6 months ago I picked up the boxes from Tim and stuffed the 8' fuselage box into my Durango. It almost didn't fit! Other projects that needed completing and a big move from Michigan to North Carolina in June kept this pretty thing in its' box until now. Officially started this on the 19th.

Even though the directions start with the fuse, the wing box was convenient and in the way...so that's where I started.

The covering was in excellent shape, so I just ran the iron over all seams and edges. A couple very small bubbles came out with no problem. An interesting detail I noticed, they covered the leading edge of the wings with 1/2" of clear instead of leaving the top/bottom edges exposed to gas & oil. Nice!

Control horn and servo install was simple and easy, with no surprises when following the manual. I decided to try Gorilla Glue that I always hear raves about, but didn't realize the one I got was the epoxy, not the expanding glue. Ohh well, should work just fine. Using Savox 1270tgs with 2" MaxxProd Red Aluminum arms all around. I decided to put the ailerons in the 1.5" hole to give mechanical advantage to the servos. It still has plenty of throw, and if it rolls anything like the 56, I won't be needing max throws for my average skills.

Next up, elevator servos!

Project time: 4 hours

I've gotten about everything done I can do before touching the fuselage. Elevator horns and servos are installed. The elevator servos were a little tight for the hole, but it was mostly because of the wire exit.
Rudder horns were also installed. I used my calipers to get them centered as well as I could. And instead of getting some glue into the rudder before putting the horns in, I slid the horns in first partway, put glue in the middle area then slid them in and out to spread it without getting much on the outer areas of the horn. Makes for easier cleanup.
I got the fuse out of the box and onto my wonderful Christmas present - the RC Airplane Stand. I kept the wrapping on and cut out the nose end. Taped it up and painted a black base coat and a few layers of the Rustoleum Speckled Texture paint for a nice clean look. My goal for this plane is a clean install without going too overboard.

Project Time: 7 hours

hey that's a nice finish on the firewall motor box area. Is that stuff fuel and gasoline proof? i ask because if it is i may have just found the way to fuel proof the great lakes firewall area. Nice work by the nik. Phil

I went over the whole fuse with the iron and blower (which was barely needed at all). Got the tailwheel and the main gear installed. Some had mentioned that their cuffs were not mating well with the fuse, but mine weren't bad at all. I decided to use Foam-Tac to secure them rather than bolts so that I could stick it right up on the fuse with no gap. Had to hold the top to the fuse for a few minutes till it cured, but came out nice.
The wheels gave me some issues, as it has everyone else. The kit wheels differ from the ones they used on the prototype. The kit wheels don't have raised inner hub, so it needs a wheel collar on both sides instead of one. I had to drive wayyy out of town to the one shop that had them in stock. Come home to find I needed one size bigger... So I drilled them out and it worked fine. However, once you get the outside collar on, it blocks the hole in the shaft meant for the cotter pin. I initially drilled a hole thru the wheel collar and snapped the cotter pin on, but the bolt heads on the wheel hub could still hit the pin. It needed some washers, which I had none of that size. Instead, I used some household wire and twisted it. Now it's way more secure than any grub screw could be and lets the wheel spin freely.
One of the blind nuts came out of the wheel pant, so I had to put some epoxy on it. There was a little paint in the threads that made it hard to screw in, so I had to clear that out of each of em.
I got the firewall drilled for the DA70, but don't have the 1/4x20x2" bolts/washers/nuts needed to mount it. I was going to get them at the Depot, but decided to wait till Monday to get them from Fasental where I can pay 1/6th of the price and get some to have on hand.
I also have some carbon fiber patterned vinyl coming, 12"x50" that I will be using on the radio tray for a nicer look. Once that's down, things should go quick.

