Hi DW

Thanks for the kind words, it took quite some some time the get the designs squared away and some prototypes built. Then i could walk around the table and see how they looked from all views, had to adjust the height on two of the blades to get the flow of the different height's looking good. Then drawing prints for each part and machining fixtures to hold the parts for a perfect cut on the CNC milling machine, i have extra sets of parts all machined and polished just ready for the gold plating.

By having the sets on hand i can build a sculpture in a few weeks and have it as prestine as i can make it for the client, and put together with white cotton gloves to keep the finish spotless.

I have a round design in mind next, that way they are all different from each other for 3 totally different looks.

What is really something is when i get the box of plating back, and i unwrap each of the 101 part's and lay them out on my felt covered 4 by 8 table and i'am looking at all this gold at one time it is quite a site to see. Then i get to start to build it up and see the art take shape and is just the neat'est thing looking at mother nature's finest finish 24Kt gold wow she did good.

G Don

I'll bet it looks like a million bucks all layed out on the felt! Yes, five nines gold is the most beautiful thing on the planet and that's exactly what you get from electroplating. When I was in the PCB fabrication business for all those years, we plated millions of gold and rhodium tabs.

The gold bath has to stay at about 115° F so we used a Teflon coated heating element. Occasionally, we would notice substantial drops in the gold content in the bath and would know exactly what it was. The Teflon on the heater would pinhole and the exposed element would act as a cathode. We'd pump the bath over to a holding tank and pick the golf ball size nuggets from the heater element.

Ultra pure, five nines gold golf balls that we would sell back to the salts distributor for market value or trade for salts. The tank was secured and the only access to the bath was openings to the cathode bars where the operator would clips the product to.

Ok,
Woodie topic, I was looking at pictures of the Challenger on Rays website. Man does that fuselage look complicated...what I really liked was the pictures of the fuse behind the wing. That trusswork showing through the covering...nice.

How difficult is it to have a trusswork aft fuselage on any our our woodies and yet have it resist twist/stress? I know you could gusset the junctions on the inside, or how about building truss sides, glueing them to thin balsa, cutting out open areas, like a giant gusset?

The thought of a Big Bird with an open trusswork aft end sounds awsome....built up tail feathers and you have wood sculpture in the air....

Hey Mr. Smith,

Someone will jump on here with more experience on truss fuses than myself but I did a Challenger years ago. The secret is jigs, jigs, and, oh yeah, jigs. I love that airplane though.

It was not that difficult, just a bit more time consuming.

As for twist and stress, not a problem, in fact I'd say it was stiffer. There may be easier ways to build a fuse but there is no doubt the cool factor is off the chart.

It's going to depend on the material, just like structures for full-scale.

If the material is equally strong in all directions, you need a structure that spreads the loads out in all directions over as much surface area as possible. Generally the outer surface has the most surface area, hence the "monocoque" or "stressed skin" structures common in all-metal aircraft.

OTOH, if the material is stronger in one direction, such as wood, or a fiber-composite material, the structure will be lighter and more efficient for a given strength if you can focus all the load paths into single directions, parallel to the max strength direction of the material. Trusses are one very effective way to accomplish this.

The problem with a truss is the miriad of joints that have to be constructed. Besides dramatically increasing the labor required, it also introduces a whole bunch of failure modes, as well as adding weight that takes away from the savings from matching the loads to the material characteristics. Like winglets, the benefits are subtle, and if you don't do a really good job on the details, you can end up negating all the benefits.

As always, the Devil is in the details.

Thanks Guy,

Like I need any more time added to my builds....but the "ooh and aah" factor would be great...I always liked those Proctor Antic kits with the open framework in the back. I don't know if that truss area was even covered!

Hey, everyone following the tie dye silk project, I have teasers posted!

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...7#post21997523

WHAT, NO GLASS BASTER ??

Ross

Too cheap, too lazy. I knew it wouldn't be worth the trouble trying to clean out the glass part, only to have the rubber bulb crumble anyways. Which it's doing here, too. The funny part is that the dope is sealing the holes as they form, for the time being. It should last a couple more uses, and by then I'll be done. I use it only to draw up portions from each can to mix in a glass jar, then I rinse it out a little, and set it vertically to dry. clearly it wasn't done draining before it fell over, and some thinner pooled.

That is plain old "way cool" Katie! I can't wait to see the whole bird together.

Hey Sean. How's the flying weather there. I hear ther's some big thermals blowing through Stay safe.

Katie I love it. I need a tye-dyed t-shirt. It would take me back to the days when I had long hair. Now I could wear one with my bald head.

Eddie

Hey Eddie: If I had anywhere to slope I'd be steppin' in high cotton! Wind has been howling here for two weeks. The storm missed us but we're on the extreme West side of it so all the lift is going horizontal.

Hi Sean

Was just going to send a note to see if you had much of that water fall stuff, 2 ft of rain wow

G Don

Hey GDon,

Nope, not a single drop! Ol Debbie threatened but drifted East, stalled off shore and is now slowly drifting East again. Looks like it will hop over central FL, hit the Atlantic, maybe rebuild and do her dirty work up that coast. UlteriorModem here on RCG has been sitting in the worst of it for days now. He's still posting so I guess he has his PC on the second floor.

Mark your calendars. The 3rd Annual Azalea City Model Aeronautics Sailplane (ACMA) Fly In is scheduled for September 15th.