Author Topic: Building a FJ-4 Fun Carrier (Read 10106 times)

Bob Reeves · « **on:** October 06, 2009, 07:56:24 AM »

This project started with idea of playing with a carrier airplane and evolved to the FJ-4 I'm presently building. Wanting something easy to build as I have other projects I need to be doing I decided to use a combat foam wing in a profile with all the controls external. Thinking having the controls external would be a good thing as this is the first 3 line setup I've ever messed with.

First picture is getting ready to cut the root to create a swept wing out of a straight trailing edge combat wing. I used the 3 view drawing of an FJ-4 and cut the wing to the same angle of the trailing edge. This makes the leading edge have less sweep than the real thing but for this it doesn't really matter.

After making the cut and test fitting the two wing halves together it was obvious I not only had a pretty short wing but I would need to do something to get the wing tips back to 90 degrees. I used the foam pieces I cut out of the root with the leading edge cut off gluing them to the wing tips. The rear half of the airfoil matched and figured I could sand the leading edge in. See 2nd picture. After the glue dried I cut and sanded the leading edges of the new wing tips to match the wings and ended up with what you see in the last photo.

This being a carrier airplane and needing to be pretty tough I plan to sheet the wing using Tom Dixon's kept foam method. I'll mold the leading edge caps, sheet the center secton, sheet the trailing edge and put cap strips between the leading edge sheeting and the trailing edge. I'll update this thread as I go and hopfully end up with something I can play carrier with.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2009, 09:12:49 AM »

That looks great. Keep us up to date. Have my Skyray almost done. DOC Holliday

Paul Smith · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2009, 02:48:59 PM »

Interesting projects.

Here's a question:

On these propellor-driven jet projects, just how much distortion can you get away with and still get the 10-point bonus?

I like the A-4 Skyhawk, but if you built one "true scale" it wouldn't fly very will at all. By the time you got that little bitty low aspect wing up to 300 squares, the fuselage would be as big as a barn.

bfrog · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2009, 04:44:20 PM »

Paul,

For profile class only it's a pretty loose inturpretation. Lots of wiggle room. The rules say something like- If the outlines of the major components closely resemble the actual airplane shown in the 3 view, (judges guide, the model should be identifiable with the full scale aircraft shown in the 3 view).

In my experience it can be a pretty wide margin. For instance I have seen a Crusader that did not have as swept back a wing as the real thing and in another case a Corsair that had a significantly longer fuselage. The overall appearance still looked like the real airplane but some scale factors were fudged. It is up to the event chairman but I have never really seen someone not get the points if most people would say "Yes, that looks kind of like a *****

.

Class I and II have to be within 5% of the 3 view proportions.

Bob

john e. holliday · « **Reply #4 on:** October 07, 2009, 09:22:53 AM »

The thing we look for in processing is the outline of the profile. Especially the front view. If there is no dehidral or anhidral on the model to match the 3 views, no points. The landing gear can be on the fuselage also on the designs that have wing mounted gear. DOC Holliday

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #5 on:** October 07, 2009, 10:59:35 AM »

Scared me for a second, thought I was going to need to run the wings back through the saw to put in a little dihedral.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #6 on:** October 07, 2009, 04:34:36 PM »

Haven't received the plans yet but am sure the FM airplane has a built up wing. The foam wing came about because I had the wing. It's for a Yankee Nipper speed limit combat airplane by Joe Just, was about to give it away when this idea popped into my head.

The Nipper uses dry wall tape and spruce spars with low heat covering applied direct to the foam. I was given a roll of grey Monokote (thanks Lee) which can't be put directly on foam so figured I'd do the Dixon thing so I could use it. My plan is to use hard balsa spars instead of spruce and reinforce with carbon fiber between the spar and leading edge sheeting. This will be top and bottom of wing so should make it pretty strong..

skyshark58 · « **Reply #7 on:** October 07, 2009, 07:08:40 PM »

I think that maybe the 3views were required when Navy personnel were used as judges. They weren't airplane nuts like we are and may not have been familiar with the aircraft we were attempting to model so needed a reference. I can't for the life of me figure out how a judge can use a little 3view to determine if a model is with in a 5 percent tolerance in class I&II, I know I can't.

