Houston Hawk...Phoenix...Build

[erich]

Anyone remember the movie "Flight of the Phoenix". Well this is a sequel called build of the Phoenix. After having built a set of HH wings back in 04', hope to get back and finish this great plane. Got side tracked with 6-7 other planes. Actually what sorta stopped me was the fuselage. The short kit came with this great looking glass (even painted) fuselage. Now this is purely personal, I find it aggravating to try and cram things, 2' down a 1" opening, and then glue it. Sooo...have finally decided to make my own wood fuselage. Had been actively looking for some fuse plans that call for one the same size as HH. The light finally came on, and I decided to use the HH glass fuse as the pattern for a wooden one. Please don't tell me "that's backwards" I know, IT IS.


I keep having this song run through my little mind: "from the ashes of defeat grow the tulips of success"... Can't figure where I heard it, but it does seem appropriate. At any rate, have been walking around the house singing this stupid song!!

So before getting into the fuse, here's some photos of where I left off.


erich

[erich]

Ok...to start this wood fuselage. Laid glass HH fuselage over a large piece of 1/8" lite ply. Then just traced around the glass fuse. Pretty clever huh. Only took me 3 years to come up with the idea. Traced everything except fin area. Will build that up with balsa and glue to lite ply sides. Made a slight modification at the canopy area. Cut out 2 ply sides, taped them together, planed and sanded till they were identical. Kept sides slightly bigger (except in length) then glass fuse.

erich

[cynjon]

Can't wait to see this one finished...HH is one of my all-time favorite RES designs! Any thoughts as to how you're going to cover this one?

[erich]

Hey Jon

Would like to use Solartex (a fabric). The stuff looks great, but am a thinking it's a little on the heavy side. Will most likely use Ultracote. Am leaning towards clear blue with white. One of the first HH done on the web was that color (was a photo of it, next to a pool), anyway it looked real good. But then again, saw one, all yellow which looked good too. Probably go with the white /blue theme. Had a problem with opaque yellow Ultracote, on the Sagitta XC (stuff curled up, after removing backing??) The yellow was the only color that had this problem.

Yes, have heard the HH, flys great, and I know it looks good. So can't wait to get it done.

erich

[erich]

Added 1/8" lite ply in wing root area, on inside of fuselage. This, and some 1/4" thick, balsa filler, between fuselage halves, will allow me to carve the rounded shapes just above wing location. And of course will also, reinforce the wing joiner area. Hope am able to get all the gear in this, extremely slim (at least by wood construction standards) fuselage. Will most likely make fuse, just a hair wider and deeper +1/8" or so in width and about +3/16" in depth, length of course will be exactly same.

erich

[georgeg]

Hey Jon

Would like to use Solartex (a fabric). The stuff looks great, but am a thinking it's a little on the heavy side.

If you would like to use a fabric but are afraid of the weight, go to this site:

http://ecom.citystar.com/hang-em-high/ushop/index.cgi?ID=8VSE1R&task=show&cat=FABRIC#Part%2012PCxxx%20-%201/2%20oz.%20Polycarbonate%20Coated%20Ripstop%20Polye ster

Get the Polycarbonate Coated Ripstop Polyester. It comes in a wide range of colors, is very light and VERY puncture resistant. The flourescent colors are really bright. I've used this on the stab & rudder on two Condor open class ships and just recently covered on tip panel on my War Eagle with it. Its a great covering material. You use it just as it is, no additional sealing is needed. Since the covering material lacks adhesive, tho, you will need to use something like Sig Stix-It or BalsaLoc to provide an adhesive base but this is very easy to do and again, your weight build up will be very small. When I recovered my Condor flying stabs with this fabric, I had absolutely no weight gain over my original MicaFilm covering.

BTW, if you aren't going to use the fiberglass fuselage for your HH, would you consider selling it?

[erich]

georgeg

Yes I would sell it. Checked the site, thanks. Didn't find any transparent stuff, do you know if carry any? Used micafilm on a hand launch (flipper) back in tbe dark ages. Still got some from that era as a matter of fact. Had to use balsarite as a glue. Seemed like good stuff. The up side to using a seperate glue is, you don't have glue on the film where it's not needed. Have no idea why I started using monokote, guess I just got used to applying it.

I may go with white Solartex (or your ripstop polyester) for the fuselage, and wing LE, but use transparent Ultracote on most of the open wing structure.

Send me a pm or email about the fuselage, I have the canopy too.

erich

[georgeg]

georgeg

Yes I would sell it. Checked the site, thanks. Didn't find any transparent stuff, do you know if carry any? Used micafilm on a hand launch (flipper) back in tbe dark ages. Still got some from that era as a matter of fact. Had to use balsarite as a glue. Seemed like good stuff. The up side to using a seperate glue is, you don't have glue on the film where it's not needed. Have no idea why I started using monokote, guess I just got used to applying it.

I may go with white Solartex (or your ripstop polyester) for the fuselage, and wing LE, but use transparent Ultracote on most of the open wing structure.

