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Building Tips and technical articles. => ARF'S => Topic started by: Steve Fitton on November 20, 2009, 12:20:51 PM
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I move slowly, but I have managed to get the wing together for my T-Rex. More to follow....
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I installed the ball link on the bellcrank and screwed the push rod in after the wing was together. I did cut a small hole just ahead of the push rod cutout to be sure I could get the ball link in position to be able to screw the pushrod in.
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This is my first time messing with ball links, and I felt happier adjusting the length beforehand, then putting the wing together. Of course, then I had to make another length adjustment after I dry fit the flaps again, so, I think your way was better.
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Wing together and center section glassed, stab and elevators assembled, currently figuring out the motor mount/firewall installation.....
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Steve what motor is that in the picture ? Keep the updates coming .
Bill Barber
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Hi Bill.
It's a DS60.
Lou to you....Grins
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I was going to put up a TRex progress thread then saw Steve's. So, when you look at Steve's, just imagine :! me working on mine as well. LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ LL~ n~ n~ n~ n~
EricV
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After some tedious fiddling, I have the motor installed in the motor mount. The mount is attached to the firewall, time to cut off the excess length of the bolts...
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Steve, to you everything is tedious... he he <=
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Ok Steve The Airacobra is finished and I have mounted the Saito 56 on the T-Rex. Don’t let me finish before you! I didn’t like the flush bolts holding the engine so I drilled the holes through the mounted fire wall that way if something comes loose I have a little longer before disaster
Willis S?P
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Still pressing on with T Rex despite the verbal flack.
Bolts trimmed and firewall spacer drilled out, then firewall and motor mount assembly epoxied into the fuselage.
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HI Steve
I might give you verbal abuse in jest but I can back it up I have my Saito 56 as you instructed me to use, mounted . like you I changed my engine mounts to one that I have used with my Saito’s for years. Great planes medium . I was hoping I could get the valve covers under the cowl but didn’t make it. I am going to use a remote glow starter so I will not have cut more holes in the cowl. I also made the tail wheel wire a little larger I noticed that Jimmy’s was real spongy but maybe tail wheels are suppose to be soft.
Willis S?P
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Working on making the various openings for the muffler, needle valve, etc. The stock DS mufflers will not clear the fuselage, so I have a Randy tongue muffler on the way that will clear the fuselage side.
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Still pressing on with T Rex despite the verbal flack.
Bolts trimmed and firewall spacer drilled out, then firewall and motor mount assembly epoxied into the fuselage.
Did you consider nylocks before trimming the bolts, or is there not enough room? I'm a virgin regarding firewall mounts, just looks a little scary to us elderly Don Knotts types.
Uh, this is not verbal flack ;) All is see here are examples of excellent and thorough workmanship. H^^
Larry Fulwider
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Did you consider nylocks before trimming the bolts, or is there not enough room? I'm a virgin regarding firewall mounts, just looks a little scary to us elderly Don Knotts types.
Uh, this is not verbal flack ;) All is see here are examples of excellent and thorough workmanship. H^^
Larry Fulwider
I've never used a firewall R/C mount either. You can still remove the mount they way I did it, so I'm not too worried
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Some more pictures, showing the cowl openings, the assembly of the tank internal parts and then some pics of setting up the tank compartment. I still have to make another balsa wedge and get the velcro attached.
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Steve I know you can’t add this but on my ARC I kept grabbing the wing by the trailing edge and cracking it. I added some 1/16 bridging to the trailing edge to reinforce it and keep me from destroying the wing. LL~
Willis
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Thats a good idea Willis! Bob Reeves was commenting about maybe adding shear webbing in his next wing as well. If you add enough bracing on yours it should even survive being trampled at Tifton(!)
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Steve another thing I did is add a 1/8 inch light ply brace in front of the fire wall just for safety.
Willis
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Nice Steve!
I'd love to electrify one f these!
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Steve
My ARC wing covered with controls and flaps weighs 16.1 with 1.6 oz of tip weight. The complete covered stab with horn is 3.8 oz. what does the ARF weigh? The ARC balsa looks light and no splices.
