Spies kits have arrived in the US. I took a quick look at a kit, and all the foam weighs in at only 35 grams....very light for the huge amount of wing and side area. As on the Arrow V6 (also in stock), the printing is incredibly detailed....looks very cool on the mylar. Best way to contact me to order is email....DaveL322@comcast[dot]net

Regards,

Dave

Did you get my order Dave?

Originally Posted by dcronkhite

Did you get my order Dave?

Shipped today!

Regards,

Dave

Some pictures of production version of Spies. Quality is even better than prototype:

Originally Posted by 3Don

Some pictures of production version of Spies. Quality is even better than prototype:

Please set one aside for me !!!
I am starting to fly agan indoors as I have a new practise hall.

Richard

Originally Posted by richard boyd

Please set one aside for me !!!
I am starting to fly agan indoors as I have a new practise hall.

Richard

Killer news my friend!!! Congrats on receiving hall. You will see how far F3P step forward just in few years. I just check out kit weight. 34.5g without airbrakes. So it is really competition level plane. You can make one in 100g range without big effort. With special tricks micro tubes and lightest equipment 85g RTF should be no problem at all!

Is anyone producing coaxial motor setups yet?

Originally Posted by dcronkhite

Is anyone producing coaxial motor setups yet?

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1390240

Geared unit is available from Kimmo.

Direct drive unit is available from Glavak.

To the best of my knowledge, demand is exceeding production for both at this time.

Regards,

Dave

My Spies kit arrived today. This is BEAUTIFUL! Unfortunately, thanks to our WONDERFUL shipping services, they managed to damage the bottom of the fuselage in the tail area. I think I can fix it easily enough.

While most pilots buying an advanced F3P kit like the Spies have developed their own building techniques and preferences, I wanted to post some details on the build of my Spies to help out guys not as familiar with advanced foamy building. I will note any modifications / additions. I’ll go over each basic step, with several pictures for each (some pics will be from other foamies I’ve built). I’ve done some pretty extensive lightening on some equipment (which definitely voids warranties) which is common for F3P, but not the focus for my posts.

Starting from the very beginning…opening the box. Parts are well packaged to avoid shipping damage, but can be damaged if care is not taken when removing them. I cut the tape to remove the bagged parts, and then cut the bags open to release the parts.

Trim any excess mylar edges with fresh Xacto, scalpel or single edge razor blade. I trimmed the airbrake tab mounts off the elevator, as the mylar version Spies does not use brakes on the elevator. I also shortened the tabs for the aileron mounted airbrakes to save a bit of weight.

For all gluing, I use foam-safe thin or medium CA. Soak up any excess glue using paper towel. Use kicker sparingly to avoid “flashing” the CA and generating heat that could damage the foam. Excessive kicker can also dissolve the adhesive between the foam and mylar.

To save extra weight (about 5 grams), I replaced the 0.7mm CF rod with 0.7mm CF tubes, the 0.3x3mm CF flat with 0.13x3mm CF flat. I also did some “micro milling” of the foam parts, including the aileron brakes (mill before removing from the parts sheet).

Regards,

Dave

Adding CF flat reinforcements –
0.13 is thin enough that it can be glued into a slot cut with a sharp Xacto. For 0.3, the same slot can be widened a bit using a thin saw blade, or a flat blade screwdriver tip. With foam parts flat on the workbench, held by light weights, with wax paper between the foam parts and workbench, CF flat reinforcements are glued in place. I reinforce the following areas - Elevator “V”, wing leading edge, wing trailing edge near pinned hinge, fin reinforcement near rudder servo, control horn attachments, nose crutch, and where landing gear legs pass through the fuselage bottom.

Regards,

Dave

Hinging – cut the tabs between wing/ailerons and stab/elevator apart, being careful to not cut through the mylar. Cut 45 degree bevels on the leading edges of the elevator and ailerons. The Donatas Design hinge bevel tool or similar jig makes cutting accurate hinge bevels much easier.

Donatas Design Bevealing Tool (3 min 16 sec)

If needed, the bevels can be cleaned up with some light sanding. I hold the foam surface firmly to the edge of the workbench using a sanding TBar, and then sand the bevel lightly with a second Tbar. Make sure to not sand the mylar, or it will have to be replaced with hinge tape. Once the bevel is finished, fold the ailerons and elevator flat to the wing and stab (top surfaces together). Add several pieces of blenderm tape across the bottom of the hingelines (~3 on each aileron and stab) to reinforce and stabilize the hingelines. This is the easiest and lightest way to complete the hinging…..the only downside is that the hinging will tend to move/separate vertically near the control horn as the plane ages. Adding a couple “figure 8” (over/under) hinges near the control horn will greatly increase durability. Post 101 of this thread has more info on figure 8 hinging.

Regards,

Dave

Build is typical for flat foamy. I put a piece of wax paper on the bench, and then the nose crutch, wing, fuselage crutch, and stab are placed upside down on workbench and glued together. Lightly weight all parts to keep them flat and properly aligned. Add fiberglass cloth reinforcements to wing/nose crutch and wing/fuselage crutch joints. I also add fiberglass cloth to the fuselage bottom where the landing gear legs pass through and the wing spars attach. The kit includes a small fiberglass plate for reinforcement of the wing spars attachment to the fuselage (I prefer fiberglass cloth).

Regards,

Dave

Next is adding the fuselage bottom and CF truss bracing for the stab, fuselage crutch, and wing spars. The tabs on my fuselage were a little thicker than the slots in the crutch, so I lightly crushed the tabs to obtain a snug fit. I use a variety of right angle aluminum stock, triangles, and squares to keep alignment perfect, and then move onto installing the CF truss. I “pre-drill” holes for the CF rod using a small Tpin. Keeping the holes small and accurate reduces the amount of glue needed and minimizes any misalignment / arcing of the CF rods. I “dry fit” all the rods, putting them all in place, and then make small tweaks to the fuselage bottom to have it perfectly aligned. Then I glue all the rods.

Next I add a support truss for the wing spars. Using 0.5mm rod will save a small amount of weight compared to 0.7 rod or tube.

Regards,

Dave

Next I add aileron bracing. I use a foam jig to set the center point for the bracing (about 3” height). After gluing the 4 spanwise rods in place, I add support trusses for the rods and the counterbalance. I had the aileron bracing completed before I realized my “standard” aileron bracing would interfere with the inboard wing SFG. A couple solutions are viable. First solution is to terminate the aileron bracing slightly inboard as shown by Finnspeed in post 36 of this thread. Another option is to “lean” the center point for the bracing towards the trailing edge of the aileron, keep the center point to about 2” tall, and attach the bracing rod closest to the SFG to the bottom of the center point. A small notch will still be needed in the SFG to allow maximum aileron throw. I’m planning on initial flights without the inboard SFGs, and will evaluate modifications to add the SFGs if I want them for my flying style.

Regards,

Dave