First+ Build Thread

[becsta]

Yay!! They've delivered my First+.

Some of you may recall that I've just finished my Spirit Elite glider. It's done some test flights, and now I need to get the pros to look at it, and certify it for that maiden bungee flight :D

Anyway, in the two weeks since I've finished it, I've been moping around the house, playing on RFg3, starting up the transmitter and receiver and checking the controls and surface throws just-in-case ;) and wondering what my next build was going to be.

The club which I'm thinking of joining recommends that the First and First+ gliders be suitable gliders for beginners/intermediates. Someone on (I think) the Electric Sailplanes forum mentioned the Sky Affairs web site (http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~aiklos/index.htm which distributes the Mefisto and First gliders. With a special on the pricing, I ordered the First+ w/ X tail and freight for $AU243.50. Not bad.

I ordered it on 8th April, and it was delivered today (all the way from Queensland). Schweet :)

So, I thought I'd do a build thread on this glider, and see how it goes.

I've already made plans on my next project - the AVA, and after that the Graphite. I struck gold yesterday and found an Australian distributor for FVK gliders, so I'm happy as larry is right now :)

Can't wait to get home and have a look at the box and bits :)

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

One of the fears I have is ordering a model, and having it delivered in a damaged state. Well, the First+ wasn't damaged, and in fact there wasn't a single mark on the box to suggest rough handling.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3861.sized.jpg

Here's the box contents. I also ordered the X tail as well, and am now tossing up whether to install the V or X tail. No instructions came with the X tail to assist with mounting and connecting it, so I guess I'm on my own with that.

I was missing some wing bolt grommets (which protect the wings from the wing bolts.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3863.sized.jpg

Here's the inside of the fuselage. There's CF tow around the wing saddle, as well as kevlar reinforcing.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3864.sized.jpg

The two foam-core, poplar-sheeted, wings.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3866.sized.jpg

Here's a shot of the wing root, showing the foam core and poplar sheeting. The build quality is schweet :)

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3867.sized.jpg

Here's the winglets. Nice, but I'm not sure whether they add anything to the efficiency/flight characteristics of the wing.

Looking good so far!

Cheers,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

Becsta
Nice choice on plane, i have one 95% complete, my mate Ado has been flying his for a few months. Put Flaps in it, the crow braking really performs well (if you have a computer radio). I sealed my wings with gloss timber lacquer about 5 coats, sanding after each coat, really came out nice.
Are you going to put dyhedral in it? Ado done his without, so she doesnt thermal as good as it should. But dont get me wrong it still flies brilliantly! ( i have dyhedral in mine)
Watch the aileron(flap) once you cut them out, they will bend, so i ended up taping the flaps and ailerons together while i worked on the rest of the wing.
It all came together fairly well, i cant wait to fly mine.
The standard horns/vtail connectors are pretty crappy, i have bought new ones, i bit stronger, the plastic standard ones just look weak.

Hope everything goes well.

Steve

[becsta]

I'm a big procrastinator when it comes to starting a build, and in fact in the middle of a build. So it took me _hours_ to pick up the glue and start work. I just wanted to look at the wings, inspect the fuselage, and dream.

Anyway, the first step in the build process is to glue the steel and brass wing joiners into the wings. My first problem - the instructions said to set 50mm of dihedral, by laying one panel flat, and measure 50mm on the other wingtip. How do you measure the 50mm when the wing tip is curved upwards?

I again procrastinated for a while, and eventually worked out that if I taped a ruler along the trailing edge, I could measure the 50mm fairly accurately:

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3869.sized.jpg

So, I shaped the steel wing joiner to fit, glued in the brass joiner box, dabbed some epoxy on the steel joiner, and fit the wing panels together and left them for a few hours to dry.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3871.sized.jpg

I now need to dribble epoxy down between the wing joiner and wing spars. The instructions recommended 1 hour epoxy, so it's off to the shop for some 1h+ epoxy resin, as well as micro-balloons.

It's a start.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

one other thing if you are going to use lacquer on the wings, get some 3M diamond tape. It works extremely well.

[becsta]

I was oging to cover the wings with profilm, like my Elite.

Which begs the question - if I'm going to cover the wings with profilm, do I need to seal them beforehand?

[tw126a]

I'll be following your build. I have a Mefisto that I picked up from Ebay. Its a little too advanced for me but I'll build it soon. Nice looking planes anyway and I love those curved up wingtips. I have some Minwax Policrylic (water based, not lacquer), would that be suitable for covering the wood? Keep the tips and pics coming.

Tom

[WGH]

if I'm going to cover the wings with profilm, do I need to seal them beforehand?

Don't put anything on the wood if you are going to use an iron on covering, if you do the covering will bubble and won't stick down very well, I know from experience, I laquered the wings on my Thermic which has poplar covered wings and then added two color stripes cut from ultracote, I had a heck of a time getting that stuff to stay stuck and never did get rid of the bubbles.

[psoutowood]

I just finished a build on a Blejzyk Mefisto--see the thread in the electric sailplanes category. I'd suggest putting on all your coats of laquer and THEN cutting out the ailerons and flaps. You'll have lots of fun watching everything warp when you seal it, but just do one layer per side and it'll balance out fine.

I got an email from Andrew at Sky Affairs saying I shouldn't have put carbon tissue on my v-tail or fiberglass, to keep it light, and SHOULD have used the supplied plastic v-tail linkages. I think he may be right about the v-tail weight, but I wouldn't trust those linkages.