The fuselage weighs 15.1 oz with engine mount and parts oil cooler cowl and no covering.
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Willis, my ARF wing with flaps and controls installed and the wing panels joined weighs 20.1 ounces. My Stab weighs 4 ounces and the fuselage weighs 16.1 ounces. Guess I got the heavy one....
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Warren
It flies great as an electric. There's a thread on the electric forum.
bob branch
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My ARC fuselage with cowl and wing support weighs 13 3/4 oz. and that's with 3 coats of nitrate and silkspan plus 3 more coats of nitrate and sanded. It was 12 3/4 oz. when I started. The stab and elevators uncovered weigh 2 1/8 oz.
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Greg
Is that fuselage with plywood engine mounts and engine mounts?
Willis
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Willis,
Ply is in but I havent installed the RC mount yet. Mine didn't come with a mount so I ordered a Dave Brown mount and I'm still waiting for it to arrive.
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I should mention that I used Brad Walker's idea (which I believe he got from RO) of using velcro to hold the tank in. I was wondering if this would hold, but I tried it anyway. Did I mention the velcro is strong? like GORILLA strong? Panic was setting in as my test fit of the velcro tank installation had the tank locked in (the wrong position) and almost impossible to budge. After a pitched battle, I finally got the tank out without demolishing the plane. Thats when my bud Eric Viglione had the idea of wrapping the tank in paper for test fits, etc. That keeps it off the velcro and makes tinkering a snap. When the plane is flight ready, I will remove some but not all of the paper, exposing just enough velcro to hold the tank in without needing heroic amounts of effort to move the tank.
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Steve
My ARC wing covered with controls and flaps weighs 16.1 with 1.6 oz of tip weight.
Dude!!! Bob Hunt eat your heart out!!!
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Ok Steve I have caught up with you now. You aren't going to let me finish before you? I made a few changes a P-47 tail and shortened the landing gear one inch.
Willis S?P
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Looks Great Willis
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Greg
I hope you don’t mind if I steal your tank mount system. I see lots of adjustment advantages with that system.
Willis H^^
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Willis....Go for it.....when I did mine I first tried a metal tank and a couple of plastic tanks plus the one thats in the picture to make sure I could change tanks and still use the same hold down system. I found that I can even go to an 8 oz. tank and it still works. I still have to make a couple of wedges to slightly angle the tank and hold it in position.
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It looks great Willis! I'm sure you will beat me, but then again you don't have to deal with a two year old all day every day....
Working on mounting the wing on mine right now, having trouble with something in the top of the fuselage binding the flap pushrod right now....
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OK Steve this is just to let you know the race is on. Jimmy came buy this morning with his T-Rex as you would expect he is ahead of both of us. He has beefed up the rear with some carbon fiber. I hope to have mine ready the same time as his so he can clear both in one clean sweep. here is some pictures jim is holding mine.
Willis S?P
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Steve
Watch out for the bell crank plywood cross brace it hits the fuselage cross brace and will not seat on the wing all the way.
Willis
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Latest work as of today. Fitting the wing to the fuselage.
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Steve
Watch out for the bell crank plywood cross brace it hits the fuselage cross brace and will not seat on the wing all the way.
Willis
Yes it does... I missed that in the instructions. Sorry.
You guy's TRs look awesome.
I saturated the one I am building with CA on the inside aft of the canopy. In front and behind the former at the rear of the wing. This will make the wood rock hard for about 6 inches and let the stress move from that former. The one i have does not have punk wood in that area, but it only took a few seconds to make sure the area was strong.
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Steve Jimmy beat both of us. Here is a couple of pictures.
Willis
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Jimmy Jank strikes again!PA 61 0n pipe almost ready to go.Steve can i borrow a needle valve (PA) to break the motor in.?Airplane is ready but motor isn't.Impatience is my insperation! Jimmy
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Well done Jimmy y1
I'm embarrassed to say that I started mine before all of you and I am still not done! HB~> I'm a very Sloooooow builder (Assembler? ;-), it takes me months to get an ARC in the air. It's sad. n~
My plane may not be great, but thanks to Mark I might have one of the best scale P-47 pilots out there. :) Mark did an outstanding job on the pilot, I will try to make the plane live up to his wonderful art work.
