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By Sam Parfitt
Page 7
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Running wires from the battery up to the nose on/off switch
and back.
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I connected the retract, nose steering and brake servo
to the receiver.
Looks like the nose is backwards to the rudder, so either another channel
or a servo reverser (I'm going reverser).
The brake is a dial and on the front right (aux 3) of my JR radio.
I've opted to use aux 3 over aux 2 which is on the front left.
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I'm going on the assumption that, after landing, my left
hand will be busy steering the plane so my right hand can control the brakes.
When taking off, my left hand will again be busy steering. My right hand
shouldn't be busy until the plane goes several feet. Any ideas on this...besides
growing another hand?
This may be just what each of us is comfortable with, also the limitations
of the transmitter.
I plan on putting the receiver where you presently see it in the picture
between those two formers in the picture. I also have the battery in the
same place but down beside the air tank. I'm putting another battery on
the other side (1400ma, 6v each). I'm starting with the batteries here
and hope they won't have to be moved to get proper CG. |
Retracts and brakes with pushrods connected. I hooked up
the retract and brake valves to the micro servos with some 1/16" thick
wire with Z-bends on each end. The micro servos are a good choice for these
since we only need 3/8" - 1/2" throw to make them functional.
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Since I had the retracts 'hooked up', I thought it would
be a good time to check out the CG. The manual says CG is 3-3 1/2"
back from the leading edge of the wing. The end of the screw driver points
to where I put a piece of black tape. I split the two extremes and put
the tape at 3 1/4".
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Here's a low angle where I'm using foam to support the
plane while the retracts are up.
I put the props on and just taped the cowls to about where they will be
(presently the cowls won't fit over the engines with the mufflers on the
engines). |
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Top view. Got most of the things still not added sitting about where
they are suppose to be. Well, I can forget about putting those batteries
in the center of the main fuse. I had to move back a good inch to get
CG.
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The batteries are now going into the nose. I put both of
them up front and the CG is now about a 1/4" back from where it needs
to be. I think some heavy spinner nuts should do it. There's plenty of room
in that fiberglass fuse so we can add lead to that later. When mounting
those engines, a little farther forward won't hurt. I remember how light
the horizontal stab was when I was assembling it to the booms.
It's amazing how something so light can offset the business end with all
those motors, etc. ('give me a place to stand and a lever long enough and
I will move the world', Archimedes).
I'm glad I wasn't building this from scratch, I probably would have needed
to add 10 lbs to the nose. |
Here, both battery switches and charging jacks are in the
front servo hole.
I thought that I needed two 'voltwatches' but it appears that the 'juice'
goes through the receiver from one port to another, since when either battery
is turned on, both 'voltwatches' came on.
So save your self some $$ and just buy one.
The air valve and gauge is on the right.
Foam was lined in that hole on top for two 1400ma, 6v battery packs.
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With both batteries in the hole, there wasn't room to wrap
each battery pack but the
foam lining in the cavity should work for vibration reduction.
I had to put a couple notches in the former so the two 5 cells packs would
fit.
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Bottom of nose.
I'm using a common kitchen door latch (at Home Depot or Lowes) to hold the
nose cone onto the front of the fuse (need easy access with all the connections
up there).
I'll build up a wood brace in the nose to mount the male end of the door
latch.
There's not a lot of wood to connect the latch so I used 1/8" ply and
made a 'U' shaped piece to hold the latch to the fuse
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Here's all the wires and air lines going along the side of
the fuse. I cut extra holes in each former to route the wires through
and to hold them in place.
I took out the black auto tubing because it couldn't hold all the 'stuff'
going up front. Once we're sure all's good, we'll use some plastic ties
to hold everything together.
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| Now, I'm working on that door latch to hold the nose onto
the center fuse.
I slid the nose on 1/8" ahead of the panel lines on the fuse
nose.
(The nose isn't symmetrical, the flat end goes on top). |
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With the make part of the door latch on the female end (rollers),
I measured from that 1/8" forward of the panel lines to the end of
the door latch.
Mine was 5 1/8" so I now know my mount has to be that far down in
the nose.
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Bottom of picture: I used a piece of cardboard and kept
trimming it until it fit to the depth that I wanted.
Top of the picture: I then used the cardboard template to trace on 1/4"
thick piece of balsa and kept sanding until it finally laid in the recess
of the nose at 5 1/8" down.
Those paint sticks with 80 grit paper glued to them made quick work of any
sanding that was needed.
I put 4 holes in the balsa for any future buckshot we might pour in for
nose weight.
