Very nice work! My dad has a 177 and I have always wanted to build a scale version of it but have never found plans/kits of the Cardinal. I have a TF 182 kit that I have thought about converting, but that might be above my current skill level...

Originally Posted by 4075aaron

Very nice work! My dad has a 177 and I have always wanted to build a scale version of it but have never found plans/kits of the Cardinal. I have a TF 182 kit that I have thought about converting, but that might be above my current skill level...

Thanks! the cardinal looks like its more rounded off than the other Cessnas. I think that these line of planes are the easiest to convert back and forth bc the the overall shapes are so similar. But then again they are harder to build bc of all the rounded curves. I think thats why the Cub is such a popular build. You could easily take this 206 and convert it to a 172,182, 207, 210, they are all very similar. You could always build your TF kit and paint it like yalls plane with the same tail number. Just deny its a 182 and say its a 177

As far as skill level, I think as long as you just relax and take your time its possible to build anything. I must be honest though I do ask for some help from a group of builders that I fly with. But so far Ive done all the work myself. The nice thing about RC builds is their is no deadline to rush towards. This 206 will be ready to fly when its ready to fly. I must say though a fully sheeted airplane is beyond anything I could ever comprehend as far as the time and labor it takes to build one of these. Its ridiculous how much time It takes. I would say I prob put in 5 hrs of labor for one complete step that gets posted on this forum.

SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a pilot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had my first Solo flight today, as you can see its tradition for a new pilot to have his shirt tail cut out and to draw a picture on it about it.

This Cessna build will have the tail number N52815, after the plane I solo'd in today!

Congradulations my freind! I remember mine , both of them, I'm licensed in helicopters as well, I remember it like it was yesterday! Flying opens up a whole new world! Good job!
Linn

Originally Posted by lgarber

Congradulations my freind! I remember mine , both of them, I'm licensed in helicopters as well, I remember it like it was yesterday! Flying opens up a whole new world! Good job!
Linn

Thanks!

Sheeting starts! I've learned that its a 2 person job. At least so far. I have to pace my self because I cant close up the fuse before I get the holes cut for the control cables. But As slow as the process is taking I don't think thats a problem.

This is an upside down view, of the opposite side thats being sheeted. This gives an interseting view of the entire kit with all the formers and stringers. I'm not working on it till the end of the week, I need to get some more parts cut and get some more sheeting before I can really hit the sheeting at a full pace. I've discovered that making large sheeting sections looks better. I plan on joining pieces of wood to make one huge sheet to do the entire bottom of the plane.

If you are wondering what the blue tape is, its to remind me that this side gets sheeted over without a door. I'm bad about getting in the zone and doing wrong things on this plane.

I've also been putting lots of work into prepping the fuse for the sheeting, this is not fun. You sand and sand without alot of visual progress. But the sheeting fits on the stringers alot better.

Preview of the misc parts to finish the fuselage. I see alot of potential in this plane, so I'm secretly working to improve this kit and make it so that everything locks and tabs together to take some of the scratch building out of it. The largest pieces you see are parts to make the cowl plug. They outline the cowl then ill fill it with foam to make a plug.

Found this thread:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_50..._1/key_/tm.htm

It is a 182 but it pretty darn close.

This makes me feel better because this plane is a BRICK compared to mine
Look how much plywood is in that fuselage. It looks like its built as a box then the formers are added to the outside. This prob makes it easy to build but dang that got to be HEAVY!

Theirs a guy in that thread that said his came out to 29 lbs and he said it flies great. So surely I can get mine down to about 25 lbs. Although his was covered and not glassed/painted. I'm curious to know what my "ARF" weight is because I've been told that 25lbs is the cut off for a 30cc on floats. And that DLE 30 for $300 is looking enticing from Chief aircraft!

Parts are cut!!! I have lots and lots of parts. A box full. As you can see from the blank material left over I got my moneys worth out my wood. And that was only one of 4 pieces of wood that was cut!

One of things I designed and had cut was the structure for the cowl plug. I'm making a plug so I can make more cowls in case of more builds and /or repair/damages. I will fill this structure with blocks of florist foam and sand down to the shape. This is the "Turbo Cowl" versus the naturally aspirated engine cowl. The turbo is longer and is more sleeker looking. It has blind nuts so I can bolt it on from inside the plane and the remove it later after the foam is sanded. It looks so crazy with the shape of the cowl on the front of the plane! I'm so used to seeing that blunt firewall! and look how huge this thing is. It swallows a DLE 30cc. Theirs 4" between the firewall and the motor stand offs so I might have to add a motor box on the firewall later.

I love the laser! you can make all kinds of crazy parts. I made these special washers for the blind nuts on the back of the firewall and under the servo trays.

So this is the heart of the plane. It contains the elevator servo (on its side) and the rudder servo (top). It is has blind nuts under the floor. It also contains the 20 oz. fuel tank. This "tower" is located underneath the CG. I incorporated many interlocking tabs to make it very strong and light. It also self aligns when it goes together.

I also was able to start to run the cables through the formers. I still need some misc. hardware to make this job easier. But I was able to run the elevator cables and get the rough holes cut in the formers. And the reward for my hard work tonight??? I was finally able to have some control actuation on this plane!!!!!! I'm so happy to actually see some mechanical parts in this thing. This pull/pull set up is very smooth the elevator is very tight with no slope.

View of the sheeting. This was a hard radius to install because it has a complex changing radius as it move towards the back. I'm pretty happy with he result on this side.

So remember how I said it was going to be a float plane? A good friend of mine is making some floats for some friends cub. Once this plane maidens this is a preview of the types of floats it will use.