Finished the motor mount & ducting, while the primer is drying.

Estimated 2900W on 9S 4000's 40C

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I kept adding layers of cloth & carbon tow to stiffen the intake,

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More wing joint reinforcements.

Zinc cromate water based paint prevents the automotive primer from eating the bare foam.

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First coat of metallic silver applied,

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More light coats of aluminum silver (fuse, wing top & tail) and red (wing bottom) to check for overall smoothness of finish.

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be sure to let us know how the fan works. seems to have a pretty big gap.

A bit more work today while the wife's out shopping ...

After more sanding and priming (in red) of the fuse I trial - fitted the intake, fan and exhaust.

Some foam carving and sanding eventually made everything fit. The intake duct is rigid enough to also hold the weight of the batteries (it was designed that way).

A clean intake should mean good in-flight efficiency. I have been told by JePe that the stock one makes all sorts of horrible intake noises at flight speed ...

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Hi,
May I know where you're planning to put the ESC?
Looks like the motor wires are being routed into the cockpit area.

I am putting an F-86 together too. (10S 3000mAh, HET 600-43, Wemotec Midi, no wheels, hand launch, belly lander)

I picked up a Turnigy 100A HV ESC, but it is way too large for the recommended location... would need to cut a lot of foam.
On hindsight, Castle 80A ICE HV would have been a nice fit.

Have not decided on the location.
This is my first time assembling a large foamy EDF.
I'm thinking it would suck if I do the recommended location, but find CG too far aft, or if I put the ESC up front and find the CG too far forward.

I am using a Turnigy 100A HV.

It will be placed either in the cockpit or directly over the duct, as I have it in my F-16 shown below. The latter setup saves some space in the cockpit, it is going to get a bit cramped in there

Yes the stock location is nice, if you can fit your esc there. It also helps with the CG, moving some weight towards the back.

I have a big chunk of motor in the back, so that should help a bit with the CG. Also the motor/fan can be moved back a bit.

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Some more late evening work, installing solid elevator linkages & servos.

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It was time to do a CG test with all the equipment installed (more or less), the with the 3S x 3 = 9S pack up front.

The correct CG comes out fine without any major equipment re-arrangements .

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I've seen some people assemble these models (F-86, Mirage, Hawk, ... ) first, and then fiberglass them.

I personally find the latter procedure quite inconvenient ...

It is much easier and cleaner to sand, fiberglass, fill, sand and prime each component (fuse or fuse halves, wings, tail surfaces) individually before assembly, using only the amount of FG cloth used for that specific part.

Since a good amount of finish and paint work is needed for each part, it makes the whole process a lot easier

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Yeah, it's easier but aren't you going to lose the strength at the seams? Or do you then apply another strip of glass at those seams afterward?

If you look at the pictures, you will notice that the wing is one piece, and so are the fuse left & right sides ...

As far as the tail surfaces are concerned, the epoxy joint area is actually the strongest part, so it would be kind of pointless to make that part even heavier and stronger.

The stabilizers and fin have now been glued in place.

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To finally close up the two fuse sides, the ducting had to be fixed, the nosegear assembly had to be glued in, and the power, servo and air lines had to be routed.

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