Peter

[rwmson]

Becsta,

Your kit looks like it came from the same European manufacturer as my Art Hobby Thermic. I too am a beginner/intermediate builder/flyer, so you may want to check out my recently-completed build thread to see the problems I encountered and the great assistance that was provided by other flyers.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315316

[Fred_L]

I have two Firsts. On one I painted the wings with automotive spray cans. It took four coats with light sanding in between applications to fill the wood grain and get a nice smooth finish. The wing gets quite heavy with paint added to it. On the second one I covered it with Profilm. Took a lot less time and with care the finish came out really smooth first time out. It is lighter than the painted one too. I did not put anything on the wood prior to applying the Profilm. I gave the wing a light sand to make sure the wing surface was a smooth as possible, a vacuum to remove dust and quick wipe down with a damp sponge to remove the last of the dust.

Personally I didn't like the v-tail arrangement too much. I think the standard tail layout is easier to fit and to get replacement horns for. The horns supplied in the kit look to be too small and made of a brittle palstic. I used 1/2 A Dubro ones with no problems.

Fred

[seanpcola]

Hi all,

becsta,

Your build thread for the First+ really is appreciated. I used the link and went to Sky Affairs and was pleasantly surprised to see that they advertised the Vampire. I orderd one of these last August and was very impressed with the kit, especially for the price. I agree with rwmson, they all look suspiciously like the same manufacturer, including the Vampire which I thought was a variant of an Art Hobby kit.

I am going to finish my flying surfaces with clear poly as I have done with several other similar kits and have had great luck with it. ;)

[3810]

Hi, could you tell me where you are going to get your FVK glider from in Aust.

3810

[becsta]

Hi, could you tell me where you are going to get your FVK glider from in Aust.

I was planning on using Peter Pine, from http://www.flyelectric.com.

The planes are expensive, as import into Australia is expensive, but at least I can pay Aussie $.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

Becsta,

Your kit looks like it came from the same European manufacturer as my Art Hobby Thermic. I too am a beginner/intermediate builder/flyer, so you may want to check out my recently-completed build thread to see the problems I encountered and the great assistance that was provided by other flyers.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315316

Don't worry, mate, I've been following that thread with eagerness.

Excellent info too, btw :)

Cheers,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

becsta
I used to fly with peter years ago, nice bloke and very well read with electrics

Cheers

[becsta]

Did I say I was a procrastinator? Well, I was scratching my head wondering what to do, seeing as I can't complete filling in the wing joiner boxes with 1hour epoxy yet, when I thought to do the wing blocks. These hardwood blocks fit into the wing root, and provide support for the wing bolts.

I marked out the block positions on each wing root, and began to excavate the spaces for them from the foam. Messy job that :D

Once the space was made to the required depth, the block of hardwood needs to be sanded down to shape and glued into the wing.

Here's one of the two leading edge wing blocks test-fit into position. You can see the dimension marks I've made.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3874.sized.jpg

Moving onto the trailing edge block, I started excavating the foam, when I absently had a look at the 3-view plan. Something made me check the dimension between the leading edge wing block, and the trailing edge wing block. The trailing edge block was 10mm out, as the wing was 10mm wider than on the plan. Luckily, I'd only excavated about 10mm of foam, so after a reposition and messy foam removal job later, the block is ready for glueing into position.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3875.sized.jpg

Just to confirm the position, I placed the wing onto the fuselage, and compared this to the plan. The block is now in the correct position.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3876.sized.jpg

The blocks were then glued into position using 30 minute epoxy and micro-balloons.

Question: How do you thin the epoxy, so it's a touch runnier than normal? Coz I have to inject it into the spaces around the wing joiners.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[Ado]

I didnt inject mine....just put plenty around the wood blocks and inside and it oozes around it when you push it in... works fine...didnt worry about microballoons either.

[Vince inTX.]

Becsta

You can thin epoxy with denatured alcohol. It wont appreciably affect your cure time...if anything it will make it a bit longer.

Vince

[becsta]

Vince,

Do you have a product name that I could search for?

I'm still trying to find Isopropyl Alcohol, for which I don't know what the popular product name is.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[Stuntman]

If your using 30minute or 60minute epoxy warm it slightly with a hot air gun (or in the microwave if the boss isn't looking). This will make it thinner without compromising the epoxy with alcohol (metho will also work to thin it)

cheers, Shawn

[Stuntman]

Oh yeah put some masking tape either side of the wing when your glueing in the blocks so if you slop epoxy onto the surface it won't mark the skins.

[becsta]

Well, I've glued in the wing blocks, and while they dry, I've starting planning the installation of the wing seating blocks. These are ply blocks that glue into the fuselage and have holes drilled through them for the wing bolts.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3877.sized.jpg

Now to the dilemma. The instructions tell me to cut a hole into the wing seating for a receiver. Question is, how much of a hole should it be? As can be seen, there is no dihedral angle built into the wing seat - it's completely flat. The instructions also tell me to shape the seating blocks into a v to accommodate the dihedral, but I can't see how that will work when they're glued under a flat plate of fibreglass.

Which makes me think, do I cut a large hole a few mm inside the edges of the wing seating, and shape the wing blocks to introduce a dihedral? I would only be able to glue the ends of the wing seating blocks where they meet the sides of the fuselage, and the lip of the wing seating. See the red line for where I'm thinking of doing the cut. My trusty dremel'll do it neatly no problem :)

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3879.sized.jpg

The other option is to use some wing seating tape (the single-sided squichy foamy stuff) to support the wings, but I have to do something around the root area.

I don't want to make the wing seating area structurally unsound, so I'm not sure how to proceed. However, I think I might be ok, as there is CF tow around the wing seating, so maybe I'll be ok.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
- Becsta

[WGH]

Keep the hole as small as possible you lose a lot of strength if you cut to much out.

