Once the glue had dried, I applied PVA to the ribs, taped two 1/4 x 1/8in spruce strips to the top of the skin, one sitting on the false l.e., the other midway between the spar and l.e., and then used masking tape at each rib station to hold the sheet down.

The following morning, I was so anxious to see how it had worked out that I forgot to take a photo before ripping the tape off. Must try to remember when I do the other wing! Anyway, here is the result.

I was quite pleased with the appearance but the acid test comes when you look underneath. I have to confess that this normally reveals a good few gaps but this time, all that sanding seems to have paid off to the point that I dare show the result.

Just need to maintain the standard for the other three skins now. . .

Hi Trevor,
Catching up with your progress again - it all looks to be coming together very nicely. I see we are of one mind on the preferred methods of wing construction by the way(!) I know that 'plucking up the courage' feeling you mention oh, so well - to be finally overcome by reaching for the glue bottle.
Those flight packs tell a tale don't they?!
Paul W.
I must remind myself to have a massive clear-up in my workshop if there is a possibility of you dropping by too...

Managed to get the underside skin on the first wing today. The resulting D box is really strong - I reckon it would make a fine handle for a sledgehammer!

Yes Paul, those batteries could tell a few stories. I did throw out my 1200 and 1400 NiCd packs a while ago but the 1700s and 1800s go back a fair way. The LiPos are are all current though and, with the sudden (and long overdue) improvement in the weather here, they are now back in my flight box for flying tomorrow. If the good weather continues, there could be quite a pause in the build schedule.

Trevor

Hey Trevorh!!

Get off the flying field and back into the shop! I'm getting ready to start my build of the same model, using a set of laser cut ribs and formers from a US laser cutting house. They look beautiful, I'll post pictures of them once I get time to do so! We've redone the wing attachement area to use a carbon tube rather than the metal joiner, which I am hoping will work out ok. Once I get started I will open a new thread for the build.

Hello Aydin. I have chalked up more flying time so far in April than in the first three months of the year put together so yes, workshop progress has been a bit slow.

However, I have both leading edge D boxes built and have been setting out the trailing edge portion of the first wing. It has seemed an unending process of offering up ribs, notching them for sub spars, making holes for servo wiring tubes, and yet more notches and trimming to accommodate the spoiler. If you have all this covered in your die cutting, you should overtake my build in no time! Do please post a link here when you start your new thread and hopefully we can keep in touch as we proceed.

Attached is the picture I forgot to take when building the first wing, showing the top sheeting taped in place. I'll take some more pictures once I begin glueing ribs in place.

Also, I do have the motor and speed controller now so ought to get those wired up and tested sometime too.

Trevor

Originally Posted by Trevorh

Also, I do have the motor and speed controller now so ought to get those wired up and tested sometime too.

Trevor

What motor/ESC combination are you oging to use? I am looking at a .91 equivalent (hangit rc 4130/06 ) plus a 70Amp ESC. I"ll probably use two 3s1p 3000mAh or better lipos in series, it will be more than it needs but should give a nice climb rate if required

Originally Posted by Trevorh

I have chalked up more flying time so far in April than in the first three months of the year put together
Trevor

..Pity the same can't be said for British Airways

Here's hoping that ash cloud doesn't interfere with your travel plans. We'll see you in some thirty-odd days!

Originally Posted by aydin3

What motor/ESC combination are you oging to use?

I have the XYH50-55 580kv motor and a Hobbywing Pentium 60Amp ESC with built-in uBEC.

The motor is not exactly as illustrated but looks pretty solid. I have always found Hobbywing controllers to be good and I have this 60a one in two models already. I plan on using a 5s 3000mah battery and propping for a full throttle current of around 50a. I see that, since I bought my motor, a posting has appeared on the GiantCod page suggesting that this should work okay with a 13in prop, drawing 800 - 900W, so it looks hopeful.

Trevor

Ash cloud - what ash cloud?!

Well, eventually I got to the point where some ribs could be glued in place. Because of the undercamber, I wasn't confident about keeping the bottom rear spar level so the ribs are only glued to the main spar at this stage, with the trailing edges held down on the board.

In the first picture you can see the trailing edges of ribs 1 and 2 floating off the board because of the crank in the trailing edge at rib 3. For this reason, I'm holding off from glueing ribs 1 and 2 because I won't then be able to invert the wing on the board to fit the lower spar etc. On the other hand, once the top rear spar is fitted, I won't be able to get the ribs back in!

Latest thought is to build the trailing edge between ribs 3 and 16 to lock the ribs, then invert it to fit the lower rear spar, then turn it over again to fit ribs 1 & 2 and the top rear spar. Any ideas gratefully received!

When previewing the last posting I suddenly noticed that rib 6 was wrongly positioned - it is trimmed to accommodate the spoiler surround so should not be aligned with the top of the spar.

Now fixed. I knew there was a good reason why I am taking all these photos!

Trevor

Originally Posted by Trevorh

When previewing the last posting I suddenly noticed that rib 6 was wrongly positioned - it is trimmed to accommodate the spoiler surround so should not be aligned with the top of the spar.

Now fixed. I knew there was a good reason why I am taking all these photos!

Trevor

It is looking good I am working on the material list for all the spars etc, and hope to start building soon. I am definitely enjoying your build though as it will help me to get mine right! This is my first build from plans, though I have put anumber of kits together.

Dave L

Wow - a fortune in batteries! Most of the time one wishes they were lighter, but not in this application!

Glad to see someone else who finds aluminium angles to be most handy tools.

Geoff

Originally Posted by Trevorh

When previewing the last posting I suddenly noticed that rib 6 was wrongly positioned - it is trimmed to accommodate the spoiler surround so should not be aligned with the top of the spar.

Now fixed. I knew there was a good reason why I am taking all these photos!

Trevor

It's looking really good Trevorh....I've been in touch with my old gliding club in Cyprus where they are still flying the T61 that I flew in back in 1981...going to get pix of it fro, all angles and will be attempting as close a scale model as I can...should be interesting as it wil lbe my first attempt at a scale model.

Originally Posted by aydin3

I am definitely enjoying your build though as it will help me to get mine right! This is my first build from plans. .

Dave, Maybe you should do the fuselage first - that way you could learn from my mistakes with the wings and I could follow your experiences with the fus!

I must say, you have picked quite a project for a first plan build - and a first scale model too.

I would be interested to see the photos of 'your' full size T61. I'd been thinking in terms of one of the red and white prototypes but haven't really given it too much thought yet.

Fitting the 6mm trailing edge sections between the ribs seems to have locked the ribs nicely. I haven't done a very good job of building the washout into ribs 17 - 27 and, with the leading edge D box being so rigid, there's not a lot can be done about it. However, since the aileron spans this whole region, I am hoping that a bit of twist in the aileron will suffice.

So the next decision is do I put the aileron trailing edge pieces in place before cutting the ribs free or cut the ends off the ribs now and then build the aileron separately?

Geoff - I agree, that is a lot of batteries. However, I wonder what a 20 year supply of glo fuel would look like?!

Trevor