripped and about to get recovered
SCC
AAA TT TN
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Jeremy... here it is! Work gets done every day but sometimes there isn't much to show for it. The aerodynamic balance portion of the rudder was made of balsa. The cross section of it had to match that of the fin at the gap. There was lots of trial and error sanding going on here! A taper was sanded at the rudder bottom end to match the skid fairing which will get built soon. Another picture shows the fin and rudder connected with the hinge pin in place. There will be a little tube fitted into the rudder to receive and capture, via an interference fit, the 'hooked' end of the pin. The rudder horn is made of 1/16" music wire Stay-Brite soldered together. The ends of brass tubes were flattened then drilled to receive rudder cable shackles. These tubes were then epoxied to the music wire horn. They could be soldered in place but I was lazy and didn't want to go downstairs into the cold garage and fire up the torch. The horn was let into the rudder LE at the proper height relative to the cable exits on the fuselage and a balsa block was epoxied in place to hold the horn. The fin and rudder will get some 1/64" ply later. The gap between the fin and rudder was filled with tapered bits of balsa. The second to the last picture shows the bits on the left side. They have notches to clear the hinges. These bits can be seen in the last picture pinned in place as the glue is drying as I type! I hope to start the stabilators this weekend.
Oiche mhaith!Leave a comment:
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