[portfoxdesign]

Dude, no, too much. Need to use the fibreglass as well to add strength, cut a real small hole. I have found that the bird need extra weight in the nose, so im putting the rx up front. Using deans connectors to the wing servos with a bit more length.
The dyhedral, dont bother sanding it, i have put some compressed foam under the wing seat to support the minor dyhedral and besides there is only a real small gap when the wings are on about 1-2mm
Steve

[Ado]

how much i cut out.

[solo6796]

I would just cut out the smallest amount needed to mount your hold down plywood, and access for any wiring that has to go thru there. I have a homebrew using an Art Hobby fuse and any cuts there will weaken the area. You might even think of some additional reinforcement in the wing saddle against twisting loads, in case of dropping a wing on landing.

AJ

[solo6796]

If you havent glued the inner nose piece in yet, try to do it all from the front, with a minimum of cutting/drilling in the wing saddle...

[Ado]

The fuse already has been reinforced with kelvar and carbon around the saddle.

[portfoxdesign]

cross section of fuse

The ply up under the saddle(inside) then a layer of fibreglass over that. Drilled the wholes and epoxied the nuts into the wholes.

excuse the rough drawing

[Stuntman]

Have you browsed this thread. The page shows glueing off the blocks in the fuse, maybe the page before shows a better pic of the cutout.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=332520&page=7&pp=15

This plane was dorked in from about 30-40 feet up with minimal damage to the fuse so its strong (and thats with a full load of electric gear - about 1.6Kg ready to fly). Just be sure to round the corners of the cutout.

I also dorked my hammer in (one of the early unreinforced fuses) when I went to ping a little early and wrapped the winch line around the wing and fuse. With a cutout in the fuse back to the wing blocks (don't cut out the glass above where the blocks will be glued), the only damage was some slight cracking where the wing twisted on the fuse and broken wing bolts (ok the ground wasn't very hard but it went in vertically). New wing bolts a few drops of CA and a radio cehck and I was flying again within the hour. Testiments to the strength of these models

cheers, Shawn

[becsta]

Hmm... ok, you guys have convinced me that my original plan was a bit dangerous. Macr (in the thread pointed out by Stuntman) had cut the hole out between the two wing seat plates. The plates glued to the fibreglass and sides.

This seems a bit easier to me, though I'm still worried about supporting the wing dihedral. Ado cut it out smaller. I think I'll start with a hole this small and make it bigger if required. BTW, goot crayoning, Ado :)

Portfox, does the way you reinforce the plates add to the weight by much? I've got some spare fibreglass cloth lying around from the Spirit build, and could use that with epoxy resin to reinforce the plates.

Interestingly, the plan calls for the forward plate to be 45mm long, but it's 44mm out of the box, and _that_ is too big to squeeze into the saddle area, so I have to cut both plates down a bit to fit. It's not a big detail, and makes one aware of the fit-before-glue modelling rule.

I'm in the habit of planning each step completely, before attempting to actually complete them.

BTW, I've not done any proper fibreglassing before. Which fibreglass resin should I use?

Cheers, and thanks for all of your advice. They're a lot of ideas/thoughts that I can use to plan the next step.

Thanks,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

Becsta
i havent put it on the scales just yet, but the weight diference between placing the rx under the wings compared to up front will decrease overall weight anyway. I'd rather place my electrics to benefit weight than add more lead. Also the weight added with the glass should prove to strengthen the area. But like Ado said, the kevlar and carbon reinforcement is there anyway.
I'm one of those guys that would rather strength over less weight, but its entirely up to you which way you go. Thats the beauty of building models.

Steve

[Ado]

Sand the plates down to what ever fits... I had to sand a bit off to clear the carbon reenforcements in the saddle. I didnt use any fibreglass to hold mine in.. just epoxy and microballoons. The way the plane flies.. the extra weight of the epoxy and glass wont hurt it but personally I dont think the glass is needed.

the foam supports are enough to hold the wing in place for the diherdral... tiss what im going to do when I redo my wing... I didnt put any in to start with but now I know it thermals well.. im going to put some diherdral in.

The ailerons and flaps are starting to warp seriously on my wing.. not sure what to do to fix it.. but its something to be careful of if you make the modification... worth it when stopping during landing but the warping is becoming an issue... might have to make some new ones.

and its better to mount the wing blocks before you glue the front on... makes it so much easier to get the glue in there.

cheers,

ado

[Fred_L]

becsta

I actually placed my R700 receiver in the aft part of the inner nose cone, behind the servos. To keep it in place I made up a balsa bulkhead and glued that in right at the back end of the inner nose cone. You can do all this before you need to permanently glue the inner nose cone to the fuselage. I did this so the receiver can not move around in flight and trying to keep all the items up front to minimise the amount of balance weight required.

I also made up some small balsa bulkheads that I placed, evenly spaced, down the back end of the fuse to hold the pushrods in position and stop them from slopping around back there.

My cut-out in the wing saddle area is not very large at all. It is just big enough to get nose pliers in so that I can grab the nut of the towhook to tighten it, and to get small clamps in there so as to clamp the wing hold down plywood plate. Keep the corners of the cut-out rounded to minimise stress concentration points. The plywood plates will need heavy rounding to make them fit the interior contour of the area they need to be located in.

I use laminating epoxy for all my composite work. I don't think fibreglass resin has the same adhesive or strength qualities. Laminating epoxy is also nice and thin so it is runny and gets into the glass weave easily. This also makes it easy to blot off and keep the weight down.