Joe Just · « **Reply #8 on:** October 08, 2009, 09:23:27 AM »

Rick, thanks for the clearification. Jim's work and my own sometimes get mixed up. Jim continues his ways with he "Nipper' and I currently am working on two sizes of a Carrier Trainer for those that lay in the hinterlands of moldeling without any carrier help, or carrier contests. Ergo, the Postal Carrier contest held in 09 and continuing in 2010. I have sent out 4 of the ARF/ARC kits to clubs at no cost. Interest in the PCC continues to grow. Perhaps even as an after hours event at Brodaks this coming June. Time will tell on that.
Here are two pictures of the .25 size "Penguin" Carrier Trainer that comes with 3-line bell crank and 3-line handle included. Also attached are the 2010 PCC rules

Joe

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #9 on:** October 08, 2009, 11:03:44 AM »

As much as I hated to do it I cut another set of Nipper wings right behind the spars to make mold bucks for my leading edge sheeting. Epoxied to 1 by 2 for stiffness and a handle, will add more pictures tomorrow.

First photo is the mold bucks and leading edge sheeting ready to mold. 2nd photo is both wings test fitting the pieces left over from the leading edge sheeting on the trailing edge. Wanted to see if it was feasible to use these pieces with the taper cut on the trailing edge. Should work out fine...

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #10 on:** October 09, 2009, 09:39:42 AM »

Mold bucks with leading edge sheeting in place all wrapped up with strips from an old bed sheet. 2nd photo is the first leading edge glued to the wing core and placed in the cradles for clamping till the glue dries. Waiting wing shows the 1/4 X 1/8 balsa spar. 3rd photo is the first wing half out of the cradles and 2nd one waiting to dry.

I installed the leading edge sheeting using Gorilla glue, ran small beads on the foam in 4 places on each side then used a piece of scrap balsa as a squeegee to scrape and spread it to a very thin layer, scraping as much off as I could. I misted the inside of the sheeting with water then used a paper towel to make sure it wasn't too wet. From inspecting the first core out of the clamp it worked very well and didn't add allot of weight.

Will probably use epoxy to install the trailing edge pieces and foam friendly CA to install the cap strips. Kinda using it as a test bed for when I sheet my next foam wing.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #11 on:** October 09, 2009, 09:44:53 AM »

Would the guys that posted stuff in this thread that has nothing to do with building the airplane mind if I asked the moderator to delete them? We can discuss carrier rules in another thread if you want..

Joe Just · « **Reply #12 on:** October 09, 2009, 05:12:42 PM »

Sure, go ahead.
Joe

Wayne J. Buran · « **Reply #13 on:** October 10, 2009, 04:03:55 AM »

Quote from: Bob Reeves on October 09, 2009, 09:44:53 AM

Would the guys that posted stuff in this thread that has nothing to do with building the airplane mind if I asked the moderator to delete them? We can discuss carrier rules in another thread if you want..

Not a problem
Wayne

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #14 on:** October 15, 2009, 08:34:53 AM »

Back to the task at hand. Drew my wing in AutoCAD and came up with what I think will be the CG assuming 20%. Maybe I shouldn't have put in such a dramatic sweep. Came up with the sweep by measuring the trailing edge angle of the real FJ and set the trailing edge of my foam wing the same. If I had done the leading edge it would have been even a greater sweep.

Only issues I see now are it's 479 sq/in (maybe a little big for a carrier airplane) and the leadouts will be 4+ inches in front of the tip leading edge.

I could take some off the tips to make the wing smaller but then the CG would also move forward and I'm not sure it would help very much with the position of the leadouts relative to the wing tip.. Going to be interesting trying to figure out a way to support the leadouts at the wing tip when they need to be hanging out in the air 4 inches in front of the LE.

dale gleason · « **Reply #15 on:** October 15, 2009, 09:30:58 AM »

Bob,
I think a carbon tube, maybe a quarter inch diameter, maybe little less, buried in the tip of the wing with 4 inches protruding forward of the LE would work to support that forward leadout. It would look like a long pitot tube. Just don't land on it!

We cover foam wings with silkspan, applied wet, then a coat of Titebond glue thinned 50/50 with water. It shrinks very nicely and you can apply film covering onto that, Monocote may require too much heat, but coverrite or ultracote use less heat. Kelly Hite used monokote, I think, and he was just very careful with he heat gun/iron. Hope this idn't a drift from the thread......dg

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #16 on:** October 15, 2009, 09:56:33 AM »

Thanks Dale and no the stuff you posted is perfect.. Carbon tube is a great idea as I slap myself and say why didn't I think of that. I even have the tube in the form of a mish mash of used arrow shafts I bought for almost nothing.