When I 1st saw Brads excellent design I ordered one and at the same time ordered all the P-47 books, docs, and graphics I could find. Brad's design is a "no brainer" for a P-47, in fact I'm surprised that Brad and John did not have the ARF done as one? In a way I'm glad they didn't, this way there will be fewer of them in the circle. ;)
Again, great job Jimmy .... and Brad, thanks for such a great design and beautiful "light" ARC.
Regards, H^^
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Thanks Rudy...mine is a placebo 47 sorta look alike but it presents itself as a 47.please don't slight yours or anyone else's time frame in building as those here that know me would tell you that get it done is my specialty.When I start one the compulsion to see it to fruition takes over,and sleep is not much of a priority during the building process and that plus instant glue,epoxy,and high tech carbon tech really speeds this process along.The reward in the end is this airplane is a great flyer, (73) flights on my arf with the ST51 so far has proven to me in any form this bird is teriffic!Enjoy your build and I look foreward to your finished product. Jimmy
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Jimmy Jank strikes again!PA 61 0n pipe almost ready to go.Steve can i borrow a needle valve (PA) to break the motor in.?Airplane is ready but motor isn't.Impatience is my insperation! Jimmy
Yeah, you can borrow one, but I don't know if I'll be able to catch up to you before KOI or not. I'm guessing it will be too cold to fly on Sunday as usual....
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OK, that P 47 is AWESOME!!!! ~>
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Rudy,
AH HAAA now I know where he is going,, ;)
thanks for the positive comments,I do enjoy painting pilots, its a pleasant diversion for me.Glad he met your expectations
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The line forms behind me, Mark! Do you have any rilly thin piloots for profiles? VD~ Steve
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uh steve,, no, but if you were to actually build a plane, I am sure it would be a full fuse one,, ( I konw you have kits stashed,, ) I would paint you a pilot too,, oh wait, your flying in the same class with me now,, dang,, so it wont do any good towards getting me better scores,, sigh,, well Iguess I could anyway,,
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Hi Steve,
I was waiting until I finished my plane so I could post some nice photos of Mark's excellent art work, but it has taken me longer than I thought it would. Where I live we are not blessed with a "building season" like most of you lucky people get each year. We are always distracted with sunshine and 70 degree WX, this makes finding time to build (or even assemble!) almost impossible! ..... and what makes this dilemma worse for us is that we don't even get any sympathy for our sad plight! n~
I hope my photos will be posted soon. Until then you can go to the sight below and see what Mark's work looks like. Below is the site that I used to purchase the "blank" pilot. They have samples of pilots painted by artists like Mark. They also have an excellent section on their site showing how to paint a pilot. It looks like a LOT of work and needs a skill set waaaaay above mine! BTW, these pilots are cast resin and are VERY light (I think mine is approx. 1/3 oz., painted)
http://www.acesofiron.com/8th_scale.htm
I told Mark that I liked scale planes and that my plane was going to be a model of a WWII plane with accurate scale markings, etc. and that I wanted a "real" looking pilot. Mark delivered exactly what I wanted. He made the pilot look like one that actually went into battle, not like the shinny "Hollywood" pilots in new uniforms from the wardrobe dept, and clean shaven movie stars that NEVER went to war, etc.
IMHO: All models should have pilots in them. I put them in all my planes, I even put them in my park flyers. If a plane does not have a pilot in it that means it is a DRONE (as in target drone? ;-)
If you want to make your plane look better and more realistic I don't think you can do better than having Mark paint one for you! It will require some begging and pleading ....... and sending him a suitcase of cash, or a PA 61, or two 5S4200mAh batteries, or a T-Rex ARC, or a generous donation to his daughters college fund, or ???? ;)
Thanks again Mark for the great realistic looking WWII pilot! #^
Steve, I hope to see you in 2010 at one of the NorCal or OR contests :)
Warm Regards, H^^
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Hi Steve,
IMHO: All models should have pilots in them. I put them in all my planes, I even put them in my park flyers. If a plane does not have a pilot in it that means it is a DRONE (as in target drone? ;-)
Hmmmm. I think this discriminates against having the Invisible Man as your pilot......
