Author Topic: Another T-Rex (Read 4536 times)

Willis Swindell · « **on:** April 13, 2010, 08:58:22 PM »

Well I got me another T-Rex. I’m going to put my new the price is right 179 dollar delivered to my door Saito 56 in her. This one is going to be I hope under 60 oz. I’m cutting 1 1/4 inch off the nose and covering with Monokote
Willis

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #1 on:** April 13, 2010, 09:12:41 PM »

I just looked out my front door before I went to bed and behold setting on the front porch set my Saito 56 from Horizon. Now off to the garage to open the package. Three days for delivery.
Willis

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2010, 08:18:23 AM »

Check out that muffler!

I expect to see the completed T-Rex at the field this Sunday...

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2010, 10:52:52 AM »

Steve
I hoped for the small light muffler but I’ll live with it.

My name is not Jimmy.

WILLIS

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #4 on:** April 14, 2010, 03:33:24 PM »

Change up, it’s not going to be a P-47. With the short nose and a spinner it looks like a Curtiss XP-60. Well sort of. I think I have to drop the engine about a 1/4 inch for a 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 spinner. I thought Steve Fitton’s T-Rex looked great with a spinner.
Willis

Bradley Walker · « **Reply #5 on:** April 14, 2010, 04:32:52 PM »

Well look at that... it sure does.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #6 on:** April 14, 2010, 08:31:08 PM »

Quote from: Willis Swindell on April 14, 2010, 10:52:52 AM

Steve
I hoped for the small light muffler but I’ll live with it.

My name is not Jimmy.
WILLIS

You can get the CL muffler from Horizon and you can bend the pipe that came with your muffler and use it. Can't recall the actual weight saving but am thinking it's close to an ounce.

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #7 on:** April 15, 2010, 07:07:25 PM »

I have the fire wall in I had to cut 1 1/2 inch off the nose lost a 1/4 inch some where. Now to get the nose glued back on straight Looks like I have to add about a 1/4 inch strip to the bottom of the nose to get the cowl to aline.
Willis

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #8 on:** April 19, 2010, 05:12:57 PM »

I have every thing glued back together Now that i’m back at square one again I can start on the construction. I see that they have added a brace to the rear of the fuselage.
Willis

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #9 on:** April 20, 2010, 06:51:50 PM »

I noticed the plywood braces on the fuselage sides That might help but in my opinion the fix is bracing the fuselage top stringer. I saw how Steve Fitton's t-Rex broke and the stringer broke about a 1/2 inch forward of the rear former . then the plywood former split in half. one part with the front of the fuselage and the other half with the rear half of the fuselage. I think if you brace the stringer that would cure the problem I cut two one hard wood and one balsa. The balsa one would work so I went with the hard wood to make sure. I’m no engineer but this is a simple fix.
Willis

WhittleN · « **Reply #10 on:** April 21, 2010, 06:28:41 AM »

Willis

I ran across this paint job on the internet it would look cool on a stunter. If you have time maybe you can work the counter-rotating props.
Good luck with your project
Norm

Wynn Robins · « **Reply #11 on:** April 21, 2010, 04:00:02 PM »

thats a cool scheme - I might have to put that on my one HA - you can get counter rotating electrics .....might be a go!!!!

Douglas Ames · « **Reply #12 on:** April 25, 2010, 05:52:35 PM »

"Contra-Rotating" Props(co-axial arrangement)....Not "Counter-Rotating" Props, which refer to a twin aircraft with propellers rotating in opposite directions.

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #13 on:** May 10, 2010, 08:10:19 AM »

I just finish Monokoteing my fuselage now I know why I paint them. What a job I looked at a ARF T-Rex and saw how the Chinese covered it in sections. I could do that No problem. Ha that was a joke. I would like to be a fly on the wall and watch how the Chinese do it. I won’t be doing it again any time soon.
Willis

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #14 on:** May 10, 2010, 10:18:44 AM »

I dunno Willis, from the picture, I'd say the Chinese should be watching how YOU do it! It looks perfect!

john e. holliday · « **Reply #15 on:** May 11, 2010, 09:51:03 AM »

Willis, using the iron on coverings is just like painting, it takes practice. The more you do it the easier it gets. The fuse looks great to me.

Tim Wescott · « **Reply #16 on:** May 11, 2010, 10:08:59 AM »

Quote from: Willis Swindell on May 10, 2010, 08:10:19 AM

I just finish Monokoteing my fuselage now I know why I paint them. What a job I looked at a ARF T-Rex and saw how the Chinese covered it in sections. I could do that No problem. Ha that was a joke. I would like to be a fly on the wall and watch how the Chinese do it. I won’t be doing it again any time soon.
Willis

I covered my latest in plastic film, and came to the conclusion that while it's quicker to get an average finish with film than with paint, it takes just as much time & effort to get a truly good finish.

