Its beautiful Jack. You do awesome and extremely clean work. Love the lines on all BVM aircraft for sure!

Originally Posted by rvincent

Its beautiful Jack. You do awesome and extremely clean work. Love the lines on all BVM aircraft for sure!

Thank you Bob! If I can't fly like Rob at least I can come close to building like him, it's something at least ;-)

Jack

Jack,
Went to Markham today to say hello to you, hoser & Rob. Rob was there flying a nice turbine f-15. Maybe next time it will workout....

Originally Posted by pdawg

Jack,
Went to Markham today to say hello to you, hoser & Rob. Rob was there flying a nice turbine f-15. Maybe next time it will workout....

I hope to be there next Wednesday with the new Electra, today was apparently a bad day to try and get away, doh!

Jack

what time i just got home? cougar took some damage, you missed that

Originally Posted by hoser

what time i just got home? cougar took some damage, you missed that

As in crash?

plane was on the runway i avoided the plane tried to go around but was low on juice, ending not so good

then i get home and my fairly new power supply shoots a big spark and dies

at least my electra few great

Originally Posted by hoser

plane was on the runway i avoided the plane tried to go around but was low on juice, ending not so good

then i get home and my fairly new power supply shoots a big spark and dies

at least my electra few great

What PS do you have?

Originally Posted by hoser

what time i just got home? cougar took some damage, you missed that

I actually snuck out around 12:30 but you were already gone. Sorry to hear about the cougar accident! I can take a day off once a month so maybe Ill cash that in on a wednesday when your all planning to fly.

Jack it looks very good! Cant wait to see it next to the bandit with the same colors. Camo got 4 flights today!

Originally Posted by gunradd

Jack it looks very good! Cant wait to see it next to the bandit with the same colors. Camo got 4 flights today!

So? You still have wood ;-)

Maybe "Blue Steel" is a better analogy

Originally Posted by jfetter

So? You still have wood ;-)

Yea man! But dam it was hot today. The only problem I had was landing and only putting only 4000 mah back into the packs. The same flight on the old mav and the batts would be screaming.

Day #4

I worked on the main hatch and canopy hatch today, they are a very important part of the build, they should be tight and clean and go on and off easily. BVM does a great job with the design of their hatches, the main hatch is held in place with 4 x poly ply half discs that fit into very thin slots (cut by a Dremel with a cutting wheel). The canopy hatch then holds the main hatch on and slides on from front-to-back with 5 hooks that catch on the fuselage and as it slides back, pull it down tight against the fuse.

Once in place, a single hatch latch holds it all down tight. If done right, you can't even fit a peice of paper in between the front of the canopy hatch and the fuse. I like to put the main hatch on 1 half-disc at a time by gluing one in the hatch at a time and holding the hatch in position and using a marker (rubbing it on the half-disc) and marking the fuse where to cut. This works exceptionally well, I've done some 5 or 6 this way and never had an issue...

Jack

Day #4 - Continued...

The canopy hatch uses carbon hooks, 4 of them on the fuse and one in the front, they provide a solid and strong mounting system. The idea is the entire hatch engages the hooks and slides back, as it slides back, the hooks pull the canopy hatch down tight against the fuse. Once in-place, a single hatch latch engages and keeps the hatch from sliding forward (coming off).

The hatch slots are pre-marked on the fuse, BVM recommends you verify they are correct (I've never seen them wrong) so the easiest way to do this is to glue all 4 main hooks in-place and set the canopy hatch on the plane and visually line up each hook to each slot, easy to do. Now I cut all 4 main slots and file them so the edges are straight then slide on the canopy hatch and adjust as needed.

Once it goes on (a little tight), I cut the rear slot that accepts a tongue on the canopy hatch to keep the rear of the hatch tight down on the main hatch. Once this slot is done and adjusted, the front hook is all that is left to the mounting system. This hook glues in all the way forward in the slot and engages and very front of the hatch cutout. A poly-ply doubled is screwed on with 4 x button head screws and the slot adjusted as needed.

End result, a hatch that goes on and off smoothly (a little tight is better as it will get looser over time) and when installed, is tight as a drum!

Jack