So i've been talking to Dennis about getting one of his kits to build one of these and have been going through what componetry i'll need. I'm fairly comfortable with my servo selections etc. But am having a few issues deciding on a motor, I'll be using an outrunner and so far have been looking at the Motrolfly 5320 or a Scorpion 4035, I have a feeling the Scorpion won't give me the power I need unless I step up to a 50/55 series of which the pricing starts to get a bit rich for my taste. But i'm open to all suggestions, what do guys recommend for what is essentially a 12lb 1325sq in plane. Oh i'd like to stick to 8s but would go to 10s if really necessary.

Thanks

8s 5000 would be fine, I am useing 9s 4000 with the NUE and have 2500 WATTS on the
21x11 the 8s 5000 would give you a little longer flight time

I would contact KEN at Motrofly and he can let you know what would be best as to size and KV

The aileron's use one servo for each aileron 4 Hitec 225 mg total one on each elevator side 2 ea 225 mg and one 160 oz servo for the rudder.

Dennis

Luke,
I am using the Eflite power 110 and 9s 4400 batteries. In my opinion it has plenty of power. I love flying this plane and it is a fun build also. Good luck and keep us posted as to what you use and your progress.
Kerry

Well look at what showed up at my place yesterday!

This came from the new cutter Dennis is using being Bob Holman and the quality looks great!

You'll have to excuse the quality of the pics, they've just been taken with my phone. My wife does have a Canon DSLR but it's setup to take RAW images so transferring and converting the images to JPEG is just too much stuffing around for me to be bothered with.

Anyway onto last nights progress.

The tail parts didn't self jig/align to the same degree as somethign like a Stevens Aero kit, but I can't imagine anyone having an issue with this.

Tonights efforts. The wing struts aren't quite finished, I haven't installed the diagonal braces yet.

The thicker wood is a little more difficult to get an accurate cut The laser actually cuts thicker as it goes through the wood and depending on the hardness of the wood it will make a thicker or thinner cut. You will also find some fittting required for the 1/2" cowl rings.

If you find any parts that do not line up let me know and I can make some changes to the file.

One other place I know you will find a need to do a bit of sanding and fitting will be on the wing ribs that are angled for the strut attachment, they are at an angle and the lazer will only cut 90* so make the rib assembly and sand before you glue it in. same for the aileron ribs that the control horn will attach too.

Looking good. I will get the extra piece of carbon off to you

Dennis

Yeah I noticed on these thicker parts it almost seemed like the laser was out of alignment slightly as if it was on a slight angle. But I figured it was actually due to the laser removing slightly more material at top of cut vs. bottom of cut. It's not a big issue, I've just been tacking any joints with a gap using thin CA and then filling any remaining gap using medium CA, seems to be working quite well.

If you felt like going over your CAD files again it may be worth slightly narrowing the sections where the the cross braces sit into the outer frames on the tail pieces, as it's probably easier to remove a bit of material on your cross piece than adding CA to fill any gaps.

Anyway here is a pic for size comparison, also the canopy, L/G and cabane struts that showed up in the mail from Dennis yesterday.

Luke,
Looking good! I am happy to see another one being built, and looking forward to following your progress. Thanks for taking the time to take photos.
Kerry

So i've been working on the fuselage over the last couple days. Not a whole lot of progress as with Easter I had a couple days where I didn't get much chance to work on the build.

My motor arrived today.

It's a Motrolfly 5320 with a custom 260KV wind, I purchased this through the Australian distributor SC Models, who were able to have the factory custom wind my motor for no extra cost. Should be more than up to the task I hope, I'm hoping for 2000w+ constant and bursts in the 2500-3000w range on 10s and turning a 19"-20" prop.

3000 Watts should be adequate on a 12 lb plane

Dennis

Originally Posted by Dennis C

3000 Watts should be adequate on a 12 lb plane

Dennis

That's what I was thinking.


Well I made a bit more progress last night. I pulled together the rear of the fuselage and installed the stab plates along with the Tailwheel plate. This was all done using a combination of thin and medium CA. Medium was spread across the areas to be joined with a couple spots left free for when I put the parts together for me to wick some thin into to hold the joint in place. Then if necessary I either held or clamped the joint till a good bond was acheived.

**Edit don't mind me, I read 3/16" as 3/32".**

Once that was acheived and I was happy that I wasn't going to upset those joints if I bumped them with the next steps I started installing the shaping formers. This was pretty self explanatory, do a dry fit of each making sure it lines up correctly then just hold in place checking for square and wick some CA in to make the joints. Couldn't get much simpler!

It only starts to look BIG when you add the cowl.

I hope things continue to go as well as it seems to be in the beginning.

Dennis

Originally Posted by Dennis C

It only starts to look BIG when you add the cowl.

I hope things continue to go as well as it seems to be in the beginning.

Dennis

Yeah at this stage the tail feathers look like they belong to a larger aircraft than the fuselage at this stage. I expect that to change as I start sheeting and as I work on the cowling.

I didn't do any work on it last night, I need to get some decent lengths of sand paper so as to fair the formers and I didn't have any on hand.

I think in one of the next steps it talks about installing the phenolic wing tube in the fuselage. Is that necessary at this stage as I only just placed my order with TNT and they're away for the next 5 days so I probably won't get my order for about 3 weeks. Is it necessary to install the tube for any reason at this point or can it simply be installed at the end as far the fuselage construction is concerned.

I wasn't planning on starting the wings until I had the tubes as I believe this will help with alignment.