So far - So good

 

 

Another fun evening in Vestbyhallen

We had another fun evening in Vestbyhallen:

Enjoy!

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Stab tube in place

 

 I aligned and glued in the stab tube this week. I really envy the ones that have a real building table with jigs of different kinds. It makes it a whole lot easier to install wing and stab tubes. But, I think the result was pretty good even though I only used a couple of spray cans, a few servo boxes, a bunch of magazines, some painter`s tape and some thin rope.

New wing cores for the Synergy

I made a new set of wing cores this week. Magne, a very proficient builder and a very nice guy, did most of the job. I only assisted. I am amazed at how well things can be done with relatively simple equipment. The result was amazing. The equipment we used was a good, straight building table, a 12 volt battery charger, a light dimmer, a few different jigs and a 0,5mm piano wire. And off course a chunck of foam (S60 - extra light) bought at the local building supply store. I borrowed wing profile templates from Ola Fremming. The next step will be to attach the balsa skin.

Wing adjusters in place

I have done a few small things the last couple of days. I do not have a whole lot of time during weekdays, so I just use a few minutes here and there. Wing adjusters are now in place. I think I will only install one pair of adjusters near the leading edge. On my EMC2 I installed two pair of adjusters, but I guess that is just overkill.

Foamfun in Vestbyhallen

Here are a couple of pictures and a video from last friday night. One picture is of my Lierider and one is of Audun`s Fancy Foam Vrolet F3P. At the end Audun (finally :-)) crashed his plane straight into the concrete floor. The Vrolet was then turned into a "skjev-vrolet":-)

I also hit a few things during the evening. Flying indoor is a lot of fun and it really makes your brain work....fast. Sometimes too fast. Here is the video: Video

Aligning the wings

This step is crucial because it will directly affect the flight performance of the aircraft. If the wings and the stab are not correctly aligned you will introduce unwanted couplings in various manouvres. The most important tool is a clean and straight table. My table was not straight, so I had to replace it.

Slowly progressing....

I managed to do a few more things this last week. I glued on the balsa skin and the leading edge/trailing edge balsa. The process of gluing on the balsa skin demands quite a bit of weight. I think I put about 70kg of weight on top. I used epoxy finishing resin to bond the balsa skin to the foam core. I also reinforced the area around the stab tube with fiberglass mesh bought at OSH. (Orchard Supply Hardware)

Piedmont Temptation

I am in the process of finishing a Piedmont Temptation. I have not yet desided whether I want to use a glow engine or convert it to electric. I finished the wings quite a while ago. I used light, good quality balsa, only. The finished weight is 386g/389g for each half. This weight includes a servo and linkage, but not the wing tube. I am quite pleased with the low weight. The first pair of wings I built (for the EMC2 pattern plane) weighs over 500g each. Weighing the balsa and picking out the light ones really makes a huge difference. The EMC2 wings are slightly bigger, but not really that much.




Right now I am in the process of making the stab. I bought the kit while I lived in California a few years ago. I got an extra set of foam cores for the wing and stab. The former owner had started making the stab, but I was not happy with the job he had done, so I desided to give it a try myself on the second pair of stab cores. I had to build a nice jig to make the stab-tube holes in the foam core. I am pretty happy with the result. See pictures. Making a jig is not a whole lot of fun, but when you see the result it is really worth the hassle.

ZN-line Synergy

I just got a hold of a ZN-line Synergy. It has been through a crash, so it needs a new wing, but the fuselage is in relatively good condition. The plane will be powered by an O.S. 140Rx with a Hatori 900 tuned muffler.

I will most likely have someone cut out a pair of new foam cores for me and then I will build a new wing from scratch. I have built a couple of wings from scratch and it is not too difficult when you have gone through the process a few times.

This airplane will be perfect for the Nordic N-09 pattern schedule. I have heard that it is more stable than other, newer designs. Most of the new planes are designed for the more demanding P-09/P-11 schedule with snap-manoeuvres. Designing a plane for snap-manoeuvres means that you have to make the plane more unstable.