SO I finally got around to starting this plane. I had to put the Moutnain Models Hellcat off to the side but thats fine. I am going to explain as many steps as possible here so be patient if you have seen all this before.

The first thing you notice is the splashy graphics on the box. Cool. Open opening there is not really a whole lot to this plane. A few sticks of balsa and ply and some foam wings. The instructions are printed on the plans so read over them carefully before you begin. Also, try and think a few steps ahead to figure out how each step affects the next. For a building board, I am using an old door on two sawhorses with a sheet of foam core on top of that. Then I lay the plans down on that with wax paper over the plans (to protect the plans from the adhesives).

I took out all the parts and everything seems to be here. One thing I noticed is the parts are not labelled. Thats fine. If you read the instructions, everything seems to be pretty self explanatory. Also, the parts are die-cut and not laser cut. Thats fine too, they did a pretty nice job and the parts were east to seperate. Some people like to label the parts as they pull them off the plank but its not really necessary here as there are not THAT many parts.

SO the first step is to assemble the fuselage sides. There is a top, middle and bottom to the sides. You just line them up and then zap it with some thing CA. I try my best and stop the CA from "wicking" too much but I alwasy seem to wind up with a couple of spots under the piece Im glueing. Thats ok though, I will sand it a little before covering.

At this point, the instructions request you to drill the motor mount for either gas or electric. Im going to go electric but since Im not sure of the motors mounting screw configuration, Im going to glue it in place and drill it when I get my grubby mitts on a motor. Anyway, there are only 2 formers that you glue in place. Of course these have to be 90 degrees to the fuselage sides.

Next Im looking at the wing halves. There are little extrusion "dots" or points that have to be sanded off at some point. I think it might be just as easy to sand them when the wing is one piece. I tried to illustrate that in the pic. The next steo will be to glue the wings pieces together. I will do that tomorrow and also add a carbon fiber spar. I have to make a decision to go with a single or double aileron setup. Obviously you have to decide this before you cover it. I like the covering on the box but I like to be creative so I have to decide on a cover scheme.

Also looking forward, I think this plane would benefit from some cooling ports but I will do this a little down the road before covering.

A lot of the kit planes have a weak area near the wing saddles but this kit seems pretty beefy so I dont think I will do anything to reinforce. I try and think about weak areas on planes and build a fix into it while I can. I dont see too much other than the spar in the wing. I will do a little research here too before I get too much further. The instructions are a little hazy as to how to mount the wing. I have always hated the rubber band method but it has undoubtedly saved a wing or two in my day. The instructions reference both methods. Let me think about it.

very nice.

ma

Great write up so far. I'm sure I'll be referring to it soon.

Sounds like we can have a pylon race now!

I may have to order one myself!!

ahhh. geez....i know i'll get corralled into ordering one too.
your making it look almost to easy.

dan

which power setup are you going with. let me know so we can be on the same page. i do have a cc pixiie20 laying around so i'm good on the esc. i guess it's just motor and batts.

matt

I am going to use a graupner brand speed 400 6volt motor. These are more or less the industry standard for this class of airplane. Many people distribute speed 400 motors. HobbyTown Strongsville has some under the GreatPlanes name. I would be interested in seeing some comparisons in various motors. I will search here and post the results.

After kayaking last night, I did a little more building. Let me download tha camera and post the pics.

Busy week, back to building. When we last spoke we had the basic fuselage side together. After aligning the tail, I glued that. As a modeler, we sometimes have to get creative to solve problems. This is not a huge creative solution but I found that a little tape measure works well as a 90 degree block to glue the front face on. I was using thin CA but that didnt seem to hold very well. I then put thick CA to reinforce. I am on the fence on using CA for this application. I have found that CA sometimes can break under stress and vibration but I am going to gamble on it.

The first picture is showing the plane upside down

carnifax, just leave the tail end open and stick the pushrod straight out, no holes in the fuse side and since the elevator is one piece with no rudder interferance it works really well.

Simple build eh? Fantastic airplane.

I thought about keeping the back open. Thats a very good idea especially if you plan on going brushless and need the cooling. For now, Im trying to build stock for now and mod it after (or 2nd kit). Thanks for the tip, anything else you can add would be appreciated.