Make sure you securely glue the nuts in. There have been stories of the nuts fracturing the plastic collar they are in and then coming free. This happens only after repeated high loadings (crashes). But once those nuts are free and fall out, you can't screw the wing down any more and getting back in there to put something else in is really difficult.

Fred

[becsta]

Some further progress (well, actually, I've been lazy in posting, though I have been working on the glider...).

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3883.sized.jpg

After much advice from here (thanks guys), I didn't cut the wing seat according to the red line I drew, in a previous piccie. I checked out macr's thread, where he cut out the wing seat between the wing seat plates. So, I worked out where the plates were going to reside, marked out a green line, and cut the hole using my dremel. Worked a treat, and the end result was quite neat :)

The piccie above shows the plates glued in place. I had to sand them down a bit to fit, and used a fair bit of epoxy resin to glue them up.

The next step was to dribble epoxy down into the wing joiner spaces. I had to use a fair bit of it, as well as thinning it with Metho. After the epoxy dried, I marked out the locations of the wing blocks, cut up the root ribs, glued them into position using epoxy, and sanded them to shape with the dremel. Then came the wing bolt holes.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3884.sized.jpg

As you can see, I stuffed up, and drilled one of the holes in the wrong spot. I drilled the first hole right in the centre of the wing block, and _then_ went and checked the 3view plan to see whether the hole was in the right spot. In the fine detail of the wing plates, there are two holes in each plate, 16mm apart. So I had to re-drill the wing bolt hole 8mm from the edge of the root rib, filling in the incorrect hole using epoxy.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3890.sized.jpg

The next step was to cut out the pre-cut ailerons. When the aileron is separated from the wing, there are false leading and trailing edges. I've cut the flap in one wing to the same dimensions as the aileron. Note that there is no false leading/trailing edges for the flap, so balsa strip was acquired and shaped. I did the strip right, and worked out beforehand how to sand the chamfer in one edge of the strip to match the shape of the wing.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3891.sized.jpg

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3892.sized.jpg

So the foam was removed from the leading edge of the flap, and the strip test fitted. I was going to CA the strip into place, but decided to do a bit of a test first. Some of the waste foam was gathered up into a pile, and CA was dripped into the middle. After about 5 minutes, there wasn't much foam left, so I decided not to use CA, but glue the balsa strip into place using epoxy resin. Thank god for testing!

Next steps are to cut out the flap in the other wing half, fashion a false TE for both wings, and another false LE for the other flap.

The LHS finally sent out the servos for this beauty too. I've decided to use HS125MG's for the wings, and HS56HB's for the rudder/elevator, just like my Spirit Elite.

Cheers, and thanks for all your comments and suggestions to date. I really do appreciate them.
- Becsta

[Stuntman]

Coming along nicely

[Lancair]

Looking really good.

I did away with the plastic blind nuts for mounting the wing and tapped a thread into the ply blocks instead. I cut out the wing saddle too much, so everyones advice to keep it as small as possible is good. I added a cross brace to add strength. I also chucked the flimsy looking plastic V-Tail horns and made my own as the pic shows. Sure it added some weight but I was building mine with slope flying as its main role so . . .
Another tip for anyone reading this thread, check the dihedral has been sanded correctly BEFORE doing anything to the wing root. I checked mine only when it came time to mount the wing joiner, after I'd done the mounting blocks etc, sanding the dihedral then was a major pain, so much so I had my dihedral cut by a mate on a very sharp and accurate table saw. Sanding before doing anything to the wing root would be very easy.

[bugeater]

Vince,

Do you have a product name that I could search for?

I'm still trying to find Isopropyl Alcohol, for which I don't know what the popular product name is.

Cheers,
- Becsta

Just in case you haven't found it yet, I believe methylated spirits is what is called denatured alcohol in the US. And I think rubbing alcohol you find at the chemist is Isopropyl alcohol. Personally I just use pure ethanol, but that's one of the perks of my job ;) I do find methylated spirits works well too, but it's just a bit smelly. Good for wiping up epoxy before it sets.

Marty

[becsta]

Ah, Bugeater, I was wondering whether metho was the same. I used it a few times in tiny amounts to thin down epoxy resin, so I coudl dribble it into difficult spots. Worked a treat, but only in tiny amounts.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

On with the build:

* I've completed adding false LE/TE for the flaps.
* Next step was to determine the location for the flap servo wells, so I measured where the aileron servo well was in relation to the aileron, and used that measurement to mark out the flap servo well.
* Cut out flap servo well in each wing half as a square w/ rounded corners.
* Covered the bottom of each wing with red profilm, and the top with yellow profilm.
* Covered the flaps with red profilm and ailerons with the yellow.
* Hinged the flaps and ailerons with fluoro orange protrim (Protrim is sticky film, unlike profilm)

... This took me all day yesterday, and all afternoon today. Then I procrastinated (again) for an hour or so, just looking at the next stage of construction - wiring the wings.

I used 2 x 90cm servo extensions, and 2 x 60cm servo extensions, and cut off the female connectors. One by one, I pushed the wires up the servo lead channels in the wings. Then I stripped and soldered each bare wire, and gingerly took the cutters to the wires on each servo. With a bit of persevering, and fidgeting, I managed to solder each of the wires together, and protect with heat-shrink.

I bought some 9-pin D connectors for this job, but in the end didn't use them.

After soldering all 4 servos up, and connected to the receiver, I started up the transmitter and receiver, and voila, they all worked - no chatter or any strange movements.

Piccies to come later. In the instructions, the time taken to build the First+ is around 15 hours. I've spent a lot longer than that building mine (which (to be fair) includes flaps) - and I haven't started on the fuselage work yet, nor the X tail.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

Here are some piccies of the build, which I think has passed the half-way stage now, and am racing on towards the finish line. So much for procrastination, eh!

