Before gluing tube in 2nd wing, read the instructions. Says to fill cavity half full. Did that and it came out pretty close to being the right amount, only a tiny bit oozed out as overflow. No fool like an... well you know. After sliding in tube with wing attached to it, did the same thing as last time, made sure both ply ribs were in place and wings in line (checked along spar..again). After an 8 hour cure time used Dremel abrasive disc, to seperate wings. Sorry no photo.

erich

Got the spoilers cut to length and added the control horns. After much trial and error to get the right amount of spoiler movement, and not interfere with clevis, got the right shape for the horns. Instead of string am using a micro clevis kit, which uses small dia. braided wire. I threw the package, that the kit came in away but believe it's about .025 dia wire. The kit comes with a real small nylon clevis, and a tiny L shaped metal rod, as the pivot point. The clevis threads into a brass coupler which in turn gets soldered (carefully) to the wire. Added a little extra solder for 1/2" behind coupler to stiffen wire a little (should help to hold spoiler closed).

erich

Added the spoiler outer tubing. Instead of going with the spoiler cable holes in ribs, made my own. The cable layout called for on the plans and ribs has a real tight 90 deg. curve at the working end. Soooo...laid out a more gradual and continuously curved path for the spoiler. To get enough clearance for clevis and coupler, put final mounting point for tube on a rib instead of the sub-spar. Used the lightest balsa for this. Glued in spoiler tube using 5 min epoxy and lotsa cabosil (keeping it light).

erich

Finished up the remainder of spoiler control system. Pretty much did it the way Jack and the Houston gang recommended doing it. Took 2 square Dubro EZ connectors, heated each one up with a butane torch and added a drop of solder on one face, and coated face of 2nd connector completely with solder. Held the 2 connectors together with pliers, making sure they were completely lined up with each other. Squeezed pliers while heating up the connectors, till solder melted and the 2 connectors touched completely. Holding soldered EZ connectors in a long nose pair of vice-grips, drilled a small dia. hole at bottom of solder joint. Cut off the EZ connectors lugs and soldered a big dia braided wire into the drilled hole. Instead of connecting the the servo end.. to another EZ connector am using a coupler and ball-link joint. Thought this whole thing would be rather difficult to do.... turned out quite simple and quick to make up.


Intend to use a micro coupler soldered onto fuselage end of spoiler control wire, and have the 2 EZ connectors screw down onto the threaded portion of coupler, for the removable spoiler connection.


erich

Erich,
On the connector for the spoilers. I was doing some " over the shoulders " engeneering and thought that maybe you should add solder to the braided wire also. That way you get more push with out flex. Im sure you get plenty of pull.
Bob

Bob

Not sure if great or little minds think alike, but look at last sentence in post #92. Will probably do the same where both wires go into EZ connector.

Still mulling over.....your offer.

erich

No worries Erich,
Take your time- its not going anywhere. You scratch built it and if it goes anywhere it should go home.
I like many others really enjoy your builds. I get up in the morning and grab a cup of coffee and read the site. Its a great way for me to start my day.
Be well and good luck with the surgery,
Bob

Bob

Thank you for remembering. Got done with the surgery on Friday. Am able to type already. Looks like it went well, haven't been able to talk to surgeon yet. He did about 10 operations that day, and I was the first. So will see him on Monday and get the total lowdown. The local started to wear off on Saturday, yea it took that long, so now am soaring on Vicodan.....wheeeeee. Probably be able to restart working on the HH again, tommorrow. Thanks again for the kind words.

erich

Ok...back to the fuselage. Made up a 1/4" thick hardwood reinforcement for the tow-hook area. Since I have 3 control tubes running right along bottom of fuselage, had to make some relief cuts so hardwood block would clear all the tubes. Not sure exactly what brand of hardwood this is, but it took forever to cut through, and that's using a new saw blade. Glued block in with titebond then added some 5 min epoxy around edges.

erich

Made up a hatch cover, to go just to rear of canopy. Used 1/16" ply for the sides and hard balsa for the rest. Will be using the main wing alignment pin tube as hinge point for hatch. This is pretty much the same hatch / canopy system, that I been using on almost all the wooden planes I've built. Sagitta XC has exactly the same setup as does my Scooter. The front lip of hatch will be angled to match rear canopy angle, allowing canopy to hold down hatch. Simple and almost idiot proof. Probably why I like it.

erich

Did more work on hatch. Matched it up to fuselage and added the balsa block which will be the pivot point. Used thick 3/16" balsa for the top of hatch, so's I could sand the fuselage to a rounded shape between the wing area. Next step, will be to add rear top deck, then can begin the planing and sanding to get a streamlined fuselage.

erich

Screwed up the courage to glue on rear top deck. Used 1/4" medium type balsa glued on with titebond. Did a lot of dry fitting use masking tape to hold deck down, and checking fin against the wings, which I plugged into the temporarily installed wing rod. Check it all visually. Which leaves only 3 possibilities. 1. My eyes work good, and the plane is straight, 2. My eyes are bad and the plane is crooked, 3. My eyes are bad and the plane (by luck) is still straight. So.... the odds are in my favor.

erich

Found I needed a little more fuselage, side, height, just above the wing root area. Need the height to be able to round fuselage in the area just above wing. Guess I'm trying to capture the look of fiberglass original. So...added 2 1/4" sq. hard balsa pieces, glued in with titebond. Gave em awhile to cure, while weighted, as the front part needed to be curved down a bit.

erich

Man erich, posts at 4:06 AM, 3:25 AM, 5:23 AM - that sholulder must be keeping you up at night.

I'm enjoying the build.

Murph

For awhile it was keeping me up night and day. Couldn't sleep for almost 4 days after the operation. But am off the pain killers now, and somewhat, back to normal. Well as long as I can do some work on plane, things aren't too bad. She's coming along, gonna be time for the covering, pretty soon.

erich