Did you get the formers in wrong?

If you mean the pushrod holes no, I'm using a carbon pushrod so I'll be cutting them anyway. 

Well...I believe you Dwayne. 😁 I mean, you dont strike me as someone that would put a former in the wrong way and then yank our chains about it.

Sanding and a carving and a shaping, oh joy. 

You guys are right, doing this with the wing on would be a royal pain in the rear, thanks. 

Sanding and a carving and a shaping, oh joy. 

You guys are right, doing this with the wing on would be a royal pain in the rear, thanks. 

this is my method for ages, always carve and sand all of the fuselage withou tail and wings attached. can´t stand hitting the sheeting all the time while sanding or flipping sides in a tiny workshop as mine
good work so far, and great choice of plane!

Wow, 5.6 ounces.  Darn thing must be hollow.

I cannot tell a lie, it's filled with helium. 

Cowl coming along nicely and weighs 4 grams less than the one from the kit. 

Dwayne     did you drill the holes for the landing gear?

ok just asking there to drill after the ribs are in place 
 you got a nice build going on have fun building it

What kind of covering will you use on the wing?

Brodak silkspan and dope.

Once you get the hang of it things move along quite easily and I do like the look of a uncovered I-beam. 

Good Choice. I do like the look of the ribs reflecting off the wing. Its the sanding and buffing that tests your character. Yikes! 🤯 Had a nice Argus years ago. Maybe a Cobra or something in the future. Windys I beam Spitfire was on another level. Too bad there are no plans for it. 
PS. Joe Adamusko said Brodak heavy silkspan is closer to the old medium silkspan in terms of strength.

That's one down one to go, soooo much shaping and sanding on this plane, sanding and shaping, sanding and....

Hi Dwayne,
Good looking model and one of my favorites.  Do yourself a favor and used poly-span & dope, it’s way stronger that silkspan.  You can remove warps with ease with the poly-span and an iron, it’s much more resistant to damage and wholes in the wings,  use Jap tissue on the fuse on the fuse fin.  The finish will come out really light and durable.
Keep it going your doing Great!

Later,
Mikey

If you have a good fabric store, go browse the store and see what they have.  If you search in the finish section you will find planes I have covered with light weight poly-ester cloth.  Some with dope  clear and others with mylar covering over the fabric.  You maybe can find some material that is like the DOC paper that I have also used.  Right now I'm stripping a plane that I covered with DOC paper and mylar covering.  lSome areas I didn't get clean enough and paint that that was sprayed was coming loose.  There is a post forth coming as soo as I get pictures done.

Ps, The last time i used Polyspan was on a 35 size profile, and with only the center section sheeted, filling the weave on that much open bay area added WAY to much weight for me. I will only use it on D tube open bays only from now on. For your Ares, thats alot of open bays. Silkspan is easy to repair. and your plane will be alot lighter.

Kevin:

I stumbled on something using polyspan that addresses the issue of the tiny pin holes and weave separation after shrinking.  Only shrink it slightly over the sheeted areas first then give it a full-strength coat of dope.  While the dope is still plastic use the heat gun to fully shrink it.  No pin holes and it is ready for a light sanding and base color after three coats of clear. It also works on fully open structures, just shrink it enough to smooth it out before the dope.   

Ken

Jon also has stix it. I used Light coat on both the P40 and the Argus to attach the polyspan, but whatever works for you. As far as Polyspan taking less dope to fill, I found that not to be true.

Ken thanks for the tip. I will be using Polyspan on my vector 40 wing soon, and I am hoping it will remove a slight bow on the TE.

Bows are really tough.  I had one on my Trifecta profile and had to resort to extreme measures to get it out.  I removed the covering over the center of the bow on the underside (local judges never look there!) and wet, not soaked, just wet the entire structure using a spray bottle to get everything wet.  Set it on blocks and hung a 5lb weight at the apex of the bow. Used heat to get it to relax and let me bend it and the weight hold it till it dried.  It worked and the bow was gone when it dried and never came back.

Ken

Nice!

gee guys,  if you want no pin holes in your silk span or poly-span cover the the wings, tai and surfaces with a clear mylar film.   check out the finish section on this forum.

Got the base colour on, it's supposed to be purple but looks more blue..lol

You have already made YOUR decision.  Having used all FOUR (silkspan, Polyspan, Monokote, and silk), I only use SILK on models that I care about.

Sure, I might iron-on a combat or carrier plane, but for stunt or scale, it's silk and only silk.  I Polyspaned some racers years ago and there's still flying OK.  Polyspan is a chore to bend over wingtips and other small radii.  Silk will take ANY shape without complaint.

Hi Paul, I've seen your work in Toronto, didn't know they were silk, very nice work.

Out side off set of 2 degrees tops. Any more than that and you will never get it trimmed..Do NOT put in any rudder offset.   It does not take much.  The trouble  with rudder off set is when you need it it's not there, and when you don't need it, it's there in other words it works at highs speeds when centripital force is doing the job of keeping the lines tight.

Engine off set is so there is NO inside offset and only helps in the over heads.

The Ares will fly much better at weights under 40 ounces, I'd aim for 36.  I have built over 12 I beamers and they fly light.

36 might be difficult, I’m at 30ozs build finished and motor in.  No wheel pants dope, paint, clear or silks pan

Well I'll be I forgot to post finished pics, my bad. Finished weight came in at 39 oz. and the Merco 40 runs better than I could of hoped, a perfect 4 2 4 and a growl that has to be heard. The plane groves wonderfully, turns on a dime, the only thing I might change is the decal, I don't like it I might remove it and paint the name and add my maac numbers but other than that I'm very happy,  thanks for all the comments. 

Did you have to do anything to the motor?  I'm using a brodak 40 just like the plans, thrust washer,3/4 extension spinner but the threaded shaft is not long enough to get a prop on.  Does this have to be modified or am I doing something wrong? 

What prop extension are you using? It should have a long nut that requires you to drill the prop hole bigger.

That’s exactly what the problem is, I have the wrong prop nut. Thank you for the pic.  Much appreciated

Dwayne, what did you use for control horns on the Ares?  Did you use the straight horns that came with the kit, or did you replace them with offset horns that they talk about in the detailed notes on the plan?  And did you sue ball joints or classic pushrod ends, into those horns?

Pm sent and to add I used classic music wire pushed rod with bent soldered ends.