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"......Hmmmm. I think this discriminates against having the Invisible Man as your pilot......" LL~
Good point Steve, I never thought of it that way. You may have cured me! ...... Now whenever I see an empty cockpit I will just assume it is the invisible man in there flying the plane, and I will feel better about the whole experience! But only if the invisible pilots name is on the side of your plane! n~
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How about an invisible plane with a Wonder Woman "bust" (play on words) in it? n~ #^ VD~
Just think of the appearance points you would get! y1
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Invisible_Plane.jpg
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Dick, that's GREAT! ..... That combo would get "20+" APs in my book.
She could fly my plane anyday!! #^ .... (Linda Carter was OUTSTANDING in that role! ;-)
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Steve here is my version of Greg's tank mount. Light ply and 1/4 inch balsa.
Willis H^^
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Now that I have unpacked from the King Orange its back to work.
Wing and tail were dry fit to check alignments and pushrod length and operation. The second picture shows a view of the tail horn assembly. After the pictures were taken the wing was epoxied in and the epoxie left to cure overnight.
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Hi Steve looks like you have caught up with me. I had better get on the stick or eat my words.
Willis S?P
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Put the bottom on last night, tonight I was working on epoxolite fillets on the wing.
What kind of silver paint are you using?
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Steve
It’s Dupli-Color Radiant Silver #T347. Our local Auto Parts store is having a half sale price sale on their Duple-Colors. You should see my Green metal #DSGM432 anti glare panel and the Flame Red #TO 354 cowl nose. Here is a picture of the P-47 I’m pattern my plane after.
Willis
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Completed fillets on wing, glued in the stabilizer this afternoon, will do the bottom fillet tonight.
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Steve
Waiting for clear.
Willis
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That looks like its going to be awesome Willis!
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Looking good guys. Way to go Willis! Like that scheme! #^
EricV
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I am waiting for the final picture and test flights. Looking great so far.
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Me to Doc. Jimmy Welch picked the plane up a few hours ago to shoot the clear on the fuselage. Just finished the tank and the decals are cut and waiting.
Willis #^
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Hey Willis, do you happen to have any orange dope lying around the shop?
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Jimmy dropped the plane off but the clear is not hard enough to handle so I will have to wait until tomorrow to put it together. Steve no Orange but I might go to Eagle Hobbies tomorrow.
Willis
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I take it the wing is covered with Ultrakote? How well does the paint match? I am thinking of the same for my ARC..
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Walter it is close. In the sun it is real close a lot better then the picture suggest. I have the same paint on my Airacobra and this is a picture outside
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What time you going to Eagle Willis? I might need to give you a call if you go... #^
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Willis, that looks awesome.
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Willis - What is your source for the decals on the T-Rex & the Aircobra? Ed
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Thanks for the reply Willis I will take a trip to the local auto parts store directly!
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Ed
Sorry to take so long but had to dig in the trash can. I’m lucky I have four hobby shops to chose from. SO many choses. The P-47 has Sig #sigdcm502 stars and bars decals on it and I think the Airacobra are Major decals.
Willis H^^
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In between shoveling snow, I managed to finish the fillets, cover them with orange Sig dope, and install the tank and begin working on engine installation:
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Steve, it's looking good.
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Steve
I’m getting there slowly most ot the trim finished. I have to mount the engine raise the tank a half inch to line it up with the needle. 62 ounces like it sets.
Willis
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What kind of R/C motor mount is that Willis? It looks complicated where it mounts to the firewall.
I'm busy beating back a mouse invasion of my shop tonight. I guess the snow has caused them to move in. Time to send in the cat!
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Steve....crunched up alka seltzer tablets and D-Con...when they drink water it's a real hoot.If you got a cat he will love watching them foam at the mouth.If that don't work I'll ask my neighbor for some of her leftovers...that's gotta kill um!.....................Extremely concerned...Jimmy
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Between tallying up the mouse bodycount after my trap minefield, I managed to complete my T-Rex. As it sits, 58 ounces. I think I will probably have to add some tailweight, but I may fly it as is the first couple of times and see if it will turn.