Anyway, as mentioned in my previous update, I've completed covering the wings, mounted the ailerons and flaps, and installed servos + wiring, though I've yet to fix the servos in position. I plan on doing that by wrapping the servos in packing tape, and fixing them into position using a dab of epoxy. The wells will be covered with sticky-backed pro-trim.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3900.sized.jpg

The piccie above shows the top and bottom of the wings. The covering is probably the best I've ever done, though the only distraction is the fluoro orange hinge "tape" (pro-trim). I haven't any clear hinge tape (anyone wanna donate some to the cause? Please?).

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3902.sized.jpg

This is a close-up of the flap servo. It's not fixed into position. I had a lot of fun cutting out the well and excavating the foam, as it's statically charged, and wants to stick to everything! The servos are Hitec HS125MG's, which are quite good, though a touch noisy when they're moving around. For the flaps, I've put in about a 6mm reflex, which should be plenty.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3904.sized.jpg

I've decided to install the X tail, rather than the V tail. The colour scheme follows the wing, with the stabilisers being white, to match the fuse. I have to say, (not to blow my own trumpet and all), but these tail feathers have come out just superb. After finishing the covering, both the elevator and rudder are straight, clean, and look rather professional. In order to cover the tail feathers in profilm, I've had to break the CA hinges, and remove the elevator/rudder from the stabs, and cover them separtely. I'm now tossing up whether to acquire some proper hinges, or use much larger CA hinges (I've got plenty CA hinge stock left over from the Spirit Elite build).

I placed a strip of the orange protrim on top of the elevator, and decided straight away not to go down that route. Thus the desire to find/beg/borrow some clear hinge tape.

I'm going to have to glue the tail feathers down with epoxy, as I didn't get the mounting hardware with the X tail. Oh well, it's going to be an easy job to do anyway.

After I finished, I mocked up the tail, and started planning on where to cut a hole in the fuse for the rudder push rod. I've bought two carbon rods, which I plan to use. Problem is, the carbon rods don't wanna go round corners too well, and I think I've worked out the position for the rudder carbon rod so that it's straight. mind you, it exits the fuse about half way down the boom. Would I need to support it at all outside the fuse, or not, as it's quite stiff.

It's progressing. Next step is to affix the wing servos, and mount the wings to the fuse. Then mount the tail, and finally start on the fuse bits themselves.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[kkw]

I have some you can use, Rebecca. It is Sellotape Diamond tape. We use it on F3b sailplanes, and it will not let go. Other alternative is some Graupner hinge tape, which I can order for you, if you like. I am placing an order on Thursday, if interested.

kkw

[becsta]

Klaus,

Yes please on the hinge tape :) PM's for some other stuff :)

Are you going to HSL on Sunday?

Cheers,
- Becsta

[Ado]

diamond tape is a shiznitz

i have 4 rolls of it... I found it hard to try and source hehe

[kkw]

'shiznitz' ??????? Is that canetoad language??? I have a source, but it needs to come from N.Z.

kkw :)

[Ado]

I bought mine from melbourne uni bookshop ;)

shiznitz is a l33t uber cool way of saying its the sh1t.

Ub3r l33t Ado

[portfoxdesign]

I broke two of the nylon plastic bolts on a test flight, if anyone needs them, dick smith has the M4 bolts in a packet.

Cheers

[becsta]

portfox,

Great find! I was wondering what size bolts they were.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

On with the build:

I'm at the stage now where I need to fit the tail feathers, and do stuff inside the fuse (like fashioning some formers for the pushrods) before glueing in the inner nose cone.

For those in the know, how far back do I put the tow-hook? Measure from the front of the main fuse to the front of the tow-hook. I can fit the tow hook, install a bulkhead for the receiver, and build the formers while I wait for some hinge tape to arrive.

It's getting nearer to completion now....

Cheers,
- Becsta

[Fred_L]

Becsta,

I have my towhooks at 111mm and 114mm (two different Firsts) from the outer fuselage start point, measured along the bottom of the fuselage. I measure it this way as it just too hard to measure accurately from the leading edge. A hook position in this area gives a good rotation after release. You might want to provide a hole about 5 mm further forward for initial flights though, until you are a confident in the stability of the launch, and then experiment with a more rearward towhook position.

Yes, the wing bolts are 4mm and apparently the ones provided in the kit are moulded and are hollow on the inside and so are prone to premature breakage. As you know I went to 10-32 nylon bolts and blind nuts to add a bit more strength, but 4mm is adequate for normal use. I have another model from the same manufacturer that uses 4mm wing bolts and so I purchased a bag of 50 from www.micriofasteners.com They have OK prices but the shipping becomes a killer overhead.

Fred

[Ado]

I mounted my hook a squiz fart infront of the CG. So mark where the CG is and put the hook about 2-3mm infront of it. closer to the CG the higher angle of attack the model will launch.

i went the 10/32 bolt after my 4mm screws threaded after a couple runs... the thread is really fine and strips easily.

[becsta]

Well, I'm in the middle of another build spurt.

* Using some of the 3M Diamond tape graciously provided by AirSports RC (http://www.users.bigpond.com/kkw1/) and KKW, I hinged the rudder, elevator, ailerons and flaps. Huge improvement to the _look_ of the glider. The diamond tape is rather clear, and quite invisible to the eye. However, you have to wash your hands before touching it, as it shows the dirt and dust amazingly well.

