You could iron on a strip of material using PVA or similar heat sensitive adhesive. Evergreen styrene strip is pretty effective in that sort of role with iron-on covering on top for colour. But if they are battens then maybe the configuration is whatever you want, including none.

The motor mounts and nacelles are built "in the hand" except for the initial setting of the main bearers into the wing, flush with the undersurface. A fair amount of work can be done before sheeting the upper D box but eventually it will all be closed away. Not until I have sent off for some more power wire and HS tube, having inconveniently run out with one set to go.

I'm going for the simplest electronic option of four SCs in the centre, motors turning opposite hand, all the power wires into one battery lead and all the SCs into the throttle channel. I'm a simple person.

This summer build has been very enjoyable so far. I wake up between 5 and 6 and get a couple of hours in the cool of the morning. Today I saw a fox idle up to our pond, take a drink, saunter to the apple tree, have a pee then look up at me, staring at him. Shame I didn't have the camera! Later on the dog went wild trying to find him, but he was long gone.

Nice work Mike

George

I love to see Ivan's plans coming to life at this point. He is the master at making a structure strong yet using the minimum of parts. It all results in good looking airplanes that fly so well.

Jim

Almost finished the rather complex undercarriage supports on the inner nacelles. The UC springs back under load so it sould make those perfect landings a bit easier to achieve!

The drawings on the plan are exemplary, but still difficult to interpret without a picture to help. The 1/4 square and 1/4 x 1/8 hardwood bearers and supports are easy enough to cut with a razor saw and the wire bending is kept to an absolute minimum, thank goodness. I made the ply plate from four laminations of 1/32 ply cross-grained. Much easier to cut and probably stronger than a single piece of 1/8th (which I don't have any of).

I used bass wood as Ivan recommends for all the hardwood in the model. It has a very straight grain and is easy to work, it's flexible and it glues well.

I test fitted all the motors and SCs yesterday and they all ran up correctly, so I finished the top of the D box for the lower wing. I fixed the UC framework and screwed on the legs this morning as well as fitting the blind nuts for the hold-down bolts. So she stands on her own two feet now and looks, looks pretty impressive. The wing alignment is out by a hair, so I have some adjustment to do but it should not take long.

The frame weight at this point, including four servos and all the power wires, is just over 1330 grams. Each SC/motor pair weighs 106 grams and a 5000 mAh 3 cell battery weighs 450 grams. The covering, wheels and nacelles will add at least 500 grams, so flying weight should be in the region of 2750 grams, or something over 6 lbs or perhaps 100 oz.

The inner nacelles holding the undercarriage are seemingly built in thin air, but as you proceed, it all seems to come together pretty well. I'm allergic to planking with 1/16th sheet, so have been experimenting with moulded balsa, using soft 1/16th wetted out with water and wrapped round a foam former. It turned out to be far too difficult to do this in one go, so each nacelle will be in halves.

Ivan must have lost concentration when drawing up the nacelle parts, because I had to make a a number of alterations which I will scan in due course.

I forgot to read the instructions, so have built the lower fairings first. It has worked out pretty well though, so it was not really important.

Here's where I go off-piste. Ivan makes the motor cowls completely detachable at the former just in front of the leading edge, presumably because he anticipated changing the brushes on his motors occasionally. I've decided to tack glue the completed cowls in place so that surgery will be necessary to change a motor. Yes, I know.

The inner cowlings are a different matter and because of the motor mounts just cannot be made detachable in one piece. Ah well...

That's just lovely, Mike. Given my fascination with stick-and-tissue construction, I will have to try one of Ivan's models one of these days. In the meantime, your build reminds me I have a Dumas Dragon Rapide on the shelf that I must really get to first...so many models, so little time!

Steve

Trousers, pants, spats or anklets?

Whatever they are, they are done. Again, I can't imagine making them removable as drawn by Ivan. Perhaps my wheels (kindly donated to the project by TrevorH) are too fat - there just was not enough clearance to do the job and still retain some integrity in the trousers. Pants. Whatever.

I'm now at the stage where all that's left between the model and the covering iron is a cockpit, loads of small details and the sandpaper.

The cockpit added to the nose cone with 1/8 sq and rebates from 1/16th sq bass. Perhaps a little too bulky but the frames on the real thing were very obvious.

It’s looking really good, Mike. I’ve found that those “little details before covering” in my builds can be really time hogs but have to be done. Have fun!

Jim

On with the covering, a generic solarfilm-alike sourced by club member Tim "Model Markings" Calvert. It's far too shiny so I think a mist of matt varnish will be necessary to make it look like fabric covering.

So far I've done the easy bits. The lower wing and the nacelles are by far the most difficult so they will be done last. The fuselage has its own challenges of course, and the cowls, nacelles and cockpit area are just too difficult for me, so I plan to cover them with tissue and clear dope, then sanding sealer, then a rattle-can spray aluminium.

Really nice Mike, great craftsmanship

George

Mike, it's looking really nice. I love that open framework fuselage. So many little sticks all flying in formation!

Jim