And I like painting. So now I have a compressor on the wish list...

From the picture I certainly can't fault your covering job -- it sure looks good to me.

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #17 on:** May 11, 2010, 10:59:56 AM »

John I have done this for 40 years at one time I could do what I thought was a decent job. I think the new Monokote is a lot harder to use then the old stuff. In fact my local Hobby shop has a stack of monokote a mile high. I’m going to take a flash light and a mirror get down on my hands and knees and see if I can find a old roll of silver. You know when it’s old by the smell. wish me luck.

Willis

Ah living with bifocals

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #18 on:** May 14, 2010, 01:25:19 PM »

Adding a few braces here and there and planked the flaps with 1/32. Each wing picked up .6 of a ounce.
Willis

bob branch · « **Reply #19 on:** May 14, 2010, 06:52:13 PM »

Tim

It is nice to hear someone say it about film covering. It is not at all easy to do a really good one and I think a lot more difficult that with paint. You can kick out an average job quickly, but to do a really good film covering job I think is a lot more difficult than with paint. Certainly a lot more difficult than with auto paints. I am no where near that good with film. I get humbled by some of the stuff I see at Toledo, though most there now are being painted with auto paints. I have quit using paint because of the toxicity. My lungs are a mess from various paints I have used over the years and I'm just not going to put any more paint into them. As much as I like the smell of dope, it is not good for your lungs. No paint is.

bob branch

Dennis Adamisin · « **Reply #20 on:** May 15, 2010, 08:07:44 AM »

Guys pay no mind to Bob - his T-Rex it'll knock you eyes out. Black is only slightly less forgiving than silver, and Bob's "Miss Isle" T-Rex is flat out awesome. Not to mention the black Strega that proceeded it...

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #21 on:** May 15, 2010, 10:23:07 AM »

Bob how about a picture please?
Willis

bob branch · « **Reply #22 on:** May 15, 2010, 06:09:14 PM »

What happen to the blushing smiley face that used to be here? I need it right now. Most of the time though I feel more like

and just trying to figure out how to cover mistakes. Having to cut back into the T-Rex to do the fuse mod was not pleasant, but with already having cut an opening the width of the fuse to access the flap horn I felt it was the only prudent thing to do. Thank you Dennis for the kind words.

But seriously I see guys at my club's RC field who have been building and using film for years and its turely amazing how good these guys we often malign in control line really are. I am fortunate to live across the street from one of them. Even though his is in his mid 70's now Jerry LeLachure has helped me so much and while he no longer often desires to build to that level, when he is serious about one, its as good as anyone's paint I have ever seen. But not to get a flaming war going, its just a different skill set than painting. And just like painting it isn't going to happen on the first one or the tenth one. For all the talk about 20 point planes, how many have actually accomplished it with paint? It is damn tough and something most of us may aspire to but will never achieve. I won't, I know that. I've been doing film for about 7 years now and have done nicer planes in paint than I can do yet in film. But I keep learning with each plane. Its like anything else in the hobby. If you dedicate yourself to learning a skill you will be able to move towards being able to do it in time. Sorry, I am not one of those "if you can think it you can achieve it types." Been there, done that, owned that T-shirt store. No desire to do that anymore in my life. But I can be just as satisfied and proud of what I can achieve no mater how much better someone else can do it. None of it is easy. Not even doing an ARF. My son and I spent 4 hours a week ago installing a speed controller in an RC ARF... and I had done it once before on another model of the same plane... took me 5 hours the first time. Some things are just hard to do. But one step at a time. Its how we learn and makes model aviation so much fun. You can work at the parts you enjoy and usually find another way around the parts you don't enjoy.

Now I gotta go rub off some electrons from my practice session today... an massage a few battery packs!

bob branch

john e. holliday · « **Reply #23 on:** May 16, 2010, 08:06:30 AM »

Those are awesome.

Willis, I didn't mean to insult you, really.

