Originally Posted by Shedofdread

Mike,
From my experience of using foam cored plugs - don't skimp on the glass. 4 layers 200g would be a minimum. That way it stands life in the workshop, stays true and you can attack it with whatever machinery / tools you need to.

I don't know if its available where you are but I like a product called 'Reface'. It's a polyester based brushable / sprayable ultra high build primer (more like liquid filler than primer).

Regards

Hi Shed,
Loved your pics in the Alps? that must have been awesome flying there.
The foam I am using is Extruded and quite dense, with one layer of 163gr already, quit hard, I am going to fill sand and then glass again and then a final light finishing cloth, all the layers of 200gram are going into the mold and then I am throwing the plug in the bin.
There is a nice 2 part spray filler here in the panelbeating workshops , I have used it in the past and its good, but being polyester I am reluctant to use it on an epoxy based project. The 2k MS Primer that I use in my low pressure gun also builds and covers well. This will also be the first time I am using Free coat as a release so hope it works.

Thanks for your input
regards
Mike

Originally Posted by Sutton Bank

I've missed you Mike. Your fast-forward masterclass builds. Your amazing why-didn't-I-think-of-that ingenuity. Your perfect astro-turf lawn.

Beautiful subject too. I'll relish every post.

Rog

Hi Rog,
Seems like a long time, missed you too, I dont get all the comments about fast, whats that all about ???remember the fable of the Hare and the Tortoise, slow and steady wins the race......oh never mind.

In the past I know the Astro green lawn created lot of Lawn envy, but the lawn is only just turning green, but I can do flowers if that will make your day
We even aim to please our "greenie" viewers.
regards
Mike

Hi Allan,
Nice to see you here too, funny I once confused you with the guy woo built the JS1 I remember sending him some pics when he did his build, very inspiring it was.


Allan

PS I attach a shot of Woo with his scratch built JS1. This one did use an ASH 26 fuse though. It looks fantastic in the air with that wing and flies pretty well too. I think he said he handed the Tx to someone called Joe Wurts at an aero tow meeting in Hawkes Bay and Joe had it up to over 3000 feet. I suspect that would be out of sight for us mere mortals!

Who Is Joe Wurts? and what does he know about model gliders??








Just kidding
regards
Mike

Originally Posted by swarrans

Apologies if this is seen as a hijack Mike, but I'm planning to use your thread to guide me through making a 4.8m wing for an ASG29 I'm going to build and I wondered if you had any advice of wing section? It would be about 220mm at the root and I want it to be able to roll nicely. I had been thinking of going with a trusty HQ3/13 but I wondered if you were planning something zippier for your JS1?..

Regards

Simon

Simon,
No problem about the Hi-jack thing as long as you dont have a gun.

The actual airfoils on the fullsize JS1 are rather thin and optimised for glider racing with a flat glide at high speed, I think the actual wing is only 10cm thick.
What I am planning to do with the foils is as follows.
Start with a thick HQ/3/13 OR 15 at the root , purely to allow some space to build in a degree or two of di-hedral. I will then thin the foil down across the next panels and also reduce the camber, on one of the very last panels I will introduce 1 degree of washout. This setup works well on my 6mtr Nimbus and at high speed it goes slightly anhedral (washout working) but when slowed right down in a light thermal it has never let go into a tip stall.
It has really worked well so why change, I did once build a 6mtr Ventus with
MH32 foils ,was great but had to thermal at speed all the time, maybe I build the C version like this.
Sadly it fails to roll nicely with the high aspect ratio wings , maybe a shorter wing would be better, or build a Fox
Wings are a about 2 months away .
regards
Mike

Hi There,
A bit side tracked with the garden etc but Spring is Sprung.
Anyways, I draped and cut some 163gr cloth and wet it out , I am using all the old bits and pieces on the plug so the initial epoxy was a bit of 6300 infusion epoxy and a 30 minute harderner, a stint out in the sun and it hardened in about 2 hrs, then did the top and rather pleased that it was done with only one seam line down the sides.
Again a stint in the warm and finally 2 pieces onto the tail fin and the whole fuselage is glassed, this already makes it more robust and rigid, to handle.
regards
Mike

Originally Posted by mikegbogh

Hi Allan,
Nice to see you here too, funny I once confused you with the guy woo built the JS1 I remember sending him some pics when he did his build, very inspiring it was.


Allan

PS I attach a shot of Woo with his scratch built JS1. This one did use an ASH 26 fuse though. It looks fantastic in the air with that wing and flies pretty well too. I think he said he handed the Tx to someone called Joe Wurts at an aero tow meeting in Hawkes Bay and Joe had it up to over 3000 feet. I suspect that would be out of sight for us mere mortals!