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Steve
Finished it up today Saito 56 at 62 oz. Two ounces more then I wanted but I’m happy. Can’t wait to test it out.
Willis H^^
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That looks awesome Willis! Now we need some weather for a T-Rex test session!
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That looks awesome Willis! Now we need some weather for a T-Rex test session!
It sure does Willis. Do you have a template for the vertical stab? I'm going to make my T-Rex a P-47 too!
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Catdaddy
Jimmy Welch has the template but all I did was blow up the picture on my printer and cut it off at the fuselage at a angle until the trailing edge matches the rear of the fuselage. My ruder is six inches tall
Willis
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Very nice guys. I flew mine a bunch last week. they fly very well. Willis I am watching what you are doing very carefully, I may just be a copycat for my ARC with Saito .62 and same Ultrakote/Duplicolor. I like it! Very Cool.
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Steve..looks great and (familiar)....Willis looks great and (familiar) now we got 4.We may have T-REX day very soon can't wait.Now we need Artie and John to get theirs done and we can start our own war...P-47's strafing ARF's. LOL... JIMMY
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Willis, that is one nice airplane. I just want to know what is all that white stuff in the background? You probably won't let me borrow this one. At least not if you are thinking straight.
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Russell....I never think straight...you can fly mine next time you come back. Jimmy
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Russell You will be welcome to fly the P-47 after what we did to you with the rocket sleds you flew. They never ran away like that before and never again. Who knows what happen?
Walter dust the silver don’t spray it direct, it will tiger stripe. The silver might look splotchy and dull but the clear brings it to life.
Willis
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Willis your T-Rex looks good hope it flys as good or better. And Steve with a plane that is not Yellow is pretty cool too. #^ #^ S?P
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Willis your T-Rex looks good hope it flys as good or better. And Steve with a plane that is not Yellow is pretty cool too. #^ #^ S?P
Not to worry, my Dreadnought will have some yellow on it...... y1
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Steve, you better stay inside and build on your plane this weekend. Willis, it wasn't much different from a Flite Streak in a two stroke, I just got spooked when the engine hiccuped in a loop. Didn't want to break someone Else's airplane if it quit in a bad spot. Nice long flight, though. I got out this morning and finally got my Enya 35 to run right. Maybe 8 flights? Good day.
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T-Rex day in Virginia. Steve Fitton, Jimmy Welch and I flew our new T-rex’s. Mine flew right off the board. First flight my Saito 56 running at 8,800 RPM with 13x5 Zinger didn’t have enough power to do a wing over. Next flight 9,100 loose in the overheads. Third flight I put a 13x6 APC at 9,100 RPM it came to life. I think next time I might try 8800 or 8900. Where you puled out it didn’t bobble at all, lift you off your feet in the Overheads. The wing was level, turned on a dime and I was one happy camper. Steve said his was the best plane he ever flew. Jimmy piped PA was right on. I’ll let Jimmy and Steve chime in on their flight’s. Steve took some great pictures I hope he will post a few of them.
Willis
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The pa61 piped p47 alias T-REX flew great.Cheated on the leadout position (copied my arf), got the pipe lenght right by Randys chart,put the new prop 3 blade I got from Randy on and tweeked the needle to 10,400 rpm.Added 1/4 ounce of wing weight per Willis's observations from previous flight and bingo!5.2 lap time solid and stable all over and up top..with the most pleasant contrail to a beautiful blue sky.Yet another day of fun...Jimmy
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Here are some pictures I took of Willis and Welch's P-47 T Rex's in flight, as well as a picture of a scale job that came over from the direction of the R/C guys.....
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Those airplanes look awesome.
Bob
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Planes look great guys! Steve - Great in-flight photography!