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #24 on:** May 16, 2010, 08:50:07 AM »

John I didn’t take it as an insult never even crossed my mind. I also Know black in the most difficult color to monokote with, it will sag terrible in the sun if it isn’t right. A great job Bob
Willis

bob branch · « **Reply #25 on:** May 16, 2010, 12:11:57 PM »

Willis

Thank you. You are right about the sun but a lot has to do with the time of year too. After the humidity gets up the black does pretty well. That is cause the wood absorbs the moisture in the humidity and if you were tight when its lower humidity it will be snugger in higher. My problem is my shop has been under 30% all winter. Obviously the wood all shrunk and I had wrinkles all over the place. I shrunk it Friday and flew out in the sun all day yesterday with both the strega and the t-rex. Both came out uggly. Well, parts. The fuse of teh Strega was ok. Arf, really heavy wood. Slight wrinkles on ribs of the wing. Tail ok. also very dense wood. T-Rex fuse top was a mess at the end of the day. But that is very soft punky wood. I reshrunk last night. Only thing I do not like is I'm shrinking now at about 350 degrees with ultracote with a sock on, so figure 325 degrees. Getting near the limit.

Point of very much interest... well maybe academically. One color I have come across does not blister! Ultracote beige. Have it out in the sun for days and never a blister. Ultra cote white isn't bad. Never had a blister on the strega's white, nor the T'Rex's. But the beige is just uncanny. I have no idea why. Must just reflect all the heat really well or else something about the temps it builds to vs the glue temp. Could be the way heat carries thru the color of the film. Its hard to come up with good color matches. I have found two sets of colors that did work. All trim colors btw are monocote on both these planes applied with windex method. No blistering there either.

bob

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #26 on:** May 21, 2010, 08:52:32 AM »

Not much progress to report but I’m getting ready to put the flaps on. I’m using monokote hinges only to fill in the gaps between the plastic hinges. I plan to do the same thing to the stab.
Willis

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #27 on:** June 28, 2010, 03:34:55 PM »

Well I flew my Curtiss P-60 Sunday It flew great and here is a picture of a P-47 T-Rex and my P-60 T-rex. It weighs 61 oz. I was worried about the 1 1/2 inches that I cut off the nose for balance but it worked out perfect. What I’m really upset with is the Monokote. It would not hardly shrink and I had to turn the heat up so high that the color changed over the wood. I decided to fly the plane before I finished the trim just to see how the plane flew. I’m happy with that. Now I am going to strip the New Monokote off and recover it. I found some old Monokote at my local hobby shop. I covered the stab with it on the P-60. I had to drop the irons temperature almost a hundred degrees and it shrunk three times what the new Monokote did. No more new Monokote for me.
Willis

Steve Fitton · « **Reply #28 on:** June 28, 2010, 04:00:05 PM »

That looks AWESOME Willis! If it flies good I think I'd leave the monokote alone. It sure looks great in the pictures there!

bob branch · « **Reply #29 on:** June 28, 2010, 05:55:20 PM »

Willis

Yea, you have found out one of the many differences of old and current monocote. It does not shrink anything like it used to and no where near what ultracote does. If someone covered a plane in monocote to the film tightness you see on my T-Rex build thread that I did in ultracote, they would find they would never get the wrinkles out. I have Great Planes RC ships that from the factory could not be shrunk enough to get the wrinkles out, much less after a day in the sun. Too bad cause the variety of colors in monocote is a much larger pallet than ultracote.

bob branch

Bradley Walker · « **Reply #30 on:** July 04, 2010, 09:06:15 AM »

Amazing!!! I love the t60!!

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #31 on:** July 13, 2010, 12:32:34 PM »

After flying my P-60 I had a slight warp in the out board wing. I did what I usually do I twist the wing and iron the wrinkles out. But that didn’t happen I ironed and ironed and nothing happen I Turned the iron wide open still nothing. The wrinkles were still there. Well there is good news Monokote has made it melt proof I turned the heat gun wide open put it about two inches away from the wing and held it in one spot for what seems like a minute. I was going to melt it or shrink it. it finely started to shrink. I could not believe it could stand all of that heat. Anyway the warp is gone and is ready to fly.
Willis

I can’t imagine what a foam wing would have looked like

Dick Pacini · « **Reply #32 on:** July 13, 2010, 01:18:10 PM »

What an ingenious way to measure wing incidence.

bob branch · « **Reply #33 on:** July 13, 2010, 02:46:54 PM »

Willis

Yup, you figured it out. An iron cannot apply heat you need to sometimes get max shrink. For that you need the gun and keep your eyes open. I do most all of my shrink work with gun, but it comes with practice like everything. To really get heat use the fan shaped heat concentrator that goes on the end of the heat gun. That is the configuration I normally work with. Just as always use the least heat that will do the job.

bob branch

john e. holliday · « **Reply #34 on:** July 15, 2010, 08:07:12 AM »

The heat can be turned up on the irons if needed. Remove the knob and look down inside. Another slotted adjustment. Turn it up a little and try the iron. Once done if you don't turn it back down before putting the knob on, watch out. I have one iron just for Monokote. And as stated the heat gun will melt the covering.

