Author Topic: NVCL kicks off the building season with an Evolution 40 build (Read 10074 times)

Scott Richlen · « **on:** November 23, 2013, 04:51:16 PM »

Well, it's the season for it so last Saturday NVCL kicked off the building season with a Cardinal Evolution 40 build. We have 6 members building various versions of i.c. or electric. I schemed with Tom Morris and Tim Stagg to get this thing organized.

Tom put together the building kits for us and they were fabulous: molded top decks, completed motor crutches, cut strip ribs (sized and numbered), jig-ready leading and trailing edges, wing jig blocks, complete control systems, and balsa that floated out of the box when you lifted the lid. Tom also supplied top and side fuselage templates and fuselage jig blocks.

Tim is a master builder/finisher who flies electric and is our electric consultant. At our previous two building season kick-offs in 2011 and 2012 Tim gave day-long presentations on finishing with Ultra-Coat and electric power systems. At this years kick-off he took charge of the fuselage jig building station and helped as necessary with the wing building.

Here's Tim and me discussing how we would coordinate the building before the balsa dust started flying...

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2013, 04:55:25 PM »

We had 14 people at our kick-off session! Tim and 3 compatriots from the Eastern Shore club came over to participate, while we had 10 members in attendance. Since we were using the Morris fuselage and wing jigs to build the Evolutions, we had a lot of interested members who wanted to see how it was done.

I set up 5 building stations in my shop and we went to town....

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2013, 05:01:55 PM »

Here are 3 photos showing Tim demonstrating template use, the fuselage jig with components in place, and an electric motor crutch with fuselage template. Note that Tom is using a side-loaded battery in his newest design.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2013, 05:12:35 PM »

In these photos I am showing the templates that Tom provided and discussing how we would be using them for parts mark-up, photo of one of the wings being built in a wing jig box, and then a wing being built with just jig blocks.

I had club members visit and work on their wings this past Tuesday and Thursday and today we had another shop session with continued work on the Evolutions.

Your club should try a group build like this. Its a lot of fun and a great way for your club members to learn and share building techniques. Plus, we'll have 6 new Cardinal Evolutions ready for the new stunt season!

Credit goes to Mark Stockman for taking the pictures using Dave Reichard's camera.

Scott

Paul Taylor · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2013, 09:27:14 PM »

Wow Scott. That is way Kewl!!!

And what a nice big shop you have. Looks like a great place to spend the winter.

john e. holliday · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2013, 07:32:40 AM »

It is great when you have a place big enough for something like that. Thanks for the pictures.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2013, 09:57:34 AM »

Thanks! Being a proper control line model builder, I made sure that it was the largest room in the house (actually, it's the same size as my family room which sits directly above it.) It really is a lot of fun to get all the guys together for a building session. We have people show up just to watch, so even the people not building get something out of it as an educational experience. And, of course, we always have at least one person holding court on the sidelines in the adjacent basement area leading a big BS session. It's a riot!

MarcusCordeiro · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2013, 10:49:19 AM »

Marcus

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #8 on:** November 30, 2013, 03:27:33 PM »

Well, 3 weekends, 3 building sessions.

Unfortunately, I didn't remember to get my camera out last weekend. Happily, I remembered at the last minute today. Frank, Jerry, Joe, John, and Mark came by. In the first picture are Frank and Joe at Joe's wing. We got to the leading edge sheeting today.

I didn't remember to get the camera out while Jerry was here. Jerry has made a lot of progress on his airplane. He has his fuselage framed up and his bellcrank almost installed and will be able to finish sheeting his wing. I wish I would have gotten a picture of that.

The second picture shows John working on his wing today (he already has his fuselage framed up) and he's ready to start adding his trailing edge sheeting. Oh, and he brought a box of Belgium chocolate for us to snack on...Thanks John!

Building these wings is really going smoothly and much of that due to us following the Morris building process.

Scott

john e. holliday · « **Reply #9 on:** November 30, 2013, 05:13:53 PM »

You are so lucky to be able to do that. I was out flying with a new friend from Clovis New Mexico by the name of George Hostler. Beautiful day it was too.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #10 on:** December 06, 2013, 04:41:55 PM »

Thanks for the encouragement from everyone!

We are now finishing the third week of our Evolution 40 build and I want to share the status of our build with everyone. Here's where we are as of yesterday:

Dave: wing framed to ribs and bellcrank installed; fuselage framed up
Carl: wing framed with trailing edge sheeted and bellcrank installed; fuselage framed up
Jerry: wing framed, bellcrank mounted, trailing edge, leading edge, and center section sheeted; fuselage framed up
Joe: wing framed, bellcrank mounted, trailing and leading edge sheeted; fuselage not started
John: wing framed to ribs (wings not joined); fuselage framed up
Scott: wing mounted in fuselage, bottom of fuselage sheeted (but recognize that I had a big head start on everyone since I had already repaired Lindberg's Cardinal wing by the time we started.)