EricV
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T-Rex day in Virginia. Steve Fitton, Jimmy Welch and I flew our new T-rex’s. Mine flew right off the board. First flightmy Saito 56 running at 8,800 RPM with 13x5 Zinger didn’t have enough power to do a wing over. Next flight 9,100 loose in the overheads. Third flight I put a 13x6 APC at 9,100 RPM it came to life. I think next time I might try 8800 or 8900. Where you puled out it didn’t bobble at all, lift you off your feet in the Overheads. The wing was level, turned on a dime and I was one happy camper. Steve said his was the best plane he ever flew. Jimmy piped PA wa right on. I’ll let Jimmy and Steve chime in on their flight’s. Steve took some great pictures I hope he will post a few of them.
Willis
Sounds like you have under-propped your 4-stroke. Might want to try a 3-blade or wide chord 2-blade. Bob Reeves is the guy to talk too.
Your P-47 tail(s) look awesome, really changes the character of the plane.
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Steve how come you can crop those in-flight pictures but you couldn’t crop the picture of me? Me with my belly hanging out. LL~ LL~
Willis
After looking at the pictures I checked my rear lead out and it was loose and all the way to the rear.
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Hey Willis, suspenders will help with some of that. Don't ask me how I know. LL~ LL~ LL~ I still remember when you came to KC to practice F2C. The circle has long gone. Wright & Dunkin still keep threatening to come racing again.
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Steve how come you can crop those in-flight pictures but you couldn’t crop the picture of me? Me with my belly hanging out. LL~ LL~
Willis
After looking at the pictures I checked my rear lead out and it was loose and all the way to the rear.
You need to go back to wearing overalls for flying, they were perfect! y1
I noticed your leadouts were widely spaced, but I thought you had just left them in the position they came in-mine were widely spaced as it came in the box.
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John I have come to realize my limits. Some one talked me in pitting for them at Huntersville several years ago. The plane came in hot I caught it on the first bounce rolled over in a backwards flip with my glasses flying off. Put the plane down fueled it and it started first flip. While taken off it missed my glasses a half inch. I turned and bowed to the applause from every one . Later some one said something about the ground shaking LL~ LL~
Willis
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Where do you fly in Virginia?
I lived in Virginia Beach from 1984 to 1998 but at the time I was more interested in flying real gliders in New Castle, near Roanoke.
I miss living in Virginia a great deal. What a wonderfull state, specially now that my friend Bob is Governor.
Next Year I plan to come to Virginia Beach to see some good ol friends and then go to Brodaks.
Martin
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Martin
Here is the link to the Norfolk Aeromodelers.
Willis
You will be welcomed with open arms. We always enjoy visitors
http://control-line.tripod.com/index.html
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Willis, isn't the site where the NATS was held one year? I remember getting caught by the draw bridge a couple of times. I also wonder if the bakery shop is still behind the first gas station we sopped at after resufacing from driving under the water. Did any one ever tell you I do not like caves or tunnels. That is the only time I have been Virginia for any length of time. Even the fast food sea food restaurant was great. Where the carrier circle was at we got to take part in the raising of the flag each morning.
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'88 Nats were at Fentriss. Alas, I was off spending the summer at scenic Plattsburg AFB, and for that matter didn't really know Stunt exosted, anyway. But, it must have been neat. I've never seen any pictures from the '88 Nats either.
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yeah I remember that, my Brother came to town just for that reason. We watched many events, but don't remember watching any CLPA.
But was that 1988? Perhaps we had more then one NATS held there. If I had to guess it was in 1990
Martin
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Martin
Here is the link to the Norfolk Aeromodelers.
Willis
You will be welcomed with open arms. We always enjoy visitors
http://control-line.tripod.com/index.html
That is great Willis, we'll do!
Martin
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What I remember about the 88 nat’s is if you are a local club run for the hills. A lot of us were flying speed at that time and spent all our time at the speed circle. That was the first time the AMA put up the safety net,boy that was a job. Had to drill a three foot hole in four ft. of concrete, the hole for the pillion is still there with a flush cover on it. We haven't used it in years. I’m sure the AMA used our carrier deck so the rest of the club was there. We were able to store it at Fentress for years but we finally quit using it and the Sailors cut it up for home projects. But most remembered was the cancelation of Free Flight because of the local farmers wanted so much for crop damage. The norfolk Aeromodelers sponsored Foxburg and ran that in our spare time. I still have fond memories of the fun parts.