The front end

[Randy Powell]

So, we are always posting picture of planes when they are done. Thought it would be fun to post a picture of a plane at the front end, when it's just started. Here are a couple of pictures of the start of my new project. Dangerous.

[Keith Spriggs]

Thought it would be fun to post a picture of a plane at the front end, when it's just started.

Thanks for posting that picture. I note you say "just started" That would represent a weeks work for me.

I think it would be interesting to see other peoples work bench whether the plane was just started or nearly finished.

[Clint Ormosen]

Randy, now that you've posted the begining, you'll have to post progress pics as you go along. You can't just post a teaser like that!

[Phil Coopy]

Great idea Randy, especially for us "don't build so good" guys.  Keep 'em coming as you progress and I know I'll learn something even tho I'm an old dog scratchin' at the back door.

Phil

[Randy Powell]

Thanks, guys. I'll post some pics on this periodically. Since Sparky hasn't been able to show pics of his project, thought I'd fill a small part of the gap. Sparky builds faster than I do. 

One note, The top pic shows the layout on the fuse sides and the stab under construction. This is one of those weird things were I found out that how I drew the stab structure isn't quite working the way I had envisioned. So I had to build a sort of weird jig on the fly. I'll try to get a picture of it. The jig for the fuselage is set up and if you look close, you can see the completed engine crutch sitting in the jig.

The other pic shows some parts laid out. The bellcrank in the foreground was just pulled from the mold and the "ears" machined in and the holes drilled and tapped. You might notice a chunk of PC board laying next to it. I'll cut the leadout attachments tabs that fit into the bell crank from that. In the background are the Tom Morris horns I'll use and in the middle is the jig to cut ribs. I just made and stack of sanding blocks that are scattered around. You can also see various template laying around. I draw plans then head down to the local UPS store. They have a 36" copier and I make copies of the plans for about $2.50 apiece then cut one or two up into templates.

I actually got quite a bit more done after I took these pictures. The stab is just about ready for sheeting and cap strips and the fuse sides are cut out.

Almost forgot. If you look really close, you can see in the bottom picture about mid background the leadout guide I had just machined up before I took the picture. It's aluminum.

This is starting to sound like Where's Waldo.   

[Mark Scarborough]

Looks cool Randy, I need to talk to you about how you do your stab ribs,,
is this built on the plans you had in Salem last fall? or a different design

[Randy Powell]

It's a new design based on the Slider numbers. New (or at least modified) airfoil, tail moment and TVC. The aesthetics are based on the Dangerous. I liked the look of that plane. Shame it was a toad.

Has a few new twists and at least one new idea I want to try out.

[Randy Powell]

Mark,

Forgot about the ribs. Like I said above, it wasn't quite working out how I envisioned when I drew the plans, so I did some on-the-fly improvosation. Built a kind of cheap and sleazy jig to support this thing. The ribs are cut from a template then trimmed from the back to maintain the airfoil. It has an 1/8" hard balsa core and the ribs are laid down then the thing is flipped and bridged with my sleazy jig and the ribs are laid on the other side. I fitted out some tips and a bridge at the end for supporting the  sheeting. The the LE and TE are sheeted along with some center sheeting. Then cap stripped the ribs. There is also some vertical bridgeing along the inner edge of the LE sheeting between it and the core piece to maintain the airfoil and provide some additional torsional support. I haven't sanded the thing yet or rounded the TE or LE or the tips and the whole thing is still under 1.5oz and I could use it for a baseball bat. So I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

[Keith Spriggs]

Almost forgot. If you look really close, you can see in the bottom picture about mid background the leadout guide I had just machined up before I took the picture. It's aluminum.

I am a hobby machinist. Could we see a close up of the leadout guide?

[Charlie Pate]

Takes me about a week to get the wood out of the box!

[Mark Scarborough]

You like playing with all them small little peices doncha,,,,

[bob branch]

I really like the lines Randy.

Bob Branch 

[Randy Powell]

Keith,

Not too complicated. Just a chunk of 1/4" alumunum that has a couple of shoulders milled in the three holes drilled. I box it in in a captured setup. I'll shoot a pic of it tomorrow and post it.

Mark,

What small pieces?

[Mark Scarborough]

ribs for the stab, uppers and lowers,, the way you build wings!! lots of small peices,, no nice big fat ribs that a lumox like me can handle without breakin,,
Just kidding actually, I enjoy your style of wing buildup, one day I want to, but as in another thread, I think I need more handle time first,, time to call Pat and get a half dozen arfs on the way,,

[Randy Powell]

Yea, that's one thing. My building style tends to be a lot of very small parts. It always looks a lot more complicated than it really is. As I've noted in the past, it's not difficult, just tedious.