Good day today. My parting planes just popped off with no sign of sticking and the finish is really clean. I had to clean off the masking tape and some putty that was in the joints. So one half is finished. Got everything waxed and prepped ready for PVA coverage first thing tomorrow then lay up the front half of the fuse. Another long day expected......

That is looking sweet! Nice work ace.

Nice work ace. Don't you just love it when things go like they are supposed too!

J

Originally Posted by J Morgan

Nice work ace. Don't you just love it when things go like they are supposed too!

J

Thanks for the support to all of you. I must admit it is somewhat nerve racking putting around 80 hours on the plug and another thirty or so on the molds then having to wait so long for the pass or fail result.

So far so good but I'm concerned about the hinge blocks coming out without voids. I see John that your project is coming along really good. Lets hope that we can fly our birds in Vegas next year. I want this one done so I can get cracking on my big EF2000 Typhoon. I would like to have a couple of them with me at the next Ace event in different schemes.

I'm trying that cotton flock for the first time and keeping my fingers crossed. I should be able to separate the first half from the plug this Sunday and the second half Monday to let them cure out for 48 hours.

Hi Ace,
Nice work indeed! Can I ask you two questions please?
1. When you made the fuselage parting section did you also include any recesses for the aft section to slot into the front part of the fuselage? If in the affirmative how was this done given that the plane was one piece?
2. When you attached the tire valves how were these held on.... were these cyanoed or epoxied into place?

Thanks and keep it up.

Reuben

Hi Reuben... Let me try and answer your questions.

Originally Posted by F86_sabre

Hi Ace,
Nice work indeed! Can I ask you two questions please?
1. When you made the fuselage parting section did you also include any recesses for the aft section to slot into the front part of the fuselage?


-- Not quite sure to what you are asking. If you mean does the rear section align with the front then yes it does. The fuse splitter parting plane does have alignment dots.

If you mean is the rear section a separate part then no it is not. The molds are separate for each side to allow for easier pulling of the parts but will come out of the mold in two halves being top and bottom.

If in the affirmative how was this done given that the plane was one piece?

-- I can also make two separate front and rear parts with this method. The front and rear could be made with one having an alignment/attachment lip made when forming. I would do this by applying a thick tape to one end of the inside mold that when laid up would create a setback recess that could be slid into the other fuse piece and glued or screwed. The mating half would have cloth extend a little outside the mold.


2. When you attached the tire valves how were these held on.... were these cyanoed or epoxied into place?
-- No cyno.... I wax the plugs and parting planes ready for the PVA release coat. Then I simply use two sided tape. Before applying I cut the hole out of the end so air can flow easier. Then simply push to make contact. The funny thing is that masking tape and the like will still adhere well to a well waxed mold? Go figure!


Thanks and keep it up.

Reuben

Hi Ace,

Thanks for answering. As for:
1. I thought that the parting section was meant to have two-part fuselage rather than a one piece fuse. Hence the reason why I stated for a recess.
2. Ok nice idea with the two-sided tape. I might try it in the mold I am making.

Thanks again....I will be watching

Reuben

Reuben

It does allow me to make half a fuse if I had damage and only needed front or back to fix. Main reason is to allow easier removal. You should post your build also.

Ace,
At the moment I am still doing the plug. The plane is the T-34 Mentor. Its a lot of work as I am covering the entire model with litho aluminum with a lot of detail work built into it. I have around 90% of the work done but still got a long way to go. This was not an easy project as there had to be other related mini projects in between....vacuum bagging and forming equipment that had to be made along the build. Still it is progressing slowly.

Reuben

Originally Posted by F86_sabre

Ace,
At the moment I am still doing the plug. The plane is the T-34 Mentor. Its a lot of work as I am covering the entire model with litho aluminum with a lot of detail work built into it. I have around 90% of the work done but still got a long way to go. This was not an easy project as there had to be other related mini projects in between....vacuum bagging and forming equipment that had to be made along the build. Still it is progressing slowly.

Reuben

Where do you get the litho plate? Have you seen the German SU27 and the F14 all done in litho?

Ace,

I am enclosing some fotos of the build.

Reuben

Reuben

Thanks for the pics.... Very nice work

I'm almost done with the mold. Will layup the tail section today then separate Monday.

Great...will be watching... BTW the litho was obtained from local printers. This type of printing system will eventually die out as digital printing is now taking over but for now I am able to find some.
Will be watching

Success!!!

Its Sunday morning and i'm wiped out from four twelve hour days of laying up resin and cloth on the plug. Worst part is the wait and being anxious to what lies underneath all this expensive resin and cloth. Per the photo descriptions it all came out perfect and zero voids. Now that surprised me no end. I guess the new materials that I'm trying really do work very well.

I think the idea of inserting the air valve stems saved my butt on not damaging the plug in the deeper cavities. I simply wedged the outer rim parting plane and heard a small relief crack has the two parts separated. Then I inject compressed air into the valves and received a satisfying crack from the cavities releasing. Then the parts just eased off with no great fuss or force required. On inspection they look really sweet and I could not believe my eyes..... PHEW!!!.

I have the mold parts clamped for further curing then will take pics tomorrow when I have them apart for clean and trim up. The detail transfer is just perfect and I'm ecstatic.

So the next step is to layup a fuselage to use as the template for all the other bits like wings, tail etc. I'm going to tint the resin on this part so that I will see any flaws that may need correcting in the mold. I will also make this a thick and stiff part for alignment purposes with wings and so forth.

Then I will correct any mold issues if any and lay up a pre-production part. that will be used to measure the weight, stiffness, and a template for formers, firewall etc. Then a third one that will be fully assembled and flown. But before I get carried away I will have to layup the mold for the wings.

Please advise to save me time and effort.

What cloth weight and or method do most of you use for the layup? For the rear hinge blocks and sharp corners I'm going to mix resin and micro spheres to fill the sharp cavities and provide a mount for my hinge pin. I think that I will layup this part using my white resin instead of spraying the mold with primer. Any inputs would be very a much appreciated as always.

As a side project. Prior to doing the plug and now the mold I had been playing with how to build a single piece detailed and scale cowl. The first cowl mold and part pull was a disaster. It was the first time that I had made a resin mold in thirty years. The results proved how bad I was at it. The first part is the ... well I think it obvious?. The rest are just a sampling of the trial and error and how I finally got a nice product.

I have decided to make an entirely new cowl and engine plug using a larger radius to make it more scale and easier to make parts. The new resin mold will now incorporate the entire nose ring with a flat lip at the back so that the engine can be just glued to it.