Who Is Joe Wurts? and what does he know about model gliders??


So you and the family got to the F3J Worlds Mike?

Allan





Just kidding
regards
Mike

So you and the family got to the F3J Worlds Mike?

Allan

Hi All

So you and the family got to the F3J Worlds Mike?

Allan

Yes Allan, I took the day off and went out for the last day and the fly offs, with my younger son.
I was not exactly sure where the field was, about an Hours drive from my place, anyway we where heading through a small town and in the general direction, when I spotted what looked like sparkles in the sky, quite amazing . Headed that way and the sky looked like it was sprinkled with glitter, the distance was about 5kms and the sun was just right. As we got closer picked up some direction signs and arrived, but the sight of all the F3J sailplanes up high in the thermals was amazing.
I left competitive flying a long time back but it was nice to watch and see some of the top guys in person and in action.
regards
Mike

Originally Posted by mikegbogh

Hi All

So you and the family got to the F3J Worlds Mike?

Allan

Yes Allan, I took the day off and went out for the last day and the fly offs, with my younger son.
I was not exactly sure where the field was, about an Hours drive from my place, anyway we where heading through a small town and in the general direction, when I spotted what looked like sparkles in the sky, quite amazing . Headed that way and the sky looked like it was sprinkled with glitter, the distance was about 5kms and the sun was just right. As we got closer picked up some direction signs and arrived, but the sight of all the F3J sailplanes up high in the thermals was amazing.
I left competitive flying a long time back but it was nice to watch and see some of the top guys in person and in action.
regards
Mike

Yes it would have been special. We do have a solid core of very competitive fliers here in NZ. Having Joe has raised the game a bit but I note he doesn't always win. His real strength is his ability to read the air and help all team pilots at an event like the Worlds. His huge experience at this level helps of course. His contacts help too when it comes to getting help with towers and the likes. I do note we needed South African help this time. Young Conrad was born and breed in your part of the world. He made the fly off with Joe for the Kiwi team. I do still fly competion sailplanes but am increasingly getting distracted by the scale stuff since we started Aero Towing locally this year. Its been good fun and I'm itching to get started on a big bagged scaley. Only the design done and the templates cut so far.
All the best Mike.
Allan

Hi there,
After a quick going over with the small orbital I flattened off some high spots in the glass. I have added a hardwood post to the tailfin as well as a thin ply base for the tailplane, this will make the plug stronger and more accurate in these areas. I will make up a pair of identicle wing root ribs of ply and bond these onto the fuselage, and carefully align them.

A few blisters were cut open in the glass and a mix of micro balloons and Aerosil thickerner was screeded over these areas. There are also a few hollows that need filling , so I have started filling these as well.

More next week
Cheers

Good day,
Slowly making headway on the plug, the basics last week , have gone well, so now its the wing roots.
These are made from plywood, aligned and epoxied on, then comes another round of filler and sanding. Saterday evening I laid on another layer of cloth , this time 106gr tight weave, this will be sanded smooth and any hollows etc fixed, then its almost time for some primer.
pictues added.

...and then hours of guide coat, flat block, primer, guide coat, flat block etc etc, eh?

Your grass is looking a little sparse, though. You want me or Rog to post you some of our rain over?

Originally Posted by Shedofdread

...and then hours of guide coat, flat block, primer, guide coat, flat block etc etc, eh?

Your grass is looking a little sparse, though. You want me or Rog to post you some of our rain over?

Hi Shed,
Before this thing is built the Grass will be photogenic again
Already done some rounds of sanding and primer, but you are right plenty more to come, off to get more sandpaper for the week ahead.

Talk about Sycronicity I am doing a thread on our local forum as well and got some interest from an owner of one of the latest JS1 C'S . Turns out that the one I saw in the factory with the flourescent stripes on it is his, this is the very glider which I want to copy, anyway he has been very helpfull and sent me pics of his glider, as a reference.
Cheers

Nice! Will be often visitor here!

oooh another masterpiece, I'm in

Looking fab Mike.

Yep, lots of sanding ahead. A couple of questions...

What kind of dust mask do you use?

Do you ever wait for sunrise/sunset light because of the way it reveals surface irregularities better?

I'm just wiring a mass of fluorescent strip lights into my workshop today but I find it's actually no good for jobs where you need to spot bumps and hollows cos it bounces cold white light around the room and you get no decent shadows. On the other hand the Mark 1 Sun, especially when low, throws great shadows. Of course the disadvantage is that you can only sand for the 11 sunny days in a typical UK year.

Rog