Banana, build log of a 4ch RC trainer

Completed the fuselage: Added Balsa "fuel" tank cover that fits with a small peg and braced with the original setup of screws and a rubber band. The ESC will be mounted on under side of the cover: All the parts combined for a complete view: Next step on the fuselage will be setting up motor, ESC, routing power wires, transmitter location, and placing the battery for initial balance and weight measurement.

Once the bottom sheeting was dry and sanded down I turned to the internal setup for servos and push-rods. I followed the blueprint for rudder, elevator, and push-rod setup, with the exception of the smaller servos and lighter rods. Elevator and rudder are centered and all rods in place and functional:

Still waiting for my covering iron and heat gun to arrive in the mail. Holiday shipping has really gone wrong this year. I decided to start building the fuselage instead of sitting around and waiting. I reviewed the plans to mark up all the changes I needed to make in order to convert the plane to electric power. The changes will accommodate a 3S/2,200mAh or smaller battery, a 30A ESC instead of the small fuel tank, and replace the original servos with new 9[gr] servos. My overall weight estimates of the electronics and power system came out to be slightly in favor of the electric setup: 310 [gr] vs. 360 [gr] of the original, without fuel. The main changes included: a larger fire-wall to increase the front opening width for a battery, moved the second rib back 20 [mm], and fashioned it into a rectangle with an opening made out of ply wood. Glued together with bottom longerons: Next, completed bottom sheeting after gluing the fire wall in place with appropriate down and right thrust:

The last step before final sanding and covering was to fit the wing with ailerons. The ailerons run the entire length of the wing, and have a width of approximately 12% (1/8) of the wing cord. The ailerons are fitted with two nylon hinges, and are actuated by a steel rod. Next step is a thorough sanding of all surfaces, then covering the wing with Monokote. The ailerons will remain in natural balsa, sealed with Dope or Sanding Sealer.

After dry-fitting the wing ribs, leading and trailing edges, and bottom spar I glue them together. Following this step, and after the glue had dried, I glued the top spar, wing tips, and center-wing 1/16" balsa covering. The wing tips are a simple 1"x1" balsa block formed and sanded into shape. Next came the tricky part of sanding the center edges of the wing to fit the dihedral angle, and then accurately cut a slot through the spars for the dihedral brace. The rib on both center-facing edges are of 5/32" balsa so that there is enough material to sand down at an angle. I raised the wing tip to half the dihedral angle and used a wide sanding block to sand the edges perpendicular to work bench edge. The slot for the dihedral brace was created by cutting through the spars' length with a mini hacksaw, and then carefully widening the slot to fit the 1/16" plywood brace. Both wing halves glued with epoxy. Next, I made room for installing the aileron servo. This i