Hello,
I was busy with logistics of my trip to EU in May, June and July 2018 and made some progress only recently. Please see the attachments.
70-75% of the foam from the horizontal stabilizer will be removed after I finish shaping it, leaving only 1/4" wide foam ribs, spaced 2.25". Then, I will skin the stabilizer with 1/16" 6.8 lbs./cu. inch balsa. The elevator is made using two slightly curved shells, made using 1/16" 6.5 lbs./cu. inch balsa (only one is shown). The aluminum tubes, that will be glued with epoxy between both shells, are for the elevator's horn. The horns type and geometry are from Igor's plans but there is a slot in the elevator's horn. By moving a slider that can be locked in this slot, the throw of the elevator can be adjusted very precisely.
When the entire horizontal tail assembly is ready, I will spray paint it directly on bare balsa. Then, I will sand the painted balsa surfaces with #300-400 sand paper, spray paint again, sand again and paint for the third time. Then, I will cover everything with Doculam. This method was used on my eParrot and the results were very encouraging. Three very thin coats of some acrylic paint in electric / candy colors are normally enough to have the balsa surface reasonably smooth and ready for the transparent shrinkable covering.
Cobra 3515/18 with Pol-Prop 11.5 x 6" and 5S 2800 mAh. Thunder Power battery is shown. This motor can be used also with Igor's carbon composite propellers and 6S 2800 mAh. Thunder Power. I am planning to try two combinations of ESC and timers, including Igor's active timer.
The grass gear with grass wheels having 2.5" diameter is shown. Smaller wheels (2 " dia.) are for the hard surface. Weight difference of 5 grams is negligible but larger wheels handle better the grassy and sometimes a bit bumpy terrain.
The plane will be take-apart with the entire wing as one piece, the tail assembly as two pieces and fuselage as another piece. Everything will go into the box 63" x 12" x 15" for air transport.
Regards,
M