Send me a pm or email about the fuselage, I have the canopy too.

erich

I'll pm you this evening about the fuse. Re: the fabric.... Is it as transparent as transparent monocote? No, not really but it is quite translucent. Light shines thru it very nicely. You can't see the details of your structure thru it but in the air, it looks like any transparent covering. When I first did the stab & rudder on my Condor, it was so bright in the sky, it looked like a flying neon sign. Almost painful to the eyes when close to directly up-sun. Now, with aging, the flourescence diminishes somewhat but it still shows up quite well in the sky. Plus the material is very puncture resistant if you land out in the weeds, not that we ever do that. :rolleyes:

[erich]

Now I gotta see this stuff. With this neon like covering I could have "the plane of the Baskervilles". Yea... a Sherlock Holmes fan. And I have NEVER EVER landed in the weeds. Wait a minute, think I have that backwards. It should be: I never land anywhere ELSE, but in the weeds. Hey it's better then pavement.

erich

[schrederman]

Sorry to pop the baloon... so to speak... but why would you want to build a wood fuse with a good fiberglass one already there? Wish I'd seen this sooner... I'd kill for a good Hawk fuselage right now.

The Hawk's Daddy... Jack

[erich]

Jack

No offense to your beautiful fuselage, but I explained my tiny minds thinking on this in the first post. But to re-iterate (see Ma, I do have a dictionery). I HATE WORKING WITH A PRE MADE GLASS FUSE. Pardon the english. However I DO enjoy the making of fuselages IN WOOD. Hope that wraps up my inconsequential (really using that dictioniry now) feelings on the subject. Sorry Jack have just sold that great looking fuselage. But if deal falls through, it's yours.

Wooden hawk fuse maker.....erich

[erich]

Am reinforcing fuselage from nose to, wing alignment rod, area. Will use 1/64" ply on inside, glued on with a thin coating of 30 min epoxy. The fuselage being this long and narrow, and made out of lite ply, acts pretty much like a soggy noodle. Might have to add a 1/2" dia steel pipe down the middle to stiffen er up a bit. Give it some backbone.

erich

[schrederman]

Cool... I was actually going to evetntally make one up myself... buy I'm gettin' lazier and lazier and... OK, you get the message. I'll be watchin'!

Jack

[erich]

Looks like the deal is going to go through. Sorry. Guess you'll have to make one up. It just might be.. that making one outta wood is faster and less of a hassle then a glass one. You might even like it, try it (ok that's backwards).

Since your a watchin...I'll be doin my best (well... pretty close to it, anyway). Will be working on h. stab soon. From the drawings and some of the build threads, it looks as if the stabs taper front to rear (airfoil shape), but is constant in cross section, root to tip. Am I seeing that right?

erich

[erich]

Glued 1/64" ply to lite ply fuse sides. Used 30 min epoxy, spread thin. Then weighted down with as much weight as would fit onto fuselage sides. Added lower longerons 1/8" x 1/4" spruce, using Titebond. Clamped every 2" (clothespins and steel clamps) to make sure of a good even bond. Sides are starting to firm up now.

erich

[erich]

Made up some of the parts needed. I had purchased the bell-crank from the supplier mentioned in the HH BOM. Somehow can't find it. So..instead of looking forever, figured it's quicker to make one. Laminated 2 - 1/16" ply pieces using 5 min epoxy. Made 2 of em and tested one to destruction. Took me..the 2 neighbors kids.. and their parrot to break it. Actually the only way I was able to finally break it was to clamp it in a vise and use a large vise grip to pull on it, and then had to pull with all my strength. Anyway drilled the pivot point out for a larger brass tube which will slip over the joiner tube. Did a lot of work pre-shaping the nose cone. Used hard balsa, when fuse is done will cover nose with epoxy resin, just to harden it up a bit.

erich

[kevin6Q]

The song is from the film "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang". The scene is a bunch of old inventors trapped in the castle of the Baron Bomburst in the country of Vulgaria trying to encourage Grandpa not to give up on the flying car.

I hope this frees up some of your brain power for the build and not reinsert the tune into your thoughs thus clogging the works.

[Ollie]

Kevin,
Well said!
May I quote you?

[Captain Canardly]

Erich!
I don't think that is one bit reverse engineering at all! It's proper term in videogame english is On Site Procurement! AND very beautiful at that!!
After having a bit of frustration with thunder and rain and underpowered edf sailplane trip, When I rolled up Craig's highstart for him today, I knew what I was missing! My primary set-up /takedown 1 mile walk!Obviously when the thermals get into the blood, they don't escape via sitting in the bathtub! :D
I have just finished recording onto DVD from VHS, some 22 year old history- not high quality, but at least up to date! would you guys down there on the other end of Hiway 35 like a copy? I'd be glad to send ya one! I'll be watchin' ya!! :eek: :eek: :D
Johnny

[erich]

Kevin

Thanks for freeing up my mind. Not an easy job. You missed the fact that it was roses not tulips.

Captain

Looks like a 2-meter "Weird One". Love that heavy thing on the right, is it a home-brew?