* I marked out the location of the tow hook, and glued the tow hook plate into position. I took Fred's dimensions as a starting point. Using some three-ply leftover from the Spirit Elite build (never throw away the left-overs - they'll come in handy one day), I sanded and glued down the plate, and drilled the tow-hook position. I made sure that the tow-hook plate has a good fillet of epoxy around the edges, and that the glue extends out onto the fuse.

* I sanded and otherwise roughened the fuse where the tail feathers were to be glued. I even used the edge of a flat-head screwdriver to really roughen up the fibreglass. On with copious amounts of epoxy resin, and tape in various strategic positions, the tail feathers were glued on straight, and level with the wings. I glued the tail surfaces on, as I didn't get mounting hardware for the X tail. The key to this bit working successfully was planning, and lots of it. Procrastination is often of assistance here, as I ended up drawing marks and lines to show where the tail was to be positioned _exactly_.

* After a day of waiting for the glue to set, I started planning where to cut the fuse for the rudder bowden cable to emerge from. This took a lot of planning by eye both looking down from above, and from the side. Eventually, I worked out a suitable exit hole position and size, and hand-drilled the hole using increasing sized drill-bits. I drilled at the angle I needed the tubing to emerge at, as the hole is elongated, not square.

* Next step was to build some bulkheads for the rudder and elevator pushrods, and the antenna tube. For the elevator, I decided to use a carbon pushrod, supported by outer tubing from the Great Planes Gold-n-Rod pushrods, and for the rudder, I'm using one of the two bowden cables that came with the kit.

I marked out the locations for 3 bulkheads, and measured the fuse dimensions at those points. The bulkheads were built using 3mm thick balsa sheeting (also off-cuts), cut to rough size. It took all night to push a bulkhead down the fuse, work out where it stopped in relation to the marks, push it back out from the opposite end of the fuse, sand the high-spots down, rinse, and repeat, rinse and repeat...

Once the bulkhead was in position, I pushed it back out, and drilled holes for the various tubes. Again, test fit, test fit, test fit. Even just before gluing the whole lot into position, I test fit, working out the sequence of events needed to get it all into position correctly.

Last night, I glued the bulkheads, and tubes in place. For the rudder bowden cable, I squeezed thinned (heated) epoxy resin into the hole in the fuse, so that it would glue the tubing in place, as well as ooze out inside, and form a fillet around the hole. I can see it being a weak point in the fuse.

* Onto the inner nose-cone at long last. I decided to fashion a shelf for the receiver to sit on top of, so all the servo cables can be routed under the shelf, and turn 180 degrees up and connect to the receiver. The 5 cell 1100mAh battery sits in the nose, followed by the two JR micro servos, followed by the receiver almost under the wing.

* I've cut suitably sized holes for the battery, and servos (and gee, didn't it take ages to get holes large enough to get the servos into position). I used my Dremel for this, and I'd cut slivers of fibreglass each time, so that the width of the servo holes were just enough to push the servos into position.

* At present, I'm waiting for the servo screw plates to glue up, and I'll cut the access hole for the receiver, and mount the receiver tray.

* Once that's done, I'll test-fit everything in position, make sure I can access everything correctly, and only then will I glue the inner nose cone into position.

It should be ready for Sunday or maybe Monday.

I can't wait!

Cheers,
- Becsta

PS: Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.

[Fred_L]

Becsta,

I see you are using golden rods. I use these in my First too. I like them because it is so easy to cut them to length then attach the threaded rods and clevises to them.

I read a few posts on the Internet about them being very temperature sensitive and they shrink/elongate quite a bit with temperature changes. I figured 'what's a few hundredths of a mm going to do?' However I must say now that it really is a bit of a pain how much these rods change length with temperature. I find that if I have the plane on the ground in the sun and then launch, the first few seconds of flight can lead to some frantic activity just getting the plane trimmed properly. As the flight progresses and the plane cools down you are then changing the trim a little at a time back to where it was. If you manage to get some good lift the plane gets quite chilled at altitude and you are still trimming the thing to keep it flying normally. Then eventually the flight ends, you put the plane aside on the ground and wait to go for another flight, and the whole process starts all over again.

I find that I must do a hand launch test glide at the start of the day as temperature changes between different days and assembly variations can lead to some significant trim adjustments being required. It is sort of OK now that I understand what is going on, but a while ago I would fly one weekend, then get the same plane out the following weekend and it would be just so different to fly it would have me wondering if something was seriously awry with the aircraft.

Good luck with getting the First finished this weekend. I hope to have my Starlight 3000 ready to go this weekend, maybe Sunday or Monday if the rain clears out.

Fred

[becsta]

Fred,

I'm not using the golden rod pushrods, just the outer casing. I'm using a carbon fibre pushrod that shouldn't be affected by heat. It's a pain to get right, as I have to drill and glue in threaded rods at both ends of the CF pushrod. For the rudder, I'm using bowden cables, which are an outer casing, and inner casing, and guitar wire in the middle. The wire won't be affected by heat either, so I think I'm ok with the heat aspects. Yes, I've read elsewhere that the golden rod pushrods are affected by heat, and that's why I've gone down the route I have.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

Wow, what a day!

I've had more problems today than the rest of the build put together. You see, today was crunch day, where the servos went in, the inner nose cone glued into position (and thus there's no turning back at that point), the pushrods cut to their final lengths....

Problem 1: I had both servos side by side. I didn't realise they were so tall until I mounted them, fitted the control horns, and then tried to slide on the outer nose cone. It didn't go on.

Problem 2: I had decided to install a balsa shelf for the receiver, to get it out of the way of everything else. Problem was, I couldn't get the receiver onto the shelf, no matter how hard I tried. So I added a ramp. I could then get the receiver onto the shelf, but now I couldn't connect the servos to the receiver.

