ok as I said, I been watching your build!

so a quick question, how is the airframe holding up? other then some of the hardware issues, are you satisfied with the airframe itself? covering, glue joints, quality of balsa!

Originally Posted by whiskykid

ok as I said, I been watching your build!

so a quick question, how is the airframe holding up? other then some of the hardware issues, are you satisfied with the airframe itself? covering, glue joints, quality of balsa!

Everything seems solid. I've pushed/pulled on everything and nothing is loose. I'm not seeing any 'old' dried up glue that's brittle anyplace. Covering is pretty darn good, no wrinkles are showing up. Balsa quality is nice as well. Nothing is overly soft. There's more ply then balsa in the fuselage. The front side bottom (ahead of the LG), fuse sides & turtle deck comprise most of the balsa. But it's just there for the covering to stick to.

The only downside I can see so far is fuel-proofing the front end. There's a lot to coat because of all the cut outs and some places will be hard to reach. I usually use Aero Gloss but just may go to thinned epoxy instead.

After playing with the linkage, I'm using Dubro #816 on the servos and #860 on the control horns with the factory supplied rods. The aileron servo horns go to the leading edge of the wing. This was a 'DUH' moment on my part. GW did the same thing as Pilot and placed the thumb screws for the wings real close to the wing tube. Makes it tight for people with big fingers to get them in.

Dan

Originally Posted by gjhinshaw

OK, I have a question.... On the CA hinge I do NOT see any coloring.... Did you not color them??

Not sure what you mean by coloring them. If you mean did I paint them to match the airframe, the answer is no. One nice thing with the supplied hinges is that they're thinner then Dubros and slide in much easier.

Dan

Huge surprise here, the servo pockets don't fit a standard size servo. KIND OF! What GW did was to build the framing for a smaller size servo and inside, they did a partial cut on the ply framing to allow standard servos to fit. You won't/can't see what they did until you open up the covering. Don't do like I did and try stuffing a knife blade through the face. I cracked the framing just a tad. Since I use CA to harden the screw holes, not a big deal. Everything is solid.

Dan

I think what Gerry was meaning, is take a crayon and draw a line on the middle of the hinge on both sides of the hinge. This keeps ca from wicking and making the center of the hinge stiff. Keeping it fexible.
I like to also drill a hole in the center of the slot for the hinge. This allows better ca flow and wicking.
No cut outs for the switches an fuel dots is common on GW planes. This allows placement of the switches to the builder's preference.
Your build looks really good.

Originally Posted by kerwin50

I think what Gerry was meaning, is take a crayon and draw a line on the middle of the hinge on both sides of the hinge. This keeps ca from wicking and making the center of the hinge stiff. Keeping it fexible.
I like to also drill a hole in the center of the slot for the hinge. This allows better ca flow and wicking.
No cut outs for the switches an fuel dots is common on GW planes. This allows placement of the switches to the builder's preference.
Your build looks really good.

Ahh ha! I tried the crayon trick before but for whatever reason, I hosed it up so I quit. I never was good with crayons. No failures on CA hinges after 4 or 5 years on a couple of heavily used birds. Knock on wood. I didn't even recognize it was Gerry asking. Just another Duh moment I guess. I've always center drilled the hinges and flex the dog snot out of them while curing to keep them loose and not prone to breaking.

Another lesson learned (from Gerry) is the 4 add pieces in the kit are for beefing up the motor mount if using fuel. This is Not described in the manual. I'll be on slow-down at this point because I'll be applying thinned epoxy to fuel proof everything. I'm also looking for a 14oz or so square faced fuel tank. I don't think the 9oz tank is going to cut the mustard for flight times. The original tank I had the .82 in was 8oz and startup to out of fuel was 5.5 minutes at best. Had way to many dead stick landings.

The quick links I used on the ailerons aren't really suitable for the elevators, they put a bind on the servo horns so you need to use ball links on both ends.
Just plugging along...weather here really stinks with wind/rain/overcast..BLAH!

Dan

I agree on the tank. My twist 40 came with a 14 oz square tank

...weather here really stinks with wind/rain/overcast..BLAH!

come on Dan, don't sugar coat it! the weather in the northwet, has been just plain misserable!

but atleast we're not getting any of that white stuff lol!

I guess right now I'm the lucky one. Already 52 degrees out with a high in the 60's with light wind.
I need to start getting ready for sunday flyday

Whiskykid..don't kid yerself, the wife went over Snoqualmie today and it was winter-wonderland going over. BUT, was pure rain/drizzle/cloudy/overcast/cold/windy coming back. Nothing but pure NW weather. Yep, we're definitely blessed!

Anyway, another hiccup in the way of building. The side plates, to beef up the motor mount for glow, just don't seem to fit. On the plus side, they're identical for not fitting if that counts. Going to take another 6 hours, in addition to the already 6 hours, to fuel proof the front end with thinned out epoxy. Drying time issues.. But I now have all the side plates installed in the fuse so I can insert the on/off/charge switch, the on board glow switch and the fuel dot filler. What a pain. I just wish GW had left the sides solid in the fuse framing back to the former behind the wing tube. Would have been a HUGE time saver. Even nicer would have been where GW installed some lite ply for installing some switches/fuel dot.

Trying to find a flat faced 12~14oz fuel tank to fit. That's another undertaking that'll eat yer shorts. Just another hold up. Unknown just where I'll wind up installing/building/fabricating something to get a servo mounted for the throttle. GW did provide a plate for a throttle servo. However, it looks like the design was for using that dinky-ass tank that's basically worthless for which the supplied plate would fit. Who'da thunk an assemble ARF would turn into a build? Oops, my bad, I forgot I was dealing with designers/sellers vs builders/flyers.

I may be nit-picking on some things but I just can't help but wonder why in-the-hell mfgs. do some of the dumbest things that contribute nothing in the way of making a 1st class product with just a MINIMAL amount of effort in CAD & materials. It just makes no sense to me.

Dan

what about this tank http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...e-60-HAN242025

PLEASE go here..... They have what you need!!

http://www.bennettbuilt.com/shop/Tan...ize_Chart.html


Trying to find a flat faced 12~14oz fuel tank to fit. That's another undertaking that'll eat yer shorts.

Here's the elevator deflection. I had to install the supplied horns to get enough throws. I 'think' a buddy has a tank. I'll find out tonight. Kerwin, I couldn't find any dimensions for that tank. I have 2-7/8"h x 3-1/2"w x 6" long hole to fit a tank & HH can't give me the dimensions. gjhinshaw, I may need to go there. I appreciate the info from both of you. I used to make these in the olden days out of tin.. where has the time gone..
Got the front end fuel proofed.

Dan

GW SBach (0 min 13 sec)

Nice!!

Build is dragging. Doing a 24 hour dry time on the beef-up side plates for the motor mount, and because I got my motor back for my Pilot-1 18% Sbach that needs to go back together. Excuses, I got a hundred of them..

Dan