Good rationalization. Maybe it's more like sideways engineering, using wood: NOT to make a mold for fiberglass, but using glass as a pattern for wood (fuse). Well that's enough of this silly talk. Got get back in my "Laboratory" (the telephone booth), and work on the fuse.

erich

[erich]

Hollowed out nose cone just about as much as possible. The fin will be added to fuselage, just as in the Sagittas. So will be working on that next. Pinned down stab / rudder plan. Part of the plan is an outline of the glass fin. Will use that outline to build the wooden one. Gonna build one sorta freelance, but somewhat on the order of the Sagitta fins. Will be using a bell-crank instead of a wire as in the Sagittas.

erich

[erich]

To build the fin. Used mostly 3/8" thick stock. LE is 3/8" x 3/4" medium grade balsa. TE is 3/8" x 3/8" medium grade balsa, with a 1/8" x 3/8" hard balsa piece laminated to it, using titebond. Both these pieces were tapered slightly top to bottom. Used totally straight pieces of balsa for these two. The two horizontal pieces are both 3/8" sq. Ply pivot plates are 3/32" x 1" sq. birch ply. Used the plan to get location of stab joiner pivot hole. All framework was glued in first using titebond. Then glued in one ply plate, making sure it was tight against build board, using titebond. Unpinned fin, turned it over and glued in other side, again making sure it was tight against board. Had a 3/16" spacer of ply between the plates while glue dried. Added the 2 - 3/32"sq. hard balsa pieces to reinforce ply plates' rear edges. Cut slot into bottom horizontal piece for bellcrank clearance. Will eventually sheet bottom half with 3/32" sheet balsa and top half with 1/16" sheet, after a final sanding of top to bottom, taper.

erich

[atjurhs]

... I'd kill for a good Hawk fuselage right now.

The Hawk's Daddy... Jack

Jack,

I've got a good Hawk fuselage, and an Ex-Wife, could we work something out :D

[erich]

Which one you want to get rid of??

erich

[erich]

Have added sheeting to upper half of fin. Will add lower sheeting after fin is installed on fuselage, and bell-crank has been put in. Did some rounding of the LE and shaped the upper curved area. Glued 1/2" length of 3/16" brass tubing into pivot hole of bell-crank, using 5 min epoxy, making sure tube was square to bell-crank. Ground tube down till it was almost flush with bell-crank. The small section of tube left in bell-crank, will act like a bering when it's slipped over the 3/32" stab joiner tube.

erich

[schrederman]

Weeeelllll..... Whaddaya want for the fuselage? I'll have to pass on the ex. Delores and I are still gigglin' at each other after 35 years... I do sometimes introduce her as "My first wife," but she doesn't always laugh at that one...

email me.

Jack

[erich]

Made an error on the fin. Seems, on the plans I have, the fin wasn't drawn to scale. My plans show the location of H. stab to be about 3/4" to far forward on the fin. According to Jack Womack, the newer plans are to scale. Anywho...found a note in the original building posts, where the dimension for locating the stab pivot hole is given (2 1/8" from rear edge of fin). So...got out my sharpest razor blade and as neatly as possible removed the ply pivot plates. Added a block of balsa to relocate plates about 3/4" further back. Glued plates back in and am back on track, at least I hope so.

erich

[erich]

Next step, make up the rudder. Pretty clever idea of laminating the 1/64" ply between balsa sheets, plus using it to space and secure the cross-sticks (ribs). Am using a scalloped type weight saving, on TE. Used a piece of basswood instead of balsa for the 1/8" x 3/8" LE rib (sticks) spacer . The 1/2" sq. balsa for the LE piece is fairly soft, so basswood will help stiffen it up. Tapered the basswood and 1/2" sq. LE piece by about 1/8" or so, top to bottom. Using titebond to glue.

erich

[erich]

Got one side of rudder done. The ribs (or sticks) are added to both sides of spacers. Will unpin rudder when glue has cured a little more and finish up with the ribs on 2nd side. Some planing and sanding, and the rudder should start to look good.

erich

[erich]

Jack, a question if you please. How much stab incidence, should I start with. Won't have a lot of adjustment (at servo only) so need to get a somewhat accurate starting point. It's probably been done on a HH already, but am going to go for a pull-pull set up on rudder. It's a pretty narrow fuselage, so am going to have to really work hard, at cramming it all in there.

Love the rudder and stab design. The rudder was realatively easy to build, got a feeling the stab is going take a little more work.

green air

erich

[schrederman]

Erich,

I have mine at 1.5 degrees.

Jack

[erich]

Jack

Thank-you.

erich

[erich]

Finished second side on rudder. With all ribs in place, did some planing of top and bottom 1/2" sq. pieces. Took quite a bit of planing to get TE end, down to about 1/8". Afterwards used 150 grit paper to get rudder to final shape, followed by some 300 and 600 paper. Rounded bottom edge and top edge. Checked rudder continuously, against the fin so as to match the two in thickness and height. Opened up 3 hinge slots, and used end of small file to recess slot, so hinge line, gap, will be non-existent.

erich

[erich]

Did some more work on fin, added the lower sheeting to one side and cut in pivot hole and actuator slot. Will leave off sheet on other side till stab controls are all set. Added hinge slots. And again recessed the area where pivot point of hinge meets fin. Of course had to connect up the rudder and fin, just to see the big door move. Was able to get about 9" of travel, measured at bottom. With that much movement, won't need spoilers, can use rudder as an airbrake. Yuk yuk...

erich

[irish_lord99]

Hey Erich,

Followed your link from you pup thread:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656923&page=22#post7601495

The glider's looking good!