Solution: I extended the receiver access hole, so that I could mount the servos end to end. The receiver will now just "float" on top of the wiring harness, with a bit of foam and balsa stick to stop it moving around. I had to remind myself of the KISS principle before I over-engineered something.

Problem 3: I bought an attachment that is a brass box that swivels on top of the rudder control horn. Slide the steel bowden cable through the brass box, and use a screw to clamp the cable to the box. Easily adjustable. Except that the outer nose cone doesn't slide on.

Solution: The threaded bars have little holes in the end, just large enough to slide the bowden cable through. So I decided to form a z-bend on the end of the steel bowden cable, connecting up the threaded bar. I can then use a standard plastic clevis.

Problem 4: I have to install the receiver first, connecte everything up, and then install the rudder and elevator servos.

Solution: None so far, bar leaving the reciever in place on a fairly permanent basis.

Problem: I cut the carbon pushrod to length, drilled out the hole in one end for the threaded rod, and glued the threaded rod in place. Went off to watch the Sydney Bears Ice Hockey team get defeated by some other team 4 to 5, came back, started screwing on the plastic clevis, and the threaded rod twisted out.... *sigh*

Solution: Inspecting the end of the rod, the epoxy resin was soft and pliable, not hard like I'd expect. So I've resorted to using medium CA, and see how that goes.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

I sat up until 1:30am this morning putting the finishing touches on the First+

* I put about 40 grams of weight in the nose + 1 x 10cent piece, so this plane has cost me 10 cents ;) She balanced out _perfectly_, so I have to take her off the balance beam, and check things out again to make sure I've got the CG right!

* Installed everything and played around with the transmitter programming. I've basically copied the current Spirit Elite settings for the D/R, expo, and mixer settings, as they're about right (for the Spirit).

* I couldn't sleep, and kept thinking about that maiden flight. Would she crash and burn, or fly off into the sunset? Ah, to dream...

*record scratch*

Anyway, I turn up to the HSL field, power her up, and Max volunteered to throw her. He's 70 odd, and, well, the first toss wasn't very strong, so she came out of his hand, and lanced into the ground.

"I'll throw her up into the air this time!", he says, and throws it again, with the nose pointing up. Up she goes, straight as an arrow, no rudder needed, and she easily made it right across to the other side. Hello there! I'm onto a winner here!

So, I do a more agressive hand toss, and she flies over to the other side of the field again (where there's chest high, prickly, long grass and brush), and I see a bit of a wobble. Immediately, I thought I'd work the thermal, but it was too low, and only managed to turn downwind. She dropped a wing a bit, and nosed into the ground for a hard landing.

I was rather apprehensive about putting her up on the high-start, as there was a bit of cross-wind, I'm a learner, and the sun was directly in line with the direction of launch. Nasty sun. So I waited a few hours until Fred turned up, some clouds rolled over, and we put her up on the high-start.

Nothing too dramatic, but she's really steady, and flies much more efficiently and faster than the Spirit. So much so, that I made the classic mistake and said "ok, one more flight, and then I'm packing up and going home".

Well, we put more tension on the high-start, and she went up nicely. I stalled her off the ping at the top, she dropped her nose, I flicked the transmitter into "cruise", pulled up, and she was screaming along. Being a beginner, my first thought was "crow brakes" to slow her, and fed in the crow + flaps. She dropped, and slowed a bit, wasn't very high, so it was landing time. I dropped flaps further, and rolled the plane to the right onto final. Fred thinks at that point, I'd completely stalled the right wing half, with flaps and crow, and she spiralled into the ground quite hard.

I should have extended the base leg onto final, pitched up the nose more to bleed speed, and maybe add more camber, rather than crow.

Guess what - I've now got stress cracks around the wing seat, where the plates are glued to the fuse. Nothing a bit of fibreglass and resin won't fix - she should be ready for tomorrow's flying.

As Big Kev would say "I'm excited!" about this plane. I need to learn how to control the speed more, and practice those launches more too.

Some piccies will come tomorrow, as I havent' taken any of the completed plane.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

Mine a few weeks ago, first flight off the bungee. The really fly nice!

[becsta]

Portfox,

Nice! Love the clear lacquer on the wing. How long did it take you to get the wing lacquered?

Cheers,
- Becsta

[portfoxdesign]

Ta, The clear lacquer is in 5 layers and sanded with 3M fine sanding foam pad (to keep the wing foil) between layers.
I guess it took me about 2 weeks to do it, but i wasnt rushing anything. It does make a nice finish and i reckon fly's better.
Sorry to hear you damaged yours, i think the wing seat is still a bit weak, even though they say they have made it stronger with kevlar. The only thing i have done to mine is break the nylon bolts, but they are at Dick Smith if you need any.

When the thermals are active, i think this little machine will be nice to fly.

Cheers

Steve

[tw126a]

Thanks Becsta for the build thread and congrats on your maiden. Is this your first aileron plane? Nice work on the covering too, should really stand out, any problems covering the curved wingtips?
Portfox, wing looks great too, is there a weight penalty for going this route as compared to, say, Becsta's way?
Following all this will give me some confidence to get my Mephesto going.

Tom

[becsta]

So, on with the show, eh. Everyone loves piccies (myself included), and this thread wouldn't be complete without some photos of the completed glider.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3906_640.jpg

Here she is, in all her finest. Clean lines, good covering, straight, and true. :cool: If you look further back in this thread, the flaps and ailerons were hinged with the fluoro Orange Protrim. I wasn't happy with the result. However, with the 3M Diamond Tape, the hinges can't be seen, and the result is worth it, aesthetically speaking.