Trying to remember where the in-flight refueling tube is on the FJ, pretty sure it's not on a wing tip

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #17 on:** October 23, 2009, 06:48:39 AM »

Now that the T-Rex ARF is finished, back to the FJ.. Thinking about how to do the leadouts led me to the idea of making them adjustable which in turn led to what is probably the worlds most complex adjustable leadout guide.

First photo is all the parts that make up a clamp for the carbon fiber tube. The actual clamp pieces are made from some of the hardest balsa I've ever seen. The grove was cut on my mill with a round nose 1/4 inch end mill and a small piece of aluminum was epoxied to the clamp side to distribute the force of the two 2-56 clamp screws and give the screws a surface they wouldn't dig into. The 1/4 inch carbon arrow shaft was drilled for small eyelets and a plug was made from hard balsa. During final detailing I will turn the plug on my lathe to look like an in flight refueling connector.

2nd photo is the assembly all glued up and ready to be installed in the wing tip. Next is the test fit in a 1/2 inch contest balsa wing tip that was rough cut to the wing outline and placed in the mill to cut the clearance grove for the carbon tube. All glued up and ready to be installed on the wing.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #18 on:** October 23, 2009, 07:18:25 AM »

This is the wing with both tips on waiting for the glue to dry before shaping. I had a thin wall carbon arrow shaft that the 1/4 inch tube would just fit inside of. I cut a short piece off and embedded it in the leading edge of the tip to give me a clean hard hole for the leadout. when the tip gets shaped the carbon tube will get sanded to conform to the tip shape and and voids between it and the rough hole in the tip will be filled. I also cut a couple small pieces for the bottom where the clamp screws are located. You can see the bottom tubes in the photo above.

Wing halves are almost ready to join, once I get the wing tips shaped and make a decision about flaps (or not) it will be ready to become one piece. I originally wasn't going to put any dihedral in the wing but after some thought decided it needed it for a couple reasons. First it will put the leadouts closer to the vertical CG but more important (in this case) it will give me clearance for the leadouts. As you can see from the above drawing the CG and bellcrank location is going to be above and about 7 inches behind the root leading edge. Without dihedral I would have had to place the leadout guide on top of the wing instead of being able to locate it in the center of the tip airfoil.

To cut the wing root for dihedral I carefully blocked and squared the wing halves on my radial arm saw and took one thin cut from each wing. If my calculations are correct it should have the same amount as the real thing. When I put the two halves together I plan on using the thin wall carbon arrow shaft for a joiner spar. Still working/thinking on how to drill/melt accurate holes in the foam for the arrow shaft joiners...

To be continued....

Oh! the adjustable leadouts with the tip weigh 1/2 ounce and the whole wing as it sits in the photo is 7 ounces. I don't think that's too bad for a wing as strong as this one is.

catdaddy · « **Reply #19 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:05:18 PM »

Bob,
You truely are a MASTER modeller. Love your stuff man.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #20 on:** October 23, 2009, 04:57:16 PM »

Quote from: catdaddy on October 23, 2009, 04:05:18 PM

Bob,
You truely are a MASTER modeller. Love your stuff man.

Thanks but Naw.... I don't hold a candle to some of the other stuff I've seen posted. I do really enjoy tinkering and can sometimes take an idea and make it a reality.

catdaddy · « **Reply #21 on:** October 23, 2009, 06:20:25 PM »

Quote from: Bob Reeves on October 23, 2009, 07:18:25 AM

Still working/thinking on how to drill/melt accurate holes in the foam for the arrow shaft joiners...

Don't drill OR melt the hole. put some balsa plugs in the end of the carbon tube and put them in a pencil sharpner. Locate a point on both wings with a marker. Put the wings in their cradles and place a small level on the tube and push the tube into the core watching the level to keep as straight as possible.. do each side and check for alignment before you glue tube in place with Poly-glue. It's crude but I've done it several times with success.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #22 on:** October 26, 2009, 05:27:10 AM »

Figured out a jig to put the holes in the wing for the carbon tubes that will hopfully hold them together. With the help of a framing square, an aluminum block and an aluminum tube that was close to the right OD I drilled them in with the aluminum tube. I drilled a hole on the block at the right height and made sure it was square to the sided.

Set everything up with the square parallel to the ring root and used it as a guide to be sure the holes were 90 deg to the root. I sharpened the aluminum tubing and filed serrations in the end so it would cut the foam (more or less). Then just rotated the tubing by hand as I pushed on the block. Worked great...