[erich]

Hello lord99

Mostly build gliders. But I really did enjoy making that biplane. Gonna have to do at least two more of them. Tiger Moth and maybe an F2B. Met a lot of good people on the scale threads. Wait till this ones done. It's a pretty unique glider, designed by someone from Texas of all places, can you beat that. It's got a tri-hedral (is that a word) wing. And for a moslty wood plane (or in my case all wood) it's pretty close to state of the art. Am probably gonna hear it, for that. But that's MY opinion. Anyway it is a great looking plane. Hope I can do it justice.

Here's someone else's finished Hawk

balsa for me too

erich

[schrederman]

Wings were built and covered by me, fuse and tail feathers built by Don Cleveland.

Jack Womack

[erich]

Words from the horses...er....Texans mouth. Jack....I just got done with the gluing in of main wing joiner tube. Got a small question. Was I suppose to leave the aluminum joiner rod inside the brass tube while gluing it into spar cavity? On other installations have always done this, but wasn't sure here. What's the h...er... New Mexican have to say on the subject?

green air
erich

[schrederman]

Well, I always sealed both ends of the uncut joiner tube and glued one side in with the other side in dry as a guide. Then I had the glued side for a guide, and glued the dry side. Once cured, I cut them apart with a zona saw.

Texan bashing... cuts me to the bone... but as I said on another thread this morning, it's still the only place I've had a model blown straight up, even though I had no control of it, it went almost out of sight VERY quickly. You guys are just jealous, that's all I can figure...8^)...

Jack

[erich]

Jack

It's those big hats. Makes everyone, not from Texas, jealous.

green air

erich

[erich]

Am starting on stabs today. Plans taped down and ready to go. The original plans call for making both stabs as one piece, then cutting in half after it's all glued up. What I did is to cut plan in half and separate the two stabs by 1/2". This will allow bell-crank to be placed in position, making, more or less sure of good fit (bell-crank to stabs). Aligned the two plans, along TE, with a steel rule. Will leave TE in one piece however, till most of the shaping and sanding is done. Made up the TE piece by gluing 1/4" pine strip to balsa TE, with titebond. Planed and sanded to almost a knife edge, will do finish sanding just before covering. Made a scalloped effect on inside of TE to save a little weight, and give the stabs a little flair. With this pinned to build board am ready to build this little gem of a stab.

erich

[merlinmurph]

Am starting on stabs today.

Don't you work?? :eek:

You really are a building machine, and have some beautiful planes. This rookie builder has a long way to go....

Just down the street from you,
Murph

[schrederman]

Hats? Well, I've been a Texan all my life, but never owned a cowboy hat... Gotta be sumpn' else.

Jack

[erich]

Hell even LBJ had a hat. But your probably to young to remember him.

green air

Murph, no am unemployed right now. Waiting for an operation on shoulder, which will stop this building for awhile. Hey if you ever wanna come up, I fly at the old Holden landfill (been capped for 10 years or so), there's a power landing strip there. But the power guys rarely fly. It's a pretty big field. The town mows it about twice a year. What plane do you fly?

erich

[merlinmurph]

erich,

Rather than hijacking this thread, I'll PM you about local stuff.

I'll continue following this thread. It's a slight departure from the normal build thread and I know I'll learn something. I remember following your Sagitta XC thread and was blown away.

Murph

[schrederman]

LBJ sent me on my senior trip... how could I ever forget him?

[erich]

Just being nosy....Where did he send you? And was that after he left the White House? Class (or lack) of '67. How about you.

erich

[schrederman]

No problem, I did a tour in Viet Nam... so I guess it was after he left. I still considered it his war. Now that I'm older and know more about history, I believe it was Kennedy's war. Class of '69... After graduation, I had a '69 Olds 442 - W-30, a very good paying job, a fake ID, an apartment, played in 2 bands, and had blonde hair down my back... I was having too much fun so Uncle Sugar called me up. My draft lottery number was 7.

Jack

[irish_lord99]

Not really knowing how the draft system works (I'm a young'un compared to you guys) I can only assume that you mean you were the 7th person in the US to get called up? Or are ticket numbers assigned to groups?

Either way, I could think of better class trips.

[erich]

Yea but this trip was all expenses paid, and money too. How could one say no. Especially with LBJ's invite. Yea it really was JFK's thing, but then again if one goes back far enough, you could blame it on the French. Can't remember how the lottery system worked, was pretty wasted in those days. But when I ran outta money and my job, joined up, don't even remember what my number was. That was the end of my long hair. Jack....I'll bet you listened to Crosby, Stills and Nash (also Young), them and the song Mississippi Queen are pretty much the only thing I remember of the late 60's, while in the crotch.