In order to cover the tail surfaces, I had to break the CA hinges. I was planning on cutting much bigger CA hinges out of spare hinge stock, but decided not to bother (for the moment).

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3908_640.jpg

This shot shows the tail feathers up close and personal. I drilled the hole where the rudder pushrod emerges from the fuse by hand, and dabbed a bit of epoxy onto the vertical stab support to keep the rudder cable in line. The bowden cable is attached by a simple Z bend. There is a sizeable bend in the cable, but it's slop free, and doesn't bind.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3909_640.jpg

The underside of the wing. I've covered the underside in bright red profilm, which goes up to the LE. All control surfaces are wrapped in one piece of profilm, either the red or yellow.

I've used HS125MG servos for the wings. The flaps deflect a long way (almost 80 to 90 degrees, which was surprising. I think it's because of the length of the pushrods (as the Spirit Elite pushrods for the flaps are smaller).

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3912_640.jpg

The inner nose cone, servo bays, and battery. I'm not happy with the amount I've had to cut out for the servos to fit. Originally, they were side by side, but a test fit of the nose cone threw that idea out the window. So I had to cut the receiver access hole (closest to the wing root) a bit bigger for the rudder servo.

I've supported the servo mounts with hardwood stick.

The battery is 1100mAh, and there's about 40grams of weight, plus a 10c piece. She balanced so perfectly when I added the 10c piece that I refused to believe the balance beam, and had to recheck it.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3916_640.jpg

A picture showing the flap deflection. This amount of flap should slow the bird down nicely for landing. I've set the programming to allow for camber and reflex.

All I need to do now is learn how to fly her properly.

http://www.becsta.com/albums/firstbuild/DSCN3914_640.jpg

This is the damage from the wing panel stall and cartwheel into scrub next to the field. Nothing too serious, but still, a worry. I've fibreglass reinforced all four corners of the wing seat, so hopefully won't have any more problems in the area.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[Ado]

very nice... well done.

[becsta]

Tom,

Thanks Becsta for the build thread and congrats on your maiden. Is this your first aileron plane? Nice work on the covering too, should really stand out, any problems covering the curved wingtips?
Portfox, wing looks great too, is there a weight penalty for going this route as compared to, say, Becsta's way?
Following all this will give me some confidence to get my Mephesto going.

Tom

It's not my first aileron ship, as the Spirit takes that title. However, this is the fastest plane so far. I sort of expected this one to float, like the Spirit, but it wants to really fly around every bit of the sky before landing. I had a difficult time coaxing it down for landing, as she wanted to skim along the ground at ankle height for _ages_ before stalling. I had one landing, where it slid along the ground for some 30 metres or so :eek:

The covering was done with Profilm, and I'd recommend it to anyone with a suitable iron. It took about two nights of fairly solid work to get both wing halves done, a night to do the rudder/elevator, and a night to do the ailerons/flaps. The wing tips were covered without any problems - just use a higher heat setting, and take your time heating, stretching, cooling and cutting the film.

I believe there is a weight penalty for painting as against covering the wings. It takes longer too, and uses more elbow grease sanding the wing down for the next coat. ;)

As I've said somewhere else, you should be able to do the Mefisto easily. Just take your time, procrastinate a bit before each step, and test fit along the way. Others have been there-done that ahead of you, so ask questions if you're stuck. I didn't know how to fibreglass before this build, and now I've done it, I don't know what the fuss is... It was _really_ easy (though I was only repairing, not doing the real fibreglassing).

Cheers,
- Becsta

[becsta]

Thanks Ado,

I'm stoked about the outcome. I wanna get it out there and fly it!

Interestingly, I went out to the field yesterday, and took the First with me. I had a gut feeling whilst driving down the street from home that I'd forgotten something. I went back to check, thinking I'd left the battery behind. It wasn't until I got to the field that I realised the outer nose cone was sitting on the work bench.

*DOH* *homer head slap*

I had to fly the Spirit Elite instead :)

Cheers,
- Becsta

[kkw]

Silly girl..... :)
Last round of the Heathcote Cup, I was going to fly the First. Got it all out of the car, and couldn't find the...... outer nosecone. Had to fly an old Olympic ll. I see you have a switch. Don't need one anymore?

kkw

[tw126a]

Thanks for the response Becsta, she's even nicer then I had imagined, now that we can see the whole view. I like your attention to detail. Procrastination is not a problem with me, well maybe too much of it! Think mine will be a good winter project next. Not familiar with Profilm, is that the brand name? My guess is that with flaps she should slow down nicely, without she'll use up a lot of sky, looks slippery.
Just had my first real thermal flight yesterday in my ZIP, what a rush that was! Happy soaring.

Tom

[kkw]

Profilm is Oracover in your part of the world. Polyester covering.

[becsta]

kkw,

Silly girl..... :)

Yup, I was pretty bummed about it. Was a good day for putting it up on the rubber band too :( Oh well, it's a learning experience *mental note to check where the nose cone is before leaving home*

I see you have a switch. Don't need one anymore?

I still need one. That switch was "stolen" from the Spirit Elite. It's too hard to give it back, so the Spirit's without one now.

Cheers,
- Becsta

[kkw]

post me your address (to kkw1@bigpond.com) and I will sendyou a switch (and a member application form :) )

[tw126a]

Thanks KKW, I just happened to receive a new kit today, an Eros DLG and its covered in Oracover and in the description they also mention Profilm. Nice looking stuff and read a lot of good things about it in other threads. I think its now named Polycover.

Tom