I went thru my mostly still packed RC boxes and pulled the rest of my Laser parts out. Still quite a bit to get in there!
I pulled the taildraggerrc single servo harness out and didn't realize the male end is quite long. I'll have to pull my aileron servos out and remove the extension and put this on. Will be nice not to have to find the right female end and put the servo keeper on n off.
I also realized I got the wrong length extensions for the fuse. I swear I got what AJ told me while I was at toledo, but ended up with 36" instead of 48". No biggie, I can add another extension to make the distance, but it creates another failure point.
I finally got the 1/4x20 bolts/nuts/washers I needed, so was able to get the engine temporarily mounted. I also got some split loom while at AutoZone to go around the 4 wires from ignition. I need to get some bigger cable clamps to secure them to the firebox. I dremeled a slot in the top hatch for a velcro strap to secure the ignition and a slice of foam.
Put in an order for a throttle servo and tech-aero u-ibec, some more red servo snakeskin mesh and other misc. Still waiting for my CF vinyl for the interior.

Project Time: 9 hours

One day I'm actually going to invest in the materials to make my own extensions. Beyond the frustration of unusably short extensions, I find I would often like custom length extensions, especially for ailerons.
Good tip on the split loom… simple prevention for a critical failure point.

I have the crimper and pins to make extensions and might end up doing that. I actually just got a bunch of heavy duty servo wire with my BPHobbies order for CHEAP.

A lot has gotten done in the last week!
- The ignition wires have been secured to the box with the correct size cable clamps.
- The Tech Aero UIBEC has found a home on the inner former which gives the Rx wire just enough length to get to the receiver.
- Throttle servo (HS-5665MH) was mounted. Still missing 2-56 hardware to connect to engine.
- 3 Rx satellites were velcroed in, wires sheathed and loosely zip-tied to frame.
- The wings were temp mounted (talk about filling up my office!) in order to ensure correct placement of the RedwingRC quick wing locks. If you haven't tried these yet, it's well worth the time spent screwing/unscrewing wing bolts! The wing tube was REALLY tight. Was advised to twist it thru the tube multiple times and wipe it off with alcohol. Seems like it worked, and will get better each time I do it.
- Fuel dot mounted. I was going to put the big one on (like the DA one), but chose this one for its smaller form factor, easier install, and much easier to access. This one takes a half turn to pull out. The bigger one almost requires a flat screwdriver to pry out.
- Fuel tank was given one of the large felt clunks. Blue tygon was plummed to the fuel dot and carb. Need to make a fuel vent/overflow yet.
- Rx soft switch installed. Instead of using the actual switch that comes with the AR9110, a buddy clued me in that this does the exact same thing. With the provided charge plug mount, and a custom male-male servo extension, a bind plug serves as the switch. Remove the bind plug, power is on. I hate things on the outside that detract from the look of the plane, so this is perfect.
- My mock carbon fiber vinyl FINALLY arrived from ebay. I got a 20"x50" sheet for $6. I've seen some guys line the main tray before and I liked the look. But I decided to kick it up a notch and line the whole box. The whole top, firewall former, turtle deck former, rx tray and inner verticals all got blinged. I also painted the edges of the ply black to make it look better. It took quite awhile to get it all cut, laid down and trimmed, but it was worth it for me.

Now that the vinyl is down, I can secure the fuel tank and begin installing the Rx. I might wait on the Rx until I complete the cowl/prop/spinner install so I can set everything up and check CG. I'm not sure yet if the Rx will end up on the small rear-ward tray or more forward...so I'd hate to cut holes for grommets and it have to move later.

Project Time: 18 Hours

Looking good!

Awesome job on the carbon fiber. Looks so much better!!