Well enough of this old timer stuff, on and upward with the Hawk.

erich

[erich]

On to the heart 'o' the stab. Cut and sanded the double angles into the 4 root ribs, where they meet LE and TE. Then, cut the notches in the 4 root area ribs, for the brass tubes, as accurately as possible (using plans). Glued the 4 ribs to LE and TE using titebond. Sealed the bigger brass tube with balsa at either end, and crimped smaller one. Placed tubes till the through bell-crank, and notches in ribs. Aligned tubes with plan till I couldn't get them any better. Pinned in place and added some shims to center tubes on ribs. Made sure bell-crank arm was vertical. Checked that tubes were parallel to each other one more time, then mixed 5 min epoxy with cabosil, and applied a little at each rib / tube junction.

erich

[Captain Canardly]

As an interuption to your gorgeous build, The draft was done with 2 bottles of numbers; 1-365 for first, and calendar days for second, then you go gamblin', like I did with EDF distraction!
Johnny

[erich]

Johnny

Everytime I see your Avatar, it sadly reminds me of selling off my Weird One. Done many dumb things in my time, but that was one of the dumbest. So that's how the draft worked. Maybe I'm being stupid, but what is "EDF (every dumb flyer??) distraction"?

erich

[John Gallagher]

As an interuption to your gorgeous build, The draft was done with 2 bottles of numbers; 1-365 for first, and calendar days for second, then you go gamblin', like I did with EDF distraction!
Johnny

Yeah. Your birthday determined your number. I got # 136. They stopped drafting that year at 129.

[erich]

Tubes have been epoxied into place, and have added the next set of ribs. Also added the little gussets that connect TE to root ribs. Now it's just a matter of making another set of ribs followed by another set of ribs...till I reach the tips. Using titebond for all joints here. Have found rib to LE and TE joints need to made as well as possible, especially on a moving tailplane like this. So usually spend a little extra time getting these joints to match well.

erich

[Captain Canardly]

Erich!
Yepper, pretty dumb alrighty!
P.M. on it's way
johnny

[erich]

Johnny,

You didn't have to agree so quickly.

erich

[erich]

Have added all the ribs. Glued in 2 at a time on each side. Waited about 2 hours between each set of ribs to give titebond a chance to set up. Took a good day, but took my time so I could get each joint as tight as possible. It's starting to look like a stab.

erich

[schrederman]

Aaahhhh.

Erich, you are at the stage where many made a mistake and didn't sand the leading edge well enough before adding spars and sheeting. This makes for a stab that's too thick and too heavy. Look carefully at the cross-section before going on... I like the scalloped trailing edge...8^)...

Jack

[erich]

Thanks Jack I have looked at the drawing very carfully, and will sand off the majority of the stab to get an air foil shape. Will sand after the spars are glued on, as they along with a line down middle of LE will give me a basis from where to sand. But I gotta say your sense of scale is a little off. I believe your cross sectional drawing is just a little larger than actual stab. Luckly I didn't use the cross sections as a pattern for my stab, or I could have used it as a second wing (maybe built a biplaned glider..hmmm).

I have something called Hawk notes.. where the builder stated his (or maybe yours) stab came in at 1.3 oz. is that each stab half or both together? My little inquiring mind wants to know.

Thanks again for the heads up. (have a confession....the stabs are already done, have fallen behind on the posts).

green air

erich

[erich]

After unpinning stab from board, cleaned it up a little. Didn't do any of the heavier rough sanding. Will wait till it's reinforced with the spars. So...added the spruce (I used basswood) spar caps to one side of the stab with titebond. After both spar caps were glued on, fLipped stab so spar cap is on bottom, and pinned stab to board, propping up LE and TE.
Next step will be to box in brass joiner tube.

erich

[schrederman]

Erich,

The 1.3 oz. stabs were mine and included the joiner wire.

Jack

[erich]

Jack

Sorry mine weigh 1.35 oz. however that includes the joiner wires, the estimated covering , and the rudder.

erich

[schrederman]

Cool...

Jack

[erich]

Have framed in the joiner tube using 1/16" balsa. Temporarily pinned top spar cap in place to help align the joiner box frames. Used titebond to glue up both joiner boxes. Added the 1/16" shear webs out to about 2/3 span. So....ready to fill, joiner boxes with epoxy, and glue in top spar cap.

erich

[erich]

Added 30 min epoxy mixed with cabosil to joiner boxes, spread titebond on top of webs and ribs, then added the spar caps. Will let sit for 8 hours, while weighted down. Notice photo. Took 20 years to collect the appropriate tools for building planes, these are some of my best.

erich

[erich]

Spars are done, glue has set. Did a little clean up then ended up sanding about half the stab away. Tapered the LE quite a bit front to back. Started sanding just in front of spar caps, and also from just behind to taper into TE. Although the way tips are designed on the plans is in my opinion a real good way of doing them and keeping em light, I had some solid and very light balsa pieces that just fit perfectly there. So... by the time everything got whittled down to a proper shape...would say I ended up with about a pound of sawdust. Ok..ok...ok... maybe an ounce. Anyway the remaing stab ended up fairly light.

erich

[Captain Canardly]

erich!
I sure hupe your planning on transparent!
That will look gorgeous up there! Johnny

[erich]

Johnny

Have cornered the market on transparent coverings. Have never used anything but transparents on open structure wings. On the Hawk will probably use mostly Ultracote trans. blue, with white fuselage and a little white piping and trim on wings (like the tips and root area). Just got back from a flying session with my Mirage, which is mostly tans. yellow. With all the turbulators in that wing and the scalloped edges, it was a sight to see... circling overhead with only a 5mph wind and a few puffy clouds in the distance.

