Finally got it thru my thick skull(thanks to Charlie @ Manzano) that the laser cutting process runs THROUGH the program instead of tracing an outline like a plasma cutter does.(structural steel) Hence, polylines as opposed to a print drawing. Irrespective of that, I've built 8 of the wing 9 ribs I need into AutoCad plus I have two fuse formers made up. Albeit I haven't made/converted the fuse formers into polylines yet.

If your thinking of getting laser cutting done, then get ahold of the cutter and get specifics before you start your drawings. It'll save you time and money and reduce the headaches for the cutter. I can & will tell you good enough Autocad drawings for construction DO NOT translate into workable drawings for laser cutting. OSnap is severly lacking (IMHO)to making intersections.

Irrespective to the above, the wife is thinking the office is getting overwhelmed by the following... jeez, it's only 7 planes.. The Fokker, the Cub and the TaylorCraft are not maidened. I'm still not sure I'll maiden the Cub but that's undetermined because of the scale detail built into it. (Ironically enough, I have an H9 Cub that will be put to scale way more than this E-Flite Cub.) It's my first ARF kit & I put a lot of hours into detailing it out on the exterior. The mods are in this blog further back. But the Cessna 150 build is going forward albeit slowly. What a wonderful change from doing overpriced arf kits.

Dan

Well, if I can believe my cheapy harbor frieght scale, I'm @ .6~.8 oz for my tail feathers(complete with build-ups for the horns & diagonal reinforcing) Damn cheapy scale registers 2 different weights each time I load it. & yes I've made airfiols out the horizontal & vertical stabilizers complete to the rudder & elevator. What a horrible time consuming operation, but they sure look symmetrical. Not perfect but looks good none-the-less. I wouldn't recommend this process to anyone on a build this small. But being hard-headed and/or stupid...I went for it. Just a dreamer I guess. I probably over built everything but I guess that comes from 30 plus years of industrial construction as a Union Ironworker and the BS associated with it. I'm fairly amazed @ just how strong the pieces are relative to torquing. Everything is thin CA only. Some pieces are laminated and sanded down while others are stock material. All matl. is either balsa or basswood. Unk. how I'm going to approach the hinge aspects. Thinking about the Robart Part # 305 type hinges instead of using the usual fiber CA'd type hinges but not sure I have enough base material to support that type. Also considering fowler flaps but..ever onward I guess

Dan

Well, I'm finally off my duff & starting my 150 build from Wendalls plans. Getting the tail feathers together to start off with. I was going to Cad 'everything' to send off to Charlie for laser cutting but I thought that was being just being to lazy for some simpler aspects of the build. So off to the LHS for wood. As the 'plans' are for a way bigger plane, I'm sort of shooting from the hip on the build with respect to some materials and stiffening. None-the-less, it's been time consumming but fun. I'm already dreaming of a finish scheme. Since I'm kitchen building the plane, it's kind of a pain.

Right or wrong, the original plans have an airfoil designed elevator/rudder. So in my infinite wisdom or stupidity (?, probably the latter.) I decided to carry those airfoil aspects into this build. The tail feathers in the pic are only 11" wide. Now this lead to a WHOLE different perspective when it comes to assembly. There is no placing the parts over the plans & glueing them together as are the arf kits where everything is flat on the rear appendages'. I now have to set everything (interior ribs) to a centerline & glue them. Without doing a disertation on this aspect, I can only say this is a simple problem with HUGE consequences. But, as I'd ready cut the pieces, I embarked into oblivion and decided to carry on. Everything is not as I'd like it to be but it's coming together pretty nice in what I do have done. The airfoil ribs are big killers in a time...Continue Reading

Well, my independent wing assembly went 100% to the good for my newly assembled TaylorCraft 450. Everything fit like a glove, albeit I haven't maidened the bird because of 6" of snow. Having previously had this bird before, there's just no doubt in my mind the assembly will work.

Dan

Flying my UGLY bird this afternoon and something wierd happened. Newly charged battery. (Desire Power 3s/20c/1300mah) 3rd charge on this battery. After 10 minutes or so, NO throttle, controls were working so I plunked it down (had to) in the weeds. Put the battery on my Triton and it was @ 11v taking .1 amp of charge. Put another exact battery of the same on the bird & it's off into the wild blue yonder. Flew like the dickens for another 10 minutes & decided to land but had no problems. What the heck happened? ESC is a CC 25 set to factory settings pushing a 450 E-Flite with an 11x3.8. I've run this on a TP/3s-20c/1320 without problems. Any ideas, other then it's good I had some weeds to land in?

Dan