It looks like we are getting close to installing the flap horn, capstripping the ribs, and then doing the wing-tips. After that we'll be dropping the fuselage back into the fuselage jig and installing the wing.

Considering that Dick has just finished his new plane and Mark, Gerry, John L, and Frank (anyone else??) are building new planes, it looks like NVCL will have a great crop of shiny new planes to fly this next summer!

Here's Joe and his wing as of yesterday...

Scott

FLOYD CARTER · « **Reply #11 on:** December 06, 2013, 05:44:23 PM »

What a great idea! Unfortunately, all my friends are way too busy to organize something like that. So I have to do it all by myself.

Floyd

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #12 on:** December 06, 2013, 08:38:34 PM »

Go for it Floyd! Someone has to get the ball rolling, and it might as well be you!

This is the least important thing I do all day. And yet, it can also be the most important thing I do all day. For the guys that need a little encouragement, or a little help, or a little push, you can be the most important person to come along. And if you'll step forward, others will too. This is the third consecutive year that Tim Stagg came over to help us. And we simply couldn't have done the Evolution 40 build without Tom Morris' help, guidance, and support.

Scott

Randy Cuberly · « **Reply #13 on:** December 06, 2013, 11:55:56 PM »

Scott,
Your shop is a builders heaven and you seem to be somewhat of an angel to support modeling and other builder the way you do.
Good on you my friend!

Randy Cuberly

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #14 on:** December 07, 2013, 06:30:05 AM »

emphasis on the word "somewhat"!

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #15 on:** March 19, 2014, 06:50:12 AM »

At NVCL club meeting last week, 5 of our 6 builders brought their Evo 40s. Everyone has made good progress with them and a couple are close to papering. I've included a picture of our group, from the left are Scott Richlen, Carl Foster, Joe Colly, Dave Reichard, and John Murphy (missing is Jerry Raimo with his ship). Since this picture was taken we got John's wing mounted into his fuselage, so the guys are moving along very well.

I am going to schedule a tank-making party and a paper party soon!

Scott

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #16 on:** March 19, 2014, 06:57:03 AM »

More pictures - Carl Foster explaining his cowl attachment and Dave, Joe, and John examining Dave's ship

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #17 on:** March 19, 2014, 07:08:15 AM »

And even more pictures!

Here's a close-up of the front-end of Dave's ship and then a shot of my ship. Dave's will have the classic forward-jutting Cardinal scoop. Mine is modified to a 60's style, complete with stinger tail since I can never leave well-enough alone.

Scott

john e. holliday · « **Reply #18 on:** March 19, 2014, 08:32:16 AM »

They are all looking good.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #19 on:** March 19, 2014, 10:45:55 AM »

Thanks John!

I think we are pretty much on track. My personal goal was to help them get their planes done in time for Brodaks and then hopefully they'll all go and participate (I originally wrote "compete", but the fun we've had at Brodaks is more in the participation and seeing all our old friends than just the competition)

Scott

Tim Stagg · « **Reply #20 on:** March 20, 2014, 07:53:42 AM »

Scott,

I have to confess.....many sleepless nights.....I secretly put a warp in the right wing of yours while everyone else was building the first week.

I need all the help I can get to win this year.

I just couldn't take it any more.

Tim

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #21 on:** March 20, 2014, 08:07:27 AM »

Tim:

Oh! Is that where that warp came from? But no problem! I accidently built a corresponding warp into the other side (using Corona bottles to jig up the trailing edge isn't such a good idea.)

Some of the guys will be covering their planes with UltraCoat using the knowledge you gave them at our workshop last fall. However, this coming fall when we have our kick-off shop session, I'll be keeping an eye on you!

You got a new plane for Brodaks?

Scott

Tim Stagg · « **Reply #22 on:** March 21, 2014, 07:10:24 AM »

I do, but I am keeping it quiet for now until I test fly to make sure it performs as hoped. Maybe we can get together on a Saturday before Brodaks for some tuning trimming and critiquing of flights.

Scott Richlen · « **Reply #23 on:** March 21, 2014, 07:34:29 AM »

Tim:

Yeah, the guys are getting excited about getting down to the flying field and getting into the air. But about now it's still a marsh down there and we need to let it dry out a bit. I found out that another of our NVCL members, who is working out of state until next winter, also built an EVO 40. You'll like this: its electric! He went with the 40 KDA setup from RSM.

Scott