I'll use any excuse to post a photo of a plane. So...here it is again, as some of you might remember from a Mirage build someone did.


green air

erich

[Captain Canardly]

Erich !
So you had a gale to fly in today? the fishbowl at Farmington was only enough to blossom Mr Kite's 'chute! I did get to 2:25, though! Johnny

[erich]

After all that sanding finally got to add the 1/16" sheeting. Pinned stabs down to sheet one side, flipped over pinned down again glued other side (titebond). Followed curved shape shown on plans for the most part, added enough root area sheeting to just hide rear brass tube. Did some clean up sanding and rounded LE. Will add some 1/8" thick balsa root ribs later. These will allow about 1/8" of brass joiner tube to stick out on each side of fin, giving more support to the joiner rod (less unwanted movement). Adding the balsa root ribs will also allow a good tight fit against fin (with a little sanding here and there).

erich

[moonbase1]

Will you add cap strips to the ribs or just let the covering span the distance from the 1/16 sheeting to the TE?

[erich]

The ribs meet the TE evenly top to bottom, so caps would have to be really feathered quite a bit where they meet the TE. The plan called for no caps (just letting the covering span from spar cap to TE), so will go that way. To be honest hadn't thought about using caps. Have almost always used rib caps, so it'll be interesting to see how this works without em. Another factor, don't want much more weight at the back of plane then is absolutely necessary. My stabs are already a little heavier than I'd have liked.

erich

[erich]

Time to get back to fuselage. How did I get side tracked?? Have added the top longerons. Left a 1/2" space where the fin LE post enters fuselage. Also left a 3/8" gap at back end of fuse for the fin TE post. Used the fin as pattern to get these gaps perfectly placed. In between glue sessions on stab and fin, made up the bulkheads. Figured, 4 bulkheads, should do the trick. Used 1/8" ply. The last bulkhead (if you can call it that) has more holes than bulkhead. The 2 top partial holes are for the 2 pull-pull tubes, the middle is for stab tube. Will also have a shorter antenna tube (don't bother to ask, I always put in one of these). So it's going to be real crowded back there...a sort of tube central (yea I know, I'm not a comedian).

erich

[erich]

Made some more progress on fuselage sides. Added the servo rail supports using 1/8" x 1/4" basswood. Used ply root rib to locate main joiner and alignment pin holes. Drilled holes for main joiner, and alignment rods. Started with a smaller hole, then widened main joiner out to right size. Have also made the diagonal angled holes for the pull-pull tubes.

erich

[erich]

Ok......time has come to join the fuselage sides. Setting edge of fuselage sides against board, shows that the fuse only touches work surface in 2 places, right under main joiner and at the back end. So since there's no flat or straight section to bottom edge of fuselage, will have to rely on a center line and ' ye olde' eyeball, to get a straight fuse. Taped a blank 8" by 4' sheet of paper to board. Using 4' metal ruler drew a line down middle. Marked the bottom middle of the 3 front formers. Will keep the formers, plus the front end of fuse, and back of fuse right on this line. This and along with using a right triangle to keep sides vertical to work surface, should, make for a reasonably straight fuselage (at least that's the theory). The fuselage sides are parallel only between former 1 and 2 (former 1 is actually a little wider), so glued these 2 in first, again making sure sides were vertical and center lines stayed....uhh....aligned.
Former 1 got located just to front of main joiner hole. This will give the aluminum joiner rod something more to glue to, in addition to the sides. Used titebond on formers. Will add gussets to fore and aft side of formers after glue sets up somewhat.

erich

[erich]

PLaced fuselage over center line again, using t-pins along sides to keep center marks on bulkheads aligned with the line. Have some plastic bags filled with lead shot, used these draped over fuse top, to help anchor it down. With a center mark on the nose cone aligned with line on paper, pulled sides together till they touched the nose cone. Had to do a little more sanding on nose block to get both fuse sides to meet block evenly. Then, again, making sure both sides remained vertical, plus the center mark on bottom of nose remained aligned with pencil mark, glued nose block to fuse sides using 30 min epoxy. To separate servo area from battery and ballast area, and to reinforce forward part of fuse, added another former, about 3" from back of nose cone, using titebond.

erich

[erich]

Have added another former, and the servo rails. Used 1/8" x 3/8" basswood for rails. Making 2 sets of rails the front will hold 2 servos (spoilers, elevator), rearward rail will get the pull-pull rudder servo. The plan is to have the 3 servos at different heights, to keep them from interfering with each other.

erich

[erich]