Willis Swindell · « **Reply #35 on:** July 15, 2010, 09:11:08 AM »

Thanks John I’ll check it out and give it a try.
Willis

Neal Beekman · « **Reply #36 on:** August 18, 2010, 06:18:44 PM »

:'(Bob Champione crashed his T Rex today due to a broken China pushrod. The threads cracked at the ball link near the bellcrank, looks like a 4/40 rod into the ball link. Warning to all building a T Rex use Tom Morris equipment.

SteveMoon · « **Reply #37 on:** August 22, 2010, 06:07:28 PM »

Wow, that's kind of a blanket statement there Neal. Are you positive
that this is what caused the crash, or that there wasn't some other
mistake made during construction, etc.? I have planes that I have
flown for years with systems from the same manufacturer with no
problems. Any system made by any manufacturer can fail at anytime.
That's just the way it is. This stuff is all man made, it's not bulletproof.

Later, Steve

Neal Beekman · « **Reply #38 on:** August 23, 2010, 05:49:14 PM »

We saved the broken rod, and at the break it looks green?

William DeMauro · « **Reply #39 on:** August 23, 2010, 07:06:48 PM »

I was there when it crashed, I saw that rod. There was definatly something not right with that one. I hope it was a one shot defect as I have the stock rods im my T Rex as I am sure many others out here do too.

SteveMoon · « **Reply #40 on:** August 24, 2010, 04:36:06 PM »

I don't doubt that there was something wrong there. I just think it is a little
extreme to be saying that everybody should replace the hardware in their
ARf/ARCs. Even if you go and buy SIG music wire and bend it yourself, it's
still possible it could fail.

Steve

William DeMauro · « **Reply #41 on:** August 24, 2010, 08:48:09 PM »

Steve,
I did not say we should replace the hardware in our arfs/arcs. I said that one failed. I saw it and it was not right. I too have seen music wire fail. I know that if they make a thousand, ten thousand, etc the chance of having one failure does increase. I do think that he got the"one" bad one. That probably makes it safe for the rest of us. When it happens right in front of you it does make you think. Most of us who were there did not expext a failure of a threaded rod or any part for that matter.
William

Rudy Taube · « **Reply #42 on:** August 25, 2010, 02:39:28 AM »

Hi William,

I think that part of Steve's post to you was still referring back to Neal's original statement, not to your reply. I'm sure Steve saw your statement as both informative and hopeful. :-)

It was sad to hear about Bob's plane. I hope the failed part was sent to John Brodak for analysis. Green on metal is not usually a good thing! John has been very dedicated to getting these new ARF/ARCs as failsafe as possible. (this applies to all his ARC/ARFs, not just the latest ones). His manufacturer is very motivated to do the same and has worked closely with John to make any improvements that are needed. I am sure John will make it right with Bob.

Your correct about the percentages. Even NASA, as safe as they are, is not perfect. Our CL ARF/ARCs are amazingly reliable with relatively few catastrophic failures. There are well over 10,000 CL ARC/ARFs out there. So the % of failure is very, very low. This fact does not lessen the sadness of losing that rare plane, but at least it can help put our minds at ease about flying the other 99.9%. John, Steve, Randy and Brad have stepped right up to make sure any potential problem is taken care of ASAP. Their goal is to get as close to 100% reliability as they possibly can.

I am in the middle of doing more research on our CL ARF/ARCs. So far it looks like they are as reliable and as accurate, or maybe even more so, than the average CL kit built by the average CL builder. So far it looks like all the ARF/ARCs being sold now have reliable HW and lead-outs. They will continue to improve, but they now seem very reliable in their stock form. ....... I will post my results when all the facts are in. ;-)

I'm glad you were a witness and posted your info. here. This always helps when trying to find out exactly what happened.

Regards,

William DeMauro · « **Reply #43 on:** August 25, 2010, 05:41:19 AM »

Thanks Rudy,
I reread everything and you are right it wasn't my statement being referred too. I am sure John will make it right for Bob. I always felt that all failures of any kind on these planes (arfs/ARCs) should be reported somewhere and some database should started.I am glad that it is being done and I look forward to seeing your results. I do think that way we can figure out common problems and separate the one shot failures(such as an employee at the factory that is having a bad day and forgets to glue a bellcrank mount)from common problems like some early arfs having soft motor mounts. I do think that Neal's and Steve's statements did wake us up and and could lead to even better Arf's/Arc's in the future.
William