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #23 on:** October 26, 2009, 05:59:28 AM »

Starting to look like an FJ-4 sorta.. It's much bigger than carrier airplanes are normally but that's what happens when a stunt guy designs a carrier airplane. The rules still give a displacement advantage to 4 strokes

this thing just might end up with a Saito 56 on the nose.

Well choot.. Something just wasn't looking right so I went back over my drawings and discovered when I plotted the canopy I was using a 3 view of an FJ-3. Not really a big deal as the FJ-4 canopy is smaller and I have enough wood in the fuselage. Just have to plot all the points again which is a real pain...

Wayne J. Buran · « **Reply #24 on:** October 26, 2009, 03:29:43 PM »

Its really shaping up, nice work! Any ideas on the paint job?
thanks
Wayne

Douglas Ames · « **Reply #25 on:** October 26, 2009, 11:56:22 PM »

Looks great Bob! What did you use to cover the open bays? silkspan/ dope?

I have a .15 Profile Carrier Corsair (Sportsman .15?) about 3/4 done, converted from Stunt plans.
I wish I had your free time

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #26 on:** October 27, 2009, 01:19:11 AM »

Quote from: Wayne J. Buran on October 26, 2009, 03:29:43 PM

Its really shaping up, nice work! Any ideas on the paint job?
thanks
Wayne

Thanks Wayne,

Plan on drab NAVY grey just like the ones we had in the squdron. I posted a photo I found on the internet in this thread. http://stunthanger.com/smf/index.php?topic=14328.0

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #27 on:** October 27, 2009, 01:25:22 AM »

Quote from: Douglas Ames on October 26, 2009, 11:56:22 PM

Looks great Bob! What did you use to cover the open bays? silkspan/ dope?

I have a .15 Profile Carrier Corsair (Sportsman .15?) about 3/4 done, converted from Stunt plans.
I wish I had your free time

Cool that will make 5 of us that have carrier airplanes.. Lee gave me a roll of grey Monokote I was planning on using on the wings but that might change to SLC painted with Brodak dope. Will have to wait and see what mood I'm in when I get to the finish.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #28 on:** October 27, 2009, 03:39:07 AM »

Now it looks more like an FJ-4 instead of a 3.. Next comes the fun parts, sanding, shaping, adding a few scale details and controls.. I may be busy for a while...

Wayne J. Buran · « **Reply #29 on:** October 27, 2009, 04:17:22 AM »

I ike the choice on the paint scheme, ala "Spad" 1965. Looking forward to seeing it done.
Thanks
Wayne

Thomas Wilk · « **Reply #30 on:** October 27, 2009, 09:07:00 AM »

FJ-1 eye candy

Tom Wilk

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #31 on:** October 27, 2009, 11:27:10 AM »

Actually that's an FJ-4, the only one in existence that is still flying. While researching I ran across it and the history. It was one of the FJ's that I prepared for departure when VA-216 was trading out it's FJ's for A4's. It went to the Reserves and then to private ownership. I just wished they had decide to restore it to the Black Diamond dress but the Reserves dress is more flamboyant.

Thomas Wilk · « **Reply #32 on:** October 27, 2009, 03:37:07 PM »

a few shots of a straight wing FJ-? from my archives

Tom Wilk

Thomas Wilk · « **Reply #33 on:** October 27, 2009, 03:43:00 PM »

I found another paint scheme

Tom Wilk

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #34 on:** October 29, 2009, 09:15:56 AM »

Well choot, this morning I went for it and cut flaps out of the wings. Thought I had the whole ordeal documented but discovered I forgot to format the new memory card for the camera

I'll format the card and maybe get a few pictures in the morning.

Sure would have been a whole lot easier if I had decided to do it before I sheeted the wing. One item that was bugging me was installing a control horn when not only is it a radical sweep but it also has dihedral. Made lucky boxes for the stab which worked out well, hoping they will work on the wing as well. We will see...

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #35 on:** October 30, 2009, 11:47:21 AM »

Hi Ty,

Thanks but am going to paint it just like the ones I worked on, Black Diamond dress. Not real flamboyant but that's OK it brings back long forgotten memories.

Ordered Tom's carrier CD and got a few more ideas from looking over the plans. The Z spring is a wonderful idea, can't believe I didn't think of that one. Also decided to add an outboard aileron in case I need a little help keeping the lines tight.. Good stuff, must have for anyone interested in carrier.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #36 on:** October 31, 2009, 09:50:08 AM »

Quote from: Bob Reeves on October 29, 2009, 09:15:56 AM

Well choot, this morning I went for it and cut flaps out of the wings. Thought I had the whole ordeal documented but discovered I forgot to format the new memory card for the camera I'll format the card and maybe get a few pictures in the morning.