Have mounted servos. Used standard Hi-tec BB servos. Added shims to spoiler servo rails and rudder servo rails, with spoiler being shimmed the most. When I get the control wires, push-rods, and pull strings, temporarily hooked up, will then see if, my, different height idea, is just a bunch of hooey. Have also added red nyrod outer tubes, to house the pull-pull kevlar. Ran one on each side just under top longeron. Added outer tube for stab control rod. Am using a nyrod which uses a partial carbon inner rod (less weight and supposedly less friction). The stab tube ends just below fin LE. Have filed a shallow groove in bottom of LE post, to allow for the tube.

erich

[erich]

Glued in fin, using titebond, the right eye (only good one), and a prayer. Don't know which one did the trick but the fin/fuse came out almost straight. Put main joiner rod (you know, that bent one) through fuse to help with alignment. This only works if the joiner holes in fuselage are accurate (equal distance above flat work surface and both holes equal distance from tail end), in other words so that joiner rod is square to fuselage in the fore and aft direction (the damn bent rod, has to be fully upright of course). Mostly just eyeballed it to see that fin looks equally angled from both joiner rod, tips. Sounds a little odd, but it's the only way am able to put it. Made sure stab control rod was hooked up to bell-crank (used threaded rod with z-bend). Before gluing in stab, had glued last former to just one side of fuse, with stab outer tube going through middle of that former (you remember the cute little one). Added glue (titebond) to other side of former and fin, put it all together clamped and taped. Checked one more time, looked good from where I was standing. Will still be able to twist fin a little either way (if fuse is a little crooked) when I get to adding the top and bottom decking.

erich

[erich]

Started work on the canopy. Found a good size block of med. grade balsa in the woodpile. The block is short by about 3", however. So will glue on the short piece which will fit between upper fuselage sides. Easier to glue in a piece the right width then trying to partially shave down a full size canopy block. So have started to plane down the forward part of canopy. Planed for almost an hour and still got a long way to go. To relieve the monotony of planing and sanding, added a double sided control horn to rudder. Just made a slot through rudder in the right location, with small drill and exacto knife. Then glued horn in with a little 5 min epoxy mixed with cabosil.

erich

[Captain Canardly]

Erich!
Could you get more info on that Proctor Horn system? I believe I would be employing them!!
Johnny

[erich]

Believe it's number 318 and 318a. They're made out of the same material computer mother boards are made of, at least it looks that way to me. Here's the web page for Proctor. If you like biplanes at all, check out their Curtiss Jenny.



http://www.proctor-enterprises.com/order%26shipping/masterpricelist.htm


erich

[erich]

Added 1/16" x 1/4" spruce along rim of cockpit. Seemed a little flimsy here, even with the servo rails installed. To help hold canopy in place while whittling and sanding it down, added small hardwood spacers, with toothpick through middle to help hold in place. They'll be removed before canopy is done. There'll be a rear portion of the canopy which'll go between top fuse sides, this'll keep canopy centered. Did some more sanding of canopy....whew....should get a belt sander, or at least go to a coarser paper... then 600 grit??

erich

[Captain Canardly]

Thanks!

[erich]

Am hoping to get as round a fuselage as possible. To be able to do that, bottom decking piece, needs to be a fairly thick sheet of balsa. However I wanted a little more strength and toughness in the nose area. So what I did is, laminate 1/32" ply to 3/16" sheet balsa. Which will be used on just the front part of fuselage. The bottom rear I'll use 1/4" balsa, and the same for the TOP rear deck. Used a real thin coating of 30 min epoxy to laminate ply sheet to balsa sheet.

erich

[erich]

Have glued on forward bottom sheet. Used titebond, but will reinforce later, with epoxy, inside where nose cone meets bottom sheet. Even with prebending the front of bottom piece, still needed a couple of clamps to bring bottom sheet tight against fuselage sides. Will let sit, clamped and under weights for a day.

erich

[erich]

With clamps and weights removed, fuselage is really starting to look like one. Did some preliminary sanding to round corners just a little. Added a little epoxy where nose cone meets sides and bottom sheet. Was going to just use 1/4" sheet for rear lower decking, but don't got any. Sooo...decided to take 2 - 1/8" balsa sheets and laminate them with a thin (squeegeed as much epoxy off as possible, using metal ruler) coating of 30 min epoxy. Not totally sure about this, but I do believe this will make for a stronger deck (and fuselage) then using a single 1/4" thick sheet of balsa. With so little epoxy being used, I added as much weight as I could, to get a good bond.

erich

[erich]

Have glued on (titebond) rear portion of lower decking. Did a bit of sanding. Now she's really starting to look better. Now that, fuselage is somewhat more rigid, am going back to do some work on wing.

erich

[erich]

Finally got around to gluing in the main joiner tube. The tube is about 1/32" or so smaller in dia then the width of spar. Most people have probably just made sure tube was tight against one side or the other. Never one to make things too easy for myself, I decided to glue a small ply spacer between tube and spar. This was the easiest part. Putting the epoxy in that hole then shoving in the tube made for a real fun time. Used 30 min epoxy mixed with quite a bit of cabosil, just shy of toothpaste consistency. Filled spar cavity with what I figured was a proper amount, shoved tube in and waited for the overflow. Yup not enough epoxy, so now I gotta pull out this tube which has epoxy all over it, lay it down somewhere and add more epoxy. Of course when I put tube back in, half of the stuff I poured in the second time came oozing out. Finally got it all cleaned as well as possible. Got some wax paper with hole in it to fit over tube. which I taped to top and bottom of wing ( to dam in the epoxy). Laid wing panel flat on board, slid both ply root ribs onto tube then slid other wing over tube. Made sure both wings were in line (used 4' steel ruler held along spar). Weighted both wings down, and pressed as hard as I could on the 2" section of brass tube between wings, to make sure it was all the way to bottom of spar cavity, in both wings. Only on thing left to do after that, pour a Sam Adams brown ale... in a big frosted mug.

