Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / January 2009

Hi Ed
            Sounds like you're in the doldrums too.
             Damn, for 50 years i had never once thought about that
rolling outhouse in the Li'l Abner strip, but wasn't the guy's name
Humphery? People have built flying doghouses. Why not a flying outhouse?
You could name it Humphery. :-)
               The junta-from-within that's got our Country by the
throat has got me really, really down. It's beyond belief that in a
scant 6 decades it could come down to this, huh?

Bill (oc)

It has been very slow, with only perhaps 6 or so post per 24 hours.

It sucks here in NC, too, with fog yesterday, then periods of heavy rain,
too.

Don't let the wingtips bog you down.  There are an infinite number of ways
to skin this cat.

I have built them with some scrap balsa, and made segments glued together,
wider, but shaped with the curve on the outside, with two layers built up,
with one piece laminating over the top of where the joint of the piece below
is placed.  Kinda like if you used wood to make a frame around the outside
of an octagon, using miter joints at the corners, then made another layer on
top, with the top miter joints being made halfway between the previous
corners, then cut and sand on the outside to make the curve.

I have done it using the thin strips to laminate multiple layers, also.  It
is indeed a very light way to make a strong curved structure.  The key to
me, is to get the wood correctly soaked.  I made a tube out of 1 1/2" PVC,
with a cap on one end, and on the other end a "test plug" (a rubber cork
with a big washer on both sides of the cork, and a bolt to squeeze and
expand the diameter of the cork) to make it water tight.  Then, put the
amonia and water in it along with the strips to soften over night.  After
the wood is so easy to bend and form, you can use almost any method to hold
it in place.

I made a form out of plywood the exact shape of the wingtip, and once out of
ceiling acoustical tile.  After stacking the soft wood on it, I have put
nails through the form, and rubber bands hooked over the wood and onto the
nails to hold it all while it dries.  I've also used duct tape.

I have also built them flat on a building board made out of cork or ceiling
tile, and used blocks of wood or nails to describe the shape, and either
nails or pins or blocks on the outside to hold it against the form nails.
After it has dried, it is easy to glue it together using the same method to
hold the shape.

At any rate, don't sweat the details; just get through the task.  If they
weigh more, it will not fly as quickly or quite as slowly, but it will still
fly quite well with a big enough engine.  I used an OS FP.15.  I have flown
in35 MPH wind (at the beach) and with a heavy cheap 35 mm autowind camera,
and standard servos and receiver and a 4 ounce fuel tank full, using
standard weight covering.  It still flies.

Another mod I made was with the landing gear.  I made landing gear with
1/16" wire, with it bolted to the bottom, with the axles about 3" lower than
the standard placement, with no straight through solid axle.  I did that to
get more angle of attack to get it flying at a slower speed, and to get the
whole thing up so it could take-off out of tall grass.  I also made the
wheel spacing a little wider, to make for more stable ground handling.

Nothing wrong with that, but I think the looks would suffer, and perhaps
some of the flying characteristic, to an extent.

Yep.  My family calls it my "Cartoon Plane."

Nope.  Experiment away.  I also beefed up some of the fuselage joints, and
made it tougher.  Try too keep the weight under control, though I know I
said they would still fly.  I just got tired of fixing joints, so I made it
so it would not break the first time.

I have lost track of how many of them I have built.  They are my favorite
planes to fly when the wind gets up, or when you don't feel getting too
fancy.  It is fun to hover to a landing, or to fly backwards.

Finally got a HDTV, so been setting it up, and had to modify the built in
cabinet where it sits.  Loads of fun.  It is about time I got building on
one of my awaited or half done projects, soon, after I get done modifying
and organizing my shop.

Take care, or any way you can get it!

You can always check what you see through your ISP
against Google Groups:

http://groups.google.com/groups/search?as_ugroup=rec.models.rc.air

It's gotten up to 30 F in Buffalo.  Some snow and freezing
rain expected overnight.

I destroyed an 8-foot Bee built by a friend in two days:

http://moleski.net/rc/b4aftr5.htm

I still feel miserable about that.  It was a lot of fun.

Finishing some school work and getting the second
edition of the manuscript of my third book ready
for the copy shop.  I've been doing some mental
modeling and may actually take a few steps to
turn the ideas into reality Any Day Now.

                Marty