I had the 93 off the table for a few weeks as I wanted to get my 56"er repaired before RCEFF last weekend. So, not much progress has been made, but I'm back at it now.
- Rx power and Ignition lights were mounted into the dash. (The pic only shows one light, took it before I installed the other one) I cut the LED lead from the UIBEC and soldered JST leads on each end to allow easy disconnection when taking the canopy off. I also printed out a TINY IMAC aresti to put in the middle of the dash.
- Installed TaildraggerRC servo harness in the tray. These happened to be the exact size of the pre-cut holes in the tray, so all I had to do was cut the vinyl and screw em down!
- New 48" extensions made, sheathed and pulled thru the fuse tube. Wish I had made them just a few inches longer, but it'll work ok.
- Got the rudder servo arm on and rudder connected
- Made wire traps for the ailerons and elevators
- Drilled the hole in a nylon 10-24 bolt for my fuel vent/overflow exit. Just gotta find a spot for it.
- Test fit & cut the 2-1 header and pipe. Had to cut about 3/4" off the pipe exit spout to get it to fit in the fuse. Awaiting the correct pipe mounting brackets before I can install.
- Got and installed the updated reinforced reeds into the DA70.
- Worked on design scheme concept updates & graphics.

Project Time: 22 Hours

- Painted the TaildraggerRC vent louvers, cut the cowl and installed with some balsa backing to reinforce it a bit. Hoping the vents will be enough that I wont have to cut a hole in the cowl.
- Drilled the bottom 2 holes in cowl/fuse, added 4-40 blind nuts to those tabs. Took 2 tries unfortunately, cuz the tabs on the fuse dont go out far enough. Also popped out the factory blind nuts for 4-40 so they're all the same.
- Added a contour gauge to my toolbox to help get the right shapes for cowl baffling. It helped, but didn't make it much easier as you're dealing with the cowl shape, the engine shape, and the distance and spatial relation between them. In the end, they came out ok tho for my first baffle!
- Primed, painted and clear coated TaildraggerRC CF spinner. This was a mess. The primer came out really rough, and I first attempted to wet sand it down which washed most of it away. Then, the white also came out really crappy. Had to sand off the first coat and try again. 2 coats of white. Wet sanded the white and applied clear. 2 or 3 coats later, it just wasn't coming out glossy. Wet sanded and tried again, and ended up glossy but with some small runs. Sanded those down and recoated, and recoated again. Its shinier now but still ended up with some very small runs. I'm thinking of getting a buffer to shine it up.
- Installed pilot & panel. Added a cross piece of bass to help secure the panel. Used zipties along with a small amount of silicon glue on both pilot & panel.
- Drilled prop & spinner backplate. Another first here, never drilled props & spinners. Think it came out a little off position than what I wanted, but not bad. Was a pain to make sure spinner was aligned with prop holes. Anyone have tricks for that?
- Balanced spinner pieces, still have to do prop
- Finally got the correct pipe mounting brackets from Tim. DA sent me generic ones, but they didnt fit the tunnel well. AJ had jtec cut ones made for this specific plane & pipe size.
- First pipe & header install for me. Did a test fit while waiting for the bracket and had already cut the pipe downspout so it'd fit in. Put the white silicon tube over the pipe and the spring steel holders. Drilled a hole and secured the spring steel to the pipe with a small servo screw. Secured both of the pipe brackets into the LG plate.
- Worked the header onto the other end (that was a chore), secured with spring steel clip and small servo screw. Added just a little red RTV to the 2 gaskets provided and bolted the header to the engine.
- Now that the pipe was in, I could mount my fuel vent/overflow. Great trick I learned recently. Use a 10-24 nylon bolt & nut. Drill a small hole thru the length of the bolt. Drill hole in fuse, slide bolt up into fuse, secure with nut. Slide fuel tube over bolt end and secure with ziptie. Easy, CHEAP and virtually invisible from outside.
- Did a quick assembly of everything in the garage for a CG test to get placement of Rx & batteries. Was planning on both packs ending behind the wingtube, but balance wanted one ahead of the fuel tank. I've added a long strip of velcro for the front pack to allow quick & easy cg shift.

First fire of the engine is so close I can smell the gas!!

Project Time: 35?? Hours

Looks awesome, very nice touches. Is that a Mejzlik spinner? I have the same one on my Ef 91 Extra...love the shape of that spinner and it looks great on this plane.

Ant, the spinner is a CF spinner from TaildraggerRC.

Hi,

has anyone drawing for the engine/cowl baffling for DA-70 ?

Regards
Test