Sure would have been a whole lot easier if I had decided to do it before I sheeted the wing. One item that was bugging me was installing a control horn when not only is it a radical sweep but it also has dihedral. Made lucky boxes for the stab which worked out well, hoping they will work on the wing as well. We will see...

Bob, are using the flaps like a stunt plane or like a carrier. If you could find an old Sterling Gaurdian kit and see how it is done on the kit. Bill Johnson did his different than Sterling. I know I had the flaps go full down as far as they would go for slow speed. A rod from the throttle rod controlled the release of every thing. Have fun, DOC Holliday

wwwarbird · « **Reply #37 on:** October 31, 2009, 04:23:35 PM »

Just discovered this thread Bob, way cool idea!

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #38 on:** October 31, 2009, 05:10:26 PM »

Quote from: john e. holliday on October 31, 2009, 09:50:08 AM

Bob, are using the flaps like a stunt plane or like a carrier. If you could find an old Sterling Gaurdian kit and see how it is done on the kit. Bill Johnson did his different than Sterling. I know I had the flaps go full down as far as they would go for slow speed. A rod from the throttle rod controlled the release of every thing. Have fun, DOC Holliday

Haven't committed yet.. At this point I can go either way, just drop the flaps or connect them to the elevator. Leaning towards just dropping them now that I added an aileron. This thing is almost constantly changing as I learn more about carrier and try to build in flexibility in case something doesn't quite work out.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #39 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:42:54 AM »

Back to the FJ...

Decided to add flaps and an aileron with the flaps connected to the hook rather than the elevator. This allowed me to add an aileron to the outboard wing that hopfully will help with low speed line tension. Cutting flaps out of a sheeted foam wing was a bit of a challenge but we gotter done.

First I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to cut straight down through the wing with any accuracy so I made a cardboard templet, (1st photo) cut one side to the template, then moved the template to cut the other side. This insured the sheeting was cut exactly the same on both sides of the wing then it was a simple matter of cutting the foam between the sheeting to release the flaps.

Once I had the flaps cut I needed to install a balsa insert under the sheeting on the trailing edge. Bent a piece of 18ga copper wire and used my Weller gun as a heat source to cut out a 1/4 inch deep channel in the trailing edge foam. The wire was bent with a step so I could use the sheeting as a depth guide. Photo #2 and a little bit more on this in the next post.

I then cut and glued in strips of 1/4 inch balsa using Gorilla glue. Last photo shows the inserts being weighted down and while waiting for the glue to dry I cut 1/4 inch off the leading edge of the flaps and prepaired cap strips also out of 1/4 inch balsa. The cap strips were then glued to the leading edge of the flaps, sanded flush and relieved for hinges.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #40 on:** November 05, 2009, 08:29:24 AM »

First couple of photos shows the operation on the trailing edge better than the above photos. I was using a new camera and didn't have the white balance set right when I did the flaps. I cut an aileron out of the outboard wing and basically did the same as I did with the flaps. Inserting a 1/4 inch balsa strip in the trailing edge and adding a 1/4 inch to the leading edge of the aileron. The ends of the cutout and flaps were simply caped with 1/16 balsa to cover the foam.

Last photo is the wing getting trial fitted with landing gear and prepairing the flap to aileron linkage. I neglected to photo document the landing gear block installation so will try to explain how I did it. I used a full 6 inch SIG 5/32 landing gear block with a square piece of hardwood epoxied to the center. The holes for the gear tangs were drilled up through the hardwood block. The upright block goes all the way through the wing and is keyed into the fuselage. You can see the cutout in the fuselage that will support the block. I also buried 1/8 plywood supports on the outside edges into the wings which are also drilled for the carbon fiber tube wing joiner. I might make a drawing if I get time, would be a whole lot easier to visualize with a drawing.

The plans under the FJ are for the A4 that I decided not to build, the border is a straight line so I decided to use it for a reference to determin the landing gear position and wire lengths. I lined the fuselage up with my reference line allowing clearance for an 11 inch prop. Pined a 2 1/4 inch wheel at the proper location on a 15 deg line behind the CG. I also pinned a 2 inch nose wheel at the proper location. This gave me the info I needed to bend the landing gear wires.

