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

[gunny11]

Once the 30 minute epoxy has cured. Remove them and mark the ends for drilling holes.
Glue together this cradle and drill the holes.
Bolt and nuts with lock tite.
Last 2 pictures show the finished results.

[gunny11]

The last thing to do is to glue on the root end cap. A thickend mixture of epoxy is brushed onto the end cap and set into place. Bolt on both wings and the wing struts and place tapered tooth picks where needed between the rib and end cap as to seat the end cap up against the fuselage. Then a glue syringe with thickend epoxy is injected into the gap. When this is all cured, cut or break off the tooth picks add a little balsa filler, sand and you will have a perfectly mated wing connection.

[MarnochS]

I like this technique....I know just the place to use it.....

[gunny11]

Well, that's pretty much it... All the major components are constructed and fitted.
Thanks for following.

[BryanB]

Beautiful!

[ARUP]

Nice work, Gunny!

[Spookyeng]

Awesome Gunny, can't wait for the kit to be released!

[gunny11]

Thanks guys!
Had a club meeting today and they Loved It.... This is a Giant scale club only and lets just say they were really impressed with the size of the airplane.

[gunny11]

Makes the 1/3 scale pilot look small lol

[BryanB]

Needs bigger wheels...

[Soaranator]

Spectacular project Gunny! Superb!

[lenb]

Another masterpiece my friend , bravo

[stevekremer]

Gunny,

Just outstanding. Cant wait to see it

Steve K

[Swiss1]

Beautiful craftsmanship as always Gunny

Jeremy
SCCAAA TT TN

[gunny11]

Thanks Guys!

So here's how I made the cowl plug.
Design it in 1" thick sections. Laser cut test/proof samples in cardboard.

[gunny11]

Then I CNC routered 1" thick foam. (it use an entire 4' x 8' sheet.
Spray glue and stacked on except the very first one. 1/2" dia. registration dowels keep things aligned. Rough carve and sand to shape with some face details.

[gunny11]

On this kit I'm going to go with a slip over cowl for the different size engines, so adjustment for and aft can be made by the customer. So this done by glassing it onto the fuselage by one inch. Don't worry I wrapped packing tape around the front end of the fues and fire wall. Then a skim coat of spackle. (it sands so easy). Blank off plate is added and then the whole thing is glassed. To fill the weave on the 6 oz cloth I use Icing. (Like a Bondo but sands easy and dries in 20 minutes). High fill sandable primer and sand smooth. Note the lazy suzan for priming.

[ARUP]

I love Icing! I've never put it on blue foam before thinking it would attack the foam. Does it set up to fast to 'eat' the foam?

[gunny11]

I don't know. I use spackle directly on the foam, Glass it and then use icing.

[gunny11]

Wet sand.
wax 5x with part all,
make front face parting plane,
Tooling gell coat,
and 12 layers of 10 oz cloth

[gunny11]

Sneak peek! Brought it to Salem CT this past weekend.

[horsefeetky]

wow

and if your dyslexic it is still
wow

[gunny11]

Thanks horsefeetky,
Now for the top half.
Add parting plane and rear flange,
gell coat,
layers of cloth and then when dry, repeat for the bottom half.