erich

[erich]

Before gluing tube in 2nd wing, read the instructions. Says to fill cavity half full. Did that and it came out pretty close to being the right amount, only a tiny bit oozed out as overflow. No fool like an... well you know. After sliding in tube with wing attached to it, did the same thing as last time, made sure both ply ribs were in place and wings in line (checked along spar..again). After an 8 hour cure time used Dremel abrasive disc, to seperate wings. Sorry no photo.

erich

[erich]

Got the spoilers cut to length and added the control horns. After much trial and error to get the right amount of spoiler movement, and not interfere with clevis, got the right shape for the horns. Instead of string am using a micro clevis kit, which uses small dia. braided wire. I threw the package, that the kit came in away but believe it's about .025 dia wire. The kit comes with a real small nylon clevis, and a tiny L shaped metal rod, as the pivot point. The clevis threads into a brass coupler which in turn gets soldered (carefully) to the wire. Added a little extra solder for 1/2" behind coupler to stiffen wire a little (should help to hold spoiler closed).

erich

[erich]

Added the spoiler outer tubing. Instead of going with the spoiler cable holes in ribs, made my own. The cable layout called for on the plans and ribs has a real tight 90 deg. curve at the working end. Soooo...laid out a more gradual and continuously curved path for the spoiler. To get enough clearance for clevis and coupler, put final mounting point for tube on a rib instead of the sub-spar. Used the lightest balsa for this. Glued in spoiler tube using 5 min epoxy and lotsa cabosil (keeping it light).

erich

[erich]

Finished up the remainder of spoiler control system. Pretty much did it the way Jack and the Houston gang recommended doing it. Took 2 square Dubro EZ connectors, heated each one up with a butane torch and added a drop of solder on one face, and coated face of 2nd connector completely with solder. Held the 2 connectors together with pliers, making sure they were completely lined up with each other. Squeezed pliers while heating up the connectors, till solder melted and the 2 connectors touched completely. Holding soldered EZ connectors in a long nose pair of vice-grips, drilled a small dia. hole at bottom of solder joint. Cut off the EZ connectors lugs and soldered a big dia braided wire into the drilled hole. Instead of connecting the the servo end.. to another EZ connector am using a coupler and ball-link joint. Thought this whole thing would be rather difficult to do.... turned out quite simple and quick to make up.


Intend to use a micro coupler soldered onto fuselage end of spoiler control wire, and have the 2 EZ connectors screw down onto the threaded portion of coupler, for the removable spoiler connection.


erich

[bobby legue]

Erich,
On the connector for the spoilers. I was doing some " over the shoulders " engeneering and thought that maybe you should add solder to the braided wire also. That way you get more push with out flex. Im sure you get plenty of pull.
Bob

[erich]

Bob

Not sure if great or little minds think alike, but look at last sentence in post #92. Will probably do the same where both wires go into EZ connector.

Still mulling over.....your offer.

erich

[bobby legue]

No worries Erich,
Take your time- its not going anywhere. You scratch built it and if it goes anywhere it should go home.
I like many others really enjoy your builds. I get up in the morning and grab a cup of coffee and read the site. Its a great way for me to start my day.
Be well and good luck with the surgery,
Bob

[erich]

Bob

Thank you for remembering. Got done with the surgery on Friday. Am able to type already. Looks like it went well, haven't been able to talk to surgeon yet. He did about 10 operations that day, and I was the first. So will see him on Monday and get the total lowdown. The local started to wear off on Saturday, yea it took that long, so now am soaring on Vicodan.....wheeeeee. Probably be able to restart working on the HH again, tommorrow. Thanks again for the kind words.

erich

[erich]

Ok...back to the fuselage. Made up a 1/4" thick hardwood reinforcement for the tow-hook area. Since I have 3 control tubes running right along bottom of fuselage, had to make some relief cuts so hardwood block would clear all the tubes. Not sure exactly what brand of hardwood this is, but it took forever to cut through, and that's using a new saw blade. Glued block in with titebond then added some 5 min epoxy around edges.

erich

[erich]

Made up a hatch cover, to go just to rear of canopy. Used 1/16" ply for the sides and hard balsa for the rest. Will be using the main wing alignment pin tube as hinge point for hatch. This is pretty much the same hatch / canopy system, that I been using on almost all the wooden planes I've built. Sagitta XC has exactly the same setup as does my Scooter. The front lip of hatch will be angled to match rear canopy angle, allowing canopy to hold down hatch. Simple and almost idiot proof. Probably why I like it.

erich