I'm still mulling over a couple options for mounting the nose gear depending on if I make it removable or not. When I make the decision I'll bend the nose gear wire. The main gear is 5/32 but the nose gear will probably be 1/8. The two carbon tubes at the rear of the fuselage is what I'm considering making the tail hook out of. The real FJ has a double rod tail hook connected to each side of the fuselage. Using carbon rods would allow me to more or less duplicate the real thing plus I would be able to paint them with stripes just like a real FJ. Still thinking about this one...

Have to run, have a friend comming over to help me with my roofing project. Will be back when I get the new roof on the house done.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #41 on:** November 05, 2009, 12:59:33 PM »

This is going to be awesome when it gets done. Don't know about carbon tubes or even rods for a hook tho.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #42 on:** November 05, 2009, 03:41:37 PM »

Quote from: john e. holliday on November 05, 2009, 12:59:33 PM

This is going to be awesome when it gets done. Don't know about carbon tubes or even rods for a hook tho.

Thanks Doc, Ya, I had the same doubts about carbon tubes for the tail hook but am thinking of ways to make it work. I can machine a couple inserts for the pivot end and thinking of drilling through the CF and insert so I can install a pin. Between the pin and JB weld I think it would hold. Then I would need to form a wire hook that would insert into the hook end of the CF tubes. What I'm not sure of is if a JB welded wire insert would be strong enough. I would of course put an aluminum sleeve over the ends of the CF tubes to prevent splitting from side loads and making the inserts pretty long. I'm thinking it would hold up but probably won't know for sure till I do it.

catdaddy · « **Reply #43 on:** November 06, 2009, 07:53:23 AM »

Quote from: Bob Reeves on November 05, 2009, 03:41:37 PM

Thanks Doc, Ya, I had the same doubts about carbon tubes for the tail hook but am thinking of ways to make it work. I can machine a couple inserts for the pivot end and thinking of drilling through the CF and insert so I can install a pin. Between the pin and JB weld I think it would hold. Then I would need to form a wire hook that would insert into the hook end of the CF tubes. What I'm not sure of is if a JB welded wire insert would be strong enough. I would of course put an aluminum sleeve over the ends of the CF tubes to prevent splitting from side loads and making the inserts pretty long. I'm thinking it would hold up but probably won't know for sure till I do it.

Bob I once used JB weld to rejoin a tierod sleeve on a 69 Ford LTD. I drove that beast for a year with that JB weld tie rod. I always laugh when people question the strength of properly applied JB weld. I have no doubt anything you engineer will hold up.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #44 on:** November 06, 2009, 09:11:37 AM »

Thanks Rick, only problem is making the tail hook will be a project in itself but I'm kinda getting known for making projects out of things that are usually pretty simple

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #45 on:** November 08, 2009, 08:33:26 AM »

As I said I seem to make a project out of everything...

First photo is all the parts for the tail hook, a normal person would have just bent a piece of wire but noooo I have to have a tail hook that is made up out of 12 parts. After masking and painted the carbon rods it's all ready to be JB welded together. I will embed a hardwood block in the bottom of the fuselage to hold it, will be removable in case it doesn't hold up.

Bob Reeves · « **Reply #46 on:** November 08, 2009, 08:41:55 AM »

Speaking of projects, the aileron linkage installation and hatch ended up being 12 pieces of balsa and one piece of plywood. I wanted to be able to adjust the throw of the aileron, used a servo arm left over from my RC days, drilled the center out for an aluminum bushing and mounted it to a piece of lite ply. The cover is hard 1/16. Will cover it with whatever I cover the wing with and just tape it in place.

catdaddy · « **Reply #47 on:** November 08, 2009, 08:46:12 AM »

Quote from: Bob Reeves on November 08, 2009, 08:33:26 AM

As I said I seem to make a project out of everything...

First photo is all the parts for the tail hook, a normal person would have just bent a piece of wire but noooo I have to have a tail hook that is made up out of 12 parts. After masking and painted the carbon rods it's all ready to be JB welded together. I will embed a hardwood block in the bottom of the fuselage to hold it, will be removable in case it doesn't hold up.

Freaking WAAAAY KEWL!

Douglas Ames · « **Reply #48 on:** November 08, 2009, 10:47:44 AM »

OK Bob, if your gonna paint safety stripes on your tailhook, we expect a all-out paint job including your name/ rank under the canopy.

-your fellow Gluedobber

Wayne J. Buran · « **Reply #49 on:** November 08, 2009, 04:43:26 PM »

OK Bob, you have really raised the bar now. Congratulations, its looking real good.
Thanks
Wayne