Man, CF is REALLY strong, stiff and difficult to work with - especially if all you have is hand tools. I I had a piece of CF laminated between my ply spar joiner laminations, but were I to do it all over again I wouldn't bother with CF. I'd just use birch ply (3 ply) or aircraft ply (5-ply).

I'm just sayin' if you don't want to wait for your CF to arrive or if you don't want to mess with it.

Tim

CF is pretty easy to worth - depending what you're trying to do, I guess.

The easiest way to shape it is to sand/grind it - but don't be breathin none of the dust. Dass bad JuJu

It can be a bit of a pig to cut - and really bluntens blades pretty quick. Being a bit like glass, sometimes you have to treat it in a similar way re cutting - I've found it much easier to score it both sides, then snap it off... than to try and cut it all the way through. Of course, score/snap leaves sharp little frays of fibre and a not-so-neat cut - but that can be fixed with a light rub of 400 or 600 grit sandpaper etc.

Again... don't breathe the dust in - or even get it on you. Makes me itch like crazy....

BJ

Tim, thanks for the motor mount template. Saved me a lot of work. I will just wait for the CF, since it did cost me $25 for a 4x12 sheet. I have a commercial size band saw that will make cutting the CF quite easy, albeit dusty as BJ says.
For some reason, I am more excited to fly this plane probably more than any other I have flown. I like gliders, and I like a little speed, and this has both.

O H, YOU Will LIKE IT If you like the speed !!!!
Neal

Hell yah!

Bet it sneaks up on you - them big 2m wings sure cross some countryside in a few short seconds on a big bomb-drop

Hope you get sweaty-palms on your first few low screaming fast-passes

BJ

OK...
Do you attach the servo extensions to each ends of the string and then use the center of the string to pull each through at the same time? I usually would tape the servo extension plugs with tape to give them a bullet shape for easier manuevering, but even w/o tape the plug barely fits through the very first opening. What am I missing here. There must be a trade secret.
And, yes, I just verified that my gearbox screws will be too short to go through the firewall. Does anyone know the thread count/size for this screw?

Ahhh.... the joys of threading servo leads through a closed-in wing.

Used to drive me up the wall

Still does when you get one of those real tight stinkers...

I found that taping the servo lead plug onto the string with some thin electrical tape - making sure you form a bullet-head shape at the string end - then pulling the string from the other end works best. I end up jiggling the sting end while maintaining a bit of 'back pressure' on the servo lead helps to persuade the sucker through the wing ribs.

But go gently - whatever you do, don't end up pulling the string off the servo plug once you've started threading the lead into the wing, or we'll hear the screaming down here in Oz LoL

If you get a situaton like yours where the plug is a really tight fit through an opening, you can always try to remove the plug itself to leave just the bare wires, thus reducing the size of the blob you're trying to thread through the wing. If the plug is the 'moulded on' type, you can't do this, but a lot of servo plugs have those tiny gold tabs you can carefully pry and release the wire + connector spade from the plug itself.

If worse comes to worst, I've cut the darn plug off... fed the wire through...then re-soldered the plug on.

In some real b@stard installations, I've found that taping the string/plug to piece of control-rod allowed me to pull with the string from one end while pushing with the control rod from the other end helped.

Those things can be soooo frustrating to get though a wing sometimes - and all it would take to make it a doddle would be for the guys making the wings to make the openings in the ribs a whole mm bigger. But sometimes they don't

Re your motor screws, not sure of the motor you're running but 'M3' (3mm metric) screws are fairly common-place for Chinese and Euro motors. American stuff sometimes uses imperial (like a whole set of barrel-connectors did on one plane I have... bugga).

Hope this helps...

BJ

NCR Guy, what motor box did you go with, I have a feeling it was the electrifly and G/P gearbox, if so I can let you know
Neal

Neale, I went with what Tim is using... the Ammo 28mm and the 4.3:1 gearbox. It is the gearbox screws that I will need to replace.
BJ... good idea on seeing if I can disconnect the plug. And to use a control rod to help push it through at the same time. And, yes, if it gets halfway through and the string pulls away from the extension, you just may be able to hear me if you listen closely.

NCR Guy'
I am also running the ammo and G/P gearbox same as Tim, I will check the thread type count etc, and post. As far as the seryo lead thru the wing, tape well and all was good. I am doing the servo repair today ( while the wife thinks all my time is being spent doing some work on our caravan!!) and go fly tomorrow morn, weather permitting.
Neal

Got a taste of that 'sound' again today

Still get sweaty palms flying it - particularly as I was restricted to flying from the treelined hemmed-in soccer pitch, and the wind was fairly blowing.

The good ole multi-scarred Bird still ate it up...

BJ

Originally Posted by NCRealEstateGuy

OK...
Do you attach the servo extensions to each ends of the string and then use the center of the string to pull each through at the same time? I usually would tape the servo extension plugs with tape to give them a bullet shape for easier manuevering, but even w/o tape the plug barely fits through the very first opening. What am I missing here. There must be a trade secret.
And, yes, I just verified that my gearbox screws will be too short to go through the firewall. Does anyone know the thread count/size for this screw?

Are you looking for screws for mounting the GP gearbox to the firewall? I don't know the thread corseness or whatever, but any hobby 3mm screws will be right - they're pretty universal. I used something like these:

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXBSZW&P=7

Or here's a nice assortment (I think these are the ones I used):
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXTW35&P=7

Tim

What was the prob BJ, all the sports wanna be's playing!!??
Neal

Yah - 3M metrics seem to be fairly Universal, Tim.

There's still the odd 'Merican motor out there that use Imperial - and for us down here in Oz it's darn hard to find screws off the shelf that fit sometimes.

Neal - yes. Wanna Be's circumventing 'due process' and basically rough-handling a stand over tactic. They just waltz out onto the oval...start setting up their frikken cricket stumps... and start playing. Regardless of whose already out there - or even if you're in the air at the time.

Tough-tits if you're flying, and suddenly there's 20 ppl ON the oval while you're up there. You still have to land - but now there's human bollards to negotiate...

Then...when you finally get down safely... you find they've been belting balls though the rest of your fleet that you had foolishly thought were still safe on the ground. Real nice to find out your plane has been whacked by a cricket ball - NOT.



BJ

PS - RCG rules prohibit me from identifying said people - but I would hazard a guess that they eat a lot of curry

Bad to hear your run in with some not so nice.
Past experiance tells me that people with attitude like that, are first to cry foul if some one tries it on them, just plain rude.
Many years ago I was at the local park, also cricket, and had a severe incident, however, long story short, happy outcome. Respect and politeness can go a long way. SSorry that happened to you, puts a real damper on your day.Neal