Originally Posted by cpmcgraw

Thanks! I like the shape of the model, and really want to see how it flies once everything is ready.

Radio installation is going to be a bear, though. Tight areas, ham-sized fists...

You said it. After spending hours wrestling with tight installations I am now very strict with myself and insist on getting everything in place at the earliest possible stage whilst there is still access from several sides. Good job I did with the Tarquin which was the tightest yet, if I'd waited until the fuselage was fully framed I would NEVER have got it all in!

Day 60 -- Ouch! Progress Report

Envoy has sat quietly waiting on her sibling to catch up, but is beginning to stamp her feet and cross her (landing) legs with that certain "steam out of the ears" look of impatience. I guess it's time to give her some needed attention...

Ordered servos (Turnigy 1800A), motor bullets, battery connectors for the ESC, and some heat shrink tubing today from HK.

Trying to align the motor mount to the F0 sparkwall. It's another situation of "not leaving enough room for my hams" to fit. The motor should fit OK, though.

Also trying to fair in the (lower) chin area with balsa. My Envoy's nose looks like it's a bit longer than the original, though not unpleasingly so. Should help the balance by letting me slide the battery as far as possible forward.

Measuring for a 1/16" plywood shelf for the ESC to fit just behind F0.

When the servos arrive, I can then fit the pushrods to get the straightest runs. She'll have to wait a bit longer for her covering...

Day 75 -- Progress Report

Still waiting on the servos to come in. HobbyKing notified me they had "shipped", but I've not heard anything since.

The covering debacle took a turn for the worse when the tracing paper refused to let dope pass through. Makes it completely useless as a covering material. To try and keep this build moving forward, I've "robbed Peter to pay Paul" by snitching the covering from four Guillows kits I've had laying around. There might be enough to get Envoy's wing and tail covered. I'll still need to order some colored tissue for trims.

Day 75 -- Progress!

I thought I'd never get to this stage, but here's a shot of the rudder being covered. The tissue came from a Guillow's kit. It was misted (not soaked) and applied to the frame. The frame was brushed yesterday with dope and dried overnight. Thinned dope was brushed through the paper around the edges.

Got a note in my mailbox this morning, the order with the servos have arrived. Sorry state of the delivery service: I was in the yard about 30 feet away, in plain sight, watching the driver. No toot of the horn, no attempt to say "I've got something bigger than your mailbox".

Now I've got to wait until tomorrow morning to go pick it up...

Must have been a British postie; due to time pressures they stick a 'you were out' card through the letterbox rather than ring the bell and wait for you to sign.....

Originally Posted by cpmcgraw

Got a note in my mailbox this morning, the order with the servos have arrived. Sorry state of the delivery service: I was in the yard about 30 feet away, in plain sight, watching the driver. No toot of the horn, no attempt to say "I've got something bigger than your mailbox".

Now I've got to wait until tomorrow morning to go pick it up...

Be ready, there's another package on its way. Should be there next week.

Originally Posted by pd1

Be ready, there's another package on its way. Should be there next week.

Thanks, PD! I'll be watching for it.

I'm anxious to see Envoy finished.

I went to pick up the package...

The clerk took my ticket, and started looking...

...Looking...

...Looking...

I heard her ask someone else (behind the scenes) if they knew where the package was...

She looked some more...

Just as I thought she was going to come back and say "it wasn't there", she stopped looking and grabbed a very beat-up-looking box, brought it out to me, and had me sign for it like it was made of gold or platinum...

All I could do was smile and bite my tongue...

At any rate, everything I ordered was in the box and appears to be in good condition. Maybe now I can get Envoy ready for covering. Just a little access-hatch work and servo mounting to do...

Day...Whenever!

The last month or so has been rough. I have seasonal allergies which kicked up in March, and only just started subsiding. Envoy is still in the same state it was in at that point, and I haven't had many opportunities to get much done. I'm ordering some tissue (for color) tonight, and will try to get the last of the building done. Most of that is minor fitting and filling of balsa trim for paper attachment.

I'm still trying to position the servos in a way that is accessible; one of my many blunders in the build was not giving more thought to how my hands would get into the fuse cavity (or, as is the case, not get in...) to mount things. It's still something I'm fighting with.

There's still time, and I think I'll finish. It may be just under the wire, but I think I can do it.

Sorry to hear about the allergies cp and glad you are now on the mend. You have done by far the bigger part of the work on both this model and the Mam'selle and with 2.1/2 months to go I'm sure you will finish them, so stick at it, I'm looking forward to lifting finished photos of BOTH for the end of event poll thread!

Progress Report

So, what does one such as myself with seasonal allergies do at this stage of the build?

Why, brush on a coat of nitrate dope on the wing, V-fin, and H-tail, of course!

<Cough, cough...sniff...> Ooohh, that's good stuff!

I'm typing this under the influence of nitrate fumes, so if I start to ramble, try not to laugh yourselves into a coma...

I received a roll of silkspan last week, and a bunch of tissue sheets from Easy Build Models this week, so I'm pressing toward the end along that line of attack. The fuselage is still a bear, just trying to fit those servos into a location that has the straightest LOS to the moving surfaces. Not easy at all.

And it doesn't seem to matter whether I try to use pull-pull on the rudder, or a pushrod-in-tube connection. The only viable location for the servos is through a hatch on the bottom between F2 and F3. I tried to locate them between F3 and F4, but that meant using two hatches and I thought that was a bit much. The receiver will have to go above the servos, in the 'cabin' area. I'm leaving the two side windows out to allow for cooling, but framing up around the opening with scraps of balsa to have something for the tissue to stick to. The ESC has a location between F1 and F2, just above the battery slot.

My order from EBM included some tiny magnets for attaching the hatch and nose cowling. 1/8" sq jewels, but more powerful than I ever expected!

I'm trying to get as much finished as I can, so I can get back to the Mamselle and maybe get her at least finished, if not flying, in time for the close of the build window. If the close is the end of June, then 9 weeks ought to be enough time.

Unless something else unexpected gets in the way, which would be par for the course...

...

Progress Report... Dopin' Daze

Wing bottom side and tips, upper side -- silkspan applied.

Fixed rudder, both sides -- white tissue applied over silkspan.

Stabilizer bottom side and tips, upper side -- silkspan applied.

My head -- high as a kite, singing along to the new Don Williams album.

Sounds like you are having fun cp!