I marked a straight line on one end (flat side of nose) of the balsa to
keep the orientation the same in relation of the balsa to the nose.
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Side view of the 1/4" balsa mount.
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I used some shoe polish and put it on the back plate of
the male end, pushed the nose on to get the imprint and drilled and screwed
her on.
Works great.
(The spouses lipstick should also work well: blame it on the kids!
her fault anyway: you don't leave your tools laying on the counter!)
I epoxied a 1/16' piece of plywood on the balsa to give the screws a little
more solid surface to grab onto.
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Steering.
Used two pieces of white tubing (supplied in ARF),
and cut them 12" long for each side. I kept the white tubing 1/2"
behind the back of the retract so the steering arm wouldn't hit them
and also room for the pull/pull wires don't bind.
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| I drilled holes in two of the formers to hold the white
tubing.
The pull/pull wires are connected in the usual way: looped through the steering
arm and back through the brass tubing and then back through the brass tubing
again and then the brass tubing was crimped. |
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This shows the retract down.
The white plastic tubing keeps the wires way to the sides so the strut
and wheel don't hang up on them.
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This shows the retract up.
The white plastic tubing goes through the large existing hole in the first
former
after the back of the retract.
As you can see, this allows the white tubing to flex, if needed.
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Retract back down.
The white tubing has gone back to its original position.
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Here's the details for connecting the wires to the servo
end. Same double looping and crimping of the brass tubing.
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Standing for the first time with functional gear, strut
and steering. The center fuse has been been attached with the two nylon
bolts. Not bad on getting all those wires into the fuse. The receiver went
on one side of the air tank and I pushed the wires on the other side of
the tank.
I pulled the receiver antenna out the back and plan on connecting it to
one of the vertical fins as in the prototype. The contact surface of the
fuse to the center wing is pretty wide so I had to use a piece of that left
over white tubing to push a wire or two so they weren't being pinched between
the fuse and center wing.
I checked the air brake valve and it's working. All struts have the 'scissors'
pointing forward.
I used the original strut for the nose wheel and have the smaller one set
up as a backup. (gettin' there!). |
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Cowls
I made a cardboard template taped to the boom so it won't move when we
take the muffler off and slide the cowl on.
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After cutting holes in the template, I folded the template
back, took off the muffler
and slid the cowl on and put the template back down over the cowl. I initially
cut a small hole for the muffler and head of the engine in the cowl, and
then slid the cowl back on to make sure we are in the 'ballpark. If you
look real close, you can see the felt tip marker lines for the engine
head on the cowl. |
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The holes are enlarged a little more and the cowl is put on again
to make sure the glow plug is in the center of the hole.
Sliding the cowl on I had to make a cut all the way back for the
muffler.
In the picture, one side of the cowl lifts up to get it by the muffler.
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I put masking tape on the booms so I could
make a mark 'X' inches back from the
pre-installed cowling blocks. After sliding the cowls on, I knew how far
in the
mounting blocks were under the cowls and drilled holes at these locations.
I did one hole at a time and put a screw in the hole to insure the cowl
didn't move,
including checking proper distance for prop clearance.
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I used Du-bro's cat no 531 no 6 X 3/4" button head
sheet metal screws to hold the cowls on. Although not exact (couldn't find
any), I used Harry Higley's big hubs 5/16" X 24 NIN516 hubs. After
sanding with 240 grit and priming, I painted the props black with yellow
tips. |
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Shield installation.
The front fiberglass shields (covers) go just behind the cowls.
I had to cut part of the front off (hidden when mounted) so it would
form around the boom.
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Here it is mounted.
The manual says to epoxy it but I like using the button head screws.
The ones I uSed are Du-bro #526 (#2X1/2" ) or #525 (#2X3/8" ). Looking at the end of the center wing for guidance, I put the screws in
where there were stringers, etc.
I noticed that the leading edge has plywood sandwiched in it for strength.
(you can see it in the picture).
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Rear boom fiberglass shields (covers): I drilled 10 holes
in each cover.
Again, aligning the holes where stringers, etc were showing on the end
of the center wing rib to give the screws some 'meat' to hold onto.
Later, I found I could just use a manual hand drill to put extra holes
in:
The part on the boom needed two screws to hold it against the side of
the boom.
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The back shield is mounted.
There is an 'R' and 'L' in the inside corners of each shield.
Although they look identical, I put the 'R' on the right boom (from the
pilot's view).
In the picture, you can see the 'R'.
(the front shields are symmetrical). |
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